The Church of Eberle

Ales Hemsky

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 23:09:00 +0000

Ales Hemsky is a player who can be classified as one of the most polarizing players that is currently on the Oilers roster. There are fans who want to trade Hemsky ASAP, and then there are a group of fans who either want to see Ales sign and extension, or wait and see to assess what the market will dictate in terms of a trade. The common fear amongst both groups of fans is that Hemsky will injure himself seriously, similar to the last two seasons. It is a fear for those who want to trade Hemsky, but for those who would rather keep him, is it really all that bad? Let’s say that Hemsky does want to spend the next few years of his career with the current lineup and not pursue a Cup with another team, what would his value be is with the assumption that he’s 100%? Would he be fine with something similar to what he has now? Would he want something more? Or, would Steve Tambellini package him up with players like Gagner and Omark for example, and land the elite top 2 defenseman that the team has been lacking since the Spring of 2006?

Personally I would like to see Hemsky be an Oiler for the next four years or so, at a contract that is similar to what he has now. Sure he’s not the greatest defensive player on the team but, given the forwards that we do have in that role, he doesn’t need to be. Although this isn’t “his team” anymore, he is still an elite playmaking forward, who given the right line mates *cough*Paajarvi and Gagner *cough* could still be a nice compliment to the trio of young forwards that currently makes up our top line. While Hemsky is hesitant to shoot at times, he does pick the spots when he does shoot well, and makes the most of each opportunity. He’s never going to be a 30 goal scorer, but can still be a 20 goal, 50 or 60 assist player, which is a hell of a player to have on your second line at the right price.

Potential Targets Come July 1

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:19:00 +0000

Given the events of last weekend, I am almost ready to give Steve Tambellini a round of applause. Almost that is. He'll get it if he can add useful pieces to this hockey team. From what I can tell the Oilers need to add a 3rd/4th line Centre, a useful top 4 D man and probably an enforcer type 4th liner. Who should fill these roles? It can't just be anyone, it has to be players, not necessarily guys on the wrong side of 30 either.

For example, Boyd Gordon is a UFA and according to CapGeek, he has the highest faceoff percentage of any UFA who took more than 600 faceoffs, at 58%. What does that mean for the Oilers? Well it would mean that we would have a Centre who was actually able to win more than half his draws for the first time since 1982.

Another player who could fit that role as well as the enforcer type 4th liner, would be Zenon Konopka. He isn't the biggest guy(only 6'1") but isn't afraid to drop the gloves(572 PIMS over the last 2 seasons). Oh, and did I mention that he also won 57.7% of his faceoffs last year too? Imagine having both guys on the team? Instant success. I know, I know we'd have to figure out what to do with Cogliano and we have Lander and VandeVelde almost ready for NHL action but it's a good problem to have.

Other forwards I would look at to fill these needs would be Eric Belanger, Vern Fiddler, Marty Reasoner and Scottie Upshall.

The other area of need is on Defense. We need someone who is a useful top 6 guy, and doesn't leak goals. Currently there's a lot of scuttlebutt on the Twitter about the Oilers claiming Cam Barker after he was placed on waivers by the Minnesota Wild today. I would have no problem with this acquisition, but I would try and move Sheldon Souray to Minnesota in exchange for Barker. If the Wild balk at this, then I would wait until Barker gets bought out and sign him for cheap there. The class of UFA defensemen looks shallow, and unless Tambellini ~~drops an offer sheet on Doughty~~ can trade for a useful D man, our options are limited. One of those options might be to bring back Jim Vandermeer for cheap as a bottom pairing guy. Sure he looked bad during the first half of the season but his play drastically improved since the All-Star Game.

I suppose we might need a backup goaltender or two this year as well. One guy I would look at, assuming he's healthy, would be Josh Harding. Harding missed all of the 2010-11 season with a severe knee injury but before that, he established himself as a good backup. Now, this would be dependent on Nik's situation and I'm not even sure Nik knows what his situation is. If that fails, maybe a Brian Boucher is in the works. What I do know though, is that the coming weeks should be an interesting one for the Orange and Blue.

