Someone needs to tell the Oilers to play 3rd period hockey for all three periods. What's with the Oilers in the third lately?
Someone needs to tell the Oilers to play 3rd period hockey for all three periods. What's with the Oilers in the third lately?
For sure, not complaining, but just find it weird that they have really been consistently much better in the third lately.
I've been reading that Sam Gagner has been really good lately. Can you see 60 points from him this year and do you think he can develop into a solid #1 C for the Oilers?
Tough call, he certainly shows flashes of being a future star, but tails off at other times.
Currently he's on pace for 52points which is what I figured he'd be at, any hope for a breakout season has taken serious hits with the Hemsky injury troubles, and the slow start of Penner. That line was deadly last year, now it's been split up. 60points would be a pleasant surprise, anything below 50 will be a big disappointment.
Long term I dont think he's the solution at Center. Ideally he'll be the 2nd line C, centering MPS and Hemsky. Hall and Eberle obviously are the future and the chemistry with Horcoff on and off the ice cant be understated, and if Horcoff has his way he'll be an Oiler for life.
If the draft was tomorrow and the Oilers had a lottery pick, I really dont know whether they'd take the big #1 C in Coutorier, or the stud dman in Larsson. They need both. If it's me I take the dman and hope the likes of Gagner, Horcoff, Brule, Pitlick, Lander can be good enough at C.
So to answer your question in short, Gagner probably shouldnt be a #1 C, but management loves his effort level and passion, so he may have the job by default.
10 Team Roto Keeper League; 20 Keepers;
Stats: G,A,Pts,ppg,ppa,pims,+/- ; W,sv%,svs
C: Seguin, Panarin, Carter
LW: Benn, Hall, Buchnevich, Coyle, Zucker
RW: Kane, Simmonds, Stone, Nino, Gallagher
D: Subban, Doughty, Byfuglien, Jones, Mcdonagh, Fowler
G: Price, Holtby, Halak, Reimer
Dec 2nd vs Maple Leafs
Recap: 5-0 win
Sorry to rub it in leaf fans, but thats what a 1st overall pick looks like. There's always the 2012 draft, but I heard the worlds ending right after that anyways. Ok no Leaf bashing.
Dont quote me on this, but the Oilers may be the first team to win 3 games in a row with 3 different starting goalies, since the Oilers did it in 2006 with Ty Conklin, Jussi Markennen, and Mike Morrison.
Onto the game, I couldnt exactly tell whether this was the Oilers best performance since opening night, or if the Leafs just really blew it. Toronto certainly had it's fair share of chances, unfortunately other than Kessel nobody on that roster really has a scoring touch, and even Kessel is struggling with that now.
Oops thats kinda Leaf bashing. Last time.
The Oilers had 3 lines clicking tonight, most notably Hall and Eberle. Hall had one of those special kinda games where every time he touches the puck he makes something happen, and even when he doesnt have the puck, hes blocking shots and forcing turnovers.
The skies the limit for him in terms of goal scoring, especially if the chemistry with Eberle continues to grow. Im glad I own Horcoff who's just along for the ride at this point. If he could finish half the high quality scoring chances he gets, he'd score every game.
Another impressive night for the Penner-Brule-Cogliano line, for what's essentially the checking line, there's plenty of raw talent and skill. The key has been the effort level of Cogliano and Brule.
No points tonight but it's nice to see them string together good games.
If Gagner can continue plugging away while Hemsky is out, he could see a surge of points when Hemsky returns for good. He's stepped his game up since the injury and has carried his line with Jones and MPS, who had a good game himself; his speed is so impressive, he just needs to figure out how to release his shot off the rush.
Khabibulan looked great, which isnt surprising, when he's well rested he plays well. Too bad for Gerber, 2 great wins and he's back in Oklahoma, but he knew what he was getting into signing a 2 way deal.
It's kind of redundant at this point but Ryan Whitney was great again. Ive barely mentioned him since starting this section, but he's been the Oilers best player, nearly every game. He's a huge part of the bright future.
It's kinda funny compared to the usual post-game talk of getting another high end draft pick, rebuilding, etc..but now some people are all of a sudden talkin playoffs. Playoffs!? PlAYOFFS!?!?
I know its incredibly unlikely, but Shawn Horcoff made a good point when asked about the possibility of getting another top 5 pick; he thinks the experience gained by the young kids during a playoff race and series, would far outweigh the benefits of another losing season and high draft pick.
Maybe he's right, but the west is too tight this year, I'll take the top 5 pick please.
10 Team Roto Keeper League; 20 Keepers;
Stats: G,A,Pts,ppg,ppa,pims,+/- ; W,sv%,svs
C: Seguin, Panarin, Carter
LW: Benn, Hall, Buchnevich, Coyle, Zucker
RW: Kane, Simmonds, Stone, Nino, Gallagher
D: Subban, Doughty, Byfuglien, Jones, Mcdonagh, Fowler
G: Price, Holtby, Halak, Reimer
Gagner was great again last night, the Brule/Cogliano/Penner connection are looking like a smart move, and Hall/Horcoff/Eberle are connecting well also.
If this team had a significant upgrade on defense then they might make a little noise, but this 4 game win streak is a little misleading. Last season they had a 5 game win streak right around this time of year as well and look at the last 4 teams that they beat - Toronto (28th in the NHL), Ottawa (26th in the NHL), Montreal (I'll take this one!), and St Louis (REALLY struggling lately).
