To Eberle or not Eberle? That is the question ...

Probably one of the more interesting aspects of '09 Oilers training camp has been the emergent play of Jordan Eberle. The '08 draft pick has been outplaying some of the veterans. The question posed to team management by his breakout camp is - 'at what rate do you bring up the young players?'

Hemsky was brought up to the big team early on at 19 years of age. He has been on recent record voicing his support to keep Eberle on the team, citing that the experience is a crucial part of development given enough ice time. Sam Gagner broke into the league at 18 and is looking promising for the foreseeable future.

It's great that Eberle is pushing the veterans to fight for their jobs (or at minimum try to work harder and play harder out of a sense of pride), but the defining question is whether or not it's in the best interest of the team and the player to stay in the NHL and burn a year off getting that much closer to free agency. However, on a team full of smallish forwards, should another one be added? Should Eberle stay, with management making some player moves, perhaps casting off Robert Nilsson?

So, should he stay or should he go? I'm predicting the Mighty Oil send him down back to the Pats for another year, in an effort to not rush him and let him develop. If it were me sitting in the plush leather chair at the Oilers head office on Kingsway, I'd take a gamble and keep him on the team while making a player move or two, involving at least one veteran to shake things up.

Regardless, Eberle has been turning heads and making camp not quite so much a shoe-in for the returning players from last year.

Edmonton Will Welcome You Back (Unless You're Pronger)

So Mike Comrie signs with the time he spurned 6 years ago - terms were about 1.24 million over one year. I for one sit in the camp that beleive this is a good hockey decision by Tambo.

In this age of star players rejecting Edmonton (or atleast the perception), signing a quality player who actually really wants to play in the River City is a good PR move. But it goes beyond PR, to the only criteria that matters - a good hockey decision for the Oil.

To read the bloggers and mainstream media, you would be convinced that Comrie's better days are behind him. This may indeed be the fact, but the man is only turning 29 this month. He's been jumping from team to team, which his hard to develop team/line chemistry sometimes. He's got raw hockey talent. I used to think of him as a mini Doug Weight, the way he plays.

Signing him to a one year deal is a "can't lose" for the Oilers. Sure their roster is jammed right now with smallish forwards, but Comrie will pay dividends for the team. I can't hide my disdain for the Horcoff deal (won't go into that right now), but I'd rather have 89 as my first or second line pivot.

Hey, at minimum we get Hillary Duff in Edmonton for a year.

Skate with the Edmonton Oiler's Fernando Pisani

HOCKEY CONTEST: Skate with the Edmonton Oiler's Fernando Pisani (Score for Colitis and Crohn's national contest) Contest for Canadian kids 10-12 years old, who have been affected by colitis or Crohn's and who loves hockey. Contest details here

Secret Conversation between Heatley and the Oilers

Something borrowed from www.downgoesbrown.com:
As everyone knows by now, Oilers president Kevin Lowe rushed to Kelowna last night to meet with Senators winger Dany Heatley in an attempt to convince him to waive his no-trade clause and accept a deal to Edmonton.

Neither side is commenting about what went on at the meeting. But as long-time readers may have suspected, DGB spies were able to breach the security at the Heatley compound and record the discussion.

What follows is the top secret transcript of the conversation.

Lowe: Dany, I want to thank you for meeting with me. I know this entire situation has been difficult for you, but I really believe that after we get a chance to chat, you're going to want to be a part of the Oilers.

Heatley: Hey, I'm willing to hear you out.

Lowe: Now, just so I'm clear on your side of things, you're demanding a trade because...

Heatley: ... because I can't spend another day in Ottawa. I'm miserable beyond any measure of human understanding. Every day I spend in Ottawa is the worst of my life, and the only joy I find is in the knowledge that every day wasted in that god forsaken town brings me one day closer to the icy relief of death.

Lowe: I see. And you're not waiving your no-trade clause because...

