OILERS AT STARS G19 (12-13) 28.2.13
Now that we’ve established Taylor Hall is not a choir boy, we can return to the subject at hand: just how long is the corner the Oilers are trying to turn? At the end of the turn lies the playoffs, series wins, heartbreak in May, a river of tears come June and ultimately the return of Stanley to the Kingdom of the Silver Mug.
If we ask ourselves “can we win with Hall as 1line LW?” and “can we win with Sam Gagner as 2line C?” I come up with 8 yes answers out of 19 starters. Not bad. The 8 should be easy to figure out, and maybe we disagree on one or two but that’s okay. If I suggest to you that in 2 years the Oilers could make the elite 8 with Hall, Nuge, Eberle, Gagner, Yakupov, Hemsky, Schultz the younger, Petry, Smid and Dubnyk (that’s 10) added to:
- a big minutes defender who can play in two of three disciplines
- a complete 3-line that can calm the waters
would that be enough? Pretty close I’d say. Third paring and 4line are things you can shore up at the deadline.
Question: is there anyone in the organization (and outside the names listed above) who will be able to fulfill these roles down the line? Say 2015?
- Klefbom, Marincin and Gernat could end up filling the #1 role (big minutes D) but we don’t know the best one and we don’t know if they’ll be a top pairing defender.
- There are plenty of candidates for #2 role–the 3line–Paajarvi, Lander, Pelss, others–but we don’t really know who it is; chances are at least one is going to be from outside the organization.
The Oilers will get better just by watching Hall and the group grow a year older, but one hopes they aim a little higher via procurement.
Starting this Saturday, the Radio Show is back (noon to 2pm Edmonton time) on Team 1260. After the lockout, we quickly went to market in an attempt to find sponsors and I’m pleased to announce that several high quality businesses came through and joined the show. I am thrilled to announce Western GMC Buick as the title sponsor and Kitchen Studio and Wallbeds Etc, The Beer Hunter, St. Albert Source for Sports and EMHL have also signed up as sponsors. There’s still some room, if you’re interested in joining as a sponsor please email me at amitchell@astral.com
Our first week will feature Oiler talk, trade talk, Oil Kings, Barons and more. Please post guest suggestions or email me, love your input.
Aaron Volpatti (the anti-Grace Kelly) is on waivers this morning, I was going to write something but Jonathan Willis did it quicker and better. I think the Oilers might put a claim in on him, and run him on a 4line with Belanger and Petrell/Smyth. He’s a better player than Hordichuk and ‘when everyone is healthy’ doesn’t look like it is going to happen this season.
If the club has Paajarvi among the black aces (and they did yesterday) after his performance the other night then I think we can agree this isn’t going to be his season. Damn shame.
–
The COH folks are tracking zone entries, Willis has two items up here and here. This is really interesting information and worth following all season long. I’m not certain at what point we can begin to draw conclusions, but Nuge looks efficient and Gagner does not and I’m beginning to wonder if it is more than just Hall.
Important to find out with Samwise in need of a contract this summer
–
Oilers are in Death Valley tonight, “The Groin” is back in Edmonton and on the IR, the Stars haven’t lost in regulation at home to the Oilers since Pronger but #4 skates for the Oildrop and that’s always a good thing. Hot:
- Sam Gagner, 18 in 18
- Ryan Smyth, 4 in the last 5
- J Schultz and Nail Yakupov: 2 points in their last 2 games
The Oilers have enough firepower to blow the other team out, and maybe tonight Taylor Hall turns Dallas into his very own shooting gallery.
–
When I saw this, my first thought was “Ryan Whitney!” but there’s not much to scout and if you play the guy NHL scouts will see the troubles. That sublime passing ability is still there though, I think a team might take a chance when a few more dollars fall away from the contract.
–
So. Volpatti waivers, Whitney story, Hall returns and the minefield that is Dallas. Should be fun!
Petry’s bringing the offense tonight!
SUCK IT DALLAS! (very sorry to the ladies)
horrible coverage by Jones resulted in that entire rush.
Finally, a bounce coming our way!
