Black Dog Hates Skunks

Luck

2012-02-07T12:05:00.000-05:00

I've been watching this new HBO show, Luck, and I highly recommend it. Its by the fellow who did Deadwood and as soon as I saw that I figured it would be a gooder and it has not been disappointing one bit two episodes in. Just absolutely fantastic.

If you were to go back over the years and read this blog and others on this corner of the internet you would find that luck is a recurring theme. I, and we, talk about it a lot. I talk about it when I am going on my rambles about life, how a chance occurence literally led me to where I am today, and how a sudden turn for the worse can bring it all crashing down. You can control chance to a degree. If you drive carefully and, in my case, rarely, you are less likely to end up in a bad car accident but all it takes is one patch of black ice, one moment of indecision, one 'other guy' who is drunk or reckless, to end everything in a moment.

Sorry for the dramatic example but its one that immediately springs to mind. Now go hug your kids and have sex with your significant other. ;)

I have had a strange couple of days. On Sunday morning I hit the ice with Capsule. Its been a bit of a rotten year for us. We've sunk to last place and while we are competitive it appears relegation looms. Not enough good players and our slowing down with age is taking its toll. Ironically I've had my best year in a long time. I'm fit and replacing my old beater skates with a decent pair has made a big difference, which pisses me off a bit, and with my legs going I've relied on my wits and the results have been good. I've scored a bit and set up quite a few, which is more my game anyway, and I don't leave anything when I'm out there. Overall I've been really happy with my game. Would trade some of that for some wins though.

So its late in the game and I hop over the boards for my last shift and in the ebb and flow of the game the puck ends up in the opposite corner in our end. We have a Dman and he's a fine fellow but lord he has a ten cent head and so for some reason he goes for a wander Bryan McCabe style over in that general direction and his man is all alone in the high slot. And they come out of the scrum with the puck. I'm already sliding down from the point because I see the danger and so when the puck gets to him I'm moving quickly and on top of him and he doesn't know it so when he takes a couple of more strides to get right in there I lean into him slightly and knock the puck into the corner. And as I do my right leg, the one on the inside of him, gives a bit of a wobble for a lack of a better word, in other words it kind of waves out to the right, like a slight tree in a strong breeze and my knee kind of bends gently with it.

There was no pop, no sudden shooting pain and I turned easily and continued my shift but as I headed to the bench at the whistle it suddenly began to hurt like a bastard. The game ended a minute later and I had to be helped off the ice. Couldn't put any weight on it unless I arched my foot so I was standing on my toes.

Got changed and showered and home alright and as Sunday went on it wavered from good to bad and while I could get around it was with discomfort and sometimes, pain. And yeah I was worried. Being a one legged man in a house with stairs and with three kids, not so good.

Yesterday was not too bad, I kept off of it and today it looks like I'm homefree, there's a bit of a twinge but it looks like rest will do the trick. Which is a good thing but damn it was a scary moment. Looked like, as Taylor Hall said after his scare, that I had some bad luck but it could have been much worse.

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And then to top it all off I was checking in on Twitter yesterday afternoon when Oilogosphere regular 'dawgbone' tweeted that he had an extra ticket for last night's Oilers/Leafs game. On nine out of ten Mondays I would have been unable to make it due to Jenn's work but this happened to be the one and once I made the arrangements I let Derek know that I could make it and so I was very lucky and got to see a pretty entertaining game in good company.

I see a lot of Leafs' hockey and so I figured we would see a few goals - the Leafs are a decent team and with Reimer in net they can be quite good. They've ironed out their PK (I heard, I am sure, that they actually were 100% on the PK in January and despite that still 30th in the league. I may have misheard that? Anyone?) and they can score and they have depth up front and on the back end that the Oilers could only dream about and last night showed exactly that. Say what you will about Kessel and Lupul but they can play some and I might take Grabovski and Kulemin over them. So there you go.

The problem for the Oilers for years has been the fact that they only have a handful of players who can handle the other club's better players and this was on full display on Monday. It didn't help that Gilbert has just returned from injury and that Whitney is not 100% either nor did it help when Ted's injury forced Kreuger to play a fourth liner on his third line, effectively hogtying it. It also didn't help that Kreuger, on a couple of occasions, chose to run the fourth line out against either Kessel or Grabovski.

The results in those cases were as to be expected except for one shift where Lander had a decent chance against the Kessel line.

The good news? There was some. The Eberle line was excellent for the most part. Hall panicked on the Lupul goal and threw it up the middle of the ice (he is a bit of a turnover machine actually, although he will figure it out I think). Eberle, on the other hand? Fantastic. No news here but most impressive to me is his work along the boards and in the corners. He invariably comes away with the puck despite giving away size in nearly every case.

Derek and I were talking about the 10-20-28 line's offensive struggles and then of course they got one. I liked that line a lot. They had the better of the play for the most part and if they can chip in a goal here and there then the Oilers might have something. Belanger skated well and I think a lot of his struggles have been due to an injury. He looked good. Horcoff had a strong game but you could see where his confidence is when he stole the puck and got right in on Reimer on his backhand and then inexplicably dished it to the point.

The Ted line also scored one, we had the perfect view for it, the Smyth goal, but the line looked disjointed. Hemsky, I thought, had a good game and it was funny to hear the Leaf fans rave about him when so many Oiler fans want to run him out of town. Oh well. Anyhow its clear that the club lacks depth up front still. Ideally you'd run 10/94/28 as a line and then have 89 or 93 centre 83 and another quality winger but with Hemsky out the door it forces 94 and 10 to play more minutes than they can handle. I guess Omark will get his chance?

On the blue well you saw the game. Barker was as bad as he looked on the TV. Just fucking garbage and while you can't judge a player on one game good (8 points!) or bad, it was just more of what we have seen all year. Can't skate and a ten cent head. Poor Tom Gilbert, saddled with this clown. Interested to see if Sutton draws in for him, you have to think so, and if not, well, I just don't get it.

Whitney is a sublime passer, first fo all, my God. As for his mobility there were a couple of times where I thought he was in trouble but his acceleration and straight ahead speed were fine, its the tight pivots and turns that gave him trouble.

And you could see the difference between Gilbert and a lesser guy in the second when someone beat him outside, can't remember who it was, and Tom turned quickly and managed to catch the guy enough to knock the puck away just as he cut to the net. Big time play.

And Smid? A man. Wow was he ever good. Skated the puck out under pressure a number of times. Tight turns and spins behind the net and in the corner with a man on. A little hesitation move he used at least twice that I saw, opening up a lane for a nice headman pass. He's just fantastic and proof that you have to be careful of giving up on those young Dman. Keep that in mind when looking at Petry, who can skate for miles. Kid is going to be a player.

The last time I saw this club was two years ago and it was maybe the worst game I have ever seen live, wow they were bad. They've come a long way. Sadly they have a long way to go still.

The Ultimate Handjob On A Greyhound

2012-02-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

The last six years (!) have been the worst era in Oilers' history. Coming on six years out of the playoffs after what looked like the start of a new era in 2006. Quality players shuttled out the door, including the peculiar Oiler tradition of moving every veteran of any quality out of town. It started in the 80s, was supposed to stop with Smyth, continued last year with Penner and is about to happen again with Hemsky.

Its hard to take. There is a nice collection of kids now but for this fan anyhow the overwhelming feeling is one of dread that management will make a mess of this. They've earned this contempt of course.

And I'm an optimist!!!

Haha.

Last year I coined the term 'handjob on a Greyhound' to describe the odd joyful experience we Oiler fans have during these brutal seasons, suffering through dull, poor hockey, our favourites traded or injured in freak accidents, all in the hope that things will get better.

The 9-2 victory over Chicago, the Ted hattrick, many of the quality games this year (they are increasing), there have been some good times this year.

But last night, well last night was historic. Literally.

And it was fun.

*Heavens open, light bathes me in warming glow, tears run down my face as angels sing, over and over again: FUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!! FUNFUNFUNFUNFUN!*

Dexterity

2012-01-29T15:45:00.001-05:00

The boy is a chip off the old block in many ways. He's an easy going little guy and while both of his sisters often react with great drama to requests he is more likely to shrug his shoulders and get to the business at hand. Like me he is a reader and like me he is an enthusiastic and smart sportsman, if not the most physically gifted. He's got a head for numbers and he's interested in history and travel, even at his young age. He's really a terrific little guy and that's the general consensus, you can ask anyone who knows him, not just his old man. ;)

Of course he's also different from me in a lot of ways. I'm not a lazy guy but he has a put your head down and grind it out work ethic like his grandfathers that I do not and his mind has a bent to the mechanical and scientific. When he was three he famously cornered my old man in his boat and spent an hour questioning him on how the motor actually worked. At the end of it Dad referred to him as 'the son he never had'. ;)

I am more of a dreamer, an arty type, like my oldest daughter; at any time we're likely to walk outside of the house without our pants, all the while solving the problems of the universe. The boy is methodical and literal to a fault, one of is favourite phrases is 'actually' as in 'actually it didn't take her hours to get ready, only seventeen and a half minutes' or 'actually you did not pick up after us all of the time, I put my underwear away last Tuesday'.

I call him Dr. Reid now and then, after the supergenius on that Criminal Minds show. Buddy has that same habit. 'Actually ...'

The boy has another similarity to his old man. He likes touching his junk. Much like that scene in Forrest Gump where buddy tells Forrest the thousand different ways to prepare shrimp, so to are the places and scenarios where the boy has his hand on his knob endless.

The other night I was helping him shower (he prefers the shower to the tub, its quicker) and as I helped him soap up he kept his right hand on his pecker, moving it this way and that, kneading it like a lump of dough. Back and forth back and forth. I shampooed his hair and as he stepped over to rinse it I offered him a cloth to cover his eyes.

In an amazing feat of eye hand coordination and dexterity he took the cloth in his preferred masturbatory hand while seamlessly transferring his cock into his off hand. I swear his knob was left untouched for not even a fraction of a second, like the fans at Liverpool sing, it seems it will never walk alone.

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I've been saying for a while now that this stretch upcoming, from the trade deadline and through the summer is the key to the Oilers' prospects and, in my mind, may make or break the franchise for years. Despite the prevailing wisdom that the Oilers are on the right track and that adding lottery picks until BAM! Stanley Cup! is a quality strategy the truth is that one only need to look at the Thrashers or Islanders or Panthers or BJS to see that simply acquiring high draft picks sometimes leads nowhere.

And the two franchises most often mentioned as the examples of what the Oilers are trying to do, the Pens and the Hawks, won their Cups not only on the backs of their high end picks but also because their management added quality everywhere so that when the window opened they had depth at every position.

The Pens roster had Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fleury as well as homegrown players 25 or under who played supporting roles in Kennedy, Talbot and Letang.

The remainder of the roster was made of up veterans, a few homegrown, many acquired - Orpik, Scuderi, Kunitz, Guerin, Gonchar, Sykora, Satan, Gill, Eaton, Boucher, Fedotenko, Cooke, Adams and Dupuis.

As for the Hawks well their roster had a younger look. They had a number of homegrown players 25 or under - Toews, Kane, Hjalmarsson, Seabrook (25), Versteeg, Brouwer, Bolland and Byfuglien (also 25). Plus Andrew Ladd who was 24. Also on their roster - 26 year olds Keith, Eager and Niemi. And then again the veterans - Hossa, Campbell, Sopel, Boynton, Kopecky, Madden, Sharp.

So definitely a younger club but they are augmented by a strong contingent of veterans and a lot of their homegrown 'youngsters' plus Ladd are 24 and 25 years old.

What is the point of all of this? Well first of all that the Oilers aren't going anywhere near a Cup, as presently constituted, for a few years unless a lot of quality is added. And secondly, the idea that the Oilers' present methodology of dumping anybody with any experience isn't really a good idea if they want to win anything. These two clubs were probably the youngest to win the Cup since the Oilers did so for the first time, nearly thirty years ago. And neither of them was really that young.

