Bleacher Report - Articles by Maya Filipovic

The Edmonton Oilers 18 Years Later

Maya Filipovic — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:25:02 -0500

The Edmonton Oilers were once the team to beat. They had everyone dreading the prospect of playing them, because they would annihilate any team they played. Over time, the Oilers began their slow decline into obscurity, now almost altogether forgotten about except for their glory years.

What will it take to force hockey fans to once again remember the Oilers, and perhaps even fear them like before? A Stanley Cup? We were close in 2006 and had everyone talking, but after that the buzz surrounding the Oilers seemed to die off completely. Why? Maybe because we haven’t made the playoffs since?

The Oilers need to be consistent if they want to be remembered. We don’t have that one amazing player like we used to in Gretz to take us to the cup. We don’t have an amazing coach who dreams up inventive plays. So what do we have going for us?

Well, we have much the same thing that the 1990 Stanley Cup winning Oilers team had. We have youth on our side.

The Oilers kid line of 1990 was the second greatest of all, following Toronto’s line of Charlie Conacher, Joe Primeau, and Busher Jackson.The original Oilers kid line it consisted of Joe Murphy, Martin Gelinas, and Adam Graves. These players brought the Oilers to the Stanley Cup in 1990, where they beat the favoured Boston Bruins.

This was the first year that the Oilers weren’t favourites to win the cup; they went in as the underdog and proved everyone wrong. Sound familiar? The three players were huge contributors to the run, and without them, we may have one less banner hanging from our rafters.

The kid line of today consists of Robert Nillson, Andrew Cogliano, and Sam Gagner. In the final 20 games of last season, the line had a combined total of 50 points. These three are offensive powerhouses.

So what if they can’t seem to play defense and get the puck out of their zone? That’s not their job. Their job is to score goals and get in the face of that goalie, and make him shake in his skates.

So is their really a difference between the team of 1990 and the one of 18 years later? Well, we are still the underdogs. Even more than we were back then.

In the 1990-91 cup run, Grant Fuhr was injured (yet again-he had spent most of that season watching rather than playing), so the Oilers were forced to play their back up, Bill Ranford. Ranford was not their star, and he was not expected to win the cup for them. But he did, and he went on to win the Conn Smythe trophy.

Well, I am putting Rolly on the same level as Ranford on this one. He is not the sensation that Fuhr was, yet he is a solid goaltender, and one who really shines through when the pressure is on. He led us within reach of a 2006 Stanley cup, and when he was unfortunately injured, our hopes were lost.

This 1990 team had no true star, Gretzky had been traded just two years ago, and as a result no one believed the team could go on to win the cup without him. Well, our team now has no true star. They had good players, and we have good players now.

The roster of the 90’s team included Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Craig Simpson, Mark Lamb, Esa Tikkanen, Jari Kurri, Petr Klima, Kelly Buchberger, Craig MacTavish, Adam Graves, Joe Murphy, Martin Gelinas, Dave Brown, Steve Smith, Randy Gregg, Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, Charlie Huddy, Kevin Lowe, Bill Ranford, Grant Fuhr and Pokey Reddick.

None of these players were sensational, with the exception of the Moose, who was a fabulous leader and a consistent goal-scorer. Our captain today has the same attitude, perhaps not the same level of skill, but he sticks up for his team whenever he needs to. What was so special about the 1990 team is the way they all played together. This was a tight-knit team, and they seemed to know each other inside and out.

Perhaps this is where the biggest difference comes in. our team of today does not seem quite as close as the prior teams. But this is partly due to the fact that several of our veteran players had been traded and fresh faces were acquired.

However, the team is coming together. The lines are started to play well with each other, and bonds are being formed. We could use a couple more skilled players, but the most important thing is that the team clicks.

With last season’s team, sure we might have had more goal-scorers, but the team was very much divided. There were the younger, party hard guys, versus the older and undoubtedly wiser players who chose to stay out of the limelight. This year, everyone seems to be on the same page.

