SPILLED OIL

Moving on

2009-11-13T16:22:00.002-07:00

After some time here at Spilled Oil I have moved on and will now be posting at HockeyIndependent.com.

Come on by and pay me a visit.

Eskimo Game Day - The Labour Day Rematch

2009-09-11T13:30:00.003-06:00

It’s the Labour Day rematch, are you excited? This is my favorite game of the year so you know I’m jacked up. In my five years as a season ticket holder I’ve only missed this game one time and was only because I went to Red Deer to watch the Canada/Russia Super Series and to see the Oilers newest draft pick Sam Gagner in action. I have a crazy weird man crush on Sam Gagner, I won’t deny it.

If you’re not excited about this game tonight you seriously need to check your pulse. Reasons to be excited:

it’s a Calgary/Edmonton game
we got lit up on Monday and should come out looking to kill the Stamps
the Esks are in a three way tie for first place with BC and Calgary
it’s an absolutely beautiful day for football
the crowd is going to be huge
the game isn’t on a Thursday night

Those are six solid reasons to get yourself down to Commonwealth tonight. Perhaps the best is that the game is going to be blacked out so if you want to see it you’re going to have to come out. The last two games have been absolute beauties but the crowd just hasn’t been there, tonight will be different. I’m thinking we’ll see a crowd over 45,000. And we could really use a big crowd. Calgary used it to their advantage on Monday and there is no reason why we can’t do the same thing tonight.

The Eskimos had two major problems on Monday; they couldn’t run and they couldn’t tackle. There were other problems for sure, but those we’re the two most obvious. Far too often Calgary would pick up four or five yards after contact, you can’t win when you do that. And without a running game Calgary simply dropped into a zone defense that forces Ray to throw five yard passes. Granted the result is a great completion percentage but it is hard as hell to put points on the board when you have to be perfect the whole way down the field.

How will the Esks be better in these areas tonight? Well for starters, Lloyd will be back in uniform tonight so the tackling will be better, especially against the Calgary run game. And just like he did after his tough game against the Als, I think Whitlock will have a big bounce back tonight. Look for him to find the end zone twice. I also don’t see Prefontaine missing anything tonight so the Esks should be good for a pile of points tonight.

It’s not just me who thinks this is going to be a hell of a game. The odds makers have the spread at 0 and the over/under at 59.5. That is a huge over under in a game they think could go either way. It’ll be high scoring but its going to go the Esks way, 38-35 is my prediction.

The return of Comrie - Day 2

2009-09-11T09:30:00.002-06:00

I’ve had a night to sleep on the Comrie signing and while I still don’t think there is anyway that the move makes the Oilers a contender, I am willing to accept that it probably does make the team better than they were yesterday.

My dislike of the signing has everything to do with what Mike Comrie isn’t, I haven’t really taken the time to look at what he is. Last season was an ugly one for Comrie, but in the three previous he averaged 23+ goals a year and 0.7 points per game. Those are good numbers and with a $1.125 M cap hit if his production this season is anywhere near those numbers then he’ll be an absolute steal. If not he's a small cap hit and worst case scenario he gets sent down.

Although I’m still not sure exactly where he fits in I do think it fairly obvious that Comrie probably puts either Penner or Nilsson on the hot seat. Penner is most likely the safer of the two if for no other reason than he’s taller than an eighth grader. So if you look strictly at the lineup it’s hard to not think that the Oil are better of with Comrie occupying a spot in the top six rather than Nilsson.

The other upside with Comrie is the one year deal. At the end of the season the Oil are going to have to find some dollars for both Gagner and Cogliano as they’re entry level deals are done. As of today the teams already committed over $44 M towards next seasons cap. If Comrie makes Nilsson expendable (even if it’s through waivers) that would take his $2.5 M salary and $2 M cap hit off the books for next season, opening up a spot for one of the youngsters and resulting in a cap savings in the $1.2 M range. It’s not a lot but every little bit helps.

The Comrie signing certainly doesn’t bump the Oil into the upper tier of the Western Conference but it does make us just a little bit better. Baby steps I guess.

My fears have been realized

2009-09-10T14:22:00.005-06:00

It started as a rumour, and a crazy one at that. Then last week it built momentum and seemed like it might actually happen. Today it did happen; the Oilers have signed Mike Comrie to a one year deal.

I am simply stunned by this move. I said last week that I didn’t like it. And I still don’t like it. Comrie simply does not address the most pressing issues this team faces. Fans in Edmonton have been calling for Malhotra or Betts to be brought in to play on the third line as both would help shore up some of the weaknesses in the lineup. Now I guess it’s possible that Tambellini offered contracts to both and was turned down, you can’t force players to sign here. But even if that is the case the Comrie signing is like rearranging deck chair on the Titanic, it simply doesn’t accomplish anything.

Where does he fit in? Let’s look at the potential top six forwards on this team:

Hemsky
Horcoff
Gagner
Penner
O’Sullivan
Nilsson
Comrie

I did take the seven year route to get an undergrad degree but eight players and six spots doesn’t seem to add up. Maybe a trade is coming down the pipe, I don’t know. Maybe we plan to pay NHL dollars to players playing in the AHL (which would do wonders for bringing in role players in the future by the way). But without another move on the way the Oil are basically set up front when you add in Moreau and Pisani. That group should only scare Oiler fans since I can't see how this season won't simply be more of what we all saw last season.

Some folks have said that there really isn’t a downside to this deal and in a way I can see that. The Oilers have added a 28 year old player who has scored 30 goals in a season (he’s the only one on the team who has) for less than $1.5 M unless we went over the cap on this signing (imagine how pissed I'd be if that was the case). If he were to find some of that old touch and scored 25 and 25 for 50 he’d be a steal for his salary.

But I’d hate to see us flounder through another season where we don’t make the playoffs and Comrie does little more than take away ice time from players like Gagner and Cogliano. They’re the future of the team, Comrie isn’t. If the Oilers are ever going to be more than a 7th-11th place team we have to make sure our future is given time to develop.

Mike Comrie the sequel?

2009-09-03T10:05:00.004-06:00

Based on a couple things I’ve heard on the radio and read online today, it looks as if Comrie returning to the Oilers is a legitimate possibility. Why in the name of all things holy would the Oilers even be looking at this making this move?

Put aside the way things ended between Edmonton and Comrie the first time around and just look at the fit with the team for a second. Yes he did score 30 goals once (he’d be the only Oilers who has) but that was a long time ago. Now he is a 20 goal a year player, we have lots of those. Besides some offense this team needs to have more grit to their game, they need to be better on the penalty kill, and better in the faceoff circle. Those are probably the three biggest weaknesses on this team. Comrie addresses none of those issues. He’s small, he doesn’t win faceoffs (41% last season), and he doesn’t kill penalties (2:11 of short handed ice time all of last season). So what is the point?

I don’t think for a minute that we don’t need help on the left side but there is no way he would be ahead of Penner or Nilsson on the depth chart. And if the team has that little faith in those two, how about giving Cogliano or Schremp (both are left handed) a shot there first. He’s not a top six forward on this team and I don’t see how playing him on the third line would have any value at all. At league minimum maybe but even that would be a stretch.

Last week this just seemed like some random garbage internet rumour, now it seems scary close to being true. Please, please, please don’t let this be true.

Caps look to bounce back

2009-09-02T16:25:00.002-06:00

Enough is enough already. Last year the Cracker Cats (pre name change) made the playoffs of the Golden League only to get bounced in three straight by the Calgary Vipers. This spring the Oil Kings made the playoffs in a one game playoff only to be swept out in four by the Hitmen. As a fan I don’t ever want to be swept in a series, but to me being swept by a team from Calgary is the equivalent of being subjected to some sort of CIA interrogation technique. All in all I’d prefer if it just didn’t happen.

And now our most recent playoff match up with a Calgary team has gotten off to a really rocky start with a 15-4 beating of the Caps at the hand of the Vipers. Make no mistake, the Vipers are a good team (disclaimer: good for the GBL). They hit the ball really well and steal bases at an amazing rate. Calgary was far and away the best team in the league all year long and I really think that the Caps are in a tough spot to take this series and move onto the league finals. Admittedly, the Caps did do pretty well against the Vipers down the stretch but I’m not sure just how hard the Vipers had their foot on the gas during those series as they had long ago wrapped up their playoff spot.

If the Caps don’t advance to the finals, tonight will be the last home game of the season. Since they’re sending Lima to the bump tonight they’re at least going to go out with a bang if nothing else. Lima is a shell of what he once was during his days in the bigs but he’s still got pretty good heat (disclaimer: good for the GBL) even though his change is border line embarrassing. A good change should have the same arm speed as your fast ball, Lima’s is just thrown slower.

But anything Lima has lost in his game, his personality more than makes up for. I really think he is border line crazy. If you’re going tonight, watch him. He’s always walking around talking to himself. When he strikes a guy out, he walks damn near all the way the third base for some reason. When the Caps score in a game he’s pitching in he is the first to meet them at the dugout. I’m sure the money isn’t what it once was for him but he sure seems to enjoy playing the game.

I’m heading back to the park tonight hoping that Lima can, for a night, find a little of his old magic and lead the Caps to a win. If not, a third straight sweep will be looming pretty large. If that happens I guess we’ll just have to take both halves of the Labour Day match up with the Stamps next week.

A new rink coming to a downtown near you

2009-08-31T11:54:00.002-06:00

The worst kept secret in Edmonton is now official; the Katz Group is looking to build a new area/entertainment complex in downtown. Possibly on the site of the existing Baccarat Casino.

Thankfully the plan is build the area in the downtown area. Some people had proposed sites on the outskirts near the Anthony Henday. In short I think that would be just about the worst idea ever. Any location on the outskirts would eliminate all mass transit options and would require an ocean of parking to make the site viable. As far as I’m concerned that type development is just out of place in this day and age.

So while I am happy that the new rink is proposed for downtown, I’m not so sure about the whole idea of a new rink in general. And it’s not because I don’t think the city should or shouldn’t help fund it (they say the won’t but might instead divert taxes from area redevelopment which is really just a shell game with taxpayer money) or that a seat license fee might be required to help fund it (I think this is a great idea that should be looked at more and I’m a season ticket holder who would have to pony up some serious dough) but simply because I really love Rexall Place.

With the exception of a couple of games in Calgary at the Saddledome and at the old Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Northlans/Skyreach/Rexall is the only place I’ve ever seen an NHL game. By the time a new rink would be ready to host NHL games I will have very likely seen more than 250 games in the old building. I just don’t know how I would feel about watching games in a new arena. And forget just what I’ve seen but everything else that has happened in the building. All the great players, Stanley Cups, an All-Star game, you name it and it’s probably happened there.

Sure the concourse is a disaster between periods. If you want food you have to stand in line most of the intermission. And bathroom lineups can be a little excessive. And I’m sure a new rink would help out on both fronts but those improvements won’t make watching the game any better. As it stands there aren’t really any bad seats at Rexall Place, and since you’re there to watch hockey isn’t that really the most important thing?

One of the main rallying cries for a new building is the need to increase revenues in order to remain competitive. And to a point I can see that. But last week I was in Chicago and I went to see both the White Soxs and Cubs play. The Soxs are in a relatively new build and the Cubs of course play at Wrigley Field. Now U.S. Cellular Field is a fine place to watch a game but compared to Wrigley, it has no atmosphere, no history, and there are advertisements on everything. It seems less like a ball park and more like a monument to consumerism.

Last season I saw a game at Fenway and it’s the same as Wrigley, just a classic old ball park. In both cases Red Soxs and Cubs fans pay higher ticket prices to offset the reduced revenues that those teams would otherwise have because of their parks smaller capacities and fewer of the all important luxury boxes. But in both cases those teams generate enough revenue to remain competitive. The Cubs may not win but they certainly spend enough money that you can’t say they aren’t trying to.

Now I won’t for a minute say that Rexall Place is anything like Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. I can’t really ever see people coming to Edmonton just to see a game at Rexall. But it’s only 35 years old and it is a great building. I guess before we throw it away for a nice shiny new building we think long and hard about what we’re giving up.

How can you not love the CFL?

2009-08-14T13:54:00.001-06:00

Last night's Eskimo/Stampeders game was the best that I've seen here in Edmonton in a while. The last game even close to that entertaining was the Esk/Stamps game last season when Tucker made an unreal catch to win the game. It's 12 hours later and I still can't get over the game. And it wasn't just the last minute win, that is certainly part of it though; with three majors and three touchdowns in the last three minutes how could it not be.

The game itself was just really well played. The biggest lead either team had was a touchdown. And even though Edmonton didn't take the lead until there was just three minutes left on the clock, it seemed like they always had an answer for any major the Stamps put up on the board. There were big numbers put up by both quarterbacks, the Esks had a 100 yard rusher, the return game for both teams was great, there was only one turnover, and both teams played pretty disciplined football. How can you not love that?

I know there are people out there who think that compared to the NFL that the CFL is a total waste of time, I disagree. Sure the players in the NFL are better athletes, I would never argue that, but the game north of the border is certainly good value for your entertainment dollar. How often do you see a final three minutes like last night in the NFL? Yeah it can happen, but not nearly as often as it does in the CFL. I learned very early on that in the CFL almost any lead can be overcome and that is part of what makes our game great.

Last week in the Lions/Riders game the ball was on the ground and the Lions intentionally kicked the ball forward, picked it up and scored a touchdown. Sure technically the player wasn't onside and the score shouldn't have counted, but it was stupidly exciting for the fans and a play like that can't happen in the NFL. I watch to be entertained and the CFL is entertaining.

I'm not saying the CFL game is a better game than the NFL. What I'm saying is that it's great in it's own way. The NFL and CFL are completely different games; from field dimensions, to the number of players on the field, to the style of play, and even the number of downs. Both games can be great to watch and there is no reason why you can't love both. Here in Canada we seem to look at uniquley Canadian things and deem them inferior to their American counterpart. I don't know why we do that. And when it comes to football I see absolutly no reason why we should.

Not the most exciting July on record

2009-08-02T09:11:00.005-06:00

July is a fun month for hockey fans, thanks to the free agent frenzy that is the first week of the month. Most years your team makes some moves and you can then spend the next three weeks thinking up all the ways that you will be cheering for a much improved team this upcoming season. Unfortunately your team is almost never as good as you think they will be, but it's hot out and your mind isn't functioning at it's full hockey analysis capability.

From what I saw last season, there were a few fairly obvious changes to the Oilers roster that had to be made if they wanted to go from an also ran to a contender. The team has to score more goals, be better in the face off circle, kill penalties better, and overall they need to play a more physical game. On top of that they also had to find a number one goalie. That is a fairly decent shopping list for a GM to pick up, but that's his job.

So today is August 2, how did we do? Well we signed Khabibulin to a four year deal. In a weak goalie year he's good enough. I certainly think he's an improvement over Roloson. I don't like the length of the deal but at least we addressed the need, even though it could easily kill us two years down the road.

So that leaves more goals, winning face offs, killing penalties, and adding grit. Well the team tried to trade for Heatley but we couldn't convince him to come here. And that would be about it. All those needs still remain needs. There are players out there who can still fill those roles but to date we haven't added any of them to this team.

Last year the Oilers finished with 85 points, missing the playoffs by six points. Changes from that team until now: Roloson gone and replaced by Khabibulin, Brodziak traded, and Quinn brought in to replace MacT. Three years out of the playoffs and there are no significant changes to the roster even though the needs are glaringly obvious.

Is the plan going forward to stick with this group and essentially lay all the blame for last year (and presumably the years before as well) at the feet of Craig MacTavish? It's really starting to look that way. Without additional roster changes the only conclusion that someone could draw is that Tambellini feels that this team was good enough last year and that the problem was the coach. If that's the case then I would like to know why we stuck with him through 82 games? There was never a time where the Oilers looked like they were on the verge of breaking out; it was a win two, lose three, win one, kind of season. So why then if you think the coach is the problem, do you keep hoping that he'll become the solution?

I like adding Quinn and I can live with Khabibulin but they won't add ten points in the standings. Yeah Gagner and Cogliano will be another year older and could have real breakout seasons, Horcoff could bounce back from a bad year, and Penner might start to play a full season like he did 15 games near the end of 2008. If those all happen then this team might have a shot at the playoffs and getting knocked out in the first round. But without something else being added to the lineup that is about the best we could hope for, and in July that's pretty sad.

Who is this team?

2009-07-27T15:57:00.006-06:00

What is the deal with the Eskimos? They play an uneven game against the Bombers to open the season but they come away with the win. Then there are back-to-back games where they look like they couldn't beat a high school team. Then they fall behind 22 against the Riders on Saturday and just when you're sure this team is terrible they bounce back and actually win the game.

So are they good, bad, or terrible?

Well I'm not really sure. At this point I'm comfortable saying that I don't think they're terrible. The two losses were flat out gross, but with the talent on this team I just really don't see how those games could be true indicators of the direction this team will go this season. That they came in back-to-back weeks I think makes them seem worse than they really are. And those two game were still while the team was adjusting to a new coach and right after Lumsden went down with his shoulder injury.

But they can't be considered all that good either. This week was the first time they'd scored 30 points. Had they not scored a a garbage time TD in the BC games they wouldn't have even broken the 20 point mark this season before Saturday. This is the CFL, if you're not scoring 30 on a pretty regular basis, you will be losing on a pretty regular basis unless you have on hell of a defense. Considering that the defense has given up 30 plus in all but one game so far, I don't think the defense can at this point be considered elite.

So I guess we have to settle on bad. And really that isn't an unfair assessment. They have a 2-2 record but could be 0-4, they've only run the ball effectively in one game, the defense isn't creating much (almost nothing) in the way of turnovers, and Ray is still throwing too many six yard passes on second-and-eight. But somehow they're in a three way tie for first in the West.

This week I don't expect the Esks to win. From what I've seen from the Als so far I don't expect anyone to beat them right now. But if the Esks can keep the game close, like Hamilton did this last week, that will go a long way to showing me who this team really is. If they give up another 50 point game on home turf I might have to reevalute whether or not they're terrible.

Game Day - Lions at Eskimos

2009-07-16T10:58:00.006-06:00

Tonight's match up will between the Esks and Lions will be the first retro CFL game of the season. Last season there were a few retro games but the Esks weren't involved in any of those, so this will be our first kick at the retro game. It will also be the fans first chance to see the Esks in their retro jerseys. I really like the retro look and might have to pick one up tonight if the mood strikes me.

The theme of the retro games this season is the 1960s. The 60s was not a good decade for the Eskimos. They complied a 65-90-5 record over those tens seasons and lost ten or more games five times. With numbers like that it isn't surprising that the team never finished on top of the West and made only one Grey Cup appearance, losing 16-6 to the Ottawa Rough Riders. The 60's weren't much kinder on the Lions; in fairness though it should be pointed out that the Lions had only joined the CFL in 1958 so they were a fairly new franchise. The Lions finished with a record above .500 only twice during the 60s but did win their first Grey Cup in one of those two season (1964).

In games between these two teams the Esks compiled a 16-14-1 record, even though they won the season series in seven of the ten seasons that decade. The difference maker in the head the head-to-head records was an eight game win streak the Lions put up from 1963 through the first two games against Edmonton in 1965.

Two win this game the Esks are going to have to do two things.

On offense the Esks are going to have to establish some sort of presence on the ground. 95 yards on the ground through two games is less than what BC is averaging. Running the ball won't be easy as only two teams have yielded fewer run yards that BC, coincidentally both those teams have played Edmonton this season which is probably inflating their numbers. The pass will be there, it always is for this team, but they are going to have to at least make BC think about the run.

Without the ball the Esks are going to have to create some turnovers. Two games and this team is -6 in turnovers, mostly due to the fact that they have yet to cause a turnover. If the defense can just hold their own and then create some energy with a turnover here or there the Esks are going to have a shot. BC has a good offense but the defense of Edmonton should be able to hold their own.

It will be a big task to knock down a BC team already at 0-2 but I think the Esks should be angry enough about the 50-16 pounding last week that they'll have a chance.

And now for the regular season schedule

2009-07-15T15:27:00.003-06:00

To wet your appetite the Oilers released their pre-season schedule on Monday. That has now been followed up with the release of the regular season schedule.

The season kicks off at home on Hockey Night in Canada against Calgary. I've got to say that of all the ways to start a season, that might just about be the best. Unfortunately that game won't be the first of many Saturday night home games; there are just three more all year, it looks like the Oil will be the road team on Saturday night another seven times. By comparison Calgary will host HNIC five times, the Canucks ten, and seven Saturday nights will feature a Canadian team on the road versus a US opponent. Oddly San Jose hosts three of those games, almost as many as Edmonton.

Both the Caps and Pens will make trips to Edmonton this year and are likely to be the hardest tickets to come across this year. Thanks to the unbalanced schedule that will be only the second time that Ovechkin, Crosby, and Malkin will have played on Rexall ice; thanks a ton for the unbalanced schedule Bettman.

The release of the NHL schedule is a blessing, on this the slowest sports day of the year. It gives me something to think about and makes the season seem just that much closer.

Oilers hockey in 64 days

2009-07-13T14:30:00.003-06:00

The Oilers pre-season schedule was released today. The pre-season schedule kicks off on September 15 in Calgary and includes home games against Islanders, Panthers, Flames and Canucks. The Oil will also play neutral site games in Saskatoon and Winnipeg against the Ilses and Lightning, respectively.

The pre-season is just a little over two months away, it'll be a tough wait.

Caps lose but Bowers makes it worthwhile

2009-07-13T11:37:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was a perfect day for a ball game. The sun was shining, it was in the mid 20s, and the beers were cold; can it get better than that? I really don’t see how.

As good as the day was the game itself was a bit of a dud. The Caps fell behind 3-0 in the first but battled back to tie it at 3-3 in the second inning. From there though, the Seals just keep piling on runs as Pote struggled to find the strike zone and ended up allowing seven runs on six hits and six walks in just five innings of work. Not a great line by any means, but Pote has been real solid this season so one bad day isn’t exactly a disaster. When the dust had settled on this game, the Caps were handed an 11-5 loss.

Even if the game itself was that stellar, the price of admission was worth every penny as Bowers had a complete meltdown in the seventh inning. I’ll set the stage for you, the score is 9-5 and the Caps are threatening to score a couple of runs with runners on first and second and only one away. Brinkley hits a flare over second base that the umpires rule is caught by the centerfielder, there is no way it was caught, and the Seals double off the runner at second and the inning is done. Considering the ball wasn’t caught the Caps should have the bases loaded with one out but instead the rally is dead.

To argue the missed call Bowers heads out the second base, eventually getting tossed from the game for his effort. From here on it gets good, and I mean really good. Before leaving Bowers heads back to home plate and fires his hat across the diamond just before he gets there. Then he grabs the ball bag and empties it onto home plate. Not satisfied with that, he proceeds to scuff up a few of the ball before heading back out to second base where he reenacts the diving non-catch. Then Bowers goes back to home to bury the plate and mimic the umpire sweeping it off before finally making his exit to a standing ovation from the crowd.

I’d yet to see a coach get tossed from a GBL game but the wait was well worth it. The performance from Bowers was easily the best meltdown I’ve ever seen live. Good job man, you made my day.

Montreal looked good - Edmonton not so much

2009-07-10T14:50:00.004-06:00

Talk about two teams that look like they heading in two completely different directions.

