It was a down season for the Oilers, who finished 14th in the Western Conference 12 months after a 12-year playoff drought. Despite Connor McDavid leading the NHL in points and returning talented, young pieces like Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse, it was a drastically different season in Edmonton, with the Oilers finishing 25 points shy of their 2016-17 total.
Losing can breed frustration. Case in point: Brett Barrett, a fan who took an unusual step to voice it, even by the ravenous, Canadian NHL standards.
In a story posted on his personal blog, Barrett outlined his Oilers' fandom, beginning as a young child growing up obsessed with the team, stretching into the current iteration of Oilers. But after years of losing and, as Barrett described it, poor decision making, enough was enough. After general manager Peter Chiarelli and CEO Bob Nicholson held their end-of-the-year news conference to close the 2018-19 season, Barrett quit.
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From the blog post:
Having decided to end my fandom, I wrote a breakup letter to the Oilers organization. The team no longer makes me happy. My mental health is very often worse for being a fan of this organization. Watching games became a burden and watching teams like Winnipeg and Toronto succeed was a reminder of what could have been.
I ended up writing another copy of that letter, with less swearing and stream-of-conscious narration, and mailed it to the organization. I outlined some of the poor (read: dumb) choices the organization has made and why I can no longer support the team in good faith. The letter was dated April 18, 2018: three years to the day when the future seemed irrepressibly bright.
I mailed the letter, packed my jerseys and memorabilia into a box (no small feat, I had a lot of Oilers crap), and gave the box to my parents. I began looking for a new team to cheer for. I forgot about the letter.
Strange? Perhaps, but this is also a fan base that throws jerseys onto the ice, accosts its star player when he's away from the rink, and confuses sinks for urinal troughs. But this isn't where Barrett's story ended. For as outside-of-the-box as his idea and the execution was, the Oilers actually replied to his letter, trying to sell Barrett on sticking with the team.
And his pitch was ... well, here's his pitch:
"The Edmonton Oilers are extremely proud to have such a passionate and knowledgable fans. We don't take that kind of loyalty and support for the team for granted."
OK, not a bad start. Compliment the angry fan to at least calm him down and maybe massage his ego enough to talk him off the ledge, offer like 20 percent off a single-item purchase in the team store or a food voucher or something, and go from there.
"Specifically to your letter, I want to thank you for taking the time to communicate your thoughts and I would like to let you know that we ate the Oilers share in your vision of continued improvement for the team. It's no surprise that we too were disappointed in the outcome of this season and recognize the need for progress moving forward."
Yes, well, we've already established things did "not go well," so yeah, let's make with the contingency plan or the kickbacks.
"I can tell you I work with Peter day in and day out, and he's working tirelessly to improve the team, as you've hopefully seen with some of our off-season moes to refresh the coaching staff and focus on some player needs for the upcoming season. ..."
Oilers offseason additions: Tobias Rieder, Kyle Brodziak, Kevin Gravel, Pontus Aberg, Mikko Koskinen. Here come the Oilers!
"... As Peter mentioned in his recent interview during the NHL Scouting Combine, we know what success feels like and while we experienced failures this past season, those missteps are just as invaluable as we learn and build from them. We don't believe there's a need to do anything too drastic as we've worked hard to greatly improve our depth over the past couple of years. Having said that, we do recognize there are still some holes to fill."
The 2016-17 Oilers: Learn how to lose in the playoffs. The 2017-18 Oilers: Learn how to lose in the regular season.
"I'm confident we've got some good young players coming up and I think Peter's commitment to bringing further depth to the team was showcased with the recent signing of Finnish goalie Mikko Koskinen and the signing of forward Patrick Russell, who represented Denmark at the 2018 World Hockey Championship last month."
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Russell is 25 years old and has 22 goals in 136 games for the Oilers' AHL affiliate in Bakersfield. He turns 26 in January.
"Together with Peter, Todd, and our new assistant coaching staff, we share in the common goal of not only making the playoffs this season, but being a Stanley Cup contender year in and year out.
"While I understand your critical eye, Peter has my full faith and support as we continue on this path.
"I sincerely hope you will continue to believe in and support our franchise but nonetheless, greatly appreciate your thoughts and taking the time to share them."
The Oilers look a lot like they did two years ago, when they finished with 103 points, second in the Pacific Division, and won a playoff round. They're failures a season ago, be it from a lack of external additions or internal improvement, seemed a bit below where one would reasonably expect them to finish with the same group. Cam Talbot's save-percentage dipped 11 points, the team's shooting percentage at 5-on-5 dropped nearly a point, and the Oilers struggled to generate offense when McDavid wasn't on the ice.
It just seems like the Oilers are expecting those things to self-regulate, especially going off Nicholson's letter.