I really hope that Tambellini doesn’t get rid of too many of these talented youngsters in the off season. Our team needs to become as close-knit as the team of the 1990s.

Once that happens, I don’t see why the underdogs can’t strike once again. Hold on to your helmets folks, the kids are coming!

Predators-Oilers: Game Preview

Maya Filipovic — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:28:45 -0500

Tonight’s game is crucial. With a win, the Oilers will gain confidence and a playoff spot.

Nashville, with 37 points, has played one more game than the Oilers, who sit at 35 points. A win in regulation would solidify (for the time being) a playoff spot. The race for the eighth spot is always tight, and this season is no different, with Edmonton, Nashville, Minnesota, LA, Dallas, Columbus, and Colorado all gunning for that final spot.

All of these teams are neck to neck with points, ranging from 34 to 37. Every game is incredibly important. With each win, a team begins the slow climb to the playoffs, and with each loss the teams are distinguished from each other.

With a win tonight, the Oilers will move from 12th spot to eighth, and an overtime win would put them just one point shy of seventh spot, where Phoenix currently resides. The Oilers have played fewer games than most of their contenders, and this fact has given me a new surge of hope. The playoffs ARE possible this season!!

Unless they lose tonight…then I will continue with my “Craig Bashing” articles, and retire my positivity for the week.

The key tonight is for the Oilers to come out strong and score first. They are behind the Predators in penalty killing, but ahead when it comes to the power play. So they need to play a more offensive game, and not take stupid penalties. Sit back and let Nashville take the punishments.

Because all of these teams are so close to each other, it is extremely difficult to distinguish who the better teams are, and who truly does deserve to be at the bottom of the standings. Days ago I would have said that the Stars and Blues were the teams who didn’t deserve to have playoff hopes.

But Dallas is beginning to prove me wrong, and the recent fight that they have gained is making them viable contenders.

A prediction is hard to make regarding any of these teams. So that is why my prediction is more of a hope.

I predict the Oilers win 4-3 in regulation.

Edmonton Oilers: The Letter of Our Dreams

Maya Filipovic — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:19:31 -0500

Dear Craig,

As I am beginning to warm up to my role as owner, I think it is high time to make some changes.

Since you have been screening my phone calls and avoiding your office, this letter is my last resort. I have news for you: In trying to re-evaluate the various members of the Edmonton Oilers, I have decided to make a switch.

I am moving you from head coach, to head Zamboni Driver! Joe, the current driver, will temporarily take your place until a more suitable candidate comes along. I have high hopes that Joe will be able to produce more wins out of this team, as it would be difficult to find anyone as equally useless as yourself.

I want to thank you for your patronage to the Oilers organization, but unfortunately, you are just incompetent as a head coach.

Because you have stuck by the team for so long, I am giving you a chance to make a name for yourself as the best Zamboni driver in the west, rather than the worst coach of the west.

Really, Craig, you must have known this was coming, which is undoubtedly why you have been avoiding me. In your tenure with the organization, you have more losses than wins, something that is unheard of in the NHL. How much longer did you really think you could go on?

Although, truth be told, if it weren't for the persistent Edmonton fans, I probably would not have even noticed your lackluster performance. However they really are starting to be a pain, so I suppose something has to be done.

With you gone, I can temporarily get the fans off my back and instead focus on counting my stacks of money to ensure that the help isn’t stealing from me.

I wish you great success with your escapades on the Zamboni, and do hope that there are no hard feelings. If you are ever in need of some pain killers to dull the ache that your meaningless life has created, feel free to step into one of my many pharmacies. I’ll put you on the list for 10 percent off.

Sincerely,

Daryl Katz

Edmonton Oilers Favourites: Where Have You Gone?

Maya Filipovic — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:37:20 -0500

With Christmas over, my wish list is transferred over to my birthday, which is just three short months away. I was thinking of what I could possibly ask for, after getting so spoiled for Christmas. The Edmonton Oilers retro jersey came to mind; however, thinking about it, I could not think of a player whose name I would want on the back.

