A Few Home Truths

This is Dave Gagner with his son. In the fall of 2007 the Oilers kept Sam at the NHL level and this is year three of his career in the big leagues.If we use Sam Gagner's first NHL season as the start of a brand new day for the Edmonton Oilers, then this season is looking pretty good.I think that's the only way we as fans can view the current edition of the team. Much like the 79-80 Oilers (and maybe the 80-81 or 81-82 edition) this team has tremendous young talent (although not at that level) with the 'delivery on potential' and learning curves represented by steep slopes ahead.The problem for the Oilers is this: can you reasonably expect the fanbase to endure another season of getting run over by Calgary, Vancouver, Minnesota and (incredibly) Colorado? I think that's a massive business risk, especially considering the incredible amount of good faith that is going to be called upon over the arena project.Here's a few other things:Making the playoffs has never...