BLUES AT OILERS G30 (12-13) 23.3.13
The Edmonton Oilers are 3-0-2 in their last 5 games, have increased their chances of making the second season from2.5% two weeks ago to 16.9% today. They have an excellent PP, a solid PK and are about where they were a year ago in terms of points after 29 games.
The key for Edmonton is to avoid stepping into the elevator shaft like they did one year ago (2-9-0 in games 30 through 40). How do they stay away from long losing streaks? Injuries are a factor, luck is always in the background snickering, and their performance 5×5 is insane. The Oilers scored 38 5×5 goals in their first 29 games, exactly half the number pushed through by Pittsburgh in 32 games this season. EV scoring (imo) reflects the team perfectly: all world skills, but the gunners lack experience and can be bottled up for extended periods doing scut work far from the opposition goal. They need to clean it up, this isn’t about goaltending or faceoffs or hits or fights or intimidation. This is about winning puck battles, smart outlet passes, not taking chances when nothing rhymes, zone exits and entries. Basically all of the stuff we’ve been talking about this season.
Is it just me or is the lockout a distant bell?
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Yesterday on Team 1260, Ryan Rishaug had an interesting take on the Oilers at the deadline. Rishaug suggested the Oilers might choose to keep Whitney, Smid, Fistric and Jones–that would be the club’s commitment to the team–if they were in a position to contend for the post-season.
As a fan, I hate it. I hate it I hate it I hate it. Hey, I’m in my 50′s here people, can we possibly get some freaking urgency at some point? I don’t have forever!
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The deadline uncertainty is an issue for all teams around the bubble:
- Ken Holland: “From our perspective, how it affects the Detroit Red Wings – we need to win some games. I look at the trade deadline, and there are buyers and sellers, and those that stand pat. And those that stand pat are teams that are on the bubble. You don’t want to throw a lot of assets at something that you’re not sure if you’re going to miss the playoffs. I’m talking about young players and draft picks.”
College defenseman Danny DeKeyser will probably sign sometime in the next 7 days, Western Michigan club is unlikely to advance. Detroit is probably the favorite to land him.
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The Nuge’s flu is likely to keep him out of tonight’s game according to reports. He’s important to the team even though his scoring is way off. “Very doubtful” was the word from coach Krueger yesterday, Eric Belanger will draw back in tonight.
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Sam Gagner is tied for 23rd in overall points and 26th in goals (with 12). Taylor Hall is tied for 16th in assists with 20, Devan Dubnyk is 11th in SP (.918).
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I’ll revisit my RE at the end of the season, but considering my guest today on the radio show I thought it might be an idea to post his projections, mine and the current state of affairs in regard to the Oilers. My original post about Scott Cullen’s Oiler projections for the shortened season is here (Cullen’s Oiler projections)
SCOTT CULLEN’S OILERS PROJECTIONS
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 43, 13-23-36
- Jordan Eberle 44, 15-19-34
- Taylor Hall 43, 16-17-33
- Nail Yakupov 46, 15-16-31
- Justin Schultz 46, 9-19-28
- Sam Gagner 42, 10-16-26
- Ales Hemsky 35, 9-17-26
- Ryan Smyth 46, 11-13-24
- Shawn Horcoff 40, 7-12-19
- Magnus Paajarvi 45, 6-11-17
- Ryan Whitney 30, 2-14-16
LOWETIDE RE
- Taylor Hall 39, 21-19-40
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 42, 13-26-39
- Jordan Eberle 44, 14-18-32
- Sam Gagner 43, 11-21-32
- Ales Hemsky 35, 8-24-32
- Nail Yakupov 45, 11-15-26
- Ryan Smyth 40, 9-13-22
- Shawn Horcoff 44, 6-10-16
- Jeff Petry 42, 2-15-17
- Ryan Whitney 39, 2-15-17
- Justin Schultz 44, 4-11-15
- Magnus Paajarvi 39, 3-9-12
CURRENT PROJECTIONS BASED ON ACTUAL PERFORMANCE
- Sam Gagner 48, 20-26-46
- Taylor Hall 45, 10-35-45
- Jordan Eberle 48, 12-22-34
- Ales Hemsky 47, 13-15-28
- Justin Schultz 48, 8-17-25
- Nail Yakupov 48, 10-15-25
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 46, 3-15-18
- Ryan Whitney 41, 6-13-19
- Ryan Smyth 47, 3-10-13
- Magnus Paajarvi 43, 11-4-15
- Shawn Horcoff 31, 10-5-15
- Lennart Petrell 42, 4-7-11
- Jeff Petry 48, 5-5-10
- Nick Schultz 48, 0-7-7
- Eric Belanger 40, 0-6-6
Cullen is close on Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff, Magnus Paajarvi and Ryan Whitney. He missed on only RNH by my eye (but who knew?) and did not anticipate Hall’s step forward. Cullen did an outstanding job to my eye.
LOWETIDE AT HIGH NOON
Today at noon Edmonton time, we hit the airwaves of Team 1260 with two hours of hockey talk. Scheduled to appear:
- Scott Cullen from tsn. We’ll talk about first half surprises, Oilers who are kicking butt, Calder chances for Yakupov and Schultz, and of course your questions are welcome.
