Oilers win 5-3

[Koto]

Last year Khabby was .923 and 2.54. Even with an improved defense and an actual defensive system I bet JLB doesn't do as well.

did you miss the bolded part? i didnt ask the last time he played well.


people like to call hemsky injury prone, but hes had millions of different injuries, many from illegal hits.


khabby's groin can barely go a month without getting pulled.

 

[Connor McOilers]

No love lost for Maggie, but sending him away for Perron is looking like it may be one of the better trades this team has made in a long time. He fits in to our offense excellently.

 

[OilerTyler]

Yea but Lander's dad is not one of the coaches.

I wonder if the whole Will/Keith Acton thing could cause locker room issues.

I could see some players resenting Will if he starts sucking in the regular season.

 

[Koto]

Yea but Lander's dad is not one of the coaches.

i dont like acton, but please dont tell me he won the job because of nepotism.

Lander was easily less impressive.

I'd waive SMac.
Wait, we can't do that?

Damn it.

(Jones played better tonight than last night, to be fair. That being said, it wasn't much better. Pitlick played better last night than tonight, and that punched his ticket to OKC. We could use some healthy bodies in the top 6.)

actually we can...it just doesn't seem likely.

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

Don't they still have 15 forwards in camp?

Smyth-Hall-Hemsky
Perron-Gordon-Eberle
Joensuu-Arcobello-Yakupov
Hamilton-Acton-Brown
Eager-Jones-MacIntyre

IR: Gagner, Hopkins.

There's at least one more cut coming to a forward, 2 if they keep 8 dmen.

Only allowed 23 players 14 forwards 7 d 2 g or 13 for 8 d 2 g.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

I'm not so sure I'd prefer Acton to Lander. Yes Acton is more noticable and is in on the forecheck more, hits more and gets involved slightly more offensively although I doubt any of those two guys reach 15 points in the regular season.

But he's struggling to keep up defensively, he was on the ice for all three goals against vs NYR, one of which he was directly responsible. Lander is not adding much but he's solid in keeping things at bay in his own end. And for me the number one thing for a 4th line, at least when you have a so so 4th line like we're going to, is to not bleed goals.

I have a feeling that once we start to play real games with all the other teams bringing all their offensive players Acton is going to be a huge liability in his own end. He puts himself out of position and isn't quick enough to get himself back. At the same time the primary thing Lander is good at is defensive positioning. And since we're not going to lean at our 4th line for scoring goals I have to say I prefer that.

Having said that my guess is that Acton sticks and Lander is sent down. I believe Eakins wants his players to be more noticable and make more noise on the ice a point I can sort of understand but not fully agree with.

Edit: and there you go, Eakins went with the noticable guy. Hope he's right.

Agreed 100%, I think daddy along with Kevin Lowe and the old boy's club had more to do with this decision. Will Acton is not an NHLer.

 

[Asher]

Who cares if he isn't reliable. They can get a guy like Theodore if they're that desperate at this point. In saying that Labarbera hasn't been good, but it's early and he has a recent tack record of success. He still hasn't played much so lets not get too ahead of ourselves. I do wonder how Khudobin (my UFA hope for the backup job) is doing in Carolina though...

I wanted Khudobin too. Not only do I think he would have pushed DD this year but he might have even taken the job away from him. I don't like the depth in net at all right now, and I'd much rather have some security there than be scrambling to find a Theodore at some time in the future. I knocked management a million times over the last few years for signing Khabby, but only because I thought his days as a starter were over. As a backup, I would have liked him back then and still would now.

 

[OilerTyler]

i dont like acton, but please dont tell me he won the job because of nepotism.

Lander was easily less impressive.

While I agree that Acton was better than Lander in the preseason, I think that the decision between them was made before training camp even started.

 

[thadd]

I still think Ben Eager can be an effective player for the oilers. As far as Ryan Jones is concerned, his days are done with the oilers imo.

