Edmonton Oilers

[joeb323]

Anyone else pretty impressed by Dubnyk so far this year? Outside that one crazy period again SJ, he has looked pretty solid to me, especially with the Oilers giving a number of brutal giveaways in the slot type area for him to deal with this season.

[metaldude26]

Hartski looked great out there tonight. Have been happy with the way most of the team has been playing TBH except Whitney and Potter are just abysmal. Fistric needs to be getting in there every game, he's been one of our better D every game he's played IMO.

It's impossible to pull off a defensive pairing where one dude is clueless and the other has one wonky wheel. I don't understand why Potter is in the lineup at all. Justin Schultz makes him completely expendable.

[Kessel50]

Hey all how has RNH playing?
What are your projections for the future?

[wopap]

I'm also wondering how Hall has been playing? I know he has the points, but I thought he'd be more of a Goal guy vs an Assist guy (as the stats show this year anyway).

[metaldude26]

I'm also wondering how Hall has been playing? I know he has the points, but I thought he'd be more of a Goal guy vs an Assist guy (as the stats show this year anyway).

Hall's been playing well. I still hate how much he loves to go one-on-one through the defenseman's legs given his success rate is so low and how the outcome is almost always a turnover but otherwise he's playing well. He's still firing over three shots per game but is only scoring on 6.3%, which is about half his career 12.0% mark so suffice to say the goal scoring will come.

[dyzfunctioned]

Yea, I've liked the way Hall's been playing. Still makes stupid plays but just relentless on the puck and has been shooting it a lot.

RNH hasn't been lighting it up but has been playing a fairly solid two-way game.

[joeb323]

Yikes, for tonight's game RNH, Horcoff, Belanger, and now Lander all out. Who's left at centre? Soon they might as well change their name to the Edmonton Barons.

[The Comish]

I've been impressed with how well/confident Hemsky has been playing all season. He just makes slick plays look easy.

Lennart Petrell is a decent 3rd/4th line PK type guy that every successful team needs.

DD has played very well.

Smid is his usual awesome self.

I never give enough credit to Sam Gagner. He's been good to start the year.

[metaldude26]

I've been impressed with how well/confident Hemsky has been playing all season. He just makes slick plays look easy.

Lennart Petrell is a decent 3rd/4th line PK type guy that every successful team needs.

DD has played very well.

Smid is his usual awesome self.

I never give enough credit to Sam Gagner. He's been good to start the year.

I've found Hemsky always looks great until that first time he gets rocked and then starts to get tentative. Still, with all the speed and skill in this Oilers lineup he has plenty of muses to play with.

Gagner's a guy everyone wants to trade because of his size but he's easily the Oilers' most complete forward.

[The Comish]

I've found Hemsky always looks great until that first time he gets rocked and then starts to get tentative. Still, with all the speed and skill in this Oilers lineup he has plenty of muses to play with.

Gagner's a guy everyone wants to trade because of his size but he's easily the Oilers' most complete forward.

I've watched a lot of Oiler games and this is the best I've seen Hemsky play.

I underestimated Gagner's abilities and I think he's a legit 2nd line player.

[metaldude26]

I've watched a lot of Oiler games and this is the best I've seen Hemsky play.

I underestimated Gagner's abilities and I think he's a legit 2nd line player.

Over the past two years he's really matured. His overall compete level is just higher. He needs to step up his faceoff game though. This whole team does.

[golfguy1672]

I've watched a lot of Oiler games and this is the best I've seen Hemsky play.

I underestimated Gagner's abilities and I think he's a legit 2nd line player.

Hemmer definitely is flying. I think the biggest thing going for him, besides ring healthy, is he is playing 2nd line. He isn't the guy that the other team needs to shut down. He gets 2nd pairings. Oilers having 2 lines that can burn you is so big. Now we just need centers to stay healthy. Haha

[Axeman33]

Hemsky's ability and skill level were never the question marks on him. The issues surrounding Hemsky were always his health and the fact he didnt shoot the puck enough.

[dyzfunctioned]

I've been rubbing it in all my friend's faces who were basically saying we needed to trade Hemsky and Gagner for a pick/prospect over the past couple years. Hell, I remember when we dealth Penner everyone was saying we should have dealt Hemsky too. And this year they've been two of our best players.

We've got to stop with this OT shit though - we're not going anywhere in the standings if we keep giving away points (I'm referring to the games like the other night when we were up 2-0, not the ones where we came back from 0-2 to win a point in OT).

[joeb323]

It's definitely frustrating losing all those extra points in OT, but I'm still trying to take the positives out of it that at least they're getting 1 point. How many times last year did we blow games in the 3rd and not get anything?

They're still a young team and I take it as a good sign that they have had a chance to win basically every game this year except that one against SJ. The next step is to find ways to hold on/steal those needed points, then we can start taking about playoff hopes.