There are bad starts and then there’s what the Edmonton Oilers have done in the first four games of the 2014-15 season. No wins, three losses and one overtime loss. A goal differential of minus-12, which by comparison makes the Buffalo Sabres look like a Jennings Trophy winner, and their coach just called them a pee-wee team.

Yes, losing your top center to injury is devastating, which might provide some cover for losses like last night’s at the Arizona Coyotes. But the time has come to acknowledge some simple truths about this Edmonton Oilers team:

1. They don’t know how to win.

That’s not a generalization or some abstract concept. They simply don’t understand how to win in the National Hockey League. They get knocked on their asses, and they just fold.

They trailed after the first period 36 times in 82 games last season; they rallied to win seven times and earned a point three times. That’s a .194 winning percentage. They’re 0-for-2 already this season.

2. Put me down on the “Ralph Kruger got a raw deal” petition.

He wasn’t given long enough to grow with the young players who supported him, and he brought some semblance of a structure to a team that summarily lacks it this season.

Dallas Eakins was hired by Craig MacTavish because he coveted him and because he felt the need to put his own stamp on the team. And every night there are screen grabs showing how much the Oilers have learned from Eakins about defensive coverage:

This happens, like, once per game.

3. Crazy thought, but given they play in the Western Conference, maybe that second-line center spot should have been addressed with something other than a rookie or a second-year guy.

4. I used to yearn for the Oilers to make the playoffs because I wanted to see Hall and Eberle and the Nuge and the Yak on that stage. Now I’m yearning for them to make the playoffs to keep Connor McDavid as far away from the gravitational pull of this black hole of young hockey talent as possible.

How abjectly terrible have the Oilers been during this stumble of a start? Let’s look at some of the reviews from around their loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night:

From Adam Proteau of The Hockey News:

Throw out the old “you can’t make moves now from a point of weakness” argument all you want. It applies in most cases, but not here and now with this organization. If you don’t do anything now, and the suffering continues, and the air in the dressing room goes toxic, guess what? You just went from a point of weakness to a point of feebleness.

So instead of gambling on that not happening, GM Craig MacTavish needs to get to work immediately on a transaction of significance. That means leaving the third and fourth lines and third-pair defense alone, and finally biting the bullet on trading one of the franchise’s elite young forwards. Now, that probably won’t be star winger Taylor Hall or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but even from a so-called position of weakness, there’s no reason the Oilers couldn’t land a better-than average haul in a deal for winger Jordan Eberle. He’s 24 years old and the type of proven scorer you can build a bidding war around. You might not land an equally proficient scorer in return, but you might get a top defensive prospect for a player like that. You might be able to improve your depth in a number of areas for a player like that.

From Jason Gregor of Oilers Nation:

When you give up 15 goals in the first three games of the season, for the second year in a row, it is extremely valid to question if the defensive system Dallas Eakins and Craig Ramsay have put in place, and players Craig MacTavish provided them with are good enough.

… The Oilers organization continues to believe that they know more than everyone else. It is fine to think that, but they need to learn to be more humble about it. Keep those viewpoints within the confines of their offices, especially when you're not winning.

I'm not saying the brass shouldn't have confidence, but the Oilers have to stop over promising and under delivering.

We all remember the, "I think I know a little bit about winning, if there’s ever a concern,” statement from Kevin Lowe when he hired Craig MacTavish and Scott Howson. Lowe knew how to win as a player. No one can debate that. He was a fierce competitor and more valuable on the ice than many give him credit for. But winning as a player is far different than winning as GM. There is no direct correlation between winning as a player and winning as a coach or GM.

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