from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,
This team gets criticized when they lose a couple of games in a row, now that the city has become used to a winning environment. There were empty seats here not terribly long ago, although the town may have grown so much and going to games may have become such a status symbol that losing may not hurt them at the gate.
That winning environment certainly existed at one time in Edmonton, too, but there’s a big difference in the media of the two places. The Oilers have always been able to maintain a short leash on the media in Edmonton, whereas the relationship here has always been a little more antagonistic, far more so than even Toronto.
And it’s probably that way because this team has never won the big prize and only once has been a realistic winner, that being two years ago. The other two runs to the final were just average teams getting hot with great goaltending.
Looking ahead to the Sedins’ departure makes you wonder how this city would handle a series of severe losing seasons. It may never happen — in fact it probably won’t, in the near term at least. But if it does, we can guarantee you it won’t be pretty.
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