- Ellen Etchingham from Back Hand Shelf. We’ll talk about Ellen’s unique view of the game, what fascinates her these days and her unusual relationship with the rabid fandom that is Oilers Nation.
- Corey Graham from team 1260′s Oil King broadcasts. Corey’s the hardest working play by play guy in junior hockey, because the Oil Kings keep winning! A massive blowout last night kicked off the playoffs for the OK, we’ll talk about the game, the incredible depth and the Memorial Cup.
- Travis Yost from Hockeybuzz. Travis is the Senators columnist for the buzz, and he’s exceptional. His tee up for today’s game is here. We’ll talk Senators, Oilers, playoffs and the impact of coaching on a roster.
Hope you can tune in. Questions and comments welcome, best way to get hold of me (even during the show) is on twitter @Lowetide_ but I check the blog too for questions and comments.
I always like your projections. Good for Gagner for taking a step forward. Got a few more years to get better. He might even win a faceoff before he retires.
Oh yeah and thanks for the post.
Looking forward to another good hockey game. There have been a few of these recently
Prediction: Taylor Hall gets a hat trick tonight.
LT – you are damn good with those projections.
Continuing with some of the Columbus comparisons from the previous post highlighting management philosophies and how tough it is to build a competitive hockey team…or at least how the fans in Edm hear it from team management and the MSM shills?
Build through the draft?
Oilers have six first rounders going back to the 2007 draft on the regular roster,including three 1 OV’s.
BJ’s have zero #1 OV’s, Zero draftees from the past two drafts in their lineup. A to date underachiever and sometimes HS in Johansen and a newbie D in Prout from 2010. Relative newbie D Moore from 2009 and 5th round F Calvert from 2008 playing his first full season. Bailed on their first rounder from 2007.
Wisniewski, one of their top 3 and perhaps best D has only played 15 games this season.
Ahead of the Oilers in the standings, (yes 2 additional games played) but a better shot at making the playoffs, a better goal differential, three first rounders in this years draft and Davidson and Kekalainen running the show.
How tough is it to be competitve again?
Slow and steady Steve. Slooooow and steady.
The Oilers have been on a pretty decent run with Belanger out of the line-up. I don’t think that this is a coincidence. It is too bad that RNH’s illness opens a spot for him. I would much rather see our fourth line consisting of Smyth-Brown Petrell !
As a fan I am hoping that the Oilers go well over .500 in the remaining games and make the playoffs. As a realist I have to wonder what the trade deadline will bring. If the Oilers are out of the playoffs does Smid(or Whitney), Peckham, and Khabibulin get them Bishop and Cowen from Ottawa. If healthy Khabibulin provides an experienced backup and the Senators get defensive depth. The Oilers get better for next year. Any chance that Ottawa would trade Cowen?
cabbiesmacker,
Wisniewski even though he is paid like a top defenseman is a solid but not great 2nd pairing. The key is too get a group of solid players that play well together. The sum of the parts on that team is better than each part individually, while on the Oilers I would say the opposite is true.
oilgreg,
I think that coincides with Horcoff returning and ice skating up hill. I dont mind belanger on the 4th line and help out with some defensive draws, but he is not someone that can move up the lineup.
Habs claim Halpern. Le sigh.
You should ask Yost just what the hell is going on in Ottawa. They keep losing guys to injuries but they still play like the gaddamned Red Wings! Is MacLean just that good of a coach? Is there some amazing procurement guy there that we should know of? Is it just an extended streak?
Is the Koufax clause in effect here though?
If it doesn’t Ottawa is on glue. Smid is the best player of the bunch and there’s better ways to gain a backup goalie than trading away your best Dman.
The strangest thing about Cullen’s projections is not having Hall at the top of his list. What was the thinking there?
LT…I believe we had a small (cough) disagreement on your RE for the team’s goal differential this season.
You had predicted a rather big step forward while I had argued, based on the Oilers SF/GF ratio last season, that the Oilers ran the risk of a worse GD this season.
As of now, the Oilers sit at -13 which pro-rates to -37 over an 82 game season which compares unfavourably to last season’ -27.
This season their SA/G (33.6) has actually become worse than last season (30.7) while their SF/G has increased by only 1/G.
It would seem that improved goaltending is masking a team that otherwise is regressing.
Oilers had Dubnyk, Petry, Gagner, Eberle, and Paajarvi in the barn and being hosed down when they told us the rebuild was on and they went bang, bang, bang with first OV’s.
I guess we need to wait until Dubnyk is retired, Gagner has been traded away because he’s not cap friendly, and Eberle and Hall are halfway through their second contracts before we see appreciable gains.
Slow and steady Steve. Sloooowww and steady. No rush. Kick back and enjoy another gagger dude.
If one team beats us for the 8th place in the West, I hope it’s Columbus.
First, as a fuck you to Nash.
Second, as a fuck you to Tamblowe.
You are correct in that Horcoff has had a positive impact since returning … but I still would not discount the ‘Belanger’ factor. I think his ‘ lack of try ‘ has a negative impact on his younger teammates.
And, I have yet to see him finish a check. His skates must need sharpening quite often, cause he sure does a lot of turning. I would certainly like to be an opposing d-man with him on the ice!!!