Heatley: ... all that still sounds better than spending the winter in Edmonton.

Lowe: Got it.

Heatley: No offence.

Lowe: No, none taken. Now, I understand you've had some problems with the Ottawa media. But I just want to assure you that the reporters who cover the Oilers are some of the very best in the business.

Heatley: Actually, a friend of mine used to play for the Oilers and he told me that the media there is very talented.

Lowe: Oh really? And who said that?

Heatley: Chris Pronger.

Lowe: Right.

Heatley: Veeerrry talented.

Lowe: Yeah, I got it. (Cell phone rings.) I'm sorry Dany, one moment please. (Answers phone.) Hi Bryan. Yes, I'm talking to him right now. It's going well. What's that? Sure, I suppose you could say hello. Let me put you on speakerphone.

Bryan Murray: HEATLEY IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT THIS TRADE SO HELP ME I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS AND THEN I'M GOING TO SQUAT OVER YOUR CORPSE AND TAKE A NICE LONG... (click).

Lowe: Oops, he must have got disconnected.

Heatley: Your cell has a speakerphone on it?

Lowe: Never mind that.

Heatley: Look Kevin, I just want you know that the regular season is nice. But that's not my focus. For a guy like me, the real hockey doesn't start until April and May.

Lowe: Yes, absolutely, it's all about the Stanley Cup.

Heatley: The what? No, I meant the world hockey championships.

Lowe: Oh.

Heatley: Man, I totally kick ass in that tournament.

Lowe: I've heard.

Heatley: I totally lit it up against Latvia this year. Their goalie had no glove.

Lowe: Yeah, I hear they have some weaknesses.

Heatley: No, I mean literally. He had no glove. He was using a baseball cap. I scored six goals.

Lowe: Wonderful.

Heatley: I tell you, as long as the game is completely meaningless, I am unstoppable.

Lowe: I'll keep that in mind. Now, I've heard that you've had some problems with Cory Clouston.

Heatley: Yeah, he's always singling me out. "Dany, you were out of position. Dany, you have to actually work hard. Dany, you have to come back into your own zone once or twice a game." It's like he thinks he's in charge or something.

Lowe: Right. But I think you'd get along great with our new coach, Pat Quinn. I was hoping you'd get a chance to meet him tonight, but I wasn't able to get a hold of him.

Heatley: Actually, he's outside.

Lowe: He's what?

Heatley: Right there.

(Heatley points to a shadowy figure looming outside his window. The figure takes a puff from a lit cigar.)

Lowe: Um... How long has he been there?

Heatley: Going on three days now.

Lowe: I see.

(The shadowy figure points at its eyes with two fingers, then points at Heatley.)

Heatley: He keeps doing that.

Lowe: Hm.

Heatley: Hey, wasn't Steve Tambellini going to be here?

Lowe: He's in the car. We don't let him get involved with actual decisions.

Heatley: Ah.

Lowe: So Dany, in closing I just want to say that everyone in Edmonton is very excited about the possibility of having you aboard.

Heatley: Everyone.

Lowe: Absolutely everyone.

(Heatley looks over to the shadowy figure in the window, who points at him and then makes a throat-slash gesture.)

Lowe: Almost without exception.

Heatley: Well, you've done a great job selling me on Edmonton. As soon as you leave, I'm going to call my agent and tell him to waive my no-trade. I'm going to be an Oiler!

Lowe: Wow! Really?

Heatley: Hey, I'm Dany Heatley. You have my word.

Heatley finally an Oiler... not quite

Heatley meeting Edm brass in Kelowna... probably a done deal... again.. maybe...

Edit: Heatley likely still going to Edm but wants Ott to pay 4mil bonus due at midnight tonight, not Edm... soap opera much


No Chris Neil, he resigned in Ott

Rollie interview

Dwayne Roloson interview after signing in NYI.

http://emedia.630ched.com/Podcasts/1332/roloson.mp3

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Reports saying Heatley will end up in Edmonton

The rumours and reports are saying that Heatley will end up in Edmonton.

