FULL NELSON
This is Todd Nelson. He’s a candidate for the head coaching job in Edmonton with the Oilers. An impressive two year run in Oklahoma City and a familiarity with the team’s young depth players make him an attractive option.
March 2012 - Page 3
GDB 75.0: HE’S A WHALER, WE SHOULDN’T BE SURPRISED
Kevin Dineen is in his first season behind an NHL bench, and barring a major collapse in their final nine games he’ll have the Florida Panthers back in the playoffs for the first time since 2000 – some rebuilds take a long time. Dineen was a scrappy player during his 18-year career. He had some…
BEREZAN ON THE BATTLE OF ALBERTA
At the height of the Battle of Alberta the Oilers and Flames were arguably the two best teams in the NHL, but sadly we only got to see them play in the Smyth final. Imagine how intense a Cup final would have been. It would have been crazy. Fans and players of both teams have…
Pat Quinn on “Doing Something”
Do something. For teams dwelling outside the playoff bubble, those words tend to accurately reflect the mood of the fan base. Fire the coach. Fire the trainers. Trade someone. Axe the professional scouts. Something. I thought that ex-Leafs coach/G.M. and ex-Oilers coach Pat Quinn had an interesting take on “doing something” in the recent book…
LINUS
Yesterday, Jason Gregor (via Terry Jones via Jack Michaels) gave us the word on what makes Linus Omark happy.
GDB 74.0: SOME ARE NEVER PLEASED
Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, because some people will still be upset or annoyed. In his 550th career game, Ales Hemsky produced his first career hat-trick, and added an assist, in a surprising 6-4 win over the Predators. Prior to Tuesday’s outburst Hemsky had a paltry six goals in 59 games. He’s never…
The Edmonton Oilers On The Penalty Kill: Good News
The Edmonton Oilers have been much better on the penalty kill this season than they have been in virtually forever. After years of being a punch line while down a man, they currently sit 19th in the NHL in terms of killing penalties. While 19th out of 30 is hardly the stuff people typically put…
Ales Hemsky Turns Things Around
Where have you been Jake Taylor? A favorite movie character of mine is Jake Taylor from the Major League movies. He is a backcatcher in the twilight of his career and he gets a call to play for the Cleveland Indians. He becomes a mentor for many of the players on the team throughout the…
LEIDER GEIL
We missed the Oilers game last night. Not because we had some pressing prior engagement or something more important to do but because something else best described as "moderately fun" came up and we picked that over watching a meaningless game at the end of the season against a superior opponent who never loses at…
AS GOOD AS IT GETS?
Remember the sales pitch about how a new collective bargaining agreement was going to alter the fundamental economic structure of the NHL, level the competitive playing field and, at long last, give the small-market Edmonton Oilers a fair chance to run with the big boys? How’s that working for you?
The Magic Power Play
When it comes to scoring on the power play, two teams in the NHL are doing it like no others. Those two teams met last night in Nashville – both the Predators and the Oilers make the most of the shots they take on the power play, with Nashville scoring on 16.4% of its power…
Sufferin’ Sekera!
Andrej Sekera is not a big man by NHL standards–6.00, 201–but he does a lot of useful things for an NHL team. In our ongoing look at possible blueline additions, we head to the "city of no illusions" for a possible solution.