Standings this morning:
CHICAGO 0.850
ANAHEIM 0.800
MINNESOTA 0.621
LOS ANGELES 0.600
VANCOUVER 0.60
ST LOUIS 0.586
DETROIT 0.565
SAN JOSE 0.552
———————————-
DALLAS 0.517
COLUMBUS 0.516
EDMONTON 0.500
PHOENIX 0.484
NASHVILLE 0.484
COLORADO 0.448
CALGARY 0.448
.552 pts % is the cut off as of today.
In this 48 game season that means 53pts.
Its come down, was 55 a couple weeks ago.
That means EDM needs 24pts in 19 games, or .632% the rest of the way.
Very, very tall order.
I had someone ask me how I figured out the pts %. I just get it from NHL.com:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/teamstats.htm?fetchKey=20132ALLSAAAll&sort=pointPctg&viewName=summary
With Nuge out and RK running 4-10-83 that means only two lines can hold water (other is 91-89-64), 14 on his own isn’t enough to carry a line.
STL coming off 3 days off.
I expect this game to not be close.
STL will own the puck and it will be a fire drill in the OIlers zone all night.
We’ll hear tomorrow how the Oilers need bigger players to play vs. the Blue when in reality they need better players.
Most of the Oilers worst players are their bigger players.
Good big players would be nice.
Watch Sobatka own the OIlers again and he’s 5’10 190lbs, but it like a dog with a bone on the boards.
The only hope is the PP and Halak starting
Bad goalies can sink good teams.
I hope the Oilers win.
I doubt they do.
Go Oilers!!
*clap,clap*
I think the Oilers sign Smid before the deadline for reasonable money. 4yrs/14M
They will likely wait on Fistric but sign him after the deadline or during the summer. No rush on him.
I can see them keeping Whitney because a warm body is better than a 3rd rounder to finish the season. But I honestly think they will resign Whitney for less $ next year warts and all. Because Oilers. I hate this possiblility.
Steve puts the “dead” in deadline, so I’m really not expecting much of anything.
Fire drill in the Edmonton Zone sounds about right, WG.
Guaranteed if we are up by one going into the third.
Tweetaleet…
dantencer
Hemsky and N. Schultz are taking morning skate after a day off. RNH absent again and has been placed on IR retroactive to Sunday night.
Here are my projections
2012-13 PROJECTION (48 GAMES)
TOTAL GOALS FOR: 131
TOTAL GOALS AGAINST: 138 (including 7 EN goals)
GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: 2.73 (2.52 last season)
GOALS AGAINST PER GAME AVERAGE: 2.88 (2.83 last season)
They are available for you review here:
http://lowetide.ca/blog/2013/01/re-12-13-revisited-and-revised-3-gf-ga.html
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EDMONTON CURRENTLY
GOALS FOR PER GAME 2.41 (70 goals so far in 29 games)
GOALS AGAINST PER GAME: 2.83 (82 goals so far in 29 games)
That would put them at -20 for the entire 48 game season.
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I had them at -7, they are on track for -20 but with more home than away games. I expect the end result to be closer, and am satisfied with my overall prediction.
Cabbiesmacker,
Today Smid is the best player in my hypothetical offer. The Oilers do not seem to be offering him a long term deal and i question his future with the club. I would rather have Jared Cowen than Jack Johnson. Cowen is 6’5″ 230 lbs, shoots left, and scored 17pts in his 21 year old season. If he is expected to make a complete recovery, he would be a replacement for Smid for the near and far future. I just do not know if he will recover or if Ottawa would trade him. Lowetide is talking to a guy who writes about the Senators and he might have some insight into Cowen’s potential.
dantencer
Lines tonight:
Hall-Horcoff-Hemsky
Paajarvi-Gagner-Eberle
Jones-Belanger-Yakupov
Petrell-Smyth-Brown
Well. That’s 4 lines!
14 with 89 and 91 morning skate. During last game i was wondering why RK didn’t try.
LT,
Any chance Antoine Laganiere will sign with the Oilers?
Wait, it gets better….
EdmontonOilers
Nikolai Khabibulin gets the start between the pipes as the #Oilers host St. Louis tonight on
Khabibulin gets the start!
Rondo: Only rumor I’ve seen has him going to the Canucks.
By this time in the season, I’ll bet RK would be just as happy calling bingo numbers in a smokey hall than trying to make sense of the numbers available to him for an NHL lineup.
And now Khabby too?
Ribs,
Damn you flu, that third line sucks. Should switch Belanger and Gagner and then give Jones, Gags, and Yak cherry flavored butter soft minutes.
Lowetide,
Meh, he’ll tweek something during the game and be out the next month.
did gagner and eberle played same line this year ?
Hopefully the Oilers can get more than the 17 shots on St. Louis that they had the last time the played against them. It will be tough. St. Louis forces rushes to the perimeter and allow the least amount of shots per game of anyone in the league.
Did the conference format switch pass already?
Seems to me 16 teams to 14 gives an unfair (and quite massive) advantage to the West.
Meanwhile, Dallas will travel almost 49000 miles next season, while Philly will be around 27000 miles. Figures are quoted from memory of an article I read a couple of weeks ago, so they’re not 100% accurate, but are close.
justDOit,
I don’t quite see how that would be relevant (even tough it’s true that western teams have more wear and tear). IIRC all teams from the West have to travel a lot; but they only compete with other Western teams for playoff spots (AKA, other teams who travel a lot).
dantencer
Krueger says they aren’t sure if RNH will travel with the team tomorrow for their quick 2 game trip. He says it looks like strep throat.