In last nights 50-16 thumping of the Esks, the Alouettes looked as if the only thing that could stop them was them. If Duval can kick straight this could have been out of hand a lot earlier than it was. The Als went down the field almost unstopped for most of the night. The Esks did a decent job against the run, they held Cobourne to just 65 yards, but the Als passing games was virtually unstoppable. I don't know why Calvillo never seems to have an off game against the Esks. The guy is just sick.

And then there was the Eskimos. This is a team that I thought looked rusty against the Bombers the week before but should be better the next week. I was wrong. The Eskimos game was dominated by mental mistakes. Whitlock drops two gimme touchdowns in the end zone and fumbles the ball; all in the first half. Ray drops the ball once and almost lost another when the ball was snapped while he wasn't even looking. Tack on some stupid penalties and you can see how this game went.

The most frustrating thing about the game was that the Esks had a chance. I know they lost by 34 but they really did have a chance. The three field goals in the first half easily could have been touchdowns, two of the absolutely should have been. So even with just two of the three the score would have been 19-17. In that case the game is completely different in the second half. But it wasn't and the Esks got pounded in Montreal yet again. Maybe next year they can just skip this game on the schedule all together.

If you want to find a positive in the Esks game there is one. They didn't abandon the run. The run game was flat out terrible but they stuck with it , and for what it's worth, they stuck with Whitlock too. Between Whitlock and Ray the Esks totaled 62 yards on 17 attempts. In past years with numbers like those the team would have run the ball just one token time in both the third and fourth quarter. But last night they kept with it. Hopefully as we move forward that determination to run the ball will actually pay off.

Burnaby Joe calls it a career

2009-07-07T14:11:00.005-06:00

It looks as if Joe Sakic is going to call it a career. I know he's had injury issues the last couple of seasons, playing in only 59 games total, but I really thought he'd come back for one more season. Not because he has anything left to achieve (in case you weren't sure he's won two Stanley Cups, the Hart, the Conn Smythe, the Lady Byng, and the Pearson, is eighth all-time in points and fifth in games played), but because he'd have had a chance to lead Team Canada at the 2010 Olympics.

Even after the last two injury plagued seasons he was still on the Team Canada orientation camp invite list. And really is there anyone who could argue with that decision? Of course he's not the player he once was but he has as much international and Olympic experience as anyone, and then of course there's the fact that he's Joe Sakic. He would have made the team and he would have been the captain. Imagine the opportunity to have that role at any Olympics, now imagine if those Olympics were just down the road from where you grew up; that would be the opportunity of a lifetime. The fact that Sakic chose to retire now with all that on the line tells you just about everything you need to know about him, he would never put himself, or his stats, ahead of the team.

Sakic was of the the increasingly rare players who plays his entire career with one team. In Sakic's case I guess it was one franchise not one team, but that isn't exactly something he had control over. Sakic was the very last Nordique to left in the organization who has never played for anyone else. Adam Foote played on the 94-95 Nordiques and is an Av today, but he left for Columbus for a couple of years so Joe was the last Nordique standing (if you're curious Modano is the last North Star and Doan is the last Jet).

Looking back at Sakic and his career one thing stands out more than any other part of his game, his wrist shot. It is absolutely unreal how quickly he could get it off his stick and the velocity he could put on it. He was an truly great player, who was probably at his best in the biggest games (18 goals in the 1996 playoffs or 4 points in the 2002 gold medal game) and when it mattered the most (8 playoff overtime winners), but that wrist shot is the one thing that I will never get out of my mind. That is likely because he scored 38 goals and 99 points against the Oilers in 83 career games; the only team he lit up more than us was Calgary. He must have loved coming to Alberta.

Thanks for the memories Joe and enjoy the Hall of Fame in 2012.

Let the Heatley talk fire up again

2009-07-06T14:49:00.005-06:00

Tuesday nights Heatley trade to Edmonton and then the news that he wasn't in fact headed to Edmonton made for some very interesting reading that night and the next day. Luckily the Oilers signed Khabibulin on July 1 (lucky really depends on what you think of the signing I guess) which again gave fans here in Edmonton something to talk about that didn't focus on Heatley. Not that talk of Heatley has disappeared, far from it, but the frenzy surrounding it had died down momentarily at least.

Well I think we can get the speculation train all fired up again now that Kovalev has signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the Senators. With that signing nhlnumbers.com has the Sens with a cap hit of $58.5 million dollars for the upcoming season. It doesn't take an mathmatician to figure out that a cap number of $58.5 million is more than the salary cap of $56.8 million.

So the Sens are going to have to move someone to get back under the cap before the start of next season. Really the only thing that can be assumed at this point is that Heatley is done as a Senator and his trade will be the one that gets the Sens under the cap. Even though he had asked to be traded there was always the chance that the Sens could dig in their heals and force Heatley to play for them next season, as he is contractually obligated to do, but that looks less likely now. There are likely a couple of ways the Sens could get back under the cap without moving Heatley but anything they did would leave them right up against the cap and in a really tough spot if anyone was to get injured during the upcoming season.

So is a trade with the Oil imminent? Is the deal with the Oilers for Heatley still Penner, Cogliano, and Smid? That deal I can live with but anything more that that and I'd have a real tough time swallowing the trade. There had been plenty of talk out of the Senators camp that they wanted more for Heatley now as they had paid the $4 million lump sum he was owed on July 1, which I really can't see happening. With the Kovalev signing would the Oilers consider putting the squeeze on the Sens now that they've committed to moving Heatley and try to reduce the package going east or maybe revising it slightly to bring someone else back?

There are just so many things that could happen with this trade. This really seems like the trade that just won't die.

Esks win season opener

2009-07-03T09:01:00.006-06:00

The weather wasn't great and really neither was the football. But it was the first week of the season and the Eskimos came away with the win so it can't be all that bad. I can still drink beer in the rain (seven last night) and after I get off the train there is always a slice, in this case two, waiting for me at Chicago Deep Dish. It doesn't get much better than that.

What is bad, is the loss of Jesse Lumsden. The Esks big off season acquisition left the game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury; the same shoulder he had surgery on last season. I feel bad for Lumsden I really do. This is a guy who wants to play football and wants to help his team win you can that by the way he caries himself. And the fans already like him; last night the biggest cheers when the staring offense was announced went to Ray and Lumsden. His dad was an Eskimo in the early 80's, and I'm sure he wanted to have his breakout year here in Edmonton this season. But on a small hit he's out with an injury, hopefully its not too serious and he'll be back in a few weeks.

Without Lumsden out the ground game suffered, not uncommon for the Eskimos, and the Esks were forced to the air. Ray threw for 318, a touchdown and ran in another, certainly not a bad start to the season. On the downside, his game looked eerily similar to what we saw in past seasons under Danny Maciocia, short passes just over the line and almost nothing up the field. It drives me up the wall to see Ray throw a five yard pass on second-and-six. Following the first drive of the game which ended in an interception, the Esks generated almost no offense until the final minute of the half when Ray attacked upfield. 29 minutes of bordom follow by a minute of excitement, sound familiar? Hopefully this was just the first game in Ray's transition back into an agressive quarterback.

All in all the defense looked good. We were a little weak against the run but the defense only gave up one touchdown and a single at the end of the game on a missed field goal, the other points were a conceeded safety and a fumble return off a punt. The defense did bend a few time but it didn't break. Maurice Lloyd was easily the Esks player of the game with eight tackles (at least one of the off season pickups was able to play the whole game), if he keeps leading this defense the way he did last night, the Esks should find themselves with a chance to win more often than not.

Next up for the Esks are the Alouettes on Thursday. Montreal looked good against Calgary on Wednesday and with the game in Montreal it'll be a real test for the Esks. I think the defense is going to have to be huge in this one for the Esks to have much of a chance.

Heatley heading to Edmonton - maybe

2009-06-30T22:06:00.007-06:00

It looks as if Heatley may be wearing Oiler colours this coming season and, assuming he doesn't ask for a trade, for the three seasons that follow. As of right now it still doesn't look to be official but TSN is reporting that the only hurdle left to clear is Heatley waiving his no trade clause. Going back to Ottawa will be Penner, Cogliano, and Smid.

I guess until every I is dotted and T is crossed this isn't done , see the Nylander "signing" for proof of that, but if the deal does go through I've got to say my gut reaction is that I like it, even if I don't like what he did to get out of Ottawa. A couple of reasons why:

Heatley will be the first true goal scored that the Oil have ever pit out with Hemsky. I think the combination could be deadly especially on the power play.
Penner is a good hockey player, better than most in Edmonton would like to believe, but he wass never going to win over the fans here. I think that if fan reaction to him continued the way it was going he would have asked for a trade out of here sooner than later; with another subpar season he'd have been tough to deal.
Losing Cogliano hurts for sure but this frees up money to make sure Gagner doesn't see an offer sheet and clears up a spot in the middle. As much as I like him I'm not sure having Horcoff, Gagner, and Cogliano would have worked long term; for the future I would have preferred to move Horcoff but there's a six year deal at $5.5 million a season cap hit that makes that tough.
Smid is solid but is replaceable with talent already on the team. I'll give him credit for playing a more physical role to try and get more ice time this past season as all the offensive spots were already filled but there are players who are truly physical who do that much better.

The bottom line is that this team needed a top line scorer, Heatley fills that role. The power play needed to be better, Heatley will help there too. Yes the option was there to take time and develop the talent internally to fill those holes. Had we stayed the course with the young players we have or had tried to add a UFA tomorrow we might have been successful in winning more games, but I doubt to the same extent we should now.

We'll see if I feel the same way tomorrow, but for now I like it.

Update 10:33 - As quick as I thought I like'd it, the trade might be dead.

Tambellini's first draft and a looking back at Lowe's draft history

2009-06-29T17:20:00.008-06:00

The 2009 NHL Entry Draft certainly won’t go down as one of the most eventful in NHL history. After all the talk over the last couple of weeks about who would go to the Islanders with the number one pick, everything went pretty much according to plan. Tavares was the first overall pick, followed by Hedman and Duchene; like almost every mock draft predicted would happen.

Heading into Friday night the Oilers had a total of seven picks in the draft. Those included their own picks in every round but the fifth (that went to Carolina to get O’Sullivan) and the Flyers third round pick which was picked up in the trade that brought Pitkanen to town. After a couple of trades on Saturday the Oilers managed to end up with the exact same number of picks they started with. Brodziak and our sixth round pick went to Minnesota for a fourth and fifth round pick, and the Oilers moved their pick in the seventh round for the Senators sixth rounder in 2010.

Here a quick summary of the Oilers picks.

Num.	Round	Player	Pos	Drafted From
10	1	Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson	L	Timra IK [SEL]
40	2	Anton Lander	C	Timra IK [SEL]
71	3	Troy Hesketh	D	Minnetonka H.S. (Minn.)
82	3	Cameron Abney	R	Everett Silvertips [WHL]
99	4	Kyle Bigos	D	Vernon Vipers [BCHL]
101	4	Toni Rajala	R	Ilves Jrs. (Finland)
133	5	Olivier Roy	G	Cape Breton Screaming Eagles [QMJHL]

It’s worth pointing out that Paajarvi-Svensson, Rajala and Roy all look to be pretty good values for where they were drafted. Paajarvi-Svensson was ranked at number 4 in the final ISS rankings and Central Scouting had Rajala as the 11th ranked European skater and Roy the 2nd ranked North American goalie. If they pan out or not will obviously be the final test as to value of the picks but for today at least, they seem decent enough.

By selecting Paajarvi-Svensson, Tambellini broke the mold of recent Oiler drafts. Since Lowe took a European with our first pick in 2000, 2001, and 2002 the last six first round selections have all been from North America; of those six only Schremp isn’t Canadian. Looking at the results of those three European firsts it’s entirely possible that the recent string of North Americans taken by the Oil was an attempt to not repeat past mistakes. Hemsky (2001) was one of those three picks and I don’t think there are many out there who would complain about that one; the Mikhnov and Niinimaki selections were not nearly as successful.

That hit-and-miss pattern is actually a pretty good description of the Oilers draft history under Kevin Lowe. Lowe led the Oilers into the draft nine times and although all the results are not yet in, the results that are in are not that good. Of the nine first round selections he made only Hemsky, Cogliano, and Gagner appear to be solid selections. Dubnyk and Schremp could still pan out and Eberle hasn’t even turned pro so there is a chance his record will improve.

The following chart shows the average number of games played by first round selections between 2000 and 2005, Lowe’s first six seasons. I’ll be the first to admit that games played isn’t the greatest measurement of draft success but it is a decent indication of the success a team has had. I’ve left out 2006 because we didn’t have a first round pick (that went to Minnesota for Roloson) and there just isn’t enough data yet to look at the 2007 and 2008 drafts.

Things to note from this chart:

Hemsky was a freaking steal at 13th overall
The 2003 draft was stupidly deep, that first round class has already played more games than the class of 2000 with three fewer years played, and we completely missed the boat
With seven first round picks an average of just over 100 games played is pretty terrible considering one of those seven has played over 400 games

But a team isn’t built purely on the first round of the draft. At the end of last season 57.2% of the players currently in the NHL had been selected in the first three rounds. I don’t have numbers for 2009 but I’m sure the assumption that the percentage is still close to 57% would be valid. So how did the Oilers do in the first three rounds during Lowe’s tenure?

Well the results when we look at the first three rounds as a whole is better, but still not great. Some interesting things:

Despite of Hemsky’s 400+ games played 2001 doesn’t look that good up against the rest of the league; three guys with a combined two games played will do that
Stoll and Greene were really good value picks in 2002
If neither Dubnyk nor Schremp pans out it’s going to look like we were asleep at the 2004 draft

And lastly here is the breakdown if you look at all players selected in the draft.

Like the jump from the first round to the first three, looking at the whole draft is better still. But with the exception of the 2005 draft the Oilers have not done better than the league average in any season. I feel that our most recent draft have been far better than the preceding ones. Hockey’s Future has the Oilers ranked at 16th in the league in prospect depth so maybe Lowe finally hit his stride at the end, I don’t know. If a few of those recent picks turn into NHL players then Lowe’s track will look better; for now though, the bar is set pretty low for Tambellini.

A new (old) look for the Eskimos

2009-06-26T14:11:00.005-06:00

Those are the Eskimos new retro jersey. They're modeled after the jerseys the team wore during the 60's. I've gotta say I like them a lot. Like with the Oilers retro jersey you know right away who the team you're looking at is. I like that the Esks jerseys have been so consistent over the years and that there has never been a big change, for some reason that seems a little reassuring.

If the team wants to go really retro they can always choose to not put names on the back. That would be a great move in my opinion. I would fully support most pro teams going away from the names on the back of their jerseys.

They are supposed to be on sale later today and it looks like one will run you $100. I haven't picked up a new jersey in a few years so I might have to go get myself one. For those who don't want to fork over the money they will get to see the team wear these jerseys three times this season: July 16 vs. BC, September 11 vs. Calgary, September 26 vs. Saskatchewan.

Transformers 2 & Draft Day - How'd I get so lucky?

2009-06-26T10:12:00.010-06:00

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the movie I've been waiting for all summer. Forget Wolverine, G.I. Joe, or Terminator Salvation, for me the new Transformers movie is the must see event of the summer (Watchmen was the must see of the year though).

And you know what it didn't disappoint. Sure the story is a little thin, but are you really seeing this for the storyline? And it might be a touch too long at two and a half hours. But the positives are that it's a Transformers movie, lots of things blow up, the special effects are off the charts good, and there is a ridiculously hot chick in the movie. If you need more than that then I think you're just greedy.

For the most part the critics have hated the movie. Roger Ebert gave it just one star but he only gave the original three stars. Three stars? All these reviews are good for is pointing out that it isn't as good as the first movie. I think going in most of us already knew that. It's certainly not as good as the first one, but if you liked the original you enjoy this movie as well.

And even if you hate the movie, Megan Fox is in it so there's something nice to look at.

---------------

"A boats a boat but the mystery box could be anything. It could even be a boat!" - Peter Griffin

A nice pearl of wisdom there from Peter Griffin. In a way that sums up NHL draft day, you can get just about anything and you might even get what you really really want.

Who doesn't get excited about the draft? There is just some much going on and the possibilities of what could happen are endless. Do you get a future star or dud? Will there be trades? And for the first time in the last few years there is actually some suspense over will will be taken with the first overall pick (gotta be Tavares).

The Oilers pick at 10 and depending on which mock draft you look at we could be taking anyone of about five different players. My only predicition for the Oilers on draft day is that we won't move up from the 10 spot. Every year there are rumours of the team trying to move up and we never do. I know with the Oil you should always expect the unexpected, but in this case it's a lock. We won't be moving up.

Just over five hours to go. I've got my draft day hat, I'm out of work at 4, I can barely wait.

The Heatley trade request really bugs me

2009-06-24T10:36:00.004-06:00

We’re now into week three of the Dany Heatley trade process. Early on there were reports that Heatley would consider a trade to the Oilers. The thought of getting an elite level goal scorer in Edmonton had some fans beside themselves with joy. Possible trades were coming from everywhere and ranged from Gilbert, Cogliano and O’Sullivan to Gilbert or Grebeshkov with Penner (I would be tripping over myself to get that deal done). Then yesterday word came out that Heatley has given the Sens a list of teams he’d like to be traded to and Edmonton isn’t on the list. Today the word is that “the Oilers aren’t close” among the teams in trade talks with the Senators.

Would I take Heatley on my team? In a freaking heartbeat I would. Would I gut the team to get him into copper and blue? Not a chance. And I think for the most part that the majority of Oiler fans feel exactly the same way. But whether Heatley wants to come here or not isn’t what’s bothering me today, it’s this whole trade demand process.

Last summer the Leafs traded McCabe to the Panthers. The problem the Leafs had then was McCabe’s no trade clause. At the time I had hoped McCabe would tell them exactly where to stick this whole thing, but in the end have caved and the deal got done. My though last summer was that if a no trade clause is bargained into a contract then it should be honoured. If the situation changes and a team wants or needs to trade a player with a no trade clause that’s fine, but they shouldn’t vilify him in an effort to force his hand.

I didn’t like the way the Leafs handled the McCabe situation last summer and but what Heatley is doing here is actually worse. The trade request one year into a six year deal is bad enough, but using his no trade clause to limit the Senators potential trade partners is about the same as holding a gun to the Senators head.

I wasn’t part of the bargaining process when Heatley’s $45 million contract extension was negotiated, but I would assume that the no trade clause was included at Heatley’s request to give him some security over where he would be playing. But when he decides that he no longer wants to play in Ottawa then I think he’s breached the terms of the deal and the no trade clause should be voided.

Right now Murray is saying that “only one team is near where he wants to be”. Would Murray be closer to getting a deal done, and getting a decent return, if he could actually negotiate with all 29 teams? Maybe the Sens would like to move up in Fridays draft but can’t because only one of the eight teams picking ahead of them are on his list (Los Angeles). This is a deal that in all likelihood the Sens will lose (look at Thornton to the Sharks, Pronger to the Oil, and Pronger to the Ducks for other examples) but at least he should be able to get as much as he possibly can.

Maybe it’s just me, but something doesn’t seem right about not fulfilling one part of your deal and using another part to get what you want.

The 2009 HOF class includes one of the all time best

2009-06-23T13:41:00.005-06:00

No big shock that Yzerman, Hull, Leetch, and Robitaille were selected as the inductees for the Hall of Fame in the player category. Lamoriello will also get inducted in the builder category (to be honest I thought he was already in). Good picks by the selection committee in my opinion. These four were chosen over a group of eligible players that includes Mogilny, Bure, Oates, Ciccarelli, Gilmour, and Andreychuk. Looking at the chosen four up against this group, there is no way you can argue with the decision made by the selection committee.

I'm really a huge fan of Yzerman. Not counting Oilers, he's my favorite player of all time. Counting Oilers that probably puts him just outside of the top 20.

Seriously though, he is an absolute class act. Everything he did when he played, he did it the right way. He never whined and complained, he always just did his job. Even in his later years when his role with the Wings changed from top line scorer to more of a defensive role, the transition was seemless because he was such a professional.

In 2002 he won the lead Detroit to the Stanley Cup (with Hull and Robitaille) and was a key part of Team Canada's gold medal team at the olympics. He did all of that on one knee. That injury forced him to miss the first 66 games the next year but I'm sure Yzerman never thought twice about the sacrifice.

The photo to the left is from game 6 of the Oilers/Red Wings series in 2006. That game was the very last one that Yzerman ever played. I remember sitting in my seat and as happy as I was that we were going on the next round, I had a feeling that the game I had just seen was his last game. I couldn't take my eyes off him, I just watched him shake hands and then skate off the ice ending an absolutly fantastic career. I saw all 11 home games in the 2006 run and seeing Yzerman's last game is one the things that I'm happiest about seeing during that run.

I remember a time when the players in the Hall of Fame were all from an era that I'd never seen play, and as a result they seemed almost foreign to me. Now I'm at a point now in my life that when I look at the Hall of Fame classes I remember the majority of their careers. It's a little strange really to have players I grew up watching now in the Hall of Fame. No other player has brought that home quite like Yzerman. I guess I'm getting old.

Babcock and Daum - A couple of coaching no brainers

2009-06-23T09:08:00.007-06:00

Some news from the world of coaching, Mike Babcock will coach Team Canada at the 2010 Olympics and Rob Daum will be back as the head coach in Springfield. As far as I'm concerned both of these are no brainers.

Babcock has been the best coach in the post-lockout NHL, not that he was all that bad pre-lockout stats are that terrible either. In his six seasons behind an NHL bench (two years in Anaheim and four in Detroit) he's put together a 282-139-19-52 record. In the playoffs he's coached another 90 games, winning 58 and taking his team to the finals three times. Overall, he's put together a record with a winning percentage is .645, pretty damn good if you ask me. In my mind he was the only choice for Canada's head coach.

And thankfully the Oilers decided to get a deal done with Daum to keep him in Springfield. Daum was on the bench here in Edmonton during the 07/08 but was reassigned as a professional scout when the powers that be determined that Buchberger's one season as an AHL assistant and one as an AHL head coach made him assistant coach material last season. After Jeff Truitt got canned in Springfield Daum was brought in as his replacement and coached the teams last 30 games, compiling a 8-17-0-5 record. Not a great record by any means (in fact a worse winning percentage than Truitt's) but looking at his coaching record previously I think that was just a blip on the radar. He's a good coach and if we get him some talent in Springfield this season his record will reflect his talent.

Prior to his journeys with the Oil, Daum coached ten seasons at the U of A and put together a staggering record while winning three national titles. Based on his experience at the U of A, and in the WHL before that, I think Daum has the ability to work very well with younger players. That is a skill that the Oilers are going to need in this organization over the next few seasons as we hopefully cultivate some of the prospects we have in our system into NHL level talent. A good decision by Tambellini to keep him in the organization.

Monday finishes are not good for work

2009-06-22T09:53:00.008-06:00

Oh the horror of the Monday finish of a major. I spend a couple of days on the couch only to have tournament still underway on Monday when I'm at work and supposed to be getting things done. I try, I really do, but I don't get anything done on days like this.

In 2008 the U.S. Open also finished on Monday. In that case it was due to an 18 hole playoff and not the weather. But the cause isn't important, because I got nothing done that day either.

As I'm typing this Mickelson has just eagled to pull into a tie for first place with Glover, Barnes is dead, and if Weir could hit a put he'd have a chance but time is running out for him this year.

The last group is now through 12, so this years U.S. Open is quickly coming to a close. Hopefully I'll be able to get some work done this afternoon, unless of course we get a playoff again. If that happens then all bets are off.