Hockey gods pay us back.
Its official, the Oilers are getting some breaks.
Finally.
THE CURSE IS REVERSED!
Lol, we so so earned a beauty like that the Stars over the years.
Hmm those sorts of goals usually go against the Oilers. How odd.
well.
the bounces, at least.
Wow…thigns happen when you put the puck at the net. corsishot FTW!
Agreed, there whole team is hard to look at. Nobody tops that ugly mofo Hatcher though
89
Arguable (statistically) our best pk
Statistically our best on pp
Second best statistically on 5 on 5
Top shoot out guy
Heavy minutes guy
Tonnes of experience
Fights and does play with Grit when appropriate
And all this accomplished at the age or 23.
Wonder why he cant figure the faceoff thing out.
still down 2 D with a period to go.
really hope Dallas sees some supplemental discipline after this debacle, especially if Smid is out for any length of time.
42 percent body fat,
Trade bait with the contract talks coming up.
Oh Lord, is anything going to stop the Blackhawks?
If you have to ensure your shoulder doesn’t touch a person’s head during a check, certainly you have to be aware of your ass’s relative position to people’s heads when skating backwards. An ass is like a concrete boulder compared to a shoulder.
I’ve spent 21 years in Edmonton and the Alberta hinterland, 6 in New Jersey, 10 in San Francisco and 6 in Houston. Houston is surprisingly nice.
Dallas is a gilded toilet.
Was thinking the same thing.
This site being popular with evidence driven fans. I have decided to investigate. The Dallas stars cheer team is easier/sleazeir to look at than the Oilers cheers team IMO. The players well lets just say I was distracted. Check for your selves:
http://oilers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=66416
http://stars.nhl.com/club/microhome.htm?location=/icegirls
Should I have time I will look for a stats based approach for my evaluation but by eye…
I’d go: Austin > San Antonio > Houston > El Paso > Lubbock/Corpus Christi/Amarillo/etc. > gilded toilet > Dallas
The question regarding the 5 on 3 is does RK learn and adapt.
ugliest is still Ricci, you can’t have an ugly nhl conversation without him.
any word on 44 or 5 for the rest of the game?
2nd best thing about Gagner was the look on his face when Hall was yapping with Roussel. I hope someone got video of that bit.
The best thing was getting pissed and dropping the gloves without looking at who he was up against. Could have been Oleksiak.
Hard not to like 89.
And the decider (this is assume)
http://video.stars.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=711&id=191004&lang=en
BlacqueJacque,
I dunno, this is what I see from his relationships with the other core guys
Eberle – in contact since eberle was drafted, good friends
Hall – good friends, (from behind the scenes I actually see this as the group of three) no offense nuge
Schultz- Was part of his recruitment, around the same age, room mates
Nuge- Sams younger brother at home, room mates.
Dubnyk – on the “know your teammate” stuff on jumbotron, he and gagner are seen together alot and know each other well
Yakupov- Instant on ice friendship since camp
Eberle was given an “A” based on his performance last year. Hall is a better leader. In reality I think Sam is a better fit in the group for at least an “A”. Just needs a break out performance like this year. Krueger is starting to see it, hence the increase in icetime.
Maybe a letter will keep him here cheaper.
that was awesome… he’s like amused by the situation… like “haha… you’re cute”
Henry,
does gagner ever fight anybody his size 5’10″ o 6’1″ 190 -205.
It seems he only fights bigger or smaller guys.
42 percent body fat,
Oh God, I don’t think Gagner is trade bait.
I meant to mockingly suggest that Gagner haters will want to trade him now because he’s scoring so much he’ll get a big contract.
I’ll be more obviously sarcastic next time
These are the types of penalties that the Oilers need to draw… using their speed for the loose pucks. And Yakupov is out there for the powerplay.
Phew… our powerplay scored. Here I was getting all worried about our powerplay percentage, given the even strength scoring is so unsustainable.
That should have been the unit out there on the 5 on 3s. I think Yak kissed iron. Nice work Hemmer. And Nuge to draw.
