Edmonton Oilers: Dead End Road Will Lead To a New Day

General Manager Steve Tambellini stood outside the Edmonton Oilers offices in north Edmonton on Friday, with the wind blowing his hair around in one of the worst locations for a press conference. 

One is left to wonder what he did to deserve it.

All Tambellini did was seek to make his team better.  In the end, as so often happens with the Edmonton Oilers, he ended up in a soap opera atmosphere.

One thing is clear, if nothing else is. It is time for the Oilers to stop the illusion of being the weak ones in this situation.  

As Robin Brownlee, Edmonton sportswriter, put it the other day: It is time to get up off your knees.

The Oilers know what their problems are—They lack a top draw player, something they have not had since Chris Pronger left town in three years ago. 

Without that player, the team has to win in order to draw players.  So much is made about Edmonton not being a sexy location.  I would wager that most of this is due to the perception of team being a loser place to play. 

Does anyone really think that Calgary is such a sexy place—that it can out draw free agents better than the Oilers?

If you do, you may need to reconsider.  I think most of the reason for Calgary drawing some free agents comes down to te record.  Right now, Pittsburgh and Detroit are popular locations—even if their cities are not. 

Those that go to those teams want to win.  Those that go to Phoenix or Los Angeles seem to be more about sun then sweat. 

If the Oilers had the marquee players and a record as a winner that Detroit—and now Pittsburgh—has gained, then they would draw free agents, too. 

In fact, that was the way it was for the team in the 1980's.

In the dynasty days, the Oilers were able to always mix and match players as needed.  Kent Nilsson, Ken Linesman, Reijo Ruotsalainen, and players like them were brought on to the team at key times to help the Oilers win cups.

The current team has more in common with the Florida Panthers than with those old teams.  Free agents are usually willing to wait around for players to blossom. 

So while it make sense for Dany Heatley not to be enthralled with coming to the Oilers, it also shows that the team has some work to do.

Rather than seeing the Heatley follies as a discouraging slight, maybe the fans need to step back.

After three years out of the playoffs, the team is not going to suddenly compete for the Stanley Cup—It will need to work just to make the playoffs.  So with that in mind, fan expectations should be low.

The time has come for everyone to have patience. If Heatley has some sort of conversion to the Oilers, then fine.  If not, then the Oilers will just have to continue to build the team from the inside.

It is clear that the best teams usually build from within.  Even the mighty Yankees were best when they had good home grown talent. 

A dead road at the end of the day can build into a major highway some day.  It just needs some careful planning and construction.