RYAN SMYTH WANTS TO COME BACK?!?!?!?!?!?!?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:35:00 +0000

Since the day that Smyth was traded Oilers fans across the land have hoped for a return of the fan favorite and today it was reported that Smyth wants to come home.Of course there has to be a catch. That same article says that the Oilers aren't sold on adding a salary like Smyth's to the payroll unless they can offload some. Yes, this is the same team that paid Sheldon Souray $4.5 million last year to play in Hershey and the same team that needs roughly $11 million cap dollars just to hit the cap floor. $11 MILLION! Now, granted I'm not sure of the last time Ricky O told Steve what is looking like for next season but this $6.25 million cap hit could really help us.

Oh, and there's that whole "we need veterans" yell from players such as Horcoff, Hall and Eberle. How does Tambellini not put a call in to Lombardi. I mean, unless Lombardi has avoided taking calls from the 780 area code one would have to like to Oilers chances here. I doubt it would take a whole lot to get him from L.A. as well. In all honestly, Smyth would be a salary dump for the Kings so they could add a big name player/offer Doughty the moon.

It just makes sense. Pull the trigger Steve, don't screw it up and sign him to a cheap 2-3 year extension. Let him teach Hall, Eberle, Paajarvi and ~~RNH~~ the 1st overall pick how to work. It won't hurt, trust us.

My Mock Draft

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 03:44:00 +0000

It is that time of the summer again, the time for virtually every hockey blogger out there to throw out their mock drafts for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. I will be pulling from various other drafts throughout the internet as well as some specific team needs. Without further adieu here it goes:

1) Edmonton- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
2) Colorado- Johnathan Huberdeau
3) Florida- Gabriel Landeskog
4) New Jersey- Adam Larsson
5) New York Islanders- Sean Couturier
6) Ottawa- Ryan Strome
7) Winnipeg- Nathan Beaulieu
8) Columbus- Sven Baertschi
9) Boston(via Toronto)- Ryan Murphy
10) Minnesota- Mika Zibanejad
11) Colorado(via St. Louis)- Dougie Hamilton
12) Carolina- Jaime Oleksiak
13) Calgary- Mark McNeill
14) Dallas- Boone Jenner
15) New York Rangers- John Gibson
16) Buffalo- Mark Scheifele
17) Montreal- Ty Rattie
18) Chicago- Joel Armia
19) Edmonton(via L.A.)- Duncan Siemens
20) Phoenix- Tomas Jurco
21) Ottawa(via Nashville)- Nicklas Jensen
22) Anaheim- Jonas Brodin
23) Pittsburgh- Matt Puempel
24) Detroit- Brandon Saad
25) Toronto(via Philly)- Tyler Biggs
26) Washington- Vladislav Namestnikov
27) Tampa Bay- Oscar Klefbom
28) San Jose- Brett Ritchie
29) Toronto(via Boston)- Daniel Catenacci
30) Vancouver- Stefan Noesen

What do you think? Any and all comments are welcomed.

My take on who the Oilers should draft 1st Overall

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:59:00 +0000

It appears to be that time of the year again. No, not baseball season, but rather the starting date for the great debate of who the Oilers should take with their (hopefully) 1st overall selection. There has been three names thrown about as the only options for the pick, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL, Adam Larsson of Skellfelta AIK of the Swedish Elite League and Sean Couturier of the Drummondville Voltigers in the QMJHL. Each prospect has their own question marks, Nugent-Hopkins is a tad on the thin side, Larsson might take time to make an actual impact and Couturier is apparently slow.

Oilers fans will remember last year when there was the whole Taylor vs. Tyler debate and it was actually somewhat close, that is until Hall showed us that extra gear he has and completely dominated during the playoffs and a 2nd straight Memorial Cup MVP. The reason I brought this up is that it appears that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is showing us his extra gear right now. He went on an unbelievable stretch after being cut from Canada's sliver medal World Juniors team and had a rather impressive start to his playoffs. Could he be the answer at center? I would like to think so. Despite being listed at 164 pounds on the WHL website, one would have to assume that since September that he has added around 10-15 pounds to his body. Many would argue though that given the Oilers recent struggles, the D man in Adam Larsson would be the right pick. The only thing that would prevent us from doing that would be how the D would look with him in the lineup next year. We would have Whitney, Gilbert, Smid, Peckham, Petry and Larsson as our 6 D coming out of camp. I don't know about you but that is not the 6 players I would like playing in front of our goaltending. Couturier, the other real option has been known to be slow. He is a big body, something the Oilers need at center but given the style of play in the Q, who knows if he can be as effective of a player in the NHL.