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So if the Oilers are going to make steps towards contending then the idea, as I always say, is to add or retain their quality players. Ales Hemsky is unsettled by his status and coming off major shoulder surgery and having an off year, yes, but dumping him when he has had nearly a decade of good years as a top six forward seems counterproductive, no? And yet, like Penner, this seems to be what is about to happen.

Now I don't pretend to know if Hemsky would sign, same as I didn't know if Penner was going to sign but lets say for argument that the Oilers had kept Penner and planned to keep Hemsky. Here is their top nine in this case:

Hall/Ted/Eberle
Penner/Gagner/Hemsky
Smyth/Horcoff/Paajarvi

And their fourth line is then Eager/Belanger/Jones

That's a far better lineup than right now, no? Renney has more options, you have Paajarvi playing with two quality vets and Gagner is in the same boat. Belanger and Jones slide down the lineup a bit and then can jump up where necessary.

Instead it looks like Hemsky is a goner and there is talk of trading Gagner for a defenceman, which the club of course desperately needs. And Penner is gone. And because the wings are thin we have seen Gagner playing the wing and best guess is is will return there when Ted comes back.

So now here is the depth chart up front:

Hall/Ted/Eberle
Smyth/Horcoff/Gagner
Paajarvi/Belanger/Jones

Now your mileage may vary of course. Maybe Gagner is back at centre but you cannot look at this lineup and say that it is anywhere close to the first one I posted.

Moving Penner and now the probable move of Hemsky is gutting the forward depth and if they rob Peter to pay Paul by moving Gagner for a Dman well then you can see how it even further damages this club up front.

--------------

Do I have the answers? No of course not but presently the club has this as their depth chart:

Hall/Ted/Eberle
Smyth/Horcoff/Hemsky
Paajarvi/Gagner/Omark
Hartikainen/Belanger/Jones
Hamilton/Lander/Pitlick

Hemsky is a goner and maybe Gagner too. Smyth, Horcoff and Belanger are getting older. Paajarvi has taken a step back and Omark and Hartikainen have been in OKC pretty well all year. Who knows if the last three kids will contribute as NHLers. They may but there's no guarantee. In other words, the forward depth ranges from mediocre to abysmal unless all of the secondary group of kids turn out.

Now as for the blue:

Smid/Gilbert
Whitney/Potter
Sutton/Petry
Barker/Peckham
Plante/Teubert

Sutton is a UFA and Barker is garbage and Whitney may be done and even if he isn't done he and Smid are unrestricted after next season.

So yeah its pretty thin back there too. Now robbing the forwards to add to the blueline might help but if they lose Smid it sets this club back enormously, imo. Six years it took to get him here (and this is a guy who had pedigree so don't think that all of the prospects bubbling under are going to step right in - maybe one or two may get ahead of the curve if Edmonton is lucky) and if they lose a guy who is a legitimate top pairing guy just as he enters his prime, well then what does that do to the franchise?

And of course in goal there are intriguing prospects who are years away, Khabibulin and Dubnyk, who does not look like a guy, just yet, who can backstop a contender. So add G to D and F as issues. Not a surprise, there's a reason this team has been out of the playoffs for six years and probably in the lottery for three.

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So there are holes everywhere and the very real possibility that things could get worse and the problem is, as I have said before, if things get worse then you risk losing your quality upcoming UFAs like Smid and Gilbert, which makes things worse still, and then you are risking alienating the kids the franchise is depending on.

Do I have the answers? Well, no. But I certainly reject the apologists who say that management deserves slack when these are the guys who have put the team off the rails in the first place. Four years they tried to contend and finished 25th, 19th, 21st and DEAD LAST in those years, including a couple of years where they spent to the Cap.

Think about that for a second. And don't try to tell me that as a fan I don't know what I am talking about and that the job is hard. Of course its a difficult job but you know what? If a guy is BAD AT THE JOB then he should get unemployed and fast. If you think your club can contend and spend to the cap and finish last well then that says a lot about you as a talent evaluator and that is what being a GM is all about when it comes down to it.

What would I do if I were GM?

- sign Hemsky unless the price tag is ridiculous. I can't see it being so

- keep Gagner. He may not be the answer but if you are a rebuilding club then you don't trade a 22 year old C. If you take a C in the draft and he makes the club next fall then move Gagner to the wing and then move him later.

- sign Smid as soon as possible

- add another top four D on the cheap somehow, pick one up with a year left on their contract or from a team that is capstrapped or find a Hejda - a quality guy who can be had on the cheap. Ideally the club would add two. Impossible you say? Look around the league. It happens all of the time. The Oilers used to do it all of the time.

- move Khabi, if possible, and address the goaltending with a Craig Anderson type. Again do I know who exactly? No but quality goaltending is out there and can be found for cheap, I have no doubt of this. Again look around the league.

Retain the quality you have, add pieces to shore up the D and goaltending if possible. Do so without hamstringing the franchise with bad contracts. Does Tambo have the chops to do this, to make the team better for the short and long term, to do something other than waiting on last place finishes to bring us to the Promised Land?

Despite the full court press from the Oilers and their media lackeys (excepting Brownlee and Gregor who have both come out as skeptical on this point imo) that Tambellini is doing a bang up job and deserves an extension, I would say that history tells us that he is not up to it and that his boss and likely replacement, Lowe, the guy who got us into this mess, is not either.

Oilers Brass

2012-01-26T13:45:00.000-05:00

Here is a guest post from frequent commenter and occasional poster Matthew Watt. Ironically he sent this to me just before Terry Jones' column on the probably extension being offered the GM. Enjoy.

I, like the man who words grace this blog, come from good stock. Loving, caring, respectful people. My family does have their intricacies (don’t know if the Al Gore is big enough for me to outline what all of these are, I keed), but in all they are just good people. Especially my dad.

Now in my dad’s world, there is no greater joy than talking with others. When he tells you about how his perfect day went, the words “just had so many great visits” are uttered numerous times. You would think he gets sick of it after awhile, but no. Hell, he has now made his daily routine to be visiting and talking with others, and he would have it no other way.

Did I tell you he is a politician?

My dad also ensures that the visit is always on his dime; he is extremely benevolent. Every time, no matter the place, he is always gets the bill. Hotel rooms for family events, taken care of by him. Gas when going on vacation, just use his fuel card. Meals, he gives his credit card to the waiter before everyone is seated. Generous as they come.

Except in one instance. My dad, to celebrate his sons coming of age will always take us out for a night of drinks. However, when I became 18 we just never got around to it. A year passed, I then started university and the subject was never approached till Christmas break. One night when I was back home on holidays, my dad then decided that this would be the time he takes me out to the bar. Good enough for me. So out we went, to the local watering hole and proceeded to make a night of it. Due to it being Christmas time, lots of locals were there and my dad ended up visiting with some of his friends and me with mine. He just told me “put your drinks on my tab, I will pay it at the end of the night.” So I did.

Night comes to a close, Dad calls mom to come pick him up, and he goes to pay the bill. To say he was shock was a bit of an understatement. Not to sound like a blowhard but I come from a long lineage of people who can hold their liquor, and that first semester of university only helped my cause. My dad found that out when the tab came. To be honest I probably bought a few rounds for others there, and grabbed a case of beer at the end of the night to drink at a friend’s, but still drank a bit too much for dad’s liking.

“I don’t mind buying you some drinks,” he said, “I just no longer want to fund your pissers, that is for sure.”

My dad hasn’t taken me out to the bar since; funny how that works.

Derek Zona stated that someone close to Oilers management has said that they have expressed interest in extending Cam Barker’s stay in Edmonton. I say you don’t even have to be close to the situation to know that. Spector said during intermission of one game I saw that injuries can’t be excuses, but this team misses Barker who was one of their “top 4 defenceman.” Then while I was listening to the radio on my way home from the Calgary game (yes I was there for the game and no I do not want to talk about it), Tencer was saying how you can’t blame Tambo for how the defence corps are so bad when the likes of Whitney and Barker, two of their top 4 defenceman, are out with injuries.

You know as well as I that both Spector and Tencer are getting this information from one place, and it is definitely not from fans in Section 203 (or from watching games apparently). Their writing shows that they are close to those at the top, and will do lots to keep those ties intact. Their actions so far speak to this. And what they are getting from management is that Barker is part of the Oilers long-term plans.

You only have to watch the games Cam Barker played in to know how much this team needs him, which is not at all. The guy skates like he has lead weights in his ass, acts like a traveller in a foreign land when the puck is in the Oilers end, and does not offer much on offence. To put it nicely, he is a black hole of a defenceman and I haven’t even started on his underlying numbers which show him to be a further joke.
Yet this management team feels it would be a good idea to extend his stay in Edmonton.

I for the longest time gave this management group the benefit of the doubt. One has to be this way as a fan to see what you have got for a brain trust. Now Oilers brass making bad moves is nothing new, the past 6 years of mismanagement is a pretty impressive study in futility. Just read either Pat, Tyler, Lowetide, Zona, Reynolds, Willis, etc., all outline just how inept this brain trust is. Yet, as a blind fan, I still held out hope that those in charge would find a way to figure things out. Oilers management was just having sex for the first few times. In time, they will be making love.

No more. The tea leaves have been shown. This management truly believes that one of the most ineffective defenceman in all of the NHL, someone who should be working on his trade in a lesser league, is top 4 NHL defenceman. Those close to them have said so. They also believe this after Barker playing 12 games this year where he was largely ineffective, to go along with previous years of him being a bust. What the hell is going here? We get rid of the NHLers like Hedja but keep Barker. Dispose of Brodziak for picks, in turn signing Belanger as replacement (who has been pretty brutal this year, especially in the Calgary game). Trade Smyth for picks that never turned out. I could go on and on, but the message is clear on how this management group runs this team.

Like my dad, I have been a benevolent soul towards Oiler management. Like my dad, I also know when enough is enough. The guys in charge don’t have a fucking clue. As such they need to go, sooner than later.

For I, like many other Oiler fans, am tired of funding the pissers they have at the expense of us.

Chaos

2012-01-21T15:15:00.000-05:00

Was at a surprise birthday party for one of Jenn's friends last night and as I was at the bar buying drinks a woman said 'Are you Pat McLean? You used to coach my brother Ryan.'

I looked at her and after a dim moment realized who she was, the younger sister of a kid I coached for three seasons twenty years ago.

You're a lot taller than the last time I saw you, I remarked.

Caught up for a while, turns out that life had been good to her, her brother, their Mom and aunt, they lived just around the corner from us in High Park all those years ago and I got to know the family quite well. Also at the party, another young woman who I also remembered, they were still friends after all of these years. This one remarked how she had a crush on me way back in the day.

Very funny. Very weird.

Grinding out January, winter has finally arrived although the cold and snowy stretch of days we see here and there are almost immediately followed by a couple of days of rain which leave everything grey and muddy. There is a part of me that likes my winters wintery but then I think that we are nearly through January and we've had three really cold days so far and I cannot complain about that.

We're laying low, recovering from the holidays, but the next few weeks things look to be ramping up again. I haven't played hockey since before Christmas but I hit the ice with Capsule again tonight and I've been playing shinny Wednesday nights. Of course the kids are busy and so its back to to hectic everyday chaos of our lives.

Our youngest is a real handful. Lately she has taken to getting up quietly after we put her to bed, turning on her light and then 'reading' or doing puzzles until she is discovered. So she's a bit tired as a result and a bit under the weather and so she is even more of a challenge than usual.

The other day Jenn was taking the kids to school and found the side doors of the van frozen shut (we drive a Honda, have had them forever and love them, but this flavour of van has this problem which is annoying - its a good thing we don't live somewhere actually cold). So she muttered some curses and opened the back hatch and the two oldest kids clambered in. She had our youngest in the front and turned on the van and blasted the heat and our baby (she is three now) jumped at the sudden roar of the air. She looks at my wife and says:

That fucking noise scared me.

