E-mailers and commenters are upset with the writers here at The Copper & Blue. Apparently, we focus too much on things like facts, stats, on-ice performance, the past, and management inefficiencies, and don't spend enough time focusing on thing like the future, the kids, the arena, and the impressive rebuild underway.
Our articles about scoring chances, Corsi, save percentage, contracts, and the salary cap apparently don't capture the true spirit of what's going on in Edmonton with these fine Oilers. There is so much under the hood, so much subtle sunshine, so much hope here that being negative, even if honest, isn't fair.
The subtle sunshine is so subtle that we don't even see it. We are blinded by our focus on microstats and the management team's past, ignoring what's just around the bend. Even though the worst players on the ice have been veterans - specifically Tambellini veterans - this season, we need to look to the beyond, when the rebuild will be complete, because being terrible isn't really a true reflection of the management team, no, it's a strategy.
So even though we've done more prospect interviews and prospect articles than any other professional hockey blog, we're not focused on the future. Even though we've closely tracked prospects like Teemu Hartikainen, Magnus Paajarvi and Anton Lander, we don't understand that it takes losing for a long time to be a playoff team. We don't understand that making incremental changes to make things easier on the kids you're trying to develop is foolhardy. It's better to play the kids and let them learn the hard way, and examples of bringing players along slowly are foolish and don't apply to this situation.
So as long as we're not getting it, we may as well ask: what, exactly, are the positive aspects of the Oilers right now? What atoms are being fused in the giant ball of Oilers gas that are creating so much sunshine? What overarching greatness exists within the organization right now that should force all of us to ignore the present? If there is so much to be positive about, if so much sunshine is spreading over Alberta that it should blind everyone to the present, it shouldn't be difficult to explain it all to us.
You let us know, we'll devote articles to it. We're going to write honestly on this though, so saying something like "Theo Peckham has been impressive" just because you think he hits hard will probably be shredded to pieces.