This got me thinking…why don’t I have a favourite anymore? The fan favourites have been replaced with newcomers and those who are supposed to be leaders, such as Ethan Moreau and Shaun Horcoff, are constantly on the injured list, and therefore forgotten about.

All the players make me mad at times, with the exception of Moreau when he is actually playing and not watching from the seats. The Oilers, who are supposed to make a splash, are barely making a ripple.

How is it that Hemsky and Souray are tied for goals at 10? That is pretty pitiful nearing the halfway point of the season. How does a defenseman have the same amount of goals as the top forward? Really? Really??

On that note, I have wanted to strangle Hemsky for the last few games now. I have coined him the “King of Turnovers,” and he doesn’t seem willing to relinquish that title. In the rare event that he actually gets the puck, he doesn't seem to notice the approaching opponent and is left bewildered when he looks down to see the puck he thought he had, gone.

Their last game against Vancouver was ridiculous. Well, the third period was ridiculous. How we managed to win that game is beyond me.

The last two minutes of play in the third had me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, and peaking through my eyelashes. Whose genius idea was it to put “the king” on the ice for these final seconds? Oh right…the genius that is MacT, the “King of Bad Plays.”

I don’t even want to get started on MacTavish…

During these last minutes, Hemsky seemed to forget how to skate. Instead of going at the player with the puck, trying to get it and send it out of the Oil zone, he opted to skate into the boards, do some sort of version of a figure skating double axle, skate to another area, and repeat. You’re being really useful out there Hemsky…way to go.

So, all in all…I miss the old Oilers. I miss having that one player that gives you chills when he steps out onto the ice.

For me, that player used to be Doug Weight, with Bill Guerin close behind. Since they left, the void they left for me just hasn’t been filled. We got dashes of hope with Peca and Pronger, but they insulted our city at the end.

Ryan Smyth was the go-to guy for years, and with his departure, we lost a valued veteran Oiler and someone that was faithfully adored by all Oiler fans.

Souray seems to be carrying the fan favorite torch for now, but truthfully, I do not see him sticking it out on the Oilers long enough to elicit a solid following.

So, instead of asking for a new jersey, I will stick with my Doug Weight Jersey. And I will wear it proudly, fondly remembering the days when putting on that jersey brought a surge of electricity through me, at the thought of seeing my No. 1 guy in action.

Hopefully one day soon I can have a favourite home town player once again.

Edmonton Oilers: My Christmas Wish

Maya Filipovic — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:10:06 -0500

As an Oilers fan for the past 10 years, there is one thing we can all count on every single season. The Oilers will always start the season sloppy, unmotivated, and just plain bad.

But once they round the corner and can see the playoffs in the distance, they miraculously begin to step it up and surge to just make playoffs, or just miss them. If we make the playoffs, we somehow do quite well. Think 2006 when we made the finals.

So what changes between the beginning and the end? Well, over the past few years this can be attributed to the coach, Craig MacTavish.

He starts off every season trying to get the players to do something new, to play new lines, to step out of their comfort zones, and play a kind of game that they are neither used to nor comfortable with.

He completely shuffles up players, playing ones who are not even performing well over ones on a hot streak.

He is now overplaying Roloson because Garon got a few losses. If Garon, who is younger and fresher, would be given the chance to play more often, I think he would flourish. He will never become the best goalie of the NHL, but we cannot keep overplaying Rolly to the point of exhaustion.

MacT wants Gagner, Cogliano, and Nillson to play a more gritty game. This is not the kind of players they are, and apparently MacTavish just cannot get his head around that. These kids go out to try their hardest, and go after the puck with the tenacity few others have. That is, when they are “allowed” to.

This seems to be MacT’s goal: to get his players to play a type of game that they just can’t play. Right...

When MacT allows his players to take control, the results show. He handed over the reins to the players last season, after the Oilers were riddled with injuries and many of the talented players were out. The game then became a demonstration of talent, hard work, and vivacity, rather than players trying to be something they cannot be.

