Comments (4)

By Racki, April 28, 2013 2:18 pm

You know this article isn’t going to be flattering..

So Ryan Whitney burned his bridges to the ground today. Not a lot was said, but it was clear he wasn’t just upset at himself for not giving himself the opportunity to play (through good play). I thought all year that this was what he meant in a lot of his comments to the media about being upset about not playing.. turns out I was wrong. It turns out he is pissed at the Oilers.

Well, I was wrong about what Whitney said, but I don’t think I was wrong about the player. He was once good, but his foot problems have made him an awful player for the Oilers. Could he be good somewhere else? Possibly. He could probably get away with playing lots of powerplay time, and playing even strength time with a guy who can save him from embarrassment when his flaws (namely agility and foot speed) are exposed. But here, he was a ticking time bomb waiting to happen. He showed flashes of brilliance towards the end, but sorry, it was too little too late. The Oilers have to purify themselves of these types of players. They need guys they can rely on nearly 100% (preferably exactly 100%) throughout the season. With Whitney, we had a solid d-man for about 10% of this short year… never mind what we’d get out of a full year. He’s done here, and both sides should be happy about it. Did he need to throw the team under the bus in his exit interview? I don’t think so. Here is what was said:

“I’m not going to name any names, but there were definitely some other guys who could have been scratched.”

And:

“I’m hoping to sign on a really good team. I’ve made enough money and I’m hoping to prove them(Oilers) wrong.”

Really, the 2nd quote is fine, but the first quote is pretty piss poor, if you ask me. I’m not sure what gave him the misunderstanding that his play has been anything better than sub-average, on average for the last 2 years at least, but to take his (former) teammates down while on his way out, is just sour grapes. Yah, he didn’t name names, but I don’t think that helps any. We can speculate who he was talking about, however I’d rather not.

Anyways, the thing I like most about this is that it ensures he won’t be back. I hate seeing more black marks on the organization (think Sheldon Souray’s handling), but if he thinks that he was scratched unfairly, he’s dead wrong. He was poor for most of the year.. it wasn’t until a handful of games near the end that we saw him really do anything positive, and by then it was too little too late. He was a far cry from the good player we saw when we first picked him up, unfortunately.

I believe that Ryan Whitney will get picked up.. it will be for cheap… and he will play fairly well and be a good bargain for his new team. But this is a break-up that was quite overdo.

Comments (2)

By Racki, April 27, 2013 3:05 pm

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs 18-22-7 Record 26-14-7 Location: Rexall Place Date: April 27, 2013 @ 8:00PM MST TV: CBC

PRE-GAME RANT

So it turns out my powers of prediction are extremely weak. Every sign pointed to the Oilers dying to the hands of the Wild, without much of a fight put up. In reality, it didn’t take much of a fight to kick the crap out of them on the scoreboard. I have to ask.. what the hell was up with Zach Parise kicking at Corey Potter (blade first)? It will go unpunished, I’m sure, but I don’t think it should be. Of course if it was Matt Cooke doing the kicking, he’d be banned from hockey for life. For Parise… it won’t even be reviewed. It all happened pretty quick and wasn’t a big kick or anything, but in light of the Karlsson incident, you’d think the NHL would step in. Anyways, judge for yourself. Anyways, I thought Parise deserved to have his ass beat, but somehow it turned into the Wild pushing Potter around after that. On a later shift, both Mike Rupp and Zenon Konopka went after him. I’m not sure why.. I missed a lot of this one, so I’m not sure if something happened before, or what. But really, this is sign number 1 that MacTavish needs some tougher players (that can play) in the lineup. I think he knows this too. He pointed to the Habs as an example to follow, and I think he recognized Brandon Prust as a good example of what to look for. We do have Mike Brown for that though, and he fills that role pretty well.. but I think we could use some guys like a prime Ethan Moreau (meaning, Moreau when he was a good player) and a Jason Smith type.

On to to tonight’s game… I’m pulling for a win, but I feel that I need to predict an awful loss, due to superstition (since my 3-0 Wild prediction last night turned into a 6-1 Oilers win). So uhm… 5-0 Vancouver.

Continue reading 'Oilers 2, Canucks 7 – Game 48 – 2013-04-27 @ 8:00 PM MST – CBC'»

Comments (4)

By Racki, April 26, 2013 12:09 pm

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs 17-22-7 Record 25-18-3 Location: Xcel Energy Center Date: April 26, 2013 @ 6:00PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

So tonight, the Oilers, who’ve won ONE game in their last 10, take on the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have embarrassingly dominated the Oilers, winning 19 of the last 20 matchups. That’s unbelievable. Anyone who thinks this shit bag team is going to play spoilers and bump the Wild out of a playoff spot is in for bitter disappointment. You might be best not turning this one on. I predict a final score of 3-0. I typically am not this doom and gloom about the Oilers, but really… all signs point to a pretty crappy game. You’ve been forewarned.