FPB94,
Playoff format is one small advantage for western teams, travel is one for eastern teams.
justDOit,
In the East you’d have 50% chance of making the playoffs versus 60%. That’s absurd.
What exactly is the advantage of travelling less unless you’re playing cross-conference games? Even in that case it’s the same for every Western/Eastern team, it’s not like the two conferences compete for playoff spots.
For the past 10 years the West has been over ,500 vs the East. So the data suggest travel seems quite irrelevant.
justDOit,
FPB94,
IIRC there is supposed to be a wild card format for the last two spots in the West, please correct me if I’m wrong. The problem with the travel is that hypothetically the East has a huge advantage in the SCF due to far less travel, that is only compensated for by going on a Kings’-like run to the big show. additionally if there is a wild card format, then it can put the top western teams at a greater disadvantage if they have to play teams out east.
Also, does anyone have the estimated travel for the Florida teams? that could be real ugly for those guys. Still don’t understand why they couldn’t have kept the old 6 division setup, and just exchanged Nashville and Winnipeg. Mike Ilitch can go to hell.
FPB94,
Basically, the format makes getting into the playoffs slightly easier for Western teams, but the travel required by Western teams is technically gives any Eastern team that makes it to the Stanley Cup Finals an advantage over the Western team, due to less wear and tear.
Might actually also mean fewer injuries on your players during the season, but I’ve never seen anyone really look at that.
Bah, my 1260 online feed is jumping all over the place.
1 or 2 starts that aren’t blowouts and without injury and we may get a 3rd for him. Hold it together just a little longer Khabi!!
Oh well, if there’s a wild card spot it makes a bit more sense. But I guess i’d be a bitch for traditional teams.
There is a time for urgency, and this is not it. There is a time to ignore impatient fans who want to make moves to compete now, and this is it. You can’t force this team into the playoffs with wishes LT, much as we all wish it were possible.
It’s more sensible, IMO, to move all those guys (assuming you can’t get them signed at terms you like, if you want to re-sign them) and go with what you have. The team won’t be materially worse for 12 games if they move Jones, Belanger, Fistric, and Whitney, and replace them with Lander, Hartikainen, Potter, and Peckham. If they make the playoffs, it will be because of guys further up the lineup.
B S,
Sorry, last spot (singular). Problem is all the latest info I could find on realignment was about the regular season, so this may have been tossed, or maybe no-one in the NHL head office cares one way or the other.
i wonder if Smid gets traded, gets in some playoff games, then signs in Edmonton during the summer.
i’m surprised things like that don’t happen more often around the league. ‘rentals’ in the truest sense that are returned after the playoffs.
How the hell does Nate Thompson get a 4 year 1.6 per year contract. Stupid, why did we have the lockout again.
Well put. They did not put the pieces together to really push prior to starting the season. They completely disregarded their center depth through injuries that were crippling them. The time to trade was a month ago at the latest if we were all about ‘being in the hunt’ for anything more than a hail mary shot. At this point we are looking at 20% chance and would have to put together an insane run through the remaining games to do anything but end up in 9th to 12th in the west…
Whitney – sell for whatever
Jones – sell for 3rd – 2nd
Khabi – hopefully healthy and playing well enough to be sellable for anything
Belanger – sell for whatever
Sign Smid, sell N. Shultz
Sell Hemmer with a package of beans (sans Gernat, Maricin, Klefboom and Musil any D prospect) for upgrade on the top 3 D and maybe a somewhat promising center prospect
Sign Fistric if he’ll accept a 5 D type contract for 3 years
Should really be working on what price Gagner willing to sign for. If it doesn’t fit in your plan, sadly might be a sell high here
I don’t want to deal Hemsky and Gagner but we need to really have a clear plan going forward with cap structure.
C’s RNH, Gagner, Horc (no need to buy him out yet), xxxx
LW Hall, PVR, Hartikanen, xxx
RW Eberle, Yak, xxx (I’d still like this to be Omark), Brown?
Spares
1st pair – Smid, xxxx
2nd pair -J. Shultz, J Petry
3rd pair – Fistric, Klef?
Spares
We need to parlay some winger depth into D and center depth. I don’t see the point of gambling overly on the very small chance we can make it at this point.
I know Belanger is a natural centre and all, but I think this lineup would look better if you have Smyth centre the 3rd line and Belanger the 4th. And if Hartikainen is there instead of Brown. If you aren’t going to play Hartikainen, why isn’t he in OKC? Lander was doing OK earlier and is a natural centre. Better to play him here than not play Hartikainen. Makes no sense to me since it’s been ongoing for a few games and now RNH is out at least a week.
dessert1111,
RNH’s IR is backdated almost a week, so hypothetically he can come off IR anytime after this game.
He was close to a PPG back in Jr. and in the ECHL during the lockout. The offense is coming.
Lander played his second game last night since being out for two months. He was -3.
For once they might be taking an approach best for the prospect.
(*He is probably on the plane right now)
The Sens keeping winning because their Fenwick (score adjusted, leading or trailing) are all very good. It would appear that Maclean is a possesion focused coach. Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those?
