Our Beloved Team
Our three part special concludes today, looking at the supposed plan in place and how the team is trying to emulate Chicago or Pittsburgh. We'll take a look at the Oilers journey and see how we're progressing and compare to the aforementioned teams above.
FIRST OFF, our rebuild started in 2007 because that was our first of 5 straight top 12 finishes at the draft table.
2006-2007: 25th overall, 32-43-7 and 71 Pts
Ryan Smyth played 53 games and recorded 53 points and was then traded for junk over a few thousand bucks. A curse was then placed on the Oilers for ripping out their heart and replacing it with magic beans.
Sam Gagner was drafted and made the NHL right at 18, was it the right decision? I don't know, it's debatable.
C - Sykora, Horcoff, Stoll, Reasoner, Pouliot
LW - Smyth, Torres, Thoreson, Winchester, Moreau
RW - Hemsky, Lupul, Pisani, Stortini
D - Bergeron, Staios, Tjarnqvist, Smith, Smid, Greene, Hejda, Gilbert
G - Roloson, Markkanen
Yuck.
2007-2008: 41-35-6 with 88 points, 19th overall
Hemsky led the team in scoring with 71 points in 74 games. Chris Pronger was traded in the off season of 2006. Our 12th overall pick ended up in Buffalo who selected Tyler Myers. Our pick for Pronger was 22nd overall and we selected this guy, we also acquired Laddy Smid and he's developed nicely as well.
C- Horcoff, Gagner, Cogliano, Stoll, Brodziak, Reasoner
LW - Penner, Glencross, Nilsson, Sanderson, Torres, Moreau
RW - Hemsky, Pisani, Stortini
D - Gilbert, Pitkanen, Grebeshkov, Staios, Souray, Tarnstrom, Smid, Greene
G - Garon, Roloson
This team, just looking at rosters, is clearly better than the 06/07 edition, why couldn't we build on this?
2008/2009: 21st overall, 85 points, 38-35-9
Hemsky lead the team with 66 points in 72 games.
Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson
C - Horcoff, Gagner, Cogliano, Brodziak, Pouliot
LW - Penner, Nilsson, Cole, Moreau, Reddox
RW - Hemsky, Pisani, Kotalik, Stortini
D - Souray, Gilbert, Grebeshkov, Visnovsky, Staios, Smid, Strudwick
G - Roloson, Garon, Deslauriers
The depth on the wings is absent and experience on the blue is also lacking in the positions that see ice time. Not trending in a formidable fashion here.
2009/2010: 27-47-8, the big 3-0, 62 Pts
Pancakes Penner led the team with 63 points. Don't hate me for saying this, but I miss him, I hope we sign him back for about 2MM, if possible.
You know when people say they have a favorite player? I never truly had that until my boy came along. <3
Future captain.
C - Gagner, Brule, Horcoff, O'Sullivan, Putulny, Cogliano, Nilsson
LW - Penner, Moreau, Jacques, Reddox, Jones
RW - Hemsky, Stortini, Pisani
D - Visnovsky, Gilbert, Grebeshkov, Souray, Whitney, Smid, Staios
G - Deslauriers, Khabibulin, Dubnyk
Jesus, good lord. How did I manage to watch this? How can a GM who fielded this team be in the running for an extension? I'll get into it more after.
2010-2011: 25-45-12, 62 points, 30th overall
So we had the same amount of points, but less wins.....
Rookie Jordan Eberle led our team with 43 points in 69 games.
We drafted NUUUUUUUGE, who is an absolute beauty and a PP wizard. It's too bad the Oilers bad luck graced him, he woulda won the Calder. Now I think Henrique will take it.
C - Gagner, Horcoff, Cogliano, Brule
LW - Hall, Penner, Paajarvi, Omark, Jones, Jacques
RW - Eberle, Hemsky, Stortini
D - Whitney, Gilbert, Smid, Foster, Vandermeer, Peckham,
G - Khabibulin, Dubnyk
That defense is terrible and the forwards were again... injury riddled.
Present day 2011-2012: 18-26-4, 29th overall, 40 points in 48 games.
Jordan Eberle leads the team with 45 points in 44 games.
I predict, by getting healthy after the All-Star break, we will finish 28th overall and with the 3rd overall pick we take Ryan Murray of the Everett Silvertips.
