Comments on: GDT: Oilers 4, Canadiens 3 (OT) – Game 24 – 2010-12-01 @ 5:00 PM – TSN

By: chucker

chucker — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:46:33 +0000

oilinblood: boston traded Sturm and his 3.5 cap hit to LA for…. unknown.I still cant believe CLB and ANA are in the top 8 and SJ and STL are out. Doesnt make much sense to me for that. Sturm being in LA makes little sense unless LA feels they have a trade partner who can take $$$ off their hands…they might even flip sturm but that would be difficult considering he had to waive his NTC already.Again…. its not making sense.LA is sitting against the cap WITHOUT Sturm (when taking into account bonuses likely to be achieved) who will be on LTIR still with his MCL or ACL issue. ETA of 3 weeks…. but even then he will likely only be at 70% plus a fragile knee.I wish the ISles still had Mad Mike in charge. If that was the case, this would be just about the time where he would likely be shopping Tavares and we would be in the mix. He loved his goalies….Dubs for Tavares

He's a LW and Smyth has struggled this year. Williams has been terrific though and is an UFA at year's end according to capgeek. Savard must be closer to coming back than expected. Smyth is still signed until 2012 though. Perhaps a trade is brewing with the extra LW's in LA. I'm not sure about Ponikarovsky, but he'd be the guy I would single out as being tradebait if need be. I think they have space due to injuries though.

By: oilinblood

oilinblood — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:25:10 +0000

boston traded Sturm and his 3.5 cap hit to LA for…. unknown.

I still cant believe CLB and ANA are in the top 8 and SJ and STL are out. Doesnt make much sense to me for that.

Sturm being in LA makes little sense unless LA feels they have a trade partner who can take $$$ off their hands…they might even flip sturm but that would be difficult considering he had to waive his NTC already.
Again…. its not making sense.
LA is sitting against the cap WITHOUT Sturm (when taking into account bonuses likely to be achieved) who will be on LTIR still with his MCL or ACL issue. ETA of 3 weeks…. but even then he will likely only be at 70% plus a fragile knee.

I wish the ISles still had Mad Mike in charge. If that was the case, this would be just about the time where he would likely be shopping Tavares and we would be in the mix. He loved his goalies….
Dubs for Tavares

By: Steve-O

Steve-O — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:18:32 +0000

NorwegianOiler: Florida, Islanders or Oilers for bottom 3, perhaps?

My hunch based on goal and shot diff is that Florida moves up some. But we'll see how that plays out. EDIT: And just in case anyone is interested in why I think this basically look at the goal diff on this and I think where teams that are up top with a negative diff will move down, and teams at the bottom with a plus (or close to) diff will move up.

By: Racki

Racki — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:06:02 +0000

I honestly am hopeful of it, as wrong as that sounds, just because I think there is no chance of playoffs this year. So yah, getting as high a pick as possible and a shot at Couturier (I’m on that bandwagon now, despite our need for a stable d-man.. but he sounds like the best guy available) is what I’d like to see happen. These kids will be fine in the wake of an ugly season, I’m sure. I’m not too optimistic (its wrong saying it that way, isn’t it?) that we’ll finish in the bottom 3, so I hope this year’s pool is really deep.

By: NorwegianOiler

NorwegianOiler — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:48:32 +0000

‘Stunned’ wasn’t the best word to describe my sentiment, but I expect us to finish bottom 5 and see our poor special teams, weak blueline and lack of reliable defensive forwards as the main reasons (Khabibulin’s erratic netminding aside). Our young players are simply not good enough to make up for our deficiencies at the moment (like how Crosby makes any 3rd line winger look good).

It will be a ‘race’ between us and the Isles, mainly. I expect the Devils to move out of the mire and into playoff contention sooner rather than later, while Calgary, Minnesota and Toronto will keep ahead of us by virtue of losing just a bit less than we do.

Florida, Islanders or Oilers for bottom 3, perhaps?