Oilers Lose A Tough One

A tough loss tonight in Edmonton where one mistake can cost you the game.  Whatever, it happens.   - A few thoughts from tonight.  I will break it into what I like and then what scares me about the Oilers from what I have seen so far in preseason and this game:

What scares me about the Oil:

• Moreau is not even present on the ice.  Is he not the leader?  What the heck is he doing?
• Khabibulin does not look confident, regardless of the mistake, I mean all game
• Hemsky does not look as strong as I remember
• Passes are not crisp, the Oilers still are giving up the puck a lot
• Defensive zone coverage sloppy

What I like:

• Quinn's plan of adding size is working
• The new Penner
• Gagner fighting to get back up to the right line, a goal and a fight
• Comrie and O'Sullivan (Sully missed a lot of chances but he will bounce back)
• Horcoff's faceoff percentage

It is only the first game.  How the team bounces back will determine how they do in the next few weeks.

PTB

Top 5 Reasons to be Excited so Far

With new coaching and a new system we as fans do not know what to expect for this season with the Oilers. Without a top-end 100 point guy are the Oilers going to have trouble scoring goals again? Or, will the current roster step it up and produce to their potential? Personally I think that it was a lot about the coach. This year we will really see what these boys are made of. Maybe Mac T did "coach the scoring" out of guys like Gagner, Hemsky, Horcoff, and Penner. O' Sullivan is going to be better guaranteed. Comrie is looking good so far and leads the Oil in points in the preseason. Either way, I have the top 5 reasons you should be excited judging from the preseason so far:


1. Mike Comrie - leads the Oil in points in the preseason and looks like he has a new confidence. Remember that he has been injury-plagued the last few seasons. He also has to "make it up" to the fans here at Rexall. Not a fan of the Comire deal? Well remember that there is something to be said about a man with a mission and something to prove.

2. Patrick O' Sullivan and Mike Comrie - they are the top 2 guys in preseason and look great together on a line. I believe that O' Sullivan will be top-3 in Oilers scoring this year. Remember that he came here more that 1/2 way through last year and had to adjust to the coach and system. Both were suspect so look for O'Sullivan to have better year and produce at least 50 points. Comrie will have more as his line mate.

3. Khabibulin, Nikolai - has a Stanley Cup ring, had a shut out in his first game, is a veteran goalie and a proven starter. I think he is an upgrade to Roli and he has had way more success. Did we ever solve the argument if Roli was a legit starter or not? He may have proved it last year as he was the team's MVP but we will let the argument filer out to New York where it looks like Roli is part of another 3-headed-monster situation. Have fun buddy, thanks for 2006.

4. Gilbert, Souray, and Visnovsky - scoring will again be coming a lot from the back end. These 3 make the Oilers challenge for having one of the best defense teams in the league. If they all stay healthy, the Oilers will only increase in scoring from the D position.

5. No sense of entitlement - last year the media, coaches, management, and fans all had the Oilers making the playoffs no problem. The players however let it get to their heads a little and before you knew it we were counting games and using the "If" word. This year is different. Everyone is just happy to be here and nobody is guaranteed a job. It is all about the game plan and each player actually playing hockey. Every team is good and you never know who could surprise you each and every night. Let's sit back and see what the boys can do.


PTB

Welcome to the 2009-2010 season

It has been a while as far as writing action goes on this blog, but a lot has happened in the world of hockey. We were able to see Crosby raise the cup and bring it back to Canada...well sort of. Craig MacTavish was booted out of the Oilers organization and since we cannot over-pay players anymore, (well we can..cough....Horcoff..) we elected to hire two top-notch coaches in Renney and Quinn. We got to watch, and are still watching, the Phoenix Fiasco as the desert dogs really became the dogs of the NHL. (What's happening with that now anyway?...ahhh who cares).

There were a lot more happenings like the draft and the Heatley thing, but I did not really pay any attention to most of it. My attention stopped when I found out about the before mentioned hiring of the new coaches. At that moment I had the feeling that my Oil were...in a way...taken care of. Don't you feel that way?

You see, MacT was smart and all, but I didn't feel safe when he was behind the bench the last few years. Maybe it was the confused look he had when the Oilers took yet another bench minor. Maybe it was the fact that he was so well spoken in interviews but did stupid things like put guys like Marc Pouliot on the power play when the Oil were behind a goal with 30 seconds to go.

I don't know.

I just get the feeling like we are safer as fans. I like the moves the Oilers have made and I like the look so far. Comrie is back and that doesn't seem so bad either. Penner in in shape and has told reporters he has laid off the Sour Patch Kids and Beer. Good job Pens. No Sour Patch kids = 30 goals? We'll see.

More than ever the Oilers have more to prove this year but I do not have that uneasy feeling like I did last year when I predicted they would finish 3rd in the West. I predicted it, and then I watched a few more games and became worried in my prediction.

This year I will wait for the predictions for a bit. Instead, here are my top 10 things that are missing which will contribute to the Oilers having a better season. Why? Well, we were all mad that Heatley did not come to Edmonton. Guess what? Sometimes it isn't what you add but what you take away that could help you out.