We all had such high hopes for the Oil this season, they were predicted to be near the top of their division. I thought they could have been as well.

We traded away a lot of players who, while talented, had very bad reputations here in Edmonton. They turned the game away from the sport of hockey into the means to go out on the streets of Edmonton in search of women and drugs.

With them gone, we all thought players would focus on the sport once again. Well, not if MacTavish had anything to say about it.

He went back to his same old ways. The players are unmotivated, frustrated, and playing the kinds of games they do not want to play. After tonight’s loss to Dallas (do not even remind me about how terribly Dallas is doing and how this was a sure-fire win), I am even doubting the possibility of playoffs this year.

Unless MacTavish is fired, and soon, or unless he yet again hands over the reins to his players, then we will not be making the playoffs, as much as it pains me to say this.

I, for one, am sick of this roller coaster of a ride here in Edmonton. The season starts off one way and then digresses in another later in the season.

We the fans know what needs to happen. The talent needs to do what they do best—score some goals! This will not happen when the players who can score these goals are ordered to play a gritty, rough, and senseless game.

So why does MacTavish not carry on with his “coaching technique” from the latter part of the season to the beginning of the next season? Well, that is just too simple. We all know that our beloved MacT is just not capable of this kind of vastly intellectual thinking.

So...all I want for Christmas is MacTavish gone. And maybe a money tree. But mostly MacTavish gone.

Save the New York Islanders

Maya Filipovic — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:51:32 -0500

Everyone has teams he or she dislikes. Actually, it’s hockey, so really, everyone has teams that he or she DESPISES. I know I sure do, but I don’t necessarily want them to disappear!

I am a huge Rangers fan; this is the team I want to work for. Yet I can’t help but feel really sad over the state of things in the Island.

I can’t even imagine showing up to an Oilers game with most of the attendees being fans of the opposing team. That would no doubt put me in a terrible mood, and hinder my desires to return to the arena.

So what is really wrong here? Sure, the team’s not playing that well, but they are starting to win games now. I personally don’t see how people who call themselves “fans” can be such huge bandwagon jumpers.

The way I see it, either you cheer for your team no matter what, or you don’t have a team to cheer for at all.

Why aren’t fans showing up then? This is the time when the team really needs their support, but the fans just aren’t giving it to them.

Like I said, if my arena was overrun by screaming fans of the other team, I too would stop going to avoid the risk of being beaten up, since I would probably end up yelling at one of these hooligans.

There have been times when I have really wanted to attend a Flames game when they were playing the Oilers. Have I? Hell no! I am not one to just sit by and idly listen to people saying rude things about my team. I would get in their faces, and being a girl or not, I am positive they would get in mine. Who needs that?!

I have read and heard about far too many fans beating up other fans because of a heated argument of “my team this or your team that.”

Yet if Nassau Coliseum were to put some kind of a ban on fans of opposing teams from coming, one of two things would happen.

Now NO ONE would be attending games, or
More Islanders fans would start coming.

Well, regardless of this, something has to be done in order to save this team! I am really against moving the Islanders. This team has a rich history, and not many teams have an actual dynasty.

To think that the Panthers and Thrashers could still be around next season and the Islanders could not, is really disturbing to me! The Islanders really do have a glimmer of hope left in them. And I for one, really want to see them succeed.

Now I don’t live on the Island, so I am not sure what kind of marketing (if any) is going on there surrounding the team. But if there is any, it’s clearly not enough. I would really like to hear from someone who lives in New York on this matter. I am curious as to how the media there is portraying the problem.

The Islanders really do have a decent team, and if everyone really applied themselves and tried to make this the team to beat, I think the Isles could go a long way. But really, who wants to play in a crappy coliseum, with no one cheering for them? I’d want to get traded as soon as possible as well.

Let’s get this new coliseum going. Let’s get fans to stay true to their team and show up to games no matter who is going! Let’s get the players to care about their team.

So my solutions?

Stop the lolly-gagging around the new coliseum. Make it finally happen!
Place restrictions on how many non-Islander fans can purchase tickets. This is kind of tricky, but if it is somehow done I think it could make a difference.