11:38 am - Glover has held on for the two stroke win. Glover's +3 today wasn't exactly a champions round but there were very few red numbers put up on the board today so he obviously wasn't the only one struggling. Even though this is just his second win on tour, but based on how he drove the ball this week I think that golf fans will be seeing more of him over the next few years. If you hit 71% of fairways and 72% of the greens on that course you've got some skill.

Good on Glover for holding on for the win, but I was pulling for Mickelson. I like him and I thought if he had won it would be a hell of a story; instead he finished as the bridesmaid for the fifth time. Too bad, maybe next year Phil.

And thats it for the 2009 U.S. Open, I guess I'll have to get back to work now.

Enough leaks, lets just see the list already

2009-06-17T11:11:00.007-06:00

According to the New York Times Sammy Sosa is one of the 104 baseball player who anonymously tested positive for steroids in 2003. I really don’t think that this is shocking news to anyone, but while it might not be shocking I find it depressing as hell.

I love baseball. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a life long affiliation with a team that I’m able to just enjoy the games without getting to upset with wins and losses. Maybe it’s because in a 162 game season the losses don’t seem so big. I don’t know what it is but I’ve always enjoyed baseball.

What I don’t enjoy is when one of the 104 names on that list gets leaked every two or three months. Before Sosa it was Alex Rodriguez, and before that there was Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds. Now I’m not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend like the baseball I watched growing up was completely tainted by steroids, but I just can’t stand to relive the steroid scandal every couple of months.

I fully understand why the baseball players union doesn’t want the results released, the test were after agreed to on the condition that the results remain anonymous. But this list, although technically anonymous, is out there and names are being leaked. Wouldn’t it be better at this point to just release the list and let the media and Congress have their two weeks with it and then we could all move on to a new chapter in baseball history?

The four highest single season home run totals in baseball history (Bonds 73, McGwire 70, Sosa 66, and Sosa 63) were all steroid induced and four of the top ten home run hitters of all-time (Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, Palmeiro) are linked to steroids (by the way if Griffey Jr. tests positive I’ll give up on baseball altogether). Baseball needs to end the chapter that is the steroid era and move on. Putting asterisks beside these records would be a good idea but we have to be able to move past all of this at the same time.

I was in my early teens when the Blue Jays were the best team in baseball and I was 19 during the summer of 1998 when Sosa and McGwire went toe-to-toe in their chase of Maris’ home run record of 61. Those are the baseball memories that burn brightest in my mind. Do you remember 1998? Sportswriters couldn’t get enough of the chase. Every baseball broadcast would cut away from their game to show McGwire and Sosa at-bats. It was an amazing summer; sadly, it was a complete and total farce.

In trying to reconcile all that has happened I feel like someone going through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I’ve long since moved through the first three stages but I’m stuck at depression. Every time I think I’ve finally moved past being depressed another name gets leaked and I’m back in the exact same place. Can’t we just see the list so we can all finally move on?

Judge says no to Hamilton Coyotes

2009-06-16T08:14:00.006-06:00

Last night Judge Redfield T. Baum made the decision to reject the sale and of the Coyotes to Jim Balsillie and their relocation to Hamilton. Based on Balsillie’s recent history I doubt very much that this story is dead. But for now it appears that the Coyotes will be playing hockey in the Phoenix next season.

So as it stands today it looks as if Balsillie is now 0 for 3 in his attempts to bring a seventh team to Canada. I love hockey and would certainly love to see more teams in Canada but at this point I'm not that upset that Balsillie has come up short yet again. Not because I don't like him or I don't want another team in Canada, I just want him to work as a partner with the NHL, play by the rules, and relocate the team in a way that makes sense for everyone.

The NHL is a business plain and simple. As a business I really think that they need to have control of their product and where it’s located. If owners are allowed to relocate teams on a whim it will impact the other owners within the business. How does the league attract advertising dollars when those advertisers have no clue where the teams will be located next year or the year after? You might get a one year deal but long term partnerships won’t exist and that isn’t good for business.

The NHL is a league that is still trying to recover south of the border from the lost 2004-05 season. On top of that, now there is the ugly economic situation impacting some of the already weakened teams as well. I would argue that in addition to the Coyotes, the Panthers, Thrashers, Predators, Blue Jackets, and Lightning are all in for a pretty tough financial run over the next few seasons. Now I’m not saying that the NHL should be throwing good money after bad just to keep Phoenix, and possibly other teams, where they are, but if teams can be relocated without league approval where will that leave the NHL in a few years?

Some fans in Canada see Balsillie as a hero for trying to bring NHL hockey to the underserved hockey market of southern Ontario. With the Leafs, Marlies, and the OHL underserved might be a bit of a misnomer but I get the point. With Balsillie set as the hero, Bettman has been cast in the eyes of some Canadian hockey fans as a villain.

If you’re in that group I ask you to keep in mind how quickly things can change in our world. A year ago could you have conceived of multi-billion dollar bailouts from the Canadian and American governments just to keep automakers afloat? Things change and what seems like a good idea or a sound decision today isn’t always. What if some day down the road an owner in Canada runs into tough times and Jim Balsillie version 2.0 offers to buy the team and move them to Kansas City. Well if Bettman is successful in making Balsillie play by the rules in relocating the Coyotes, then when that day come that team might not be lost so easily.

The 2009 NHL playoffs - a damn good year

2009-06-15T10:05:00.004-06:00

I've had two nights to digest the Pens win in game 7 and I'm still shocked. I really thought that the Wings would end it in game 6. Then back on home ice for game 7, a win was a stone cold lead pipe lock as far as I was concerned; but I was wrong.

I'm not a big fan of being wrong. I don't like how it sounds and I don't like the feeling I get in my stomach when I think about my wrongness. The worst part is that the season's over now and I won't have a chance to be right for a while.

As much as my lousy predictions have left a bad taste in my mouth I do have to say that it was a pretty good series and a great game 7. Really the last two months of playoff hockey were about as good as it gets.

Hockey fans got to see Crosby and Ovechkin go head to head, both of the top seeds got dumped early on in big upsets, the Hawks took the next step and look like they could be a great team starting next season, and then we got a Stanley Cup rematch for the first time in 25 years. Other than a couple of ridiculously long overtimes I don't know what else you could have asked for.

I wasn't a big fan of the post game celebrations and tv coverage after the Pens won; something about it just seemed off to me. We didn't get to hear Bettman try to talk over the boos when he handed out the Conn Smythe to Malkin and then the Stanley Cup to Crosby. And then there is the issue of the handshake snub which I really don't think is as big of a deal as some would like it to be. But in both cases I think the positives of the NHL second season far outweighed these small negatives.

Even though the playoffs are done there is still some hockey related things going on for the fans who just can't get enough hockey. The NHL Awards go this Thursday, the draft will be held on the 26th, and the free agency season begins on July 1; and then just two-and-a-half months to training camp. Thank God for the short offseason.

Happy Game 7 Day

2009-06-12T12:10:00.012-06:00

Well here we are, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals; it took 251 days to get here, but we made it. It's been a couple of years since we've been treated to a Game 7 in the finals. You might remember that one, I certainly do.

A Game 7 is always a little bitter sweet because you know this is it for hockey until October, but at least the season ends with a bang. I guess the upside outweighs the downside really. How could you possibly turn this down?

On Tuesday I really thought that the Wings would end this series and even though I was wrong that night I'm not changing my pick, I'm sticking with the Wings. I'm thinking that the Wings will win the game tonight by a score of 4-3. And Holmstrom will break an ugly 18 game goalless drought to slap in the winner.

A couple of quick stats to keep in mind for tonight's game:

The home team has a record of 11-2 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
Detroit is one of the two teams to have lost a Game 7 on home ice (1945)
Three times the all seven games have been won by the home team (Devils in '03, Canadiens in '65, Red Wings in '55)
Game 7 has only gone to overtime two times ('50 and '54) and the Red Wings won both times

Could we be lucky enough to get an overtime game? The thought alone gives me goose bumps. And if somehow you're not excited for the game tonight check out the Top 10 Cup Final Game 7s on TSN, I guarantee it'll do the trick.

Damn that was fast

2009-06-11T12:09:00.003-06:00

To make sure I don't miss major events in the hockey world I've signed up for text message alerts from TSN. Its a good system really, I get some news and then if I want to ignore work for a bit I can check out the story on the web. The last two messages I got from TSN were that Dave Tippett had been fired and that Marc Crawford was now the new head coach; those messages came just over 16 hours apart.

16 hours to fire one guy and go ouside the organization to find a replacement is pretty quick considering this is the offseason. If there was a game tonight then I get it, but why the rush? And that doesn't even factor in that Joe Nieuwendyk has only been on the job for 11 days. It sure seems like Nieuwendyk doesn't plan on wasting anytime in rebuilding the Stars into a Cup contender again.

So what's the upside the with Crawford? Well he's won a Stanley Cup and he has won a lot of games, 470 in fact. His career winning percentage is pretty good at .555. I think Mirtle summed up his experience best with

There are only five coaches with gigs next season who have more wins behind an NHL bench than Marc Crawford's 470 — Pat Quinn, Ron Wilson, Jacques Martin, Ken Hitchcock and Joel Quenneville — and the ones without jobs are either long retired, currently serving as GMs or named Mike Keenan.

So that's the upside, what about the downside. Well his record in LA was terrible. And he hasn't made the playoffs since the lockout (he had a job for three of those four season). And of course the biggest downside of all is that he is responsible for choosing to use Fleury, Bourque, Nieuwendyk, Lindros, and Shanahan in the shootout against the Czechs in Nagano leaving Gretzky and Sakic on the bench, an interesting choice to say the least.

All in all I don't really like this move. If after an actual search he's your guy, then okay; but he was obviously the choice before the process had even started. And based on his recent performance I just don't see why that would be the case. But I'm not a Stars fan so if he flops its no skin off my ass, and at least he won't be on CBC next season.

I think it'll be done tonight

2009-06-09T10:17:00.006-06:00

That is the Stanley Cup rings that were given out by the Red Wings after the won the Stanley Cup last summer. I like the side view that shows the years of the franchises 11 Stanley Cup wins. After tonight though, I have a feeling that the years on that ring will no longer be up to date.

I have really enjoyed the hockey in this series, certainly more than I did in last years final; but I just don't see the Penguins coming up with a win tonight. Because I love hockey I hope they do, but I wouldn't bet on it.

So with the Wings just one win (and by the way even if they don't win tonight there is no way they won't win on Friday) away from their fifth cup in 12 season. That is a pretty amazing run. The last time a team won Stanley Cups at this rate was the 80s Oilers and the Canadiens of the 70s. So I got to thinking about how dominant this team has been over that stretch.

Well the four, soon to be five, Stanley Cup wins speak for themselves, but they've also won the Presidents' Trophy four times. They've topped 100 points 10 times, including the last nine season in a row. On average they've totaled 109 points per season over the last 12 years; the Devils and Stars are the only other teams to top 100 average points over that same time frame. Even if you shorten the time frame no other franchise has put together even a five year string at that pace.

What I found most surprising though was what the Wings have done in the playoffs. In games where the Wings can clinch the series they are an amazing 24-7 during this run. When the game is played on the road they're a shocking 16-4. In 24 series that they've won only once have the Wings needed more than two games to finish off an opponent (Dallas in 2007) and just twice did they need all seven games. The bottom line is when they can put you away they do. The Pens will be no different tonight

Because $7.75 just wasn't enough

2009-06-08T09:02:00.008-06:00

This past Saturday I hopped the train to Rexall Place to catch Rancid and Rise Against on a sweet double bill. Over the past couple of years I had seen Rise Against twice but this was my first time seeing Rancid. Now while the majority of the fans seemed to be far more familiar with the headliner, Rancid more than held their own and put on a pretty kick ass set. And following Rancid, Rise Against certainly didn't disappoint. All in all I'd say it was an excellent show; I'd give it a four out of five.

But almost lost in the show was the increase in beer prices. That's right the folks at Rexall apparently couldn't make due at $7.75 per barley and have raised the price to an even $8. And if you thought $7.75 was expensive, you'd have been right. In the NHL last year the Oilers had the sixth most expensive cost per ounce beer in the NHL.

This year's raise comes following last season when the beer price was held at $7.75. While the price stayed the same, the size of the beer was cut from 20 oz (a Canadian pint) to 16 oz (a US pint). So while the price technically stayed the same the case could be made that the price had actually increased by 25%.

So 25 cents this year by reflection doesn't seem that bad. And really it isn't. If I make it to 40 games next year like I did this season, then the beer cost increase will cost me about $20, $40 if you factor in the wife. I probably won't be at the food bank looking for a handout as a result.

I do wonder though what effect this has on the vendors at the games and concerts at Rexall. Most of the time I left that quarter as a tip, but now when I get my change and I don't see that shrapnel, I'll be far less likely to leave a tip. It's too bad that this increase will take money away from the vendors because at some of the games I saw last season they were the hardest workers in the building.

A sad day to be an Albertan

2009-06-02T15:14:00.005-06:00

It's rare that I write much about non sports related issues. Not that I don't care about the world, I just often let those who write for a living cover these topics. But every now and then something comes up that I just can't help myself and I have to insert my two cents; this time that thing would be Bill 44.

I really love being an Edmontonian, and I love that I've been lucky enough to spend most of my life in Alberta. I know it's not for everybody, but I think we live in a great province that has so many wonderful things to see and do that we often forget just how lucky we are. But Bill 44 is the kind of legislation that makes me embarrassed to be an Albertan.

In theory Bill 44 is intended to strengthen both parental and gay rights here in Alberta. In reality what this bill does is trade gay rights for the rights of parents to pull their children out of classes that have anything to do with religion or sexual orientation. So we finally get around to amending the Human Rights Act but at the same time we slide this little gem in there. Sadly, only in Alberta would this type of legislation ever see the light of day.

This is 2009 not 1923, and by now I think we can all accept that people come in many different shapes and sizes. So why then do we need the government to swoop in a give parents the right to pull their kids out of classes that conflict with their views; how is this better for the children of Alberta? If you believe that a same sex lifestyle is immoral and wrong, or that evolution is bunk that is your choice; but is your plan really to bury your kids head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist? What about the Holocaust or the French Revolution? Pretty big religious components in both, are we keeping kids from learning about these events as well?

When I was younger I was taught that all people were created equally. Now, thanks to Bill 44, Alberta next generation won't have to learn that lesson. I sure am glad the Alberta government is here to save us from ourselves.

The seasons first Wiener Wednesday

2009-05-28T14:19:00.004-06:00

I'm 30 years old and one of my favorite foods is, and really always has been, hot dogs. Certainly hot dogs aren't the most gourmet food you can find but I just love them. If you're a hot dog fan like I am, I strongly suggest you check out the fine selection available at Pub 1905, simply amazing.

So as a fan of the processed meat I naturally love Wiener Wednesday and their $2 hot dogs. How can you beat $25 for a ticket, two hot dogs, and three beers? Simply put, I don't think you can.

And the game was good, even though the Caps lost. With the final score of 5-3 the difference was a two run homer that bounced of the top of the wall. Though break really. I'm pretty sure that I've never seen that happen before.

I thought the Caps might have a shot after getting out of the 8th on a controversial play where the Armada thought they'd scored but the ump ruled he hadn't touched home during a collision at the plate. Pasieka picked up the ball, tagged the runner, and the Caps were out of the inning much to the displeasure of the Armada's manager. But even with that little momentum swing they just couldn't mount a comeback.

Had the Caps come away with the W that would have been nice, but hey you can't win them all. After a three straight wins to open the season the caps slipped a bit and finished the opening home stand with a 4-3 record. Now they head out on the road for five games before coming back to town for St. George and Yuma. That first game back will be another Fireworks Friday so I'll have to see if the show is as good the second time around.

A good weekend at the ballpark

2009-05-25T16:23:00.003-06:00

Finally, finally, finally the Capitals season got underway on Thursday night in the first of a four game set against the Victoria Seals. Not that I'm a huge Caps fan or anything, but I'm a massive fan of drinking a couple of beers, sitting outside on a nice day, and watching baseball. Considering that the weather cooperated and beers prices went down from last year (just $4 per and you can add in a dog for only $2 more) I can honestly say it was a good weekend at the ballpark.

I wasn't able to make it to the opener but I was there for the games on Friday and Saturday night. Friday nights game was all over the place; the Caps won 12-10 but every time it looked like they had it locked up, the Seals came back. And then after the game they set off fireworks for the first "Fireworks Friday" of the season. I didn't expect a big display, this is the Golden League after all, but they put on a hell of a show. I'll be checking out that promo again in the future.

On Saturday the Caps fell back 7-1 after the second. I was a bit late and the score was 2-1 with the bases loaded and nobody out before I even sat down. But the Caps chipped away and thanks to a beauty comeback that included four runs in the ninth the Caps came out on top again, this time 8-7. In this one Aaron Easton came into the game in relief and pitched a great three and two-thirds of scoreless ball and was rewarded with the win. At 6'10" it looks like he's letting go of the ball about halfway to the plate; you've gotta see this guy throw.

Maybe the best things about the two games was the attendance. Each night was in excess of 1,700, which is more than I saw at any game last year with the exception of Canada Day and maybe opening night. Telus Field is such a great park, and even though the ball isn't what it once was when the Trappers were here it was sad to see the place almost empty like it was last season.

Hopefully as the season goes on the winning and the good attendance will both continue to happen.

Oilers come up big for Canada

2009-05-08T15:02:00.004-06:00

In today's World Hockey Championship semi-final game Canada took on Sweden. The winner would get a chance to play the defending champion Russians on Sunday.

After a shootout loss to Finland and a game against Latvia that was closer than it probably should have been I was a little concerned that Canada might not have enough to get by a Sweden team lead by Oiler prospect (we were everywhere in this game) Linus Omark who had 10 points in seven tournament games.

As it turns out though there was no need for concern as the Canadians posted a 3-1 win. Roloson was back in the net after sitting out the game yesterday against the Latvians. He turned aside 25 of 26 shots and held the Swedes off of the scoreboard until a rebound was banged past him just over six minutes into the 3rd period. I'm hoping he gets the start again on Sunday but Mason has played good enough to deserve it too so we'll just have to wait and see.

At the other end of the rink Horcoff managed to finally find the back of the net with what turned out to be the game winner. The goal was just his second point of the tournament but it was a big goal in a period where Canada took complete control of the game, out shooting Sweden 17-8. Derek Roy put the other two goals in for Canada.

So now we're set up for a rematch of last years final where Russia took gold in overtime on Canadian ice. I have got to think that the guys wearing the maple leaf will be pretty fired up for this one, I certainly don't think anyone in the room wants to see this again.

Somehow I think Sean Avery is getting dumber

2009-04-23T13:58:00.004-06:00

Sean Avery is an idiot. That's a fact and I don't think many people would dispute. It was obvious he was an idiot when he played in Detroit, later with the Kings, and during his days with the NY Rangers. For anyone who wasn't already convinced, the incident with Brodeur in the playoffs last yearwas the straw that broke the camels back.

But as big an idiot as he is, I have always thought that he is a pretty decent player when he shuts his mouth and just plays the game. In the off season when he signed a four year $15.5 million dollar deal I thought that it was definitely an overpayment but if he could get 15 goals and add in 20 assists or so a season that those number and his style of play could make him a pretty valuable part of the Dallas Stars.

Obviously I proven wrong with the now infamous "sloppy seconds" comment. This new level of idiocy gets him sent to rehab and then banished to the Wolf Pack of the AHL. Eventually the Stars put him on re-entry waivers and the Rangers, apparently to drunk to think straight, decide to claim him.

At this point I really believed that Avery has learned his lesson. That the negative publicity given to his actions and trip to the AHL had been enough to finally show him the error of his ways, that he had hit bottom, that he couldn't get any dumber. But again I was wrong.

In game 3 against the Caps he decided to punch Varlamov in the head even though the referee was standing beside him. Good idea Sean. All in all he took four minor penalties in that game and just for good measure threw in a misconduct as well. Then in game 4 he took two minors in the last 10 minutes of a one goal game. The penalties in game 3 are not the reason the Rangers lost, and in game 4 as hard as he tried he could cost the Rangers that game.

But his actions in those games show that he still doesn't get it. With all that he's done the referees are watching his every move and if he even thinks of crossing the line they call him for it. He has no grey areas left to play in. So the smart player would be a little more cautious just to make sure he doesn't hurt his team. But not Sean, he decides to be the most selfish player in the league and keeps putting his team in tough situations.

This is the playoffs and to win you have to sacrifice for your teammates, Avery just doesn't get that. So if I was Tortorella I'd bench him. This is a series that the Rangers control right now, but his actions could give the Caps that tiny opening they need to comeback and win the series.

The great logo debate has ended

2009-04-02T12:58:00.004-06:00

If you're a hockey fan in Canada then you have almost certainly heard the uproar that results from the COCs decision to back the IOC policy of not allowing logos of sports federations on jerseys worn at the Olympics. This meant that the Hockey Canada logo that we've worn for 14 years was out.

What I found amazing was the public outrage that the issue generated. Some people seemed to see this as part of some massive conspiracy against Canadian hockey. This seems like a bit of a stretch to me, I mean come on folks its just a logo.

I could see where the IOC and COC were coming from, but at the same time all Hockey Canada wanted to do was use the same logo that they had used in the previous three Olympics. It certainly didn't seem like a big deal to me.

Well it finally appears that the great logo debate ha s ended and that a jersey design has been agreed to by all parties. The jersey design will feature a different logo, the VANOC logo on the shoulder, and the COC logo on the lower back. If you were curious this is what those logos looks like.

I for one really hope that the logo they've settled on is the simple one I've shown above, and not just because I already own a jersey with this logo. This logo has been used as the logo on alternate jerseys worn by Team Canada since 2002 (the silver edging on the original logo was changed to gold in 2005) and it was actually on the sleeves of the now famously disputed jerseys.

I like this logo because its simple and to be honest it looks pretty good. And lets be honest who doesn't like the irony of after five months of debating the issue all sides settled on a logo that was already on the jerseys.

Fans plead for 60 minute effort from Oilers

2009-04-02T08:50:00.004-06:00

There has been a lot made this week about the fan support in Rexall Place of late. The Oilers have gone so far as to post a video on their website asking for more support from the fans. This morning one of the headlines on the Edmonton Journal is "Oilers Plead For Fan Support". Some fans have taken this campaign as a slap in the face, as if the team is blaming the fans for the teams on ice performance. I don't see it that way I think they'd just like some noise in the building, a little home ice advantage.

I've been to 35 of the 37 home game so far this year and for the most part I'm not that fan who is constantly chanting and cheering on everything the teams does, but I'm not a fan who boos the home team either. I just sit back and (try to) enjoy the game. But enjoying the games this year hasn't been easy because the Oilers far too often have turned in terrible performance on home ice this year. Its tough to be the eternal optimist when what you see on the ice gives you very little to be excited about.

How bad has it been? Well the teams record is 16-15-6, so if you count the overtime and shootout losses as losses (which they are) the Oilers will lose more game on home ice this season than they'll win. But win and losses don't tell the whole story. Here are a few numbers I came across this morning when I dug through the results on home ice:

The Oilers have trailed in 25 of 37 home games so far this season, so in 2 out of every 3 games the fans have looked at the scoreboard and seen the home team at least a goal down
14 times the Oilers have trailed going into the third period
In those 14 games the Oilers have complied a 1-12-1 record
7 of those 12 losses were by a goal or an empty netter made it a two goal loss

Not exactly a whole lot for fans to get up and shout about in those stats is there. It should be noted that the only win of the season when the Oil trailed after two periods was the night that Hemsky almost single handedly beat Columbus. That night the fans were pretty loud but they had to have something to cheer about first.