Top 10 Things the Oil Took Away to Make them Better

10. The Offspring opening song - Fun when you are winning, annoying when you are losing

9. The "team toughness" theory - Our GM went and got McIntyre and suddenly the Boogaards of the world went away. Hmmm...funny how that works

8. Kyle Brodziak - Nothing personal buddy but as the saying goes if we had a nickel for every checking forward that is big but plays small then we would be....well you know

7. The locker room separation at training camp - Quinn got rid of the vets in one room and the kids in the other for training camp. They are all in one room, every guy is fighting for a spot on the team

6. Give-always - Quinn make each squad do anti turn-over drills over and over again the last few days. He must have been watching last year. A few of the squads did not do it right so he flooded the ice again and made them come back and do it over. Then the other team that played in Calgary came back when the other squad was done and they had to do it again. Centre ice turn-overs = death.

5. Fat Penner - he is 20 lbs lighter and looks good. His face looks skinny and neck has some muscle. He looks faster out there and I think he knows that this year is his year. Look for him to produce like he did before he won the cup with the Ducks

4. No "Sophomore Slump" for Gagner and Cogliano. 3rd year is always better.

3. No 3-headed goalie monster. The #1 job issue is not even up for discussion. It's Khabibulin's show and you better get used to it. No debate, we are done here

2. Moreau not injured - Remember we did not have a Capitan for like 2 months at the beginning of the season last year? No leader to start could do bad things to a room really quick. Stay healthy Ethan.

1. Mac T - the obvious. A fresh start was needed, a new identity is formed for the team. In my eyes in can only get better from here.

PTB

Game 7 Pens Versus Wings

It really doesn't get any better than this folks.

Throw in the subplot of Marian Hossa switching from the Penguins to the Red Wings because he thought that his best chance of winning the Stanley Cup was to go to Detroit. This means that if the wings somehow manage to lose Game 7, then Hossa will have been on the losing end of both years, on the opposite side of the fence. Pretty amazing actually.

That said, it is going to be a very difficult game for the Penguins. They have yet to win a game in Joe Louis Arena these playoffs, and they have been much more successful against Detroit when Pavel Datsyuk is not in the line up.

I think that Datsyuk's foot would have to be cut off for him to miss this game, even then, he might find a way to strap on some kind of crazy skate and play this game. Heck, we might even nickname him 'Stumpy' from then on.

Hockey really doesn't get better than this, two very offensive teams, one a bit more responsible in their own end (I'll let you guess to whom I am referring on this one).

Let's just say that moments like this truly define the career of some of these young players. If Malkin and Crosby can step up and show the world how awesome they have the potential of being, and if Fleury can really shine (man he is going to have to be good), then maybe, just maybe the Penguins can win this game.

I would love to see the Penguins win, that said, Detroit will probably win this game.

My prediction is 5-3 Detroit.

Good luck Pens, I hope I'm wrong.

Quinn-tessential Oiler

Oilers are going to name Pat Quinn new head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. This is a very interesting move as it basically re-unites Tambellini with Quinn from their years together at the helm of the Vancouver Canucks.
Oilers have called a press conference for 12pm local time.

Tom Renney is named to be assitant coach.

Loads of experienced coaching comes in to replace the vilified MacTavish, I think the team will be better off with this change.

I like the East and My Picks

I will have to say that I really enjoyed the 1st round of the playoffs. The teams in the east, to me, were the most entertaining. They were all great games. For the west - the Detroit series I did not watch much of. It looks like I did not miss much. In another sweep, the Boston-Montreal series was really fun to watch and was closer than the sweep indicated. I was in Toronto for a few of the games and there are a lot of Montreal fans in Toronto. The sports pubs were packed and people are freaks about hockey out east. It was really fun to watch hockey in an atmosphere where people like hockey as much as me. I find Oilers fans can be kind of snobs when it comes to hockey in general. It is all about them and they cannot appreciate a good team when they see one – like Boston. In the end, Boston was just too good for Montreal, and is my new choice to win the cup.

Like many people in the hockey world, I am really excited to watch the Penguins-Capitals series. The two teams showcase a lot of talent and it will be interesting to see what team can shut down each other the best. Even though there are lots of goals to be had in this series, I believe it will be goaltending and strong defense that will determine the winner of this series, I can’t see the coaches giving their skilled players the go-ahead to play run-and-gun. The Capitals won the season series 3 -1.

I don’t really have a favorite game that I want to see in the west. Whatever. Chicago, Vancouver, Detroit, or Anaheim all do not really excite me. It may be neat to see the battle between the Anaheim defense and the Detroit forwards. I hope Pronger takes a bunch of cross-checking penalties again and Detroit’s powerful man advantage makes him pay. That would be a good time.

Here are my picks for the second round:

Chicago vs. Vancouver – Chicago in 5
Detroit vs. Anaheim – Detroit in 6

Carolina vs. Boston – Boston in 4
Pittsburg vs. Washington – Washington in 7

Now THAT is Hockey

I had the privilege of watching two excellent games tonight. Canes and Devils, Caps and Rangers. Wow. Next goal wins, fantastic goaltending, goals when the teams need them, hitting, emotion, fine coaching - both games had everything I love about hockey.

And how about that ending for the Carolina-New Jersey game eh? Wow. 1:20 left and the Canes score twice to win it. Talk about sudden death for the Devils and it wasn't even overtime!

Great hockey - I am glad the two teams that came out in the end won. I wanted to see the Caps win a series for once and I like the character of the Carolina team. Good stuff.

I will chime in tomorrow with my choices for the next round. I was 6/8 for this past round with my choice to win the cup - the Sharks - being upset by the Ducks. Next round will be tougher to predict but I am excited to see the next set of games, especially in the west.