I’ve been watching Nuge tonight and he seems fine. Certainly at evens he could have had a couple of points imo and is +2. Suspect he’ll be fine.
Yes a PP goal, all is right in the world. If Yak keeps missing like that he will never get on the 5v3 squad
Bad, Bad Man
He fought Craig Conroy (same size more or less at the time) just to say ‘fuck you’ to Pat Quinn. He had another fight I can’t remember well. This one was a I’m pissed hockey fight. Best kind.
Love this game. Only thing better would be a Sherwood sandwich for Nystrom.
And Hemsky schooling a defenseman.
Gagner clearly wants to be viewed as a leader. After games he gets on twitter and gives out props to specific teammates, Yakupov in particular when Yak has a good game.
not something you see other players do.
i’m not liking how frequently Ebs doesn’t challenge the D when entering the zone with possession.
Smid back? 4-0? Where am I?
Gags never shy’s away. If Eager, Jones, and the rest can deliver the grit we’ve been searching and searching for.. we would all be stressing about Gagner not being under contract for longer and how the sky is falling. I don’t see Gag’s being the piece that needs to be replaced.
We’re one top4 D, and a dependable back up away from a 6-8seed playoff spot battle.
OMG HEMSKY!
Smiiiiiiidddddd!
Which is to say, I’m happy the Oilers don’t have to replace one of their top 2 guys on D.
Smid!
i wonder if he’ll be faster now that he’s probably shed his remaining teeth into Morrow’s ass.
Henry,
I was going to say Conroy was much smaller than him. But wiki has him listed at 6’2″ 193. This was in gagners rookie year if I remember, or you said quinn so sophomore year. Gagner would have been 190 so ya. I guess we can use the age difference than.
That 1line is outstanding.
I <3 Fistric. Steps up, stands up for Nuge and lays out Roussel.
That’s exactly why they need to sign Fistric.
Nuge was going to pop the guy just so Sam did not have bragging rights. No need for Fistric there. hehe man i love when we beat the Stars.
Tonight whores and pimps trade places with each other.
Okay bitches then. Bitches and pimps trade places tonight, lol.
These Dallas commentators are pretty enjoyable.
Probably not the smartest pinch by N: Schultz there, but it worked out. Fistric has to do that to Roussell every day of the week. Good work.
Nieuwendyk HAS to be regretting that trade.
How many D do we have not in the box?
He probably regrets most of them.
Wtf, he ran right into him. Poor makeup call
I assume since there was so much even strength scoring the first two periods, the refs have decided to play the entire 3rd period on special teams.
I ‘ve seen Peckham or Smid doing the same thing, but somehow whatever they do tends to land Oilers on the PK.
Fistric seems to know the line.
This young “Jagr” kid has got some potential in this league.
If I could choose a body to be born in, it’d be Jagr’s.
Man that must of been one heck of a rookie meal last night.
wooooooooooo
Sick. Unreal. Ben Eager.
But mostly that puck wizard Petrell.
Eager set up by Petrell. Water into wine, stone into flesh!
Nice lookin goal for a 4th line.
Holy shit! What the hell game am I watching?
Eager? Petrell?
Petrell making offensive plays??? It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world
Well, boys. Is there anything to bitch about?
EAGER HIT SHOT GOAL!
Ho ho ho ho ho Eager.
Really rubbing it in.
I hope this game never stops.
Oilers cheap shotting Stars without getting penalties and getting cheap goals??
I love opposite George!!
Nice release by Eager.
I would just like to add, these report cards are not getting written as well as they could be.
Whatta game.
Great hustle by the 4 line. Great to see.
I want the Oilers to play more games like this one. Can we have this happen somehow?
I thought Eager received unfair levels of hate here last year (other than skating by after that hit… on… shit, I forget), anyway… he’s shown new levels of intensity this year.
And I’ve always liked Petrell so *phbbbt*
The Mayan Calendar was a little off. At least I won’t have to work tomorrow.
FUCK DALLAS!
This game needs a Yakupov goal, then all will be good and fine.
Well the 3rd and 4th lines were getting worked over until that last goal.
