a·cu·men [ak-yuh-muhn] noun: keen insight; shrewdness

Welcome to Oil Acumen. All Oilers, all the time... Occasionally other stuff.

Sunday 23 November 2014

11/23/14 Learning On The Job


It's the Oilers Way.


If you asked me to put my finger on the one thing that's most wrong with the Oilers these days, I'd say it's their tendency to have important people attend the University of Hard Knocks.

At every level - players, coaches, management - many of the men in the most important positions lack a proven track record. A cynic might say that that makes them easier to control, since they haven't yet decided for themselves how life in the NHL should be. But whose control?

Who indeed.

Kevin Lowe retired as a player in July of 1998, and became head coach of a National Hockey League team (the Oilers, of course) in 1999 after just one season as an assistant under Ron Low. Just three seasons after retiring as a player this man was the General Manager of the team. To those who don't remember it, that may seem just a little strange. Well, it happened.

So where might the Oilers get the idea that anyone worth their salt should be able to waltz right into the best league on earth? Oh, I don't know. But fans only want Lowe fired because they're after a sacrificial lamb.

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