It's almost like Heatley is saying "I really don't want to play in Ottawa anymore so trade me... but if there's something better than Edmonton I'd prefer that... if not I guess I'll go there and try it out before I request a trade AGAIN."

Heatley is the kind of puck shooter that we need with Hemsky. But do we need the whiny baggage? Maybe Souray, Staois and Moreau can teach him some integrity.

Adding toughness?

The Oilers are possibly in on Chris Neil. That would be good toughness to add, depending on price.

But where's our damn scoring forward?!

Oilers find their Rollie Replacement

Oilers sign Khabibulin as their starting goalie!

Likely better than Rollie but at what cost?

Now where's our scoring forward?

Edit: 4 years, 15 million... probably tolerable for a starting goalie.

Bye, Bye Rollie

Dwayne Roloson has signed at 2 year 5 million dollar deal with the New York Islanders.

Sounds like a good deal to me. Why couldn't the Oilers offer that? Even if he ended up as the back up, 2.5 million isn't too much for a solid veteran back up these days.

What are the Oilers going to do now? There isn't too much quality goal tending available out there.

Maybe Heatley will play goal when that deal is finally all done?

Pat Quinn and Tom Renney are Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers hired Pat Quinn as their Head Coach and Tom Renney as a Associate Coach today. Kelly Buchberger was also retained as an Assistant Coach.

More to come...

Edmonton Oilers Fun Jokes

Below are a few Edmonton Oilers jokes. Warning: This jokes make fun of the Oilers and put them in a negative light. I'm a diehard Oiers fan, but hey, they missed the play-offs this year and these are actually kind of funny. So have fun with it.



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The RCMP are cracking down on speeders heading into Edmonton.

For the first offense, they give you two Edmonton Oiler tickets.
If you get stopped a second time, they make you use them.

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Q: What do you call 30 millionaires around a TV watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs?

A: The Edmonton Oilers

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Q: What do the Edmonton Oilers and Billy Graham have in common?

A: They both can make 20,000 people stand up and yell "Jesus Christ'.

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Q: How do you keep the Edmonton Oilers out of your yard?

A: Put up a goal net.

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Q: How many Edmonton Oilers does it take to win another Stanley Cup?

A: Nobody knows and we may never find out.

(It used to be just ONE.....but they got rid of him)

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Q: What do the Edmonton Oilers and possums have in common?

A: Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.

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Crucified Craig

Craig MacTavish is gone form the Edmonton Oilers. He was "mutually" fired/resigned.

I am disappointed that it came to this because the Oilers poor performance was not MacT's fault. You can blame the players for not listening, not working hard enough, and just not performing. And you can blame the GM for not bringing in high enough calibre players. But I really think Craig has done a good job.

MacT will coach again in the NHL.

Now, who is the new Oilers coach going to be? Brent Sutter, who wants to live in Red Deer? Don Lever, who is an up an comer? Marc Crawford, who wants a job anywhere? Pat Quinn, who has had great success with young players (see Team Canada).

I hope the new coach is in place before the draft but it is most likely not going to happen until after the play-offs.

Here's to hoping it all works out.

Oilers Over

The Edmonton Oilers 2008-09 season is now over. I was hoping the last two games for the Battle of Alberta would be exciting. They weren't. There was a serious lack of emotion in either game. Most of which was probably due to the Flames injury problems and cap issues. The Flames only dressed 15 skaters for both games and were entirely reluctant to get into any physical battles. There was very little hitting in either games and no one went near the Mutant Menace MacIntyre.

The Oilers won their game at home 5-1 and played well but it wasn't as dominant as a 5-1 score would seem. The Flames won their home game 4-1 in another fairly boring match. The Oilers didn't appear to play badly but they couldn't score on Flames back-up Machilney and Oilers back-up Deslauriers let in a couple softies.

