Bits and Bites

Forsberg apparently is thinking about coming back for another shortened season. Wouldn't that be great if we could just come to work when it's fun? Skip all the hard parts of work, and just come for the extra long lunches, and christmas parties.

Please Foppa, it's over bud. 6-8 years ago you were the best player in the world, but you are a shell of your former self. Let it go, stop taking advantage of owners that think it might be possible for you to reclaim your former playing prowess and let some younger players take the reign.

I would love to see Foppa come out and say to the Colorado management, "Look guys, I know I kind of screwed you over last year because you gave me all this money, and then I was basically injured for the whole time I was supposed to play, so I'll tell you what, don't pay me anything and I'll play for you this year for free."

Wow, am I living in bizzaro world or what?

Pete recently had a great post dissecting the Oilers mid-season performance, and did a really great job with it.

Couple points I'd like to make on it.

In my opinion, I think Visnovsky has been the best all around consistant performer this year. You watch him with the puch in his own zone and he rarely seems to make mistakes, and he breaks out of the zone wonderfully, and makes huge passes that generate great scoring chances. If only we had another play maker other than Hemsky to take advantage of those create passes.

Speaking of great playmakers, did you guys see the pass that Olli Jokinen made over top of a sprawling defender's body, and the even better 'pick out of the air' to stuff it past Roloson top shelf by Peter Mueller? Wow what a great pass and goal.

Sharks do not have enough post-season grit to win the cup. The improved on paper a bit this year with the addition of Blake, and I think that Joe Thornton is still one of the top 3 all around perfomers in the league. Lemieux is the Joker's choice this year, lets see if is 43 year old legs can still skate in the NHL. The one thing that the addition of Claude Lemieux adds to this team is a bonafide pest. Just not sure if anyone will take him seriously.

My choice to win the cup this year has gotta be Detroit. They were a great team that improved in one of their weaker areas by adding Hossa last season. They also proudly have the oldest player in the NHL on the roster (Happy Birthday Chelios, blow those 46 candles out quick the cake is melting!) Conklin is a good solid backup and the guy has attitude to boot. I wish Ty the best, probably my favorite ex-Oiler backup goaltender. (I used to love the way he would talk to his father (deceased) before playing each game, plus his interviews were always very real. None of that 'you know we gotta give 110%, and no I in Team B.S. that all the cookie cutter brainless players resort to).

I was thinking about players I miss from the Oilers the most, and the ones I miss the most are the ones that really loved Edmonton the most, not necessarily the most talented

Here's my list in no particular order:

Janne Niinimaa
Doug Weight
Ryan Smythe
George Laraque
Ray Whitney (man did K-Lowe drop the ball on this guy)

That said, here is my list of players that I miss the least, or more appropriately am glad to be rid of.

Mike Comrie
Chris Pronger
Miroslav Satan
Marius Czerkawski (remember this goofball?)
Tom Poti (special mention to him, he was villainized, but was a huge distraction for the team)

That's basically it for me, I still think the Oilers will sneak into the playoff's this year, 7th or 8th, but it will be a battle the whole way. I hope that some of these assets that have been stockpiled can be used to swing a deal to better the team, not necessarily for just a playoff run, but maybe for a player who has 2 or 3 years left on his deal.

If the Oilers could pry Vincent Lecavalier from Tampa I would go out and buy a Jersey today.

Pete you are right about that, the Oilers need a bonafide Center and a real number one Goalie. As Good as Roloson has been on a few nights, he has looked shaky on the same number of nights. JD isn't ready this year (or probably even next year) to take the helm over, so we need someone to fill the gap for next season.