Some would say this is a tough decision to make, it's really not, the Oilers should take the BPA in June and as of right now that Nugent-Hopkins kid is playing way too good to ignore. The only question is, which of his last names will he drop to shorten his name.

Say what?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 05:20:00 +0000

Squee. Project H.O.P.E. is here.

If this game shows what the future will look like, sign me up and give me Kool-Aid.

GOilers

WE WIN! WE WIN!

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 05:39:00 +0000

4 IN A ROW!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Discuss.

Who Will Be Accountable Steve?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:27:00 +0000

Remember when Steve Tambellini held his State of the Union address at the end of last season? When he said we needed to "restore the depth chart of prospects that are pushing the people here for jobs" (The video is on page 19 of the "Oilers Today" video channel on the team website). Given the fact that this team has allowed 25 goals during this 4 game losing streak, something would have to change, no? Given that roughly 99.99% of the fan base can see that our defense is atrocious, you would think that these prospects we have down on the farm are ready to take a job or two from some of the players up here. I mean, one can look at the boxcars and see that a player like Chorney, who is a plus player so far this season, after the disaster that was last. Alex Plante seems he is close to ready for the big leagues, he didn't look too out of place last year during his call up. Belle could be an option, but if it was me, I would call him up if we are decimated by injuries again.

For the forwards I would bring up Reddox and O'Marra. We need to inject some life into our lineup and the best way to do that is to have someone watch a game or three from the press box. If we send the type of message that no job is safe, do you think our players will start playing better? I mean losing games 4-3 in overtime like we did in New Jersey is all fine and dandy, but the 8-2's, 7-1's, 6-2's are unacceptable. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine if the Oilers gain another lottery pick this year, but to have a team that plays this bad, and have a Coach/GM who refuse to do anything, is just not right. Something needs to be done, for the sake of the kids at least, because what are the chances they are just flowing with confidence after an 8-2 loss? Chances are they aren't, so please Steve, tell us, WHO WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR BAD PLAY?

Game 14: Edmonton at Detroit

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:45:00 +0000

I would like to start off this post by thanking our fallen soldiers for all they have done to protect the freedoms that you and I enjoy on days like this. I would also like to apologize to the loyal readers of this blog for the lack of posts, the "fun" of being an accounting student has briefly caught up to me. Now on to today's game....

Today/night the Oilers are in Detroit to face the Red Wings. The first time these two teams met this season the Wings left Rexall Place with a 3-1 victory despite a valiant effort from the Oil. The Oilers then started on their annual November road with a win against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, again, then decided to roll over so to speak against Carolina. I have no idea what happened in that game, all I know is that I get home, check my mail and boom 1-0. Walk up to my lush 3rd floor apartment turn on the television, get confused that the game isn't on Sportsnet One tune in to the Sportsnet West channel and boom, 2-0. At that point I go "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F**KING KIDDING ME!!!" it baffled me at just how different that game was to the Chicago game. The inconsistency the team shows, albeit they can't really help it, will ultimately lead to another lottery pick, not that another high pick is a bad thing either.

Our main problem does not seem to be the kids, it is our defense and goaltending. Khabibulin should not be playing the amount he has been, especially with how good Dubnyk has played(2.56 GAA and a .933 SV% is not that bad, is it?). Our D though, well we have no long term solution for that, unless Marincin(2nd in WHL D scoring) or Petry pan out.

Speaking of a high pick, I had the opportunity to view Top Prospect for the 2011 NHL Draft, Ryan Nugent Hopkins last night courtesy of a WHL game being broadcast on SHAW TV. Just by watching that one game, he showed flashes but didn't seem to do much. His lack of production can either be attributed to the fact Red Deer played the night before, or that fellow Top Prospect David Musil is just that good of a shutdown D man. Either way he looked flat and unimpressive last night.

Declaration of War #9- No Pressure

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:18:00 +0000

Tonight the Edmonton Oilers take their Exciting Last Place Hockey into Chicago to play the defending Stanley Cup Champions. I swear if I hear this song more than say, 3 times tonight, I will not be pleased. Yesterday as you may know, I made a prolific pick on this very blog, I predicted Taylor Hall to score his first goal last night(well actually I kept saying it Tuesday but meh). Tonight though will be someone else's night to shine and my money would be on King Magnus to do so.

