Since the Edmonton Oilers have been eliminated from the playoffs every so called hockey expert I’ve heard has said that the Oilers have too many small forwards and need to add some size up front. Well most of those guys haven’t watched every game this season like I have so they don’t realize that on a lot of nights it didn’t matter that our forwards were small they dominated some games, they don’t realize that on a lot of nights our best players were small guys like Sam Gagner or Andrew Cogliano. There were games that I even thought that Robert Nilsson was the best player on the ice and Dustin Penner was the worst.  We don’t need more size, we need more drive, more determination, more heart, we need to be better prepared and we need to play a complete 60 minutes, we need better leadership.  Step 1 is complete, Craig Mactavish is gone, Step 2 will be to name a new captain (Souray or Hemsky).  It is the responsibility of the leaders on the team, the coach, the captain and the assistant captains to ensure the team plays at a high level of energy and they are prepared the game, to ensure that they have the drive and determination to get the job done.  The other day I heard someone say that leaders are not a result of success but that success is a result of great leaders (thanks Larry).

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