Quite the list there LT. While the Oilers have a nice amount of cap space here, I don’t think they’re going to make another move. I suppose they may try to bring in someone like Robert Lang out of Chicago (cap dump), but I just don’t see a big deal coming at all in the near future.

As I’ve said a few times, I think Schremp is making this team. He’s around the team, he’s at the functions (California, Indy party, etc.), and the coach even had some nice things to say about him.

Potulny is AHL depth and nothing more, and I think the organization gives Brule a long look, if anything so they can be really sure of exactly what they have.

What does it say about Smid after making the team as a 20 year old, he doesn’t start as a 21 year old or a 22 year old? That’d start to worry me that we really did rush him.

I’ll throw out ten predictions while I’m here though:

#1) Schremp has good TC. He doesn’t go all Brodziak on us, but it’s enough to make the team.
#2) Hemsky shows up to show us he is the man, and him and Visnovsky find some quick, solid, chemistry on the PP.
#3) Cole starts the season with 10-83.
#4) The kidline is broken up before opening night.
#5) Roloson has a very strong camp, to the point that Garon (and MacT) know he is still a viable option.
#6) Denis Grebeshkov looks like a world beater.
#7) Sam Gagner has an extra step and a little bit of a strut.
#8) Someone the organization has plans for shows up out of shape. Could be Pouliot, Brule or Smid, or someone else, but someone important.
#9) Stoll’s A is given to Pisani.
#10) JFJ, if healthy, shows something, and it’s against Calgary.

“Ales Hemsky looks older, more mature, stronger. Better.”

LT: I think you missed a word:
“Better…stronger…faster.”

Queue up Six Million dollar man music…

I’ll just throw this out there, for shits and giggles.

Apparently 6 teams are interested in Sundin. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, NYR and two other teams that would “have to make room.”

If we were to deal Roloson, we’d have what, $7,000,000 in cap space?

Nilsson – Sundin – Hemsky
Penner – Horcoff – Cole
Moreau – Gagner – Cogliano
Pouliot – Brodziak – Pisani

Garon/JDD would be a scary proposition, but…

Manny might be being Manny..

… but Vlad got protection. Honest. He even looks like he’s gonna win a Pennant this year.

Any thoughts on Manny being Manny? It sounds like he’s Dick Allen.

Ah, he’s acting like an asshole but his point is right about how the Sox do guys in on their way out of town. The Red Sox are the manipulators that the Oilers wish they were. They’ve got a real media there too, that doesn’t mind killing people.

No way Schremp makes the team. He may show flashes of checking ability but he will be farmed as he is not top 6 (or bottom 6).

I agree Potulny will make the team.

I predict Zach Stortini has a big camp. Hopefully we are singing this song about him by Christmas:

He’s the hairy, hairy gent, who ran amok in Kent.
Lately he’s been overheard in Mayfair.
You better stay away from him, he’ll rip your lungs out Jim.

Huh! I’d like to meet his tailor

Starting to get a sense of your musical interests, LT, and that you really love a good tune.

The hardest thing is to find good new rock music, I find.

I mean, what was the last great rock album?

That said, there are plenty of great rock singles out there. If you’re interested, try these recent-ish, semi-obscure songs, ranked best to worst . . .

* Babyshambles “Unstookietitled.”
* Death Cab for Cutie “Cath.”
* Johnny Cash “Rusty Cage.”
* The Secret Machines “Nowhere Again.”
* Handsome Furs. “What we had.”
* Embrace. “This New Day.”
* Matt Mays and El Torpedo “On the Hood.”

P.S. Smid will have to have a broken leg not to be out there on opening night.

Someone get LT some Dire Straits. Bet some Mark Knopfler is right up his alley.

LT, if you’re a Warren Zevon (RIP) fan, look for an album by a band called the Hindu Love Gods. Zevon is the singer, and the rest is REM, minus their lead singer. It’s mostly blues standards, with the exception of a cover of Prince’s Raspberry Beret. It takes some audacity to cover Prince, but Zevon kills the purple version.

