Unfortunately for supporters of the Staples Center’s “other tenant” — and despite the trade rumors, no I do not mean the Clippers — , the Kings looked dreadful for most of the evening. A mere twenty-four hours after GM Dean Lombardi announced his decision to fire head coach Terry Murray, the Kings were unable to respond, and dropped their fifth game in a row. Shutout for the 3rd time this season, Los Angeles 29th ranked offense couldn’t get anything past a flawless Tuukka Rask en route to their fifth straight loss. Playing through a transitional period such as this, with high levels of uncertainty surrounding the team, it’s coaches and management obviously an understandably difficult task. However, Kings’ netminder and Milford, CT native Jonathan Quick was not making any excuses for his team on Tuesday night:

“There is a lot of stuff going on, but there is no excuse. You can’t take stuff like that and call it a distraction, use it as a reason not to win the game.” – Jonathan Quick

It was only 6:32 into the game that the B’s would take the lead as Rich Peverley cashed in a beauty of a feed from Zach Hamill for his fifth goal of the season. A relatively uneventful first period would come and go with some back and forth play by both squads, and the score remaining 1-0 Boston. At the 7:43 mark of the second frame, it was Boston’s impressive prowess in the face-off dot that paid huge dividends as Brad Marchand snapped one past Quick after a clean win in the circle by Patrice Bergeron. Often the most underrated aspect of Bergeron’s all-around game is his proficiency in the face-off circle, something Marchand certainly understands the importance of:

“He’s if not the best, one of the top in the league. He’s very consistent every night. He’s very, very strong on the draws and it’s huge for our team. The amount we start with the puck because of how well he is on draws is, it’s a big thing.” – Brad Marchand

Early in the third, some hard work and battling in the corners once again paid off for Boston’s second line, as Bergeron and Marchand connected for the second time of the night. In what some might describe as a “typical Marchand goal”, the 6’1” winger dangled the puck onto his backhand and slipped it passed a downed Jonathan Quick. Boston’s third goal turned out to be more than enough for Rask, who continued to dominate the Los Angeles forwards, shutting the door each and every time the Kings had a chance to get on the board.

After tonight’s shutout and Saturday’s win in relief, Rask has won six of his last eight decisions.

“Well he was good tonight, arguably our best player tonight. He got better as the game went on and I thought he did a good job the other night coming in and kind of settling himself in in the third period and then he just carried that into tonight.” – Claude Julien

On a night when the B’s were without the services of their ever reliable captain Zdeno Chara, the performance of their goaltender was undoubtedly the most crucial factor to victory. Tuukka’s 41-save shutout tonight most definitely goes along way to solidifying no. 40′s spot on this team and perhaps earns the 24-year-old Finn a bit more playing time than usual. Normally goaltenders do not see action in both games of a back-to-back set, but when asked who would be in the Boston net tomorrow evening, Head Coach Claude Julien jokingly replied “That’s none of your business.”

From The Room:

Click here to view the embedded video.

LA Kings’ Jonathan Quick

KEY STATS

Goals–                       LAK (0)                BOS (3)

Shots–                       LAK (41)              BOS (22)

Power-Play–           LAK (0-5)           BOS (0-3)

Penalty-Kill–           LAK (3-3)             BOS (5-5)

• Three Stars– ….. 3.) Rich Peverley ….. 2.) Brad Marchand ….. 1.) Tuukka Rask

What’s Next?

It’ll be another quick turnaround for the Bruins as they will depart the Hub late Tuesday night on a flight to Ottawa. The Black and Gold are slated for a Wednesday evening contest against the Senators at ScotiaBank Place. The Kings will continue their four-game eastern swing as they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday at the Nationwide Arena.

Thanks For Reading!

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Lubomir Visnovsky, Anaheim – $5,600,000 cap hit After his best offensive season in the NHL, during which he scored a league-leading 68 points among defensemen, Visnovsky has been a big disappointment this year in Anaheim. The talented rearguard had only four points in 16 games before he sustained a broken thumb that will put him on the shelf for at least a month.

Ville Leino, Buffalo – $4,500,000 cap hit Signed to a six-year deal as a free agent by the Sabres this summer, Leino has been a major disappointment in Buffalo. With only 6 points and a -5 differential in 24 games this season, Leino is considered the worst free-agent signing of 2011.

Jay Bouwmeester, Calgary – $6,680,000 cap hit Acquired from Florida by the Flames before the 2009-10 season, Bouwmeester’s offence has always been overrated, having never broke the 50-point barrier in a single season. Entering the third year of his five-year contract, Bouwmeester has only one goal and six assists for seven points in 23 games.

Eric Staal, Carolina – $8,250,000 cap hit Coming off a very good season, during which the Hurricanes captain recorded 76 points in 81 games, Staal has been slumping badly this season without his former line-mate Erik Cole, who has signed a multi-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens. Staal has a league-worse -18 ratio to go along with only 12 points in 26 games.

Tomas Kaberle, Carolina – $4,250,000 cap hit Signed as a free agent by Carolina in the off-season after winning the Stanley Cup with the Bruins, Kaberle has only one goal and 13 assists for 14 points in 49 games since he got traded by the Maple Leafs last season. The offensive defenseman has zero goal this season to go with a dismal -12 ratio.

Ed Jovanovski, Florida – $4,125,000 cap hit Signed as a free agent to a four-year contract by Florida this summer, Jovocop is more like a mall guard these days. With only five points in 23 games this season, Jovanovski has seen his offensive output decline steadily since his 51-point campaign in 2007-08. The oft-injured rearguard finished 2010-11 with only 14 points in 50 games with Phoenix.

Dustin Penner, Los Angeles – $4,250,000 cap hit Entering the last year of a five-year deal he signed with the Oilers, the Penner experiment has been a major failure with the Kings. The oversized forward’s production has been nearly non-existent this season with only two assists in fourteen games, before he sustained a hand injury.

Marek Zidlicky, Minnesota – $4,000,000 cap hit The oft-injured Zidlicky missed 36 contests last season due to injury, recording only 24 points in 46 games. This year, Zidlicky’s production has been almost non-existent; in 18 games, the offensive-minded rearguard has zero goal and six assists for only six points.

Scott Gomez, Montreal – $7,357,143 cap hit Acquired prior to the 2009-10 season by Montreal, Gomez had an average year two years ago, recording 59 points in 78 games. However, since then, his play has been declining fast. Last year, he only managed seven goals and 38 points in 80 games, while the season he has yet to score a goal (4 assists) in 13 games. He’s currently sidelined with a groin injury.

Ilya Kovalchuk, New Jersey – $6,666,667 cap hit After signing a very expensive 15-year contract prior to the 2010-11 season, Kovalchuk’s production has been subpar at best. Known as a point-per-game player in Atlanta, Kovalchuk finished with only 60 points in 81 games last year, while this season, the Russian sniper has only scored four goals and 13 points in 17 contests with the Devils. This contract could prove very costly, as the Devils are rumoured to be bankrupted and all-star Zach Parise is slated to become a free agent at season’s end.

Brian Rolston, New York Islanders – $5,062,500 cap hit Acquired from the Devils in the off-season for his veteran leadership, Rolston’s production has been in steady decline since the 2005-06 campaign during which he recorded 79 points with Minnesota. This year, Rolston has been mediocre at best, notching only three goals and three assists for six points in 20 games with the Islanders.

Rick Dipietro, NY Islanders – $4,500,000 cap hit Re-signed to a 15-year contract prior to the 2006-07 season, Dipietro’s career has been marred with injuries. This season, Dipietro has been healthy, but he has not played much losing his starting to veteran Evgeni Nabokov first, and then to back-up Al Montoya who has been playing well. he’s also been mediocre posting a 3.44 GAA and a pathetic .885 save % in only seven games.

Ilya Bryzgalov, Philadelphia – $5,666,667 cap hit Acquired from the Coyotes before the season by the Flyers, Breezer has been colder than a winter night in January in Winnipeg. Bryzgalov, who was signed to a nine-year contract to stabilize the Flyers goaltending position has been more than shaky. In 15 starts, Breezer has eight wins with a subpar 2.89 GAA and a less than stellar .897 save %.

Paul Martin, Pittsburgh – $5,000,000 cap hit Signed as a free agent in the summer of 2010, Martin was brought for his steady and calm presence on the blue line. After a so-so campaign last year during which Martin managed 24 points in 77 games, the 30 year-old blue liner is having a tough season so far despite the Penguins’ success. Through 25 games, Martin has yet to find the back of the net, while adding only eight assists. He also has a team-worse -9 ratio.

Martin Havlat, San Jose – $5,000,000 cap hit Acquired in the off-season from the Wild for forward Dany Heatley, Havlat has had trouble adapting to his new team after a 62-point campaign in Minnesota last season. After 17 games, Havlat has scored only one goal and added eight assists for nine points in 17 games with the Sharks.

Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay – $7,727,273 cap hit Lecavalier was signed to a 11-year contract extension by Tampa Bay before the 2009-10 season. Lecavalier rewarded the Lightning with a paltry 70-point campaign in 2009-10 and an even less impressive season of 54 points in 2010-11. This season, Lecavalier has been inconsistent, scoring ten goals and adding seven assists for 17 points in 23 games, on pace for only 60 point, which is not enough for the face of the franchise.

Mike Komisarek, Toronto $4,500,000 cap hit After flourishing as a bruising defenseman alongside Andrei Markov, Komisarek joined the Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2009. This year, Komisarek had only one goal and three assists for four points in 18 games before breaking his arm. After being made a healthy scratch a few times, now Komisarek will be sidelined for almost eight weeks.

Keith Ballard, Vancouver $4,250,000 cap hit Currently in only the third year of a six-year deal, Ballard has been far from impressive since his acquisition from the Panthers. Ballard was often made a healthy scratch during the Canucks cup run last spring. So far this year, Ballard has only recorded a mere two points in 22 games to go along with a -6 plus/minus ratio.

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver $5,333,333 cap hit Luongo’s play has been slowly fading in recent years, and his inconsistency in last year’s playoffs has planted a seed of doubt in the mind of the Canucks fans. With ten more years to go to his twelve-year contract and this season, Luongo is the clear #1 goaltender in Vancouver. Well, not necessarily as youngster Corey Schneider has started the past six games and doesn’t want to give the job to the struggling Luongo. Bobby Loo has a back-up calibre GAA of 2.97 to go along with a borderline .900 save % in 13 games this season.

Alexander Semin, Washington $6,700,000 cap hit The unpredictable Russian had a slumping season under former head coach Bruce Boudreau, scoring only ten points in 22 games. Semin was even made a healthy scratch once. Now that Boudreau is gone, Semin should find his motivation back and start producing offensively if he wants to cash in big at season’s end as he is slated to become an unrestricted free agent.

Please note that I omitted players who have been injured most of the season such as Jason Blake, Kristian Huselius, Andy McDonald, Ryan Whitney and Andrei Markov.

If you think I missed an overpaid NHLer, please let me know in the comments section.