However, a bit of wackiness in the lines tonight. I am interested in the top line. Horcoff seemed to really mesh well with Hall and Eberle when they were breaking into the league. Seeing Hall and Yakupov as his book ends will be mighty interesting. Also, Fistric will play with Justin Schultz. That’s a strange one, in a way.. but maybe the Oilers want to see the full potential from Fistric? Or perhaps that will be the bottom pairing, since Justin Schultz has been showing flaws in his D game for a fair bit now (he’s young though, so I’m not alarmed).

Khabibulin gets the start tonight, which might be our only wild card hope in stealing a win.

Some good 30 thoughts today by Elliot Friedman:
22. Oilers GM Craig MacTavish, asked if he sees Taylor Hall as a winger or a centre: “We wanted to try him at centre this season, but aside from some faceoff work when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins struggled, it never materialized … Terry O’Reilly always used to tell me, ‘Position is just a place where you line up when they drop the puck.’ Taylor covers a lot of ice from the wing.”

23. MacTavish had another good quote: “My vision of the team will be very obvious very quickly.” He pointed to Montreal as a team he hoped to emulate. It’s tough to make trades right after the season because you can’t deal with anyone in the playoffs and those who are out of it prefer to decompress before making important decisions. It’s a good thing he was at the under-18s in Russia because this week’s been a nightmare.

24. MacTavish did not specifically address Oscar Klefbom, but the sense is the Oilers consider the left-shooting defensive prospect an untouchable. I also think they are realistic about his impact, especially after Justin Schultz’s late-season struggles. They believe he can be a top-pairing blue-liner, but maybe not for two years.

25. Finally, Edmonton is going to try and upgrade in goal. Devan Dubnyk’s held them in a lot more games than the Oilers deserve, but they don’t have much throughout the organization. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them chase guys who can help them in both the NHL and AHL.

Continue reading 'Oilers 6, Wild 1 – Game 47 – 2013-04-26 @ 6:00 PM MST – SNET'»

Comments (1)

By Racki, April 24, 2013 11:14 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs 17-21-7 Record 34-6-5 Location: Rexall Place Date: April 22, 2013 @ 7:30PM MST TV: TSN

PRE-GAME RANT

Well, this one has embarrassment written all over it, again, but the Oilers somehow manage to show up when playing the Hawks.. so I’m cautiously optimistic.

Magnus Paajarvi is back in the lineup. Missing will be Belanger, who is more concerned about his personal career at this point than anything the Oilers could care about right now. And I don’t blame him at all. These are meaningless games, and he’s likely to get bought out… we don’t need him getting injured, and he doesn’t want that either. Ryan Whitney is hurt, and will be replaced by Mark Fistric. Theo Peckham continues to rot on the bench. He will have a new team next year for sure. We will gain nothing from it, aside from more concerns about this team’s handling of players.

No word on starting goalie yet, but I’d imagine that Dubnyk will be back between the pipes.

Continue reading 'Oilers 1, Blackhawks 4 – Game 46 – 2013-04-24 @ 7:30 PM MST – TSN'»

Comments (3)

By Racki, April 22, 2013 11:04 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs 17-20-7 Record 28-11-6 Location: Rexall Place Date: April 22, 2013 @ 7:30PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

I must admit, my interest in the game slowly dropped off as it wore on. I thought the Oilers came out flying, especially Taylor Hall (no surprise). But it looked as though that storm was quickly weathered, and the Ducks killed the Oilers in period 2 (although they just had the one goal). Seemed to be a pretty prototype Oilers game.

Quite frankly, there isn’t much to talk about now. The Oilers are officially eliminated from the playoffs (although mid-way through their losing skid, you knew they were done). I guess in a bit of good news, Taylor Hall is officially the first Oiler since Doug Weight to finish a season a point per game player. Of course, this is a shortened season by a fair bit though, so that is a bit “tarnished”. But it is a good sign for him. Also, Yakupov is now just 3 points back of the rookie scoring lead held by Jonathan Huberdeau and Cory Conacher (28 points each). Justin Schultz has 23 points and leads all rookie defensemen in scoring. He sits at 19th in scoring for all NHL defensemen.

There is some talk about whether Ralph Krueger should be fired. I’d say no. The Oilers have tried this a number of times, and it never seems to work. They haven’t had a guy who is the type to really rip into a player though, granted.. you know, like a John Tortorella or Peter Laviolette.. or some would say Lindy Ruff (not sure if that is the case). Really though, I think a coach can only do so much with this kind of team. It is clear to me that the player personnel is wrong, and that is something Craig MacTavish is going to have to do his best to solve. He noted something we’ve (or I have, anyway) felt a while.. this team needs better depth and a better support cast for its young stars. So we’ll see if he can put his money where his mouth is.

I am hoping for a better game tonight from the Oilers tonight, but not getting my hopes up. Some other players besides Hall are going to have to figure out how to score, however. It’s probably long over due to start calling out Gagner, Paajarvi, Jones, and Horcoff.

Eric Belanger is in for Magnus Paajarvi (injured foot), and Ryan Whitney is in for Mark Fistric. Not sure about the lines now.. we have plenty of faceoff talent now! We should win this game now, right?
Continue reading 'Oilers 0, Ducks 3 – Game 45 – 2013-04-22 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNETW'»