The Edmonton Oilers opened their season on October 9th against their provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames. It was yet another sad day for Oilers fans as they had to once again come to terms with the fact that their team is not even close. They are individually talented, there’s no denying that, but as a whole, this team is still a work in progress and unless they all start buying into an NHL system, there won’t be a glitter of hope for a playoff run for years and years to come.

Here’s a bit of a breakdown of three plays from that game against the hated Flames, two of which ended in goals for those same hated Flames.

PLAY 1: GOAL

PLAY 2: No goal, just a grade A scoring chance.

PLAY 3: GOAL

As soon as any sort of adversity arises during the course of a game, this team changes gears, comes down with a bad case of memory disorder and replaces all systems with free flying pond hockey rules. Too often, players try to cut corners. Too often, players try to do too much individually. It will be another long year if this team doesn’t buy into a system and sticks with it.