Oilers GM Craig MacTavish yesterday "whacked head coach Dallas Eakins, the second head man the GM has dismissed" since taking the position in April '13, according to a front-page piece by John MacKinnon of the EDMONTON JOURNAL. MacTavish said, "There’s blood all over my hands in this. Because I put the lineup together and the roster" (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 12/16). YAHOO SPORTS’ Nicholas Cotsonika wrote team Owner Daryl Katz "grew up rooting for the Oilers when they were a dynasty, and he has put too much trust in one of his old heroes,” including President of Hockey Operations Kevin Lowe. Cotsonika: "Lowe needs to go. Now." Oilers Entertainment Group Vice Chair Bob Nicholson "needs to take over hockey ops and do what Lowe did not last time: conduct a wide-ranging search for a new GM” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 12/15). ESPN.com’s Scott Burnside wrote there is “chaos and dysfunction” in the Oilers front office. It is “undeniable that this team simply isn't built to compete in the NHL, and especially not in the Western Conference where the Oilers are 1-15-4 this season.” Many "view Nicholson as perhaps the one man to lead the Oilers out of the wilderness." To do that, Nicholson "will have to break the old boys' grid that appears to have played a large role in the utter stagnation of this franchise” (ESPN.com, 12/15). The GLOBE & MAIL’s Eric Duhatschek writes the Oilers “need to be trending in the right direction when their new downtown arena opens” prior to the ‘16-17 season. There are “starting to be some empty seats in the old one now, something sure to catch the eye” of Katz and Nicholson (GLOBE & MAIL, 12/16).
OH, RATS! QMI AGENCY's Renaud Lavoie noted NHL Panthers Owner Vincent Viola is demanding $78M in "public funds over 14 years to offset his team’s losses." Broward County council member Barbara Sharief said that "if the team leaves, it would take with it a lucrative AEG events contract." Speaking to Quebec-based TVA Sports, Sharief said, "It would be very difficult for us to book shows and to fill up the arena. So essentially ... we would have a concrete dinosaur just sitting there." Lavoie noted Sharief provided a "preliminary study that shows" BB&T Center is worth $450M. But the arena would be valued at just $60M "without the Panthers" (QMI AGENCY, 12/12).
