Steve-O: Goaltending has been solid, but I like the fact that our d is not making it tough on them. In the la game he didn’t see a tough shot all night.And from the sounds if twitter it looks as though omark isn’t long for okc. 1 game in and already looking to europe saying the oilers keep passing him over for kids

if that is anywhere near a quote from omark, i would bet tambi will never let him back in the room. calling guys like petrell and lander “kids” —when both have high character reputations and omark has squat other than youtube vids and a history of whining (at times i felt his whining was warranted, like camp last year)— is not the way to earn or keep friends in that room. if he said that, i bet he is gone. (it cant be about rnh, hall or ebs…hall and ebs went circles around him and rnh is a centre that we actually need)

i havent been happy with gags at all.

i have talked about it since before the draft. we need to move our 1st while we still have PREMIUM value to it. Since we signed Belanger Sutton and Barker and acquired smyth back I have felt we are actually a centre pack team and if hemsky is healthy maybe better. But that included the assumption khabi would still suck. The point of trading our top pick was mostly to set a mindset…until we did some actual GM work and made this team stronger making it now a sell high move.

gags and omark should be dangled. In combination with a 1st rounder, that would be a nice package for a puzzle piece. pick up someonelses top pick first maybe or have a flip of firsts. We have some good assets to bolster our lineup and if a move was made right now… i dont think said asset needs to be a vet.

just a thought:

hall RNH hemsky
MPS Lander eberle
smyth Horcoff Gagner
Jones Belanger Petrell

Belanger is great in the dot and in d -zone but really not great as pass or shot option. nice dekes though on so’s. he will get lots of time in d zone draws and pk. Lander has proven responsible with worse players and has the connection to MPS while Eberle has that one shot finish and Magnus should tailor his game like Smyth as far as B-line it to the net like he did in sweden. Hemsky feeding hall while taking feeds from RNH… One of those 3 guys will be open ALOT. Horcoff is the most responsible oiler and will protect gags while gags gets to play to his strengths -which are few. Belanger Petro and Jones… formidable.

Putting hemmer with smyth and horcs is not very wise IMHO. i dont think chemistry is an issue with Hemmer and rnh, nor hemmer and PMS, from what i have seen. Its also unfair, in my mind, for people to put Horcs and smyth in that position. I simply dont see them as hemmer line-mates. Horcs and smyth have a style that would suit petro, jones or gags and eat up valuable time against the important opposition lines (and hopefully wear out d). Smyth and Horcs together will put up points while being pests and frustrating the other teams top players. with a team brimming with talent, they simply arent the best option for hemmer.
i look at things in pairs and then add a piece that fits.
Hemsky and rnh … add hall lw sniper
Magnus and Lander… add rw sniper eberle
smyth and Horcs… add secondary pivot right shot playmaker Gags
Belanger Jones Petrell.

And from the sounds if twitter it looks as though omark isn’t long for okc. 1 game in and already looking to europe saying the oilers keep passing him over for kids

NorwegianOiler:
Only thing I’m afraid of jinxing…;)

you’re not afraid of jinxing the rest?

Have heard a few commentators that I normally find a bit ‘biased’ against the Oil giving us accolades, even saying they don’t think it will be temporary.

BTW Marc Crawford parked right in front of me this morning on his way to get some Timmy’s and he smiled at me.

DropIt: Wow.Was sitting back and waiting for the Oilers to take a step back to reality, but after a month I can say I’m thouroughly impressed with the Oilers. It’s not like they have been beating mediocre teams either, like the leafs have been. I still dont think the Oilers are going to be taking a top 4 spot in the playoffs, but I think they may beat my playoff appearance prediction a year earlier. Sucks to watch as a Flamers fan , but hard to argue that the Oilers and their fans dont deserve a team like this after going through what they have for the past 5 years

I for one appreciate the mature & humble accolades coming from a Flames fan! I can’t speak for any other Oil fans but I have no illusions about this team being anywhere near 1st place in the conference by February but I sure as hell am enjoying the ride for now I still honestly see them finishing somewhere @ 23-25 but considering where this team has been the last four years or so, an improvement of 6 or 7 spots would be nothing short impressive.