It'd be great if the fans could ignore the game being played in front of them and cheer no matter what but I'm not sure that is reasonable to hope for; if the team gave the fans just a little something to be positive about I think it would be a different story. Its a two way street really. As usual I'll be there tonight and I'll cheer but I really hope the team plays well and gives the fans something to be excited about.

One game for all the marbles

2009-03-17T09:11:00.006-06:00

In just their second season I didn't expect the Oil Kings to be in a position to make the playoffs. Next year I though they'd have a good chance but this year would be more of what I saw last season when the team was in it's expansion season. But I was wrong and the team actually had a chance to clinch the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference on Sunday afternoon if they could manage just a single point. Unlike the Oilers of late, they weren't able to lose the game in overtime to get that point and so tonight the play a one game tie-breaker in Prince Albert versus the Raiders.

From hockeyprospects.com this is just the fourth time a one game tie-breaker has been played in the WHL and the first time that it has been an elimination game. Now I can't say that I really understand playing a tie-breaker to split a fourth place tie but a game to decide eighth place, now that is a hell of an idea (are you listening Gary?). I love the one game playoff in baseball and I can only imagine what it'll be like in the rink tonight in PA. It'll be a straight mad house and that rink only holds around 3,800 imagine an NHL tie-breaker with 17,000 plus in the building.

Too bad for fans here in Edmonton there is no TV broadcast of tonights game. If you want to watch it you can tune in on the WHL website or listen to the play by-play on the Team 1260. I'll be at the Oilers game tonight so for me I'll be even further removed and will have to keep track through text messages, not ideal but the best I can do.

When the Oil Kings walk out of PA tonight with a win they'll move onto the a first round match up with the Calgary Hitmen. The Hitmen were the best team in the WHL this season so this will be a tough series to say the least. After games in Calgary Thursday and Saturday the first home game of that series will be Monday night, I'll be buying my tickets tomorrow.

Looking at the glass as half full

2009-03-16T12:07:00.003-06:00

In the almost two weeks since the trade deadline I have been completely silent on the goings on in the world of the Oilers. Partly because I've been freaking crazy busy at work, partly because I was at a curling bonspiel in Beaumont (won the D division thank you very much), and partly because I just haven't known what to think about the Oilers play of late.

After a rather all over the place game against Nashville that resulted in a 6-5 overtime loss the Oilers have managed to go .500 if you apply the concept of a .500 team in a very liberal fashion. In reality what they've done is put up five points in the standings but have come away with just a single win in those five games and have lost the last three in overtime.

Not exactly the kind of run that I had hoped for. And worse still when you look at who the opponents were. With the exception of Montreal all of the teams played in the recent five game stretch (Ottawa, Toronto, Atlanta, and Colorado) and in the bottom third of the NHL standings. This is a stretch in the schedule where I really had hoped that the Oil could fire off a bunch of wins and solidify a playoff spot. But it wasn't to be I guess.

So where does all of this leave me? Well in a world of negativity I'm going to look for some positives. And, unlike the St. Patrick's Day celebrations tomorrow where I will be viewing my glass as half empty and in serious need of a refill, today I'm going to look at the Oiler world as if the glass were half full.

Points in eight of ten games - They haven't all been pretty but the team has managed to get a least a point out of most of their games recently. A 5-4-1 record would look better and might make fans feel a touch more optimistic about a playoff berth but a 3-2-5 stretch just a good in the standings. Five years from now will anyone remember the overtime losses? Nope just the standing at the end of the season.

We'd be in if the playoffs started today - As uninspiring as the Oilers record has been of late, four of the teams (Dallas, Minnesota, Anaheim, and Los Angeles) battling for playoff spot with the Oilers have posted worse records over their last ten games. Nashville and St. Louis have been on fire but they were far enough back that their runs haven't really jeopardized the Oilers chances. So we haven't really lost any ground over the last few weeks.

Teams that are bad at home can make the playoffs - With a 15-12-6 record at home so far the Oilers are a good bet to lose more on home ice than they win, even with the loser point an overtime or shoot out loss is still a loss as far as I'm concerned. Now typically teams are better on home ice than on the road and the records of good teams often reflect that the most. But the Oilers record doesn't, so are they not a good team? Well in the three post-lockout seasons 47 of the 48 playoff teams won more games on home ice than they lost that year. The lone exception? You guessed it the 2005/06 Edmonton Oilers who went 20-15-6. So being a dominant home ice team isn't an absolute must to be a playoff team.

So there you go, a few positives in an increasingly negative Oilers world. So tomorrow when you're watching the Oilers game and celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a few green pints, try thinking of your glass as half empty but the Oilers glass as half full. It's a far better way to watch the games in my opinion.

The deadline has passed and I'm a happy guy

2009-03-04T15:29:00.005-07:00

I was of the belief that the Oilers should not be buyers at the deadline for two reasons. One they'll get killed by whoever they play in the first round; and two, the cost of buying would be too high to make it worth five or maybe six playoff games. Any moves that they were to make I thought should be minor moves only, nothing that would mortgage the future.

What the Oilers did was move out Erik Cole and their fifth round pick in this years draft to bring in Patrick O'Sullivan and Ales Kotalik. I have got to say that I like these moves. Kotalik is a UFA at seasons end but so was Cole, so no loss there if he walks on July 1. And the team now has O'Sullivan who is under contract for another two years (average cap hit of $2.925 M).

They did give up a fifth round pick but picks in the fifth round aren't exactly sure things. TSN took an in depth look at the value of drat picks recently. From that this is what a fifth round pick is generally worth.

No. 121-135
Average Rating: 1.79
Best: Kris Versteeg, Tom Gilbert, Kyle Quincey, Chris Mason.
At Least 100 NHL Games (or very likely): 13%

No. 136-150
Average Rating: 1.64
Best: Ryan Miller, Mikael Samuelsson, Trent Hunter, Lee Stempniak, Matt Cooke, Brent Sopel.
At Least 100 NHL Games (or very likely): 11%

There are certainly some good players on that list but with only a 12% chance that the player will skate in 100 games I don't have any issues with moving the pick. The Oil still have their picks through the first four rounds and they also have an extra third round pick from the Lupul/Smith trade and a fourth round pick from the Garon trade. With six picks in the top 120 they could afford to move this pick.

O'Sullivan is small at 5'11" but he comes with a pretty decent offensive upside. Last season he scored 22 - 31 - 53 while playing in all 82 games. This season his numbers are 14 - 23 - 37 in 62 games which projects to a 49 point season. At 24 those are pretty good numbers. Maybe most importantly he likes to shoot. Through 62 games he's taken 200 shots on goal, that would be more than all Oilers except Souray and 53 more than any Oiler forward (Hemsky has 147).

Kotalik is in his sixth full season in the NHL and is a three time 20 goal scorer. This season he's only got 13 so if he was to get to 20 it would be a little surprising but I certainly wouldn't turn down the goals. What is really interesting with Kotalik is his power play production. Last season he had 12 power play goals and two years before that he scored 10. This season he's scored 8 - 10 - 18 with the man advantage which is four points better than he's done at even strength. With how dead the Oilers power play has been of late his addition could be a real boost to the Oil.

I'd like to see the Oil skate O'Sullivan on the top unit with Horcoff and Hensky and I think Kotalik would fit nicely into Cole's spot on the second unit but considering who make our lines I guess we'll have to wait until the morning skate to see for sure.

I'm going to take that point as a big positive

2009-03-04T08:47:00.005-07:00

So what do you take from a game where the top line played like junk, the top defensive pair was terrible, the power play generated absolutely nothing, and the team managed to take a 4-3 lead and turn it into a 5-4 deficit in a 1:10 stretch of the third period, and yet they still got a point? I'm going to say that the game showed the depth of the team and I'll take the result, even though Nashville got two points out of the game, as a positive.

The way the Oil lost was a little tough to take. Roloson takes a puck in the collar bone and is obviously hurt, if he stays down the referees would have blown it dead but he gets up and Arnott blasts a shot past him. Lucky for MacT that this manages to overshadow the fact the Strudwick (who was in the box for the winner) got ice time during the overtime. At four on four you just can't have a guy like Strudwick out there and in this case it cost the Oil.

But enough negative there was plenty of positive in that game. Did you see Smid? His play was unreal last night. That might have been his best game as an Oiler. He played a second shy of 19 minutes and although he didn't generate a shot he was a factor in a ton of scoring chances. As a team the Oil generated 18 scoring chances, Smid was on the ice for 12. He even got a little time on the powerplay which almost never happens. He played a great game.

And how about that second line? I still think Pouliot is terrible but I will admit that he played a pretty damn good game along with Gagner and Cole. Combined that line put up 3 goals and 3 assistss. They were a combined +6 and registered 7 shots on goal. On a night when Hemsky and Horcoff were MIA this was the kind of production that the Oil had to have in order to come away with a point.

The game wasn't all rosy but if the team can keep getting production like this from their lower level defencemen and their second line then when the top line gets back on track and the powerplay starts to click this team will be tough to beat. Hopefully we can keep things rolling in Ottawa on Thursday night.

Time to sit back and see what happens on deadline day. It's been slow so far but with three and a half hours to go until the deadline I'm thinking things will pick up pretty soon.

Game 63 Preview - Oilers at Predators

2009-03-03T11:12:00.004-07:00

Tonight the Oil will be kicking off the longest road trip left on their schedule with a game in Nashville. The Predators have been Kryptonite to the Oilers over the past 3 years as they've managed just a single win in 11 tries. And in Nashville the Oil haven't come away with a win since October 2005.

In a perfect world the team goes out and builds off the big win they had on Saturday night versus the Wild. But their recent history against the Predators doesn't make that seem likely. Over the last couple of seasons the Predators have basically beaten the Oil up in almost every game. They play an aggressive physical style that the Oilers don't seem to have an answer for. Taking Moreau out of the lineup won't make the task of winning any easier.

I haven't been a big fan of Moreau's game of late. The number of penalties he's been taking is shocking. That most of them are lazy and/or stupid and he's taking them 150+ ft from his own net is even more surprising. But I don't think his physical game or his leadership won't be easily replaced. And against a team that has dominated you physically in the past like Nashville has, that void could be very noticeable tonight.

With the injury to Moreau the Oil will obviously have to shuffle their forwards. From the Oilers website it looks like Jacques will draw in, the Nilsson will stay in the press box (with back to back games as a healthy scratch could a deadline day trade be in the works?), and the lineup will look like this.
Reddox - Horcoff - Hemsky
Pouliot - Gagner - Cole
Penner - Cogliano - Pisnai
Jacques - Brodziak - Stortini

Not quite what I'd have gone with (any lineup with Pouliot isn't one I'd go with) but I'll wait and reserve judgment until I see how it works out tonight. The key to tonight's game will be the physical play of the Oilers. If they can hold their own they'll have a shot. I'm hoping for another hard fought 3-2 win.

Attention fat guys, the Oilers need you

2009-02-27T14:54:00.006-07:00

This morning the on the Team 1260 morning show there was a discussion about the atmosphere in Rexall Place these days. They were talking about how quite the rink has become and the increasing frequency that the home team is geting booed.

As a rule I don't waste my time booing anyone, I just don't see the point. Exceptions to this would be players who force their way out of town (Pronger and Comrie) and even then just for a couple of shifts after which I move on. I certainly don't boo the home team no matter how bad they play and I don't boo ex-Oilers just to do it. Now if you want to boo that is fine, you paid the bucks for your seat and you can do what you want.

But it wasn't the conversation around the negative atmosphere in the rink that got my attention but the positive atmosphere. If you haven't gone to a game in a while then you might not realize that it is a tomb in there for the most part. A big part of the discussion centered around what impact a more positive environment would have on the team and the fans role in creating that atmosphere.

I don't know how much it would help the Oilers if the building was jumping every night but it certainly couldn't hurt. How much of that is really on the fans though? I was fully ready to go last night for a huge game versus the Blue Jackets and the team put me to sleep inside of 10 minutes. Honestly I yawned 3 or 4 times during the first period. The Oil only had 3 shots at the 17 minute mark, at no point did they even string together a couple of good shift in a row. How much is there to cheer about when your team plays that poorly.

But as bad as the team played I for one would have loved it if there was a little noise in the building. So how do we do that? Well this morning while surfing the web I came across the answer on Puck Daddy and boy is it simple. Fat guys dancing with their shirts off. This is a video of the Pork Bellies who are a group of season seat holders for the Iowa Chops who are now between period entertainment.

There are a few things that always make people laugh and dancing fat guys are one of those things. There is absolutely no way that if there were fat guys with their shirts off at the game on Saturday that the fans wouldn't get jacked up. Just listen to the fans at that game they're loving it.

So if you're a fat guy I challenge you to get dancing on Saturday night when the Oil host the Wild to help get some noise into the building. I would be there with you if I could but I only weigh 150 lbs and a dancing skinny guy is never funny so for the sake of everyone else I'll be keeping my shirt on.

Same story, different night

2009-02-27T08:25:00.004-07:00

Sitting up in row 48 last night I was pretty sure that I'd seen the story line to last night game a few times before this season. When the Oil had the puck they just didn't generate enough shots and without the puck they were all to often out hustled, out worked, and out manned. The end result was a generally ugly game and a 1-0 loss to the Blue Jackets.

What makes it really frustrating is just how big the game was. When your teams in 9th place, playing a team in 6th on home ice you'd expect some jump, some energy, something. But that isn't what the fans got and as a result the building was basically a tomb except for those occasions when some fans chose to boo the home team. I don't boo because I simply don't see the point; if they don't know that they had a brutal game then they probably won't know why I'm booing them.

A big game like that and the Oil get just 19 shots on goal. Wow. But shots aren't the only telling story, how about the scoring chances. On home ice they get just 13 scoring chances and give up 27, unacceptable. How about giveaways, the Oil turned the puck over 26 times. And in the face off circle they were an amazing 37%. The fact that they lost just 1-0 (and Columbus needed a Torres breakaway to get even the one goal) is remarkable, thank God for Roloson.

I don't know what to think any more, I really don't. The one thing that gives me hope is that I still think this team is better than they're playing. And despite the fact that they've played at a sub par level for most of the season they're right in the playoff hunt. With 21 games left I still think they'll find that spark and when they do they'll be a tough team to beat. I'm not going to lose faith just yet.

Game 61 Preview - Oilers vs Blue Jackets

2009-02-26T13:02:00.005-07:00

46 days and 22 games to go. Right now we're tied with the Stars, Wild, and Ducks at 65 points which after tie breakers lands us in 9th place. Even though we're in 9th, we're just 3 points out of 5th but at the same time we're only 8 points from 15th. I've never seen the standings this bunched at this point in the season. At this point we're essentially in must win territory every night the rest of the way.

An example of how tight everything is and how much everything can change each and every night. Tonight the Blue Jackets, currently in 6th place, come to town. With a win the Oil will jump past the Jackets and be no worse than 8th; with a loss it's possible that the Oil will be in 10th and 2 points back of 9th by the time they get back on the ice on Saturday night when they host the Wild in yet another must win game. Can you handle 22 must win games?

I took a quick look at the games left on the Oilers schedule and they breaks down like this:

5 games against the top 4 teams in the West
13 games versus the other 10 teams battling for the other 4 playoff spots
4 games with opponents from the East

Obviously the biggest games are going to be the 13 versus the other teams driving for the playoffs as those are all 4 point games for the Oil. Out of those 22 games the Oil are going to need at least 25 points if they plan to make the playoffs.

That would give them 90 which would be the lowest total of a playoff team since the lock out. On average the 8th place team has had a full season total of 93.3 points. With so little gap between the playoffs teams and the basement dwellers in the Western Conference it's likely that the points needed for 8th will be lower than in the past as the teams battling for those last spots will take points from each other on an almost nightly basis. The 3 point game is going to be huge.

What the Oil have to do tonight is come out with a first period like they did on Tuesday against the Lightning. In that first period they dominated the play out shooting the Lighting 11-3 and out chancing them 9-3. What the Oil don't need to do is go to sleep after that and play a couple of average, at best, periods. The playoffs are on the line here, the least you could do is look like you care.

Hopefully the Oil get a boost from the return of Fernando Pisani. He's been activated from the IR and is likely going to be on the third line with Moreau and Cogliano, meaning Stortini will be back on the fourth line with Reddox and Brodziak. Pisani wasn't exactly lighting the league on fire before he got hurt (14 GP - 2 G - 2 A) but he's certainly a better third line option than Stortini and his presence on the penalty kill couldn't hurt. If nothing else maybe he can help Moreau and Cogliano find some offensive spark. Combined those two have 9 goals since New Years Eve and Moreau had 3 of those against Phoenix on Glenn Anderson night.

I'm seeing a 5-2 Oilers win tonight.

Game 60 Preview - Oilers vs Lightning

2009-02-24T13:30:00.004-07:00

Thanks to the genius of the NHL over the past few years, the Lightning are playing tonight in Edmonton for the first time in almost two years. Their last game here ended in a 3-1 Oil loss back on March 7, 2007. For those who haven’t completely blocked out that period in Oiler history you might recall that this game was near the start of what would end up being an ugly finish to the 06/07 season where the Oil went just 2-17-1 in their last 20. The best thing I can say about those games is that I was always able to move down to the lower bowl after the 1st period.

Coming into tonights game the Oil are on a three game losing streak after finding yet another way to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory on Saturday night versus the Flames. During the current losing streak the Oilers have fallen from 6th place in the Western Conference to a spot just outside of the playoff picture in 9th place. With more than twenty games left on the schedule, and the fact that Tampa obviously isn't a conference opponent, tonight’s game isn't exactly a must win, but it is a game that you really can't afford to lose.

The game tonight really is a couple of points available for the taking. The Lightning are the 28th place team in the NHL right now and have just 3 wins in their last 10. And with Smith and Kolzig on the IR the Lightning are going with the deadly net minding tandem of Ramo and McKenna.

This is good news for the Oil who are coming off a game where they really should have gotten two points but managed to get just one, which by the way is more than the number of shots on goal they managed in the shootout that night. Yeah they really need to have these points, with their next three all big inter-conference games against the Jackets, Wild, and Predators anything less than a win tonight has the potential to be devastating.

Game 59 Preview - Oilers vs Flames

2009-02-21T16:07:00.006-07:00

As part of Hockey Day in Canada the Oilers play host to the Flames tonight. This game is the first of a four game home stand which will hopefully start like the previous road trip (2 wins) but end just a little better (2 losses). The home stand could be make or break for the Oilers season because at the end of this home stand the Oilers will have just 20 games left, which are split evenly between home and away.

With only 27 home games played to date the Oilers have more home dates left on their schedule than all the other teams in the Western Conference with the exception of the Blackhawks. Those extra games should be a benefit as the Oil drive to make the playoffs but that hasn't been the case so far this season.

Here a few great Oilers stats at home this season.

13 wins which ties them with the Kings for fewest in the Western Conference
73 goals, good for 25th overall
0.537 home win percentage; only the Ducks and Kings are worse in the Western Conference
2 losses by 7+ goals

If the Oilers are going to make the playoffs they are going to have to start actually playing hockey when they're at home. Not only would that be good for them in the standings but as a season ticket holder I'd really enjoy going to games and see the better team wearing blue for a change. Tonight would be as good a time as any for this to start happening.

Tonight the Oil need to come out fast. An early goal would be great and would help get the fans into the game. The fans will be jacked up tonight for sure but an early lead would really get the building jumping. With MacIntyre drawing in we could also be in store for a fight or two. Most importantly the Oil need to make sure they don't get pushed around tonight. They don't need to out hit the Flames but they do need to establish a physical presence. If they let the Flames dominate them physically this is gonna be a long 60 minutes.

Should the Oil be buyers at the trade deadline?

2009-02-18T11:54:00.007-07:00

The NHLs trade deadline is one of my favorite days of the year. I rank it up there with opening night, the start of the playoffs, St. Patrick's Day, Canada Day, my birthday, and other drinking "holidays" like Cinco de Mayo. I've gone so far as to book the day off of work this year because I'd be useless at work so I might as well be on my couch.

In the past the Oilers have made some pretty significant trades. Roloson came over just before the deadline in 2006 and Smyth was sent packing at the deadline in 2007. Last year they couldn't find any trades to their liking and didn't do anything. At the 2009 trade deadline what should the Oilers do, should they be buyers?

The short answers is no, they shouldn't be buyers. For the most part the Oilers should just stay the course. Make a minor trade or two if a good deal comes up but nothing big. It isn't that I think this team has a serious chance for a long playoff run the way it is today, I just don't think that they can get that much better that it will make much of a difference.

I think we should stay put for a couple of reasons. The first is that this season the Oilers have not played well against the top teams in the Western Conference. Last night in San Jose was yet another example of this. For stretches of the game it looked like the Oilers could compete but for the most part the game was ridiculously lopsided.

As a comparison I’ve compiled the Oilers record against the top four teams in the west this year and in 2005/06 when we went to the Stanley Cup.
As you can see the Oilers did far better in 05/06 against the best in the west than they have so far this season. Without a doubt the numbers are inflated by ugly losses to the Red Wings and Hawks but the results are still pretty similar if you take those games out.

Now it is worth pointing out that in 05/06 none of the top four teams in the west got out of the opening round. The same could happen this season, in which case the Oilers lack of success against those teams wouldn’t matter. Looking at those top four teams though, I’m not sure that we have much of a chance to get out of the first round.

The second thing to consider in deciding to be a buyer is what do you need? In 2006 it was painfully obvious that the Oil needed a goalie so we went out and got a goalie. In '07 and again in '08 we were nearly dead at the deadline so buying would have been useless. But what do we need this season?

Yeah a top line scorer to play with Hemsky would be great but how many guys like that are really going to be available and how steep will the price be? Considering that only a handful of team are going to be out at the deadline I think the price will be higher this season than it has been in the past. Is it worth it to mortgage you future for what could be just one shot?

Last season has a great example of this. Look at what the Penguins gave up for a run at the Cup. For Hossa, Dupuis, and Gill they traded Esposito, Armstrong, Christensen, along with a 1st, 2nd, and 5th round draft pick. And the short term result was pretty good since it got them into the Stanley Cup finals.

But what about the long term impact to the team? Esposito and Armstrong were former first round picks and trading away two more early round picks has seriously impacted the depth of their team all for one shot at the Cup. If they had just kept building maybe they could have built a team that would have long term success like Detroit, obviously we’ll never know now.

There is a time frame in which a team is going to have success. Young players improve, you add in veterans and if everything goes right you might have a legit shot for three or four years before those veterans are old and the young players are now to expensive to keep and the process starts over. Pittsburgh last season felt the need to take a shot right away as opposed to waiting for the time to come and I think that decision will seriously hurt them in the long run.

The Oilers could do something very similar this season but I think that with the young talent on this team that the future is far brighter than the present could be if we traded away that talent. Do you really want to part with players like Gagner, Cogliano, Gilbert, or Nilsson; or prospects like Eberle, Chorney, and Nash?

As it stands right now I think the Oilers will make the playoffs. Looking at who we’d play and the cost for the players we’d need to be a serious contender I just don’t think it’s worth it to be a buyer at the trade deadline. Take what we can get but don’t sell the farm for a shot this season. I think if we're patient and let things take their natural course we will have a team very soon that can compete for more than just half of a season.

