General Discussion

This page can be used to discuss anything you like, whether it’s hockey, or anything else (short of viagra, and other exciting spam topics). Just use the comments down below to post what you like. Try not to get too out of hand. Obviously keep it clean still, and keep it legal. Other than that, feel free to talk about whatever you like here.

By Racki September 30, 2009

5,543 Comments to “General Discussion”

By gr8one, September 1, 2010 @ 7:32 pm gr8one(Quote)

Yeah, and perhaps I shouldn’t be so quick to say “we got lucky”…just because it’s tracking a bit away from us now I guess it could still very easily track slightly west and get us good, but at least it looks promising for us so far.

good luck and keep us posted if you can…if not, we’ll be thinking of you too!
By gr8one, September 2, 2010 @ 10:54 am gr8one(Quote)

Doesn’t it just sound bizarre and far fetched that 4 seasons ago, Horcoff had a 73 point season? How about 2 seasons ago 20 goals and 50 points in 53 games before getting hurt.

Is it that far out of the realm of possibility that we can’t see a totally healthy Horcoff rebound with say a 20g/60p season?

You think it’s out of the realm of possibility for Gagner to be a 20g/50 point man? Brule had 17 in only 65 games last year, so we could very well have another 20g scorer there. Penner good for another 35? Hemsky 25?

Between Hall/Paajarvi/Eberle you have to think one can pot 20 and between the other two average 15 each?

That leaves the following, and what I think could be reasonable goal totals for them:

Cogs- 16
Fraser- 10
Jones- 7
Stortini- 5

add in another cumulative total of say 15g between the reserves like JFJ/O’Marra/MacIntyre/Omark.

Forward totals- 223

Now how about Defensive goals?

Whitney- 12
Gilbert- 10
Foster- 10
Smid- 6
Vandermeer-3

Cumulative Totals of say Pecks/Struds/Plante/Petry etc…another 10?

Defense totals- 51

Team Total- 274.

Now, looking at those numbers, maybe I’m erring on the side of optimism in a lot of cases, but I don’t think I’m being completely unreasonable, and in some cases I’m probably being a little too conservative.

Last year the only team that scored more than that was Washington with a phenomenal 318. Vancouver was second with 272.

So let’s say I’m am being overly optimistic and chop 35 goals off of my above total, that would still leave us with 239 goals, which would still have put us top 10 in the NHL last year(8th to be exact). It also would be a full 25 goals more than last year.

I think it’s probably fair to say that our D/goaltending can’t be any worse than it was last year either, and IF we can get some steady goaltending, I think our D is probably better overall in our own zone than last years bunch, so I think it’s fair to say we could probably shave say 15 goals against off of what we had last year?

That would be a total of a 40 goal swing in our favor this season…definitely not last place overall hockey.

This season just might not be as bad as a lot think.
By Bostonoiler, September 2, 2010 @ 12:47 pm Bostonoiler(Quote)

Off topic here, Gr8one, Hopefully your not gonna get hit by Earl, that bastard is making a course right for me lol
By Bostonoiler, September 2, 2010 @ 12:48 pm Bostonoiler(Quote)

Oh, btw I saw on Twitter Ek is picking BOTH the Oilers and Leafs to sneak in this season.
By Racki, September 2, 2010 @ 1:15 pm Racki(Quote)

gr8one: I think the over-optimism comes from the numbers being more suited to if they all had top pp billing and #1 line ice time. I think in order to have Horcoff hit those numbers, he has to be the #1C (which he might be), otherwise he’ll fall hugely short of that. But if he’s #1C, that means Gagner is with the kids, and I think that it would be expecting a lot for him and two rookies to really light it up. You really never know though. But I think if Gagner centers the kids, he’ll have to rely a lot on the PP time for points.

On defense, Smid seems to have some sort of Strudwickian-suck, so I think we can count him for maybe 2. The numbers for Whitney/Gilbert are probably realistic now that they’re playing together. Foster is a tough call, as I think he could be our #1PP guy, so 10 might be a good number (but then you’d have to guess that either Whitney or Gilbert suffer a bit). 32 between 3 of them might be a bit high.

All this is just guess work too. You very well good be right. I can’t wait to see, in particular, if the young kids catch fire. For all we know, Hall could be a natural.. or Eberle… or MPS.