Kotalik was one Oiler that jumped out at me. He never seems to be skating hard anywhere but he always shows up in the right spots and gets lots of shooting chances. this trade deadline acquisition is now a UFA. Will the Oilers keep him? They should, he seems to get along well with Hemsky.

Now that the frustrated season is over its time for the exciting times of wondering what players will stay and go and what lies in the Oilers future with a new season fresh start.

Oilers playoff hopes hit Quick-sand

The Edmonton Oilers playoff hopes sunk into Quick-sand. The Oilers are officially done. The had to beat the Los Angeles Kings and failed to do so. Young Kings goalie Jonathan Quick stonewalled the Oilers all night.

The game as a whole was quite exciting, although frustrating from and Oilers fan perspective. The game started with two fast goals by LA. One a brutal let in by Roloson and another a brutal give-away by Grebeskov. The rest of the night was dominated by the Oilers who just could not come back and beat Quick. The Oil scored one deflection goal on Quick but could score no more.

It's so disappointing to see the playoff hopes end because of two ugly mistakes. But you can't put the whole season on this one game. The entire season was a roller coaster of frustration.

The final two games of the season are against the Calgary Flames, our hated rivals. All it want is some hard effort and some entertainment. The game against the Kings had 3 fights, all won by the Oilers. Can we up the ante against the Flames, who are fighting for the Northwest division lead?

2.8% of making playoffs. Let's make the last 3 games entertaining, shall we?

This is MacTavish probably about 10 seconds before absolutely losing it and ripping out Harvey's tongue.

It's been tabulated that the Mighty Oil have a 2.8% chance of making the playoffs. That's about the strongest American beer gets. That's the odds Brian Burke and KLowe exchange Christmas cards this year. That's the odds Katz cleans house in Oilers management like he should (but won't). That's the odds Sean Avery wins the Lady Byng trophy.

We have 3 games left. I am a pessimist (realist) and I know we arn't making it to the dance. So how about we make it entertaining? MacT - this is your last kick at the cat for the Oil, mark my words. Care for a rematch with Harvey the Hound? How about Smackintyre lays out Iggie? Or the trainers have some good ol' fisticuffs at centre ice.

With a 2.8% chance of making the playoffs, shouldn't we be hoping for a good draft choice? Honestly, remember that year where we won that last game, when we would have been in the draft lottery had we lost? I know we all want to beleive that we'll sneak in and run the tables in the playoffs, but I have a reality check for y'all - it's not happening. Let's relax, take some liberties with the opposition and entertain the fans. Let's get our #8 pick (the highest we can possibly get). Gagner was a #6.

Fans need something to take away from this craptastic hockey year. Beating the snot out of our hick breathren to the south would suffice for now, but it's obvious big changes need to be made in Oil Country.

Edmonton Oilers still alive... barely.

The Edmonton Oilers won against the Vancouver Canucks 5-3. The win keeps there very slim play-off hopes alive. With the precious 2 points they picked up against the Canucks they now sit 3 points back of a play-off spot with 3 games to play.

Sam Gagner had a great night with a goal and two assists. His goal was a highlight reel one, the kind you expect from Hemsky. An end to end rush, burn the d-man and deke the goalie. A thing of beauty.

The Oilers put in a solid effort and Roloson played great again. The Oilers will need a minimum of this kind of effort in the last 3 games to even sniff at the play-offs.

Team owner Darryl Katz gave the oft maligned Craig MacTavish a vote of confidence, squarley placing the blame on the players, right were it should be. Now it's time to step up.

Edmonton Oilers Playoff hopes bitten by Sharks

I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to the Oilers. They are my team. And they aren't done yet... quite.

The San Jose Sharks beat the Oilers 2-1. The Oilers gave it a fairly valiant effort but came up short. There are some Oilers who are putting it on the line for this playoff run, mainly Dwayne Roloson and there are some Oilers who aren't... just watch a game they are easy to spot.

