Amen to that.

I just posted on the previous thread that I believe neither Brule nor Pouliot have proved enough at TC to keep them up. It's been said on the blogsphere for the past year that we need a veteran center, preferrably with some size, who can win draws and kill penalties.

We are far to weak down the middle. If that means waiving or trading one or both of Brule/Pouliot, so be it. Or move one of the bigger contracts i.e. Moreau/Staios/Pisani/Nilsson.

Lets go Tambellini, prove your worth.

They really need to sign Manny Maholtra while he's still avai… ooops.

Ah well. At least we have Comrie?

They have needed a 3rd line center for 2 years now.

There is absolutely no reason to believe they will actually address this need.

Not until Cogliano gets traded.

I'm not saying that's the right decision, (it could be), but they are going to keep a center spot open for him until they are able to move him.

Bob McKenzie was mentioning on Stauffer show yesterday that Cogs/Gagner can't exist on the same team as the fill the same need, 2nd line center. I agree with him. (especially if Cogs doesn't want to play wing)

I like Cogs a lot, but his presence helps create the unbalance in the lineup.

Given that Tambo got a serviceable AHL/4th line NHLer in Stone for a backup goalie when the market was 5-7 round draft picks, and got 2 years of POS for 20 games of Cole, I actually have faith he will make a good deal.

It just may take a while to find that deal.

If they ship out Staios for a pick they can free up some $$$ to help make a Cogs trade possible (to take back more salary than they are shipping out) Staios still have the "Steady Steve" reputation in the NHL, don't kid yourself he is tradeable. Not to a team anywhere near the cap, but he is tradeable.

Day 14? Try day 451.

shanetrain….seriously? Hemsky's had a bad camp, but that does not mean you even entertain the thought of trading our best forward.

Yes, let's trade our only high-end skill guy as he enters his peak years for more grinders and pluggers. That's a great idea! (end sarcasm)

It's scary.

Last offseason, the fans were shouting, "SIGN GLENCROSS! PLEASE DON'T LET HIM LEAVE". And then management didn't sign him. Then the fans yelled, "SIGN REASONER OR ANOTHER CAPABLE PKer. PLEASE!". And they didn't listen.

This year, we're again yelling, "SIGN A CAPABLE 3RD LINE CENTER/PKer/FACEOFF MAN". They're not listening.

With their knee-jerk reactions, fans usually aren't right when they play armchair GM. But it's becoming painfully obvious that, in the case of the Oilers, even the most obvious holes are acknowledge by the fans, but aren't being filled by management.

Totally agree Steve.

I lost total faith in management of this team with…"All of a sudden, I looked and gee, we have a lot of defensemen."

The teams dysfunction in correcting holes in the last few years has been terrible.

Goaltending monsters, Too many defensemen, Grinding wingers, PKs, 3rd line C….

http://twitter.com/nielson1260

Dustin Neilson, the new 1260 morning guy, has posted that EDM/NAS are talking trade. No clue how legit this guy's sources are or what NAS might be looking for. They were rumoured to be in the Kessel sweepstakes, which suggests they want more scoring.

I think that the management really wanted to see what Brule, Nilsson, Penner, and others were going to bring this year before they started making trades. In their perfect world (i.e. if Tambi could control things), I suspect that they would love to play 8-10 real games before dumping Nilsson or Brule or others.

They have done their best to create urgency/oppertunity amongst these players to bring out their best (all of the talk about real oppertuniities for Rubbydubs and real concerns for the Muckymucks). They want to create a 'false presure' on those guys to show who and what they are in the Post MacT world.

Tambi knows that trading becomes much more difficult once the seasons starts, so he will use this camp as a measure of the guys and will move one or two to fill whatever need we have.

The fear that Tambi has is that he ships Nilsson away and Nilsson becomes Miro Satan. The others (Schemp, Brulue, etc.) are not good enough to fetch anything back in exchange. So we have to give up someone that the recipient team feels could be really good for them to get something decent back. Also, I suspect that we need to accept a similar overpay in exchange for whoever we give up.

Now, we may also see a bigger change, someone like Cogs (a real asset with a fairly certain upside) for someone with a proven ability.

So, my arguement all summer is that the Oilers management want to see what they have ON THE ICE before making a trade. I am starting to think that some players have made it clear enough for the GM to pull the trigger before the season. I also think that the sense that they can 'ride out' the current lack of balance may be fading (i.e. we don't look like we have 3 kick ass scoring lines).

So, the chances of a trade before the season have increase a fair bit in my mind.