———-
Fred is a freelance sports write and translator, as well as a featured Montreal Canadiens blogger on http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/ and a baseball columnist on http://www.dobberbaseball.com/. Fred also joined HabsAddict.com in time for the 2011-12 season.

Follow Fred on Facebook and Twitter

The Kings went with their back up netminder Jonathan Bernier.

The Kings opened with an interference penalty just 25 seconds into the contest. The Predators did not get a shot on net during their power play, and just as the penalty expired, Patric Hornqvist was called for interference. With 10 seconds remaining in that penalty, Jerred Smithson was called for tripping. The Predators killed off Hornqvist penalty but 5 seconds later gave up a power play goal as defenseman Alec Martinez got open on the weak side and took a nice cross ice pass from Justin Williams and buried the shot past an out of position Lindback to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.

Drew Doughty gave the Kings a 2-0 lead at 13:47 of the period as he unleashed a blast from just inside the blue line that beat Lindback over his shoulder and just under the crossbar. The Kings have struggled to score goals this season, and unfortunately for the Predators, they looked as if they had broken out of this slump early on in the contest.

It was a deficit that the Predators did not need to face and certainly not the start they wanted. It was now going to be another test of character for the Predators to claw their way back into this game.

Matt Halischuk cut the deficit to one with a 4 on 4 goal at 10:41 of the first. This goal was the result of nothing but hard work and hustle, as Haslichuk dumped the puck in the zone, retrieved it, got it out front and got a rebound of a Shea Weber shot and wristed the puck past Bernier. A Predator hockey goal and a nice answer to the push the Kings had put on early in the period.

Character showed itself at 16:02 of the period as Craig Smith blasted a rocket from the face off circle past Bernier while the Predators were on the power play. This was Smith’s fifth goal of the season, and the thing about Smith is that he is not afraid to shoot the puck, and it is paying off in good scoring chances and in goals.

The Predators were guilty of some horrific turnovers in their zone- one by Teemu Laakso and one by Jordin Tootoo- that could have resulted in Kings goals, but Lindback made some big saves to keep the Kings off the board. The period ended with the score knotted at 2, but certainly the Kings had some glorious chances to take the lead late in the period.

The Predators troubling trend of getting badly outshot reared its ugly head in the first period, as the Kings outshot the Predators 16-8.

More ominously, the Predators lost David Legwand early in the period to an upper body injury.

The action in the second period was back and forth with both goaltenders making some good saves, but the Kings finally cracked the scoreboard at 9:28 on a 3 on 2 break out. Mike Richards took a nice cross ice pass from Dustin Brown and beat Lindback with a shot inside the post.

The Kings extended their lead to 2 on the power play with Jordin Tootoo in the box for hooking as Simon Gagne took a shot from the face off circle that was deflected by Predators defenseman Jonathan Blum and past Lindback to make it 4-2.

The second period ended with the Predators a man down as Patric Hornqvist took his third penalty of the night, one of five the Predators incurred through the first two periods. The Predators were also down 4-2 on the scoreboard. While the first period demonstrated the character and grit of this team, the second period was the complete opposite. The Predators gave the Kings numerous quality scoring chances and didn’t generate much of anything in the way of offensive push.

The second period was in a word, disappointing. The lack of discipline and response by the Predators was frustrating to say the least.

With one period left, it remained to be seen how the Predators would respond. Would it be a San Jose effort, or we we see another Edmonton implosion?

For most of the period, we saw very little. The Predators failed to generate quality scoring chances and challenge the Kings in their zone. Yes, we shot the puck, but it was a fairly easy period for Bernier.

But at 18:48, with the extra attacker on, Ryan Suter threw the puck at the net and Patric Hornqvist deflected the puck past Bernier to make it 4-3. Nice to see Hornqvist atone for some of the penalties he took earlier. This was the 6th straight game in which Hornqvist has recorded a goal.

The Predators had a good flurry in the final minute, but it was too little too late as a horrifically sloppy second period and a mostly flaccid third period effort doomed the Predators as they fell 4-3.

This team cannot take a period off, and must play Predator hockey for 60 minutes if they are going to have an opportunity to win games. Tonight, they did not play a full 60 minutes and it cost them.

Hopefully, this team does not have to keep learning this lesson.

My three stars:

1. Jonathan Bernier

2. Dustin Penner

3. Craig Smith

The last time Montreal had won in Vancouver was in November 2000, so few Habs fans were expecting the hapless Habs to come out of this game with two points. But quick first period goals by rookie David Desharnais on a breakaway and captain Brian Gionta on a rebound put the Habs in front 2-0 midway through the first frame. Scott Gomez’s assist on Gionta’s goal was the 500th of his NHL career.

They even had a 14-1 shot advantage in the first 10 minutes, but the Canucks roared back in the second half of the first period to end the period with 12 shots. Early in the second period, the Canucks finally beat Carey Price on the power play. Henrik Sedin scored his 15th goal of the year on a great wrist past Price.

But seven minutes later, something rare happened: Andrei Kostitsyn scored a goal for the Habs. His 14th of the year and first since January 21. AK46 was one a nine-game pointless streak before beating Luongo between the pads with a quick wrist shot. Notoriously known as a streaky player, expect Kostitsyn to heat up in the next few games, just in time for the NHL trade deadline…

But indiscipline almost cost the Canadiens again in the third period, after Benoit Pouliot took a dumb interference penalty with two minutes remaining in the second frame, Jeff Halpern was called for hooking, a very questionable call by anti-Hab referee Frederic L’Écuyer. The Canucks took advantage of that penalty by closing the gap at one goal on Mikael Samuelsson’s 17th goal on the season. The David Desharnais, Benoit Pouliot and Ryan White line didn’t play at all in the third period.

Finally, thanks to a great performance by Carey Price, who stopped 37 pucks en route to his 28th win, the Habs were able to seal the deal and put those very important two points in the bank. Playing in front of at least 50 family members and friends, the B.C. native goalkeeper won for the first time in him career in front of his family. Newcomer Paul Mara recovered the game puck to present it to Price as a souvenir.

The Canucks, who had been depleted by injuries on their blue line, were happy to welcome back veterans Dan Hamhuis and Keith Ballard on defense.

Actor Tom Cruise, in town filming a “Mission Impossible” movie, watched the contest from the Canucks’ management suite.

The Canadiens will be back in action tomorrow hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bell Centre before welcoming the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, their last two games before the NHL trade deadline, on February 28th.

With yesterday’s win, Montreal now has a 32-22-7 record in 61 games good for 71 points. Ranking 6th in the Eastern Conference, they are four points back of the Northeast Division leaders, the Boston Bruins. They also have a comfortable 11-point lead on the 9th seed, Carolina Hurricanes.

After acquiring Paul Mara from the Ducks last week for a draft pick, it is rumored that Pierre Gauthier is looking to add a top-six forward to his struggling team. Players such as Dustin Penner, Cory Stillman, Andrew Brunette and Kristian Huselius have all been mentioned as trade possibilities.

Follow me on Twitter for more updates on the Habs and the NHL in general

Dustin Penner, Edmonton Penner finished the season with 32 goals and 31 assists for 63 points in 82 games with a miserable Edmonton team after registering only 37 points in 2008-09. That’s a 26-point jump.

Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kopitar ended the season with 34 goals and 47 assists for 81 points in 82 games with the much improved Kings after notching 66 points in 2008-09. That’s a 15 points increase.

Guillaume Latendresse, Minnesota After being traded by the Montreal Canadiens to the Minnesota Wild, Latendresse scored at a 0.67 PPG pace finishing the season with 427 goals and 40 points in 78 games. His production would have been even better if he had started the season in Minnesota. Latendresse had never cracked the 30-point barrier in his career.

Wojtek Wolski, Phoenix Wolski finished the season with 18 points in 18 games after being acquired from Colorado. In 80 games, he scored 23 goals and 42 assists for 59 points, a 17-point improvement over 2008-09 when he recorded 42 points.

Tomas Fleischmann, Washington Flesichmann ended the season with 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 point in only 69 games. Flash had only recorded 37 points in 73 games the year before, 14-point increase.

Now let’s have a look at some of the fourth players entering the 2010-11 season, who are primed candidates for breakout seasons:

1. Bryan Little, Atlanta After a great sophomore season during with he tallied 31 goals and 51 points in 79 games, Little had a down year for the Thrashers notching only 13 goals and 34 points in the same amount of games. Little is entering his fourth year in the NHL, expect around 25 goals and 55 points for the 22-year old right winger, which would be a nice 20-point increase over last year.

2. David Krejci, Boston Krejci had problems finding his strides last season after his camp was shortened due to hip surgery. He scored 17 goals and 52 points in 79 games last season, with 26 points coming in his last 26 games (season and playoffs). Krejci is entering his fourth year in the NHL and with Marc Savard concussion symptoms, Krejci should easily score about 25 goals and 75 points and fly under the radar of many poolies.

3. Dave Bolland, Chicago Bolland playing only 39 games last season notching a mere 16 points due to various injuries. However, he was very good in the Blackhawks playoffs run. Bolland will benefit from the departures of Versteeg, Byfuglien and Ladd because of salary cap concerns. Bolland is entering his fourth season in the NHL, and if he can avoid the disabled list, look for 25 goals and 55 points in 75 games for the second-line pivot. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are also entering their fourth year, but every poolie knows them.

4. Peter Mueller, Colorado Mueller blossomed with the Avalanche after being acquired from Phoenix last season notching 9 goals and 20 points in only 15 games. Many forget Mueller had a great rookie season, recording 22 goals and 54 points in 81 games. Freshly signed to a two-year extension contract, Mueller will continue to thrive in Colorado in his fourth NHL season. Expect about a 0.80 PPG for him this season, but his concussion woes should limit him to 25 goals and 55 points in 70 games, an 18-point increase compared to last season.

5. Jiri Hudler, Detroit After spending one year in the KHL, Hudler is back in Detroit where he will provide great secondary scoring to an already potent offensive team. In 2008-09, Hudler potted 23 goals and 34 assists for 57 points in 82 games before bolting to the KHL. He had 25 points, 42 points, 57 points his first three years in the NHL so at 26 years old and entering his fourth NHL year, Hudler should be a major sleeper. Expect 30 goals and 70 points for the diminutive winger.

6. Sam Gagner, Edmonton Coming off back-to-back 41-point seasons with the Oilers, Gagner is primed for an improved offensive production. With the arrival of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, and a healthy Ales Hemsky, Gagner will benefit from a much improved offensive core. Gagner, who’s entering his fourth NHL season, will pivot the Oilers’ second-line which will allow him to score 20 goals and 65 points this season.

7. Andrei Kostitsyn, Montreal After a disappointing season where he only netted 15 goals and 33 points in 53 games, the older Kostitsyn is entering his fourth NHL year, which is also a contract year. Slotted to play alongside Plekanec and Cammalleri, the Belarussian is too talented not to rebound in 2010-11. Expect, 25 goals and 55 points in 75 games.

8. David Clarkson, New Jersey Clarkson missed a chunk of last season due to injuries, dressing for only 46 games, notching 11 goals and 24 points. The gritty forward is entering his fourth season and will likely fly under the radar thanks to a very deep offensive group in New Jersey. Clarkson should get PP time on the second unit and be good for 20 goals and 45 points, along with at least 150 penalty minutes which is an added bonus in leagues with PIMs.