I’ll be on my couch watching closely to see if the Oilers listen to anything I say.

Attention MacT, you need to start JDD tonight!

2009-02-17T10:44:00.002-07:00

I'm serious MacT, you need to put Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers between the pipes tonight in San Jose. Roloson will give you a better chance of winning without a doubt, but giving Drouin-Deslauriers the start gives you a better chance to make the playoffs. Do you want to win the battle, or do you want to win the war?

Roloson has started 25 of the last 27 games for the Oilers and with the exception of a couple of blips (the Buffalo and Detroit blowouts), has looked pretty good doing it. But at some point he's going to start wearing down. I'm shocked at the level of his play this season and he certainly doesn't look 39 years old out there but I just don't think he can keep up this pace for another 26 games. He is going to need some nights off.

With Drouin-Deslauriers in net tonight it is entirely possible that the Oilers get killed. But San Jose is one of the best teams in the NHL and is the owner of a very impressive 23-2-3 home record so getting a win with Roloson in net isn't much more likely than with Drouin-Deslauriers. What the night off does is give the Oilers a more rested Roloson to start in net on Thursday night in Dallas. And the Dallas game is the more important game to win considering the cluttered playoff picture in the Western Conference.

I want to win each and every game but looking at the bigger picture, tonight might not be the worst game to lose. But just because MacT should start Drouin-Deslauriers doesn't mean he will, in fact it probably means the opposite.

The stars are aligned for a loss tonight

2009-02-11T13:26:00.003-07:00

I hate to say it but the Oilers are going to lose tonight. I would love for them to win and I really hope that I'm wrong but all the signs point to a loss.

First off we're going to be wearing our third jerseys tonight. The sweet vintage blue and orange, although great on the eyes, have not been kind in the results column this season. To date we-re good for just three wins in nine games when wearing these uniforms.

On top of the jerseys, fans wanting to see the game tonight will have to pony up the bucks for the pay per view. I've got tickets so I don't have to do this, but if I didn't there isn't a chance in hell that I'd put up good money to watch it. The Oilers suck on pay per view, simple as that. This season the Oil have won twice on pay per view in eight games and although I don't have the numbers to back it up I don't think we've fared much better in the past.

So the results are not good with the third jerseys and are actually worse on pay per view. But what about the combination of the two? Not very good either, the Oilers have a 1-2-2 record in these situations this season. For those glass half full types that would be points in three but I'm seeing just one win in five games.

As if all this wasn't bad enough the Oilers are hosting the Canadiens tonight. Les Habitants have been brutal lately going 2-8-0 in their last ten games. How could playing a struggling team be bad? Because the Oilers are the best streak busters in the NHL. If you haven't won a game, or scored a goal, or had a shut out in a while, just play the Oilers and the drought will be over.

Like I said, I hope I'm wrong but the conditions are just right for that perfect storm leading to another Oilers loss.

Jagr on his way to Edmonton?

2009-02-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

As you might recall back in July the Oilers made a big push to sign Hossa only to lose out to the Wings. After that they turned their attention to Jagr only to get out bid by Omsk of the KHL. It was a crazy time in Edmonton when, for a change, we were one of the big boys at the free agent table. Yeah we came up short but at least we were there.

Well since July a lot has happened in the world. The economy has taken a big turn for the worse and as a result the KHL has taken a pretty big hit. The KHL's financial outlook is so bad that they floated the idea of a mid-season 30% rollback on salaries and are seriously expecting teams to fold in the off season.

This financial uncertainty has lead to Emery claiming he's been shortchanged and won't be returning and now appears to have Jagr contemplating a return to the NHL, more specifically to the Oilers. Officially the Oilers have denied this but the addition of Jagr would make sense.

The Oilers are struggling offensively and have been looking for a goal scorer to match with Hemsky since the drafted Hemsky. And now the Visnovsky is done for the season the cap space is available. But getting Jagr here this season isn't as easy as getting him to sign on the dotted line. Unlike Sundin who was free to sign anywhere, Jagr is under contract to a European team and would therefore have to clear waivers to play for Edmonton this season.

Could it happen? Yeah. Would I like to see it? Hell yeah. Is it a done deal? Far from it.

Game 53 - Oilers at Wild

2009-02-09T15:11:00.004-07:00

Another typical boring day game, oh how I wish the Oilers would play more of these. The end result was a 3-2 Oil loss in a shootout to the Wild. To be honest there really wasn't much of note that happened in this game that would be worth the time it would take to type it up. The only things worth talking about were a few of the lineup choices made by the Oilers coaching staff.

During MacT's tenure behind the Oilers bench I have come to expect some interesting lineup choices. For the most part I just let it go because it seems to be part of the deal with the coaching staff here in Edmonton. But can anybody explain to me how putting Moreau on the top unit helps this team win?

Yes I know Penner isn't playing his best hockey right now so he doesn't necessarily deserve top line ice time. And I get that the Nilsson-Gagner-Cole combo has had some chemistry so breaking that up might not be desirable. But why do you take Hemsky, the most skilled forward on this team by a mile, and pair him with a player that isn't even in the same solar system as him when it comes to offensive ability?

For all the good things Moreau does on the third line he is just that, a third line player nothing more. Putting him in a role he can't succeed in when there are other options is ridiculous. Either Nilsson or Penner would have been a far better option. Say what you want about Penner but he has scored more goals and points in each of the last two seasons than Moreau has ever put up in a season.

At best the intent of this was to show the players that effort is what’s most important. I could see this following a bad loss in Detroit on Saturday afternoon. But this is a team that has now been destroyed by scores of 9-2, 10-2, and 8-3 in their last 24 games. That's a very, very bad result once every eight times out so it's starting to look more and more like whatever the message it isn't getting through to the players.

What I will give MacT credit for from yesterdays game was the choice to take Brodziak of the top line (where like Moreau he didn't belong) in favor of Cogliano. I think that from a pure offense standpoint he's a step behind Nilsson and Gagner but his speed does bring an interesting element to the top unit. Right now Hemsky is in an ugly stretch so if speed on his line creates some space for him to move in, well that would be a good thing.

But fresh off the good choice of putting Cogliano on the top line we get Gilbert in the shootout. Really? With Penner, Cole, and Cogliano on the bench we go with Gilbert. Oh how this brings back memories of Marty Reasoner in the shootout. One step forward and two steps back - just like the Oilers season.

A small increase for Oiler season ticket holders

2009-02-09T11:08:00.006-07:00

Digging through my season seat renewal information I've noticed that Oiler season ticket holders are in for a small increase for the 2009/10 season. Costs go up anywhere from $37.80 in the cheap seats (where I sit) to just under $340 in the premium seats. Season seat holders will again get $100 a seat in Oiler bucks. The cost breakdown by price range can be seen below.

Not a big increase by any means. 5% for seats in the lower bowl and 3% for every other seat. I was hoping though that season seat prices would remain fixed at 2008/09 prices; I don't think this increase is extreme but considering the play of the team this season combined with a lousy economic situation a price freeze could have been good for Oiler public relations.

Just because you can raise prices without realistically jeopardizing attendance doesn't necessarily mean you should. Minnesota has had nothing but sell outs since they rejoined the NHL and they held prices steady. I wish the Oil had chosen to do the same.

Game 52 - Oilers at Red Wings

2009-02-07T13:47:00.005-07:00

End of the 1st Period
I'm never a big fan of day games. The games tend to be slow and not that entertaining. They screw up my whole day, if I want to get anything done I have to get up early to do it. In general I just don't like them. The Oilers game this afternoon in Detroit is not changing my opinion of day games one bit.

After the first period the score is 5-0 Wings. Unlike the Buffalo game where Roloson was terrible early that hasn't been the case today. The only one he had a chance on was the first goal, the other four he didn't have a hope in hell of stopping. He's probably being left in simply because Drouin-Deslauriers is starting tomorrow afternoon.

The Oil haven't even been close in this one so far. The Oilers seem to be trying to turn the puck over in the neutral zone, a plan that will kill you against a quick break team like Detroit. Best example of this was Brodziak standing at centre ice apperantly waiting for Zetterberg to take the puck away from him so that Detroit could score goal number five.

So far the shots are 16-5 and Conklin is looking good for his second shut out of the season versus his old team. The only positive I can come up with from the game so far is that Gilbert is playing so it would appear that his injury isn't that bad.

I'm getting myself a beer and hoping the second period is just a little bit better.

End of the 2nd Period
Better. The Oiler are still way down, 6-0 now, but at least they looked awake in this period.

Contrary to what I thought after the first period Roloson was pulled in favor of Drouin-Deslauriers, who played pretty well. An early shot from Datsyuk got past him but went off the post and from there he settled in nicely. The only blip was a partially screened shot that got by him with 6 seconds left in the period.

The Oilers still aren't generating a whole lot of offense. Penner had a good chance in front of the net and Hemsky had another chance on a power play later in the period. They managed just 8 shots though for a two period total of 13, not nearly enough offense in my opinion. This is a Detroit team that has given up 31 goals in 7 games, put the puck on the net and see what happens.

On the upside at least it looks right now like another 10 goal debacle isn't going to happen. But I've been wrong before.

End of the 3rd Period
Where was that team in the first period? If the Oil could consistently string together 60 minutes like that they'd be a damn good team. But they don't and as a result are just an average team.

Starting the period down 6-0 the Oil cut the lead in half before the Wings added two goals, one on a breakaway by Samuelsson the other a nice waist high tip by Ville Leino. But even with the two Detroit goals the Oilers still owned this period.

The took the puck to the net and shockingly it lead to scoring chances and goals from Stortini, Penner, and Pouliot. Stortini also added an assist and played an overall damn good period. He even laid down and blocked a shot with less than 4 minutes left in an 8-3 game. That isn't something that alot of players would do and it shows some character from Stortini. Sadly he couldn't find anyone to punch to round out his Gordie Howe hat trick.

This game was over before the first period was finished so I'm going to just take the glass half full approach in looking at it. The Oil did a good job in the final 40 minutes and if they can carry that momentum into the game tomorrow against the Wild I would expect a better outcome than we got today.

Not a good time for the injury ball to start rolling

2009-02-06T13:16:00.001-07:00

Of course there is never a good time for injuries. But with less than four weeks to go until the trade deadline and your team yo-yoing in and out of the playoffs on a nightly basis, right now would be just about the worst time possible for a rash of injuries.

For the most part the Oilers have been pretty healthy this season with only 140 man games lost to injury through the first 44 games of the season; this following seasons with 289 games lost in 06/07 and a staggering 340 in 07/08. And although that total puts the Oilers in the top 10 in the NHL the injuries haven’t been as devastating as they have been over the last couple of seasons because every injury hasn’t been to a core player (I like Pisani but he isn’t a guy I see as critical to the success of this team), until now that is.

On Tuesday Visnovsky left the ice with an obviously injured right shoulder and last night both Gilbert and Horcoff failed to return to the ice after the second intermission. Visnovsky has been placed on the IR and could be back around the trade deadline; Horcoff and Gilbert are both listed as day-to-day (for now at least) with lower body injuries on the Oilers injury report.

Peckham was recalled today which will at least give the Oil 6 d-men in the event that Gilbert can’t go on Saturday afternoon. But as nice as the live body is, the loss of two big offensive weapons from the blue line is going to hurt this team in a big way. And this is a team that has only managed 3 goals in their last 3 games.

And even though Horcoff has contributed squat offensively for over a month (1 goal in the last 17 games) any time he spends out with an injury is going to hurt big time because he fills so many roles on this team. Besides the obvious void on the top line, his 3:15 of short handed ice time is tops for all Oiler forwards. This is a penalty kill unit that is 28th in league so although it’s hard to imagine they could be worse, believe me they could be.

Not only would the loss of Horcoff hurt an already weak penalty kill it’ll ding the Oilers in the face off circle too, which will in turn hurt the penalty kill even more. Horcoff has taken more draws than any other player in the league and he has taken nearly twice as many as Brodziak who is second on the team in this category. Outside of Brodziak and Horcoff it seems as if nobody on this team even knows what they’re doing out there when the try and take a draw. The other four Oilers who’ve taken at least 100 draws all have face off percentages lower than 50 %.

Yeah, these injuries could really hurt and this is not a good time for injuries.

Look for Penner on the 4th line tonight

2009-02-03T12:22:00.003-07:00

If the lines reported by TSN this morning hold true Penner will be playing tonight on the 4th line with Brodziak and Stortini. The demotion isn't exactly a shock considering that he was nailed to the bench from the 4 minute mark of the 3rd period on Friday vs Minnesota and Sunday was pulled off the top line in favour of Nilsson during the 3rd period of the 2-1 loss to the Predators. In both cases I can't argue with the move because he was playing like garbage.

Penner was "lucky" enough to spend a little extra time on the ice after practice yesterday in a move similar to what MacT did in Novemebr when he called out Penner for his effort and sat him for a couple of games. The result that time around was fantastic as Penner put up 10 points in the next 10 games and was possibly the teams best player during that stretch. Since then he's cooled off significantly with just 9 points in the last 21 games. Hopefully this move will have a similar impact on Penner's game.

The difference in Penner's game pre and post trip to the press box was the use of his body. He's a guy who although big isn't the most physical player; in 47 games this season he's been credited with 46 hits. At 6'4" and 245 lbs I know a lot of Oiler fans would like to see him play more physical but that just isn't his game.

When he's on his game he uses his body to shield the puck and is able to control the play down low unlike any other player in the Oilers lineup, think a poor mans Peter Forsberg or Joe Thornton when it comes to puck control. This is what the Oilers need from Penner on a more consistent basis if they want to be an upper tier team, this is what we expected when we gave up 3 picks and 21.25 million to sign him.

When looking at Penner's stats since his trip to the press box I decided to also take a look at his line mates. In those first 10 games when Penner was a point a game guy Hemsky scored 12 points and Horcoff actually led the way with 13. Since then Hemsky has been a beast scoring 14 points in just 11 games (remember he sat out 10 games around the New Year) while Horcoff has just slightly exceeded Penner's production with 12 points over the last 21 games.

I find this interesting because Penner is the one who gets singled out even though Horcoff hasn't been a whole lot better over the same time frame. In fact it seems as if Hemsky is scoring at a career best pace in spite of these two. Now I don't disagree with trying to light a fire under Penner, he hasn't played well in a while now, but when will MacT take a look at Horcoff. He certainly gives his full effort every night but if the production isn't there is effort alone enough from our #1 centre?

8 teams and just 4 spots available in the Western Conference

2009-01-27T14:20:00.002-07:00

The All-Star break finally ends tonight with eleven games on the NHL schedule. Once the NHL season passes the All-Star game the playoffs really start to come into view. Shockingly, to me at least, the NHL regular season is done in just 76 days. It'll be over before you know it.

By this point in the season there are always a few teams that are all but guaranteed a playoff spot, this season is no different. Barring something very unforeseen San Jose, Detroit, Calgary, and Chicago are all going to make the playoffs out of the Western Conference leaving just four spots up for grabs. The East looks to be even more set with only two spots left for the playoffs since Boston, Washington, New Jersey, Montreal, New York, and Philadelphia are all looking like good bets to be playing in the postseason.

With only two spots available in the East the margin for error is almost nonexistent. But the real playoff race will be in the Western Conference this year where 5th place and 12th place are separated by just six points. Eight teams and six points, playoff positioning is going to change almost every night.

So when it's all said and done who will be left standing? I'm glad you asked.

To start with you can see the current standing below. I've also included the number of games remaining, how many are home or road, number of times each team plays back-to-back, times a teams opponent is on the back half of back-to-back games, and the winning percentage of their opponents.

So after looking at all of these standings, factoring in some injuries, and listening to my gut I think the four teams that we'll see playing in late April, and possibly beyond, will be Dallas, Edmonton, Phoenix, and Vancouver. Now before you call me crazy here me out as to why I think this.

Phoenix - I'm putting Phoenix in 8th place. 8th was my toughest pick and I bounced back and forth between the Coyotes, Wild and Blue Jackets for quite a while. When push came to shove I think that the Coyotes are a young team that is really on the rise. Gretzky has the experience to keep this team level and prepared as they push for that last spot. Right now they're totally healthy which I can't say for the other teams in that battle for 8th.

Edmonton - I'll admit there is a potential bias here. But this is a team that is by far playing their best hockey of the season. Cole finally looks comfortable, Gagner is playing his best hockey of the season, and Hemsky looks like a star. With Garon gone the "Who will start" questions are gone and Roloson can focus on being the number 1 goalie. These factors and a couple games in hand will get the Oilers into the number 6 spot, setting up a date with Calgary in the first round.

Vancouver - Three things I looked at with the Canucks. They have the easiest schedule, Luongo is back in net, and Sundin is going to hit his stride. I know they've lost six straight but I really don't think they can't possibly be as bad as they've looked lately. I'm expecting them to return to their early season form and finish in 5th.

Anaheim - Shaky goal tending from Giguere is going to be the downfall of the Ducks. Combined with only 33 games left, the fewest of these eight teams, and the fact that they have the hardest schedule the Ducks are in hole. When you factor in a sub .500 road record those 18 road games are going to be a daunting task. The Ducks just aren't going to be able to overcome all of this and will finish 11th.

Minnesota - The Wild are right on that 8th place bubble. But I'm putting them in 9th because of all the back-to-back games. The Wild are going to play back-to-back nine more times this season. Seven of those times are on the road, the other two start at home and the second is on the road. That travel is just too much for them to get over. With a healthy Gaborik maybe, but does a healthy Gaborik exist?

Columbus - Columbus is a good team and with Mason in net the future looks bright. But it's Mason this year that makes me think Columbus will miss the playoffs. He's played 30 games already, last season he played just 45 and the year before 62. Can Mason play another 30 games this season with the pressure of the playoffs and not have his level of play slip a bit? With some lingering back issues I really doubt it. 10th place this season but they will finally make the playoffs next year.

Dallas - The Stars are 11-6-3 in their last 20 games which has allowed them to bounce back from just 9 wins in their first 25 games. Turco's numbers are still terrible but the Star's have more games (37) than any of the teams they're battling with. Of their remaining games the Stars play 20 at home where they have a 11-6-4 record. Look for the Stars to keep climbing the standings and finish in the 7th spot.

Colorado - The Avs just are not going to be able to over come the injuries they suffered to Sakic and Stastny. Stastny could be back mid-February, Sakic won't be back until March. The Avs will be to far back by then. Maybe the most surprising thing about the Avs this season has been the play of their goalies. I thought the team would crash and burn with Budaj and Raycroft but neither has been the problem. Just unlucky with injuries this season.

So that's it. That's who gets in, who doesn't, and why.

Nashville finds a giant loophole in the CBA

2009-01-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

In the post lockout NHL money has become a dominating factor in the game. The salary cap has all but killed the trade market. Stories about attendance, revenue, escrow payments, and the salary cap number are seen all the time on every site that carries NHL news stories. The big story today is the loophole the Predators have found in the CBA, specifically when it comes to revenue sharing.

I'm not a lawyer and I don't understand everything in the CBA. What I do know I've peiced together from some online articles I've read and even digging through the document itself. Trying to keep this as simple as possible when it comes to revenues sharing, teams get money through two sources.

The first source is intended to get teams payrolls to $4 mil below the mid point between the cap and the floor ($48.7 mil this season). This money is available to any team in the bottom half of league revenue and is funded by league media revenue, playoff gate receipts, escrow funds, and top grossing clubs.

Next up is a source that helps teams get to the midpoint, but not over it. To get this money this season a team must be in a market with less than 2.5 mil TV households, must be growing revenue faster than the NHL average, and must have attendance of at least 80% of capacity. Right now Nashville is good to go on two of these three requirements but has an average attendance on 13,744 when they need to have 14,000. Those 256 tickets could cost them 25% of their revenue sharing money. Last year they got $12 mil so we're certainly not talking pennies.

So what does a team do when they need to boost ticket sales by 256 a game? Simple, you buy the tickets yourself. Yep you heard right the Predators are looking at buying their own tickets in order to qualify for their full share of the revenue sharing pie. Some quick math on my part puts the value of those tickets at somewhere near $500 k (256 tickets a game, 41 games, $47.22 average ticket price). Based on last years numbers this could be a return of around 500 %. Not a bad investment is it?

I don't blame the Preds for using this loophole. With the amount of money we're looking at they be nuts not to. But I think we can all agree that this isn't the spirit of the revenue sharing agreement and hopefully the NHL closes this loophole down at some point in the off season.

We're going back to April 15, 1991

2009-01-20T09:51:00.009-07:00

I'm going to jump into the WABAC machine with Sherman and Mr. Peabody and head back to April 15, 1991. Why this date you ask? Well my 12th birthday was the next day and the cake at the party was a really excellent chocolate angel food cake. The cake was so good that it has possessed my every waking moment since that day and I just need one more piece so I can die happy.

Besides the cake, this was also the last time Brendan Shanahan suited up in a game for the Devils; before last night of course. That gap of more that 17 years and 9 months, 6489 days to be exact, is be an NHL record for time between appearances for the same team.

Shanahan is one of the best players in the NHL over the past 25 years. He was drafted at #2 by the Devils in the 1987 draft right behind Turgeon. The 87 draft was an unreal group that produced 7 players (out of 21) that would play over 1000 games in their NHL careers, including Sakic who wasn't taken until 15th.

Before the draft Shanahan played for the London Knights for a couple of years. He was also a member of the Canadian World Junior team that got tossed out of the 1987 WHJC in Piestany for this bench clearing brawl.

His NHL career has seen him put up 651 goals (11th all time) and 1341 points (23rd all time) in 1491 games played (9th all time). He's won 3 Stanley Cups, an Olympic Gold Medal in 2002, and World Championship gold in 1994, and was on the Canada Cup winning team in 1991. He's a first ballot hall of famer when he does choose to retire. But from what I saw last night in his return to the Devils it looks like he's still got some years left in those legs. Must be all that time he's spent on the exercise bike.

Anderson finally where he belongs

2009-01-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

It was Glenn Anderson night here in Edmonton last night. For the fifth time (I missed the Gretzky and Hamilton ceremonies) I was lucky enough to have tickets to a jersey retirement game.

In the last 10 years the Oilers have retired seven jerseys which at first glance may seem like a lot, but the bar is set pretty high for jersey retirement in Edmonton. Your jersey can be retired after you're inducted into the Hall of Fame. The lone exception to this rule is Al Hamilton. But when you're the first captain in franchise history, lead the team in games played and points from the WHA days, and had your career cut short after taking a puck in the eye the team will make an exception.

It was this standard though that kept Anderson's number 9 from being raised to rafters with the other Oiler greats from the 80s. Anybody who has ever seen a game played by those Oilers teams knows that Anderson was a key part and deserved to have his jersey retired but the Hall of Fame just wouldn't get their heads out of their asses and hold up their end of the bargain.

How Anderson wasn't inducted into the Hall of Fame before this season is an absolute mystery. Dick Duff and Joey Mullen are inducted while Anderson gets left out for nine seasons. Yeah that makes a ton of sense.

But all is finally right and Anderson’s jersey is where it belongs. Even better he’ll forever be right beside one of his best and oldest friends, Mark Messier. All in all it was a really good ceremony and consistent with Oiler tradition Anderson took a pass from Messier, took the puck down the right side and buried the puck one last time.

Good on you Glenn, you deserved it.