Yost is good. His artlicles have depth, unlike many of the other bloggers on the buzz.
Ducey,
Yeah, I don’t want to see any discussion of Lander in the NHL for, like, two years.
Krueger feels bad about making Eberle play with Bad Ryan….
“We just feel for Ebs, with Nuge out of the lineup, it’s important to get him in a position with the puck as much as possible and they’re playing together on the power play,” said Krueger of Eberle’s shift to the line with Gagner and Paajarvi.
I think the keys for the elevator shaft were on the same keychain that keys to a Ferrari are.
08 FEB ’12 EDM @ DET L 4 30 26 .867 0 0 58:07 3 1 0 0
21 JAN ’12 CGY @ EDM L 4 16 12 .750 0 0 39:44 4 0 0 1
19 JAN ’12 EDM @ STL L 1 38 37 .974 0 0 58:44 1 0 0 0
13 JAN ’12 ANA @ EDM L 3 14 11 .786 0 0 30:54 2 1 0 0
11 JAN ’12 NJD @ EDM O 2 25 23 .920 0 0 61:06 0 1 1 0
07 JAN ’12 EDM @ DAL L 3 33 30 .909 0 0 58:59 3 0 0 1
03 JAN ’12 EDM @ BUF L 4 33 29 .879 0 0 58:48 4 0 0 0
29 DEC ’11 EDM @ MIN L 4 19 15 .789 0 0 40:00 4 0 0 0
26 DEC ’11 EDM @ VAN L 5 26 21 .808 0 0 58:04 4 0 1 0
Who’s playing in net tonight?
The journal says RNH may have strep.
I don’t like that news at all.It can be serious illness.
strep can be extremely painful. two weeks on antiboitics and he will be good as new. except for the shoulder. and maybe the fatigue.
Horcoff will pick up the slack.
Omark’s currently @ 0.62 ppg pace, adjusted for NHLE ( I hope I did that right). That’s probably high, given who he was playing with to start the season. Would he help the Oilers? This would put him in the same company as 83, and ahead of 93 and 64. 93 and 64 get the nod due to age.
I don’t know. If an NHL team’s willing to give up anything useful for him, I think the Oilers should take it.
I wasn’t planning on putting this out there but given today’s announcement I thought I’d add to the fray if only to lead to more wild speculation ;o)
The morning after the San Jose game I saw RNH coming out of HealthPointe Pain Clinic at the HYS professional building by the Royal Alex hospital. My wife gets physio there so he could have been doing something like that. One other thing, he didn’t look like a guy with the flu. I’m not saying, I’m just saying.
John Davidson and the St Louis Blues:
-St. Louis Blues traded Keith Tkachuk to the Atlanta Thrashers for Glen Metropolit, a first and third-round draft pick in 2007 and a second-round draft pick in 2008.
-Atlanta Thrashers traded Keith Tkachuk and a conditional 4th round selection in 2008 to the St. Louis Blues for a conditional 1st round selection in 2008. (essentially for exclusive rights prior to UFA and resigns with St Louis)
2006/1/30 St. Louis Blues traded Doug Weight and the rights to Erkki Rajamaki to the Carolina Hurricanes for Jesse Boulerice, Mike Zigomanis, the rights to Magnus Kahnberg, a 1 st and a 4th round selections in 2006 and a 4th round selection in 2007.
2006/07/02 Signed as an unrestricted free agent by the St. Louis Blues.
2007/12/14 Anaheim Ducks traded Andy McDonald to the St. Louis Blues for Doug Weight, Michal Birner and a 7th round draft selection in 2008.
Huge gains off trading then resigning these guys. If you chase the history of those trades, that is the spark point of St. Louis really rebuilding without spending an eternity in the cellar….I like their model best. Everytime I hear Stauffer claim Calgary HAS TO scorch earth I just laugh. Really shouldn’t have to. Give Iggy a run, resign him on a one year deal, Give Iggy another run next year and resign him if he still has gas in the tank. Pretty sure if you sat him down and talked to him he’d likely be fine with doing that over the next couple years. Likely help you out a lot.
I sure hope that RNH doesn’t have mononucleosis. That is one nasty disease and sure kicks the shit right out of a person. Hopefully the lads can win one for him tonight. Go Oilers!
Mono is one of 60,000 maladies that Marc Pouliot had during his Oiler career. Crap.
Marty Sakic came back from Boston in the 2006 offseason, I think. Wonder if things turn out different if you traded Pouliot or a pick instead of Marty.
I wonder if the Khabi start is a showcase? Has to be.
Oh, oh LT is lamenting all of the dastardly things that prevented MAP from a HHOF career
When he should be worried about how svelte Kelly Hrudey looks, …… damn MH Tigers eye candy!!
lol. It was probably that damn bandana!
The east travels less so they get the two extra team.
Detroit and Columbus had to go to the east or the travel would still be even worse for the West.
Yes the travel difference makes no difference because you are playing against your conference and they travel also.
The other thing is the east get even better travel because they have less games to travel to the other conference by 2 than the west.
Dont see how there would have been any issues getting this through the PA, 14teams plus Detroit and columbus vote in favour and the other 14 eastern teams vote against.
On average team player membership bote the 16 teams should out vote the other 14 no?
moot point ass it passed.