Don’t worry we are still on pace to be the most inept even strength scoring team in 30 years. Unless of course Eager scores… wtf what’s next a Belanger goal.
Edit:
Sorry thought you were talking about Schultz, i agree on Fistric
Well, it’s not bad… for a road game.
Typical Oilers – shooting the wad in one game.
Finally sticking it to a Lehtonen
Yeah, it was 4-0. In the third period. If you’re going to risk a penalty while standing up for a teammate, it’s nice to be up 4-0 first.
been waiting for this game all season.
finally.
The rink is empty with 8min left.
I think he wants James Neal back too. He needed a guy like MacT to say ‘are you sure you want to do this’ back then.
anyone see this tweet, this is how dumb toronto fans are.
Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie
Amid great pre-draft debate over who’s better – John Tavares or Matt Duchene – Hunter said Kadri deserved to be mentioned in same breath.
I also saw a toronto sun article that said we would be saying whos better, Ovechkin, Crosby or Kadri?
Seriously that was three years ago.
Misread him, thought he was talking about the pinch.
Had already said Fistric was right to do that in my original post
To be fair. It was pretty much that way at the start.
This game is great and the Stars Ice girls videos are making my commercial breaks. All is good in the world.
Fucking Stars.
Dammit, Jagr, you always break my heart.
First you say you’d sign with us… while in the KHL.
Then you kill us every time you see us.
And now you break Doobie’s shutout bid
Damn Doobie has been close to a shutout a few times. He’s made some great saves though.
The dreaded 4 goal lead.
Jagr takes the lead in the 40+ scoring race. Who new that would be a competitive field.
Ah well then, welcome to the Club of Right-Thinking Men.
That is a very Dallas like goal.
Pretty loud crowd for 13 people
Smarmy,
Usually that goal comes in the last 2 minutes of a tied game
A Hockey Player from France on the Dallas Stars would be a great sitcom.
can we please have Jagr next year?
I’m surprised no one mentioned that the Oiler’s really needed to win this game tonight.
48 game seasons and everything.
Having Smid back was probably more important than the score.
Dallas is determined we will leave with injuries. Again.
He’ll sign with Calgary. Just to troll us.
Jonesy
Noooooooooooooo….
Sure!
I thought defensive zone clearance was the worst I’ve seen for the first half of the game.
Hard to complain about a nice big lead on Dallas IN Dallas… but a good Canadian always finds a way!
That has to be the cheapest fkn play I’ve seen this year!
What a bunch of dicks.
If Hall got 2 games, that’s worth 5.
Totally gutless.
Asshole.
off the bench, total intent,
Fuck you Benn
Holy.. suspension worthy? no it’s a injured oiler
Dallas sucks.
absolutely horrible.
Fuck you Benn.
That should be twenty.
Don’t worry – Jones can take it.
Mountain man.
…if it took place in a strip club
Yakupov all over the place… heroically!
Look at the damn look on his face “came off the bench with revenge in his eyes” 8games.
Jones doesn’t have the integrity and class of Cal Clutterbuck. $7500 fine.
Katerina used a Kramer Vintage 700 bass guitar. Signed by Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. During the filming of the Ice Girls video. I think this is what clinched it for them in there battle with the Rookies.
I know this is not relevant to the game but how often do you get to look away from an Oilers game when its in the bag v. not licking bag.
Odds on no suspension?
both Nystrom and Benn need to be suspended after this.
Love that sequence. Rub it in their damn faces.
Shades of Jarret Stoll iron action.
Damnit, i just shut it off and went to bed. What happened???
Sounds like that season ending episode of Breaking Bad – ding ding ding!
benn will be suspended, came off the bench, has nothing to do with the play, was retaliatory, blindside, used stick. 4 games
Counter point: This is the NHL
I really enjoyed that.
First win in Dallas since 06?
Lordy.
Fuck you Dallas Stars.
Fuck you very much.
If a team does as many stupid things as Dallas did they should have to play 5 on 2. That was fun
and gagner despite sitting out 5 and a half minutes for the fight lead the oilers forwards in time on ice.