Garon traded to the Pens

2009-01-17T10:36:00.002-07:00

Three and a half months ago Garon had a chance to be the number one goalie for the Oilers. Today he was traded to the Pens for Dany Sabourin, Ryan Stone, and a fourth round pick.

With this trade I have no clue what our goalie situation is going to be next year (it could be Drouin-Deslauriers and Sabourin or we could extend a soon to be 40 year old Roloson) but for this year I like this trade. Hell this is a good move if for no other reason than it finally addresses our three goalie situation, this assumes of course that Sabourin is going to be reporting to the Falcons and not the Oilers.

All in all I think the Oilers got a fair amount considering Garon is a UFA on July 1 and he hasn't played that well this season. To be totally fair Sabourin will also be a UFA this off season and Stone is a fourth line guy but the two and a pick, 4th round at that, isn't a bad move in my opinion.

Over the past two seasons Sabourin has played 43 games winning 16. Not great but he isn't being brought in to lead the team to the Cup so I think I can live with numbers like those. You can check out his career stats at hockeydb.com. The bottom line is that the Falcons need some help right now and Sabourin can provide that, Garon and Drouin-Deslauriers couldn't.

The analysis of Stone from Hockey's Future is:

Stone’s offensive contributions were matched by his work on the other side of the puck, with solid forechecking and good work in his own zone. Stone also plays with a level of toughness that goes beyond his 6’1, 200-pound frame, and is happy to drop the gloves if the situation warrants.

With that analysis I was a little surprised to see on hockeydb that he's got 28 points in 38 games this season, 53 PIMs as well. He could certainly be an upgrade to our 4th line at some point. With Stortini out for a while we might see him up here sooner than later.

I liked Garon and I think he could be a pretty good goalie if given the chance but this is a move that had to be made. I like it.

Changing the NHL Part 3 - Stats that make sense

2009-01-14T12:51:00.003-07:00

One day I’d really like to be the NHL Commissioner. You’d basically be paid to think hockey all the time. And I don't know for sure but I'd bet that you’d be paid very well to do it. Even better, based on Gary Bettman’s track record it appears that no matter how incompetent you are you’ll never lose your job. Sound pretty sweet doesn’t it.

So in my preparation for the job I’ve been making a list of things I’d change if I was in charge. I started with video replay and the Winter Classic. Today I’m going to outline how I would change NHL stats.

Until the NHL comes calling to hire me as the commissioner I will likely continue to work as an engineer. As an engineer I like numbers and stats. As far as I’m concerned Excel can be used to solve all the worlds problems. I think hockey-reference.com might be the best website around.

On a side note if you haven't checked it out I strongly suggest you do. What other site could help you figure out the most goals scored by a 37 year old who shoots right? By the way the answer would be 40 by Brendan Shanahan.

Numbers and stats can be a great tool when you’re looking at the NHL but I think we just calculate a few of them in the wrong way. Some minor changes though and I think we’d have a hell of a system.

Power play and penalty kill percentages
This is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to NHL stats. This is supposed to reflect the strength of a teams power play or penalty kill but it's skewed by major penalties and penalties taken by teams with the man advantage.

For example, last night the Oilers took a holding penalty and 6 seconds in the power play the Caps took a penalty. The Oilers get credit for a kill when all they did was lose a face off, and the Caps are now 0-1 on the power play. How does that make sense? Same thing with major, if you kill one you’re be 1 for 1 but you really killed two and a half penalties; again this doesn’t make sense. What does make sense is power play (or penalty kill) minutes per goal. This would compare apples to apples because in this system 6 seconds of power play time would count for exactly that.

Game winning goals
Again let’s use the Oilers game last night as an example. Brule score to make the score 3-0, the final score is 5-2 so Brule scored the game winner. Well kind of, but not really. To me a game winning goal is the goal that breaks a tie and ends up being the winner. I don’t think every game has a game winning goal.

Football looks at game winners like this. In the Cards/Panthers game on Saturday, Rackers kicks the extra point to make the score 14-7, the final score is 33-13. Was that a game winning kick? Was that a game winning drive by Warner? Of course they’re not. Stover kicking a FG to break a 10-10 tie in the Titans/Ravens game; now that is a game winning kick.

Shots on goal
This is a good stat but it isn’t complete. What you really need is the shots at the goal. If I’m a defenseman and I take 10 shots, 9 go over the net and the 10th goes in, my shooting percentage is 100%. In reality isn’t my shooting percentage (to get technical it should be scoring percentage but one thing at a time) 10%? Why do we not count the shots that miss the net or get blocked? That doesn’t make any sense to me.

If you did this correctly you could actually create a new stat, scoring percentage which would be goals divided by shots at goal. And shooting percentage would become shots on goal divided by shots at goal. See a new stat, who doesn’t love that?

The Oilers at the halfway point

2009-01-13T13:42:00.004-07:00

So here we are 41 games into this NHL season and where do the Oilers sit? Surprise, surprise they’re just below 8th place. This would be the exact same place we’re at every single year. Since the lockout the Oilers record at the halfway point has looked like this:

2008/09 - 20-18-3 - 43 pts
2007/08 - 17-20-4 - 38 pts
2006/07 - 19-18-4 - 42 pts
2005/06 - 23-14-4 - 50 pts

With the exception of the 2005/06 season we’re basically a game above or below .500 (pseudo .500 because all losses don’t count as losses) 41 games into the season every single year. And although better than the rest, the 2005/06 team didn’t exactly cruise the rest of the season, qualifying for the playoffs in game 81.

You know just as well as I do that we didn’t make the playoffs in 2007 or 2008, and do you really see anything that makes you truly believe we’ll be there when this season is all said and done? Considering that our record is pretty damn flattering considering how we’ve played I don’t see us getting into the playoffs, although I really hope that I’m wrong.

What I see most nights when I watch the Oilers is a glimpse or two of a team good enough to compete with the best teams in the Western Conference. Sadly though, these glimpses are few and far between and often last a period at most. The bottom line with the Oilers this season is that the only consistent part of their game is their inconsitency.

The play hard and compete for 20 minutes here and 10 minutes there but then take the rest of the game off. Is this the result of a lack of leadership, a by product of a fairly young team, have the players quit listening, or are we just missing a key piece of the puzzle? I honestly don’t know anymore.

What I do know is that this team, one way or another, should be better than it is. MacT said as much before the season when he told everyone that this is the best team he's seen since the one that went to the 2006 Cup Final. And yet 41 games into the season we’re in the exact same place. If the players are better and the result the same isn’t it time that some of the blame be placed on the shoulders of the coaching staff?

What I struggle with is just how much blame to put on the coaches for the lacklustre play so far this season. Sure it’s easy to say that the coaches don’t have them ready to play but these are professionals, do they really need someone to get them ready? I would hope not but if this really is the problem I guess it’d be easier to dump the coach than all the players.

Now lets be honest, there is almost no chance that MacT is going to pay the price for this team’s failure at any point this season. Barring of course an absolute disaster like the Oilers losing the seven games they have left this month. But if this team continues down the path their on right now I don’t see how he can possibly keep his job through the summer.

We're not stupid Mr. Bettman

2008-12-18T12:32:00.003-07:00

I came a cross a story yesterday from Mark Spector on sportsnet.ca that indicated that the NHLPA is looking to increase the escrow payments that players are making starting in the New Year.

From that story:

NHL players have been warned by their association that its escrow hold-back could be increased in the new year.

Currently, the NHL holds back 13.5 per cent of players' paychecks. That money is available to the league at the end of the year in case NHL revenue projections are not met. The procedure was included as part of the most recent collective agreement so that players take home only their negotiated 56 per cent share of NHL revenues.

In case you forgot, last season the escrow payments were 9.5% of the players salaries. And at the end of the season the players got every cent of that money back. In fact revenue was so good that they actually got an extra 0.48% to bring salaries up to the agreed upon ratio from the CBA. Now we're up to escrow payment of 13.5% and the NHLPA is looking at increasing it even more.

I'll be honest with you I'm an engineer not an economist but if the NHLPA is looking at increasing the escrow wouldn't that be a sign that revenue is down and that not all is well with the NHL? That certainly makes sense to me but here is a quote from the Commissioner at the recent BOG meeting.

The NHL will be fine. We may have to focus on the way we are operating into the future, in terms of the value proposition for fans and cost controls and the like, but none of our clubs are in jeopardy. The games will be played and we are doing OK this season. Revenues will be up and there will be real growth. But, like everyone else, we need to be observant, flexible and proactive to deal with the uncertainties the future will bring.
- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman

But at the same time the Globe and Mail is reporting that the Phoenix Coyotes could lose as much as $35 million this season. And The Hockey News is saying that seven teams - the Phoenix Coyotes, Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes - will all lose at least 5 million this year.

So seven teams stand to lose big and all indications are that revenue is way down but things are OK, right Gary. How stupid do you think we are? I'd really prefer you didn't piss in my ear and tell me its raining.

Changing the NHL Part 2 - The Winter Classic

2008-12-12T15:41:00.004-07:00

Last week I published a post about changing the video replay process in the NHL. That was the first thing I'd like to change and believe me there are many more. Today I'd like to change the NHLs Winter Classic.

Back in 2003 I was at the very first outdoor regulation NHL game between the Oilers and the Canadiens. It was an absolutly great day and I've never been colder in my life. At game time the temperature was -30 °C (-22 °F) with wind chill. I'd have drank beer if I'd have thought I could drink it before it froze.

That game was called the Heritage Classic; the game last year in Buffalo between the Pens and Sabres was re branded as the Winter Classic a name which is being used again this season for the outdoor game between the Red Wings and Blackhawks.

I love this game. Last year on a cruise ship to the Bahamas I managed to watch the first two periods and this year I'll be hung over on my couch watching. But there are a couple of things I'd like the NHL to look at when it comes to the Winter Classic.

First of all, give it a rest. The 4+ years between the first and second games may have been to long but playing it every year is to much. At a max the game should be held every two years. Ideally I'd say 3 or 4 years but this is the NHL and they've found something they can market and they plan to market the hell out of it. By limiting the frequency though you don't risk it getting old quite so fast. I know every team wants to host it but not every team has to host it.

Secondly, and I'll admit this is pretty unlikely, why don't we play the next three games in Hartford, Quebec City, and Winnipeg. Think about it, these are the cities who lost their teams in the NHLs shift to big time sports (Minnesota did too but you have the Wild now so you don't count), these are cities that likely will not have an NHL team at any time in the near future, and with the exception of the Avs I really don't see how the Coyotes or Hurricanes would be able to host a game ever.

I know some people will say "But so and so is more deserving of an outdoor game". Now I'm not really sure who deserves a game or not, but what I do know is that every NHL city gets to host 41 regular season games, why not let these three have just 1? Tell me you don't want to see the Jets and Nordiques out there just one more time, or that you don't wan't to hear the Brass Bonanza again.

I know I'm reaching but I think that this would be a great idea for the NHL to look into. Oh and there's just 19 days to go until Winter Classic 2009.

One thing I'd like to change about the NHL

2008-12-05T15:09:00.002-07:00

Well there isn't just one thing I'd like to change in fact there are at least 5 or 6. So over the next while when I get bored at work I'm gonna fire off a post about something I'd like to change. Is this a good use of company time? Nope. Do I really care? Nope.

Today I'd like to change video replay. I don't want to get rid of video replay I just want to change up the play is actually reviewed.

This year the NHL adopted the NFL style of having the referee make an announcement about the outcome of the review and I like that (the audio doesn't always work but its the thought that counts). But lets go one step further and let the referee actually review the play instead of having some guy at the NHL war room tell them whether it's a goal or not. They're the one who had the best view to start with so let them reconcile that with the video replay to make the right call.

Considering that TSN can get a monitor at ice level so that Pierre McGuire can watch video of his man crush Dion Phaneuf during the game I'd like to think the NHL could get the refs a monitor in the penalty box. And the referees don't have to do it alone they can talk with Toronto; considering they already do this I can't see a problem here either.

In the end I say we let the refs call the whole game not just part of it, after all it is their game to call isn't it?

It's true, Garon does exist

2008-12-04T13:40:00.002-07:00

For the first time since November 6 Garon got the start in goal last night as the Oil took on the Stars. Having not seen Garon start a game in almost a month I had come up with a few ideas about what could be going on.

As best I could figure he was either dead and the Oil were taking a page from Weekend at Bernie's by putting sunglasses on him pretending he was still alive or that he never existed in the first place and everyone in Edmonton had just imagined him. Another more extreme option was that he was in fact Santa Claus and he’d headed up to the North Pole to kick some elf ass to get all the toys ready for Christmas.

What other reason could there be for not playing him in a month? If we'd been on fire winning 9 of 10 that would be one thing but we were 4-5-1 and since he last got a start. Now I don't blame Roloson or Deslauriers for any of the losses in that span, in fact they're the sole reason the Oil won 3 of the 4 games (New Jersey, New York, and Columbus) they did. I just don't get why you'd give Garon 27 days off between starts. This is the guy who was supposed to be your #1 guy going into the season. More mysterious coaching from MacT I guess.

Anyway the game last night was pretty good. It wasn't the 60 minute effort I've been dreaming of but it was easily the best game they've played at home this season. Not that the bar was set all that high.

Despite the layoff I thought Garon played damn good. He can't really be faulted for either of the goals and he made a couple of pretty acrobatic saves. On a few occasions he looked like he was fighting the puck a bit but that isn't shocking all things considered. I would say he's earned himself another start in LA on Friday.

For a change the penalty kill was good on home ice. Killing penalties an amazing rate of 67.7% going in to the game the PK unit was 4 for 4. Without Zubov on the point the Stars power play isn't what it could be but let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth.

And Hemsky put up another couple of points, including an empty net goal. Don't look now but he's up to 16th in the league in scoring and is on pace for 27 goals and 89 points. In fact for the first time ever I thought that he was on the same page with Penner for most of the night. He’s developed chemistry with Horcoff over the years but for so far he and Penner have looked like oil and water at times, hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Is everything great in Oiler land? Not yet, but we are back to .500 and more and more I'm starting to see the team I thought I'd see this season. A pattern I can only hope continues.

Smid on the move to the wing

2008-11-20T14:19:00.002-07:00

This past Sunday, in addition to calling Penner fat, MacT alluded to the possibility of of playing Smid on the wing. Like I've done far to many times this year when it comes to the Oilers, I closed my eyes and shook my head to make sure I heard right.

My first reaction, and possibly yours too, was that MacT had finally lost his mind. An email to the Team 1260 actually compared MacT to George Costanza when he tries to get fired by the Yankees. George wore Babe Ruth's jersey and dragged the World Series trophy behind his car, MacT is calling his players fat and talking about playing a defenseman drafted in the 1st round as a forward. And no matter what, it seems neither can get fired.

As odd as it seems at first glance it looks like we'll be seeing it tonight. According to tsn.ca Smid practiced this morning on the left side with Brodziak and Pouliot. To make room Stortini will sit out tonight, I guess a pseudo tough guy isn't needed when you play Detroit.

But you know what the more I think about it this might not be that bad of an idea. First off, Stortini is pretty useless most nights so almost anyone would be better. Second, I like my fourth line to throw some hits which seems to be a foreign concept to them this season; Smid has as many hits as Brodziak and Pouliot combined (at 2 per game he's tied with Cole and only Moreau has more) so maybe he can bring that aspect back to the bottom line.

As nuts as it seems I'm gonna give MacT some credit for thinking outside the box on this one. Now we just have to wait and see if it makes any sense on the ice.

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On another note I was really glad to see the game Penner put together on Tuesday after being benched for the previous two. He scored a goal, was +2, had 3 shots, and 3 hits. Almost better than his stats though was his play on the powerplay. Both powerplay goals the Oilers scored can be tied directly to him planting his body right in front of Leclaire. If he can play games like this consistently he'll never see the pressbox again.

MacT isn't a big fan of Penner right now

2008-11-17T14:34:00.001-07:00

After sitting him out of the Colorado game on Saturday night, he'll be a healthy scratch again tonight too, MactT took some pretty good shots at Penner yesterday one the way to Detroit. If you haven't heard them you can check them out here. The CliffsNotes of the interview is as follows, Penner is out of shape and isn't consistent enough to play top minutes.

Now I will be the first to say that 3 goals and an assist in 16 games simply isn't good enough from him. But how bad are his numbers really? Is his lack of production all him or has it had something to do with how he is being used in the Oilers line up?

Like I said he has only put up 4 points, but that is just one less than Cole and 2 less than Pisani; I don't see either of them in the press box anytime soon. Gagner hadn't even found the net this year before he scored on Thursday. And in all those struggles his ice time wasn't cut, in fact he was moved up to the top line.

This season he's playing 1:29 per game on the powerplay. Of all forwards on the Oil who get a regular shift on the powerplay this is the lowest total. Last season Penner averaged 3:43 and lead thew team with 13 powerplay goals. Granted we do have some other weapons on the powerplay this season but why take all the ice time for those players away from your top producer the year before?

Penner is a left winger that we started the season on the right wing. Having never played a game anywhere near the level of the NHL this doesn't seem like a huge hardship but any player that switches positions says it is a big deal so I'll go with them. On top of that he started the season with a center who isn't a center. Sure he has been given a couple of games to play in the top 6 with players like Hemsky, Horcoff, and Gagner but you can't expect instant chemistry with players like that when you've been playing with the Moreau's and Pisani's of the league. That is just unrealistic.

He's a team best +6 so it'd be hard to argue that his defensive play has been a big problem either. In fact according to behindthenet.ca Penner has the best rating (a measure calculated by subtracting a players off ice +/- from his on ice +/-) of any of the forwards. In fact among all NHL forwards playing at least 10 minutes a night he's 14th. So no problem there. By the way Pisani is 3rd worst on the team at -0.96, but again he isn't going to sit out a game as a result of poor play.

I've said in the past that I generally like what MacT has done with this team, often while being ridiculed by everyone I know, but when I hear comments like his from yesterday and then I look at the stats I think he's giving Penner the short end of the stick. Maybe he's just trying to light a fire under him and get him to play with a little more edge (he has just 4 PIM and 13 hits so far) and be more involved (just 18 SOG) and as a coach that's his job. I'm just concerned that MacT isn't very being even handed with his players by benching one for playing very comparable hockey to others who don't get to sit out. If I can see this and am frustrated by it I can't imagine that its lost on the players.

It's time to party like it's 1967

2008-11-14T15:01:00.002-07:00

Flames fans irritate me at Oiler games. Mostly because they have some of the most bizarre opinions I've ever heard and they seem physically unable to sit back in their seat, leaning forward all night long obstructing my view. But thanks to beer I've been able to learn to live with Flames fans, what I can't stand are Leafs fans. I mean it, they drive me freaking insane.

Last night, for the first time since January of 2006, the Leafs came to Edmonton. In those 1000 plus days not once did I miss them at all. In fact the only thing I liked about the old schedule where every team in the other conference only came here once every three years was that I almost never saw the Leafs.

It isn't the number of Leafs fans at the game that bothers me (how they all get tickets I have no idea) it's that they're just flat out ridiculous. Did you know that when a Leaf fall down it is always the result of a penalty by the other team? Or that Toskala stopping a dump in is likely the greatest save in NHL history? Or that being a point above .500 half way through November means you are the best team in the NHL despite the fact that you have won a cup since 1967?

I'd bet you didn't know many of those things. Lucky for me though I had Leaf fans all around me last night so now I know. Crack out the champagne boys we won a game in November.

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And to update my post from yesterday about the joke that is all-star fan balloting I was able to track down the script that Canadiens fans are using to stuff the ballot box. Follow this link and scroll about half way down. If you're doing this you are a loser.

Fan balloting for the All-Star game is a joke

2008-11-13T11:53:00.003-07:00

Its only the second day of voting for the all-star game but right now here are the leading vote getters in the Eastern Conference:

Forwards

Koivu, Saku - 103269
Kovalev, Alex - 101698
Tanguay, Alex - 100790
Semin, Alexander - 51777
Ovechkin, Alex - 31961
Lecavalier, Vincent - 26635
Gagne, Simon - 26558
Crosby, Sidney - 21617
Malkin, Evgeni - 16181
Savard, Marc - 13253

Defensemen

Markov, Andrei - 109801
Komisarek, Mike - 103232
Timonen, Kimmo - 26564
Chara, Zdeno - 24460
Green, Mike - 21677
Kaberle, Tomas - 15115
Hamrlik, Roman - 13485
Ward, Aaron - 7463
Coburn, Braydon - 7449
Gonchar, Sergei - 6913

Goalies

Price, Carey - 112452
Lindqvist, Henrik - 41157
Thomas, Tim - 15847
Fleury, Marc-Andre - 7424
Miller, Ryan - 6906

Do you notice a pattern emerging? I highlighted it red for you just in case you needed some help.

That's right if voting ended today the starting lineup would be all Montreal Canadiens. Not that they aren't having a good season (currently 5th in the east despite playing the fewest games in the conference) but come on with the exception of Price and Markov do any of the other really deserve to be starters? What about Semin, Vanek, Parise, Malkin, or Crosby up front? Or Green and Kuba on the blueline? All those guys are having far better years than any of the Canadiens currently leading the voting. The only good thing about the voting so far is the number of vote for Thomas, who somehow isn't even on the ballot.

I understand what fans in Montreal are doing. It's their 100th anniversary and they're hosting the game so who wouldn't want to stack it with their players. I don't blame the fans they're just exploiting a flaw in the system. But if this pattern holds it'll be the beginning of the end for fan voting. Every host city from here on out will try and do the same voting more of their players into the starting lineup than actually belong there.

Not that having the all-star starters picked by the fans would be a big loss anyway. Voting is little more than a popularity contest anyway so I wouldn't miss it. And I know you might be thinking that the idea of fans losing the right to vote is pretty far fetched but it already happened once after the baseball all-star game in 1957.

What about a new system where each GM submits his picks (you can't pick players on your own team) and that decides the starters. Then the coaches fill out the rest leaving a couple of spots for the fans to fill at the end. Since the fans (usually) vote in the same players the GMs would anyway this would let the fans pick the guy who might otherwise be overlooked. It's just an idea to correct an obviously messed up system.

Oh and how about a write in campaign for Ethan Moreau. He's 35th in points right now for left wingers. Seems like an all-star to me.

If you need me I'll be on my couch

2008-11-12T12:49:00.001-07:00

Back in July I wrote that a DVD set containing the 10 greatest game in Oilers history was in the works, the games had been finalized but no release date was available. I don't know when it was released officially but I came across it online last week. Obviously I placed my order instantly and today it came in the mail. Look at it and tell me you don't want/need it in your collection.

With 10 games to watch I've decided that starting today I will watch a game every night that happens to be an off night in the Oilers schedule. Off days are usually just a void that could otherwise be filled with hockey, now I have something to fill that void. If my math is right I should be watching Pisani score a shorthanded OT winner on the 27th to close out the collection. Sixteen straight days with an Oiler game to watch, I knew someone upstairs liked me.

The ever changing Edmonton goalie situation

2008-11-11T13:46:00.002-07:00

A week ago I posted that after excellent back to back games Roloson might be grabbing the #1 spot in Edmonton's net. It made sense at the time but what a difference a week can make. Now if the Oilers were to go with the hot hand they'd be starting Drouin-Deslauriers.

To recap the goaltending situation through the 15 games played so far; Garon was the starter, then Roloson for a few games, and now Drouin-Deslauriers has played his way into the job.