C - Nugent-Hopkins, Horcoff, Gagner, Belanger, Lander
LW - Hall, Smyth, Paajarvi, Jones, Eager, Hordichuk
RW - Eberle, Hemsky, Petrell, Hartikainen
D - Gilbert, Smid, Petry, Whitney, Potter, Peckham, Sutton, Teubert
G - Khabibulin, Dubnyk
Forwards:
The kids are sublime, they are why I watch these Oilers. Give Hall the "C" already because he is the leader of this team. Horcoff and Smyth started out hot, playing a two-way game and now the offense has dried up. They still play the toughs and that helps the kids' match-up but they are out of gas already. Ryan Jones... I love him! Plays with heart and he has the best hair in the league, the 12 goals he has makes me like him more. Belanger wins faceoffs and plays defense but the offense needs to come. His lack of production is not acceptable and I bet he bounces back next year. Gagner has improved this year in my mind, his annual hot streak is over though, maybe he gets two this year! I think that injury in training camp took away his extra step that he acquired which sucks. I hope he gets it again and along with good health, puts in a year that convinces everyone he belongs on the second line, behind Nuge for years. Hemsky is seeing his final days in Edmonton, I really don't know what is going on. I guess the shoulders are done, because he has barely done anything. I'll miss him because he was the only threat the Oilers had for years before the kids came. He owes Edmonton nothing and I hope he wins a cup. Lander should be in the AHL, as should Paajarvi and Petrell. But injuries hit and they're back. Paajarvi really needs to want to score more, he doesn't go to the net enough which is the sould reason he doesn't have a goal this year. He'll be better next year. Eager is in the coaches dog house, clearly this is an attitude issue, because his play on ice says he should be playing second line as of late. He can get a great 4th liner when he wants too. Finally, Hordichuk is Hordichuk, he's played his role well this year.
Defense:
Potter has been a nice surprise, 3rd pairing defenseman when we're good. Petry, with consistency, will be a top 4 option next year. The way he's playing now is a treat, he's playing extremely well and I hope he doesn't look back. Gilbert is the most under rated defenseman in the league and him and Smid can be thrown out there against anyone and I'll feel good about it. Whitney is done, he no longer can be counted on and it's unfortunate because we could use him. Sutton will be gone at the deadline I think, I don't mind him at all as a seventh defenseman, but I think we keep Peckham over Sutton and we acquire another top 4 defenseman in the summer. If we do that then there's no room for Sutton.
Goalie:
Khabibulin carried our team at the beginning of the year, obviously he had more motivation than anyone coming in to camp. His play has tailed off lately, which is why the Oilers free fell in the standings. I wonder if Tambo trades him at the deadline. What is his value? Dubnyk has been shaky and inconsistent. When he's on he can be great, ala last night. But he seems to let in at least one softie every game and a half. We'll see tonight against Vancouver if he bucks the trend and plays a great game. I hope for all of our sake he does it, because he has every opportunity to seize the starting job and become the goalie of the future.
The bolded above are who I think will be with the team when we contend. I think Paajarvi will be traded with others for a bigger piece of the puzzle, maybe a defenseman, maybe a goalie. Chicago won with elite forwards on ELC's, something that is now out of the reach for the Oilers, I think. Tambellini clearly isn't copying Chicago there. Chicago went through 4 coaches on their changing of the guard, Pittsburgh went through 4 and Edmonton is about to get rid of their third. That's what you call following a successful plan! Comparing the Oilers to Chicago and Pittsburgh, regarding player personell, is what my goal is to do, so lets take a look.
The Oilers have a few pieces in place, but are missing a few in order to be competitive.
Top line - Hall-Nugent-Hopkins-Eberle, this line is as good as either of the teams' top lines right now and will continue to get better.
Top 4 defensemen - Gilbert - Smid, Petry - TBA, clearly this is where the Oilers are lacking. We need that other top 4 defenseman to round out a solid 1-2 pairing. Pittsburgh and Chicago's top 4 are better and this is where we lack.
Starting goaltender - TBA, Pittsburgh has Fleury, Chicago had Niemi and now Crawford. Dubnyk has yet to seize the job but possibly could. Niemi was a shaky goalie but is now pretty established and Fleury is a top 10 goalie in the league. The Oilers could do wonders if they ever acquire an elite goalie who can steal games like Khabibulin did earlier in the year.
Needs: Ryan Suter please/a top pairing defenseman. A starting goalie. A fourth line. Some size in the top 6 would help.
That's a pretty hefty shopping list in order to win Stanley.
Change our fortunes please, ever powerful Hockey Gods.
No comments:
Post a Comment