Not to mention that even though they won they were significantly outplayed at times on all of the games.
Fun to watch though!
Man, Whitney has looked GREAT tonight.
Dec 7th vs Ducks
Yes he was awesome. Some of those stretch passes he made were Lidstrom-esque. I bet some Duck players were wondering where that player was last year.
The kids were great again, i'm gonna start including Gagner in with the kids, after all, hes only 21.
Hall and MPS were flying tonight. Hall had 1 end to end rush late in the 3rd that would have been a goal of the year candidate had Hiller not stopped the deke attempt.
Gagner continues to step his game up in Hemsky, and now Horcoff's absence.
Eberle was Eberle, slick with the puck, dangerous around the net etc..just couldnt finish.
Onto Horcoff, bad news for the captain, suffered an MCL tear and is out 2 months minimum. Unfortunate for him as he was enjoying his best season since signing that huge contract. Should be interesting to see how Hall and Eberle perform without there "mentor". I think they'll be fine.
Expecting at least 1 call-up tomorrow from the farm, maybe 2; everyones expecting Omark but the Oilers may opt to go with a center, in that case it's Ryan O'Marra, who the Oilers especially like for his face-off skills. Reddox is a possibility as well.
Back to the game, Tom Gilbert is playing much better in the last 2 weeks. When the Oilers needed a boost in the 3rd he stepped his game up and created some offense.
Brule was sat for much of the final 30minutes, he wasnt hustling tonight. Peckham had a rough outing as well.
Oh and Khabibulan was great again, especially in the shoot-out. Im sure hes available in plenty of leagues. In wins only formats I wouldnt recommend him unless you're desperate, but his peripheral stats should only improve. Tom Renney knows he overworked him early this season, so expect a 3games to 1 split between Khabi and Dubnyk.
Next up is the struggling Lightning on Friday night.
ps. I havent been updating this section as much as I'd like lately, heavy work-sched and the flu bug have dampened my spirits. But that should all change by next week. I encourage all the other great Oiler fans on this forum to chip in whenever they want to. (metaldude, doulos, Comish, and anyone else, who at the very least, still remembers the Cujo save on Joe Nieuwendyk in game 7)
Last edited by donions; December 8, 2010 at 4:27 AM.
10 Team Roto Keeper League; 20 Keepers;
Stats: G,A,Pts,ppg,ppa,pims,+/- ; W,sv%,svs
C: Seguin, Panarin, Carter
LW: Benn, Hall, Buchnevich, Coyle, Zucker
RW: Kane, Simmonds, Stone, Nino, Gallagher
D: Subban, Doughty, Byfuglien, Jones, Mcdonagh, Fowler
G: Price, Holtby, Halak, Reimer
Joseph saves, and Marchant scores!
Any thoughts on the new lines with Horcoff now out?
Brule is 6 months older than Cogliano at 23, does that make Brule our new veteran centre for Hall and Eberle?
Hall - Brule - Eberle
Penner - Cogliano - Omark
Jones - Gagner - Paajarvi
As long as Jacques and/or SMac don't move into the top 6.
12 Team H2H Semi Keeper
Scoring - G, A, PPP, SHP, GWG, +/-, FW, SOG, BLK, HIT
Goalies - W, GAA, SV%, SV, SHO
C - McDavid, Galchenyuk, E. Staal
LW - Ovechkin, Fabbri, Perron
RW - Toffoli, Donskoi, Yakupov, Parenteau, Okposo, Niederreiter
D - Hedman, Barrie, Klefbom, Bealieu, Lindholm
G - Schneider, Allen, Anderson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whms4pbgezQ
Not great quality, but shows both the save and the goal!
12 Team H2H Semi Keeper
Scoring - G, A, PPP, SHP, GWG, +/-, FW, SOG, BLK, HIT
Goalies - W, GAA, SV%, SV, SHO
C - McDavid, Galchenyuk, E. Staal
LW - Ovechkin, Fabbri, Perron
RW - Toffoli, Donskoi, Yakupov, Parenteau, Okposo, Niederreiter
D - Hedman, Barrie, Klefbom, Bealieu, Lindholm
G - Schneider, Allen, Anderson
There's a lot of possibilities. A lot of good reasons to play certain guys together.
Im gonna speculate it'll be
Hall-Gagner-Eberle
Penner-Cogliano-Brule/Jones/MPS
Omark-O'Marra-Brule/Jones/MPS
Jacques-Fraser-Brule/Jones/MPS
Almost positive Gagner will center Hall and Eberle. Renney and Gagner spoke about it today.
Before last nights game Penner-Cogliano-Brule were inseparable, but Brule was benched and Jones scored another clutch goal.
Omark and O'Marra have played together most of the year in the AHL; it may be a little risky to have such little experience on a 3rd line tho.
Practice tomorrow should shed more light.
10 Team Roto Keeper League; 20 Keepers;
Stats: G,A,Pts,ppg,ppa,pims,+/- ; W,sv%,svs
C: Seguin, Panarin, Carter
LW: Benn, Hall, Buchnevich, Coyle, Zucker
RW: Kane, Simmonds, Stone, Nino, Gallagher
D: Subban, Doughty, Byfuglien, Jones, Mcdonagh, Fowler
G: Price, Holtby, Halak, Reimer