9. Brandon Dubinsky, New York Despite missing 13 games, Dubinsky managed to record 20 goals and 44 points in 69 games on a goal-starving team. Entering his fourth NHL campaign, and coupled with Chris Drury finger injury that will sideline him for over a month, Dubinsky should easily improve on last season’s numbers. Expect 25 goals and 60 points in 2010-11.

10. David Perron, St. Louis Last year, Perron recorded 20 goals and 47 points in 82 games on a Blues team that did not meet the expectations and missed the playoffs. This season, with Kariya and Tkachuk’s departures, Perron will get top-6 minutes of a young offensive squad. Perron should easily improve on last season’s numbers and score 25 goals and 60 points for a great magical fourth year.

Please note that the magical fourth year theory doesn’t apply to defensemen as they tend to take more time to mature and reach their prime.

Taylor Hall will provide a much-needed boost to the Oilers

This move comes after the Edmonton Oilers sent qualifying offers on Monday to goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, center Sam Gagner, as well as to forwards Gilbert Brule, Andrew Cogliano, Colin Fraser 9acquired from Chicago), J.F. Jacques, Ryan O’Marra and Liam Reddox. Defenseman Theo Peckham and netminder Devan Dubnyk also received offers from the team.

Forwards Ryan Potulny and Marc Pouliot did not receive offers from the Oilers and thus become unrestricted free agents. The Oilers also traded forward Riley Nash to the Carolina Hurricanes for the 46th overall pick in 2010.

A week ago, GM Steve Tambellini also announced the promotion of Pat Quinn to the role of senior advisor and the hiring of last season’s assistant coach Tom Renney as Edmonton’s new head coach. Renney’s coaching strategies will be better adapted to the up-tempo style of play their speedy forwards can generate of the rush. With Renney in charge, each player will have a specific role and should thrive in the right situations. Renney’s a specialist of the penalty killing, which was a mahor problem in Oil Town last season. He likes to use penalty killing specialists a la Blair Betts and the acquisition of Colin Fraser is certainly a request from Renney to Tambellini.

A few other players are expected to leave the team via free agency on July 1st, as forwards Fernando Pisani, Mike Comrie and Ryan Stone as well as defensemen Jason Strudwick and Aaron Johnson are slated to become unrestricted free agents.

Also, former all-star defenseman Sheldon Souray will likely be traded this summer if someone is willing to take on his albatros-contract at $5.4 M/year (signed for two more years). He might interest teams lacking a puck-moving defenseman such as the Ducks, the Sharks or the Sabres. However, his recent health issues will make it very hard for GM Steve Tambellini to move the offensive defenseman.

Youngters like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson will likely all make the jump to the NHL next season, providing a much-needed boost to a team starving for offense. A healthy Ales Hemsky for a full season will also give the Oilers more depth and offensive punch throughout their line-up.

Eberle, 20, is a nifty goal-scorer with quick hands and a great hockey vision. He recorded 56 goals and 50 assists for 106 points in only 57 games in the WHL last season. The center was also dominant at the AHL level notching 14 points in only 11 games with the Springfield Falcons.

Paajarvi-Svensson is a 19 year-old left winger who played for Timra in the Swedish Elite League last season where he recorded 29 points in 49 games. The Swede is a great skater, a really good puckhandler and possesses great balance, making it hard to grab the puck from him. If Paajarvi-Svensson doesn’t make the Oilers out of training team, he would be willing to play in the AHL or go back for one season in Sweden.

With all the changes the Oilers made in the past few weeks, it’s time to have a look at their depth chart and have a better idea of what to expect on July 1st from the direction:

Forwards:
Centers: Shawn Horcoff, Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Colin Fraser, Jordan Eberle*
LWs: Taylor Hall*, Dustin Penner, Ryan Jones, Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, Jeff Jacques
RWs: Ales Hemsky, Gilbert Brule, Zack Stortini, Linus Omark*
Extra Forwards: Ryan O’Marra, Liam Reddox

Defensemen
Sheldon Souray**, Ryan Whitney, Tom Gilbert, Ladislav Smid, Taylor Chorney, Theo Peckham

Defensemen
Nikolai Khabibulin, Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, Devin Dubnyk

**On the trade market
*Rookies in 2010-11

Don’t expect the Oilers to pursue high-prized free agents in the enxt few weeks, but they will surely try to add an experience defensive forward who is likely a penalty killing specialist such as Dominic Moore, Eric Belanger or Colby Armstrong. Edmonton will also need to acquire a veteran defenseman to complement their young core of prospects at the blue-line. Players like Brian Pothier or Andy Sutton would fit in nicely as a 4th or 5th defenseman.

What do you think the Oilers will do in the upcoming summer?

Back in September I thought that the best that could be hoped for this season would be the Oilers finishing this campaign somewhere between 7^th and 10^th in the Western Conference. I don’t think anyone expected a last place overall finish – I know I didn’t.

At times the games were painful to watch. Other times the games were just sad. There were bright spots – Dustin Penner comes to mind – but all in all the season was bad. But just how bad was it? Lets looks at the numbers.

With a final record of record of 27-47-8 the 62 points that the Oilers racked up this year is the second lowest total in franchise history and only twice before have the Oilers recorded fewer wins.

The Oilers were one of the worst teams in the NHL offensively this season scoring only 214 goals, the third fewest in franchise history. But it wasn’t just putting the puck in the net that was a problem, keeping it out was a challenge as well.

During the high scoring 1980s the Oilers regularly gave up more goals than the 284 that were surrendered this season. The difference of course back then was that the Oilers could outscore everyone else which clearly was not the case this season. This season their goal differential was a stunning -70. Not the worst in franchise history but close.

But if the overall numbers are bad, the road numbers are even worse. With just 9 road wins this season the Oilers recorded the second fewest road wins in franchise history and their 0.268 winning percentage was the lowest the team has ever recorded.  To prove that the hockey gods have a sense of humour though the Oilers also set a franchise record for consecutive wins on a road trip this season with 5. You’ve got to love the irony.

Nowhere though are the numbers more amazing than the injury totals. The total number of man games lost to injury was 530; a total that dwarfs the Oilers previous record of 346. To put the injury total into perspective, if a team had 6 players sit out the entire season that would only total 492 games. So the Oilers averaged almost 6.5 injured players for every game this year. The injuries might not be an excuse but they certainly are a factor.

So the short answer to “How bad was it?” is very bad. But the season is over now and it’s time to start looking forward so the only number that really matters anymore in 48.2. That would be the percentage that the Oilers retain the first overall pick and get to choose between Taylor and Tyler. It would be nice if so many bad numbers could add up to number 1.

Each is comprised of 13 forwards, seven defensemen and three goalies. Every NHL team has at least one representative at the game; therefore some players had to be left out of the all-star selections.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Forwards
Sidney Crosby PIT
Nicklas Backstrom WAS
Steven Stamkos TB
Alexander Ovechkin WAS
Ilya Kovalchuk ATL
Zach Parise NJ
Marian Gaborik NYR
Tomas Plekanec MTL
Martin St. Louis TB
Evgeni Malkin PIT
Eric Staal CAR
Daniel Alfredsson OTT
Alexander Semin WAS

Defensemen
Mike Green WAS
Tyler Myers BUF
Tomas Kaberle TOR
Tobias Enstrom ATL
Chris Pronger PHI
Mark Streit NYI
Zdeno Chara BOS

Goaltenders
Tomas Vokoun FLA
Martin Brodeur NJ
Ryan Miller BUF

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Forwards
Henrik Sedin VAN
Joe Thornton SJ
Patrick Marleau SJ
Dany Heatley SJ
Daniel Sedin VAN
Brad Richards DAL
Patrick Kane CHI
Corey Perry ANA
Rick Nash CBS
Paul Stastny COL
Mikko Koivu MIN
Jarome Iginla CGY
Dustin Penner EDM

Defensemen
Duncan Keith CHI
Dan Boyle SJ
Drew Doughty LA
Stephane Robidas DAL
Shea Weber NAS
Erik Johnson STL
Nicklas Lidstrom DET

Goaltenders
Evgeni Nabokov SJ
Ilya Bryzgalov PHX
Roberto Luongo VAN

Teams with the most all-stars:
San Jose would have four players selected.
Washington would have four players selected.
Vancouver would have three players selected.

Who would you pick that is not included in the players listed above and why?

Dubnyk tries to make the save on Neal's game winner - Photo from John Ulan/The Canadian Press

Just like Wednesday night Oiler fans at Rexall Place last night thought that the home team might just pull out a win and end their losing streak, but it just wasn’t meant to be and the streak continues – the Oilers have now lost 10 straight games. By going winless in 10 the Oilers are now starting to creep into franchise record territory.

Despite the result last night the team did play really good hockey. The Oilers fell behind early on a point shot from Daley. It wasn’t an overpowering shot by any means, Dubnyk would probably like to have that one back.

Shortly after the first Dallas goal both Pisani and Horcoff were flagged for penalties at the same time resulting in a two minute long two man advantage for the visitors. The Oilers have the 29th ranked penalty kill in the NHL and with two of the teams better penalty killers in the box it seemed like a lock that Dallas would stretch their lead to two.

The Oilers came up big and killed off the two man advantage and then killed a stupid holding penalty by Gagner shortly after. It was another stupid penalty – this time a slash to the shin pads of a Dallas player by O’Sullivan – that proved to be too much for the Oiler penalty killers. Modano gets credit for the goal but Strudwick was the guy who deflected it in. It was a nice tip just too bad it was at the wrong end of the ice.

The shots at this point in the game were 14-2 in favour of the visitors and so far it looked as if the ice must be sloped towards the Edmonton end of the rink. But the Oilers battled back scoring a powerplay goal of their own from Potulny to cut the Dallas lead to a goal. After the Modano goal the Oilers really came on, outshooting the Stars 9-4 over the last seven and half minutes of the period.

Dallas restored the two goal lead in the second period on a goal from Benn. Coming out of the Oilers zone Chorney got caught between a pinching and falling back. That hesitation resulted in a two on one and Strudwick just could breakup the pass allowing Benn to score a pretty easy goal.

With time running out in the second, and just a few seconds after Visnovsky missed a wide open net Gagner scored on a beautiful pass from Gilbert. The play started with Penner who moved to the middle of the ice and then made a drop pass to Gilbert. Penner’s play opened up a ton of ice for Gilbert who was able to spot Gagner on the other side of the ice. Gagner didn’t waste the chance and ripped a one timer past Turco to again cut the Dallas lead to one.

Buoyed by the late goal from Gagner the Oilers took control of the game in the third period. They controlled the play and kept Dallas pinned in their end for what seemed like most of the period. But they just couldn’t get the puck past Turco. With the goalie pulled the Oilers finally were able to beat Turco but even then needed a lucky bounce to make it happen. Modano tried to control a rebound off a Gagner shot and accidentally kicked it into his own net.

