This picture says it all. To people who are not sports fanatics, it’s hard to understand the depths of emotion that this sudden and out of the blue trade has created. I’ve seen this man get two teeth knocked out in the first period, go get stitched up, and be back on the ice for the second period. He and his wife have done tons of charity work around Edmonton. They are especially active in raising funds for the children’s hospital that Sarah works in. He personally attended a lady’s 100th birthday, let her run her fingers through his “signature mullet”, and presented her with a jersey with the #100 on the back. They interviewed her today to see what she thought about the trade.

I also feel horrible for the remaining team. They were not only completely blindsided by the news, but have lost a good friend, and are left to play the remaining 20 games without their best player. The heart and soul of the Oilers is gone. For that reason I’m still going to go to some of the remaining games, to support the remaining team. These guys didn’t ask for this either.

One thing I can say, is that it will be very interesting to see which Oiler steps up to fill his big skates! Once we see what KLowe does in the off-season, we’ll decide if we’re going to renew our season tickets. If it seems that the same old pattern of raising stars, and selling them off for other teams to reap the rewards, I’m over it. I’m done.