You're really doing a disservice to Ales Hemsky. Do you watch Oilers games?
I disagree that i am doing Ales a disservice.I havent denegrated Hemsky or insulted him or in any way stepped out of line,I simply stated what to me are observations of his style of play,I have made no personal attacks or critiques of him as an individual or as an Oiler.
And yes i have watched the Oilers since their first NHL game.I have watched Aleses entire career here,I witnessed him being molded into a cog in the Oiler wheel,I watched him make sacrifices and adjust his game to suit a specific style,I watched an entire offensive scheme be evolved around him and his elite zone entry abilitys,he is a very important Oiler who has paid his dues and played through many injurys he sustained because he followed his orders and went to the dangerous areas throughout his entire career.I respect him as a player and as a person who has contributed to the team and in many cases the community as well and as loyally as any Oiler.
But unfortunately these good tidings dont change how i see his position on our depth chart or how I view his tangible and intangible abilitys to contribute to the teams sucess.Hemsky could play on the 1st line on any NHL team except here and maybe one or two others,this is just the way it is and to be honest championship teams have guys like Hemmer on them,guys who are used as gamebreakers from deeper in the lineup,guys with very high talent levels,this is commonly known as depth.Hemsky gives us depth now that we didnt have the luxury of before,now we can make him a 3rd line hitman and green light him all year every game.And lets face it ,at the NHL level if you are going to be elite and the top 5 in any category whatsoever you must dance with the devil and either sacrifice facets of your overall game or take more risks,the risk idea doesnt work so well at this level so that leaves the sacrifice part.Its not just Hemmer its many elite players who are one dimensional and that is why they are the best at those jobs in the best league in the world.
Ralph krueger will define if we play a fast break style or a controlled transition style,and this is key to the line combos,he said fast paced but he didnt specify fastbreak.If we play a fastbreak style then MPS isnt as good a fit as Hemmer on the 2nd line but I would never expose Yakupov to the dangerous passes hemmers style forces him to dish out down the middle--so for me hemmer just doesnt crack the top six anymore.No more than the rest of our vets excluding Gagner.This is what we were all waiting for,trial by fire for our young studs,so let see it happen now and lets let them run with it.Lets use our depth of offense to beat teams down,who in the NHL can put Smyth,Horcs and Hemsky on their 3rd line???We have serious depth if we use our personell properly . Goals from all 4 lines is what this team needs,we are committed to high octane offense so there is no point in messing around,lets set all our lines up for wide open offense.If you are only playing six minutes a night on the 4th line those might as well be offensively catalysed minutes for everyone.
