Establishing an identity

An identity.....

It's something that the Oilers of old established early. They were talented, young, cocky and fast. Glen Sather also made them work hard albeit not always on both ends of the ice, he gave his young stallions plenty of room to operate and run and gun was allowed. He would supplement his stable with some hard working clysedales along the way. Some examples, Lee Fogolin, Dave Lumley, Dave Hunter, Craig Mactavish, Pat Hughes just to name a few.

The talent slowly get sold off for spare parts but you could always count on the Oilers to work hard, though they didn't have the talent to compete. We really never had a chance to beat the Stars on a regular basis but you would never accuse the Oilers of taking a night off or not earning their keep. They skated hard and were a physical team.

The Oilers of the last few years were long on potential talent but short on grit and even shorter on doing the work necessary to compete on a nightly basis. They tried to get by on talent alone, but no team can get away with that if they want to be in the playoffs. They skated but with no seeming purpose on any given night, they played as a bunch of individuals wearing the same jerseys but you couldn't call them a team.

Quinn quickly realized the problem and asked this team what identity they wanted. The answer was a return to Oilers Hockey! This team is a work in progress but early on this season I really haven't noted any passengers.

The Oilers have not changed their roster significantly but do have some young talent, but that was never going to be enough. Quinn recognized quickly the biggest weakness on the Oilers last year. It was lack of identity, lack of team and fixing that problem will go a long way into turn this team into a playoff contender.

The Oilers may not have the clysedales and the sandpiper to be as gritty and hard hitting as the playoff teams that lined up against the Dallas Stars, but they do have more offensive weapons to throw at the opposition.

Yes it is a work in progress and I look forward to this team completely establishing that identity that has been missing for the last three years!

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