Word is circulating that Hall will be taking the spot of Penner on the left of Gagner and Hemsky. This move would not surprise me at all, even though Penner does have 3 goals in this young season, he seems to be "half assing" it out there. Seriously did he hop back on the wheat and barley based beverages bandwagon again? Seriously what gives? (I figure if I keep calling him out he will perform). Khabi gets the start tonight in what should be a fairly exciting game.

Prediction:

Oilers: 4

Hawks: 3

Declaration of War #8- You Mean We Have Other Goalies?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:37:00 +0000

Tonight is the 8th part in the Oilers march to somewhere, where that place is, I don't know. Tonight/afternoon(depending on where you are) also marks the first time this season that we see someone other than Nikolai Khabibulin in the Oilers crease. Did anyone else know we have three goalies on the roster? Tonight will also be a historic game as I am predicting, for sure, that a certain #1 draft pick will score his first goal tonight. I know I have said it a few times but, for sure tonight in Columbus Taylor Hall will score.

The Oilers lines are not changing tonight with the exception of Vandermeer in for Foster. This almost baffles me, I'm sure you all saw the game on Tuesday night, and the games before that, is there anyone who can seriously tell me that Dustin Penner deserves to be riding shotgun on a line with Gagner and Hemsky? We are seeing a Penner that we thought died last year under Pat Quinn. What has changed? Does he not want to be part of a rebuild? Is he sick? What is wrong with the player many call "The Flying Fridge"?

Last night I had the opportunity(that's what we'll call it, there isn't much to do here) to see 2011 draft prospect David Musil play. And let me tell you, he looked good out there. Sure it was only against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, but I now see the reason why he is ranked in the top 10 for the upcoming draft. He almost made shutting down the Hurricanes power play look effortless. He got in the right position to block shots and passes, and looks like an effortless skater. I know this is still early but add him to the list of players I would like to see in an Oilers uniform in the future.

Declaration of War #7- Le Sigh....

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:23:00 +0000

The Edmonton Oilers will walk into the Scotiabank Saddledome tonight looking to end two disastrous streaks, one, the Oilers have not won in Calgary since 2008, and two, they have not won a road game in regulation in 26 games. Sorry for being negative but if you were looking for the Oilers to snap their 4 game losing streak, look at Thursday against Columbus for that.

The only things to maybe look forward to tonight are a close game, and maybe a Taylor Hall goal. I doubt he scores this game since apparently no one on the team(except Eberle) can score. I am interested to see if Renney gives someone like Paajarvi a shot at playing with Hemsky, since Penner just can't seem to cut it. And when I say can't cut it, we are seeing Fatgoose 2008/09 edition. Maybe he is just sick but the last couple of games he looked like he could care less what happened.

My prediction:
Calgary: 5
Edmonton: 2

My Thoughts After 6 Games

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000

As I sit here and admire the nice green grass still outside(yes, it has not yet snowed here) there are a few thoughts that I must clear fom my mind. Let's be honest here, this Oilers team looks bad, I'm not talking last year bad, but if we can't learn to kill a penalty, we better hope Adam Larsson can, because that's where we're headed. On our potential top 3 pick, what the hell is with the love affair with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins? The guy is a pencil! If we do have the opprotunity to pick there, I sure hope we do not pick RNH, sure he has talent but he has to do a lot to fill out, time I don't think we can waste. Speaking of #1 picks, holy hell is Taylor Hall the most inconsistant player I have ever seen, he goes and has a great game against Minnesota then does, next to nothing against San Jose. I think once he finds the consistency in his game then he will turn out to be the player we have been looking for.

Another weakness that the Oilers have is special teams, not just on the PK but on the PP as well. I think the solution to the PP is a simple one, change the strategy. I get why they use an overload strategy on the PP, but it makes 0 sense to have two forwards within 10 feet of each other, what they should do instead is switch to something that resembles the umbrella strategy. Have two of the forwards on each side of the ice with someone creating traffic in front, and get the puck to Foster more, the guy was signed to replace Souray on the powerplay and we have not been going to him quite as much as we need to be. The penalty kill leaves a lot to be desired as well, I don't know if it is the players that they use or what, but we just can't seem to kill penalties. What the team should do is make a call to Oklahoma City, and bring up some players who, until yesterday, killed off 35 straight penalties. If they can't do any better than what we have now, there is little to no hope for us, and like I said earlier, we had better hope Adam Larsson can kill penalties, because no one on this team seems capable of doing so.

