Building Up or Tearing Down

We here in the Lounge feel for those of you who support teams at the bottom of the NHL totem pole.

Your team's logo, which once danced near the top after the lockout, now being crushed by the weight of a a few plans gone bad, or a promising spring that turned out to be a cruel hoax.

Carolina and Edmonton, you have had a hard year, perhaps a few for one more than the other. And yet, on this day, 24 hours removed from the trade deadline, you hear someone on the radio or television saying you might need to be patient while your team starts (Yes, I heard it described this way on television) to build an organization. Patience. (Again, I actually heard someone say that fans needed to be patient in Edmonton.) It's a virtue when you only have to preach it and not use it.

I feel for you, Edmonton. You had some good times. And yet the talent parade continues to the airport, across city limits, to other balance sheets.

Scratch a few names off the list. No roster is set in stone. And even those names can be removed with a little misguided hard work.

I say it's time to hold your general managers accountable. Look at it this way, either you get in your GM's grill and say, "What have you been thinking!" or you can wait, privately grouse, and hope for divine intervention.

It's sure worked in Toronto. Oilers fans. Hurricanes fans. It's time for you to have a say in the architect, the plan and the price to be paid. If you're going to be stuck with the bill, you might as well speak up.

Here's a shot and a beer for you in the Lounge.