Nashville hey. Well Dan Hamhuis would be my wish, but it won't happen. Would anyone do a Gagner or Cogliano (with a pick or prospect) for Hamhuis. then we could move one of our top 4 for a top 6 winger.

Cogliano and a pick/prospect for Hamhuis
Grebeshkov/Glbert for Horton

2 moves and we are better. Probably not enough for hamhuis, but he's a UFA next year so he'll be getting a raise to $4.5 mill or so.

The Gagner/Cogliano issue I raised 2 years ago when I first advocating trading one for J. Staal.

The issue becomes somewhat mitigated though by one of them playing wing.

And Bobby Mac yesterday partly blamed the Oilers' unsuccessful season on the poor showings by Gilbert and Grebs, both of whom had fine years by my estimation.

San Jose needs a one for many deal, bad.

Traktor said:

Cogliano has always been the older player and always will be.

Fixed it for you. No worries, free service.

Ribs: hamhuis is a perfect fit for our D. A top 4 guy who is a shutdown tough dman who can be paired with Vishnovsky. I would send them gagner or Cogliano in a heartbeat for him. then move an offensive dman for a top 6 forward. Maybe Greb for Stafford or Horton?

Love the Seinfeld reference, LT.

"Legwand, perhaps?"

Listening to Gregor interview the beat writer for the Preds the other day, he mentioned that everyone is tired of waiting for Legwand to become what he was supposed to be when they drafted him 2nd overall.

So he may be on the outs.

He is 4.5M/yr until the end of 2013-2014…ugh.

Last 4 years he has played 44,78,65,and 73 games. Not great, not terrible.

What would you trade for him?

Cogs is off the table imo.

Gotta clear out 4.5M

Staois and Nilsson make that much. What does Nashville need that you would have to add to those two?

Hell, its old Oiler year, so why not Cogs, Grebs, and Schremp for Arnott!?

DBO- Seems like a sidewise move to make to me. It also relies on two trades to happen to fill all of the holes. I would think it would be an unlikely situation.

The only other option is hiding Nilsson in Springfield, but even with his salary and poor results I doubt he clears waivers…

Tambellini seems less and less like a competant GM. And more and more like a KLowe/Katz "yes man".

In answer to your question.

How can anyone so much as dare to suggest trading Moreau, Staios, Pisani, or Horcoff – the nucleus of our 2006 glory?

How can anyone so much as dare to suggest trading Moreau, Staios, Pisani, or Horcoff – the nucleus of our 2006 glory?

Agreed, we should totally trade Moreau and Staios for Thornton and Heatly. This team is run by idiots.

"Why would we move a skill guy at 50 cents on dollar just to make it below the cap? And for a "grindy" third line center who are a dime a dozen?"

Because we're idiots.

Plus Legwand has a "wide range of skills".

"the holes are real and they are spectacular."

Hehe.. you've definitely not been pulling punches LT

Eggie.. i dunno.. i cheered moving on from ol reasoner.. seeing him as a first line option made me cringe.. I wanted to see that tool out of MacT's reach.. but that doesnt mean it wasnt clear 'after' that there was a major hole, as per the beginning of the post, that hasnt been dealt with adequately..

but yes,.. watching glencross score two (one being a breakaway shorty) was like using a knife to rip off an old scab, then using the same knife to rub salt in the wound.. all for..??

Malhotra for $700,000 in San Jose?

*[insert appropriate swear word/curse of Oilers management here]!

It's painful watching how the cap crunch is hamstringing the Oilers, with a fair sized pool of FA players who can fill their needs but can't be signed and are getting plucked by other teams for pennies on the dollar.

Makes me wonder about Bob Gainey's cracking under the pressure and resulting spending spree and multi-5 year contract blowout this Summer. Maybe it works, but I doubt it.

Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin allowed four goals and he was unable to play in the third period due to dehydration. -TSN

That's just kind of funny.

Ribs: Tough night for Khabibulin last night. He looked out of sync from the get-go. Wasn't using his stick to good effect either stopping the puck or handling it. He was lackadaisical on the first goal, and had real sloppy timing on the fourth. Like Vokoun on Friday, I would have given him the mercy pull after 40 minutes, dehydration or no. I guess the good news is that maybe it explains his poor night; OTOH it's not too encouraging that he became physically unable to perform in his first test of 20+ shots. Drink some water, man, this is a dry climate.

Did anyone see the Glencross interview on TSN?

I didn't but one of my staff was telling me that Glencross said "I wanted to play for the Oilers, I wanted to sign there. I even call them myself but no one returned my calls"

Awesome job Lowe.

