raider_108

His point is that it is a response to your point about the Oilers not
going anywhere as long as the "old boys" are in charge. That is true
to some extent but the Oilers have had some good success with "old
boys" e.g. old Oilers like Kevin Lowe in charge as evidenced by his
point that they have gotten close to 90 points the last 4 seasons with
losses of talent every year. That is a difficult task in this day
with rising salaries and all for small market teams.

I agree that they do need to change their coaching though. Hiring
someone like Sutter outside of the organization will obviously bring
the Oilers to the next level like Sutter has done with Calgary.

However, it remains to be seen if Calgary will be able to keep up this
success next season. I'm not saying making the finals every year but
at least respectability. If they don't fall like Anaheim or Carolina
then this year will not be a fluke.

And to the point of if the Oilers were in a division like Tampa Bay
(or Calgary or any the teams in the northwest for that matter), they'd
have even more points. The Oilers post trading deadline could have
done some major damage in the playoffs I believe. 25 of a possible 32
points with only one loss after making the changes (Nedved and Salo).
Still too late to make up for the stretch in January though.