42 percent body fat,
And late in a runaway game
so… I guess we need to work on our 5-3, huh?
Oh, and…. fucking Jagr… unbelievable.
Crushing these bastards on their own ice feels pretty effin good.
Stars are officially the Oilers ho.
Banner night.
Sure, but there’s a better chance that JONES gets 2 games on that play than Benn spending 5 minutes in trouble.
Shanahan may have to watch the whole game over and over
Benn will receive a stern lecture and have his pudding snacks taken away for 4 lunches.
Dammit, flames, avs looking like Bettman fantasyland
I don’t smoke and I feel the need for a cigarette and a glass of scotch.
so, finally a big win with lots of 5v5 scoring.
and it only took a bunch of extremely lucky bounces and losing 2 players to injury to do it!
4-4 at the ROR cup
I hope this is the turning point in the season and regulation wins become the norm. My 5 year old nephew in Halifax received his first Oilers jersey today from his Grandma. He prefers Detroit and teams that wear red. His dad is a Flames fan but to make his Mom happy he has agreed to wear it the day after any Oilers win. This is a good start to his hockey education.
The only thing that would make this day better for the Oilers would be this Avs-Flames game NOT going into Overtime.
Oh shit, Landeskog is back?
Dammit, I really wanted to see a bigger Landeskog/no O’Reilly or O’Reilly/no Landeskog stat sample.
I wonder if they call up Clark and play him tomorrow night. That’d be a royal kick in a gnuts for Whitney and Peckham. Maybe they can make Paajarvi ride in the luggage department of the Greyhound he’s on back to OKC.
Every time we play a game like this I get optimistic that management will charge out and get some reinforcements.
I should really stop that. It has to come true eventually though…right???
And the Flames blow the lead!
Can they clinch the loss? We’ll see.
Go Avs?
Sweet! Avs scored! 5-4!
The Oilers blocked 22 shots.
That was the game.
the team broadcasting the Flames – Avs game is terrible.
Duchene gives Avs the lead.
c’mon .. go Avs!
What would be nice is if management came out and complained about no Benn suspension.. once he’s not suspended of course. But they won’t, Steve will say.. Well Yzerman, said to eat a pudding pop, so I did.
and the Avs move ahead! 3 unanswered against the Flames. Offer sheets only work in capital cities!
1 – Oilers bitch-slap the Stars at Dallas.
2 – 10 minutes to savour watching Calgary contemplating the future with their blown lead.
wtf
If Potter’s out (and I imagine he is), and Whitney doesn’t draw in, then we’ll know for sure he’ll never play another game for the Oilers. At this point he’s just taking up a spot on the 23-man roster.
Bus gets stopped, Paajarvi with his funny accent wins a free trip to GITMO until Harold and Kumar can vouch for him.
Is he saying ‘Jordano’?
Benn will get the same thing whoever had that late hit on Horcov got weeks back… nothing. Nystrom the same.
Flames being shown up as 112 pound NHL weaklings.
Нинтендо⁶⁴,
well played!
lol. Paajarvi gets one phone call, accidentally calls Renney who goes into a rage about sideburns and we don’t see Paajarvi again.
That was excellent, gentlemen (and Alice). It was like a conjugal visit after years in prison.
5 goals (6 with Yakupov’s one-timer that time couldn’t even see), 4 5×5, several posts… and all on Lehtinen night – hahahaha!
Whitney really pissed me off after being HSed and saying something like “You can’t play if you are worried about making a mistake” .. so many rookies coming into the league have to play through that fear and Whitney had already received a quarter season’s worth of leash.
Smyth handled sitting out so much better.
I like Calgary’s chances this season.
So… Gagner was an assist away from the ole’ Gordie Howe
Landeskog is just amazing. What a complete player.
Iginla for Ryan Smyth in a heartbeat. With first choice of any two Oilers assistant coaches. if they don’t want to take it, offer one assistant coach.
hunter1909,
Because the Oilers have such a shortage of right wingers.
striatic,
It’s almost like 94 provided the excuse to HS the vets together and Whitney flunked the test
the funny thing is that Smyth almost flunked it too.
but he took a day and a deep breath, sucked it up, didn’t make any excuses and came back strong as he could.