Lowe: "70 lbs salmon are jumping in the boat?? Throw them back!! I'm only after the GREAT WHITE WHALE"

later

…."no white whale? Grab those 12lb salmon, we need some fish!!"

Hahahaha.

The following is found at the oilers.nhl.com game preview for tonight:

"Brule can only play 3 more games in the NHL before he must clear wavers."

I thought we were through this.

http://oilers.nhl.com/club/preview.htm?id=2009010080&navid=DL|EDM|home

Boondock said…
http://twitter.com/nielson1260

Dustin Neilson, the new 1260 morning guy, has posted that EDM/NAS are talking trade. No clue how legit this guy's sources are or what NAS might be looking for. They were rumoured to be in the Kessel sweepstakes, which suggests they want more scoring.

Well, Comrie came back. Could Arnott come back?

I thought we were through this.

I genuinely hope that Brule gets claimed. Simply to show that the media is not infallible.

There were a fair number of people out there who where "meh" about GlenX, citing his small sample size and higher shooting % with the Oil. But man, I definitely thought he was worth a $1.5M/yr wager. The guy brought it every night (something the Oilers sure lacked last year) AND he was the fastest skater in the NHL that year FFS. Plus he made Brodz/Storts look good, lived with and bonded with the young kids, and WANTED to play in the apparent hellhole that is Edmonton.

One note on Glencross. he did bring it every night, but they had a small smaple size after they got him. remember that last year he had like 12 gols playing some good minutes in the top 9 of calgary. yes he brings other things, but if we signed him for $1.5 mill, people would have been pissed and it would have been viewed as a classic Oiler overpay. A million woudl hav been a good deal, and yes managament did drop the ball, but I seem to remember that while we all liked what Glencross brought, mos people weren't for giving him that much of a raise.

I'm willing to defer to Renney on whether Betts is a good fit or not. I assume that if Betts really was the answer, management would listen to Renney about it.

Yeah Knighttown those are interesting ideas, but I'm with Schitzo.

I get that we want to add veterans now, so we can make the playoffs, but this is still a team in development. You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Adding Arnott won't win us the cup, and Cogliano is one of our most important building blocks for the future.

We need to add a cheap, perhaps flawed veteran, without giving up any youth.

The other option is trading one of our good young, soft players, for a good young player with defensive panache, e.g. a J. Staal type. But that's easier said than done, it would seem.

"Woodguy said……

I like Cogs a lot, but his presence helps create the unbalance in the lineup."

I have to agree. May be Quinn can figure out how to play both Gagner and Cogliano at Centre and still have a productive line up. But I cannot see it from the present vantage point.

Where is LT?

And where is his game day thread?

Send the search party…. to the nearest tavern. Save him from a drowning of sorrows of which only a 14th day of trade watching can instill.

I lucked out and scored free tickets to tonight's game.

As much as I'd like to say my focus will be completely on the Oilers, I can't pass up the chance to examine the game of one Viktor Hedman.

Icecastles, if you're lurking I'm planning to meet up with Showerhead somewhere in the first intermission. I'll check back later if you're interested.

DBO: This is what GlenX brought to the Flames last year:

QUALCOMP -0.013
QUALTEAM 0.053
CORSI 10.2
GFON/60 3.29
GAON/60 2.40

He played mostly 3rd/4th line, potted 13G + 27A for 40pts, only 4 Flames played tougher competition, played with slightly above avg. teammates, and had GF differential of +0.89/60 mins. I wouldn't call $1.5M an overpay for that. Plus he actually signed at $1.3M per yr. There are a whole lot of other Oilers I would call overpays before I got down to him.

But that ship has sailed. The thing now is for the Oilers to find and sign more players like that.

Moreau – Gagner – Cogliano

Yet the Oilers site doesn't list Cogliano on the roster. They have Pisani listed instead of Cogliano.

If anyone's interested, the Tampa lineup is thus:

9 Steve Downie RW
4 Vincent Lecavalier C
13 Alex Tanguay LW
19 Stephane Veilleux C
11 Jeff Halpern C
43 James Wright C
12 Ryan Malone LW
91 Steven Stamkos C
26 Martin St. Louis RW
17 Todd Fedoruk LW
38 Paul Sczcechura C
16 Drew Miller LW
5 Mattias Ohlund D
77 Victor Hedman D
2 Lukas Krajicek D
14 Andrej Meszaros D
6 Kurtis Foster D
8 Matt Walker D
41 Mike Smith G

Predictions? The Oilers are going to get hosed by a very veteran roster. I'm looking for Smac to send Downie to IR.