The defense of this team is more than just an achillies heel, it is more like a gunshot wound that just doesn't stop bleeding, you can't honestly sit there and tell me that you would rather have Theo Peckham, Jim Vandermeer or Jason Strudwick on the back end over someone like Shawn Belle. We need to send a goalie down and maybe Ryan Jones and bring up Reddox and Belle. Those two, I think would make a difference right now as well as send a message that there is no job that is safe on the team.

Declaration of War #6- WE WILL WIN!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 18:15:00 +0000

That is right loyal readers of this blog, the Oilers will win tonight! You might be asking yourself why this team will win against the Sharks? To which I say, remember the last time the Oilers were on HNIC? Add that this team seems too proud to lose 4 games in a row, which is what they are looking at tonight.

The only lineup change the Oilers are making is Jason Strudwick draws into the line up for the first time this season for Theo Peckham, who injured his hand on Thursday night. Tom Renney should seriously consider not rolling 4 lines again this game, that line was brutal in the minute of ice they played together all game. I would say to not even dress them, but then some injury might occur or Penner gets another 10 minute misconduct(Don't worry Penz, only the best of us can get those).

The Oklahoma City Barons are in action today, taking on the Toronto Marlies. A game preview and tweetcast can be found here. The only thing I hope for from this game is for someone(Belle) to run over Nazem Kadri. Him doing so could only make this day better.

Go Oilers!
Go Barons!

Declaration of War #5- It's been a while.

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:45:00 +0000

Who makes this schedule? I mean really? 5 days between games? If you say so NHL. Many of things have happened since the last Oilers game, there were fans being attacked by players, the Leafs came crashing back to earth(even though their fans still have the parade planned), and a new episode of the 7 part series "Oil Change" was debuted last night to many of fans delight. If you are one of a handful of fans to not watch it, go here. I don't know about anyone else, but if we managed to somehow get the 4th overall pick(without trading Eberle) and draft Ryan Johansen along with Hall, I could not imagine what reaction would have been, although I think I summed it up pretty well here. After hearing Renney speak during that particular episode, I wonder if there are still people who doubt him as coach?

Looking at the Oilers website, so far it looks like there are no major line up changes(no surprise since it's still 9:40 a.m.), but there should be given that the lines were mixed all week in practice. The line I would like to see used are as follows:
Paajarvi-Horcoff-Hemsky
Penner-Gagner-Eberle
Hall-Brule-Cogliano
Jones-Fraser-Stortini

Whitney-Gilbert
Foster-Smid
Peckham-Vandermeer

How could we lose with those lines? We have someone on our 3rd line that can actually win faceoffs, we have a line of 3 players who can cycle the puck well, and we have Hemsky and Paajarvi on 2 on 1's all game. Seeing how this is a "rebuilding year"(that's what they say in the media right?) why not switch things up early this season and who knows, we might surprise some people.

Edit: Via Dan Tencer on twitter these are the lines for tonight:
Penner-Gagner-Hemsky
Paajarvi-Horcoff-Eberle
Hall-Cogliano-Brule
Jones-Fraser-Stortini

Declaration of War #4- The Second Battle of Alberta

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 15:32:00 +0000

Tonight marks the second time this year we play our rivals to the South, and the first time Rod Phillips is behind the microphone for the radio broadcast this season. The Flames, who have been absolutely horrible this season(HA!) will be looking to extract revenge for the beating they took on opening night in Edmonton. The Oilers on the other hand will be looking for a strong performance after that duck they put up in Minnesota the other night. I mean the 14th time is a charm, right?

I see many of Oilers fans are still debating the idea of sending Hall back to junior. What good would that do? He has absolutely nothing left to prove in junior so why send him there? Same goes with Paajarvi, do you actually think he should be down in Oklahoma City and Omark on the team? If so please take your hand, palm open, and smack yourself repeatedly. Omark has done nothing to show he would be better on the team than Paajarvi, both in training camp and in the AHL so far. I mean if there is one person who has not lived up to the hype so far it's Omark(or anyone not named Hartikainen in Oklahoma City right now).