Anyways, before season starts, I’m going to throw together a post of my player expectations/predictions and we can all put our guesses in there too (and laugh at the end of the year).

Bostonoiler: stop reading ~~Eklund~~ Twatwaffle. That is all.
By Bostonoiler, September 2, 2010 @ 1:22 pm Bostonoiler(Quote)

Racki: gr8one: I think the over-optimism comes from the numbers being more suited to if they all had top pp billing and #1 line ice time. I think in order to have Horcoff hit those numbers, he has to be the #1C (which he might be), otherwise he’ll fall hugely short of that. But if he’s #1C, that means Gagner is with the kids, and I think that it would be expecting a lot for him and two rookies to really light it up. You really never know though. But I think if Gagner centers the kids, he’ll have to rely a lot on the PP time for points. On defense, Smid seems to have some sort of Strudwickian-suck, so I think we can count him for maybe 2. The numbers for Whitney/Gilbert are probably realistic now that they’re playing together. Foster is a tough call, as I think he could be our #1PP guy, so 10 might be a good number (but then you’d have to guess that either Whitney or Gilbert suffer a bit). 32 between 3 of them might be a bit high. All this is just guess work too. You very well good be right. I can’t wait to see, in particular, if the young kids catch fire. For all we know, Hall could be a natural.. or Eberle… or MPS. Anyways, before season starts, I’m going to throw together a post of my player expectations/predictions and we can all put our guesses in there too (and laugh at the end of the year).Bostonoiler: stop reading ~~Eklund~~ Twatwaffle Twatwaffle. That is all.

IT WAS A RE-TWEET THO I SWEAR I DIDN’T READ IT!!! IT GOT RE-TWEETED AND I SAW HIS POST!!!
By gr8one, September 2, 2010 @ 1:28 pm gr8one(Quote)

lol, I read ~~Eklund~~ Twatwaffle everyday. I find it enetertaining, I take it for what it is, and I don’t care if he makes a living off bogus rumors or not, so I have no problems visiting that site. But really, there is almost always a good read there at least once a day from one of the other team bloggers.

And Racki, yeah…I know I’m being optimistic and you make a great point about PP time, which is why I shaved 35 goals off my original number, you think I shoulda shaved off more?
By Steve-O, September 2, 2010 @ 2:12 pm Steve-O(Quote)

Last year I was called optimistic for guessing 200. Should be a better team this year. 230.
By Racki, September 2, 2010 @ 2:16 pm Racki(Quote)

I don’t know yet gr8one.. I’ll do up my (likely also over-optimistic) totals later on and let you know what I think is reasonable.

But I just can’t support that douche. lol You guys go ahead and keep visiting and plugging his site, but I might ban you for bringing his name up (just kidding!).

Boston Oiler: I’m only teasing hah
By LateNightOilFan, September 2, 2010 @ 3:59 pm LateNightOilFan(Quote)

Bostonoiler: Off topic here, Gr8one, Hopefully your not gonna get hit by Earl, that bastard is making a course right for me lol

Good luck BO!

gr8one, are you affected by the evacuations or is that north of you? Bet it’s getting pretty intense right now.

As of now looks like a miss with respect to landfall for my area of NS but it’s headed straight into the Bay of Fundy. Saturday will be an adventure!
By gr8one, September 2, 2010 @ 6:10 pm gr8one(Quote)

…
By gr8one, September 2, 2010 @ 6:20 pm gr8one(Quote)

*sigh*

another post marked for moderation…
By Racki, September 2, 2010 @ 8:09 pm Racki(Quote)

Uhm, no post came in as spam.. not sure what happened to whatever your post was. And not sure why you have trouble now and then. Weird (Seriously, stop spamming, asshole.. haha kidding)
By gr8one, September 2, 2010 @ 9:25 pm gr8one(Quote)

it was the above one that’s “…”

I just gave up and deleted the post down to that^.