Man, I guess Tippett must have hated being out of work. Who would willingly sign on to that mess in Phoenix right now?

No Pouliot tonight. Good sign or bad?

Schitzo – in Pouliot's case its probably an ugly sign.

"Man, I guess Tippett must have hated being out of work. Who would willingly sign on to that mess in Phoenix right now?"

The Coyotes could very well be the next Avs and for the next decade we'll wonder what would have happened if they had won a cup in Phoenix instead of KC.

Who would have ever predicted hockey would be such a hit in KC!!??

With 18/89/13 being a line tonight, I'll be curious to see how much Moreau sticks up for this team's two most talented primordial dwarfs.

When Quinn said that some veterans seems to be only worried about their own preparation for the upcoming season, I wonder if thecaptain is one of them.

"With 18/89/13 being a line tonight, I'll be curious to see how much Moreau sticks up for this team's two most talented primordial dwarfs."

He stood by and watched as Cogliano was crosschecked in the back of the head by Lundmark last night so I wouldn't expect much different tonight. Although its possible that Moreau didn't see Cogliano get roughed up because of his glass eye.

Would I!?
Would I!?

As for the Gameday thread
This is it, I think
Its dated for today

Maybe LT thought with game time at 6:00 pm Mountain time,
Manitoba time would be 1962.

I'm here all week
Oh yeah
Just say no to Jordin TooToo

Gord: nice job posting 13's latest face-off stats; I hadn't realized he'd put up three decent games in a row.

12 to Nsh or the Preds trying Anything to get more offense always makes a lot of sense.

I think Lowe regrets the GlenX screw up more than most of us.

If Lowe regrets it, it's the kind of regret that someone has when they're screwing their secretary on their lunch break. Sure, he might feel bad about cheating on his wife right after he's done, but goddammit, he's going to plow that red-head again tomorrow.

"Sure, I could've had Glencross… but I nearly got Hossa!"

"Sure, I could stop cheating on my wife… but she burnt the roast last night… Annie! Get in the car, we're going for lunch! Robbie! Getcha fuckin' shinebox, I need an alibi."

what surprises me is who, in my opinion, is looking like our best forward now.

here's a hint: used to eat a lot of cheeseburgers, wear no shirt with white pants, had a thing for..

@William

All good points, and I completely agree. I'm just tired of hearing about. Hopefully they've sobered up and will avoid the big game hunting from now on. (Side note: I could have used that advice a few years ago…yikes!)

Hopefully they can find a way to have both Veronica and Betty in the future. Hmmm…

"I think Lowe regrets the GlenX screw up more than most of us."

Probably, since it's his job and just our hobby, and there's no doubt the guy is competitive.

The question is: what does he regret and why?

My guess is he regrets not signing either Hossa or Jagr or GlennX. He'd do the same thing all over again if he had the chance to sign a Hossa. He's never said he made a mistake going for the big fish.

Current management has the same attitude about going for big fish and not fixing the problems on the bottom 6. And that's what we hate. I think.

Whales aren't fish. They're mammaries. Big'Uns too.

;o)

The question is: what does he regret and why?

I think Lowe realized that he was failing at juggling so many things. I have managed multiple projects all at once and know the feeling at that moment when you realize that you dropped a ball. If I am correct it was not long after that that Lowe stepped aside.

Glencross is gone. It's been over a year. Let it go.

I agree, but one of my key interests is how organizations function, make decisions, etc. so I sometimes like to revisit past decisions to consider the how and why the decision happened. Not with critisism in mind, but just to develop a better understanding of process.

The 20-20 hindsight on this site is rediculous. You can only and should only judge deals based on what was known at the time. And every deal involves an element of risk and uncertainty.

Too many people here cherry pick the evidence – if a year or two after a deal you can say it didn't work then management are idiots. But if on the other hand it did work out, well then any uncertainty that existed at the time the deal was made is conveniently overlooked.

Glencross and Pisani are two sides of the same coin – a relatively small sample size of good numbers right before free agency. Grebs and Brule are two sides of the same coin – former first round picks mishandled by their team. Smyth and Souray are two sides of the same coin – top tier players on the downside of their career who are prone to injury.