So what do the Oilers do with 3 goalies? Whether or not Garon is the starter for the future here in Edmonton remains to be seen but Roloson is certainly not that goalie. Before getting to take a look at Drouin-Deslauriers there was some value in keeping Roloson around to cover the what if scenario. Now though Roloson has become expendable based simply on Drouin-Deslauriers' play.

To clear up a roster spot I think the Oilers need to try and move Roloson as soon as possible. That certainly might not be easy to do for a few reasons.

Roloson doesn't have much value. Hes is 38n and will make 3 million this year.
The whole league knows we want to move him which doesn't make him more valuable.
What hole in our line up do we want to fill? I don't see a desperate need anywhere so draft picks maybe.

So getting a trade done might not be very easy but the bottom line is that he needs to be moved. If a trade partner can't be found we need to put feelings aside and put him on waivers. Thanks for the Cup run but this is business and there isn't a spot for you here anymore.

But this is just my opinion and the Oilers have yet to ever ask me what I think.

I'm to blame for the Oilers loss last night

2008-11-06T16:12:00.000-07:00

Was Roloson's rebound control in the 3rd period pretty terrible? Yes. Did Souray make a really bad pinch in the 2nd period that resulted in a goal? He sure did. Was there an ill advised no look pass by Gagner with just over a minute left that lead directly to the game winning goal? Abso-freaking-lutely there was.

But despite all that the blame for the loss should rest solely on my shoulders because I'm an idiot. I watch the first 42 minutes on the left side of my couch and when the Oilers have a 4-2 lead decide that I should go out and grab a beer and watch the end of the game with a friend. In the time it takes me to change my clothes and brush my teeth we give up a couple of goals and the game is now tied.

Obviously I take these goals as a warning that I should get back on my couch and watch the rest of the game there, right? Wrong. Instead of listening to the hockey Gods I leave my apartment and by the time I sit down at the bar I see the Blue Jackets celebrating the game winning goal.

I'm 29 and I've been watching hockey for as long as I can remember and if I know just one thing it's that you don't tempt fate. If you mention a shutout it'll always get broken in next few minutes and this is really no different. How do I make a mistake like this?

Sadly this isn't the first time I've made such a terrible mistake. Let me take you back a couple of years to May 23, 2006. That night began with the Oilers ahead of the Ducks two games to none in the Western Conference final. After going ahead 4-0 with 15 minutes left to play I actually said to my girlfriend "I think this is a safe lead even for the Oilers". Can you believe I actually said that? And less than 8 minutes later the score was 4-3. We pulled out the win that night but I apparently did not learn my lesson.

I promise you though I've learned my lesson and I apologize to Oiler fans, I won't make the same mistake again.

Roli back in the number 1 spot?

2008-11-05T08:53:00.005-07:00

Going into the season I'd have said not a chance. After Garon's first 3 starts of they year, again not a chance. But seeing how Garon has played lately and the play of Roloson it doesn't seem so unrealistic that Roloson could take over the starting job.

Some numbers to think about. In Garon's first 3 games (all wins by the way) he had a 0.941 save percentage and a 2.00 GAA; in the 3 since (all losses) those numbers have been 0.838 and 4.37. Roloson meanwhile is sporting a 2.22 GAA and 0.929 save percentage.

Here is what Mac T had to say about the goalie situation in Tuesdays Edmonton Journal :

You always want to play your best goalie, so if one outplays the other guy, he's going to get the lion's share of the starts. Mathieu will come on and play well, but it's nice to see Roli step up at a real crucial stage for us and give us some great goaltending.

Reading that quote it certainly looks like Roloson will get some more starts at least for the time being. But since the Oilers next 4 games are all part of back-to-backs what it really means is tough to say. I'd expect him to start Wednesday for sure but Garon who will have had a week off by that point will likely play Thursday. But it's the Oilers so Drouin-Deslauriers could start the next game for all I know.

At the end of the day Roloson is not the guy for the future here in Oil country. That is likely Garon's job to lose and he'll certainly get all the chances he needs to prove himself before the season is over. But for now he might have to sit and open the door for a few games before he gets another chance to show everyone that he is the future, like he did earlier this season.

Now thats more like it

2008-11-03T17:07:00.002-07:00

The Oiler games this weekend are a perfect example of why I don't bet on the Oilers. With 5 straight losses and going into back to back games with Carolina and Philly who were 3-1-2 and 4-0-2 respectively in their last six games the table looked set for at least one more loss. Realistically I thought losing both was a very real probability, a result that might have cost Mac T his job.

But the Oilers surprise yet again and get a win in both games. Even better than the 4 points was the fact that these were easily the most complete games the team has played this season. To get picky it did take a soft goal in Carolina to get the W and our penalty kill was flat out ugly in Philadelphia but overall the game was far better than anything else we'd seen so far and I'm going to take that as a sign that this team is hopefully now moving in the right direction.

Speaking of moving in the right direction Hemsky finally found the back of the net, not once but twice on Sunday. I'd just like someone to let Hemsky know that not all of his goals need to be of the highlight reel variety but, at the same time those sure were sweet to watch. Another bright spot was the play of Cole. He was probably a little amped up by his return to Carolina and played a couple of solid games, even managing to score a goal yesterday in Philadelphia.

Almost as surprising as the wins was that Roloson played both games. Coming off a great game against the Bruins a week ago Mac T decided to go with Garon 3 days later in Nashville, so who would have guessed that he'd then decided to ride the hot hand in back to back games. I certainly didn't. I wasn't upset to see it but I was more than a little surprised.

The Oil get a couple of days off and next play Wednesday against the Blue Jackets, who've dropped 4 of their last 5, followed the next night by the Pens. Lets hope we can shore up that penalty kill a bit, get another couple of complete game performances from the team, and hopefully some wins will follow.

By the way, who creates a schedule that goes 2 on, 2 off, 2 on, 2 off, 2 on? Does that make sense to anyone?

What to think about 4 wins followed by 4 losses

2008-10-28T16:46:00.001-06:00

I can only assume that you've been anxiously waiting at your computer for some signs of life from me. After all I haven't said anything here in over two weeks, going back to a review of the Oilers season opener. It isn't that I haven't had anything worth saying, but that I keep hearing my mother saying "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all". But after 8 games I think its time to say something. And just for mom I'll throw in some positive stuff as well.

Where is the offense? This is a team that on paper really should not have trouble scoring goals. Sadly for the Oilers the game are played in reality where they do seem to have trouble scoring goals. Right now they're averaging 2.12 goals/game which is good for 29th in the NHL; Tampa Bay is last at 1.57. If you don't plan on scoring a lot of goals you'd better have an elite goaltender; the Oilers don't so goals will be needed. And not to point fingers or anything, but zero goals from Hemsky and Gagner and just one from Cole would be a really good place to start if you were going to.

Will somebody please learn how to take a face off. Did you know that to score a goal you actually have to have the puck and that a good time to get the puck would be at a face off? I know it sounds outrageous but I speak the truth. Unfortunately I think the Oilers are still believe this statement to be some sort of voodoo and want nothing to do with winning face offs. Currently we're 27th in the NHL in this category. I can't believe I'm typing this but wouldn't it be nice if we had Marty Reasoner back?

Would it be possible to play an entire game? Hell forget 60 minutes I'd settle for a solid 40 minutes at this point. Not once has this team played well for more than half a game. And when they're not playing good, they play terrible. On most nights the team just doesn't look ready to play. I don't know why that is but if it doesn't change they're going to be in trouble. Even in the four wins we didn't play well but got lucky enough to win, that luck isn't going to hold out for another 74 games.

Enough negatives, how about some positives.

Strudwick has been an excellent addition. He bring nothing flashy, nothing. What he does bring is a steady game and a good physical presence to the Oilers third defensive pairing. He's playing just over 13 minutes a night, leads the Oilers defense in hits, and is an even player. Exactly what I want out of the number 6 d-man.

The goaltending hasn't been a problem. With the exception of a couple of minutes in Colorado and the 3rd period of the Vancouver game the Garon has been more than adequate. Even in the Vancouver game 2 of the 3 goals in the third were on the powerplay, so there is only so much a goalie can do. Realistically 3 of the 4 wins so far are a direct result of his play. Roloson has played good allowing just 4 goals in 2 games (one I'm sure he like back but just 1 in two games is a huge improvement over last year) and yet has no wins to show for it because his team hasn't scored a goal for him yet.

And now that I've gone full circle on this I guess I'm done.

I waited all summer for that?

2008-10-13T21:38:00.002-06:00

Seriously did I wait for 192 days to see that? If you were lucky enough to miss the game last night (that's not a typo if you missed it count yourself lucky) let me sum it up for you, brutal. In every area of the game the Oilers we out played. Garon at best matched Budaj and thanks to several lucky bounces the Oilers were able to squeak out a 3-2 win.

The best stat line of the night? 14 of 50 in the faceoff circle. That's 28%, that's terrible. If you can't win faceoffs you don't control the puck, and when you don't have the puck it is hard to control the play. I know that one night doesn't indicate the path of the season (will Penner sore 164 goals probably not) but it is something that will have to improve.

Of all the things I saw last night the most surprising was probably that MacT didn't blender the lines after about 10 minutes. Seriously who is our coach and what happened to MacT? The MacT I know would have been changing his line combinations each and every shift. Not last night though., last night he stuck with his original lineup all the way through. I like that he's willing to give the players a chance to develop some chemistry but if Wednesdays game starts out the same way he'd better turn back to the old MacT and start mixing things up.

The other thing of note was Dustin Penner. Not that he scored a couple of 3rd period goals but that he took a couple of shifts on the penalty kill and looked good doing it. I like Penner but he doesn't have a quick first couple of steps, somethings I like in a penalty killer. My friend pointed out though that he does have a long reach so I guess it really is a bit of the good with the bad. We'll have to wait and see if this is a role Penner continues to see time in.

Let assume that the game on Wednesday against the Ducks will have some physical play and that a couple of hits will knock some sense into the Oilers. If not I'm not sure I can watch 60 more minutes of hockey like that.

Finally the Oilers start the season

2008-10-12T15:19:00.000-06:00

As you no doubt know by now the NHL season has started. Well it has started for just about every team. The Oilers have yet to hit the ice and the wait has been agonizing. I've had to watch the Flames play twice and meanwhile the Oil haven't even played a preseason game in a week.

Thankfully the wait comes to an end tonight when the Oilers host the Avalanche. The Avs opened their season with a 5-4 loss to the Bruins on Thursday. The Avs goaltending was less than stellar in the debut allowing 5 goals on 20 shots, numbers like that could be very common for the Avs this year.

Tonight will obviously be the first real game for all the Oilers off season acquisitions. Of those new players Cole and Visnovsky will be watched closely by most Oiler fans.

I was shocked at how out of place Cole looked during the preseason. I'm sure it takes time to develop chemistry but I didn't even see glimpses of a connection between him and the other members of the top line, Horcoff and Hemsky. The Oilers expect him to score 25 to 30 goals this year so he's going to get plenty of chances on that top line, hopefully things fall into place quickly.

Visnovsky is the key to a powerplay that I think can be a top 10 unit in the league this year. The combination of him and Souray should be deadly. But for that to happen the other players on the unit will need to do something other than stare at Souray for 2 minutes, something that happened far to often in the preseason.

Tonight will also be your first chance to see the Oilers new third jerseys. I think they look pretty good; in fact I wish I could buy one, but for some reason they won't be available until November 20th. I'm not even going to try and figure that one out. Take a good look at the masks Garon and Roloson will be wearing tonight also. Both have decided to have different mask for the vintage uniforms. Roloson's is a replica of an old Fuhr mask and Garon has a tribute to both Fuhr and Ranford on his.

Less than 3 hours to go until puck drop. Finally.

More from Oilers camp

2008-10-03T13:35:00.002-06:00

I went to the Oilers game on Tuesday night. Well I'm not really sure it was an Oilers game and not just the Flames playing guys in Oiler uniforms for the first 40 minutes. I know its preseason but that was some of the worst hockey I've seen in a very long time. The goaltending sucked Roli was pulled to start the 3rd), the power play was junk, there was no flow, and most of the passes were in players skates not on their sticks. The 3rd period was better but long story short, we lost 4-0. I won't bother you with anymore details.

Tonight the Oil hit the ice a couple hours south of here in Calgary. Hopefully they look just a bit better out there than the last time they played. From the Fan 960 it looks as though the Oil will ice a lineup that looks something like this:

Rob Schremp - Gilbert Brule - Marc Pouliot
Robert Nilsson - Andrew Cogliano - Sam Gagner
Ethan Moreau - Fernando Pisani - Dustin Penner
Steve MacIntyre - Kyle Brodziak - Zach Stortini

Jason Strudwick - Taylor Chorney
Denis Grebeshkov - Tom Gilbert
Ladislav Smid - Steve Staios

Jeff Deslaurier gets the start, backed up by Roloson.

Schremp and Brule who look to be paired together tonight were a couple of the lone bright spots on Tuesday actually. I really like the game Brule brings, speed and energy. Schremp was really good when he decided to be Robbie Schremp and not try to be Gilbert Brule. He's a pure skill guy and really looks out of place when he tries to play bigger. It is kind of nice to see a couple of guys battle for a spot while playing together though.

Steve MacIntyre is the name on tonight's roster that you might not recognize. He was claimed of waivers on Tuesday from Florida. The guys is a legit heavyweight. At 6'6" 265lbshe is something the Oilers haven't had in a couple of years, a threat. In a perfect world he'll play 55 to 60 games and just a few minutes a night but his presence will open up space for the smaller Oiler forwards (Hemsky and Gagner especially). Tonight will e his first chance to prove himself though.

The addition of MacIntyre really muddies up the roster situation too. Earlier this week I had basically boiled the last roster spot to a battle between Schremp and Brule . Now with MacIntyre what do you do? It certainly sounds as though we're going to start with 3 goalies based Mac Ts quote in todays Edmonton Sun.

"It's a pain in the ass, but it's what you deal with," MacTavish said of the lost roster spot.
"Did we want three goalies? No. But can we do anything about it at this point? Probably not. We'd like to have the spot right now but you deal with the circumstances that you have. We're not prepared to give up one of our goalies right now."

So is MacIntyre the last forward? That seems like a stretch for a guy who has never played an NHL game. I guess tonight will be his audition. If nothing else we do know that he can fight.

Schremp, will he stay or will he go?

2008-09-26T15:13:00.001-06:00

Can you believe that I gave you all a rundown of Wednesday's preseason game and I forgot to mention Schremp? How do I do that? This is the guy that the majority of Oiler fans are most interested in and I don’t even mention him.

Coming out of the lockout in 05/06 Schremp, who still had junior eligibility at the time, had a terrific camp but found himself the final cut when all things were said and done. The following camp the Oilers had added depth at forward and Schremp was unable to find a home. He came into camp last season recovering from a knee injury and two rookies grabbed roster spots leaving him once again on the outside looking in. But what about the 08/09 camp, will this finally be his year?

Well before I get into that lets see who will be on the Oilers opening day 23 man roster. I think we can all agree (on the players not the combinations) that the line-up guarantees will be something like this:

Cole - Horcoff - Hemsky
Nilsson - Cogliano - Gagner
Penner - Pisani - Moreau
Empty - Brodziak - Stortini

Visnovsky - Souray
Gilbert - Staois
Empty - Grebeshkov

Garon
Roloson

So the way I look at it there are 18 of the 23 spots spoken for. You can likely add in Deslauriers (I know 3 goalies is strange but he would have to clear waivers to be sent down), Pouliot, Smid, and Strudwick. That leaves exactly 1 open roster spot. Enter Schremp or Brule. By the way, Mac T all but said he doesn’t see both making the team to start the season so I think I’m on the right track so far.

Schremp played with Lefebvre and Reddox on Wednesday night. That is a very similar spot to the role he would play on the 4th line with Brodziak and Stortini (assuming Stortini stays and not Lefebvre). For the most part he looked pretty good. He struggled at times looking for a pass that wasn’t there. He needs to realize that the players he’s on the ice with aren’t going to be in great scoring position as often so he has to make sure he doesn’t turn the puck over as a result.

As for Brule, well I have seen him yet. But right now I’d vote for him. He brings a little more physical play to his game which is nice to see on the 4th line. Similar to the role Glencross played last season. At the same time, Schremp could be moved up a couple of spots if a line was misfiring on a given night thanks to his offensive upside.

For Schremp to make the grade I really think he’s really going to have to show the coaches that he can make good decisions with the puck and that he’s dependable in his own end. And even if he does that it might not be enough.

Finally some Oilers hockey, sort of

2008-09-25T15:58:00.004-06:00

Last night I got to my first Oilers preseason game on the season when the Oilers took on the Panthers; I missed the opener on Monday night because I was on vacation (New York and Boston where I caught two ball games and an NFL game, I'll post more about that trip on the weekend). Before I left the friendly confines of the City of Champions I did attend the Oiler Rookies game versus the U of A Golden Bears but was too busy at work to even let you know about it.

Preseason games are really tough for me. I'm so excited for anything hockey by the time they roll around that I can barely sit still but at the same time they really aren't a good indicator of the team as a whole. You can get a good assessment of some of the individual players but even that can be a bit deceiving as line mates and competition aren't always up to snuff. But I will certainly take what I can get.

Last night was also my very first chance to sit in my new seats. This past off season I moved from Section 302 over to 336. Basically the same seats only on the end the Oil attack twice. Oh and every minor hockey team that comes to a game sits in 302 so the amount of screaming 12 year old kids should be significantly reduced in 336 as well.

But you didn't come here to hear about my seats did you, you're looking for an Oilers hockey fix. Well trying not to read too much into the game I'll give you a quick run down of what I saw at the game.

Souray and Visnovsky were paired together for the first time. Visnovsky is an amazing skater and his passes out of the zone were crisp. Souray has easily the hardest shout I've ever seen from any Oiler, that thing is just lethal. On the power play the Oilers are going to have to do a better job of spreading the puck around though; every play can't be setting up a one timer to Souray. If that's the plan it should take about 3 games for the rest of the league to catch on.
Lefebvre didn't look out of place for a potential spot on the 4th line. You're probably saying "Who?" right now, and I don't blame you I didn't know either but I sure do now. Last night he really looked good out there. He has decent speed and was more than willing to drop the gloves. On both front he was better than our current "tough guy" Zack Stortini. I'm not a big Stortini fan and if this is the game Lefebvre provides night in night out I take him in a heart beat.
Pisani played between Moreau and Penner. I'm sure getting up for preseason games is hard for veterans, lets hope that's the case here because Pisani and Moreau looked way off, Penner was decent. All three are going to have to be a ton better when the games count if the Oil plan to win consistently. If this is going to be a line we see during the season Pisani is also going to have to learn to take a faceoff because 5 for 14 is a great batting average but a lousy faceoff percentage.

That is basically it. I'm skipping the game tonight but will give you one more report from Rexall before we get going for real.

My thoughts and prayers.....

2008-09-25T08:35:00.000-06:00

My thoughts and prayers go out to Jussi Markkanen and his family this morning after the tragic death of his 4 year old son a few days ago. Jussi is playing this season in Russia and although he is no longer wearing the copper and blue he will always be a part of the Oiler family. I don't have any kids so I can only imagine what he's dealing with right now. I wish him nothing but the best in these hard times.

With the start of the season so close I guess this just serves as a reminder that there are things out there more important than a game.

Something Stinks In Russia

2008-09-11T13:20:00.003-06:00

In my personal opinion the biggest hockey related story of the off season has been the on going battle between the NHL and the KHL. The outcome of this hockey war will have a huge impact on the way the NHL does business and the NHL game overall. Some people don't think the league will have an impact on the NHL, I think those people are flat out wrong. But that isn't my point today.

Firts of all for those who don't know the history of this I'll try to summarize it for you. For the past 15 years or so European player have come to the NHL in ever increasing numbers. Often these players are under contract at home before they come to North America to chase the NHL dream. Compensation has always been given to these clubs, however some countries (specifically Russia) have wanted to negotiate on a player by player basis. Frustrated by a system that they viewed as unfair, the Russian Super League is re branded as the Continental Hockey League KHL).

The ultimate goal of the KHL is to provide an alternative to playing in the NHL. And in just one summer they have more than provided an alternative as a long list of players including Radulov, Jagr, and Emery have all chosen to take a go in Russia this season. But now I come across a story on Puck Daddy that says Radulov wants to come back to the NHL. What???

Radulov is the center of the debate between the NHL and KHL. He's the KHLs poster boy, the player under an NHL contract that has jumped ship to come back to Russia. The Predators have suspended him and the NHL and KHL are going to court over this. And he wants out after just a couple of games? Something about this just doesn't seem right to me.

Now this could all be a simple case of a 22 year old being torn between wanting to play in the NHL and his desire to be close to his friends and family. I hope thats the case. But my initial gut reaction is that Radulov is somehow being used as a pawn by the KHL to try and force an agreement with the NHL. That would be the worst case scenario.

If that is true then any trust between the two sides is gone instantly. That means there will be no agreement between the two parties and players under contract are going to be fair game for both sides. A situation like that isn't going to be good for either side. On top of that I could see any NHL player involvement in IIHF event beyond the 2010 Olympics as all but gone.

So far I haven't found a retraction from the Radulov camp so this story does seem to have some validity. I guess we'll just have wait and see.

NHL Schedule Grid 2008/09

2008-09-04T11:46:00.000-06:00

Some of you may have used Kafenatid in the past to help you with your fantasy hockey roster decisions, I certainly know that I have. I've also noticed that it is not as of yet ready for the current NHL season.

To help out the addicts that need to start looking at schedule densities right away I've put together an excel spreadsheet that does all the same things. You can enter any date range and it'll give you total games, home and road games, and the total back to back games. All of it sortable just like we need. The schedule grid even highlights the great, good, and crappy schedules. Best of all you can use it at work and it'll look like you're actually doing something.

I had intended to post it using Google docs but the file is too large (how is just over 1MB too large?) so if you want a copy of it just post a reply and I'll e-mail it to you.

Milestones In the 08/09 Season

2008-08-29T14:09:00.005-06:00

August is a lousy month to be a hockey fan. Absolutely nothing is going on right now. The fantasy hockey games over at Sporting News were launched over the last couple days but there are still plenty of glitches to work out. Better than nothing I guess.

So I was thinking about what we can expect from the upcoming NHL season. Not who’ll finish where type stuff but individual milestones. Here’s a list of the milestones we can expect to see players reach this season.

Points
Tkachuk and Weight are all but locks to reach 1000 points this season as they start with 984 and 969 respectively. Lidstrom is also a pretty good bet needing just 62 to reach the mark and if Kariya can get just a few more points than the 65 he put up last year he’ll have a shot sitting just 69 back. Another good year from Sakic will bump him over 1700. With 1629 right now he will need to stay healthy to do it though.

Goals
Unless Fedorov can get back to his pre lockout form nobody will score number 500 this season. Fedorov needs 28 which would be his biggest output since he scored 31 in 03/04. Could be a big year for Burnaby Joe, if he can light the lamp 27 times he’ll reach 650 for his career.

Games Played
Assuming that he does end up signing a contract Shanahan will go over 1500 games played by the end of October. Rolston, Arnott, Marchant, Satan, and Pronger should all play in their 1000th game this season, likely in that exact order.

Wins
Not much to look forward to here. A bunch of guys will break 200 but that doesn’t seem like a big number to me. What we can expect is Khabibulin to get win number 300 and Osgood has a good shot at 400 (Hall of Fame anyone?), he needs just 37 which when you play for the Wings is pretty much a lock.

So that’s about it, just 5 more weeks to wait for the season to start.