It had said “awaiting moderation”, and I guess since I changed to to just 3 dots is why you didn’t get anything showing spam.
By Steve-O, September 2, 2010 @ 10:57 pm Steve-O(Quote)

I un-spammed it
By victoriaoilerfan, September 3, 2010 @ 9:24 am victoriaoilerfan(Quote)

O/T:
Penguins sign Comrie. Wow, didn’t see that coming.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=332520
By Mr.Majestyk, September 3, 2010 @ 9:53 am Mr.Majestyk(Quote)

That signing is just further evidence that if you are a good team, you will get players at bargain prices. Spend what you need on elite level players because its easier to fill in the roster with cheap players. I can’t see how this is a bad signing at all.

Wait, did Crosby call Comrie to welcome him to the team, or to ask if Haylie Duff is single?
By Racki, September 3, 2010 @ 2:07 pm Racki(Quote)

TSN’s 30 teams in 30 Days kicks off with Edmonton (reverse standings order):

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=332526
By Trogdor, September 3, 2010 @ 2:44 pm Trogdor(Quote)

Looks like Kovy gets his deal and the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to proposed ammendments in the current CBA. Still a circumventing contract of sorts, but the last of it’s kind. Well, until the next loophole gets exposed.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=332542
By MetalOil, September 3, 2010 @ 2:56 pm MetalOil(Quote)

So they say that kovy’s deal will be the last of these types of contracts eh??? Shouldn’t every team that currently does not have one of these types of contracts get one in the bank for future usage(say with a 10 year expiry date)? Level playing field right????

We could save ours for one of the 3 new kids when their ELC run out!!!!

If I am a GM of team that does not have one of these contracts then I demand something like this.
By Mr.Majestyk, September 3, 2010 @ 3:19 pm Mr.Majestyk(Quote)

well they could demand it but nothing would come of it. Never play by the rules is the lesson here. You won’t get anywhere doing that. Its the same thing on the ice. Players that play on the edge, sometimes go over the edge, but if they are closer to the edge than you are, they are ahead of you. So many times I’d watch Oiler games and think how dirty the other teams are, you know some teams you just can’t stand. They pull all kinds of dirty stuff and get away with it. We can’t just accept it and pull a Crosby and cry about it. Like Pat Quinn said, ‘do dirt with dirt’. I’m not talking about nasty retribution type things, just that we have less respect for our opponents.

I just rambled like Racki!
By Racki, September 3, 2010 @ 6:15 pm Racki(Quote)

Mr.Majestyk: I just rambled like Racki!

I’m going to “tear down The Wall” (our sister site, so to speak, for users to post content) and call it “Ramble like Racki” … lol
By gr8one, September 3, 2010 @ 6:37 pm gr8one(Quote)

I was bored and was messing around in photoshop a bit with an Oilers jersey concept that’s been swimming in my head for awhile.

As much as I love original retro jersey, the 90′ Weight era jersey’s and the MacFarlane jersey, I’ve always thought a black jersey for the oilers would be badass. Black Jersey’s just always seem extra intimidating and since Oil is black I think it fits well too.

I tried to keep it sort of retro jersey-ish looking and just make it dark and almost kind of dirty looking to symbolize that blue collar hard working oilfield worker mentality.

Please pardon my crappy gimp skills and imagine it a little more polished looking.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/fraglez/jers123.jpg

thoughts?

And LNOF, yeah, those evacs were all a little north of us. We didn’t get so much as rain or gusts, I actually had a great time down at the beach watching the huge swells come in.
By chucker, September 3, 2010 @ 10:04 pm chucker(Quote)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8rxXamfh5c&feature=player_embedded

Hillarious. Found this on guyism.com
By LateNightOilFan, September 4, 2010 @ 8:20 am LateNightOilFan(Quote)

gr8one: I was bored and was messing around in photoshop a bit with an Oilers jersey concept that’s been swimming in my head for awhile.As much as I love original retro jersey, the 90′ Weight era jersey’s and the MacFarlane jersey, I’ve always thought a black jersey for the oilers would be badass. Black Jersey’s just always seem extra intimidating and since Oil is black I think it fits well too. I tried to keep it sort of retro jersey-ish looking and just make it dark and almost kind of dirty looking to symbolize that blue collar hard working oilfield worker mentality.Please pardon my crappy gimp skills and imagine it a little more polished looking.http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p67/fraglez/jers123.jpgthoughts?And LNOF, yeah, those evacs were all a little north of us. We didn’t get so much as rain or gusts, I actually had a great time down at the beach watching the huge swells come in.

