Oilers address frustrating year in letter to season ticket holders

The Edmonton Oilers failed to reach the playoffs for the second consecutive season, so it may be easy to see why the club is openly preparing itself for another summer full of despair.

Edmonton didn’t shy away from its disappointing 2018-19 campaign in a candid season ticket renewal letter, while trying to steer fans away from the trainwreck of the past two years.

“It was certainly a frustrating season for all Oilers fans,” the letter reads. “We can say things will be different and that better days are ahead, but we understand you have heard that before...”

It’s a bold but not altogether surprising strategy from the Oilers. Connor McDavid didn’t mince words in his post-mortem, calling it an insane season, and we tend to agree with the Oilers’ superstar there. Head coach Todd McLellan was fired 20 games into the season and was replaced by Ken Hitchcock, general manager Peter Chiarelli was finally ousted in January, only to be replaced by interim GM Keith Gretzky.

Even Wayne Gretzky couldn’t have turned this ship around.

We applaud the approach here, but the Oilers will still need to hire a permanent general manager and find a way to supply McDavid with a lot more talent before we can start buying the promises stated in the letter.

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