If you hate that Glencross left then you have to love Pisani's deal – after all, they rewarded his two good months instead of letting him walk away and become a productive two way player for another team. If you hate the Brule deal then you have to hate the Grebs deal too. After all they traded an actual NHL player, albeit a limited one, for a prospect with a high ceiling that may amount to nothing. But if you hate that Glencross left and that Pisani is overpaid and the we gave up Torres for Brule but love that we stole Grebs from the Islanders, then all you're doing is hopping on the hindsight bandwagon.

You can critise the Oilers management for having an incoherent strategy ie. rewarding some players for two good months, but not others. But this after the fact, 20-20 hindsight stuff is bullshit. Every deal has potential benefits and potential pitfalls and you can't possibly know when the deal is made which way it's going to work out. Criticising management for taking or not taking a particular risk, when you know how the story ends is pointless and doesn't demonstrate any particular skill or knowledge, so why waste everyone's time with it?

The 20-20 hindsight on this site is rediculous. You can only and should only judge deals based on what was known at the time. And every deal involves an element of risk and uncertainty.

Of course that is how you evaluate things. I am not suggesting anything different. I don't cherry pick, though I know others do. I have not critised the deals for Pisani, Moreau, or Staois because they were reasonible at the time. I never had a problem with the Torres trade and still do not.

I see nothing wrong at all with analysing things from the past, as long as the analysis reflects the context of the past.

So, I get your point and your frustration at people who pick selective examples of draft picks (for example) or trades and do not take the context into account.

However, I disagree that discussions about the past have no benifit.

With regards to Glencross, I think that a lowball offer would have tied him up for a year or two and that, like Brule, the risk was almost nothing.

Pre game from Schremp is pretty funny. Just imagining him trying to block shots makes me giggle.
Link

I'm a large Stortini fan also.

Thrillho: I like large Stortini myself. I didn't realize there were any small Stortini.
Friends?!

'course. It's all table talk.

Re: GlenX. Not crying over split milk as much as flabbergasted that he called the Oilers himself and they didn't return his freaking call.

Right, that was new today. AND he was FFS, FFS.

FFS!!!

OK, now I can move on. I wish you well Curtis, your kind of player is pure gold. (Sniff)

But this after the fact, 20-20 hindsight stuff is bullshit.

Well it would be, Marc, if it was all after the fact. However, the stuff I was referring to is all date-stamped pre July 1. I haven't even looked it up, I just remember the discussion well, it went on for three or four months.

For the record, I have all day for Fernando's contract. Anybody who commands 1/22 of the total cap hit and can outperform tough opp is delivering the goods. Injuries and illness were just possible futures when the deal was signed. Unfortunately, both happened.

one of my key interests is how organizations function, make decisions, etc. so I sometimes like to revisit past decisions to consider the how and why the decision happened. Not with critisism in mind, but just to develop a better understanding of process.

Mine too, Bookie. Trial and error only works if the organization learns from its mistakes. First part of that is identifying said mistakes. Cue GlenX.

Sniff, FFS.

Maybe Lowetide drove to Winnipeg?

LT: it seems odd that we don't have a game thread on the one night where the game's actually televised, no?:)

That being said I'm sorta iffy on watching this game because we aren't dressing a lot of the established guys and I'm really not sure what the TV sightlines are like in the Moose arena; though I am sure I'll find out soon enough.

And it's hard not to lump in the failure to sign GlenX with the failure to bring back Hejda and it especially stings when both are on the record as waiting for the Oilers to call and both are bargains.

It looks every poorer when you consider all the other big pacts we do have on the books and it's little mistakes like these – along with the bigger ones of course – that we have put us in the hole we're in right now.

You can critise the Oilers management for having an incoherent strategy ie. rewarding some players for two good months, but not others. But this after the fact, 20-20 hindsight stuff is bullshit.

We criticize on this side of the pond.

Heh. All of these folks who still defend Lowe. Three years out of the playoffs not enough for you guys? Very soon we're going to see four I think.

Quinn twists the knife a little there. This hasn't been a strong organization for a while.

Ha. Awesome.

If this club doesn't make the playoffs he's the next GM.

We should go back and look at the moves Lowe has made.

I think that people expected more for Pronger. Dennis hated it but someone went back and got quotes from a whole bunch (including me) who thought that Lupul might work out.

Nearly everyone hated the Smyth deal.

A few didn't like Bergeron.

Souray was panned. PItkanen was applauded.

Penner was panned. LT did too. People liked the Vanek deal more.

Folks were upset about Hejda but Glencross was definitely split. When talk was around 2 folks said let him go, when it came out that it was 1.3 then it became more even. It definitely wasn't as unanimous as some say though. A lot of folks thought it was a gamble even at that amount, iirc.