I like the black & the design – but it almost looks like it’s mustard yellow on the shoulders? Not sure I care for that.

Anyway, glad to hear you made it through ok. I’m just about to meet Earl – he’s making landfall soon about an hour away from Halifax in the Lunenburg area (as of the last TV report). Really has shifted north east since last night. Still have power but the reports of outages and downed trees are starting. Wind and rain started here around 8am. They’re still calling it a category 1 here but I know some tracking sites have downgraded it to a tropical storm.

All I know is the house is shaking, windows rattling, the wind is howling and the rain is pounding – I live on a hill with a view of the salt marsh and the open sea is 5 minutes away from me so I’m in a bit of a wind tunnel on normal days. We went last night to watch the surf at Lawrencetown beach, waves were pretty high then so I imagine it’s pretty impressive right now. A good friend is a volunteer firefighter and said they responded to 5 calls yesterday afternoon alone to launch the fire boat and pull people out of the ocean. Damn lucky the riptides didn’t carry them out to sea and people were still swimming & surfing last night.

It’s kind of scary but exciting at the same time. We’ve prepared as best as we can, have our generator ready and water in the bathtubs and trailer holding tank just in case. I expect the next couple of hours to be intense!

Edit – 5 hours without power & 1 downed tree later and all is well! Can’t believe our power came back on so soon – was 7 days with Juan. Just found out there was 1 fatality though near Peggy’s Cove though – a 56 year old man was trying to re-secure his boat and either drowned or suffered a heart attack.
By Bostonoiler, September 4, 2010 @ 9:58 pm Bostonoiler(Quote)

Earl missed me here, lucked out big, made a turn very late.
By Racki, September 5, 2010 @ 10:30 am Racki(Quote)

Glad to hear all of you came out OK!
By zackman35, September 5, 2010 @ 10:14 pm zackman35(Quote)

Racki: Glad to hear all of you came out OK!

I second that! It has been a pretty scary season for natural disasters.

Onto hockey though I’ve been looking at the depth chart and the big gaping hole that I see is another bona-fide NHL center. Now I’m really excited to see Gags out there this season but I’m still not convinced quite yet that he’s our number 1/2 FO guy.

This past week I read something quiet interesting on Lowetide, the post is here: http://lowetide.blogspot.com/2010/09/paging-mr-underwood.html

“Anyway, all sorts of rumours out there that the Senators may be toying with the idea of making an impact move before training camp. Details are next to impossible to come by but one contact did suggest that the Sens may be approaching a deal, for what he called “a long time target”.”

Lowetide mentioned Cogs + (Souray?) for Fisher trade which I would absolutely love to see go down. Especially if its Cogs + prospect, I still think Souray can be a strong part of this team if he remains healthy.

Anyways, what are your thoughts on the trade? And anyone want to take a gander at opening night lines yet?

Forwards

Penner – Horc – Hemsky
Hall – Gags – Eberle/MPS
Giroux – Fisher – Brule
Jones – Fraser – Storts

Smackintyre on reserve.

*Giroux has been flying under the radar but I’m really rooting for him to make an NHL team this year!

On the Blue
Gilbert – Whitney
Souray – Smid
Vandermeer – Foster/Peckham

Between the pipes, or bars (sorry couldn’t resist)…

Khabi
Dubnyk

I know it’s extremely early and rankings are bound to change but since I live in Red Deer, and Rebels games are quite cheap, I’m going to try and go to quite a few games this season so I can see Nugent-Hopkins in action. He is good, no doubt about it, he just seems pretty small, he is still quite young though.
By Mr.Majestyk, September 7, 2010 @ 5:52 am Mr.Majestyk(Quote)

Why are the Eskimos so crappy?
By Racki, September 7, 2010 @ 11:35 am Racki(Quote)

Per Dan Tencer’s twitter:

Hall will indeed wear #4.. this is to be announced tomorrow.