Considering the period that the Oilers had played and the way things have been going for them over the last month it seemed fitting that they’d finally catch a break like that. It wasn’t meant to be though. Although the Oilers had tied the game up with just 1:09 left in the game they still couldn’t even get this one to overtime.

With a couple of veterans forwards on the ice – Horcoff and Moreau – the Oilers turned the puck over at the blue line. Strudwick was able to breakup the cross ice pass this time but lost his balance and played the puck back into the slot where Neal was waiting to slap it home. And just like that it was another heartbreaker for the Oilers. Hopefully the Oilers can draw something positive from a second consecutive good effort. If they keep playing games like that the streak will have to end soon.

Dubnyk looked good between the pipes for the Oilers again last night. The first goal was on the soft side but after that he was very solid and made a couple of really big saves that kept the Oilers in it and gave the the chance to tie the game up. Even though he still wasn’t able to nail down that first win he should be happy with how he played. Based on what I’ve seen over the past couple of weeks the Oilers should be giving him the lion’s share of the work for the next while.

The Oilers now have a few days off before hosting Chicago on Tuesday night. The Hawks have dominated the Oilers over the last couple of seasons so ending the losing streak that night will be a real challenge, stranger things have happened though.

Things started out well for the Oiler last night. They dominated the play for the first five minutes and held the Predators without a shot on goal. It looked like maybe the mini-camp was just what this team needed to get going. But when the Predators finally got control of the puck things came apart for the Oilers.

Off a neutral zone turnover by Stone the Predators broke into the Oilers zone, forcing Deslauriers to make a big save. The good save was quickly forgotten though when Weber’s point shot beat Deslauriers high to the glove side. Weber’s got a good sot but Deslauriers gets beat by that shot far too often. He seems to be out far enough to cut down the angle but for some reason that shot keeps getting past him.

Less than 30 seconds later the Predators scored again. This time Gilbert blocked the point shot from Weber but Goc grabbed the lose puck and beat Deslauriers on a backhand from a bad angle at the side of the net. Five good minutes followed by one bad minute and the score is 2-0 Predators.

To all but wrap the game up the Predators scored again before the end of the first period. Off yet another shot from the point that the Oilers couldn’t control Dumont picked up the lose puck and scored on a wrap around. To add insult to injury the goal was scored in the last minute of the period – a category that the Oilers must lead the league in.

The first period wasn’t a good one for Deslauriers but unfortunately it would only get worse. Encouraged by so many defensive zone turnovers by his own team he decided to out do them all with a beauty of his own in the second period. That turnover lead to a goal for Hornqvist, stretching the Predators lead to four, and marked the end of Deslauriers’ night. 10 saves on 14 shots; I guess defensive zone play wasn’t worked on in the mini-camp.

The Oilers finally got on the board in the third period when Jacques managed to get a puck to squeak through Rinne’s five hole. Potulny’ cut the Predators lead to two with a goal on the games first powerplay about seven minutes later and actually put some life back into the game. Thankfully Captain Stupidity was there to kill any momentum and hope that the Oilers had by taking a penalty 30 seconds after the goal.

On a night where the Oilers took just one penalty you knew that the penalty would be Moreau’s. That the penalty would be a lazy hooking penalty behind the Predators net was just icing on the cake. This penalty might be the best example yet of the kind of leadership Moreau brings to this team. Jones scored the Predators fifth goal as time expired on the Moreau penalty. Good work captain, how to lead us to 30^th place.

Penner added a late goal – number 21 on the year for the big man – for the Oilers on a two man advantage to make the final score 5-3. That score and the shot total, 41-28 in favour of the Oilers, flattered the home team on this night. The Oilers were outplayed for all but about eight minutes of the game and when they didn’t have the puck they made almost no effort to get it back. I don’t mind losing but watching a team complacently allow their opposition to just do whatever they wanted to do is frustrating beyond imagination. Is it to much to ask for a little effort out there?

Welcome to the pilot installment of the “Tuesday Top Ten”, where every Tuesday presents us with a look at the ten biggest (insert topic)’s of the week. As expected, the countdown will be of relevance to current stories and headlines in the World of Hockey.

Olympic hockey, the crown jewel of the international hockey scene. Every four years, the best players from their respective countries lace them up and take to the ice to represent their homeland. For some, this is considered more important than winning a Stanley Cup.

While others enjoy the fruits of being named to represent the squad sporting the colors of their country proudly, there’s always that crop of players left off the roster, or “snubbed”. With every squads roster all set, just who makes the Top Ten Olympic Snubs of 2010?

10. Bill Guerin (Pittsburgh Penguins) - United States

With the (Olympically speaking) recent debacle of Team U.S.A. during the Winter Olympics of ’06, where the United States finished in eighth, Leafs GM and 2010 Team U.S.A. assembler Brian Burke was on a mission for a youth-movement. Understandably, old faces such as Mike Modano, Keith Tkachuk, and Chris Chelios were no longer required. While the youth is good and necessary for the future success, the States seem to have neglected an old veteran who can still be a more than effective weapon: Bill Guerin. The 39-year old veteran, seemingly left for dead as captain of the Islanders last season, has been rejuvenated since making the move to join the Pittsburgh Penguins.

If you include the 2009 NHL Playoffs, Guerin has 58 points in 86 games since joining the black-and-gold of Pittsburgh. Attribute it to playing alongside Sidney Crosby if you must, but throughout his brief tenure with the Pens, Guerin has proved that he’s still mobile enough to keep up with the young guns, making his absence from Team U.S.A all the more puzzling.

9. Roman Hamrlik (Montreal Canadiens) – Czech Republic

Heading into the Olympic selection month, it seemed that the Montreal Canadiens would be proudly represented in the Winter Olympics by the Czech Republic club with Tomas Plekanec, along with blue-liners Jaroslav Spacek and Roman  Hamrlik. Unfortunately for Habs fans, it was only Plekanec who got the call to join the Czech’s national club come February.

After missing the 2006 Winter games in Turino, Italy, likely due to a lingering knee-injury, the “Hammer” seemed like a lock for the Czech Republic defense in 2010. All things considered, this was likely going to be the last trip to the games for the 16-year NHL veteran and when you’ve averaged nearly 33 points per season since 2006-07, it seems almost automatic that you’re going to be included on your national team. Add in the fact that Hamrlik’s a two-time Olympian and this one almost seems like a no-brainer.

Along with five goals in 40 games, Hamrlik leads the Habs with 101 blocked shots, and is third among Montreal defensemen in shorthanded time-on-ice per game while leading the Canadiens with over 24 minutes of time-on-ice per game.

Making the team over Hamrlik was St. Louis blue-liner Roman Polak. Considering the Czech’s blue-line includes names such as Kaberle, Kuba, and Kubina, it’s understandable that offense wasn’t exactly a pressing issue for the 2010 squad, but is Polak that much more of a defensive upgrade over the ‘Hammer’? Polak’s eight points don’t scream Olympic material, but his 91 hits are tops among Blues’ defensemen, but what I think the determining factor in this argument had to be the fact that Polak anchors a penalty kill slightly better than the Montreal Canadiens.

Blame it on my appreciation for the veterans of the game, but Hamrlik got hosed on this one.

8. Dustin Penner (Edmonton Oilers) – Canada

Outside of Edmonton, before 2009-10, did anyone know Dustin Penner as anything besides “the guy Edmonton gave up a boatload of draft picks for that made Brian Burke hate Kevin Lowe”?

Playing for the last place Oil, Penner has been putting together an absolutely phenomenal season for an Oilers club without their top scorer in each season since the lock-out, Ales Hemsky, who has been shelved for the season with a shoulder injury. Penner leads the Oilers in goals (20), assists (20), plus/minus with a +9 on a team without their number one goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, and has five goals on the power-play.

Fourth in the Western Conference for goals, sitting behind San Jose forwards Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau, along with Flames captain Jarome Iginla, what makes Penner’s contributions more impressive? Simply put, he doesn’t have anything close to the same caliber of playmaker’s centering those he trails.

Despite the 14 points that separates Penner and the Oil’s second leading scorer, what does Penner bring to Team Canada in 2010? At 6’4″ and 245 pounds, Penner’s big frame could be an advantage against a team like the Czech Republic, U.S.A, or Slovakia, teams loaded with bruising blue-liners. Regardless of their previous success and track record, players such as Eric Staal or Mike Richards have proved less than Dustin Penner in 2009-10.  Just sayin’.

7. Pekka Rinne (Nashville Predators) – Finland

In the past decade, the country of Finland has established themselves as the new hot-spot for NHL quality goaltenders. Coming into Vancouver with obvious selections Miikka Kiprusoff, Niklas Backstrom, and Antero Niittymaki? Wait just a minute, Niittymaki has proved to be more of an elite goaltender than Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne?

At first, I chalked this one up to the hockey market Rinne plays in. Not having made the playoffs, it could be easy to ignore how the 27-year old goaltender had a 29-15-4 record with seven shutouts in 2008-09, right? But then as after further research, Rinne had a 12-7-5 record along with a noteworthy .908 save percentage against teams that made the playoffs in the Western Conference last season.

Kicking off the 2009-10 season, Rinne had a strong opening two months, posting an 11-6-0 record with a .913 save percentage while splitting starting duties with Dan Ellis.

Blame it on the even stronger crop of goaltenders coming in 2014 with Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask and Chicago’s Antti Niemi, but Rinne has a better record, has more starting experience, and all of this coming with a less high-powered offense than that of Antero Niittymaki’s Tampa Bay Lightning.

6. Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning) – Canada

Not getting any respect has been the story of Martin St. Louis’ career. This one though, this one just confuses me.

With 50+ assists in four of the past five seasons, and on pace for 70 helpers this season , Marty St. Louis seemed poised for his second straight stint with Team Canada. During his first trip with Canada, St. Louis had three points in six games for the red-and-white. Fourth in the NHL in assists with 38, could St. Louis’ speed and clutch performance history help Canada even more so? I could be alone here, but when a guy has 48 points in 45 career post-season games and has been relentless on the attack throughout his entire career, that’s a guy I want going to war for me.

A counterargument against Marty could be the level of talent he’s been surrounded with through his career such as Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier and most recently, Steven Stamkos. That being said, that argument doesn’t hold water considering he’d be playing alongside the best players from Canada, and perhaps the world.

At a generous 5’9″, St. Louis is undersized, and now, under appreciated.

5. Mikael Samuelsson (Vancouver Canucks) – Sweden

A member of the 2006 Team Sweden club that won the gold medal in Turino, Italy, Mikael Samuelsson was a little more than “hurt” when his home country opted to leave him off the 2010 club. “Probably going to get in trouble for this, but they can go (bleep) themselves.” an irate Samuelsson said after the announcement of the club, which didn’t include his name.

Understandably hurt by the snub, Samuelsson had four points in eight games for Sweden in 2006 and in the middle of a career year. On pace for over 50 points for the first time in career, Samuelsson has provided great secondary scoring for the Canucks second line, playing under fellow Swedish superstars Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

Getting the nod over Samuelsson include players such as Fredrik Modin of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Patric Hornqvist of the Nashville Predators, and Peter Forsberg, who’s been out of the NHL since the end of the 2008 Playoffs. What do all of these players have in common besides being on Team Sweden? They all have less points than Mikael Samuelsson over the past two seasons.