The Oilers made many mistakes in this game, not for lack of effort, just costly mistakes. Several opportunities were lost due the defense not being able to keep the puck in the offensive zone. And some untimely penalties curbed the Oilers momentum.

San Jose is just a better team. They have big, skilled players and an offensive forechecking system that works great for them. I believe that the Sharks are going to the cup final.

This has been a frustrating year to be an Oilers fan but we have a few more games yet to cheer for. Hopefully there will be something to cheer about. How about we play Stortini, Jacques and MacIntyre for the final two games against the Flames. At least we should get some entertainment.

Yeah, what the Orangutang said ...

I don't know how the Oilers journalists do it, but I'm running out of ways to succintly say that the Oilers are in a world of suck and things have to change. There is a great post loaded with f-bombs over at OilersNation that couldn't explain better the way I feel right now.

I know not everyone agrees, but the first step has got to be the rear-end of MacT making contact with the exit door. 8 years, and the highest we've finished is 7th. I wish my employer was satisfied with meager mediocrity like that, hell the Oilers promote that sort of thing (see: KLowe). I know the argument from the other side says that the coach can't do anything if the players arn't willing, but honestly - at this point which is easier, showing all the players the door or the coach? MacT sounds like he's on a valium or smokin' the gange after some of these games. Where is the fire? Where is the anger? I know there's plenty of it in Oil Country.

It takes passion to be a fan, and when you live and die by the latest Oil score and wear your heart on your jersey it gets old quick when you witness a team of floaters (save for Roli) that have tuned out their coach and daydreaming about their next small island they're going to purchase with their fat cheques.

The Oilers have the best fans in hockey, and expect nothing less than a full effort on the ice. What I would give to be Tambo in the off-season. Is it a sign of mental issues if you dream about personnel changes you'd make given the chance to occupy the Oil Office over at Kingsway?

On a side note, I"m happy to see that Chorney will get some action with the big club, albeit at the expense of the injured Smid.

B-O-R-I-N-G

Wow! What a boring game. Except for the last 2 minutes, I wanted to ask for my money back after leaving Rexall tonight. It's a pretty safe bet that, if you give Minnesota a lead early in the game, you're going to get frustrated.

Speaking of frustrated, something is clearly going on with Ales Hemsky. I know it came out in the Dan Barnes column last week, but he just hasn't been himself lately. He even started throwing punches with Marek Zidlicky tonight. That was good to see but very unusual. Hopefully, he snaps out of whatever's bothering him. I suspect it may be frustration over Shawn Horcoff's disappointing season. Hemmer needs a centreman who's rolling on a nightly basis and Horc has just been fighting the puck far too often this year.

The Oil just could not get any sustained pressure going until the very end of the 3rd. It's not like they didn't have motivation - Nashville and St. Louis wrapped up victories tonight just before the start of this one, Anaheim was playing the worst team in the conference, and the Oilers were hosting the Wild. All 4 of those teams are ones the Oilers have to beat. It doesn't get any more "Must Win" than this.

All around, it was not their best effort. Dustin Penner continued to play well, though he had at least one horrendous shift where he gave the puck away twice in the Wild's zone then skated through a pass on his way to the bench. Otherwise, he was solid. Roli had an off-night - maybe the consecutive start streak is finally catching up to him. The defence also gave the puck away too often. Strudwick and the 4th line (Stortini, Jacques, Brodziak) were banging and brought some good energy. The goals they scored were on good plays but again not enough sustained pressure.

As for the next game, Robert Nilsson should be back in. He's been good lately and deserves another shot, especially after this lacklustre effort from most of his mates. I'm not sure how bad Ladi Smid was hurt but I expect to see Theo Peckham in.

Oilers beat the Ducks.. with Passion!

The Edmonton Oilers won against the Anaheim Ducks 4-3. A very important 2 points that put the Oilers back in 7th place.

