gr8one: I’d rather finish in the bottom 5 this year than make the playoff’s as a bubble team and have a first round exit.Hemmerlady, did you get my message I sent you on Twitter?

Yup, got it now. Search didn’t work (what, am I inept?) – check your messages, sent you a direct link to my FB.

gr8one: I’d rather finish in the bottom 5 this year than make the playoff’s as a bubble team and have a first round exit.Hemmerlady, did you get my message I sent you on Twitter?

But we would see some clear improvement in making the playoffs. Its a win win.

Hemmerlady, did you get my message I sent you on Twitter?

Edit: for clarity.

Racki: Yah really… we’re only 6 games in. And I think everyone knew that the theme this year would be “Growing Pains”. I think the goal should always be to put together as good a team as possible and make the playoffs at this stage of the season. Sure, once it really becomes painfully obvious that the Oilers won’t make the playoffs, throw in the towel… but this is way too early for those kinds of thoughts.Cogliano was one faceoff win from 50% last night (8 draws taken). Fraser was 17% on 6 draws. I am not blaming Cogliano for losses (that line was on the ice for 1 GA last night.. not a big concern), but I do too wonder why they have him at center over Brule. But that’s not the big issue.From what I’ve seen there are a couple of problems that all point to our blue line. Problem 1: guys pinch in far too much and get beat quite frequently, leaving 1 defensemen back and MAYBE a forward. I think our luck in handling those has been OK although we can’t keep giving those up (Foster is the biggest culprit here). Problem 2 (and the big one): is that none of our defensemen know where our own net is. They stray from it with a very consistent basis.. forwards frequently get in behind them and get several chances at rebounds or clear shots on goal. I wasn’t really satisfied when the Oilers picked up Vandermeer, and I’m not going to pick on him. But the Oilers needed a shutdown d-man. Foster is OK on the powerplay, but he scares the hell out of me at even strength (he wasn’t the problem yesterday though, as he is nowhere near a PK line). I think the Oilers biggest need is a guy who can play a solid brand of D. I think they need someone other than Smid. Some people will say Peckham, but there’s no way he can shut down top players or a top PP at this stage.I wonder about Fraser as our PK / Faceoff specialist too. Last night he barely saw any PK time (him and Jones have been on the ice for quite a few of the GA on the PK previous to this game) and he hasn’t been very good on the dot to date. But some guys are slow starters, so who knows. I wouldn’t mind seeing VV or O’Marra or someone else get a shot though. But anyways, I guess we knew this is what would happen.. lots of ups and downs. But I thought the way they played against Minny that this game against the Sharks would be a good one. Especially when Eberle started the game with a shortie. Really it’s the same old story for me… the Oilers will never really be a competitive team until they start taking the defensive aspect of the game seriously and put together a 4th line / 3rd pairing of guys together who play tough hockey and solid defense. They have the offensive horses now, they just need a solid line of defensive guys.

Now just so you guys understand where I am coming from here, I’m not saying these guys are horrible and lets get the top pick, but what I’m trying to say is we have had a bad start, again, and I don’t think this team is a playoff team, I don’t. I really like how things are looking for the future, I mean come on how can’t you! Our PK and PP will lose us some games this season, heck I think they have already lost us 2 games this season. PK lost the first wild game, PP lost the 2nd wild game. Look I’m not gonna complain if we get a lottery pick, that means we get a stud defender or a top center. We need 3rd and 4th line players. Colin Fraser has been quite the bust too.