Is Samuelsson too old? Probably not, at 33, he’s three years younger than Forsberg. Does he have injury concerns? Nope, look at Fredrik Modin making the team despite just playing in 14 games this season. Just why was Sammy left off the Swedish club for 2010? Honestly, we’ll probably never know.

4. Jochen Hecht (Buffalo Sabres) – Germany

How many German born active-NHL players can you name? Honestly, no cheating. Uhhh, Marco Sturm, Christian Ehrhoff, and Jochen Hecht, right? A 10-year NHL veteran, and three-time member of the German Olympic squad, it was Jochen Hecht who was without question the most notable name missing from the 2010 German squad in Vancouver.

Never really the contender, the Germans elected to include the Sabres organization into their team somehow with their selection of Philip Gogulla to the team. Gogulla, in his first year of playing in the American Hockey League, has 17 points in 37 games for the Portland Pirates. The only other NHL-level forwards included on the German roster are Marcel Goc of the Nashville Predators and Marco Sturm of the Boston Bruins.

The Sturm selection obviously makes sense as he’ll be returning as the German captain, but is Goc more valuable than Jochen Hecht?

“Every time you’re left out of something, even though this is not the final team, it makes you upset,” Hecht said. “I think if you play in the NHL, that should qualify you for playing on the Olympic team,” hinting at his displeasure for the snub.

With 21 points in 44 games for the Northeast Division leading Sabres this season, and sitting just nine points away from 400 in his career, it’s clear that Hecht’s presence would do nothing but help the German team who has yet to make a real splash in the tournament. The lack of real competition for the spot on the roster for the Germans makes this snub all the more noticeable.

3. Ryan Whitney (Anaheim Ducks) – United States

When Chris Pronger left the Anaheim Ducks blue-line to join the Philadelphia Flyers, the Ducks knew they had a gaping hole on their blue-line to fill, a 6’7″ one to be exact. He’s no Pronger, but 6’4″ defensemen and Boston-native Ryan Whitney has done a more than adequate job in So-Cal.

The fifth overall selection from the 2002 NHL Draft, the 26-year old has established an offensive presence without lacking in the defensive department. Playing alongside captain Scott Niedermayer, Whitney checks in with 22 points in 46 games and 66 blocked shots.

On the NHL’s 10th best power-play unit, 11 of Whitney’s 22 points (50% for you geeks) and averages just shy under four minutes a game on the advantage.

Let the conspiracy theories about Burke selecting Maple Leaf defensemen Mike Komisarek (who has four points and a -9 in 34 games) over Whitney begin…

2. Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning) – Canada

We understand, believe me, we understand that at just 19 years old Stamkos has plenty of time to make Team Canada in his career. Probably a good four trips to (insert Wintry location) left in him. However, how can Steve Yzerman justify leaving off such a naturally gifted goal-scorer off his 2010 roster?

After struggling under ESPN-Pundit turned back to bench-boss Barry Melrose during his rookie season in Tampa Bay, the Ontario-native has blossomed into one of the league’s most dangerous weapons. With 23 goals in 44 games in 2009-10, Stamkos has already matched his 2008-09 tally in 35 less games. Not only that, but Stamkos has arguably taken over for Bolts captain Vincent Lecavalier as Tampa’s number one power-play pivot.

Of course, we can blame it on the team’s wealth down the middle with names such as Thornton, Crosby, Staal, Richards, and Toews. However, for a 19-year old, I’m sure the transition to playing wing next to Joe Thornton would be more than do-able. Could you imagine?

Unfortunately, we’ll just have to imagine.

1. Kyle Okposo (New York Islanders) – United States

Brian Burke simply dropped the ball on this one.

The much-famed youth movement and underdog mentality Burke has been preaching about since naming Team U.S.A. may be epitomized in the greatest sense by a player not on the roster: Kyle Okposo. The Islanders seventh overall pick from the 2007 NHL Draft, Okposo has become a premier scoring threat for the Islanders in just his second season in the NHL.

A Minnesota native, the 21-year old winger went through a frustrating 19-game stretch without tallying a goal but has still managed to lead the Isles with 30 points on the season. Assuming a leadership role at an incredibly young age, Okposo leads by example and does a fine job at it with four game-winning-goals credited to him on the season along with 12 assists on the powerplay.

It’s when a player such as Okposo gets left off the U.S.A roster that the fact that Chris Drury is on the team becomes all the more maddening.

Snubbed From The List of Snubs

Mike Green (Washington Capitals) – Canada: It’s not often you’ll see a Norris Trophy finalist snubbed from his Olympic squad the next season. However, given Canada’s strength with offensive blue-liners (and just about anywhere else for that matter), it makes sense that Green was not as needed as one would think.

Brad Richards (Dallas Stars) – Canada: Averaging over a point-per-game is lovely for the Stars’ power-play star, but when you’re going up against Joe Thornton and Sidney Crosby for that spot, you’re not going to win.

Milan Hejduk (Colorado Avalanche) – Czech Republic: I thought this guy was going to be captaining the Czech’s come February, or at least wearing the ‘A’. This snub makes more sense after the  Denver Post’s report that Hejduk opted to stay out of this year’s games.

Dustin Byfuglien (Chicago Blackhawks) – United States: A big body on a considerably undersized United States core of forwards, Byfuglien could have given the U.S another weapon on their bottom-six.

T.J Oshie (St. Louis Blues) – United States: High-energy forward, and with a fan in Jeremy Roenick, Oshie’s youth and speed and 21 points in 40 games could have helped energize the red, white, and blue in Vancouver.

P.J Axelsson (Frolunda HC) – Sweden: Call me a homer, but this guy was an absolute beast on the penalty-kill during his tenure with the Bruins. I find it hard to believe that a PK-unit consisting of him and Samuel Pahlsson would be beyond “tough to play against”.

Mike Fisher (Ottawa Senators) – Canada: With the fight for the last spot reportedly coming down to Fisher and Patrice Bergeron, at least Fisher goes home to Carrie Underwood every night, that has to be some sort of consolation.

Craig Anderson (Colorado Avalanche) – United States: Having a great season for the more-than-surprising Colorado Avalanche with 22 wins and a .918 save percentage, selecting the younger Jonathan Quick over Anderson seems to make sense for the future of U.S.A hockey.

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How bad are these teams? Well the season is over for both teams already and both have just one win in their last ten games. In those same ten games Columbus has three losses in extra time to the Oilers one so I guess you could call them the hotter (???) of the two teams. Of course Columbus hasn’t won a road game since November 19 – a stretch of 13 losses – so you might want to take that hotter statement with a grain of salt.

Things are going so poorly in Columbus that calls for Hitchcock’s head are increasing by the day. Quinn is safe in Edmonton because this is his first year behind the Oilers bench and when a team loses their best forward (Hemsky) and the goaltender (Khabibulin) the expectations tend to get dialed back a notch – even in Edmonton where the expectations are always unrealistic.

The problem for both teams this season has been that too many pucks are ending up in their net. For a Hitchcock coached team this is especially surprising. Right now the Jackets and Oilers are ties for 26^th in the NHL in goals against per game with an average of 3.23, only Atlanta, Toronto, and Carolina are worse. But as bad as these teams have been defensively this season I wouldn’t necessarily bet the over either, the Oilers are 19^th in goals for, the Jackets are 22^nd.

With stats like those tonight’s game might just come down to goaltending. After allowing six goals on 17 shots it’s likely that Mason will get the night off in favour of Garon who would be starting for the second time this season here in Edmonton against his old team. That previous start was a crazy game where the Oilers fell behind 4-1 at the midpoint of the game but battled back to win 6-4 lead by five point nights from Penner and Hemsky.

At the other end of the ice iIt looks like the Oilers meanwhile will be giving Dubnyk his second career start tonight and for a change Deslauriers will get a night off – this is something I called for a couple of days ago. In his first career start Dubnyk gave up seven goals but was left to fend for himself by an absentee defense more than a couple of times that night.

On the injury front Visnovsky skated at practice this morning but won’t play tonight for the Oilers. For Columbus Picard and Torres are both listed as day to day right now. If Torres doesn’t play that would be bad news for Blue Jackets fans as ex Oilers tend to kill Edmonton on home ice.

In a battle of two terrible teams I always pick the home squad. I’m thinking 4-2 for the Oilers.

Phoenix grabbed the lead off a neutral zone faceoff with both team playing a man short. For some reason the Oilers lined up with players at all three forward positions and the lone back man against the boards leaving the centre of the ice wide open. When Vrbata was missed off the draw he simple picked up the lose puck and skated in all alone; 1-0 Phoenix.

In the second period the Coyotes extended the lead to 2-0 thanks to poor rebound control from Deslauriers. When bad angle shots are simply kicked into the slot by the goalie they will end up in the back of the net more often than not. If Doan is the man in the crease it’s a near certainty. That would be the case here as well.

But the Oilers bounced back. First Brule scored with time running out on a powerplay. The shot came from just off the half wall to Bryzgalov’s right. The goal wasn’t great beating Bryzagalov through the five hole; my bet would be that he’d like to have that one back. Then the Oil tied it up at two on the beautiful breakaway from O’Sullivan that finished with a top shelf backhand.

As is so often the case with the Oilers of late though, the good times were short lived. First came an ugly goal through the five hole from Hanzal that Deslauriers needs to stop, followed by a goal by Prucha to reestablish the Coyotes two goal lead. On the fourth goal Nilsson turned the puck over at the blue line, it was fired across to Prucha who fired a onetimer that Deslauriers had no chance of stopping.

With the Oilers already coming back from two goals down and Team Canada having done the same a third comeback would have seemed like a stretch but believe it or not it happened. The Oilers did catch a break when a Phoenix goal that would have mage the score 5-2 was disallowed for reasons I still can’t figure out. The referee told the fans that there was no interference but also no goal. I’m not sure how that works but I’ll take it.

In the third period the Oilers got goals from Grebeshkov and Penner. The Grebeshkov goal was the result of hard work by Gagner in the corner to force a turnover. Penner’s goal was just a garbage goal that he banged in while standing in the blue paint. And just like that it was tied at four and we’re headed to overtime.

In the extra frame Pisani got whistled for a tripping penalty. Yeah I guess it was a penalty but in extra time when the result is a 4 on 3 it was a tough one to swallow. Tougher still was on the penalty kill when Smid lost his stick resulting in what is essentially a 4 on 2 ½. The result was about what you expect; Doan ripped a shot from the point that Deslauriers just had no chance to stop and the Coyotes win 5-4.

The loser point might not be what the Oilers wanted when they worked so hard to tie it up but when a team has just two points in their last ten games I’d be willing to bet that they’ll take points wherever they can find them.

Even though they lost the game the Oilers showed some grit and character in twice battling back from a two goal deficit. There were other positives too, O’Sullivan played a good game for the first time in a long time, Gagner played great registering an assist and seven shots, and Penner ended a six game goalless drought.