Visnovsky was a hit. The Torres move was panned.

That's how I remember it.

The thing is you can argue one by one that each move could be justified. But as a body of work it speaks for itself. The biggest problem is that they moved guys out and didn't replace them with similar or better value.

Three years out of the playoffs as a cap team is absolutely unacceptable though.

Penner got some love from Quinn and is wearing an A tonight…

We're getting pretty exposed so far.

Seems like we are still trying to do to much still individually, instead of making the simple plays.

This is gonna take some time…. sit back and relax while we take a few weeks to get comfortable, while getting thumped nightly.

On a side note – Penner looks awesome. He has been incredible so far this TC, he looks in mid-season form already.

Plus does anyone notice that he also seems to be playing with more of an edge, or more pissed off.

Which is exactly how we need him to be. I sure how he keeps it up and doesn't take his foot of the pedal.

NB – first game I have seen and Penner looks motivated and fit. Good sign. Generally everyone else looks pretty crappy. Just preseason though. Keep telling myself that.

Yeah Dennis, I've been saying it for a while now. This club finishes out of the money and Quinn will be GM. He's certainly clear about what this team is lacking – in a power struggle between him and Tambellini who do you think would lose?

NB – well Quinn was referring to management, which made it that much better

As for him being honest, I'm all for it. This group of players has a weird sense of entitlement and a false idea of how good they are considering that they haven't been in the playoffs in three years. For the most part they've done fuck all.

Yet they act like they've won multiple Cups.

They need a fire lit under their asses.

Rob F^**in Schremp Hockey!

I want Penner to succeed, obviously because it would be good for the club but also because he's a funny guy. The whole thing last year where he broke into guys' rooms. The wheat beverages comment.

Funny guy.

I don't hate Penner. I hope he turns into a 35 goal scorer. I'm saying that the coach had reasons to be pissed with him, other coaches had reasons to be pissed with him in the past and, while I'm fine with the principle of not overlooking what a guy can do and focusing on his faults, when the guy seems like he could be a lot more if he gave a shit, I can understand the coach's frustration.

Nice work on that CBC spot Ty.

Is it true that Ron MacLean is your Dad? I heard a rumour.

I'd like to say something clever like they didn't deserve a GDT but fact is that I thought it was tomorrow night.

Honest.

Anyway, they're shitty.

Coach: Just because i don't march in lock step re:Smid doesn't mean I hate him. I'll like him fine right up until the time someone actually knocks his head clean off.

I never like the penner signing. I like penner though – he is funny. People were saying that he would probably be over paid in the first couple seasons but underpaid in the last couple. Well its season 3 and i dont see it happening.

It was just frustrating to see Mactavish wail on him verbally and then penner would play good for a few games and thats it.

He will never play consistent for a full season imo. I just dont see it.

Is it wrong to repeatedly say "Huh? What?" to Downie when trash-talking?

Or maybe just mouth the words instead of say them?

He should be a Canuck.

Coach: Just because i don't march in lock step re:Smid doesn't mean I hate him. I'll like him fine right up until the time someone actually knocks his head clean off.

See?

Until that pass, Grebs has been on acid all night.

I'm going to step in here before coach goes down with carpel tunnel.

I wonder what the Oilers think about the admission about the summer 'conditioning' program Penner was on. 8.5 million bucks gone so far.

I'm hoping the guy is going to walk the walk. Definitely impressed by him tonight.

As for Downie, pfft. What a jackass.

Anything is fair game with that piece of shit.

Gary will have to move back to his lil' Keebler treehouse because he knows he isn't winning a popularity contest against Wayne in this or any other country.

I'll bet that, secretly, Gary doesn't give a shit what Wayne thinks.

If Gretzky wanted to coach, he could have agreed to renegotiated his salary going forward, leaving it to the courts to decide what he would get as an owner/creditor.

He wanted $8 million to coach. $1 million to coach, and well, it seems that he doesn't like coaching that much.

The team was in financial trouble. His salary represented 25% of the losses for the last couple of years

Oilers need to play in the Southeast.

sam gagner is going to make traktor look like a fool

I don't completely understand all the dislike for Nilsson among some Oilers fans. I agree he hasn't been terribly consistent, but I think the dislike for him is out of proportion to his "poorness" as a player.

Moreau..jeebus.