So when we're healthy we'll have Hemsky, Joensuu, Eager, Smyth and Jones fighting for 4 spots as wingers.

Not too shabby. I wonder if Jones would clear waivers. I think we could afford to waive him.

Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
Perron-Gagner-Yakupov
Joensuu-Gordon-Hemsky
Eager-Smyth-Pitlick
Action

Smid-Petry
Ference-J Schutlz
Nurse - Belov
N Schultz Larsen

That's how I'd start the season off if we were healthy. I know we don't want to rush Nurse, but he's looked so good that I'd let him start the year with the Oilers.

Bye bye Jones. Thanks for trying out Grebs, but you're not good enough.

Hopefully Pitlick has a turn around year in the AHL so that we can be happy to have him as an injury call up.

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

While I agree that Acton was better than Lander in the preseason, I think that the decision between them was made before training camp even started.

All Mac t offseason additions still in camp as well as Eakins pets not really surprising.

 

[Koto]

While I agree that Acton was better than Lander in the preseason, I think that the decision between them was made before training camp even started.

based on what?

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

All Mac t offseason additions still in camp as well as Eakins pets not really surprising.

Pretty sure Omark is sitting on the waiver wire as we speak.

 

[Samus44]

Only allowed 23 players 14 forwards 7 d 2 g or 13 for 8 d 2 g.

I know... I'm curious as to why you are telling me this...

 

[Samus44]

based on what?

Conjecture. The funny thing is even if this was true it wouldn't matter because like you said Acton has been better, so he'd be getting the spot regardless.

 

[Samus44]

Pretty sure Omark is sitting on the waiver wire as we speak.

Considering he was in the system a guy could probably argue he doesn't apply.

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

I know... I'm curious as to why you are telling me this...

Oops seen you with 24 my bad math

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

Pretty sure Omark is sitting on the waiver wire as we speak.

Tambo player not Mac t just a re-sign of rights we held.

 

[Psychoil]

okay, crazy thought, but since we have this plethora of D-men, would klefbom therefore become avaliable for a trade? if not, somebody has to be trade bait soon

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Tambo player not Mac t just a re-sign of rights we held.

Still a MacT addition.

 

[Koto]

All Mac t offseason additions still in camp as well as Eakins pets not really surprising.

he brought back omark and waived him.

he didn't bring in jones who has sucked and has kept him. hamilton hasnt been great, but jones is horrawful right now.

grebs is likely only still here because of IR.




Acton has played better than lander, why is this bother people so much.

 

[Koto]

Tambo player not Mac t just a re-sign of rights we held.

Considering he was in the system a guy could probably argue he doesn't apply.

pretty sure omark was drafted in 07, prior to tambo when o btw mact was working for the oilers

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

Conjecture. The funny thing is even if this was true it wouldn't matter because like you said Acton has been better, so he'd be getting the spot regardless.

Acton is not a NHL player let alone a good AHL player does not belong in the NHL even at a 4th line tweener spot . In what way has he earned his stripes. Many Centers already put through waivers have a superior track record to him.

 

[Asher]

JMO, but as I said in the Omark thread I don't believe he was signed with the intent of him making the big team.

 

[Section337]

Every year we have these guys who look like they should get a job (based on pre-season pretend hockey), get sent down to the farm and follow it up by not showing much. Let's see them actually show better than their pre-season form down in the AHL and then actually take the opportunity when they earn a call up. For all the suck that has been on this team the last number of years, there has been a lot more suck unable to actually replace them.

 

[Samus44]

Agreed 100%, I think daddy along with Kevin Lowe and the old boy's club had more to do with this decision. Will Acton is not an NHLer.

The rumours of Will Acton coming to Edmonton started before Keith Acton or Dallas Eakins were expected to be coach. Maybe i'm wrong but i interpreted him as the "guy in the AHL they felt was ready to be a 4th line center", and iirc that rumour pre dated the Eakins hiring. I agree there are better options out there, i'd prefer Acton be in the AHL but in fairness he's been somewhat decent.