In fairness to Whitney, I thought he’s mostly said the right things about being scratched and he’s interviews tend to be fairly candid, so I don’t hold that against him. I imagine it is harder if you feel you can’t make a mistake or you’re out. Rookies do struggle with that as well.
To be clear, I don’t feel Whitney has played well enough to be in the Oilers top 6 (and that’s pretty damning). However, Krueger seems to have lost all faith in him and if he’s not going to play and he’s not going to get waived and he’s not signed for beyond this season… well then he’s just taking up a spot on the roster that could be taken up by a 14th forward… or Brett Clark.
It’s safe to assume, everyone reading this is a bandwagon Avs fan, tonight.
It’s not too bad. Flames and their fans can watch Oilers highlights.
That is apparently how he prefers his name pronounced… They did a thing on it.
striatic,
Smart is saying you’ll comment tomorrow and then spouting sweetness and light after a good sleep.
That color guy for the Avs is horrible – “the biggest save of the night”? He hit him in the crest!
spoiler,
Mama Mia!
hell yes.
nice to see Calgary lose.
good for the soul.
I look forward to the buoyed mood around here tomorrow.
February 28, 2013… Gonna have to quit drinking and make sure I remember this night.
The Flames lose!
This is what two chicks at the same time must be like.
We dominate the Stars in Dallas, opening up a 2-point lead on the Flames, improve our team +/- to -3 (a 9-goal difference over Calgary), the Flames blow a huge lead, don’t get the Bettman point, and Colorado had to pay way more for O’Reilly than they wanted to.
Faceoffs tonight
RNH 14/19 74%
VDV 4/7 57%
Gagner 8/16 50%
Belanger 11/23 48%
More opposite George stuff.
Noticed RNH is angling his stick and just tipping the puck back instead trying to pull it back.
Seems to be working.
Imagine when he has to shave once a week!
Stastny at least seems excited to see O’Reilly is back, and he’s the one with the most to lose.
qft
qft.
Lowetide,
OMG, so it *is* what two chicks at the same time feels like.
LT confirms.
Stauffer mentioned on the show that he expected to see Whitney play in STL.
With Potter out, its almost certain.
If they scratch him tomorrow they should just waive him
28 seemed ok on 89-83 line, but he made some poor plays as well.
I prefer 91 there.
91 is starting to go to the net like 28 does.
He should get another chance there.
Tencer with the stat of the week: the Oil are undefeated when Petrell has a multiple point game! (he’s had two!)
the game against STL is a big deal.
a real chance to finally get back into the hunt.
i don’t think the Oilers win it, unfortunately.
Put that man with Gagner and Hemsky!
Many Flames fans are still at the “it’s the coach” stage of denial about their roster, judging from some posts.
Well, Krueger scratched Paajarvi after one of his best games of the season, I see no reason why he can’t do the same to Petrell to put Paajarvi back in.
Wish… granted! Plus a reg loss for Cowtown for the cherry on the icing.
The Renney model!
We’ll look back on this play as the exact moment that Fistric assured himself of another contract with this organization.
Aaaannnndd Spector raises his idiocy to new heights saying Benn shouldn’t be suspended.
From: @SportsnetSpec
Sent: Feb 28, 2013 10:13p
@dstaples I say no. No injury, but surely a heap shot. He SHOULD, however, have to answer the bell next time out vs. EDM. #nextyear
sent via TweetDeck in reply to @dstaples
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/307357937674895360
Nice win tonight. A solid effort and a couple of good breaks and we win this going away. And 4 even strength goals to boot.!!!
And I hope Benn gets suspended.
so Jones is ok?
classic heap shot!
It’s like shot put but with clods of dirt…. “how’s your heap shot coming, Mark?”
It’s a Canada Day favorite for the Spector family.
I am glad to see that you’re back on the air again LT! I finally have something interesting to do Saturday afternoons. Grocery shopping was getting pretty boring!