Tonight should be a good one folks, it's unfortunate that the Flames will fail to score for the 3rd time in 4 games.
Score:
Edmonton: 3
Calgary: 0

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Jokinen. (Gets me every time)

Declaration of War #3- Is this for real?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:43:00 +0000

So last game being on Thanksgiving and all, I had the opportunity to miss such an awesome game. I mean I saw the first period where Khabi stood on his head, then left for dinner, and by the text updates that I got, I saw the Oilers happened to pull off a victory. When I got home and saw my twitter feed from the game it appears that we didn't play the best of games. Meh, we're projected to finish last, I think we'll take what we can get. The lines for the game appear to be the same, because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Although over at Oilers Jambalaya it says different. For some reason, I think that whoever wrote that post assumed that Pitlick would make the team, and had this post ready to go for months.

It was announced that the game on Saturday is going to be the first of the 10 games that Rod Philips calls this year. If you are tired of hearing Mark Lee call Taylor Hall, Adam, then this might be a good game for you to mute the TV and listen to the Hall of Famer call the game.

Things to watch in tonights game would be:

If this team can win faceoffs. They had a good showing but put up ducks against the faceoff juggernauts Florida.
Will Taylor Hall finally score? No pressure or anything kid.
Assuming Khabi starts will he continue to look sharp?

Declaration of War #2- Everything Is Alright.....I think......

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Today the Oilers match up against the Panthers of Florida, in their 2nd battle on the way to the playoffs. While this team might not make the playoffs, we can sure as hell try. I mean we're going 82-0 right? Jordan Eberle will score 164 points, and Khabi will finish with a GAA of 0.00 and a save percentage right? What's that, those feats are impossible? Balderdash. Anything is possible, right?

According to the Oilers website the only changes to the line up is that Stortini is in for MacIntyre and Deslauriers is the back up tonight.

That would mean the lines are(for those too lazy to look):

Hall-Horcoff-Eberle
Penner-Gagner-Hemsky
Paajarvi-Cogliano-Brule
Jones-Fraser-Stortini

Gilbert-Smid
Foster-Whitney
Peckham-Vandermeer

Khabibulin
Deslauriers

Based on what happened last game, combined with the fact it's Florida I expect nothing less than a victory tonight.

GOILERS!
Happy Thanksgiving.

Battle of Alberta #1 Recap- Are you F**king Kidding Me Eberle?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 05:50:00 +0000

Seriously Eberle? Wow. That is all. It will be hard to temper enthusiasm, I mean look at that, how the hell am I not supposed to Squee over that goal, and hope for that all year. Yeah I know Hall and Paajarvi looked good too but look at the blog title, Eberle is god.

Big Mac looked pretty good in his job tonight. Knocked out Ivanans. Made sure the kids were comfortable.

Hockey is back Ladies and Gentlemen, discuss.

Declaration of War #1- The First Battle of Alberta

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:55:00 +0000

Today is it folks, today is the day we have been waiting for since June 25th. Today is finally the day we get to see the magic of Taylor, Jordan and Magnus. Today is the day we remember what Ales can do, see what Sam can do, wonder if Dustin stayed off the wheat and barley based beverages. Today is the dawn of a new era of leadership on the team with Shawn dawning the C for the first time. Today is the day we get to see if Nikolai can regain his form from years past. Today is the day we can see we get excited and see the dawn of hope, promise of a better time, a time where we were top of the world. A time where we won 5 cups in 7 years. The dawn of the new era begins tonight.

Tonight we start the new era against long time rivals the Calgary Flames. Tonight we sit and watch as our young guns start their march to restore greatness in the City of Champions. We have not won a game versus these Flames in a while, why not kick off the new season with a win? Sounds good to me.

According to the Oilers website the lines for tonight are as follows:

Penner-Gagner-Hemsky
Hall-Horcoff-Eberle
Paajarvi-Cogliano-Brule
Jones-Fraser-Stortini(though I expect Big Mac to be in tonight)

Gilbert-Whitney
Strudwick-Smid
Foster-Vandermeer

Khabibulin
Dubnyk

If you are not excited for this game yet, WAKE UP!!!!!! This is it, this is where it begins, we all saw what the Big 3 could do during the pre-season now it's time to see what they can do for real.

LET'S GO OILERS!!!!!

Calgary Sucks

Preparation for War #6- We're Almost Ready

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:54:00 +0000

Tonight marks the 6th and final game of the Oilers preseason, where they will play the Calgary Flames down at the Pringledome in Cowtown. Tonight will be the final chance for players like Peckham, Omark, Petiot, Giroux, Jones, O'Marra to audition for a spot on the Edmonton Oilers this season. Two of the scratches that strike me as odd for tonight are the scratches of Liam Reddox and Chris Vande Velde. I don't know about anyone else but would it not make sense for say, Vande Velde, to head down to Oklahoma City to join the Barons instead of watching the game from the press box? Maybe I am looking too much into it, but it's defiantly food for thought though.