My wife's jaw dropped, the other two kids' eyes popped out and she said 'What was that?' And so our baby replied:

I said that fucking noise scared me.

Lol. Thing is my wife has nobody but herself to blame. I have an awfully foul mouth but have always kept it in check around the kids. She has a little more difficulty in that area.

At least she used it in the proper context though. Another smart kid.

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The Oilers' descent, once again, has included the usual freakiness. The team was sliding long before the injuries hit, which hasn't stopped the narrative from being 'its the injuries' from some quarters and it looks like last place may be in the offing. Again.

The injuries themselves have been ridiculous, coming fast and furious. Eberle injuring his knee (thank God not badly) in an innocent looking spill. Ted stumbling over the blueline into the boards (looks like Smid has passed on that particular 'skill'), Gilbert getting run through the boards by serial douchebag Daniel Carcillo, the end result being the latter's year ending injury. Considering how little Carcillo adds to the game, being one of these serial rats that the old school guys talk about, one hopes that it may be a career ended as well. He's a guy who adds so little, a lost step or two might do him in. We can hope anyhow.

And then just as Eberle gets ready to return the most bizarre and cruellest cut of all, Hall's scary experience in the PREGAME WARMUP of all things.

As the young man said he was both unlucky and lucky and he's right on both counts. That might have been it for him right there.

And so Oiler fans look at another strange run of injuries and there is talk of karma and no luck but bad luck and of course its all hooey. You can blame the Oilers for rushing guys back from injury, a lot of teams do so of course but these guys have a particular affinity for it, but for the most part these things, the cut to Gagner's hand last season, the repeated injuries to Whitney and Horcoff and Hemsky are either the result of acquiring guys who have a history of breaking down or who are, quite simply, breaking down from age and abuse by the Reghyrs of the world. The Habs went through the same thing, it was about a decade ago. Koivu was the guy who got hurt constantly, amongst others, and of course his illness was in there as well but it just happened to be a bad run. Funny thing was that Koivu ended up becoming quite durable once that run ended. The Kings were another club that went through this a few years back and now it looks to be the Pens' turn.

I always find the karma talk to be funny though. If we want to talk about karma earned and owed does anyone not think that the Oilers very likely might wander in the wilderness for generations more? For a decade or so they had the greatest club ever assembled and if money hadn't reared its ugly head the Cups probably would have numbered in double figures. They had the greatest offensive player ever to lace up skates and his SUPPORTING CAST included Messier, Kurri, Coffey and Anderson, not to mention the quality soldiers behind these guys. Andy Moog was the flipping backup for Christ sakes.

So Edmonton is owed nothing and of course throw Pocklington into the mix and the subsequent owners, including the present one, crying poor at every turn and the media being castrated and never saying a discouraging word and the fans baaing like sheep (not to mention the politicians throwing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars at a billionaire) and one might say that Edmonton is getting exactly what it deserves.

Of course karma has nothing to do with it. The injuries are bad luck but at the end of the day it comes down to management. Folks like to look at the Chicago model but they forget that after Mike Keenan left town the Hawks wandered in the desert for nearly two decades under the grim ownership of Bill Wirtz and the dour management of Bob Pulford. Pulford was the Hawks' Kevin Lowe for over thirty years. He was coach and GM and neither but he was always pulling the strings and so it was no Cups despite two lovely clusters of talent in the early 80s and then again a decade later. When Keenan was fragged by Pulford the Hawks slowly and surely dumped veteran after veteran for, ready, prospects and picks. Steve Larmer and Jeremy Roenick and Eddie Belfour and Chris Chelios. All discarded and three of the four would play major roles in winning Cups elsewhere.

I was a Hawk fan in those days and when these players were moved the reaction was one of outrage. No matter the picks and prospects and players these guys brought back (Chelios returned a can't miss young Dman named Anders Eriksson (lol) and two first round picks) fans knew they were getting fleeced and the reality is the moves almost killed hockey in Chicago and put the club in the shitter for over a decade. Eric Weinrich and Patrick Poulin could not replace Steve Larmer and the return for Chelios could not replace him and the return for Roenick and Belfour was equally forgettable.

What's amazing to me is that when the Hawks moved vets there was outrage and yet here the Oilers are about to move Ales Hemsky and the collective response is a yawn. A rumour on twitter was that it was Renney or Hemsky and while I like Renney he's by no means irreplaceable. Most players are not either but when you've been out of the playoffs for six years and you have almost NO TALENT on your roster, you might think that keeping what you have might be a start. Instead the outcry is not to keep the Oilers' best player from the past decade but rather an outcry as to what the Oilers are waiting for. And so it was in the response to this particular rumour. Renney or Hemsky? No brainer - dump the top six forward.

Hemsky has had a bad year but he's been quality for so so long. Doesn't matter though. I'm not sure if its the fact that so many great players wore Oiler silks many years ago but its never good enough for fans these days, never mind that Hemsky scored the biggest goal for the franchise since Marchant zipped by Ledyard and put a knife in the Stars. Of course the other biggest franchise goal of the past 15 years was the one that Horcoff scored to stop the Sharks from taking a 3-0 lead in that series and we all know what the fans think of him.

Its not the fact that there is disappointment in Hemsky's game falling off or Horcoff's decline, its the rage and contempt for these two players from the fanbase that is sad and disappointing.

In any case they will soon get their wish and its probable that Hemsky, freed from the sinkhole that this franchise has become, goes on to star for another half dozen years. The team will be weaker, again, because no prospect or pick is going to be better than Hemsky is right now and may never be. See Smyth, Ryan, and the 3 first rounders that came back for him five years ago. One is in the minors in Russian, another is in the AHL and the third is a career minor leaguer who is having a cup of coffee right now.

Its awfully sad to see him get shipped out of town with the crowd cheering the move and its another reminder that this franchise is heading nowhere fast. Six years out of the playoffs folks.

Six years.

Groundhog Day

2012-01-13T21:45:00.000-05:00

Love Bill Murray as regular visitors here know. Love his work but love the stories of him showing up at random gatherings even more. Cool cool guy. Waiting for him to show up at my door one night, preferably with some cigarettes and steaks, and we'll hang out on the back deck drinking good beer and scotch, shooting the shit. And Bill, if you're reading this, bring me a puppy. No way Jenn will send away a puppy if you bring it. I'll even name it Bill Murray.

Groundhog Day - underrated movie. Would have been a hundred times better without Andie MacDowell in it. Sure she's pretty but I swear a squirrel is going to pop out of her hair at some point, she's so damn wooden. Ruins every movie she's in. Put Julianne Moore or Bridget Fonda in there goddamnit!!

Speaking of Groundhog Day well here were the quarter pole grades of the Oilers.

Ahh for those heady days just SEVEN WEEKS AGO!!! WHAT THE FUCK!?!??! Oh my God that's depressing. Tambo you idiot what have you wrought but another season of awful disappointment. I am guessing that come the summer heads will roll or at least certain coaching or management types may not get extended.

With Gilbert, Ted and Eberle out for another half dozen games or so the Oilers will be firmly ensconced in 30th or thereabouts soon enough and the annual firesale which will see Hemsky and others moved out will only guarantee another lottery pick.

Its awful and so much of the promise of this year's beginning has disappeared into the mist.

Here we go. Quarter pole mark in brackets, present mark is cumulative grade for year:

A+

Tom Gilbert (A+)- club MVP, a minus two despite playing the other team's best, generally starting in his own zone and, well, playing for the Edmonton Oilers. I have always liked Gilbert. He has been fantastic and his absence is the one the Oilers can least afford.

Jordan Eberle (A) - just absolutely tearing it up before he got hurt, over a PPG and top ten in scoring. What a wonderful player.

A

Ryan Nugent Hopkins (A+) - hard to nick a teenaged rookie who is averaging almost a PPG but his production on the road and at ES is not great, expected of course. Ironically the injury may help him get around the wall I sensed he was hitting a bit.

Ladi Smid (A) - he has arrived and how. Of course his arrival is also a reminder that Dmen take forever to develop. Really has been great though and has even chipped in some offence.

Taylor Hall (B+) - came back from his injury and put the team on his back on the last road trip. Looks to maybe be from the Iginla mold with his slow starts back to back now.

Ryan Jones (A) - I was never a Jones hater but I was pretty well indifferent to him I guess. Fair play to him though, he has worked hard to become a more complete player and of course he scores goals like crazy. A pleasant surprise.

A-

Ryan Smyth (A+) - Smytty has slowed down somewhat, no surprise. Ferraro said the other night that Renney has worn he and Horcoff out, playing them tons, and we're not talking the easy minutes either.

B+

Nikolai Khabibulin (A) - old goalie has come back to earth a bit, he had to, but he's been pretty good still

Sam Gagner (C-) - Gagner with a bullet, averaging almost a point a game since he a)got fit and b) started getting the quality linemates and icetime. Not sure if Gagner is part of the future (I say don't move him yet, if at all) but at least he has some value now if they do move him

B

Shawn Horcoff (A) - Horc has been playing the toughs and killing penalties and playing over twenty minutes a game and his numbers are taking a beating after a great start. The try is there but sometimes the results are not.

Corey Potter (B+) - looking a bit more like what we expected but overall hard to complain. And a nice contract extension to boot.

B-

Jeff Petry (B-) - almost bumped him up, he is getting better by my eye but he's still a rookie and so the mistakes happen. I think he can be a top four guy, just have to be patient

C

Andy Sutton (B-) - the team is better with him in the lineup and I think he has enough crazy to keep other teams worried but unfortunately the suspensions are killing his club

C -

Devan Dubnyk (B-) - he has not been good enough

Ales Hemsky (B-) - I would sign him in a heartbeat still. He has not been himself but when he is himself he is a gamebreaker who averages almost a point a game. Having a tough time coming back from major surgery and I think the contract situation and his impending move is weighing on him. Sad that fans think he should go after he has had a couple dozen bad games after almost a decade of good ones.

Anton Lander (C) - should be in OKC playing a ton. Poor development decision, O'Marra should be playing these minutes

Colten Teubert (no grade) - has looked like a rookie Dman but not awful, all things considered

D

Eric Belanger (C-) - still no offence and not much else, there was talk of a back injury early one, I wonder if that's playing a factor, he has been a decent player for so long its hard to believe he is suddenly this bad

Lennart Petrell (C-) - a fun story but in the minors, doesn't really bring much

Magnus Paajarvi (D) - ended up in the minors, he has lost his confidence, a big disappointment this year

Linus Omark (D) - no change as he has been hurt this quarter

Ryan Whitney (Incomplete) - he looked absolutely awful in his return and they finally shut him down again. Sad is the best way to describe this situation.

Ben Eager (F) - slightly better but of course he was so brutal he had nowhere to go but up

F

Darcy Hordichuk (F) - still a waste of a roster spot

Theo Peckham (no grade) - lol I forgot to grade Peckham last quarter. I love the kid but he's been awful except for on the PK, problem is he is often in the box. Plus he's been terrible.

Cam Barker (F) - was an F and hasn't played since.

B

Tom Renney (A-) - I haven't liked his work this quarter as much, he's had some goofy situations where he has thrown out the 4th line at the wrong time at home, he has little to work with though so its hard to blame him for this mess.

C

Steve Tambellini (B) - I've nicked him, not so much because the team has struggled but because he hasn't done anything about it. When Whitney showed he was in trouble he should have tried to add a Dman imo. Might have stopped the freefall. Oh well, he may be a goner and I think that would be a good thing.

A

OKC Barons (A)- same mark as last term for the same reasons - top notch club that has provided quality reinforcements; even with callups and injuries they have done very well

Winter

2012-01-10T13:30:00.001-05:00

Nothing makes me feel older than talking about winter. When I was young (and even today) my old man talked about how cold the winters of his youth were. He has lived nearly his entire life in Northern Ontario and many of the years were spent in Franz, a railroad town a couple of hours north of Wawa. (A railroad town literally, there was no road into Franz. My grandfather was a railroad mechanic. He had one of those cars that drove down the tracks.) And one of Dad's first jobs was working in Northern Saskatchewan in Uranium City. Him and a few pals went out that way when they were just kids to get some work. Coldest place he ever lived, he says, so cold that your face would freeze if you were outside for more than a minute.