Cogliano skating (why wouldn’t he be?? Would we be shocked if it was Gagner when he was still RFA?).. Souray not.
By chucker, September 7, 2010 @ 11:51 am chucker(Quote)

So does this put even more pressure on the kid or not?
By Racki, September 7, 2010 @ 12:59 pm Racki(Quote)

If he can’t outscore Kevin Lowe, we’re screwed.
By Bostonoiler, September 7, 2010 @ 2:51 pm Bostonoiler(Quote)

Racki: If he can’t outscore Kevin Lowe, we’re screwed.

lol +1
By dawgtoy, September 7, 2010 @ 4:55 pm dawgtoy(Quote)

As per Jason Gregor over at ON, what are your thoughts on Penner playing center Racki (and the voices that make up POTF)?
I think so long as Penner plays center with Hemsky playing right wing, it could work. Hemmer likes the puck and often plays like a center, therefore so long as Pens is willing to back check and take the draws, it could work…worth a shot anyway.
By Racki, September 7, 2010 @ 5:21 pm Racki(Quote)

It was something I brought up a while ago too (and even mentioned it over there too, as well as Lowetide to get discussion going), although I’m not trying to make it sound like it was a Racki-original thought.. I just mean I’ve thought about it before, in a positive light.

The biggest downside to that idea is probably wear and tear on Dustin Penner. It is a tough position for anyone to play 82 games at, and seeing as how the gas might have run a bit low for him at the end of the year (could have just been the depression of the team sucking, getting to him, however), I’m not sure if full time center is the best idea.

I really do think he’d be a capable center though. It’s just a question of whether he can sustain his level of play for that long. Which brings me to Gregor’s good point.. Penner is quite good on the dot on the PP. Perhaps he would be of good use at that on a #1PP of Hall, Penner, Hemsky.

Outside of that, I like this team having options… circulating him into the center role every so often might not be a bad idea… especially when we have two guys at LW who are going to be competing for ice time (Paajarvi and Hall).

I do think that they need to push Gagner at center though. Not many will say it, but I’ll say it ad nauseum that I think he is our #1 center and needs to keep at that position, even if it is just on the #2 line for now.

So down the middle we already have Gagner, Horcoff and Fraser as “guarantees” at center, in my mind. For options, we have Brule (probably the best of this secondary crop), and Cogliano (who I much prefer at wing).

It’s hard to say we completely need Penner at center, but I think if Hall and Hemsky end up together, my big preference for the middle-man there would be Penner. He provides the offensive prowess that Horcoff can not, and the grit and size that Gagner can not.

Outside of that, I think in most cases I’d expect to see him on the wing still. But I think Renney will at least give him a long look.
By John, September 7, 2010 @ 8:22 pm John(Quote)

dawgtoy: As per Jason Gregor over at ON, what are your thoughts on Penner playing center Racki (and the voices that make up POTF)?I think so long as Penner plays center with Hemsky playing right wing, it could work. Hemmer likes the puck and often plays like a center, therefore so long as Pens is willing to back check and take the draws, it could work…worth a shot anyway.

I certainly like that prospect if he can handle it like has been mentioned. If nothing else it will give the opposing coaches more line juggling demands to deal with if the Oilers have this combo as a legitimate go-too threat. Also, maybe this will reduce the # of offside calls that result from Hemsky racing in with the puck then doing the “Hemsky dipsy doodle manuever” @ the blueline:)
By chucker, September 7, 2010 @ 9:41 pm chucker(Quote)

As a guy who played both positions into university, it’s a much harder position to play at centre. You have to be in way better shape than anyone else on the team outside of the D-men. You’re the first up the ice and the first back, so I’d say Penner would struggle in it due to conditioning and being such a big man.

Having said that, he would be ideal on the PP or PK, but not on a regular shift unless he switches to the wing aftet the draw and Hall or Hemsky assumes the defenssive duties after the puck is dropped.

We used to do that when I played for the Ooks. Pearn would allow us to switch in certain circumstances and it was all good as long as you knew your assignment. For me it always seemed that the best skaters were better suited to the roles of defenssive responsibiltiy because you can get away with more and get back better than anyone else. That’s why I was always on the PK.

I’d say as long as there is an option of a very good skater on his line that can swithch off and is willing to work defenssively, it could work if your goal is to win more face offs, but at the same time, maybe the guys who do take face offs need to get their shit together and learn how to win faceoffs.