I wouldn't look too much into the lineups for tonight as it is an assessment game for the 11/12/13th spots on the roster. The lines will look as follows:

Penner - Cogliano - Eberle
Giroux - Gagner - Brule
Omark - Fraser - Jones
MacIntyre - O'Marra - Ondrus

Smid - Peckham
Strudwick - Gilbert
Petiot - Belle

Deslauriers
Dubnyk

Judging by those defense pairings, it would appear that Petiot won't be on the team. But then again maybe the team wants to see how effective he can be given 3rd pairing ice, who knows? Based on this lineup though I expect nothing less than what we saw on Friday, unless the killer D's stand on their head it should be a long night for Oilers fans.

Little off topic for a second, I would again like to congratulate the Oklahoma City Barons on the first win in team history last night. It may have only been preseason but it's hard not to be happy for the "Baby Oilers" after their come from behind win last night. It sounded like Pitton learned to play sometime before the game last night and my boy Teemu Hartikainen sounded like everything I expected him to be. It will be a fun year not only for us Oilers fans up here, but also for the Barons fans down south.

Go Oilers!!!!!
Go Barons!!!!!

Preparation for War #5- The Big 3 Meet The Flames

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:49:00 +0000

Tonight is the 5th and almost final stage in the Oilers Preparation for War™ and we can see what sort of line combinations will be used come October 7th. Based on the last couple games it is a safe bet that Hall-Horcoff-Eberle will be one line and that Paajarvi-Gagner-Hemsky will be another line. It is not unreasonable to suggest that Penner-Brule-Cogliano will be line 3, which leaves Fraser, Stortini, Reddox, Vande Velde, Big Mac and apparently O' Marra who for some reason is like a f**king cat, seriously this guy can hardly make the Falcons last year and the Oilers think that he can make the team. Yes I know what he did as a World Junior player but still we have not seen that same player since we acquired him in that trade we had with the New York Islanders but yeah....

The lineups for tonight are as follows:

Hall-Horcoff-Eberle

Paajarvi-Gagner-Hemsky (I'm not sure which of these 2 lines are line 1)

Jones-O'Marra-Reddox

Big Mac-Vande Velde-Stortini

Whitney-Gilbert

Smid-Foster

Peckham-Vandermeer

Khabibulin(He gets the whole game)

Dubnyk

Newsworthy notes from today include Sheldon Souray cleared waivers(Who saw this coming?) as well with Martin Gerber. Gerber is for sure going down to Oklahoma City, Souray on the other hand, well no one knows where he is going. For those paying attention to the Barons training camp, you will notice that Phillippe Cornet is not there yet. You may be thinking to yourself WTH?!?!?! Well don't fret folks, he is still in Edmonton dealing with immigration paperwork.

My Score Prediction:

Oilers: 5

Flames: 3

GOILERS

Preparation for War #4- Can We Get Excited Yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:51:00 +0000

Tonight is the fourth stage of the Oilers Preparation for War™ when they will face the ~~Winnipeg Jets~~ Phoenix Coyotes down at Rexall Place. One of the many things to look for in tonight's game will be how strong Jeff Deslauriers plays. This would seem as though his last chance to prove the goalie he is(but by looking at what Dubnyk has played, roughly a whole game already with probably another start) it would seem that Deslauriers is the odd man out in the crease.

The lines for tonight(courtesy of Dan Tencer) are as follows:

Magnus Paajarvi - Sam Gagner - Ales Hemsky
Dustin Penner - Andrew Cogliano - Gilbert Brule
Liam Reddox - Colin Fraser - Ryan Jones
Alex Giroux - Ryan O'Marra - Colin McDonald

Ladislav Smid - Alex Plante
Taylor Chorney - Tom Gilbert
Richard Petiot - Kurtis Foster

Jeff Deslauriers
Martin Gerber

Lines one and two are what many expect to be lines one and three when the season offically starts next Thursday. I am curious to see two things: 1) Can Sam Gagners foot speed keep up with King Magnus and The Pardubice Prince. If Sam shows up with a strong showing tonight there should be no reason why he doesn't hit 65 points this season. And 2) Who gets cut from camp after this game either tonight or tomorrow? We still have 37 players in camp, some of which don't have a snowball's chance in hell of making the team(e.g. Alex Giroux, Taylor Chorney, Ryan O' Marra). Renney needs to find 25 or so names that either have a spot locked up or are serious contenders for a spot.