So in his day (and where he lived) winters started in October or November, lasted through March and at least January and February most days (!) were twenty five below or colder. And this is without windchill.

(A few years back we were in Sudbury for New Year's. New Year's Day was the start of a cold snap. Dad and his brother got geared up to plug the trucks in (the temperature had plummeted overnight) and my Uncle, who lived in Moose Factory and was a pilot in the Arctic for years, asked what it was like out. Someone said twenty five below with the wind and he said Don't give me any of that windchill bullshit, I don't care about the wind, I just want the actual temperature! Then he and dad went out in their ballcaps and got everything squared away.)

Now when I was younger (hooks up pants, spits plug of tobacco into old rusty can) it was cold enough. I played outdoor hockey every year but one and the ice was not artificial ice, it was real, laid down by neighbourhood dads all over the city at every rink in very neighbourhood. There were dozens of them and they were open from early November right through the end of March. As kids our lives revolved around those rinks (as did much of the neighbourhood adults as well) - we spent our weekends and evenings there. From about mid December through February the roads were covered with hard packed snow and whereever you walked the ground squeaked beneath your boots. Your nostrils stuck together and when you spit your gob would bounce when it hit the ground. The snowbanks were higher than the cars and if you ventured off of the road or a beaten path you were wading through drifts. That was a Northern Ontario winter and we spent most of our time outside, coming in to take off layers of clothes and feel the burning of our fingers and toes as they protested where we lived.

I moved to Toronto when I was eighteen and while the temperatures rarely hit minus twenty (standard daytime temperature in Sudbury) and never hit minus thirty (standard nighttime temp) it was cold and snowy and of course the cold was a damp cold which made it nastier than back home. (lol I know, a dry cold but its TRUE!) Snow started falling in November and we had snow through March. Before I moved east and then south I coached hockey and we had outdoor practices and again these ran right up until March no problem on real ice. It was no northern winter but it was a Canadian winter all the same.

We came back to Toronto about a decade ago and at first it was business as usual but over the past few years winters have, well, disappeared. We had no snow at Christmas again this year and today it is six degrees. Last Tuesday it was twenty four below (with the wind) but it's possible that may be the only cold day we have this year. In the four years past with one exception where we had a cold snap that lasted a couple of weeks I could count the cold days each year on one hand.

One hand.

Now I am pragmatic and I prefer a warm winter to cold don't get me wrong but there's something not right here, never mind all of the global warming stuff. My kids have been sledding once this year, they got out one evening after a few inches fell that day. The next day the rain came and washed it away. In the park one street over the rink that gets made every year is non existent. There is no snow. There is only grey dingy mud and dead plants.

I don't long for the days when it was twenty below but there just doesn't seem to be a damn point to any of this now, I mean if were going to have winter lets have some winter,am I right?

Right.

-----------------

For the Oilers winter has arrived. The slide has become an avalanche and now the annual devastation of the roster has begun. Ted is out for a few more weeks because of a freak accident and we await word on Eberle. Gilbert is gone until at least the All Star Break and so the D is now Smid and five guys named Moe.

It's about to get quite ugly I believe. Er, uglier.

It's so depressing that even the good news, like the signing of Potter to a totally reasonable contract, is overshadowed in the gloom.

Tom Renney is dead man walking, he certainly will not survive another lottery pick, especially based on management (and himself) proclaiming that playoffs are the goal. And while the injuries are a useful crutch, as always, one has to think that Katz will note that this freefall began before last week, and actually really started when the club was healthy!

It's possible that Tambellini himself may be in trouble and while it's a truth that losing organizations are the ones that change management and coaches constantly I think we have gotten to the point where we have to wonder where the buck will stop. Again the blueline has been exposed for a lack of depth and again our men in charge have shown to be, for the most part, unsure when it comes to assessing talent and the status of their club. These are the guys who signed Khabibulin to a four year deal and tried to trade three players for Heatley, remember.

And with Ales Hemsky on his way out the door to join the scads of useful players, some very good, who have exited in the past half dozen years, usually to the cheers of the media and fans who think that picks and prospects are better than established quality NHLers (recall the return for Smyth, how has that worked out - 3 (!) first rounders, all of them busts), I can only wonder about the following.

- at the beginning of the year it looked like the Oilers had enviable depth up front with 9 top nine forwards - Hall, Ted, Eberle, Smyth, Horcoff, Hemsky, Gagner, Paajarvi, Omark. At this point in time, two of those guys have been to the minors, Hemsky is out the door for certain, Smyth may follow and Horcoff is long in the tooth (as is Smyth). So where is this depth again? And this is the club's strength!

- they have two quality top four D that can be relied on - Gilbert and Smid

- the reality is that after next year Khabibulin will be gone and Dubnyk has proven nothing, so the goaltending is a mess as well

- for all of the wonderful prospects in the pipeline, Smid is just hitting his stride now, at 25. Klefbom and Bunz and Musil and Marancin and on and on may be quality but we won't know for years for the most part.

- multiple players run out of town are playing for teams that are better than the Oilers (of course this is pretty well every team) so again where does the problem lie? Was it Souray? Cole? Penner? (and yes I am aware of his struggles) Pitkanen? Glencross? Brodziak? Visnovsky? Torres? Stoll? Greene? Hejda? Some of these players came to town in exchange for each other, all were shipped away. Some asked out. Some wanted to stay. In the end nearly everyone brought nothing in return or assets that slowly diminished. On a young team would not Greene, Stoll, Brodziak, Glencross and Pitkanen all be guys who could help, all guys who are in the age range needed? Guys with size and for the most part grit. Yet were all found wanting as Oilers, just as Ales Hemsky is about to be.

It's really a joke.

And this is where the danger lies.

Hemsky is gone. Whitney is UFA next year. Health problems aside, do you see him wanting to stay with a franchise six years out of the playoffs, bleeding veterans. He will be dealt after whispers about his lack of grit in overcoming his injuries. The fans will cheer. The year after it will be Gilbert and Smid's turn and then Gagner. Why would any of these guys want to stay with a club after nearly a decade of failure and not a playoff appearance?

And then you know who would be next? That's right - Eberle, Hall, Nugent Hopkins.

Why would they sign longterm with a franchise that has wandered in the desert for so long?

Hemsky is a goner and I suspect that unless something big happens this summer in terms of trying to right this ship that we will see exactly what I have described above.

Because while management calls it year two of the rebuild and some fans buy it, the truth is it's six years running as the worst franchise in hockey. How do you think the players feel about that? Have you ever played for a shitty team, even in beerleague. Losing gets tired really quickly.

I'm surprised Hemsky hasn't asked out. I wouldn't blame him. But that's the thing, he wants to stay. And the club is going to move him anyhow.

Winter.

When I Was 43, It Was A Very Good Year

2012-01-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

Am drying out now. Realized the other day that in the last two weeks of 2011 I had been out for pints or at friends or had friends over a total of eight times. My liver is crying uncle. On the plus side I have little boobs I can now play with as I sit on my couch.

As an aside if I were a woman I would never get a damn thing done. Just sit around playing with my boobs all day long.

So New Year's Eve was a quiet one and the first few days of 2012 have been dry ones. Just going to take it a easy for a bit, try and rejuvunate the body and the bank account.

This past year was a very good year as any folks who come here often would know. 2010 was by turns wonderful and awful and was marked by those big events that are interrupt what life generally is, a series of quiet days and small events. 2010 saw trips to Dublin and Fernie for weddings but it also saw the passing of my old friend, Ben, the inspiration for this blog. Three friends of ours lost loved ones in the space of about six weeks in the fall and overshadowing all of this was a strange illness that put my Mom in the hospital for five months and left her in a wheelchair.

Here's the thing about life. Nothing is promised. You can make your own luck by working hard and living well but a string of bad luck doesn't mean things will get better just because and a charmed life doesn't mean that some cruelty isn't lurking just around the corner. Life is what it is and part of it is death. Its just the way it is and its best not to think about it other than to make the most of your time here. Pretty simple really.

The shittiest thing about aging of course is the fact that as you get older your chances of rolling snake eyes go up and, worse still, you start losing the people who are older than you or even around your age for whom the die do not fall. Its a tough thing to get a handle on.

So after last year I have to admit I was a bit, well, on edge.

But we were lucky. We had a great year. The kids are growing like weeds and doing all of those wonderful (and exasperating) things that kids do. Jenn and I celebrated ten years of marriage by going to the Dominican and eating and drinking and sexing and otherwise doing a whole lot of nothing. She ran a half marathon and has become passionate about running. I am still playing hockey and while I'm getting older (44 in December) I'm still feeling pretty good.

I have a dear uncle, one of my Dad's brothers, who had a pretty serious health scare in the fall but he pulled through it and his road, while tough, is looking pretty good right now. And a cousin is fighting health issues as well. But Jenn's Dad has bounced back from his own scare a few years back to be his old self but better, imo. And on top of that we've had a few friends add little ones or get pregnant and of course that is the best news of all.

And the biggest news has to do with my Mom who has gotten strong enough that she is now doing physio and has started driving again. She is going on a cruise to Europe in the spring and the biggest news of all is that walking, once thought an impossibility, is suddenly on the horizon. She has gotten to the point where she can stand unaided and at Christmas her and Dad had a little waltz around the living room.

So yes 2011 turned out to be a wonderful year all around.

--------------------

For the Edmonton Oilers, well, 2011 was an awful year and 2012 looks to be starting off on on the wrong foot with Ted and Tom Gilbert going down last night. If both are out for any length of time the lottery is a certainty (it may be anyway) - if Gilbert is hurt seriously then we're probably looking at a third straight number one pick.

It hasn't been all bad news for Edmonton. Despite a similar record to last year this is a better team, the goal differential is much improved and the holes to fill are becoming less. The Hemsky question looms and we need prospects (some if not all) like Hartikainen, Pitlick, Lander, Hamilton and others to turn out and guys like Paajarvi and Omark to bounce back. Nugent Hopkins is a special talent though and so is Hall and Eberle may be the best of the bunch. Seriously. And of course Ryan Smyth returned and has turned back the clock (that goal against Chicago was just terrific - vintage Smyth) and Ryan Jones is proving his doubters wrong and Horcoff has been healthy and pretty damn good. Most important of all - Tom Gilbert and Ladi Smid look like a legitimate top NHL pairing. Taking on the tough opposition with this club and barely a minus. They are serious quality.

Now we just need four more NHL defencemen!

And this is the story of a rebuilding club. A number of positives but a lot of negatives too. Whitney looks crippled and so as usual its a bunch of 5s and 6s after the top pair (although Teubert's decent play in callups merits a positive mention). Khabibulin has been good but Dubnyk does not look like a guy who can carry a quality team. And there is Hemsky and Belanger's lack of offence and the awful fourth line and the fact that the club is again near the bottom of the league. And the step back taken by Paajarvi and possible waste of Omark are particularly worrisome. If this club is to be built through the draft then this club better know what to do when developing the kids. There are a pile of nice looking ones coming. If the club blows it with them then its going to be Islanderville for us.

Its tough to take for fans and one thinks that Renney is not going to survive the summer. Thing is this is the third coach who will be unable to make something quality of the unbalanced lineups management gives them and so one wonders if Katz may look at Tambellini and think that he has to go too. Problem is that Lowe, the guy who started this mess, will still be around when all is said and done.

That's not cool.

What does 2012 hold? Looks like another top ten pick, perhaps in the lottery. Hemsky will probably get moved. He is playing hurt I would guess but the media is greasing the skids and the fans love their picks and prospects, damn the fact that you need quality NHL players to win and until this season he has been just that.

And this summer will be the one that makes or breaks Tambellini and, I believe, this club for years to come. I don't have a lot of faith in old Sleepy but here's hoping I am wrong.

Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2012 for all of you!

Mad Tom

2011-12-30T14:05:00.000-05:00

The fellow in the picture who is giving the handsome little fellow a smooch is Tom, a Scot who we met when we were in the Dominican celebrating our tenth anniversary this year. We had a fantastic time. I always thought I'd go mental just sitting around doing nothing but I loved it. I think when I was younger I wouldn't have been able to handle it but after years of never stopping with the kids it proved to be perfect.

We met some fine folks on our trip, a couple from Wisconsin, three couples from the Maritimes (finest kind) and then Tom and his girlfriend. I've been to Scotland and we have clients in Scotland and Tom was, in my experience, a pretty typical Scot. He was a bright guy and possessed an acerbic wit and he, like the Irish and English and Canadians, was well informed. I always found that strange about Americans when I lived there (and we have an office there as well) - they are a very incurious people when it comes to the world around them for the most part.

Our last night there we hung out at the bar but for the most part we'd bump into Tommy in our daily wanderings, seeing him by the pool or getting a drink. We'd shoot the shit for a bit and then move on. The funny thing about Tom is that out of the blue he'd explode with anger, usually when the talk came around to politics. We'd be talking about oil prices and suddenly he's start ranting and myself and one of the fellows from out east, another smart aleck like myself, would smirk and then he's stalk off shouting at 'you stupid Canadian fucking bastards'.

You'd see him an hour later and it was as if nothing had happened. Strange cat.

--------------------------

Looks like this roadtrip is going to be the anchor that drops the Oilers into the lottery for another year. The club has been playing better but the damage was done on that homestand and there's no getting around the fact that the D is shallow as a kiddie turtle pool. And this is with what Gilbert and Smid have become this year. Imagine if they hadn't stepped up? Jesus.

Whitney has confirmed what has been noticeable to anyone that has a pulse, his ankle is not quite right (and thanks for the hustle and sticktoitiveness on that story, you crack Edmonton media members). And those same media members have demo'd that the fix is in and Hemsky is going to get dealt with their increasingly critical comments about the Czech. They're greasing the skids for him and a good number of the fanbase are falling right in line with the narrative because, well, they're idiots plain and simple. Hemsky is injury prone and he's not a perfect hockey player but last time I checked there are few of those. He is a damn good player when healthy and he's a better option than nearly every player in the organization but the media and many fans would dump him for futures because he's had a poor couple of months.

Someone on twitter or perhaps it was at Lowetide's said last night that Oiler fans get what they deserve because they are so stupid and sometimes its hard to argue that point. We've a team that hasn't won a Cup in over twenty years, that is about to miss the playoffs for the sixth straight year and has finished last overall two years in a row. They've been shipping quality NHL players out the door for pretty well nothing since June of 2006 and the result has been as one would expect. The team is shitty.

But yeah its Ales Hemsky's fault.

I wonder what Tom would say to that. His fucking head would probably explode.

Oh Hossa Night

2011-12-23T21:43:00.003-05:00

I'm sure you've all seen this by now. My favourites - Frolik Navidad, Grandms Got Run Over By A Reindeer (You might think there's no such thing as John Scott) and of course Oh Hossa Night. But I've always been a Hossa man, what can I say.

Wife is at work, kids are abed (although I went upstairs an hour after bedtime to find my youngest sitting up with her light on 'reading' for the second night in a row - that one is trouble, we're doomed basically), all of the gifts have been wrapped and the house is returning to a semblance of order after weeks of chaotic neglect.

So I'm having a rum and egg nog (rum being the great 'discovery' for us this year, suddenly we have numerous bottles of it after years of Nunavut) and watching a little exhibition action of Dennis King's favourite tournament. I've got one day to work in the next ten and I'm looking forward to a few drinks, relaxing with family and friends and maybe a blowjob or two if I'm lucky. Its been a very good year and hopefully we'll wrap it up nicely here.

The kids are mental right now. Absolutely menatl. The boy said the other day that 'Christmas is the best day of the year' and its that childish enthusiasm which gives Jenn and I, who need very little to get us going for this time of year anyways, that extra little charge. I remember the look on our youngest's face last year when she came down the stairs and saw the tree Christmas morning and always will. Just such a look of awe and joy and it was so wonderful.

I'll be getting my books (I always ask for books and I alwsys get about a dozen) and hopefully a new stick, the timing is good, my last Sherwood gave up the ghost last Saturday night. Hopefully this one will have a few more goals in it than the last one. Then again maybe I should ask for new hands ;). Need new legs and lungs though too.

No new dog though. Not yet anyhow.

Merry Christmas to all of you and to all of yours. Have a safe and happy one, eat, drink, be merry and enjoy the company of your loved ones.

Robot

2011-12-22T13:30:00.000-05:00

So December has become a little harrowing for us the last couple of years and its clear that this is the way of it and will be for some time. Our regular everyday lives are hectic as it is and on top of this we have gifts to buy, wrap and ship, plans to make, Christmas concerts and parties, food to be cooked, a tree to be killed and decorated, the house to be also decorated (which we do very little of really, of course my parents' house looked like Santa threw up all over it so I'm a bit biased), cards to be mailed, the list goes on and on. Jenn is responsible for the majority of it, partially because she'd have it no other way (I'm not allowed near wrapping paper for good reason), partially because shift work trumps a 9 to 5 job when it comes to getting a lot of this completed. In any case I pick up the slack in other areas, pulling down more kid duty, for example, while she rushes about.

So like last year I have found the leadup to the big day to be a bit much. Its exhausting, quite frankly, and for the second year in a row I'm looking forward to Christmas morning because it will mark the end of the craziness and the beginning of a few days of fun. I remember back in school how we'd get in the spirit a few weeks before, at least, mostly because we finished school in early December and began celebrating immediately. Not so much these days though.

This week though I must say I have seen a turnabout in attitude. We had our company Christmas party and Sunday we got the tree up. That night I met Murat (known in these parts as Showerhead) at the Communist Bar along with other Manitobans and many pints were drank and a wonderful time was had. The following night it was back to the same place to meet an old friend and as we have for nearly twenty five years now (!) we drank and talked about books and hockey and all that is happening in our crazy lives.

Tuesday I rested.

And then last night we went for dinner with friends of ours who live on our street. We ate a lot and drank a lot and at the end of the night I even got birthday sex, offered and accepted and enjoyed fully.

And so this morning I came to work with a spring in my step. Its been a very good number of days and we're pretty well done, with only a few things left to wrap, and so maybe tonight, certainly tomorrow night, we're going to be able to kick back a bit.

Having said all of that there has been one fly in the ointment, so to speak. Our kids are getting ramped up, to the point where they can barely sit still for the excitement. Its a great age for it. Our oldest is eight and she had some doubts about Santa last year but she is either a wonderful little actress or she has decided to emulate her parents and throw herself behind the whole fun magical idea of a little fat man coming into our house and leaving presents for all of us. I am sure this may be our last year where she believes but its added to the fun all of the same.

Lists were submitted long ago (mine is nearly all books - I usually get about a dozen or so and already have three (!) plus some cash to go towards more so we may be talking record haul here ;) ) and our youngest, being unable to either read or write (she is three), maybe asked for a Barbie but nothing else.

And then about a week ago she says, out of the blue, that she wanted a robot.

We laughed. A robot. But the next day she said the same thing and the day after that again. We have no idea where she got this idea so we asked our kids and of course it was the goddamn television, although it wasn't a commercial, they were watching a show and there was 'a flying yellow robot' and so the idea was planted in her little head.

Tuesday Jenn was off and so she drove here and there and called everywhere for these 'Fijits' which are not flying yellow robots but rather a small thing that talks and so on and comes in pink and purple and other pleasing colours. They also happen to be one of the most popular toys of 2011 and what costs 40.00 at Walmart can be had for twice or three times that on Kijiji. My wife (and I) was loathe to spend that and so Tuesday night we told our little one that sometimes you don't get everything you want at Christmas. She replied that she didn't want anything but a robot so there would be no problem fulfilling this request.

Panic at the disco. Relatively speaking.

We made a couple of more calls to obscure toy stores downtown. One said they might be getting a shipment the next day so yesterday I sauntered over, only to be told that no such thing was happening. Then after work I went to the other, a store we had called a number of times the previous day and that very morning, only to get a busy signal.

A store which, until that very morning, had had a plethora of fijits onhand.

lol

I went home with the bad news and was greeted by my wife with this year's Santa photo and the news that once upon old St Nick's knee our smallest had replied to the question of what she wanted for Christmas with 'a Barbie'

-----------

Go you Oilers.

LOL As The Kids Say

2011-12-21T15:59:00.000-05:00

Best Picture Ever.

Irk

2011-12-19T12:52:00.000-05:00

Still alive. No, seriously ... Am starting to get to the point though where I long for Christmas morning to arrive, just to get everything beforehand over with. Am enjoying the kids' excitement but other than that I am finding, for the second straight year, that I could do without the preceding stress. Humbug, right? I thought last year's grumpiness was a one off but again this year I find myself not really in the Christmas spirit, despite having done some pretty fun stuff these past two weeks. And Christmas Day and the week after look to be grand so here's hoping the spirit strikes me then. Just worn out maybe ... so as always will try and drink my way out of it, tonight will be the third in four and last night had a good time out with longtime Oilogosphere regular Showerhead and a few of his pals. Have to say have not had a bad experience with a man I have met through the interweb yet, although that time I woke up in an alleyway with a sore bum after meeting Winters was a bit uncomfortabe. Just meet him in group settings now.

The lethargy I am feeling has extended to the Oilers. Its going to be another year out of the playoffs, the present spiral has confirmed that. The club had a nice start, bought and paid for too, which makes this swoon even harder to take, especially when we saw Whitney, Potter, Hemsky and Gagner come back, I mean this should mean the team would be better still, right? Right?

But Hemsky looks like he knows he's a goner and have to say the guy is letting the uncertainty wear at him. Smyth and Horcoff look tired and are both slumping and opposing teams look to have figured out how to defend the PP by taking away Ted's time and space aggressively.

And of course there is the usual litany of bad penalties and dumb line changes to make it that more grating.

Once this next road trip is done its going to be more of the usual for us Oiler fans and while its a process and we know its going to take time perhaps the worst thing that could happen was that beauty start. All of the losing is getting tiresome and one can only imagine how the players feel. When Hemsky gets moved and then Whitney and Gagner probably soon after, one wonders if for them it will be a sigh of relief that they take when it ends. And with the third of the last kid line moved out the door it will be a reminder of how what looks to be future glory can turn sour quickly. For us fans though there is no escape other than increasing boredom and indifference. We've been sold on the Chicago model but until this team actually becomes good and more good veterans get shown the door one thinks that this may be the Islanders' model after all, right down to the haunting glorious past fading into the gloom.

!!!

Terrible attitude, eh? But then again I am slightly hungover. Perhaps I need to drink more. Not sure if that's possible with going all Nick Cage in Vegas though.

And that's Leaving Las Vegas, not the one with the skydiving Elvises.

Trim Those Sideburns

2011-12-16T15:05:00.000-05:00

As the Oilers continue to slide, news today that Paajarvi will follow Teubert to Oklahoma where hopefully he will find his confidence playing on one of the best teams in the AHL.

On one hand its hard to argue with Paajarvi going down. Scratched at times and with no goals and three assists in twenty five games, its clear that he needs to play and to get his mojo back.

On the other hand one could argue that it didn't have to come to this. Its quite clear that the Oilers and Tom Renney (like every other team and coach, to be honest) have their pecking order and presently Paajarvi and Omark are down that list of young players.

(Quick aside. Glenn Murray played his junior in Sudbury and boarded with an acquaintance. Great guy by all accounts. Anyways when he was in Boston as a kid the coach was Sutter (Brian iirc) and he didn't like the cut of his jib at all. After one performance that ended badly Sutter is reaming out the team on the bus on way to the airport and inflicts his wrath on Murray, sitting near the front, ranting and raving about how poorly he had played (the Sutters sound like great guys, don't they)
until finally Murray was able to point out that he had, in fact, been a scratch that night.)