Up next for the Oilers is a game against fellow cellar dweller the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.

One of the players that will almost certainly be left of that list will be Dustin Penner. But Penner is having a hell of a year on a pretty bad Oilers team – his 19 goals and 19 assists place him at twentieth in NHL scoring – and his numbers look pretty good when compared to the 25 forwards that were invited to the Olympic orientation camp in August. Here is how Penner ranks when compared to the group of 25 forwards:

• Tied for 5th in goals
• 9th in assists
• Tied for 8th in points
• Tied for 5th in +/-
• 5th in +/- On/60
• 2nd in +/- Off/60

A spreadsheet with all of the stats can be found here for reference. These stats are a combination of the basic stats available from nhl.com and some of the more advanced stats available from behindthenet.ca.

Looking at the list of forwards I consider to be locks to make the team I don’t see how Penner could crack Team Canada’s roster. But at the same time I was shocked when I looked at those numbers and seeing how his season compares to those who likely will make the team. In everyone of those categories he is in the top 10. On top of that he’s twentieth in NHL scoring. How many countries would even consider leaving a player off their roster who is having a season like he is? I don’t think any country other than Canada would.

This is something that bit us in 2006. That year Canada sent a team loaded with players who’d played for Canada in the past and had plenty of international experience. The result was not good by any measure as Canada finished seventh. A good example of a player who didn’t make the team that season but probably should have is Sidney Crosby. What other country would have left them off their roster?

I imagine that selecting the Team Canada roster has been a ton of work for Yzerman and his team. The decision to choose between players who have performed in the past versus those who are performing right now must be especially difficult. But isn’t the goal to send the team that has the best shot to win? Would that team therefore not be better served to have players performing at a high level right now?

The depth of our talent pool is both our greatest asset and our biggest curse in Canada. There are probably a dozen combinations of players that could be made that would be good enough to win gold in Vancouver. Since gold is the only medal we really want then as long as Yzerman selects one of those dozen combinations he will have done his job well. Maybe Penner will be part of the group selected tomorrow; I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.

Below you will find the three groupings for the 2010 Olympic hockey tournament:

GROUP A: Canada, United States, Norway, Switzerland

GROUP B: Russia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovakia

GROUP C: Finland, Sweden, Germany, Belarus

The countries in bold are the four tournament favorites, without disrespect to the other eight countries.

Tournament format:
Each team will play the round robin portion of the tournament, facing the other three teams of their respective group and the best four records will advance to the quarter-finals.

Then the remaining eight teams will move on to play a qualifying playoff round to decide the other four quarter-final spots. The final eight teams will face each other in the quarter-finals until the Gold Medal Winner is decided.

Canada’s schedule will be fairly easy as they will play their first game on February 16th against a weak Norwegian team. Norway is most likely the tournament’s weakest team and should give Canada an opportunity to find some chemistry and chase those olympic butterflies.

After that game Canada has a day off, before they take on the Swiss on the 18th. Finally, Team Canada will conclude the round-robin portion of their tournament with a emotional match-up against their North American foe, the United States.

Who would you select as Team Canada’s captain?
Scott Niedermayer?
Jarome Iginla?
Sidney Crosby?

I would personnally give the C to Niedermayer as he is a proven winner with plenty of experience in the NHL and on the international level. Iginla and Crosby are great leaders too, but Niedermayer is the most experienced.

Potential final line-up for Team Canada:
Forwards:
R. Nash-S. Crosby-J. Iginla
B. Richards-R. Getzlaf-C. Perry
P. Marleau-J.Thornton-D.Heatley
R.Smyth-M. Richards-E. Staal
Jonathan Toews as the 13th forward.

Defensemen:
C. Pronger-S. Niedermayer
D. Keith-M. Green
D. Boyle-S. Weber
Drew Doughty as the 7th defensemen.

Goalies:
M. Brodeur
R. Luongo
M-A Fleury

Noteworthy considerations:
Forwards:
Shane Doan, Patrice Bergeron, Mike Fisher, Michael Cammalleri, Brendan Morrow, Martin St-Louis, Dustin Penner, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos, Jeff Carter, Jordan Staal

Defensemen:
Brent Seabrook, Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf, Stephane Robidas, Robyn Regehr, Brent Burns

Goaltenders:
Cam Ward, Carey Price, Steve Mason

Who would you pick on your team as of December 21st, 2009?

That game on Thursday was their third game without Hemsky and continued a pattern of strong games without their best player. In those three games the team is 1-1-1 which is by no means fantastic but that they’ve played well without Hemsky (and without Khabibulin as well) says a lot about this team and the character in the dressing room. I wrote this team off as dead when Hemsky was lost for the season but so far they have shown some heart and seem determined to keep moving forward and to win hockey games.

Based on history a win today in Dallas won’t be easy for the Oilers though. Since The North Stars packed their bags for the Lone Star State the Oilers have not looked forward to road trips that stop there at all. The Oilers have a 4-22-2-2 record all time in Dallas, that’s a 0.200 winning percentage. On home ice the Oil have fared slightly better but overall the Stars have had the Oilers number for quite a while.

The Stars are fourth right now in the Pacific Division and are holding the eighth spot in the Western Conference. The Stars record is inflated a bit by the seven loser points they’ve gotten this year but they are still a good team with solid goaltending, this will be a good test for the Oilers. I think the Oilers will need to keep the game simple and limit the turnovers in their own end like they did on Red Wings to be successful this afternoon, Dallas has some physical players and a good forecheck so that is easier said than done.

Stone and Nilsson returned to the lineup on Thursday but their is no more good news on the injury front today. Comrie will miss his eighth game with mono, Khabibulin is still battling a bad back, Chorney’s ankle injury is still listed as day to day, and on and on and on. With only seven players on the injured list this is actually about the healthiest the Oilers have been in quite a while, as sad as that is.

With no plyers healed and ready to return to action today I would imagine that the Oilers will go with a lineup and combinations that match what was used in their win over the Red Wings on Thursday. That means Brule will continue to play with Gagner and Penner on the top line. In his short time there I’ve been very impressed with his play. Based on where he was drafted it’s obvious that he’s got skill but he does a lot of things right in his game. I also am really starting to love his quick release of the rush. That shot has scored him a couple of goals already this season and has forced some goalies to come up with some tough saves. He certainly hasn’t missed his opportunity to shine.

If a few more players can set up like Brule has this team should be able to win some games and will at least be entertaining.

I’ve been away for a week because I simply have no idea where to start with the Oilers right now. Which is very strange. I usally have an opinion on all things in the NHL and I certainly have an opinion when it comes to the Oilers. But for a week now I’ve been lost.

In my last post on Friday I touched on what life would be like without Hemsky. At that time there was a rumour making the rounds in Edmonton that he might be done for the year. It turns out the rumour was bang on – Hemsky will miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury. My thinking last week was that if Hemsky was lost for the season that the Oilers would be bad team: Leafs/Hurricanes bad, lottery pick bad, paper bag on the head bad, worst team in the Western Conference bad.

To summarize they would be a bad team.

The funny thing is, without Hemsky the Oilers almost beat the Sharks last Friday. They played a spirited game with good energy. It was fun to watch. The third period saw the Oil build a two goal lead, blow it, take the lead again, and then have the Sharks tie it up late.

There were mistakes. The mental cramp that was the Sharks short handed goal to tie the game with 1:26 to go is a pretty good example of a mistake – how do you not cover Marleau off the faceoff, I mean he only had two goals already that night. But despite the mistake, overall the game was encouraging for Oiler fans.

We may be missing our best player (and goalie) but this team still has the ability to compete – although not necessarily win – on any given night. Maybe the sky isn’t falling after all.

But then Saturday happened. The game opened in a good way the Oilers had a couple of good shifts and seemed to have some momentum, then Penner took a penalty and all that changed. The Canucks scored on that powerplay and then three more times in the next 5:09 chasing Deslauriers before the midway point of the first period.

The good news is that from that point on the Oilers played a decent game. At times they looked like they might mount a comeback but couldn’t get cut the deficit to less than two at any point. Ultimately the Oilers penalty kill (one kill on five penalties) was there undoing on this night. At the final horn the score was 7-3.

In a morbid kind of way it was still an encouraging game. The team was close for 50 minutes, unfortunately for them the Canucks lit them up in the other 10. At the very least both game last week gave me hope that the team can at least be competitive without Hemsky.

And that’s the problem, I’m not sure I want the Oilers to compete. Through the first 20 games I was really starting to think that only a true rebuilding effort will cure what ails them. The team has tremendous young skill and if they could keep building through the draft then the future may be very bright for fans in Edmonton. The model for any rebuild would be what the Hawks have done over the last half a decade.

Good news for any rebuilding effort would be the additional ice time that the teams younger players will see without Hemsky this season. Brule looks to be the man capitalizing the most right now with both first line ice time and first unit powerplay time. Gagner will leaned on to shoulder more of the load too. That extra ice time could really help them mature their games and provide a long term benefit to the Oilers.

It could also give fans a false sense of hope much like what happened in 2008. That year the Oilers mad a magical run over the last two months of the NHL season, a run that ultimately came up a few points short. But when watching what was a very similar team play the next season you got the feeling that the Oilers team from that stretch drive benefited greatly from games played with little or no pressure. You only get to play those games when you’re all but dead, not to start the season.

If the Oilers hang in games and compete then some nights they will come away with the win, the law of averages says it’s got to happen. If that happens with any regularity they won’t be bad enough to get one of the top end picks that can alter your franchises path and the cycle of seventh to tenth place finishes will likely continue. That is a frightening thought as far as I’m concerned.

Of course two games don’t tell you how the next 55 games will go; maybe the Oilers will be the team I thought they’d be without Hemsky after all. But based on the two games so far they look like they could be just good enough to break my heart again.

The Edmonton game showed resiliency, as well as leadership from the star players stepping up when needed. Patrick Marleau’s hat trick was probably the easiest he’ll ever score, thanks to the passes Joe Thornton gave him. Its not the playoffs, but its these individual games during the season that will serve as something for the players to draw upon when that time comes.

It helps when Evgeni Nabokov robs players in the shootout too. Anyone wanting to check out his save of the year thus far should look at his flashy glove work on Dustin Penner with a 1-0 lead in the shootout. However, this isn’t all that’s happening this season.

The team isn’t getting into offensive showdowns in every game the way they did the first quarter of last year, they’re winning in a variety of ways and it’s because of games like the one played against the Canucks.

The Canucks got the first goal of the game just two minutes in on a Kyle Wellwood shot coming in on Evgeni Nabokov two-on-one. The rush came from a poor play by every Shark fans favorite signing this offseason: Kent Huskins. Huskins has held his own and played well for most of the season thus far, but lately he’s been making poor plays and it’s costing the Sharks the last couple games.

The Sharks would tie the score on rookie Frazer McLaren’s (no relation to former Shark Kyle McLaren who disapearred off the face of the planet) first NHL goal. McLaren made the hit down low that jarred the puck loose. Joe Pavelski found the puck and centered it towards the net where McLaren headed straight to after his hit and he tapped the puck home past Roberto Luongo. The forechecking in this game was the best the Sharks have had all season so far; they hounded puck carriers, finished their checks, and forced bad turnovers for scoring chances.

