Hello Oilogosphere!  And thank you for giving me the opportunity to get my thoughts out there.

I have been an Oilers fan for as long as I can remember.  Some of my earliest memories are of my dad yelling at the TV during Oilers games, and is a trait I have aquired since I've grown up.  Now since I was too young to see the glory days of the "boys on the bus," as I was 5 years old the last time the Oilers raised the cup, I grew up in the era of Oilers mediocrity that lasted far too many years for my liking.  

Yes there were some good times, like Todd Marchant beating Andy Moog in game 7 against Dallas, and Cujo standing on his head against Colorado.  However these "good" times were always temporary, and I resigned myself to believe that getting to the second round was plenty good, and was happy with that.  

Some may call me a bad fan for thinking that way, but I had never known any different Oilers team.  The best I had seen since being old enough to know what was going on, was a second round playoff appearance.  My Dad, throughout all of this was still die hard and devoted.  He assured me that they were really good once, and they can do it again, but I had yet to see this for myself.  

Then along comes 2006.  "Just like any other year", I thought, "Maybe squeeze into 8th place and perhaps make the second round", I thought.  

Just like I thought, we squeezed into 8th, and, faced off against the Red Wings.  Fantastic.  I figured maybe we would win 2 or 3 games.   And then all of a sudden  BOOM!!  

I was spiraled into 2 months on the edge of my seat, cheering, drinking, hockey.  Everyone is in a good mood.  There's Oiler flags on every second flagpole, an Oilers jersey on every second person.  For 2 months my work schedule revolves around the Oilers playoff run.  "Can't work late tonight, the Oilers game is on".  That wasn't me saying it.  It was my boss.  (yes that was awesome).  This was one of the greatest times of my life.  I had finally seen my beloved Oilers make it past the second round….the third… and so on.  Now I won't get into the ending, because Im sure everyone on here would feel the same as me about that.  But it stands that the team I thought would never make it past round 2, showed me that, yes it could, and from then on I was a believer.  

I have always thought that no matter who was on the team, the Oilers were a "sleeper" team.  Playing far better hockey in the playoffs than in the regular season.  Giving the best teams a run for their money.  If the Oilers get to the playoffs, they are a team to be scared of.  They just want it more that most teams.   Even with our 2nd to last place season this year, I think that  with the team we have now, if we were to make it to the playoffs, it wouldn't be a wipeout.  It would be a fight to the death.  Somehow the Oil has the ability to come up big against big name teams, in big game situations.  (Pisani shorthanded goal in game five IN OVERTIME?? Come on~!!)

Which brings me to my point.  (Sorry for the rant, people), They've got potential.  Sure the defense and goaltending could be better, we could use more size.  But given the talent that we have right now, both in the NHL and at the farm, there's every reason to be happy right now.   No need to make rash trades and potentially trade away part of the future for a big name player now.  We don't need NOW.  We need, next year.  The year after, and the year after that.  STAY THE COURSE TAMBO!!!  Let them play together.   Develop chemistry, and friendships so they WANT to play for the Oilers and want to play for each other.  So they want to win it for the coaches and themselves.  And once that happens, DONT TRADE THEM!!!  You've got Nuge a passer like Gretz.  And you've got Eberle, a shooter like Kurri.  And you've got Hall…..  Well that guy is just crazy and wants to score all the time, like 24/7 if he could, even while sleeping.

All in all, I don't care that we're 29th in the league.  So what?  Next year will be different.  Used to be that I didn't believe excuses like that.  Caught in the belief of mediocrity is all we're going to get.  Its not like that anymore.  The future is bright for this team, and although we're losing some, we're still winning some, and we're winning some by a big margin, and some guys are putting up big numbers.  Whenever the "Better next year" happens, I'll be there.  Yelling at the TV , screaming at Hemsky to "shoot the damn puck!"

-A