I'm not arguing that Hall and Eberle are not the better options up front but for Paajarvi it must be difficult to get placed in a plugger's role after a rookie season that saw him produce 15 goals, a dozen of those at ES, and saw him produce more frequently as his icetime and opportunity increased.

Instead this season he began on a line with Belanger, another guy who has struggled and who is not a big scorer anyways. Its reminiscent of when they had Erik Cole on a line with Brodziak and Moreau and then fans bitched about his lack of production.

Has Paajarvi helped his cause? No, he has looked gunshy at times. But I wonder what the guy thinks when Hall goes down and he gets all of one game in the top six. Meanwhile Gagner gets all of the time in the world to work out of his funk.

Maybe its all part of the plan. Maybe they're pumping Gagner to be traded. Maybe Paajarvi and Omark will be back in the New Year and will be given a better shot.

Personally I'd be running Omark and Paajarvi with Gagner, leave the top six as is (was) and then have Belanger centre the fourth line/key the PK and maybe it will come to that with the season starting to slide.

I've always seen this upcoming number of months, including the summer, as the key time in this process. Remember all of the talk - so many quality wingers! Six of them! - well now we have two pending UFAs and two young Swedes banished to the minors.

All of those folks calling for Hemsky to get dealt (and he hasn't been great, I know), need to remember, good NHL players. Need to keep them. Especially when we're relying on kids to make it big down the road.

Hope Magnus gets back soon and gets his chance.

Boar Hunt Was Not Success

2011-12-10T14:27:00.000-05:00

Weird stuff out there on the Interweb folks. There has been plenty of talk of how the captain of the Oilers is in fact a dirty Russian, this speculation spurred in part by letters leaked to THIS VERY BLOG from Russian Poobah for Life, Vlad Putin, to a man he calls 'Horcov'.

Adding fuel to the fire is the recent appearance on Twitter of one 'shorcov' - if you're on the twitter you may want to check it out. Not sure if its proof of what has been suspected or if its just the Oiler Captain taking the piss but regardless its a fascinating look at the personal life of a NHL hockey player. Worth the read just for the inside look at his teammates and the day to day preparation he makes to be the best player he can be.

Scott Parker?

2011-12-08T14:20:00.000-05:00

I remember back in the day, twenty years ago or so (!), when I had all the time in the world, and like many (most?) young men, I spent the majority of it in three pursuits - drinking, chasing tail and following sports.

I watched hockey and baseball and basketball and Sundays were spent in front of the TV watching the NFL. I knew the ninth place hitter for the Detroit Tigers and the backup goalie in Buffalo and the coach of the Cleveland Browns. I watched the majors in golf and tennis and the Grey Cup and I could even tell you a bit (though not much) about car racing, horse racing and boxing.

Nowadays I watch hockey and I follow European soccer somewhat and I'll watch an NFL playoff game here and there. I tuned into the Grey Cup for a few minutes this year and I also may have watched a couple of baseball playoff games or portions of them.

What has happened? Well I haven't the time of course but even before the kids arrived my love affair with sports had waned. Too many teams was a starting point. The money turned me off. The lockouts and strikes. The billionaire owners holding a gun to taxpayers. The millionaire players whining about having to provide for their families. The behavign badly. The splintering of boxing and car racing into multiple series and associations ended whatever interest I had there. The ridiculous lengthening of games for commercials (NFL), preening/timeouts (baseball), scrums and timewasting (hockey until they cut that shit out). And on and on and on. Slowly, one by one, they dropped away until I was left with hockey and when hockey went away for a year, I turned to soccer and became interested enough in it to continue to follow it when hockey came back.

I'm a Spurs' fan. Now, compared to a lot of folks out there fan might be too strong a word. I follow them on Twitter when they are playing. I visit their website and a couple of sites about them a few times a week. I don't think I've seen them play once this year and when some guy named Scott Parker won their award for player of the month my first reaction was 'who's he?'. ;)

I've educated myself on that since. ;)

So I'm a casual fan lets say. Now they have had a nice run the last few years. They were in Champions' League last year and had a great run to the quarters but they fell short of qualifying for it again. They were done in by a stretch of ~ six games, if I recall it was January or so, when they had a patsy schedule like you would not believe, a half dozen games in a row against the dregs of the league. Should have been, even with the vagaries of luck thrown into it, at least 15 points from it.

I can't remember exactly but maybe they got six. Maybe. Out of a possible 18.

And that was their season. They had a couple of injuries at the time but every club always has a couple of injuries. They have a wonderful player Van De Vaert, who makes Hemsky look like Steve Larmer. Buddy plays a half a game, gets pulled after he tweaks something, doesn't play again for another three weeks. And their nominal captain, Ledley King, just a fantastic defender, plays a few times a year. Literally. Nothing left of his knees.

But it wasn't injuries, it was some bad luck (I watched them play Blackpool at Tyler Dellow's house, Blackpool must have cleared four or five balls from the goalline at least) and it was some poor play (also evident in the defending in that game) and in the end they got what they deserved.

This year they're in the second European competition and look to be on their way out early but in the Premier League they are running rampant. And what is important is that they are winning those games they should win. Every week. Sometimes they get a bit lucky but for the most part they are full value for it and so for now a return to the Champions League may be in the offing. Long way to go though. Still it has been a pleasant season.

----------------

For the Oilers this six game homestand looked like a chance to right the ship after a tough and lengthy road trip. When it started they were right there with the pack and things were looking good for them to make some hay, its not like they had a murderer's row of clubs coming in. And on top of everything they were getting (mostly) healthy at the right time.

And here we are five games in and they have a paltry three points to show for it. There have been blown leads galore. Dumb penalties. Shoddy goaltending. The first two games they could not score. The last two they could not defend. The team has been defended as 'tired' from their time on the road in November and the guys who have been carrying the team offensively (Ted, Smyth, Eberle) have indeed looked worn out and ineffective lately. And on top of that it looks like, based on decisions like the one where the fourth line faced Iggy in the third last Saturday, that Renney just got a memo that the club wants another lottery puck just to be sure.

The biggest worry is how Ryan Whitney looks like barely a shadow of himself. He looks slower than Sutton out there. Way slower. He's a disaster. Its too bad. It was assumed that his return would give the club two decent pairs to work with. Its not happening.

There are a few people saying 'wait a second something has to happen, this team is awesome' but of course they are not. There are also a few people saying 'this team is terrible and now we are seeing it' and I think these people are wrong too. They're not as good as they showed in October and not as bad as they look now but they are playing poorly and this stretch, while not one that we will look back as a defining one for this year's club, will probably be the one that costs them the playoffs if they right things and get back on track.

Questions Questions

2011-12-04T10:40:00.000-05:00

When you're a father you're expected to have all of the answers all of the time. About thirty times a day one of the two oldest come up to me and invariably, with a quizzical look, begin with a 'Daddy' that has little ????? built right into it. And this is without the third one getting in on the act yet.

Some of the questions require lengthy detailed answers like those about sex or the other day when the boy and I sat down for twenty minutes and talked about war of all things. Some I cannot answer and in these cases I refer them to their mother, their Poppy on his next visit or to our Great Father, the Interweb. Others are a little more straight forward - what is the capital of Belgium? Does that beer taste good? Why do you smell like marajauna? What type of wrestling were you and Mommy doing on the couch last night? Was that Greco-Roman style?

Its part and parcel of this Dad thing, the questions, and you know what, I have some of my own.

----------------

The Oilers are sliding a bit now and unlike many I'm remaining pretty calm about the whole thing. The team is coming along. Young players mean inconsistency and mind numbing mistakes and the nature of the game means that at times the team looks better than it is (earlier this year) and at times it looks worse than it is (these days). The club looks a bit tired and a bit full of themselves at times and of course they are still a bit thin everywhere. That's alright. They are young and they are getting better and if its a rebuild then we're going to take our lumps.

Here's the thing though. There are some questions that I would like answered and the problem is, as Vic Ferrari said many times, when it comes to the media Edmonton is Lawrence, Kansas. Lowe destroyed a good team through mismanagement - barely a peep. Tambellini brought in a veteran goalie because he thought the team was a winner, a terrible lack of judgement there, and yet when the rebuild is brought up, this is not mentioned. Oilers' management gets a free ride and I'm not even bringing up the absurd cheerleading for the new monorail led by the Edmonton Journal.

Someone (maybe Dennis King) said it best this week on Twitter, noting how many snarky comments Edmonton media have had for Penner since he left, far far more than any criticism of a management team responsible for the longest playoff drought in franchise history.

So do I expect any hard questions from the media? Not at all. Late last game Terry Jones remarked how Smyth's penalty had cost the Oilers the game. He received a barrage of questions then and snarkily replied that he was getting orders to ask questions and that he couldn't ask them under pressure of a deadline.

Now remember this is the guy who the Oilers had a ceremony for earlier this week. The same guy who also thsi week tried to paint the Pronger trade as Pronger for basically every good young player in the Oiler system right now. I almost expected him to include Messier and Kurri, circa 1981, in the deal. Later he said 'oh it was tongue in cheek'.

Right.

Here's the deal. If the big trump card for these guys is 'access' and they a)don't ask critical questions or b) let us in on anything that may be behind what we can see on the ice than what is their point?

I can go to the Journal or Sun and read a stale recap of the game. 'Then Gagner scored his first goal and he was happy' with the only opinions or analysis being backhanded slaps at players who will soon be out the door (watch for the hatchet job coming on Ales Hemsky) or unfettered praise for the geniuses who have run this club into the ground and lied (again) about the profits the team has made, even without a playoff date since 2006.

Or I can read Lowetide or Tyler Dellow or Ellen at Theory of Ice or others and get analysis of what is happening that is well written and critical. I wonder if people who run newspapers wonder why their business is dying? The answer is right there. I haven't bought a newspaper in years. I used to all the time. But when I go online and read Jones fellating Lowe or Allan Maki's error ridden analysis of the Oilers a few weeks ago in the Globe and Mail, I think, why would I spend a dime on this shit when I can get an article that is more informative, thought provoking and well written from 'some blogger in his basement'.

(As an aside does Feaster ever look like an ass. Hey Jay you dummy, you know where all of this Iginla talk has been coming from? Turn on the TV and go to TSN or Sportsnet. What an ass.)

Anywho, Terry Jones, maybe at the next scrum when you are not under pressure from your deadline, you can ask Tom Renney the following:

1/ Tom, almost immediately after Nugent Hopkins scored in the third period you had your fourth line out against the Iginla line and the result was the tying goal. What was your thought process there, considering this was a divisional game against your biggest rival? You're at home so you control the matchups. What happened there?

2/ Ryan Whitney is either still hurt, lacks confidence in his body or both. What is the story here? You said Ales Hemsky has to just get over the fact that he is still hurting. Are you taking the same tactic with Whitney even though he is just a shadow of himself right now?

3/ Why do you keep running Belanger out on the power play? Why not have Petry or Paajarvi out there?

4/ What is the story with Paajarvi? Why do him and Omark have to trim their sideburns while Hall, Eberle and Gagner have all had chances to play their way out of slumps? Theo Peckham too. Are the Oilers in the business of developing these guys or are some players more equal than others? For example why was Paajarvi given one game with 10 and 83 and then dropped? Why not give him a dozen games to see if we can get him going?

I'm not claiming to have the answers here folks but as a fan I would like to hear what Tom Renney has to say on these subjects and others. Unfortunately for me, as a fan, the guys who have access to Renney (and brag on it) won't ask the questions.

Very poor. Very very poor.

All I Ever Wanted

2011-11-30T11:55:00.001-05:00

As frequent visitors here know my Mom had a bit of a tough time last year. She came home about a year ago at this time after four months in the hospital and twice that of some pretty severe pain. Whatever it was (we actually don't know, imagine that) robbed her of her ability to walk but little else.