Also the wear and tear about traveling to the east and out pointsing them is also debateable. The east is a far easier league to play in, less physical. less defense and way more scoring.
Lowetide,
IIRC Dubnyk has terrible numbers against St. Louis. That might be a factor
Lucic hasn’t scored in a month. His value is low! BUY BUY!
Detroit and Colorado are Eastern Time Zone teams. They will be able to get more local TV money if they are playing more of their games in the Eastern Time Zone.
The best way to save an Ohio franchise is to stick it in a division with the Pennsylvannia franchises. See NFL. Cleveland, Cincinnati, PIttsburgh, Baltimore (ex-Cleveland, and almost in Pennsylvania).
They put the Florida teams with the Canadian teams because of Canadian snowbirds and vacationers. It will probably be cheaper to buy a plane ticket and catch a Leaf doubleheader in Tampa and Miami than two spring for two good tickets in the ACC.
This is not set in stone anyways. There is going to be expansion, and more rejigging.
Seattle is a natural for the Western Conference. And maybe they try Kansas City or Houston or Saskatoon in that Central Time Zone division.
14s
Lines for #OKCBarons, LW-C-RW: Rajala-Arcobello-Cheechoo; Green-Stretch-Cornet; Hamilton-Lander-Byers; VandeVelde-Martindale-House
1m
Defense pairings: Marincin & Fedun; Deck & Plante; Davidson & Hotham #OKCBarons
Tonight has all the makings of a total sh!tshow on ice. If the Oil had shown some resilience vs Redwings or Sharks, I’d give it a watch. Instead, am going for a nice dinner with the missus and will face away from the TV / bar… that way my realistic expectations for a point tonight are more LT than Cullen
Goil?
The danger in this lies in the grass is greener out there.
Better players. Better coaches. Better GM. Better arena. Better weather. Better travel schedule. Better places to shop.
You can never go home again.
Not counting on EDM landing DeKayser, but might the same sales pitch that worked for Schultz work for him? Who knows, probably worth trying.
If EDM were to get him, they’d likely have to burn a contract year, and trade/waive a D, but that’s certainly doable. I can see the appeal of the Oilers if I were a guy like DeKayser.
Offload any of Peckham, Potter, deal Whitney. All kinds of options.
He’s a Michigan boy.
Detroit also has a hole on defense.
Don’t think he’ll sign anywhere else.
Yes, please.
One nice thing about signing DeKayser, for whoever gets him, is that you get 15-20 games to see what he looks like, which should give you a better idea of where you can slot him into your depth chart come the summer UFA period.
Just getting the player at all would be great, but knowing a bit more what you have vs. signing him and not seeing him until training camp should be an advantage.
If EDM did get him, theoretically it could allow them to leave Klefbom in the AHL for 40 games to get used to NA hockey when they might otherwise have had him in the NHL.
Tambi thinks DeKeyser is the bad guy from the Usual Suspects. Doh!
Captain Happy,
Yeah, based on everything I’ve read I’d guess that DET is the favorite to get him. At the same time, I wasn’t necessarily thinking the Oilers were the favorite to get Schultz either.
I could imagine a prospect D looking at the Oilers and thinking that’s a good situation.
I’m hoping Gretz shows up at this kid’s door with Paulina in tow!
If Yak scores tonight playing from within the Belanger Triangle and covering for the goal sucking Jones he should skate to the glass and hand his stick to a kid in the crowd. For he would be benched for sure, it is just to great of a magic trick.
For me this line speaks to all of the Oilers current ills. Instead of buoying raw young stars with supporting veterans we tie them to boat anchors and throw them in the deepend.
Maybe the Old Russian has some magic to show the youngster because we are going to need it tonight.
Good. Then we can stop blowing 2nd and 3rd round picks.
nm,
I was looking at Halpern’s numbers from last year.
Wow, his production has fallen off a cliff. Eric Belanger is an offensive dynamo by comparison, with three times as many points!
What the… Nuge has mono? He must have been messing around with Fonzie’s chick.
With the spirit of this thread involving The Band, any chance Katz unplugs Tambo’s microphone at the 2013 draft? Or,for a more macabre and obscure reference, any chance Tambo solves our problems with his socks in a hotel room?
Fedun (Rajala, Cheechoo)
I would love for Fedum to get his cup of coffee in the NHL this year. Only a 3 for 1 trade for a bucket of pucks away.
great reply. thank you.
i figured someone had to be doing it.
for Smid, who is married and seemingly settled in Edmonton – doesn’t this represent the ideal though?
he can go to another city and compete in the playoffs for a couple months, then come back to Edmonton.
i’m sure it wouldn’t work with every player but Smid seems like someone with whom there might be some appeal.
Cornet (Cheechoo, Arcobello)
Friedman just mentioned the Corsi stat and the fact only one Leaf was positive tonight – Colton Orr. See, Cherry is right. It’s about toughness …. LMAO
Glenn Healy “I don’t believe in your corsi thing…”
No shit you wouldn’t.
It’s like an endorsement!
Any reason for the Teubert scratch tonight other than poor play?
They have so many players down there it’s a rotation.
Leafs get 13 shots and squeak out a win, but he doesn’t believe in Corsi … really ? lol
I bet you I could explain Corsi to the kids standing in front of Hrudey in 5 min and have them provide more intelligent commentary than Heatly. How the fuck does Bullin give you the best chance to win, has he not seen him play in ten years.