Staples: if you subscribe to podcasts, try National Public Radio’s All Songs Considered-they’v got what you’re looking for.

My prediction: Oilers stand pat, struggle for the first half, fans call for management’s heads, then are mollified as they finish the season like a house on fire. Gagner and Cogs slump as they’re asked to do heavier lifting, and the Oil finish 6th in the conference.

Off topic, but I think you’d appreciate it LT.

McGuire on Edmonton’s prospects at the Canadian Development Camp:

EDMONTON

Prospects at Camp: Riley Nash (21st overall in 2007)and Jordan Eberle (22nd overall in 2008).

McGuire: “Riley Nash is a good little super-pest. He battles hard, he skates well and forechecks well. I’m not sure he has a lot of pure finish, so that’s something he needs to work on. Eberle, on the other hand, is a pure goal-scoring machine. He reminds me a lot of Joey Mullen. I wish he was a little bit quicker, and I wish he was a little bit stronger, but people used to say that about Mullen. Eberle is a guy that could be a real impact player for Team Canada.”
——————–
It’s Pierre I know, but I had never heard Riley Nash and “super-pest” mentioned in the same sentence. That’s really interesting to hear.

I’d been following the Development Camp with interest, but hadn’t heard of anything of note from either of our guys. When it’s mentioned that Eberle could be a real impact player for Canada, I start to listen.

Joe Walsh is God:

http://www.realiveguitar.com/Images/walsh.jpg

Oilers stand pat, struggle for the first half, fans call for management’s heads, then are mollified as they finish the season like a house on fire.

Up to this point, I thought you were talking about last season.

If you want something a little heavier, Disturbed has been putting out great album after great album for years now.

You know, it’s stuff like Disturbed that makes me throw up my hands on the whole music-recommendation idea. Of all my friends that know of them, they’re pretty much split down the middle between “awesome” and “shit.” (My own unsolicited random album pick: Modest Mouse’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News.)

I’d been following the Development Camp with interest, but hadn’t heard of anything of note from either of our guys. When it’s mentioned that Eberle could be a real impact player for Canada, I start to listen.

I was very disappointed to learn that camp wasn't going to be here in Calgary this year. I really enjoyed the year I went and watched. I must've been the only pure fan in the building: everyone else was scouting, management, or family. I seem to remember Lorne Davis telling me during the second intermission of an U18 Red & White Game that the Oilers liked Sam Gagner all the way back in his 16-year-old year, though I doubt he ever expected we'd get him. I also remember Cogliano having three absolutely brilliant chances created with speed and doing absolutely jack with them and thinking, "Marchant with hands? Really?”

* Ethan Moreau sprains his pancreas, sending him to the LTIR opening a spot for JFJ.

P.S. Disturbed is absolute shit. You can throw them into the group of bands that try really hard to act angry. Three days grace is another one that comes to mind.

What your thinking of is Wolfmother. Light years ahead of The Darkness.

LT – Smid not in the lineup on opening night makes little sense as he’s the future and far better than Strudwick – he’s also tougher than most of the rest of the defense.

If Schremp is not good enough for the top or bottom 6 then what does that make an inferior player in Potulny? This guy is simply a boost for the Falcons not a serious NHL player.

Peca – Brodziak
Stoll – Cogliano
Dvorak – Nilsson

I agree this team is the most talented since 05-06, but seriously? Peca and Dvorak were both responsible 5-on-5 outscorers, while Nilsson is a nice player in a different skill set and Brodziak’s about 5 years away from being a comparable.

If Cogliano flirts with 1 PPG like Stoll did in 2005-06, I’ll be amazed.

This isn’t the same team, in fact, at this juncture it isn’t even close. Still, I agree with the overall point that they should make the playoffs.

If you’re looking for real rock today, check out The Hold Steady

http://www.seeqpod.net/search/?plid=22fdb53b96

I can hear the air conditioner hum….