She's a tough bird and so she spent the past year getting her life back. She has gained enough strength that her doctor gave her the okay to start driving again. Dad suggested a trip to the mall parking lot after closing. Of course she hopped in her van and headed down main street. Stubborn. She's also back doing physio to try and get to walking again.

Pretty cool, eh?

And to top it off next spring she is going to Europe with friends on a Mediterranean cruise. Mental. But good for her. She has been pretty well everywhere in North America, including Alaska, as well as Hawaii and the Caribbean, so this is her first trip over there. At 78.

Ha.

So when the boy and I were up north closing the camp my old man and I were sitting in the evening with a couple of beer. The boy was under a mountain of blankets asleep and I asked Dad why he wasn't going on the trip.

Why would I want to do that? I have everything I want right here!

Now at this point the temperature was nearing 0 and the rain on the roof and swaying pines were singing a miserable song and we were sitting in the dark, only one sputtering propane lamp lighting the room. We had the door to the kitchen closed to keep in the heat and going out of the room meant a parka and a flashlight were necessary.

So basically, I thought, you need a roof over your head and you're happy.

Of course we did have beer. And chili.

-----------------

As an Oilers' fan at this point all we want is progress. We had some last year and so far this year we are seeing more of the same. Despite some injuries and some regression this team is better than last year's club. Ted and Eberle and Hall are all the real deal and Smid has become a man and Lander and Petry look like one day they will be as well. Gilbert has gone from being quality to the next level and the veterans Smyth, Jones (!) and Horcoff are getting it done. And in a bit of a surprise it should be noted that Teubert has hung in there okay as well.

Timing is everything and its tough for Omark and Hartikainen that they have come up lame when Hall has gone down but someone else (tonight its Gagner) is going to get their shot in the top six and hopefully some hay will be made.

The club has been inconsistent the last couple of weeks but that's what young clubs will do. As long as they keep it together and within shouting distance of the pack then this year is a success. After years of shit it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Of course we had better see this progress continue year after year.

But for now a roof over my head is just fine.

Five Bees For A Quarter We Used To Say

2011-11-25T13:35:00.000-05:00

A quarter of the way through the season and the Oilers look to be a club that may be in the playoff race this season despite injuries to Hemsky, Gagner and Whitney, a decimation of the D corps and a lack of production up front from anyone outside of the top six. The special teams are humming, the goaltending has ranged from good to great, Smid and Gilbert have been dreamy and they have become a very good home club. If they can put it together on the road (and for all of the angst there they are 4-6-1 away from Edmonton) and Whitney can actually stay healthy then this may very well be a playoff club.

Wow. Can't believe I said that.

A quick look at the club at the quarter pole:

A+

Ted - Nugent Hopkins is eighteen years old and is averaging over a point per game. He has been sheltered, sure, but really who gives a shit. Lets say it again. 18. Over a PPG. And on top of everything he can take the physical play, he can play in his own zone and he has fantastic instincts. Oh yeah, he can score too. A special player.

Ryan Smyth - its only right that the most popular player since the dynasty days has returned and its only right that he has had an astounding start. Never should have left. Just a tremendous story. Unlikely to keep up the pace but probably the club MVP at this point, except for one guy.

Tom Gilbert - and this is the guy. Crazy, right? He's had a tough game or two but Gilbert has anchored the top pair, given the club 25 minutes or so every night and contributed offence on top of everything. Playing with a bit of an edge this year. A guy who has always been rated as a top four guy, a full year like the first quarter will raise him to top pair status. Irreplaceable.

A

Jordan Eberle - a bit of a slump the first time out on the road and a bit of a slow start but he's in great form now. Twenty points. Future captain.

Shawn Horcoff - present captain is healthy and playing great, superb in circle and on PK, showing the kids how to get it done on the PP by going to the dirty areas. A minus one considering where he starts most shifts and who he plays against is tremendous. Healthy and playing with quality for first time in years. On pace for 20 plus goals, fifty plus points. Souray called him the most professional player he has ever played with, right? Great role model for the kids.

Ladi Smid - dmen development can be timed by sundial and here's the perfect example. No offence but neither did Jason Smith and that worked out quite well. Great on the PK. Big leap this year.

Nikolai Khabibulin - butt of jokes has cooled off a bit after his all world start but has been mostly good to excellent in all of his starts. Physical breakdown possible but until then he has pushed back. Always seems to play his best when job is at stake (see Chicago the last year of his last contract), when he gets comfortable he's awful

Ryan Jones - the smart set's whipping boy either has made a deal with the devil or he is damn lucky or he just has a great shooting %, period. Who the hell knows but he's doing it again. Five goals and four assists. More impressive is the fact that he has managed a tough minutes role and he has been a big part of an improved PK. A likeable goof of a guy, here's hoping he keeps it up.

B+

Taylor Hall - the golden boy from last season has struggled at times, pressing a little, trying to do too much. Still on pace for 25/60 which is good for a soph asked to carry a lot of the load. Here's guessing that he gains his comfort zone and tears it up. He had a slow start last season too.

Corey Potter - enormous surprise was tailing off a bit when he got hurt but had a tremendous start. If Whitney can stay healthy looks like a guy who can play top four minutes with him. Great find by the org.

B -

Devan Dubnyk - big man has stumbled a bit here and there but overall he has been good. A little more consistency would be nice, would be more reassuring to know he could carry the load of Khabibulin goes down.

Ales Hemsky - injured again (sigh) and ineffective at first when he returned, he looks to be starting to heat up again. A big key to this club's success, if he can stay healthy and gets rolling they suddenly have two lines that can score. When's the last time they've been able to say that?

Andy Sutton - big man is what he is, veteran D man, slow of foot, helps on the PK and clears the front of the net, has been the best of the three brought in to keep other clubs 'honest' although much better PP has probably been best deterrent to other clubs' thugs

Jeff Petry - coming on now after struggling early on, gets a shot with Whitney which should be great fit. No doubt that kid is going to be a big time player for this club imo.

C

Anton Lander - kid centre should be back in OKC one thinks but Renney keeps rolling him out there in different roles. Getting killed by most metrics but has been good on PK and does a lot of little things right. Decent start to career.

C -

Sam Gagner - injury and then returning from that injury and also playing the wing has made it a tough slog for Gagner who must look around and wonder where he fits. Would prefer him centring Paajarvi and Jones, perhaps, or Paajarvi and Omark when the latter returns. Seems to have a bit more jump lately. Sometimes wonder if he had a spot going forward with Ted and Lander, maybe tradebait but value right now is not great. Needs to get rolling.

Eric Belanger - has helped a lot, adds size, good D, faceoff acumen, PK, nicking him because of the nonexistent offence.

Lennart Petrell - Finnish rookie has been decent role player, helps PK, no offence though. Thoresen was better, ;)

D

Magnus Paajarvi - poor kid, I love him and a lot of this has to do with his linemates but having said that he hasn't helped himself, needs to play with more elan and confidence, chicken and egg thing though, I would bet that a few games with good linemates would get him going, fair play to him though his defensive game has not sagged

Linus Omark - the only one of the OKC brigade I have included in here, Renney doesn't like his sideburns I guess? I like Omark but he doesn't get as much rope as everyone else. Unfair? Yes but again, needed to do more when he was up. Would definitely like to see him get a chance to play with quality linemates for a while to see what they have here. I think he's a player.

F

Ben Eager - when you're brought in to create mayhem and you don't do it and you don't add anything offensively or defensively then you're failing. I blame it on the concussion, I don't think he's right yet.

Darcy Hordichuk - waste of a roster spot, the way Dallas ran roughshod earlier this week with him in the lineup belies the very reason they brought him in. No point

Cam Barker - I didn't mind the signing at all, a low cost gamble, and maybe he was hurting, hopefully that's why. Added little on the PP and is slower than Sutton. Impossible! as the French say. Only they say it like this: Impossibla! Silly French.

Incomplete

Ryan Whitney

Seriously buddy, stay healthy. A healthy Whitney probably means a playoff spot or at least forcing Tambellini's hand to shore up the D

A-

Tom Renney

I would like to see Renney figure out that bottom six and I don't like his handling of the two kid Swedes but he's line matched like a madman and the special teams have been grand. Good job. Man deserves a lot of credit.

B

Steve Tambellini

I liked his summer. He has been lucky. Nobody thought Ted would be this good, Smyth basically traded himself home and Khabibulin has risen from the dead but Belanger, Potter Petrell and Sutton have all added quality. Barker has been a miss but for a one year deal who cares? Cheap gambles are what good GMs do. Another legitimate top four Dman would have been great of course. Interesting to see what he does if club stays in the playoff race. Plus he has to deal with pending UFAs Hemsky, Smyth and Potter.

A

OKC Barons

Near the top of their league and have been a reliable shuttle for reinforcements. If there is one thing Tambellini deserves credit for its turning this part of the organization around.

Damn Lies

2011-11-22T16:30:00.001-05:00

Kids lie. They all do. If you think your kids don't lie you are either lying to yourself or you are in for a fun ride once they become teenagers. Plus you are dumb.

I was a born liar. Still am. Pathological almost. And the kids take after me. Although it is pretty funny listening to my wife sputter 'why do they lie?!' while glaring at me and then later that night over another bottle of wine laughing about how she used to pull the wool over her parents' eyes by covering up her breaking of their rules about sloth and drunkenness as a teenager.

LIAR!!!!

Now of course it sometimes works against them, as it did this morning when my eldest tried to wear a dress to school that I am pretty sure she's not allowed to wear to school. But Mommy lets me she wailed, along with lamentations about the unfairness of it all, to which I replied that she and her brother are lying liars who lie and as a result I really could not trust her on this point. Her brother smirked, because she was the one getting called on it this time.

Evidence from this weekend points to our youngest lapping the field in this particular talent however, perhaps even putting her old man to shame (and I've told some dandies in my days). The difference between her and us is her absolute shamelessness, coupled with a killer's lack of conscience and an incredible ability to think on her feet.

My inlaws are here to visit and on Sunday afternoon my mother in law came downstairs and found my youngest in her purse, rummaging about. She had applied some lipstick and eyeliner and was chewing a piece of gum that she had thieved, the little rat. My mother in law called her a rascal or a scallywag or some such, shooed her upstairs with a scolding and placed the purse where it could not be reached by dirty little hands.

Next time downstairs mother in law discovers our sweet baby (she is three) has pushed furniture over, climbed atop it and is standing there holding the pack of gum in her hand. Before she can say a thing, little miss K turns to her, smiles sweetly and says:

Oh there you are Nanny. I was just getting a piece of gum for you because I thought you'd like one.

Did I mention that she is three? Also that we are doomed.

-----------------

So the Oilers are halfway there anyhow. Great at home. Lousy on the road though, where Renney can't protect the kids and the team is too thin on the blueline to be any damn good. One wonders what Tambellini is going to do here. The club is good enough to be in the mix for the playoff race I think but not as presently constituted. They need Whitney to come back and they need to shore up that D with a trade. Rumours are Carle is available for a pick. If Philly isn't asking for a first do you make that move? A D that goes as follows - 5/77, 6/Carle, 25/58 with Potter also in the mix - is probably good enough to keep this team in the hunt and don't we want the kids to play some meaningful games?

Some other thoughts, mostly concerning damnable lies told by fans and others:

1/ Hordichuk and Eager have some value. Intangibles, right? Well anyone who saw the Stars run roughshod last night has to admit that Hordichuk is a waste of lineup space. Seriously, what is the point of his handful of minutes each night? Nobody is getting intimidated by this plug and Tom Renney thought so much of Ben Eager, the other ruffian, that he sat him. Might be sending a message to Eager or maybe he's still not over that concussion, Eager, that is, not Renney.

Seriously though the argument is always 'you never played the game' and 'they bring a lot to the table in terms of intangibles' - well they don't score or defend or hit or intimidate the other team or stop the other team from running the kids so ....