Cogliano sure looks better with Gagner on his line. I hope that experiment continues.

foster landed on his giant vagina there

Seems to me that the Oilers needed more Rob Schremp tonight.

cogs speed alone will always he ensure he see his share of advantageous shots, but the kid is a disaster in nearly every other facet of the game

Is the Don Maloney who runs Phoenix the same Don Maloney who used to play for the Rangers? He looks like a washed out singer from the 70s, like Barry Manilow I'm thinking.

Weird.

cogs speed alone will always he ensure he see his share of advantageous shots, but the kid is a disaster in nearly every other facet of the game

I thought Cogs won his fair share of puck battles tonight.

One has to wonder just how much better Springfield is going to be this year. The whole "pushing guys down the depth chart" phenomenon is a much bigger factor than improving 1 guy.

This was a random lineup from April of last year.

Willis – O'Marra – Schremp
Stone – Potulny – Trukhno
McDonald – Spurgeon – Lerg
Czuy – Urquhart – Benson

Young – Roy
Bina – Gabinet
Kinley – Wild

If cuts go as I expect, this is a possible lineup this year:

Stone-Brule-Reddox
Potulny-Schremp-Mindard
Brennan-Linglet-Trukhno
Pauko-O'Marra-McDonald

Arsene-Taylor
Peckham-Chorney
Plante-Motin

Just got back from the game, and have two things to say:

1) Fuck you Steve Staios.

2) I took about 12 post-its of notes on the game, I'll have a fanpost up on Copper&Blue within an hour.

I'm resisting the urge not to add a post of my own to C&B saying simply "HOCKEY JESUS!" 2,000 times.

It's pretty sad that that sort of game from Schremp has me this excited, but I need something to cheer for.

Stone looks like your Pisani insurance.

Moreau with a pussy block attempt on the tying goal (after Stone sacrifices his body for a proper shot-block seconds earlier), then Staios' with a dumbass penalty 190 feet from his own net.

No wonder Quinn's been ragging on veterans and supposed "leaders". I hope they put these two assholes on waivers tomorrow. I can't stand their 4.7 million worth of dead salary cap space any longer.

Moreau and Staios suck. End of discussion.

How was the game?

DG: Don't see it yet.

Back from the game. Missed first half of p.1, wish I had msised all of it. Very non-committal first period from what I saw. Game got much better as it progressed though. A few observations:

Deslauriers still drops down way too early. I'm sure 80% of the goals scored on him are over his shoulders. Being a very tall goalie I can understand the urge, but he's got to fix that.

Moreau – hated him way less than usual. Looked like he was trying… don't know that he has the pace anymore to keep up with the game.

Smackintyre – there's no place for him on the team. I like the guy a lot, but he's just got no skill.

Nilsson – Kickass.

Penner – Didn't see him a lot, but was hugely impressed when I did notice him. I'm counting on a big breakout year for him.

Gagner – didn't seem to be that interested in the game. No hustle away from the puck.

Stone – Damn, I like that kid. Needs to work on the skillset still, but he's certainly not afraid to battle. And an awesome hitter (as an aside, you can really hear people pound into the boards at MTS Centre. Probably because the "Friendly Manitobans" are so freaking quiet.)

Schremp – there is no way he is even interested in getting an NHL job. After seeing him in person, I can almost guarantee that when he goes down on waivers, 29 other GMs will be fairly indifferent to Belgium.

Smid – Another player I think has a chance to really become something this year. I like his style.

Visnofsky – The guy sure likes dangerous passes, but he somehow makes stuff work. His shots from the point looked pretty weak… I wonder how his shoulder is doing.

Hemsky – totally invisible again tonight.

Kotalyk – I shed a silent tear at his passing.

Hunter: I don't think so. The guy isn't failing because of a lack of skill (though the foot speed doesn't help), he's failing because he simply hasn't shown the desire. There was nothing in his game tonight that said to me that he knows or cares about what's on the line and can find the motivation to succeed.

He should be balls-out right now to make the team. And he plays like one of his balls has re-ascended.

Game Thoughts

Brule – I felt as though he was flailing around in the early going, but he picked up his game throughout. Abrasive, tenacious, loved how he used his speed to create holes in TB's defensive coverage. His confidence with the puck is increasing. Negatives: reckless at times with the puck. He had one absolutely gawd awful giveaway at his blue line, and is sometimes guilty of overplaying the puck in lieu of the simpler outlet. Certainly capable of playing 4th line C minutes. Unconvinced that he or Pouliot are an improvement, or even on par, with Brodziak.

Vis – He seemed a little bit slow on his gap control. Did anyone else notice that? The puck would go to his corner and, at times, it really looked like he was labouring. Clearly fighting the puck a little more than what I'm used to seeing out of him. Definitely putting in the effort, though, which was nice to see.