In the second period Dan Boyle would score on the power play to put the Sharks up 2-1. The opportunity came on a rebound off…wait for it, yes a Joe Thornton shot. Good things happen when you shoot Jumbo. In the process he picked up his league-leading 30th assist of the season. Then came Nabokov’s turn.

Nabby kept the Sharks ahead by kicking aside shots mostly in the third period where the Canucks dominated play early on. Nabokov would finish with 25 saves, many of which coming with that one-goal lead.

Insurance came late in the third when Manny Malhotra jetted into the zone and took a pass from Ryane Clowe for a mini-breakaway on Luongo. Malhotra faked forehand and went backhand on the Canucks netminder. Pavelski picked up his second assist of the game on this play.

Jamie McGinn would get credit for a goal just 13 seconds later after Jed Ortmeyer forced a turnover in the Vancouver zone. McGinn and Scott Nichol tapped the puck at virtually the same time. This was arguably the Sharks’ best line of the night, and it was nice to see them get rewarded. McGinn in particular was finishing every single check, and really moved his legs all night to get in on the forecheck. Ortmeyer and Nichol played at 110% as always.

The Canucks would get a goal with seven seconds left to make the final score closer at 4-2 but that’s about all it did.

Once again the lines were rolling all night, and technically all four lines scored in this game because McLaren was skating on the fourth line. It was a great team effort, everyone moving well, and putting in solid contributions even if it wasn’t on the scoresheet.

Rob Blake, Torrey Mitchell, and Devin Setoguchi all came back in this game but the latter two got limited action on the fourth line.

The Sharks will come back home for what will be an interesting game against the Ottawa Senators. Yes, that’s Dany Heatley’s former team for those who could somehow forget. I’m sure Jonathan Cheechoo will get a good ovation from the fans in the former fan-favorite’s return to San Jose.

My last prediction was for Pavelski to get two assists, low and behold he did it to continue my streak. Rob Blake didn’t miss a beat coming back from injury, so I think he’ll pick up a point in the next game.

I’m not a fan who boos opposing players; I just don’t see the point. If I thought I could affect their game then I probably would but I’d rather put some effort into cheering on my team instead. But everyone in the building paid good money for their seat, so if they want to boo a player then they should boo.

Twice before I’ve gone a game when you knew that a player on the opposition was going to be booed relentlessly – when Comrie returned as a Flyer and when Pronger came back as a Duck. But there is one major difference between those situations and the Heatley situation; Pronger and Comrie actually played here and left on less than good terms with the club, Heatley just chose not to play here.

Is that really worth getting all worked up over?

What about Hossa and Nylander, both were pursued by the Oilers who offered more money and years to both but in the end they each signed elsewhere. Why was their snub of the Oilers not worthy of wrath at the hands of Oiler fans?

Hossa and Nylander both entered into discussion with the Oilers about playing here; on some level they must have at least considered Edmonton an option. All Heatley did was exercise his contractual right to not come here (more on the contract later). He never led the Oilers on in any way, he was very clear that this wasn’t a preferred destination for him. The Oilers could have let it end there but instead continued to try and convince him to come here. That says more about the Oilers than it does about Heatley.

In some ways I think that Oiler fans should thank Heatley. I mean it, if you see him on the street give him a big hug because had he not rejected the trade Penner and Smid aren’t Oilers right now they’re Senators. I thought the price for Heatley was high in July but I could have lived with it. Seeing the growth in Penner’s and Smid’s game it looks to me like that trade would have been a big loss for the Oilers. Not getting Heatley might very well be the Oilers best offseason move.

If there is a reason to boo Heatley it would be for the way he treated the Senators. The Sens negotiated a long term, and very lucrative, contract with Heatley; a deal that included a no movement clause. Players want a no movement clause as a form of protection so that in the future should the team wish to trade them they have a measure of control over the destination.

For the most part the is nothing wrong with a no movement clause. Where it goes south is when it isn’t used to protect the player but instead handicap the franchise. When Heatley decides that he no longer wants to play in Ottawa, even though he signed a six year deal with the Senators, he shouldn’t be able to use his no movement clause to choose his destination. As far as I’m concerned his no movement clause should be voided as soon as he requests a trade.

This summer Heatley acted like a spoiled brat, but Senators fans should be mad at him for that not Oiler fans.

Ryan Smyth in happier times - Photo from Paul Chiasson/Associated Press

It’s back to business for the Oilers tonight as they host the Los Angeles Kings. This will be the first meeting of the season for these two teams but of last season the Kings have really gave the Oilers real problems.

In the four games between the two clubs last season the Oilers won just one, thanks to the loser point though they did manage to get a single point in one of the other three. But even the game the Oilers won wasn’t exactly a decisive win.

The Oil jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period only to see that lead evaporate over the course of the first ten and a half minutes of the second period as the Kings scored four straight goals. That night Penner tied it up in the third period and the Oilers skated away with the shootout win. When it comes to the Oilers there is no lead that they can’t blow.

When the puck drops tonight the kings will be without Smyth. Smyth was off to a great start to the season with 23 points in 22 games but suffered an upper body injury a couple of games ago and could be out for up to four weeks. In his absence the Kings have yet to post a win, losing back to back games to the Flyers and Flames. Smyth is a heart and soul player; when he’s taken out of your lineup it really hurts. Ask the Oil they’re still trying to replace him.

Sadly for Smyth the injury will probably cost him a shot at playing for Canada in 2010, it would have been nice to see but I think it’s a real long shot now. If he’s back by mid-December and can get right back to the pace he was on before the injury then he will deserve consideration but anything less and he’ll have some time off in February to watch the games with his family.

From injured ex-Oilers to current Oilers that are injured. There is good news from the injury front today. Pouliot and Stone were back at practice today. They join the recently healed Nilsson and Jacques as the Oilers injury list continues to shrink. As it stands right now the injured list includes Chorney, Grebeshkov, Pisani, Comrie, and Khabibulin.

With the teams health improving it looks like the Oilers will actually ice the same lineup for the second game in a row. And not only does the lineup not change but the line combinations look to be the same too. Monday’s game wasn’t so great that this means it’s guaranteed win night tonight for the Oil but it is nice to see the team not have to scramble to find new line combinations for a change.

Between the pipes tonight will be Deslauriers once again who will be starting his fourth straight game. With his shutout of the Coyotes on Monday night Deslauriers became the first Oiler rookie to record a shutout. As crazy as that sounds its true. Becoming the first Oiler rookie to record back to back shutouts might be a bit on the optimistic though, especially against a Kings team that is sporting the league leading score Anze Kopitar.

Did anyone really think he’d be leading the league in scoring on November 25? He’s a great hockey player – and a bit of an Oiler killer with 13 points in 11 games – but I certainly didn’t see him leading the league in points this deep into the season. I’ll have to be sure to watch him for a few shifts tonight just to see what all of the fuss is about. Hopefully the Oilers keep an eye on him too or the score could be very lopsided.

As it stands right now the Oilers sit twelfth in the Western Conference with 21 points in 23 games. The Wings in eighth place have 26 points which over the course of an 82 game season projects to 96 points for that last playoff spot. In the post lockout NHL the team grabbing that last playoff spot has averaged 93 points.

So at a minimum the Oilers are going to need a point total somewhere in the low to mid nineties if they hope to play games that matter in April. That means the Oilers are going to have to play 0.600 hockey the rest of the way just to have a sniff at the playoffs.

So now would be just about as good a time as any to start winning. This week the Oil will take to the ice four times – at home against the Coyotes, Kings, and Sharks and on the road against the Canucks. The Coyotes and Kings are no longer free spaces on schedule and the Sharks and Canucks are quite obviously good NHL teams.

After the Vancouver game they play five more road games before returning home. The results for the Oilers on the road have not been good this season. Their record is 2-7-2 so far. With bad results on the road this season, a lot of road games coming up, and an increasingly thin margin of error for that last playoff spot, you can see how this week could very well define the Oilers season.

With so much on the line not all the news in Oilerville is good news. On the bad news side of the ledger the Oilers will be without Khabibulin’s services for tonight at least, quite possibly longer. He’s listed as day-to-day with a back injury. Dubnyk has been recalled from Springfield to fill the backup role in Khabibulin’s absence.

With Khabibulin on the shelf Deslauriers becomes the de facto starter. In his first three starts Deslauriers looked great. In his most recent starts – a win over the Avs and a loss to the Hawks – he has looked anything but great. His save percentage has been 0.813 and he has allowed five or maybe six goals that should never beat an NHL goaltender. Considering the opposition has scored only nine goals that isn’t a great ratio.

There is good news though. Well maybe it’s good news, it could just as easily be bad news I guess. The Oilers coaching staff had a pow wow yesterday with the veterans on this team – Souray, Staios, Moreau, Horcoff, Hemsky, Penner, and Khabibulin.

I’m not sure what was said yesterday but I’m hoping the meeting was productive and that everyone is on the same page going forward. I’ve been critical of the play of some of the players on that list this season; specifically Moreau, Horcoff, and Staios. This team will go only as far as this group takes them so if there were issues then hopefully that meeting straightened everything out.

On Saturday night the Oilers were simply dominated by the Hawks. That wasn’t a game I expected them to win but I would have thought that they would at least compete. The team that fans saw on Saturday won’t make the playoffs. If Quinn’s message was received then there might still be hope. We’ll know soon enough I guess.

As disappointing as a four game losing streak is, the Oilers played better in those five games that they did in the previous five. So glass half full – the team is progressing. The glass half empty – they’re still losing. I kicked ass at work today so I’m in a positive mood. So being all shiny and happy today I’m going to be a glass half full guy and choose to see that silver lining.

The silver lining really isn’t that hard to find either. With the recent return of Souray the Oilers once again have a much needed part of their lineup fully healed and ready to go. Souray has a cannon of a shot – this you know – but he also is one of the Oilers more physical and solid defensemen. In the two games he’s played since his return from a concussion he has had an impact both physically and on the score sheet.

More good news for Oiler fans is that both Gagner and Jacques were at practice today. Neither was skating on a regular line but at least they were there. Considering the injury woes that this team has had (110 man games lost to injury through 21 games) any good news on the injury front is worth shouting from the rooftops as far as I’m concerned.

Even more good news – I’m loving this positive thing – is that Gagner says he’s ready to go. So even though he didn’t practice on a line he could easily be back with the team as early as tonight. In his absence on Monday the top line of Penner, Horcoff, and Hemsky each played at least 23 minutes; Horcoff came up just seconds short of 27. Long term they can’t be expected to play those type of minutes and be productive offensively, Gagner back in the lineup will help take some pressure off them.

If you’re watching the game tonight you’ll get the rare treat to watch a “Battle of the Backups”. The Avs will send out Budaj and Deslauriers will guard the twine on the Oilers end. Deslauriers has seen limited action this season but has looked more than solid when called upon. Hopefully Oiler fans see more of the same tonight. If that happens then hopefully the losing streak will be halted at four and I can maintain this happy demeanour for another day or two.