As a kid and teenager, I knew little about Zevon except for the occasional single you’d see on Much and the fact that he was the weird guy who kept turning up on Letterman;)

Just last month, though, I re-watched “Freaks and Geeks” and was overjoyed to hear him belting out “Poor poor pitiful me.” I only know that as a gawd-awful Terry Clark songs — don’t get me started on New country — and I don’t know if it’s a Zevon original but it certainly reads like one.

Not sure if the Oilers are ready to give Smid another October smack and I saw a picture of Schremp at the Molson Indy; was that the Edm race, I wonder?; to me, car racing is as Real as the CFL — and the guy had pipe-cleaner arms. So, what was the problem with him before? Was he a skinny guy with a gut? It doesn’t look like he’s any more muscular or anything.

As for baseball, I can’t tell you how much I miss baseball and the Expos in particular. Last night, SN had the choice of Angels/Sox or Cubs/Brewers and I wasn’t playing or umping ball last night and it still couldn’t hold my attention.

Time was I knew at least 23 guys on everyone’s 25 man roster and that time wasn’t long ago. But the motivation really isn’t there anymore with the Expos defunct.

” So, what was the problem with him before? Was he a skinny guy with a gut? It doesn’t look like he’s any more muscular or anything.”

I’m no real Schremp fan but I’ll defend him in this case anyways.

I am not sure big arms are a make or break issue for a guy of Schremp’s style. Let’s face it he will never be a player that will put himself in a position to grapple with another guy one on one.

For a guy like him I would expect that the Oilers are looking for him to improve on his leg and lower body strength. It works wonders for Gagner.

…

My prediction;

Pouliot proves for the second year in a row that the so called traction he gained at the end of the previous year was simply a mirage. As a result the Oilers end up moving him to make room for Brule.

Bill Needle:

Of course, the Zevon song that refers directly to the promising Smid kid is “Werewolves of London,” which has the lyric:

Ya, hear him howlin around your kitchen door, ya better not let him in.
Calgary Flame got mutilated late last night, werewolves of London again.

Well, this is quite the shake-up. I am quite worried at this point.

This has to be a shuffle to bring an extra mind to the table – someone to replace what they lost in Howson

chunklets: So, uh, what does a President of Hockey Operations do, anyway

Hires the new GM…?
;-D

This is expanding the management team, iow, spending in areas that don’t impact the salary cap. Looks like a smart use of resources to me.

Very, very, solid moves all around imo.

I figured Lowe would get kicked upstairs someday, but I thought it would be because he fucked up another season. He actually did a lot of good things this off-season, things-that-might-have-happened-but-obviously-didn’t notwithstanding.

But everyone knew Tambellini was going to be a GM somewhere, someday. I guess once he failed to get the Vancouver job for the second time in a row, he became a little more open to a move.

Does anyone know Tambellini’s track record – what can even be attributed to him?

What are/could be his strengths?

What are/could be his weaknesses?

etc…

T

How much of the title of GM is beause its probably the only way Tambelini could get out of Vancouver? There is prob a cause that says only a GM position gets him an out, I would think Lowe still has final say on moves, though I do like the idea of another experienced guy with probably some different contacts.

Have to give LT credit. He’s been predicting this for the longest of time. I certainly didn’t see it coming — or hear anything.

Could be a good move . . . Lowe still has a say, and still is the team leader. I suspect he was tired of the 24/7 365 grind of it all.

But it only works if Tambellini doesn’t have a sweet tooth for aging high-priced free agents, as in Souray/Hossa/Nylander.

Cloned said…

“I think we’re all overlooking the possibility that LT will have to rename his blog and his internet handle.”

Forgive me if I’m wrong, but Lowetide is actually Ron Low’s nickname. If the name didn’t change with his leaving for the Houston Areo’s, then let us hope that it will never change.

With all due apologies, “Laintide” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

ellafh:

Tambo’s not a significant player to you?