One little neat quote I read on tsn.ca this morning from Jordan Eberle about the competition between the young guys "It's more of a friendly competition, you see a guy do well and you're excited for him but at the same time we are competing for jobs. It eleveates each other's games." Seriously, how do you read that and not get excited about this then Eberle trying to out do it with this and then a beauty play here. The competition between the "Big 3" should leat to some exciting hockey this season regardless of where the team finishes in the standings.

My score prediction:
Oilers: 5
Yotes: 3

Preparation for War #3- Guess who's back?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:46:00 +0000

.....Khabi's back. Yes that is correct folks, for the first time since last November, team MVP Nikolai Khabibulin will appear in an Oilers uniform. He should be all nice and rested with no distractions right? What's that? He was charged and convicted with extreme DUI after being pulled over on Super Bowl Sunday? That's fine though, he already served his jail time right? What? He didn't because he appealed the conviction? Sigh.....

The Lines for Tonight

Taylor Hall (4) - Shawn Horcoff (10) - Jordan Eberle (14)
Dustin Penner (27) - Gilbert Brule (67) - Linus Omark (23)
Alexandre Giroux (12) - Jared Aulin (47) - Ben Ondrus (25)
Teemu Hartikainen (56) - Chris Vande Velde (54) - Zack Stortini (46)

Ryan Whitney (6) - Jeff Petry (58)
Jim Vandermeer (2) - Theo Peckham (49)
Jason Strudwick (43) - Johan Motin (39)

Nikolai Khabibulin (35)
Martin Gerber (29)

My player to watch for tonight will be Chris Vande Velde, as I believe that he is entrenched in a battle with Andrew Cogliano for the position of 3rd line center. I know some of you Cogliano fans might not want to think about it but, I believe that if Cogliano can't figure out his face-offs at the NHL level then he will be sent down to Oklahoma City to master his craft there. It would make sense for not only the team but for Cogliano to do, why have a 3rd line center who can't win faceoffs? There can be a case made for putting Gilbert Brule at center, and Cogs at wing, except that Cogs is a player that prefers playing the middle of the ice. I know it's still pre-season and so on and so forth and I won't make a judgment for another week or so.

GOILERS!!!!

Preparation for War #2 Recap- King Magnus is Crowned

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 20:01:00 +0000

Last night was supposed to be all about Taylor Hall, apparently a one Magnus Paajarvi didn't get the memo. It was a great game for the future of the club, Hall scored his first official goal on a bad clearing attempt by Dan Ellis(I guess money isn't the only problem Ellis has.) and Magnus scored three, not one, not two, but three goals on Mr. Ellis. Here is his first goal, a change up that Ellis should have had.
His second goal was scored on a nice feed from Penner, who has underrated passing ability, on the power play from pretty much blue line, on his off wing? Apparently Paajarvi is one of a few players that can play both left and right wing, and look good doing so. I know a one Erik Cole said the same thing and yeah.....

His third goal was a thing of beauty, shorthanded, streaking down the right hand side, took a snap shot that apparently Mr. Ellis should have had(I respectfully disagree with Ray Ferraro) (skip ahead to the 1:17 mark) I don't think I can remember so much hype around three young guys like this ever(Did Toews and Kane have as much hype?).

Other Thoughts From Last Night

It's going to be hard for Hall to be my goat on the year, but to avoid taking the easy route for that(Horcoff, Rekhabi), I feel that Hall just won't live up to expectations this year and thus for every post he hits, or every net he misses I will "Baaaaaa" at my moving pictures box.
It wasn't just me, but Hemsky looked like he was trying to feed Hall all game, probably a good thing since I have a feeling that #4 will be on the left side of #83 this year.
Dubnyk had a nice bounce back game after the questionable half game against Vancouver, Deslauriers didn't look too bad either. The second Tampa goal was not his fault, I believe Smid should have knocked Ashton on his ass.

News from the Oilers this morning: Tyler Pitlick was assigned to Medicine Hat of the WHL, I can't wait for them to come he to Lethbridge so I can get a first hand look at both Pitlick and Bunz.