The most beautiful woman in the world; Audrey reborn

In the time it took to Bob McKenzie to type out a twitter indicating that Ryan Whitney's ankle injury may be measured in months rather than weeks, the Oilers went from being a beautiful girl in full bloom of a fresh, young romance, to suddenly crying and dumped.  Still beautiful, still young, but now damaged and will need time to heal. 

In terms of individuals, they'll all say the right things - from Tambo on down to Ryan O'Marra.  Expect quotes like: "We're still looking to win, we may be young and have a few injured players but that doesn't excuse us from effort", and "This may be a learning season for our many young players, but the best way to learn is by winning".

There is, of course, no other possible response - in public or in private - for members of the organization.  Only at the very highest levels will Steve Tambellini and Tom Renney discuss how much darker our immediate future has become.  Where my concern as a fan comes in is if they realize the long-term danger.

There seem to be two kinds of teams that draft high: those that visit the basement and use their picks to get right out of it, and the perpetual basement dwellers.  Pittsburgh, Washington, and Philadelphia are all teams that hit the bottom and bounced back.  The Penguins spent the longest time there due to their financial and arena situation.  The Capitals were losing for quite a while despite ownership's best efforts (Ted Leonsis may be the best owner in sports.)  Philadelphia went from playoff contender to bottom-feeder, and right back to playoff contender.  They had one lottery pick, James van Riemsdyk, and he's not the reason for their turn-around or Stanley Cup run last year.

The other kinds of teams that draft high are best exemplified by the New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers, and Florida Panthers.  All three have consistently had high lottery picks, even #1 overall picks in the case of the Islanders, and their forays into the playoffs have been almost as brief as they are rare.  Atlanta is doing much better this season and the resolved ownership issues should help them out, but it remains to be seen if they can truly dig themselves out of their hole.  Other teams that could be used as examples until recently are the Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks and Thrashers are the best examples of where the Oilers could go.  Under Dollar Bill Wirtz, the Blackhawks refused to spend in free agency, and if they did, it would be a one-off contract like the one that brought Khabibulin to the Windy City.  They'd fail to follow it up and build a team around their new player.  They didn't get support for Martin Havlat, either.  As much as Chicago's success is due to Toews and Kane breaking out, Chicago was already in the midst of improving their supporting cast in the rookie season for the dynamic duo.  The Oilers are apparently intent on tanking further.

This is demoralizing.  It's demoralizing for players like Ales Hemsky and Ryan Whitney, who are in their primes and want to get back into the playoffs, to compete and win.  It's demoralizing to older players like Shawn Horcoff and younger ones like Sam Gagner, who's been on losing teams his whole NHL career.  Franchises and fans can wait and hope the tank job accomplishes something.  Players have short careers, shorter peaks of their careers, and in a 30-team league, there's a two-thirds chance that an average player with a 10-year career will not win the Cup.  It's a 50% chance for those whose skills stand the test of time, who manage 15 years in the league.  Patience is a virtue, but the lack of it in players is understandable.

How the Oilers weren't involved in talks for James Wisniewski is beyond me.  We needed help on the back end before Whitney went down.  We need more than Jeff Petry and Martin Marincin, who might be impact players 5 years from now.  We need veterans.

Or we might end up like that other team, the other path the Oilers could go down on - the Atlanta Thrashers.  A couple of skilled wingers, a few holes in the middle, and a yawning chasm on the back end.  Tell me if this doesn't sound familiar: a team with a very complete scoring right winger and a dynamic goal-scoring left winger, with middling centres and no defence, picks in the lottery again and again.  That's the Thrashers as they were for years - Hossa and Kovalchuk.  It could also be the Oilers unless management gets serious. 

It's not that Pajaarvi, Omark, Hall and Eberle lack the will to win.  It's that they can't do it, not even the four of them if they develop into superstars.  They need support.  As star junior players realize they can't do it alone like they did when they were 18, so they realize that the franchise has to support them, or they go looking for other venues.  Losing is a disease.  Cure it or it becomes a chronic condition for the franchise.