Gagner – I nearly choked when I saw Gagner outskate VL through the neutral zone, pivot, tie him up, and strip the puck away. Almost keeled over when he sent it over to Cogs for a 5 bell chance immediately afterwards. Good show.

On that topic, 89's passing was on tonight. His backhand sauce is just as good as his forehand, and that's saying something, even for an NHLer. Neutral zone puck handling has improved by my eye. I still think his play recognition is a little poor; he could stand to dump the puck when the lanes going north through center ice are clogged. It'll come.

Penner – TSN commentator (Greg Millen?) said he was quiet at one point. Completely disagree. There was a sequence in the first where he back checked a TB player breaking out 20 feet from Mike Smith all the way to the Oilers blueline. Forced the opposing TB player offside. Absolutely unreal; it really is something else to watch someone that big skating that hard. He's quite saavy with the stick checking as well, although that 6'4 frame certainly helps

Offensively, he had a sick spin move off the boards that almost resulted in a goal and also a couple of real nice passes. His vision is pretty underrated, and I think he's the one guy that can play anywhere in the top 9. Belongs with Horc and Hemmer, though.

Cogliano – Lights out awesome. Caused problems for TB on the transition all night, and was surprisingly good on the cycle as well. At one point he was out for a shift with Gagner, and 89 had it clutched on the offensive boards before being absolutely mauled. Cogs was supporting the puck, and started moving his legs as soon as the puck was in sight. Drew a penalty. Wonderful, wonderful game out of him. He belongs on the wing.

Nilsson – Very, very good game from Bobby. Handled the puck with authority, and wasn't afraid to shoot. Dandy one timer early in the first, beauty snipe in the second, and he flat out beaned Smith near the head in the dying stages of OT. He has gotten stronger. I recall at one point he had the puck in the offensive corner, with Meszaros breathing in on him. I read the play, and figured Nilsson would dump it back behind the net or throw it out front. Instead, he engaged Meszaros (not a small guy, btw) and held the puck, waiting for support to arrive, before dishing it off. Need to see more of that out of him. He has the strength base now; let's see him use it on a consistent basis. Sewed up a spot in the top 12 tonight, but he needs to start bringing this game every night.

Eberle – not ready, but he's unlike the other little guys on the team in that he has some juke in him. I was afraid that he would peak as a PP specialist/soft minute destroyer, but his 5on5 game has some things.

All in all, a good game. Good guys carried the play for 2/3 of regulation and had some glorious chances to end it in the latter stages of the third and OT. What can you say? They outchanced 'em. Result didn't break right, but there's no shame in that.

Yet

Icecastles, I hope you're kidding about Kotalik. I was at the Rangers / Caps game last night and saw again the guy adding nothing at all; losing him was one of the top moves the Oilers made this offseason.

Got home in time for the last half of the 3rd, and it looked to me like Schremp was working hard, lots of nice chances created in that time frame.

I actually thought Schremp played alright, but he certainly was outplayed by Brule, Nilsson, and Stone. He's gone as soon as the next cuts are in. I was impressed by Reddox's hustle as well, though I don't think he should be on the team. He's a real nice call-up option though.

Anyone else read anything into Pouliot sitting the last 2 and Brule playing 2 straight? Brule made a few poor decisions, but overall he played well. At this point, I see the roster like so:

Penner-Horc-Hemmer
Cogliano-Gagner-Nilsson
O'Sullivan-Comrie-Pisani
Jacques-Brule-Stortini
Moreau-Stone

cut Pouliot, MacIntyre, Schremp, Reddox, Brennan.

I think Pouliot probably deserves a spot in the top 14, but I'd rather see Brule in there. Jacques has definitely earned a spot, as has Stone. In an ideal world, Moreau would get shipped out, clearing a spot for Pouliot. The sooner we get rid of Staios and Moreau, the better. (I couldn't believe the play Staios made last night in OT – what was the return on that one??)

I wonder if they send anyone out today.

You would think that Quinn wants as little fluff in camp as possible now. The team needs systems work, and extra bodies are just a distraction.

My guess: breasts du sucre, Eberle, McIntyre, Dubnyk.

I went to double check some spellings on the Oilers website, and Brennan is not listed on their roster.

Did I miss something?

Nennog said…
Icecastles, I hope you're kidding about Kotalik.

It's his theme song I miss.

Groin pull,
Pouliot with the Lower Body

Are the Oilers providing injury reports in Haiku format now?