Monday Morning Hot Links: Don’t Blame the Captain

Good Morning all. This weekend was a doozy with the Oilers losing a winnable game to Dallas. We’re off until tomorrow.

Between the Dallas loss and now, a whole lot of garbage came out. Look, I do these links, I actually read all of this stuff among other NHL articles. Unfortunately, there is only so much to report on these days with no one talking and no major moves on the horizon. As a result, stuff like what I’m about to show you comes out.

Authors have quotas, they need link clicks and they need to provide value to their site. I get why it happens. I also find it to be a sad state of affairs when some authors have such an easy time writing garbage, for the sole purpose of angering their readers, as a way to drive clicks and comments. Let’s call it, general disappointment. Maybe some of it is our fault. We read this stuff, I get annoyed by it, I reference it, hell, I’m even about to link it. Maybe I should put more effort into finding smaller unknown blogs. They’re out there, after all. Just because an individual doesn’t have the marketing doesn’t mean they’re not saying something worth hearing. Maybe I should start writing more original content myself, I have been given the privilege of writing for a well known blog right here. I just have a problem writing something just for the point of content production. It gets clicks, sure, but I don’t see any value in writing garbage that an audience gets nothing new from. As a result, we largely have links and game coverage. Not much else.

There’s a reason I write my recaps the way I do. If you just want the score, you can get that from TSN, Sportsnet, the NHL network, or anywhere else. I throw in ridiculous anecdotes that aren’t even related to the game just to add something different. Personally I find it more fun and makes them unique. I do think I need to work on more original content though. Just don’t expect me to say things when I have nothing to say. Anyway, let’s get to it.

Lowetide wrote a great piece regarding what’s gone wrong for the Oilers so far. This is probably my favorite article over the weekend because it was neither a Peter Chiarelli dog pile, nor was it resolving him of all blame. (The Athletic)

He also gives us an update on the prospects in the system. If you scroll down to where the CHL players are listed, you’ll be very excited about the next few years. (Oilers Nation)

To start off the garbage written over the weekend, we don’t need to look further than Spector. He blames Connor McDavid for the loss, compares him to Taylor Hall (who he thinks is a bad player) and then says the numbers don’t lie while citing plus/minus. You’ll get nothing from reading this, but I think it’s important to know that it exists, and that someone was paid to write it. (Sportsnet)

After that piece was written, Jim Matheson stood up for it, called the analysis astute, and took a beating on twitter. A lot of people were accusing him of never saying anything negative about management. As a response, it appears he has done just that. This is Matheson proving that he does say bad things about them. (Edmonton Used Cars Ads)

Kurt Leavins (who I typically enjoy) would like to know where these people sounding the alarm bells were in the summer. Now, I’ve heard you guys pointing out the team’s flaws for a long time. As early as June, easily. If you were one of them, please read this and react accordingly. (Edmonton Journal)

That’s all for today. We’ll have a few pieces this week, and we’ll cover the games tomorrow. If you happen to stumble across any quality blogs, or if you have your own, feel free to send me an email so I can start linking.