Mamma Always did Cook it Best

If you have not read the previous post I recommend you do so. Not only is it insightful, it might help you understand my train of thought leading into this little gem. So why is watching Oiler hockey so disinteresting this year? I think I've found a clue. I can remember telling myself several times that its ok if we suck, I'd rather be 13th in the conference than 9th, June is more fun that way. This thought is then quickly corrected by cold reality. The Ducks have our draft picks, so we don't even get to use them. So now I'm thinking I don't want to give the Ducks good picks so lets win. Except we aren't. Insert disinterested frustration.

I keep hearing everyone talk about how deep this years draft is (as deep or deeper than the 2003 gala, and we fucked that one up to), but we have Anaheim's pick in the first so it shouldn't be that bad should it? Who's to say, draft picks are kind of a crap shoot. How many players are playing for the same team that drafted them? Do teams with a lot have more success than those that don't? Lets look at the list, as per Scott Cullen (with players on IR included as the '+'):

San Jose - 17 + 1
Ottawa - 15
Buffalo - 14 + 1
Dallas - 14 + 1
Detroit - 14
Colorado - 13 + 2
Montreal - 13 + 1
New Jersey - 13 + 1
Nashville - 12 + 2
Pittsburgh - 12 + 2
Columbus - 13
Edmonton - 13
Chicago - 11 + 2
Minnesota - 12
St. Louis - 12
Toronto - 10 + 2
Washington - 11
Boston - 8 + 3
N.Y. Rangers - 10
Florida - 9 + 1
Phoenix - 9
Vancouver - 8 + 1
L.A. - 8 + 1
N.Y. Islanders - 7 + 2
Anaheim - 7
Philadelphia - 7
Carolina - 7
Tampa Bay - 6 + 1
Atlanta - 6
Calgary - 5

I've bolded all the teams currently in playoff positions. Shows an interesting pattern. Clearly the teams with higher numbers seem to be having better seasons. You could even argue that Buffalo is still a good team just in a transition so the top 10 teams in this list are in the playoffs. There are a lot of flaws to this list, for instance a team could have a lot of bottom tier players who were drafted by them versus a team with less drafted players but those players are more top flight impact guys. Which is better? Some teams have traded away all their picks/prospects to beef up such as Anaheim and Philadelphia which pushes them down the list.

But this should serve as to some indication that buying a team is not always a sound decision and the procurement department of your organization should get fat checks. As for the Oilers? One of the highest on this list with out being in the playoffs. My take is that this team is young, and if we can keep our "homegrown" talent we might one day make it to bolded glory once again. We just need Kevin Lowe to tone down on the RFA offer sheets.