How Quickly Things Change - Game 7 To Now

2008-08-21T15:12:00.002-06:00

Let me rewind the clock just a little over two years, 793 days to exact, to June 20, 2006 for a few minutes. Do you remember that day? If you're like me you likely were a bit under the weather (aka hungover) and still in shock thanks to a 3-1 loss the night before that ended the Oilers dream of a Stanley Cup. You remember it now don't you?

Thanks to a lack of desire to do work and another slow August day in the hockey world I got to thinking about the team that made the improbable run two years ago and how much things have changed since then. I felt back then that the Oilers weren't as good as that run but in were in a position to be very good very soon. We had an elite defenseman (Pronger) leadership (Moreau, Smith, and Smyth) and the next generation of stars (Hemsky, Stoll, and Torres) all looked ready to lead the team for years to come.

Four days later that thought started to fall apart. First Pronger wanted out, the beginning of the end really. Samsonov, Spacek, and Peca followed him out via free agency. The next season was a disaster that really peaked (is peaked the right word there?) with the trade of Smyth at the deadline and losses in 19 of the last 21 games. And now in the most recent off season we've seen the trades of Stoll and Greene followed by the departure of Torres.

So how many players that were in game 7 are still on the team? A whopping five. If you count the eight scratches that night you can add three more for a total of eight out of twenty eight. Thats less than 30%. Here's a list of that roster (I've put the current Oilers in bold) just as a reminder.

Starters

Conkilin
Dvorak
Greene
Harvey
Hemsky
Horcoff
Markkanen
Moreau
Murray
Peca
Pisani
ProngerR
Samsonov
Smith
Smyth
Spacek
Staios
Stoll
Tarnstrom
Torres

Scratches

Bergeron
Brodziak
Jacques
Laraque
Petersen
Roloson
Ulanov
Winchester

As good as I thought we could be then I certainly think that we're a lot better off now. I just wish the season would get going so I could see us play.

One Last Year For Rod Phillips?

2008-08-15T15:44:00.001-06:00

While avoiding work and looking for Oiler news earlier this week I came across a story on oilersnation.com which hinted that this could be the final season for the Oilers play-by-play man Rod Phillips. My initial reaction was that this was just filler for the slowest part of the summer and that nothing more would come of it. That bubble was burst today when the Oilers announced that Bob Stauffer is joining their broadcast team.

Stauffer is currently the host of the afternoon show on the Team 1260. He is a huge hockey fan, actually a huge sports fan, and is a pretty good play-by-play man based on the few games I've heard him do for the U of A Golden Bears. If he is being groomed to take over from Phillips then I certainly have no issues with that.

Now nowhere in the announcement does it say that this will be Phillips' swan song. It's just the vibe that you get when you read those two stories side by side. And when you consider that Phillips, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003, has been the play-by-play guy since day one way back in the WHA days, you can certainly see why he might want to move on.

Imagine the games that he has seen. All five Stanley Cup clinchers, Gretzky's 50th goal in 39 games, Gretzky's 1851st point, the payoff battles (wars) with the Flames, Marchant beating Moog in game 7, the list could literally go on forever.

Can you imagine a radio broadcast without him? I certainly can't. I spent the years between 1986 and 1992 in Vancouver and Calgary so for my formative years I didn't get to listen to Oilers broadcasts very often. There just wasn't much streaming audio back then. But after we moved back to Edmonton I was able to listen to most games on the radio before almost every game could be found on the television.

Strangely enough though my favorite Rod Phillips memories is from 2002. Back then I had a TV but chose to buy beer rather than get cable. Since I had no cable I made a deal with the girls across the hall that they could have the TV if I could come over and watch it from time to time. On January 6 the Oilers were playing the Canadiens however Brandy and Amanda were nowhere to be found so I tuned into the radio broadcast.

The game itself was crazy. The Oilers were down, they were up, it was tied, we were up for a while, then down again, and finally came out on the good end of a 7-6 score. I thought Rod was going to die right there live on the air. What was amazing was how infectious his love of the game was. You couldn't help by live and die on each play with him just because of the way he called the game. Normally I would have watched that game on TV but that night I was lucky enough to not have that option.

Just in case this is the final year for Rod Phillips I would strongly suggest that during this season you listen to an Oilers game of two over the internet. He is one of the best announcers in the game and listening to him is a treat for the ears.

Make Some Room For Glenn

2008-08-13T14:10:00.004-06:00

This is how the rafters on the east side of the building look today. But the Oilers have announced that they will be adding Glenn Anderson's number 9 to that group on January 18 so I guess I'll need a new picture.

The game will be played against Phoenix (I bet you didn't see that coming did you?) which means Gretzky and Fuhr, Phoenix's goalie coach, will be able to make the ceremonies. If it this is anything like previous jersey retirements I've attended (Kurri, Fuhr, Coffey, and Messier) I would expect a few of the other retirees to be there as well. If I was a betting man (and believe me I am a betting man) I'd say that well also be treated to a couple of final laps around the ice and one last goal from Anderson as part of the ceremony. The only question that remains is how will he handle it. We all new Messier was going to cry like a baby but with Glenn I don't really know.

But when you look at that list of retired jersey, does Glenn Anderson really belong. Several of the others were first ballot Hall of Famers. Anderson had to wait and wait and wait.

The easy answer to that question is absolutley he belongs in that group. This is an honour that Anderson truly deserves. From Hockey-Reference.com here is a glimpse at his numbers with the Oil and where he ranks on the Oilers all-time list.

845 games played - 3rd
417 goals - 3rd
489 assists - 4th
906 points - 4th
126 power play goals - 1st
72 game winning goals - 1st

Those of course are just his regular season numbers and he was easily as good, maybe even better, in the post season. He's also one of the few Oilers to have been part of all five Stanley Cup winners. Plus he added another with the Rangers. Bottom line, Glenn was clutch in the biggest games.

Here in Edmonton the standard for jersey retirement is pretty simple, you need to get into the Hall of Fame. Hamilton is the exception but he was also the first captain so the standard is a little different there. But if the geniuses that vote on the Hockey Hall of Fame hadn't passed him over seven times, while inducting players like Clark Gillies and Dick Duff, this jersey retirement would have happened years ago. In the end it took the lack of first year eligible players caused by the lockout for Anderson to finally get into the Hall of Fame, thats a joke.

But good things come to those who wait right. So after waiting for a long time I think it'll be a very special night that Sunday in January when Glenn finally gets his moment on Rexall ice. I know I can't wait.

Sam Gagner Off To Europe

2008-08-12T10:44:00.001-06:00

Relax it's just for some training.

Last weekend on the golf course my friend told me that Sam Gagner and Rob Schremp were heading to Europe to play a series of exhibition games with the London Knights before heading to training camp. I hadn’t heard anything about this so I did a little more digging which I thought I’d pass on to you in case you were in the dark on this like I was.

On the London Knights website I found a press release that sheds some light on this tour. The following excerpt has been taken from that press release.

Next month, (Scott Aarssen) involved in another off-season excursion organized by London assistant Pat Curcio -- a 12-day, seven-game tour of Germany and Austria featuring former Knights like Rob Schremp, Sam Gagner, Brandon Prust, Dylan Hunter, Marc Methot and Adam Dennis taking on top European pro teams.

For those connected to the pros, the European trip required approval from NHL parent clubs. A couple of teams denied its players permission and Curcio, who has recruited Knights head coach Dale Hunter for the trip, didn't understand why.

"It's mostly young guys in the AHL and what better way to get ready for training camp than this?" Curcio said. "Look at what the Canada-Russia series did for Sam Gagner last year. He went to Edmonton camp in great shape and it helped him make the team."

After even more research (and by research I mean using google) I managed to come across a schedule on the IIHF forums. Assuming that schedule is correct it looks like games will be starting on Friday.

I don't know about you but I both love and hate that Gagner is doing this. Good on the kid for trying to make sure he's in top shape for the season. After a great rookie campaign it would have been very easy for him to sit back take things for granted. Doing something like this certainly gives the impression of a guys who understands just what it takes to be a pro and I love that.

What I don't like is the risk. If he was to blow out a knee or something in a meaning less game in Europe that'd be quite a blow to the Oilers. But I guess injuries can happen anywhere (including meaningless games in the pre-season) so I'll just think happy thoughts and keep my fingers crossed that all goes well over there.

McCabe Should Tell The Leafs To Shove It

2008-08-11T17:16:00.001-06:00

Over the last few days TSN.ca has reported that Bryan McCabe's stance on not waiving his no trade clause may be weakening. I might be the only one in this camp, but I really hope that this isn't true and that instead he tells the Leafs exactly where they can shove their trade offers.

First things first. McCabe is more valuable than most Leaf fans think. In the three post-lockout seasons McCabe has the tenth highest points per game average of all NHL defensemen. And only Phaneuf has more powerplay goals in that same time frame.


Rk	Player	GP	G	A	PTS	PTS/G
1	Nicklas Lidstrom	236	39	173	212	0.90
2	Sergei Gonchar	235	37	153	190	0.81
3	Sergei Zubov	202	29	131	160	0.79
4	Tomas Kaberle	238	28	150	178	0.75
5	Scott Niedermayer	209	36	121	157	0.75
6	Mathieu Schneider	205	44	106	150	0.73
7	Chris Pronger	218	37	121	158	0.72
8	Lubomir Visnovsky	231	43	123	166	0.72
9	Dan Boyle	198	39	102	141	0.71
10	Bryan McCabe	209	39	109	148	0.71
11	Andrei Markov	226	32	121	153	0.68
12	Brian Rafalski	237	27	132	159	0.67
13	Dion Phaneuf	243	54	105	159	0.65
14	Brian Campbell	244	26	128	154	0.63
15	Ed Jovanovski	178	31	82	113	0.63
16	Sheldon Souray	182	41	72	113	0.62
17	Kimmo Timonen	239	32	117	149	0.62
18	Ryan Whitney	225	32	105	137	0.61
19	Zdeno Chara	228	44	93	137	0.60
20	Philippe Boucher	180	37	71	108	0.60
21	Wade Redden	209	23	101	124	0.59
22	Joni Pitkanen	198	25	90	115	0.58
23	Joe Corvo	231	35	90	125	0.54
24	Marek Zidlicky	225	21	101	122	0.54
25	John-Michael Liles	234	34	91	125	0.53

* stats are from Hockey-Reference.com

Take a look at that list. Both Campbell and Redden are below McCabe and both got big UFA contracts this summer that exceed what the supposedly overpaid McCabe makes. I can't say for sure but if the Leafs had been able to drop McCabe and had then signed Campbell most fans would have been dancing in the streets but the numbers just don't back that up.

But all the stats aside I don't want McCabe to stay in Toronto because he's going to make them a playoff team, far from it. The Leafs are a bad team with or without McCabe in blue and white. Trading McCabe for some young players would actually be one of the best things the Leafs could do right now but he has a no trade clause and I want McCabe to dig in and stay because he has every right to do so. Leafs management negotiated a contract with McCabe that included a no trade clause and they should have to live up to that.

I'm not saying that any player with a no trade clause should have to play out the full contract for that team. I just don't like the public aspect of this situation. By making the issue public the Leafs are getting the fans involved a move design to try and force his hand. I don't think that is fair.

Imagine for a second if he decided two years into a five year deal that he wanted more money. Is that really any different? The no trade clause was part of the bargaining process and was negotiated in good faith. There is absolutely no reason why Leafs management shouldn't honor that.

Dan Boyle went through a similar situation this summer when the Lightning asked him to waive his no trade clause. His wife is from Tampa and they're expecting a kid. He didn't want to move but the Lightning threatened to waive him thereby taking away any control over his situation so he chose to waive the no trade clause. And again thats crap.

In McCabe's case if he doesn't waive his no trade clause he will become the lightning rod for the Leafs failures. Boyle likely would have suffered a similar fate. But this issue is the potential downfall of long term deals. What looks good today may not look good in the future. If that happens too bad, you made the deal so be a man and live up to it. If you want to make a deal keep it quite and don't scapegoat the player.

The Trade - 20 Years Later

2008-08-09T08:35:00.002-06:00

That picture almost doesn’t even need a story does it? But I’ll tell the story anyway. 20 years ago today Wayne Gretzky, along with McSorley and Krushelnyski, was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, three first round draft picks, and $15 million in cash.

I remember where I was, I remember who told me the news, and I remember being very confused. I was in a small town in Saskatchewan, about an hour south of Regina, named Lang where I was visiting my mother’s family. I was at my aunt’s place and I was outside doing whatever nine year olds do when their neighbor told me Gretzky had been traded. I thought it was a joke. Of course it was a joke, how could the best player in the world be traded? But it wasn’t a joke it was very real.

For Oiler fans this trade was the beginning of the end of the dynasty of the 80s and worse was the beginning of the decent to mediocrity that was the early 90s. This was a team that had just won a fourth Stanley Cup in five years. If you consider that the Oilers went on to win another Stanley Cup in 1990 and that the New York Rangers Stanley Cup winning team in 1994 had seven ex-Oilers on it, you could easily make the case that with Gretzky and that team the Oilers could have been a contender for every cup between 1989 and 1994. How many more Stanley Cups could they have won in those six seasons? Instead they finished 23rd out of 26 teams in that 1993-94 season.

This trade also marked the beginning of the fall of Peter Pocklington from the hero that brought the city the Oilers and five Stanley Cups. By the time the Edmonton Investors Group bought the team in 1998 Pocklington, when the Oilers were on the verge of moving to Houston, he was seen as more pariah than anything else.

But as much as this trade was big for Edmonton, for the NHL this trade was enormous. For better or worse the Gretzky trade was the tipping point between the NHL we knew and the NHL we now know. Wayne Gretzky in LA was marketing gold. The excitement in the Kings that this trade created helped pave the way for expansion into other southern US cities beginning with San Jose in 1991.

But the biggest impact of this trade was on the money side of the game. Lets be honest, I may call it a trade but it was a sale plain and simple. And this sale was one of the catalysts that helped usher in a new era in player salaries. In 1988 nobody knew the payroll of their favorite teams, nobody needed to know. Now it’s almost as big as the players on the team. In then 80s when trade were made everyone looked at the players involved and evaluated the trades based on talent almost exclusively. Now you obviously still have the talent factor but you also have to look at the cap hit, years left on the players deals, future free agency, and the list goes on.

And the money aspect is why I don’t think that there could ever be a trade as big as this was ever again. If Crosby was traded tomorrow you’d look at the salaries and find some justification, but in 1988 there was no justification just pure shock.

Now before I wrap this up and head off to the golf course let me give you a piece of trivia related to the trade. Who is the only Oiler now whose acquisition can be traced to players involved in the Gretzky trade? Check out OilFans.com for the answer and a history of all the trades that followed this one.

Could The Best Moves Be The Ones You Don't Make?

2008-08-04T11:33:00.001-06:00

With Sundin still thinking about a ridiculous $20 million dollar offer from the Canucks I got to thinking about what would happen if he chose to not take that offer. To be honest I think they'll be a bottom feeder in both the Northwest division and the Western Conference if they don't get Mats. If they do sign him they'll be better but not much, maybe they could be a playoff team But Luongo will have to stand on his head for another 82 games.

But looking at the bigger picture, what happens if Sundin goes elsewhere? Now that is a little harder to nail down but let me give you an example of the upside of a non-signing. Last year the Oilers signed (I'm still going with signed because I still see it that way) Michael Nylander as a UFA. But he changed his mind and signed in Washington. I and a large number of Oiler fans were fairly upset by this. I still think the way things went down was wrong but it's water under the bridge.

Why am I rehashing old news like this you all this you might be asking. Simple, by not signing Nylander there was an extra roster spot open in camp. That spot went to Sam Gagner. Had we gotten Nylander as we all wanted in early July there is a 0% chance that Gagner would have been on the team in October. His great camp wouldn't have been enough and he would have spent the year in the OHL.

Just something to think about if Sundin decides not to sign in Vancouver.

Lowe Moving Up, Tambellini Moving In

2008-07-31T14:27:00.000-06:00

As you may have already heard the Oilers have hired Steve Tambellini as GM as moved Lowe up to President of Hockey Operations (Oilers press release). Great move in my humble opinion.

What is there to like about this deal? Plenty. This is a guy with a ton of experience, as a player and in management, shockingly none of it with the Oilers (I thought Oiler Cup rings were a prerequisite). He's been in Vancouver for 17 years and has previously worked with Lowe as part of the Hockey Canada at the Olympics. He's worked in a variety of roles and I think should be a key piece of the management group.

What I like most about this is that it has Katz's finger prints all over it. Moving Lowe out of the GM spot was not because he couldn't do the job, it was because they had the opportunity to add another hockey mind to the group. It's hard to pass that up. I see this as a first step, in an admittedly long journey, to building a Detroit type franchise with Lowe on the top rung of the ladder. And who can argue with anything the Wings have done over the last decade?

At this point I see no reason why MacT's job would be in jeopardy or why the Oilers would make another move before training camp. This appears to be just an addition to the management team.

Putting on my forecaster hat for a minute I would think that this frees up Lowe to take on a bigger role on the 2010 Olympic team with Yzerman. Just a thought.

Is Garon good enough to lead the Oil?

2008-07-29T13:40:00.004-06:00

Is Garon good enough to lead the Oil? This is the biggest question mark in the Oilers lineup right now. I like our forwards and our defense, but what about between the pipes. Garon looked brilliant at times last year but can he be a number 1 goalie for the full season?

Last year he played 47 games his second highest single season total (in 05/06 he played in 62) so I don't think the workload will be an issue. But just how good is Garon? From Hockey-Reference.com I downloaded the stats for all goalies who played at least 25 games last season to take a closer look.

A goalies job first and foremost is to stop the puck, so I figured why not start at GAA. Out of the 44 players on the list Garon was 25th, not exactly stellar. But GAA is a product of the team in front of the goalie as well. So what if all the net minders on the list saw the same number of shots in a game what would the GAA stats look like then?

The average shots faced per 60 minute game for these goalies was 28.63; with the save percentages from last year the GAA stats would look like this:

*The full spreadsheet can be viewed on Google Docs if you want to take a closer look.

It doesn't move him into the elite category but it is certainly better, essentially middle of the pack. With a healthy Souray this season and Visnovsky added to the blue line I would think that fewer shots would get through. The result should be that Garon will be able to give the Oil a chance to win most nights. Thats what Osgood does, he isn't spectacular at any one thing, just good at everything.

But moving forward what do we do? At the end of the year both Garon and Roloson are UFAs. Roloson is gone but should we keep Garon or look for a bigger fish. Here are the UFA goalies the next two summers.

I don't know about you but that list doesn't exactly give me goose bumps. So I'd say he needs to be signed sooner than later. A good start to the season could easily bump his price a couple million higher than he would take right now. If we were to lose him is Drouin-Deslauriers ready to take over? No. Dubnyk? No.

So considering the options I think the Oilers need to get this done because I'd hate to have almost all of the pieces and no goaltender.

Oiler News - Racing, Jerseys, DVDs, and Rookies

2008-07-25T16:01:00.004-06:00

Wow time flies when you’re buried under a mountain of paperwork. I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t been able to post in almost two weeks. As sad as it is, and I really wish it wasn’t so, sometimes work has to come before the Oilers. But I now see some light at the end of a long dark tunnel and thought I’d take a few minutes to post about some of the goings on in Oil Country.

A Rexall/Oiler sponsored car at the Edmonton Indy. I don't really care about the race. I know it's a big event in my hometown and I should at least try to care but I don't. This though I love. The guys owned the team for about a month and decides to drop big money on this. And why did he do it? Because fans in Edmonton love the Oilers and he thought they'd like this. He continues to do all the right things in my mind.

The return of the 3rd jersey. I think rumours about this started way back in January but was made all but made official back on the 17th in Dan Tencer's blog. My hope is that it is the vintage style, ideally back to the WHA days.

My first choice would be the blue jersey here

If not that one then I vote we go all the back to the beginning with this sweet orange uniform. You could even leave Alberta on the name bar just to irritate Calgary.

A DVD of the 10 greatest Oiler games. At the end of the season the Oilers asked fans to vote for the 10 greatest games. As I recall there were 20 games originally in the list but a 21st had to be added due to popular demand. On Wednesday Dan Tencer gave us the final list.

June 14th, 2006 Edmonton 4 Carolina 3 (Overtime - Game 5 Pisani shorthanded)
April 29, 1997 Edmonton 4 Dallas 3 (Overtime - Game 7 Marchant)
April 16, 1991 Edmonton 5 Calgary 4 (Overtime - Game 7)
May 15, 1990 Edmonton 3 Boston 2 (Overtime - Game 1 Final )
April 21, 1988 Edmonton 5 Calgary 4 (Overtime - Game 2 Gretzky shorthanded overtime goal)
May 31, 1987 Edmonton 3 Philadelphia 1 (win Stanley Cup - Game 7)
May 30, 1985 Edmonton 8 Philadelphia 3 (win Stanley Cup - Game 5)
May 19, 1984 Edmonton 5 NY Islanders 2 (win Stanley Cup - Game 5)
May 10, 1984 Edmonton 1 NY Islanders 0 (Game 1 Final)
December 30, 1981 Edmonton vs Philadelphia (Gretzky 50 in 39)

There are certainly some pretty great games on that list. The shorthanded overtime winner from Gretzky still stands as my all time favorite goal though. That game by the way was the one added by popular demand.

A tweak to the Oiler rookies vs Golden Bears. If you didn't know the Oilers rookies suit up against the U of A Golden Bears during the rookie camp in September. If you have a chance take in this game. This year a twist has been added as the Flames rookies, and maybe the Canucks as well, will be coming to Edmonton to play a exhibition tournament as reported in The Gateway. I hope this is a good as I think it could be and becomes an annual event.

Some Oilers Hockey From The WHA

2008-07-14T12:58:00.003-06:00

A while back I picked up a DVD collection called the “The WHA Chronicles” and I’ve been meaning to post about it but with the start of free agency and then the ongoing Burke/Lowe feud I just haven’t been able to find the time. Over the last few weeks I’ve gone through the whole collection and have really enjoyed filling the summertime hockey gap with these DVDs.

If you’re a fan of the old WHA , the teams that went on to join the NHL in 1979, or just hockey in general then this is a collection I would recommend that you check out. The collection itself consists of the only four existing complete television broadcast from the WHA, interviews with Bobby Hull and Wayne Gretzky, and of course a fight reel (this is the WHA remember). Obviously the video quality of the games isn’t in high definition, it was the 70s after all, but the hockey is pretty fun to watch. The games included are:

New England Whalers vs. Soviet Nationals - December 27, 1976
Winnipeg Jets vs. Quebec Nordiques - Game 7 of the 1977 AVCO Cup Finals
1977 WHA All-Star Game
Winnipeg Jets vs. Edmonton Oilers - Game 6 of the 1979 AVCO Cup Finals

I was 34 days old when that Oilers-Jets game was played so my memory of the game itself was previously somewhat limited. For me watching that game, which was the last WHA game ever played by the way, was a ton of fun. The game features a very young Gretzky and several other players, including Semenko, MacDonald, Callighen, Chipperfield, and Hamilton, who went on to play fairly significant roles in the early Oiler years.

I knew going in how that game ended but I still sat on the edge of my seat and cheered on the Oil the whole way. A few times there were scrambles around the net and I found myself yelling at the TV because if we could get to that puck we’d be right back in this one. Seriously, more and more I’m starting to think that I may in fact have a problem after all.