I just had a look at the Leafs on Capgeek and noticed that they have $12.75M in salary tied up in players who are not dressing this year. This number is prorated over what would have been an 82 game season, and also includes Komisarek’s full salary (he dressed in four games, so some minimal value was retained), but the issue stands. Wow.
This adds some further context to Burke’s firing.
I sincerely hope the CBC cannot afford the broadcast rights for NHL games next contract. I’d rather TSN or Sportsnet get the rights and hire competent broadcasters than watch the CBC give free money to Heatly and Poppedcollar.
Tradition be damned.
Really need a win here. I don’t expect one, though. I’m expecting the dive to come soon. Now, hopefully the Oilers prove me wrong. I’m tired of watching shit-show hockey.
GOILERS!
….edit: k turning it off n going to bed lol
that’s terrible…some “showcase”
yikes. weak sauce.
Khabibulin!
In an attempt to lighten my mood as I already want to punch PJ Stock for poping his collar again and kick Heatly in the Cup. Now we spot them a goal, yeah more Hitchcock hockey.
I checked out the Blues site for oddities. Check this out during the TV time out. Amongst other experiences for sale is you can sit in with the Radio broadcast crew for a period. Imagine this in Etown.
http://blues.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=86258
Until that backbreaker I thought Oilers had got off to a feisty start.
All 3:00 long.
This really looks terribad.
What does Ralph Kreuger think is great about this situation?
Blues just off from a lovely three day break, relaxed, cocky, facing the feeble and Swiss Cheese defence Oilers.
Those kevlar rebounds will NEVER make us sad.
This country needs more TSN coverage of hockey games and less by CBC and Sportsnet. Ugh.
Who is calling the game pbp for CBC tonight?
There has to be something there… Ralph Kreuger and the Oiler’s “Swiss Cheese” Defence.
Is anyone watching the game?
Oiler defensive zone coverage is horrendous again. Numerous times they’ve lost sight of the puck entirely, much less the times they’ve lost the puck battles or just been out in no-man’s land..
Maybe this is a cunning plan. Play Yak with Jones and he looks defensively responsible.
How much better would this team be with Sheldon Souray? They also could have picked up Redden for nuthin’. There’s 2 5/6 D for free (one they gave away). Much better than the Potter, Peckham, Whitney, Fistric bottom 2 blender- shuffle: put one of those 4 as the 7th D….
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
What a shitshow.
Note to team: It might be a good idea to score on one of those rushes you’re getting, Before the Blues salt this away with their next goal. Khabibulin looks like he’s just woken up from a bender(I know that feeling), but he’s supposed to be playing goal tonight.
For some reason I cannot shake the idea that this commentator is #1: american and #2: used to narrate an animated superhero tv series. He just sounds that way *shrug*
Rajala (Arcobello, Green)
I’m telling you, this kid is going to press the issue.
Once he left Brandon to go back to Finland, I thought for sure he would be one of those “where are they now” picks.
I turned off the OKC game to watch the Oilers. Not sure if that was a good idea.
Amos and Andy started this type of hilarity. Maybe.
This would really be a good time for Taylor Hall to start on that hat trick I predicted.
Seriously, Khabibulin’s going to let in 5 goals tonight – better start scoring asap.
He’s almost falling over on his skates, lol.
It might be me; but wtf is Hall doing on the same line as Horcoff?
Look at how much St. Louis are enjoying themselves, so far tonight.
They simply have to shoot the puck more. This team stinks at home. RK won’t match PvP and the kids constantly try to make pretty plays
Real nice backcheck there from Paajarvi.
Lovely back-check there by Paajarvi.
Do you think Rajala could of handled Paajarvi’s pass?
Who is the slowest skater in the league? Smyth or Whitney?
Oilers just don’t have enough good players, and Khabibulin was a poor choice for tonight.
We need to trade Jones now. Apparently he’s awesome.
We can talk about that great back check by MPS, because there weren’t any scoring chances.
Khabibulin’s as shaky as a Montreal alkie cabbie at 7am on a Friday morning, at the railway station delivering the Gazette.
Hall had that one beauty, but he fanned on it. Other than that, don’t recall a great sortie.
England fan?
Lowe: Steve, Whitney is not what we thought he was going to be.
Tambi: Agreed. He’s having a terrible year.
Lowe: You know what to do?
Tambi: 3yrs/$8M sound about right?
Lowe: Get ‘er done!
Olczyk: Wow! That’s a savings of like $1.4M per year. Well done, Steve!
wrt NK, it’s 1-0 after 1 period.
wrt to enough good players – agreed
Hate to jinx the guy but Roy is on quite the role in Stockton. 7 1/2 games played and he has allowed more than one goal only once.
Don’t see how you can’t give the guy at least a 1B role in OKC next year.
oh ya. and sign Smid you schmucks.
With the season increasingly on the line, Oilers decide to showcase one of their resident jailbirds.
Bullin rebounds almost clear the zone, who needs defenders
Lowetide,
The trap is boring to watch, to be sure. But what the hell system do the Oilers play? The Blues players always seem to be in a place that makes sense, be it supporting the puck carrier in the O-zone or corralling the puck carrier, in numbers, while defending. The Oilers it seems, mostly in their own zone and the neutral zone, have to look and look hard to find each other. It’s like every sortie is improvised and based on what the other team offers them. Real frustrating. And Ya, LT, more good players would help.
