Sportsnet writer provides Oilers with perfect solution.

Here’s what Mark Spector wrote about the Edmonton Oilers.

They are, alas, a team with some pretty good top-end forwards but a bottom-six that is irrelevant and without personality, edge or the ability to affect a game. They are neither big and tough nor quick and pesky, rather blah, with a paucity of offence and even less energy provided during their time on the ice. On defence, the Oilers are simply soft, with the blueline too easily surrendered and the home plate area a place where the Islanders could have held a picnic Wednesday, as opponents have all season long. They don’t or can’t defend. As such, they won’t or can’t win when it matters. That, folks, we can guarantee you. (Mark Spector, Sportsnet)

Wow! I suppose you have to respect the journalist for telling it exactly like he sees it. What he has done though, is provide the perfect tool for Edmonton head coach Jay Woodcroft to right the ship and start a winning streak. He should print that assessment and post it in the Oilers dressing room for the rest of the season. That’s what I would do to light a fire under my team. If that kind of assessment is not enough to spark a team to go on a winning rampage, then the Oilers truly are lost.

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Connor McDavid a superb athlete and smart guy!

My respect and admiration for Connor McDavid went up another notch. He is universally recognized as the best hockey player on the planet. Watching his brilliance throughout these Stanley Cup playoffs was an outstanding sports memory. The things this athlete can do on hockey skates are beyond what mortals can do wearing land sneakers! McDavid’s manipulation of his stick, the deceptions and bursts of speed, his accuracy in passing, the athletic achievements are really quite astonishing. But it was his intelligence and ability to capture in words what it takes to win a Stanley Cup that impressed me after the Oilers were finally beaten by the Avalanche in game 4 of their conference final.

“It feels like it’s steps, right?” said a disappointed McDavid, moments after a handshake line with the clearly superior Avalanche. “Every team kind of goes through it: They become a playoff team, then they get there most years, they go on a little bit of a run and they learn that lesson. Then it becomes their time to win.”

Smart guy! Anticipating many more years of sports excellence from Connor McDavid.

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