The Oilers finally played with some passion. MacTavish took Pouliot and Reddox out of the lineup and inserted JF Jacques and Zack Stortini. This was a good move. Instead of the passionless positional defensive play of Reddox and the mistake filled play of Pouliot we got the passion and aggression of Jacques and Stortini. Both fought George Parros of the Ducks and Jacques big hit behind the net was directly responsible for an Oilers goal.

The Oilers took too many penalties in this game though. Maybe the right combination of line-up changes is to play Reddox and Stortini, one positional and one passion player. Whatever it may be the Oilers need to keep up this level of intensity instead of the previous 3 games of dry emotionless drivel.

Note: Penner scored two goals and played well on a mix of the top two lines. Keep it up Dustin. don't fall into your old habits.

Message to Penner: Shape up or ship out

Is it just me or do other people think Dustin Penner is grossly over rated and over paid?

I just do not get why Kevin Lowe would sign this guy to a contract worth over $4 million per season. His stats are not really impressive this season as he only has 15 goals and 19 assists in 71 games so far. He also seems to make more poor decisions than good decisions in a game. It seems for every one great play he makes he screws up six other plays. I understand that Penner is young and inexperienced, so he will need time to learn. He also does not have enough talent to collapse the learning curve like a superstar would, so there will be growing pains. In the big picture though it is not Penner's ability or contract that really bugs me. I obviously believe he has talent and it will take time to develop it to the fullest potential. And hey, all the power to him and his agent for getting that contract. What does bother me is I do not believe he is even in NHL game shape.

Recently, I attended the home game against Detroit and the program listed Penner as 6' 4 and 245lbs. I know his size is part of his game, but he could easily be 15-20lbs lighter and still be a big man in the NHL. He would also likely be faster and more agile which would add to his game. I also noticed he was significantly slower near the end of the game than he was in the beginning. That is likely due to poor conditioning and is unacceptable at the NHL level. Maybe when he was in juniors he could get away with it, but this is the big leagues and there is way more competition at this level.

Therefore, I am issuing a challenge to Dustin Penner to get into better shape. Your career may depend on it. You could be a solid second liner with the ability to step into the first line if need be and continue to have a sizable contract. If you continue the way you are going you will be another out of shape tough guy relegated to the fourth line who will become a fighter and your next contract will be much smaller. As it stands right now you are not worth the contract you signed.

Same old Oilers song

I feel like a broken record. The Edmonton Oilers lost to the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2. Just like the Detroit game the Oilers only played about 10 minutes. The Oilers spent the whole first 50min just going through the motions. No passion, no drive. The Coyotes took a 3-0 lead. Edmonton finally showed some motivation in the final minutes and made it 3-2. But that's not enough.

The Oilers gave up critical points in this game and now sit out of the play offs. It doesn't even matter if they make the play offs if they're playing like this. They'll be done in 4 games.

They play Anaheim tonight. This is a very critical game against a streaking team that is just ahead of them. I hope I'm not frustrated again. Let's see some damn passion.

Oilers tank another opportunity

The Edmonton Oilers lost to the Detroit Red Wings 3-2.

The Oilers played well and out shot the Wings in the first period and led the game 1-0 for most of the game. The Wings tied it 1-1 and then they scored two goals in 32 seconds with less than two minutes left. The Oilers scored one more but it wasn't enough.

The Oilers just don't have that killer instinct. Their drive and motivation just doesn't seem high enough. Leading the wings and having the chance to get two points or at least one point after it was tied and then giving it all away. It was so disappointing.

Edmonton just isn't on par with the elite teams. They still hold a play off position, but barely. They need to win some more games down the stretch. The top line of Hemsky, Horcoff and O'Sullivan need to pick it up and perform better.

Hitler's reaction to the Oilers

Although I don't agree with all the opinions expressed in this video, it's still hilarious: