Weekend Stuff and Things

Well it’s the weekend and while everyone hunkers down to watch some foosball I figured I’d give you my opinions on some of the happenings with the Oilers this last week.

The Big Win

First let’s start with last night’s game against the Penguins. All the talk was around Sydney Crosby and company coming to town and laying a beating on the 2^nd to last Oilers. The days leading up to the game we say Coach Eakins move Gagner to the first line RW, and said he was going to throw the top line of the Oilers out against the best player in the world head to head. I like this line of thought from Eakins, how better to learn how to be the best than to play against the top talent in league night in and night out. I hope we see this line of thinking the rest of the way from Eakins.

The game last night was an interesting one to watch, I think it’s the most complete game the team has played all season. They didn’t give up on their game plan, got good goaltending and the defense was outstanding. My man crush on Martin Marincin is still there and doesn’t look to be going anywhere. Marincin quietly logged 15:41 minutes on the ice, once again good enough for 4^th among Oilers defensemen. Anton Belov had his best game of the season too, forget the goal and he still played well, he played the body, and used his size to clear the net and win battles in the corners. Oh and did anyone notice that Justin Schultz played 27 minutes. Now that’s about 7 minutes too much in my books but hell, he didn’t do anything to hamper the team’s effort in the win.

And then there was the TSN turning point, or as I like to call it “Malkin a difference” when Malkin kicked Dubnyk’s stick away from him and the Goalie went after him. It was nice to see that kind of passion out of Dubey, and I think it changed the momentum of the game. It was 2-0 at the time and Pittsburgh was coming on strong, but the melee that ensued seemed to lift the team. The Oilers it seems are starting to finally work together as a team, they appear to be listening to what the coach is telling them and finally, finally are doing what it takes to win games.

Since Christmas the Oilers are 3-3-2 good enough for 8 of a possible 16 points, or 500 hockey. A few more wins here and the Oilers will be on their way back to respectability. Also I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I asked Santa for the Oilers to have a winning record the rest of the way.

The Rumors

There has been a lot of talk surrounding the Oilers and what the team is going to do going forward. Alex wrote a good piece about the core players for the team and who might stick around. There’s been a tonne of stuff out there about trading Sam Gagner, and Ales Hemsky, the next 8 weekends are going to be very interesting with the rumors. In fact, Darren Dreger last night speculated that Jordan Eberle may be the player moving out in a trade in order to bring the type of help the Oilers need a big top 6 forward or a big top 4 defender. I’m not sure what I think about moving Ebs, but I do know that of everyone that’s been rumored to be on the move, Eberle carries the most value and can bring MacT the best return.

Something I noticed today as far as rumors go, the Sabres have sent Mikail Grigorenko down to junior where he is refusing to report, I wonder what the ask would be for the 6.03 200lb center and if MacTavish could put together a package worthy of landing the talented Russian. I know he’s a rookie and doesn’t necessarily help immediately but hell, I bet he’d have some immediate chemistry with a guy like Nail Yakupov, food for thought anyway.

Now don’t be upset if MacT doesn’t do too much with the roster leading up to the deadline, or even at the deadline. The most action we are going to see will be in the days leading up to the draft. Even if the Oilers can be somewhat successful on the ice and raise a few spots in the standings they are still going to be in a lottery spot with no worse than the 5^th overall pick, a pick that will garner a lot of interest come draft day.

Whats coming up?

The Oilers play every other night this week starting tomorrow with the Chicago Blackhawks, then on to Dallas Tuesday, Minnesota Thursday and on to Winnipeg Saturday for Hockey Day in Canada. The Oilers should be heading on the road with a bit of confidence, beating two of the league’s best teams last week, and while all the teams they are playing are ahead of them in the standings not one of them should be looked at as a team the Oilers can’t beat.

It’s going to be interesting that’s for sure, is this another one of those teasers from the Oilers where they’re going to follow it up with a bunch of stinkers or are they going to come out and compete to win for a nice change. Only time will tell.

Thanks For Reading.