Oilers win 5-3

[Mr Forever]

Jones didn't earn his spot that's for sure. What a joke. Disappointed I have to watch this guy play another year.

 

[Klimando Kostani]

It was weird watching this game after watching the Vancouver games... Every hit I was expecting an elbow or stick to fly up for no reason. Every play I was expecting a late hit for no F'ing reason but it was a fairly civil game.

That isn't just a comment on this preseason either, that's the nucks every game... Then the fans all sit in a circle and cry about everyone in the league arbitrarily hating them.. News flash, it's the way 55-70% of your team plays a little dirty every game.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Well, what are the projected lines for opening day?

 

[Asher]

It also has to be said, TheBearaBeara was so bad.

Unless "You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet" from 'im, bring back R. Bachman.

I would have brought back Khabby for the extra mil. When he's healthy and well rested, he can still play hockey at a high level. JLB can't, and never could.

 

[elpol]

Nich has been awesome something like 30 shots in pre season so far, but every time I see Nurse play I am feeling a lot better of Mac T choice.

we do need defensemen.

and now we desperately need centers...

 

[Koto]

arco is similar to gagner like rnh is similar to gretzky




glad they made the right decision with Nurse sending him down, i also agree Fedun and Lander were on the outside, still wanted to see more of Pitlick.


is the roster final now? Jones is in? ughhhhh

 

[Samus44]

The most exciting part about that line, is that if Hall and Hemmer can carry Smyth to level they had to this preseason, imagine what they could do with Joensuu who handled his own with much less on his line thus far.

I like the idea that Eakins floated today about spreading his best players out 3 lines deep.

Smyth-Hall-Hemsky
Perron-Gordon-Eberle
Joensuu-Arcobello-Yakupov


I'd give the Arcobello line heavy ozone starts and play the other two in a two way role.

 

[OilerTyler]

Well, what are the projected lines for opening day?

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

Ference - J. Schultz
Smid - Petry
N. Schultz - Belov
Larsen

Dubnyk
Labarbera

 

[ales83fan]

A shoutout to everybody with a Hemsky related username who I have mocked in the past: Hemsky was unreal tonight.

Haha I guess I'll take it - although to be honest, my name has more to do with who I am am on HF than how big of a hemsky fan I am.

As a somewhat biased fan, I find him to be supremely talented. I see him as only slightly worse than a Hossa; around the same as Havlat before his injuries. It's a high skill European winger. He won't hit, He won't fight, but he will make plays happen on offence.

I hope he stays with Hall, but would love someone other than Smyth on that line. Heck, I don't even think Ryan is an NHL player anymore.

But when you have the close up of Lowe, MacT, Katz - guess what jersey one of the kids is wearing? Smyddy! Now it might be his own child - I don't know - but don't tell me him being besties with the entire management team doesn't help him.

I'll tell you this much, Ryan doesn't have to try at all. No way he is making it anywhere but in the line up - which to me is a scary thought.

 

[Nunymare]

Arcobello's no Gagner, not only that he's actually older by a year. Arcobello could be a real find, his AHL career suggests the NHL is a reasonable option and there's not a lot of guys in the AHL who have that kind of production while being under 25. Even if Arcobello could replace Gagner, it's not like Arcobello's grow on trees. The guy is in fairness a premier AHLer.

That's kind of crazy to think about...

 

[The Perfect Human*]

What on earth...

Obviously Gagner is the better player - and to make that point more obvious if you put both of them with less-talented wingers - Gagner's easily going to out-produce Arco.

That being said, this line from the get-go (even with Gags on it) has seemingly been all about Perron and Eberle.

Those 2 are producing no matter who's in between them - and that's the point I'm trying to make. Gagner has little to contribute to that 2nd line when those 2 are dictating the flow of things.

 

[rasarhdasd]

Jones didn't earn his spot that's for sure. What a joke. Disappointed I have to watch this guy play another year.

Dan Tencer ‏@dantencer 7m

Pitlick and Lander to OKC, leaving 15 healthy forwards. 1 more cut before Oct. 1. Feels to me like the decision is Hamilton or Jones.
Expand


I dunno which should be on to be honest. Jones has looked pretty bad, but Hamilton is a huge question mark offensively and his skating isn't as fast as it could be for the NHL.

 

[Mr Forever]

Dan Tencer ‏@dantencer 7m

Pitlick and Lander to OKC, leaving 15 healthy forwards. 1 more cut before Oct. 1. Feels to me like the decision is Hamilton or Jones.
Expand


I dunno which to be honest. Jones has looked pretty bad, but Hamilton is a huge question mark offensively and his skating isn't as fast as it could be for the NHL.

I'd have taken Pitlick over both of them

 

[Koto]

I would have brought back Khabby for the extra mil. When he's healthy and well rested, he can still play hockey at a high level. JLB can't, and never could.

dear god no. when was the last time this happened?


moving on from khabby was well overdue.

 

[McOilers4cup]

I'd have taken Pitlick over both of them

Me too

 

[OiledUp]

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.

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

arco is similar to gagner like rnh is similar to gretzky




glad they made the right decision with Nurse sending him down, i also agree Fedun and Lander were on the outside, still wanted to see more of Pitlick.


is the roster final now? Jones is in? ughhhhh

If not mistaken there are still 25,26 players in camp.

 

[Asher]

dear god no. when was the last time this happened?


moving on from khabby was well overdue.

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.

 

[rasarhdasd]

I'd have taken Pitlick over both of them

Agreed. Hopefully they put him on the top two lines in OKC.

 

[Samus44]

Jones didn't earn his spot that's for sure. What a joke. Disappointed I have to watch this guy play another year.

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.

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

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.

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

 

[Koto]

If not mistaken there are still 25,26 players in camp.

i think according to other posts we have 24 healthy: 15 forwards and 7D, 2G, 2+2 injured...?

so basically

smac, eager, brown, jones, hamilton are the 4th line winger candidates. im not thrilled with any of them...


hopefully pitlick can play 20 minutes a night in OKC and be a beast callup.

 

[Samus44]

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.

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...

 

[Captain Creampuff]

I'd be thrilled if he could put up 70 points. I dunno how likely that is once he slides in along side Gagner and Yakupov on the second line, but hey, why not dream big!

Gagner is the best playmaking center Perron will have played with not to mention a sniper such as Yakupov on his wing. These highly offensive players are the type of players that I believe Perron could reach his full potential with.

 

[Mcnofool6110]

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.)