EDIT: As a side note, I was a D-man going into those camps and got converted because of skating ability. Perhaps we can solve one of our issues with a really good skating D-man? j/k I know that would never happen at the NHL level.
By Racki, September 7, 2010 @ 11:08 pm Racki(Quote)

The OOKS existed back in 1937?

In all seriousness, I had no idea you played for the OOKS.. good stuff. The closest I came to playing hockey with the OOKS was in intramural hockey at NAIT when my class had an OOK ringer on the team (didn’t last long though, since that is a no-no, evidently).

I recall giving him the puck, winded, and going for line changes while he single-handedly decimated the other team (and he played D, to boot.. pretty much covered the entire ice).
By Bostonoiler, September 7, 2010 @ 11:30 pm Bostonoiler(Quote)

anyone interested in a yahoo pool?
By Racki, September 7, 2010 @ 11:58 pm Racki(Quote)

Speaking of pools… I think we’ll get something going for the site this year sometime soon-ish.

If anyone has any preferences, speak now or forever subject me to your whining later.
By chucker, September 8, 2010 @ 9:28 am chucker(Quote)

Racki: The OOKS existed back in 1937?In all seriousness, I had no idea you played for the OOKS.. good stuff. The closest I came to playing hockey with the OOKS was in intramural hockey at NAIT when my class had an OOK ringer on the team (didn’t last long though, since that is a no-no, evidently). I recall giving him the puck, winded, and going for line changes while he single-handedly decimated the other team (and he played D, to boot.. pretty much covered the entire ice).

Yeah, back in those days we made our own sticks. lol

It was fun. I played for parts of two seasons there in ’90 and ’91. It was fun and I got my big $1500 dollar scholarship for playing. Pearn is a good dude though. Nice guy.
By chucker, September 8, 2010 @ 9:28 am chucker(Quote)

Racki: Speaking of pools… I think we’ll get something going for the site this year sometime soon-ish. If anyone has any preferences, speak now or forever subject me to your whining later.

I’m in. Yahoo seems like a decent pool. I’ve done a couple of those.
By mrgod2u, September 8, 2010 @ 9:41 am mrgod2u(Quote)

I am also in, and yahoo is also my preference.
By Steve-O, September 8, 2010 @ 10:50 am Steve-O(Quote)

I’m in, yahoo is cool.

As for an NFL pool, if we don’t get enough people for a yahoo pool we could always do the sportsnet pickem pool and set up a POTF group.
By Racki, September 8, 2010 @ 1:04 pm Racki(Quote)

That Sportsnet playoff pool was horrible, I thought.. the Yahoo one was great, because I was the champ. I mean, seriously.. Steve won a pool? You know it’s flawed.

Seriously though, I thought the Sportsnet one was kinda blah. Not sure what their regular season pools are like though.
By Steve-O, September 8, 2010 @ 1:07 pm Steve-O(Quote)

sportsnet for nfl, not nhl, and only if we don’t get a decent number of players for the nfl one.

that said, put up a post re: who wants in on a hockey one
By Steve-O, September 8, 2010 @ 1:13 pm Steve-O(Quote)

on another note, Ryan Rishaug’s twitter just said that he heard from lowe that the plan is to have all 3 rookies in the lineup this season (eberle, hall and mps)…so it looks as though omark has no chance

and the tank is in full effect

and burning off a year of eligibility isn’t a concern

and there is no worry about bringing in players too early and stunting their growth

and any other negative thing i can think of right now
By chucker, September 8, 2010 @ 1:24 pm chucker(Quote)

Not a fan of the Sportsnet Pool style. Just sayin’.

On O’Mark, I expect he’ll start in Springfield and be a callup guy. He has to compete with the bad taste left by Nilsson and Schremp, so he’ll have to show he can dominate at the AHL is my guess. I’m also thinking it’s a roster/waiver decision; i.e. They would likely rather keep an extra D man up like Peckham over a guy like O’Mark.
By Racki, September 8, 2010 @ 2:11 pm Racki(Quote)

Oklahoma City
By Racki, September 8, 2010 @ 5:51 pm Racki(Quote)

Jesus.. I would hope this isn’t something that is true, but why would someone lie about abuse on their daughter, especially:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Edmonton/2010/09/08/15286831.html