Hall to Horcoff – again. Is MacT back coaching?
Horcoff sucks so much at offence, he effectively cancels Hall out. Amazing.
hunter1909,
in fairness, STL has this effect on a lot of teams.
That’s the old Hemsky.
Hemsky almost bends the Blues over without lube.
According to CBC; Jones must be one of our best players!
Even St. Louis PBP guy Darren Pang is questioning RK’s deployment of lines. He can’t understand why he didn’t throw out the top line when St. Louis puts out their 4th.
Fucking Whitney. Gets the puck and what does he does? Immediately cycles back deeper into our zone and pins the puck against the boards like an idiot.
Tonight?
Maggie the Monkey,
you could make an argument for playing him against Nashville next game because of the 3 games in 4 days situation.
RNH. Get well soon!!
I think Ralph has he flu.
Thankfully that PP was put out of its misery it was making my eyes bleed.
Well Fk, you don’t deserve to win f all if you take a two many men penalty on a PP. Not a smart team.
Perron can’t catch a break tonight, haha
That better be diving only. Nice vertical by Perron
Oilers don’t deserve to win this one, though. Shot clock is extremely favourable for the Oilers… which is sad, really.
Hitchcock is going to give Perron the strap tonight. That was ridiculous. Good on the ref.
Man, the Oil can barely make a pass. Combine that with the inability to shoot and we’ve got a problem.
I take back that “good on the ref”
Belanger just secured his trade out of town. lol
At least they pay us to watch this.
jake70,
No one is trading for Belanger…
jake70,
shya, that was embarrassing.
Oilers defensive system can only be described as ‘happenstance’. Its.. chaos theory incarnate. Bad on the ref for missing the blatant trip/hook on Petry. Guess Perron reached his maximum of possible penalty minutes.
WTF was Belanger doing? Dump the puck deep. Moving the puck away from the O zone there is the worst thing he could have done
When I try to think about who I would get rid of, if I could only get rid of one player, I think Belanger just barely beats out Jones. And I used to be a mild Jones fan..he always used to find a way to kick it in with his flailing legs.
That being said, it is a lose lose choice. Kind of like When Calgary and TBay met in the finals. I wanted both to lose. Just Calgary a little more.
C for Clown.
I thought I wanted one of those red lights they’re selling that go off when your NHL team scores, but whats the point?
this is true
Petrell showing his excellent hockey skills there.
striatic,
Fair enough – I know Dubnyk can’t play every night. One of these days I’ll probably stop being bitter about the term on Khabibulin’s contract but it won’t be a day when he lets in a weak goal.
Schultz…. you had a wide open net… you only had to hit it! Whiffcoff syndrome.
Belanger isn’t a bad, bad man. He is just bad.
Sorry to be repetitive.
The game-tape from this will be a snuff film.
Man, half the Oilers roster tonight could be swapped out for the Baron’s best players and they wouldn’t be any worse off
They asked me for a Hometown discount… Bastards
Hey, we’re only one shot away…
Is it just me or is Eberle coasting out there? Playing injured or something?
I’d shift Yakupov up. Only HHH looks like a threat to score this game.
crude,
It’s getting up there with the “Salt Mine” sequence from Anthony Quinn’s movie: “Barabbas”.
In defence of the drunk, if DD was in tonight the game would be out of reach. Khabbi has been fine, he’s given the boys a chance to come back. On another note, in theory shouldn’t small players be faster and quicker than big gronks? At the NHL level everyone is quick, except Smyth and Whitney.
Mike Ribeiro looks like a member of Al Quaida.
Take a look at that barracuda interviewing him. She’s been taking Meg Ryan “cute” lessons.
gogliano,
Eberle looks awful. The effort is lacking big time.
I think that switching Eberle for Hemsky might work. Matter of non-chemistry for Eberle and Gagner!
Man St. Louis looks awesome defensively! (Or is it the OIl?)
1-0 after two is alright against STL.
C’mon boys big period! We can win this!
And don’t Wreck-it-Ralph!
Someone needs to tell Yakupov that they are playing with his puck! Go get it!
Here’s an easy one: If the Blue Jackets are no longer the Blue Jackets, then who are the new Blue Jackets?
The chemistry between that woman in red, and that old timey hockey dude is astonishing. I’ve seen more engaging relationships in prison.
hunter1909,
I think that’s one of the signs of the coming Apocalypse, actually; the Blue Jackets being a decent, or at least a non-shitty team.
Unfortunately he will be sat in the third for his elder line mates, learning a lesson that is beyond me but probably has to do with sideburns and flow.
Chris Stewart with his millionth scoring opportunity.
Interesting that the teams Flames fans have been using as examples for not rebuilding (Blue Jackets, Oilers, Islanders) are now all above them in the standings.
Maybe it isn’t the process that is bankrupt, but the people doing it.
That one’s on 4.
The Calgary Flames!
This game is zero fun to watch.
Hall… sigh. Well, this game is over.
LT,
Just wanted to say last night’s post was maybe my all time favourite. Brilliant! I hope Tambo got a copy. Keep up the great work!