Kyle Robertson - Columbus Dispatch

Last night was a good news/bad news kind of night for the Oilers. The good news was that as a team they looked good and did manage to come away with a point. The bad news of course is that they couldn’t hold a third period lead that would have gotten them two points.

If you’re keeping track the Oilers have now lost four straight, although they do have two loser points in those games and in their last 12 games they have come away with a victory just two times.

Last nights shootout loss was just another in a recent trend of close but no cigar results for the Oilers. The Oilers last 10 loses have included four one goal and four two goal loses. Close games like that are games that can turn on a bad penalty or a big powerplay goal. Last night was no different.

Example one: in the second period with Staios in the box and the puck behind the Columbus net Moreau takes a tripping penalty. That stupid penalty put the Oil down two men. The result was Columbus’ first goal 41 seconds later.

Next up, in the third period Reddox, who is apparently the strongest man on earth, hooked Vermette to the ice with one hand on his stick. Yeah it was a garbage call but Reddox shouldn’t have his stick on a guy’s hip it just begs to be called. Another stupid penalty and again Columbus capitalizes to tie the game at two.

When you’re struggling stupid penalties will always kill you.

Overtime decided nothing and this game headed to a shootout tied at two. Despite O’Sullivan and Penner both having the puck bounce on them and not even getting a shot off the Oilers were able to force the shootout to an extra shooter after Hemsky buried his chance tieing it at one. That extra shooter was Brule who had the chance to be the hero in his return to Coumbus but  it wasn’t meant to be, Garon stopped him and the Jackets got the win.

I was really hoping for a win because this team really needs the points but I can’t say I was surprised by the result. If anyone thought the Oilers would win a shootout against Garon they were kidding themselves.

First of all he has seen all the Oilers shootout moves in practice plenty of times, he knows what’s coming. And then there are the 10 games he won in a shootout a couple years ago for the Oilers; the Oilers were lucky to have him then, there is no chance they’d be lucky this time around too. The guy is just gold in a shootout.

Up next for the Oil are the Avalanche back in Edmonton on Wednesday night. If you ask me, that seems like as good a time as any to stop the losing streak.

To start the season the Oilers were simply on fire. They started the season with a stellar 6-2-1 record but in the 11 games since then are just 2-8-1. The result is a slightly disappointing 8-10-2 record. I would have been happy with a pseudo 0.500 record at this point in the season but I’m not going to lose any sleep over the team coming up two points shy of that mark.

The start and the more recent slide has resulted in quite the roller coaster ride for fans in Edmonton but it’s worth pointing out that team isn’t as good as their record to start the season might have had you believe, but they’re not as bad as their recent record might indicate either. Between the flu and injuries this team hasn’t been whole at any point this year. Often practices have been poorly attended as players tried to get healthy. With new coaches and new systems that constant flux in personnel hasn’t allowed for the team to grow as I would have hoped.

Going into the season I wanted to give the Oilers 20 games to prove to me that this team could win games. It might seem like I’m a little quick on the trigger but the team has remained virtually unchanged from the squad that missed the playoffs last season. I’m faithful to a fault but I won’t continue to sit quietly while I watch a team that can’t compete and doesn’t try to improve.

Unfortunately for me though the team is at that 20 game mark and I still have no idea who this team really is.

With a couple of exceptions – Grebeshkov and Pisani – this team is healthy when you look at the stars and veterans. There are still plenty of players on the limp but they are generally speaking rookies or bit players; their absence from the Oilers lineup will have an impact but not nearly the to the same level that taking a player like Souray away would have. So I think if (and it’s a big if) this team can stay healthy for the next 10 games or so we might finally know what these Oilers are really capable of.

Now so far this season who have been the best and the worst of this Oilers squad.

Most Valuable Player / Most Surprising Player – Dustin Penner: I’d have bet my house that Penner wouldn’t be the Oilers MVP at this point in the season but there has been nobody even near his level of play so far this year. His game so far this year has been the complete package. He scores, he sets up plays, and he dominates physically. There is nothing else you could ask for. That all of that has come from a player who was so maligned last season by the coaching staff and fans is nothing short of a miracle.

His numbers are shocking – 12 goals, 11 assists, 23 points, and +10. If Penner was on pace for 60 points right now I would be thrilled, as I would assume most Oilers fans would be. That he is in the top 10 in both goals and points is like finding $100 in your pocket. It’s both unexpected an awesome at the same time.

MVP Honorable mention: Nikolai Khabibulin

Most Surprising Player Honorable mention: Ladislav Smid (in a good way), Shawn Horcoff (in a bad way)

Least Valuable Player – Ethan Moreau: Unlike the MVP there was, sadly, a lot of competition for this award. Nilsson and Horcoff were both in the mix here, but when I look at it Moreau just brings nothing at all to the Oilers lineup on far too many nights.

He has seen time almost exclusively on the fourth line so I won’t blame him for a lack of production because that wouldn’t be fair. But what is Moreau supposed to bring to the Oilers lineup? Leadership and strong defensive zone play. Does leadership take penalty after penalty after penalty in the offensive zone? Does a player that is sound defensively have the worst Corsi number among the forward corps? If you’re not sure the answer to both questions is no. Moreau has done almost nothing of value for this team through 20 games, for that he is the least valuable.

Best Off-Season Acquisition – Nikolai Khabibulin: Granted Khabibulin’s competition here is limited; in fact his only competition is Comrie. But Khabibulin deserves an award for his play. If not for Penner Khabibulin would be this teams MVP. He hasn’t stolen any games for the Oilers but he has kept them in more games than they deserved to be in. Khabibulin has played in 17 of the Oilers games so far this season and has seen more than his fair share of rubber. His 517 saves rank him third in the NHL so far this season.

Even with countless defensive zone breakdowns and turnovers he’s managed to post a 3.11 GAA and a 0.907 SV%. Those aren’t number that will win you a Vezina but they’re better than they should be considering he is being left on his own far too often this year. The Oilers record could (maybe should) be better but Khabibulin has carried more than his shared of the load so far.

Most Deserving Of A Bounce – Patrick O’Sullivan: If it wasn’t for bad luck O’Sullivan would have no luck. I really like his game but he can’t seem to ever catch a break. Pucks bounce off his stick and shots go just wide with an amazing regularity. He does so many things that I think should translate to goals and assists but in his case he just can’t seem to get the results he deserves. I hope he keeps doing the things he’s doing because eventually he’ll catch a break, he has to.

That’s it, 20 games down and 62 more to go. I think it’ll take 95 points to make the playoffs so the Oilers will need to play 0.620 hockey the rest of the way. A daunting task for sure but not impossible yet. They will need to start winning some games very very soon though.

Los Angeles Kings’ forward Anze Kopitar is off to a torrid start this season, but it does not come as a surprise to many fantasy hockey pundits. After 19 games, the 22 year-old centre, has already scored 14 goals and notched 16 assists for an exceptional 30 points. A 1.58 point-per-game pace that would be good for 130 points over a full season. As of today, Kopitar has a seven-point lead over any other player in the NHL. Marleau, Nash and Ovechkin each have 23 points, good for the second rank.

Kopitar is also +9, compared to last year’s dismal -17, on a very improved Kings team. Playing with Ryan Smyth (22 points in 19 games) and Justin Williams (15 points in 14 games) has also helped Kopitar dramatically improve his offensive game and all-around hockey awareness.

The big Slovenian is creating offensive opportunities for himself by using his great hands and vision to put defensemen in impossible situations. He has developped good chemistry with Smyth and Williams so, barring an injury, except Kopitar to finish the season with at least 100 points.

Drafted 11th overall by the Kings in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Kopitar was ranked the top player coming out of Europe that year. We can say without any doubt that he’s the second best player coming out of the 2005 selection. The best one being none other than Sidney Crosby.

After consecutive seasons of 61, 77 and 66 points, his prolific talent and drive are finally leading him to the top in the NHL. But Kopitar is not the only star player to explode on his fourth season. You will find below a few of those rising stars.

According to Dobber (www.dobberhockey.com):

Roughly speaking, offensive players make big jumps in their production in years two through six. In the fourth year, 24 percent of players jump by 25 percent. This is a rough guide for a breakout year for players entering their second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth seasons: 14%, 17%, 24%, 14%, 9%… and go with 5% for seventh seasons and beyond.

Edmonton’s Dustin Penner is also a 4th year player who comes to mind with consecutive seasons of 45, 47 and 37 points (excluding the 2005-06 where he only played 19 games). Penner has already 22 points in 19 games and has been scoring in bunches with a 4-point game and a 5-point game. He likely won’t keep his PPG pace, but should end up above 60 points, a big increase over his previous seasons.

Dallas’ Loui Eriksson is also having a nice 4th season with 15 points in 17 games, which should surpass last season’s production of 63 points (which came as a pleasant surprise). The Swedish winger is well-surrounded in Dallas with the likes of Morrow, Ribeiro and Richards.

Colorado’s Paul Stastny, also drafted in 2005, is having a great year with the surprising Avalanches. After 19 games, Stastny has already 18 points, on pace for an 80-point season. The Quebec City native, had a 78-point rookie season, but injuries have slowed him down the past two seasons.

Stastny’s teammate Wojtek Wolski, also a 4th year player, is off to a terrific start with 16 points in 19 games. Wolski is currently on pace for 70 points, 20 more points than his 50-point rookie season, his best season overall.

New Jersey’s Travis Zajac is entering his fourth season and is off to a good start with 13 points in 16 games even if he’s playing for Jacques Lemaire. Zajac had a breakout season in 2008-09 with 62 points, so don’t expect a big increase in points, but he should finish the season with 70 points. Playing with Zach Parise certainly helps.

San Jose’s Joe Pavelski is back from his broken foot injury and after only four games he already has six points. He had seasons of 28, 40 and 59 points before, so expect him to finish with about a 0.9 PPG pace, which results in about 65 points over 70 games.

Toronto’s Phil Kessel is a 4th year player who will get plenty of ice-time with the Leafs under Ron Wilson. Kessel has four points in four games since coming back from his off-season shoulder surgery. Expect him to score 65 points in about 65 games in 2009-10.

Finally, Washington’s Tomas Fleischmann is a great breakout candidate with the most offensive-minded team in the league. After missing 11 games with a blod clot in his leg, Flash already has eight points, including six goals, in only seven games. He improved his offensive stats in every league, every year during his professional career, so with offensive players like Semin, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Morrison, Laich, Knuble and Green, Fleischman is a sure gamble for a magical fourth season.

Notables 4th year players not having good seasons because of injuries or different factors: Drew Stafford (BUF), Patrick O’Sullivan (EDM), David Moss (CGY), Valteri Filppula (DET) – currently injured, David Booth (FLA) – currently injured, Jordan Staal (PIT), Evgeny Malkin (PIT) – currently injured, David Backes (STL.

Please note that this system disregards defensemen as they tend to develop later (Phaneuf and Weber being exceptions).

So, who did you pick in your hockey drafts before the season?