Perhaps allow only a limited amount of tickets to be mailed to non-Long Island homes. If picking up tickets, you must show your driver’s license to make sure you are from Long Island, otherwise you cannot get your ticket even if you paid for it!

This topic needs a lot of brainstorming, but by still allowing A FEW fans from the other team to come, some sort of revenue is still being brought in and the arena is not being drowned out by cheers for the visiting team.
The players need to get excited about their team. Get them all together and organize some events to also get fans excited. Autograph signings, a day to skate with some lucky kids, skills competitions, and fundraisers.

When the players start to care about this city, and the city starts to care about the team, that is when this team will truly rise.

I do not want the Rangers to lose their competition, and I do not want the NHL to lose what was once a fantastic team.

I really do not want any city to lose its team. If the Oilers were to get moved, I would truly be shattered. What games would I go to? Whose EVERY game would I watch? Who would I cheer for with all of my heart? Calgary?? HA! I would rather eat a puck.

I just do not understand why there is so little spark for the Islanders. I don’t even like the team and I am cheering for them to succeed and stay in their city! The city, players, and most importantly Gary Bettman should all be doing the same!

Bettman did announce recently that construction has to begin on a new arena NOW. But come on Gary, this situation has been around for a long time, with talks of a new arena for at least 10 years. Why couldn’t you have exercised your holy commissioner powers earlier, before it was too late? Get it done already!

I am making a movement to Save the Islanders. I might even go get a t-shirt made. Now, who is with me?

Gloves Off, Helmets On?

Maya Filipovic — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:23:28 -0400

Fighting has been an integral part of hockey since the very beginning of the sport. Without it, most fans would feel incomplete while watching or attending a game.

Whether or not to forbid fighting has been a constant question behind the world of the NHL. It is an issue that will not be resolved any time soon, and I believe cannot be resolved without changing the very game itself.

However, a newer issue that has arisen is whether or not helmets should be mandatory when a fight occurs.

Helmets were made mandatory in 1979 for every new player entering the league for obvious safety reasons. In the 1930s, after several disturbing injuries, helmets first made their appearance. They remained largely unpopular with both players and fans, who reprimanded the players who wore them.

This illustrates how drastically our ideologies have changed over this issue—for if a player refused to wear a helmet now, we would endlessly criticize their decision and their sense.

Why then does it not seem to be an issue that during the most violent part of the game helmets are thrown off without regard and danger reintroduces itself. During fights, players are constantly knocked down, and over the years, hundreds of players have at the very least gotten a bump on their head, with concussions a common result.

Multiple concussions cause lasting negative effects, and common sense says should be avoided at all costs. But they aren’t.

Shouldn’t the league do whatever possible to ensure the safety of its players? This would come about by a mandate on the retention of helmets during fights. A sensible solution, yes—but is it possible?

If you have ever seen a hockey fight, you know how quickly it comes about and how passionate the players become. Helmets are mostly thrown off as a result of a blow to the head, not from the player’s choice.

Truth be told, there are some players who voluntarily remove their helmets in an exhibition of robustness, but they are by far the minority. If this act is spontaneous, how then can it be controlled during a fast-paced fight?

In order to not remove the helmet, the attacker would have to not aim at the face, and would have to instead direct his hits at the other areas—yes, the padded areas of the other player. What a fight to watch that would be.

Players who fight do so voluntarily, and are aware of the risks associated with fighting—bleeding, concussions, broken noses, knocked-out teeth, to name a few. If they are okay with these risks, then the other players will not prevent them—the pride of their team is on their hands.

Since the league cannot viably place a mandate on helmets when fighting, and the players do not seem to care about what could happen when their helmet is thrown off, the whole issue proves to be irrelevant at the moment.

The only way that a solution to this problem will appear is if fighting is altogether made illegal. However, since it hasn’t happened as of yet, I do not foresee it being implemented any time soon—unless, knock on wood, something terrible happens during a fight.