2/ Get rid of the useless vets!! They're useless. Well, there are so few on this team one can take a quick look around and see Smyth leading the team in scoring, Horcoff leading the team in icetime amongst forwards, taking the tough competition and tough zonestarts and Gilbert, well, what can one say about Tom Gilbert. Averaging five minutes more than anyone else on the club in icetime. Playing the toughs. On pace for forty points. And what, one bad game to show in twenty?

Back to Horcoff for a second. Nobody can get past the contract but I've never been able to understand why folks hate this guy. Andy Grabia was asking me how he could win an argument about Horcoff being a good player with someone who despised him. No advanced stats, Andy said.

Watch the game I said. Buddy starts in his own zone against the heaviest dudes the league has to offer, he is barely a minus, he's on pace for just under fifty points. What the hell else do you want? You don't like the fancy stats? Watch the fucking game then and if you don't see his value or the fact that because of the role he plays the kids get some shelter (and I love the kids don't get me wrong) then you. don't. know. hockey.

3/ This team is really really good. This team is really really bad.

Look here, this team is in between. They'll have their bad home games but for the most part they're a much improved club, at least at home. They need some help on the blue though. And they'll have their good road games but for the most part they're easy prey when they hit the road, especially against those big physical grinding clubs like Dallas and Phoenix. The depth is not there yet and the kids are too callow still.

Its going to take time but really other than the strangeness surrounding Paajarvi and the absolute collapse of Theo Peckham I don't have many complaints about this club and where they're at, which is further ahead than I figured. They just need Whitney to come back and stay healthy and for something, anything, from that third line.

And that's the truth.

LOL As The Kids Say

2011-11-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

Heading onto the ice last night for a little Capsule action I tweeted that the Oilers' game was going to be a bloodbath. Four defencemen out, Theo Peckham on the second pair, four games lost on a row, each one worse than the last, nobody scoring, best team in the league in town, pissed off after coming off of a loss.

Bloodbath, right?

After hauling myself out of a loss where I had my worst game of the year (note to self - two pints before the game, not a good idea) - I checked in on the Twitter and caught Woodguy wondering if the Oilers could hold the lead. I figured they were somehow up by one.

Bloodbath.

I watched the game on CBC replay last night after I came home loaded drunk and then watched it again this afternoon. Good way to watch the game, in and out in an hour, the less Weekes and Lee the better, right?

Best game for the Oilers since June 17th 2006. Crazy. One of those games where everything went well and it spun out of control for the Hawks early and then it was all over. Hockey is a funny game. I think it was 4-1 and Stallberg had a great chance and if he pots one who knows what happens? Maybe it just stems the tide for a moment or maybe its a whole new game? Its a strange game, hockey.

And last night was one of the strangest we've seen in a long time. The Leafs, seven regulars shy and starting the Monster, pound the Caps and Bruce Boudreau cannot be long for that job I would think. As for the Leafs, a big night, soem kids showing well and the biggest story of their year so far, Joffery Lupul, with another big game.

Lupul was an Oiler briefly and he was absolutely awful and to me a representative of so many of these young players we see today. He had pedigree and he could score and as a result he got paid even though he was soft and got killed by real NHL hockey players and could do none of the little things that win hockey games. He is Olesz and O'Sullivan and any number of players you might name and when he started getting hurt his career began to circle the drain until last year he was an honest to goodness salary dump and it looked like it was all over for him.

Now I don't watch enough Leafs' hockey to know if Lupul is playing any sort of tough minutes but even if he is not he is doing some damage and if his ceiling is soft minutes killer well a soft minutes killer is better than where he was at. I didn't like him as an Oiler but he could have taken his money and packed it in and instead he put it the work and its paying off and good for him.

Tom Gilbert continues to play very very well and last night he put up some crooked numbers and knocked Toews around a bit and one thinks that maybe, just maybe, folks may be coming around on Tom Gilbert and I would say its about time there. Now the Oilers just need Whitney to come back healthy (I did say lol right?) and Petry to keep trending up and, well, honestly another top four guy never hurt anyone right? If rumours of Carle being available for a pick are true it might be an idea for the Oilers to jump on that action.

Last night it all came together and the move of Gagner between Hall and Hemsky certainly makes some sense. Paajarvi remains the odd man out but one must think that he will get moved up to the Horcoff line as soon as the team drops one. Poor Paajarvi might be best served with some time in OKC for the confidence but playing him with Ben Eager and then wondering where his offence is (and no mistake he needs to do some things to help himself here) is like wondering why Cole didn't score when he played with Brodziak and Moreau.

No complaints though at this point. I think its going to be another tough week ahead but this win helps ease this tough stretch. This is definitely a different club at home and that's normal I think and some day they will be good enough to do damage on the road as well.

And Ted? Yeah he's fucking ridiculous. Just unreal. What a player.

Glory

2011-11-18T11:55:00.000-05:00

Had a fantastic weekend this weekend past in Pat McLean land.

Woke up to an email from my aunt out west. Have had a bit of stress lately as my old man's youngest brother had a major health scare. He's as fit as can be and so of course when you get the news its even more upsetting because it comes as a shock. So Saturday morning I woke up and found a message that proclaimed that all is well for now and so we were off to the best start to a Saturday that one could have.

It was gorgeous here in the centre of the universe and so we had the kids out and about in the sunshine. Raked leaves, made a pot of chili, took the boy to skating, watched the game Saturday night with my father in law and a few Neustadt 10W30s. Went to the LCBO and found some winter ales (perhaps my favourite beer) appearing. Had a big ham supper Sunday night with butterscotch pie for dessert after picking up my dad at the airport on his return from Alberta. Had a couple of beers on Saturday evening with a neighbour as our kids roared around us in the gathering dusk.

Oh it was oh so good.

Highlight of it all was Saturday afternoon when I hit the ice with good old Capsule. The vagaries of beer league hockey giveth and taketh away and so news that we were adding two quality players this season was immediately countered by one of them bailing and then two solid players from last year also taking a walk and then an old friend who is quality signing back on. So in other words in the end basically a wash.

So going into Saturday's game we were two and four with one of the losses coming to a club that got promoted soon after so kind of a mediocre start. Pretty typical Capsule in fact in a lot of ways. Losses where we carry the play but don't cash and then the opposition capitalizes on a breakdown were pretty standard last season and so far this season we had seen more of the same.

I myself have had a nice start this season. The legs are long gone but I can get from point a to point b fairly quickly and I'm about a hundred times as smart as I once was. I've played some centre, which I enjoy quite a bit, and when I play the wing I'm just up and down that side. My man on the other side has had a nice start as well (he is the prototypical winger, up and down his side of the rink, chip it in and out, has his man, goes to the net, we're talking steady, its great playing with him because you know what you get every time out.) and so we're chugging along if the team itself has struggled. Of course if I had my druthers the team would be winning a little more. Its good to be doing well but without the wins its all a bit hollow.

So Saturday we're playing a club which always gives us fits. This is our third or fourth year in the same division as them and we haven't beaten them once. Every game is the same. We carry the play, we pepper their goalie, the odd time we jump in front (one game two years back I scored on each of my first two shifts to give us a quick lead, unfortunately it was the worst lead in hockey) but in the end the result is the same. They have a couple of guys who are deadly in close and they are quality with the man advantage and we always get burned on a stretch pass at least once a game and so every time the score ends 4-2 or 3-1 or 3-2 and we are left shaking our heads.

Saturday afternoon it was more of the same, we're carrying the play pretty well and its late in the first period (we only play two long periods, why I have no idea. Its definitely hurt us through the years as we're totally a third period team, especially with our fantastic conditioning) and we get a shot from the point, low and hard and the winger is there to flip in the rebound over the fallen keeper and we're on our way, right?

Except our next shift one of their dman fires the perfect headman to their best player who has snuck behind everyone and now its tied and then our next shift what starts as a simple two on two ends up with a bad bounce and then their man manages a changeup which floats in with seconds left in the period and its a case of dejavualloveragain.

Shitty.

And so we spent the remainder of the game attacking and they tired but nothing was happening. Shots were blocked and passes into the slot were lost in a morass of men as they collapsed around their goalie. Our best player, a burly young RW, was kept to the outside whenever he charged into their zone and they were content to let us throw long shots at the net all day. We were looking at little time left and as we sat on the bench we talked about how we had to get pucks to the net and create traffic (big league or small time its all the same eh?). And so next shift I took a perfect pass on my offwing and walked into their zone as their D collapsed around the other winger driving the net. And then I saw my centreman, my pal, fan of Les Sabres, suddenly roaring in down the right side, making a beeline to the net. Now I've known Higgs for nearly twenty five years now (terrifying) and we've been playing shinny or organized hockey together on and off for just as long and as we joked afterwards about once every six months you see that chemistry rear her lovely red head and so I sent the puck at the net, low and hard and he and that puck met about a foot in front of the goalie and he tipped it perfectly into the top corner.

Oh it was a thing of beauty.

And then after they almost snuck in a shorthanded chance we were swarming their zone with under a minute left and the dman fired one up the boards and they had a jailbreak. Problem is our man on the boards knocked it down, stood his ground when the dman crashed into him and walked off of the boards, suddenly three on one from the hashmarks in, making no mistake and with under thirty seconds left he fired it in.

Glory!

-----------------

Glory all around for me but for the Oilers its turning into an awful awful run. The promise of early days bought and paid for has disappeared into the ether. The old adage says you win a couple near the end of a win streak that you shouldn't and so it was that in a five game stretch the Oilers won three they probably should not have - Caps, Avs and Habs, were full value for their win over the Kings and were beaten soundly by Phoenix. Since then its been four games of suck with things getting progressively worse. Its one thing to get slapped around by the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Red Wings and the Hawks, likely the best team in the league right now, all on the road, but when you come home and get buried by Ottawa then you're at a different level.

The list of things going wrong is a long and varied one. Everyone is slumping except for Ryan Smyth pretty well at this point. Gilbert and Smid are starting to sag under the workload, Khabibulin has fallen back to earth, the injuries on an already thin D are mounting and nobody is scoring.

Nobody.

The number of players slumping offensively is mind boggling. There is nothing happening for so many guys.

Paajarvi.

Gagner.

Hemsky.

Hall.

Belanger.

What can they do? Its about to get uglier one would think with Chicago coming to town.

(Funny to read stuff about the Hawks. The feeling is that they are doing HORRIBLY and yet with Bolland hobbled, Keith and Seabrook both missing games, a PP that was ranked 30th until very recently, they are at the top of the league. Plus they have ~ 7 million in cap space and all of their key players locked up for years to come. Woe is them.)

And then they hit the road again.

They need Ryan Whitney in the worst way, its become quite clear and of course they need to find a healthy version of him if they ever want to start becoming a legitimate threat.

And they need to figure out something up front. When EVERYONE is in a funk then you need to do some things. One suspects Omark and Hartikainen and maybe Cornet (or some collection of these guys) will be on their way soon, never mind the D probably on the way.

No panic, the team is not as bad as they look right now just as they are not as good as they looked early on. Stay the course (no goofy trades like this Gagner/Pitlick for Franson one I saw floated early this week. I mean, seriously?) and ride it out.

Because it is going to get worse before it gets better.

Time Stops For No One

2011-11-14T14:55:00.000-05:00

When it comes to music I'm an 80s guy pretty well. We had this discussion here sometime back and it was the venerable Lowetide who remarked that the music of your youth is always the music that stays with you most of all. Makes perfect sense of course. Unless music is your passion as you get older and the kids come along there's no longer time for smokey bars with up and coming bands or stadiums with thousands of screaming youngsters. I still love music but I haven't bought any in years and until I saw U2 this summer the last concert I saw was over eight years ago. And of course that was the Hip. The closest I get to the scene these days is when I pass Jim Cuddy in the halls at DeLasalle arena.

What can I say? In this as in most things I'm a Philistine.

Still love it though. Have gotten the kids into Van Morrison and I've got the YouTune playlist, about once a week I put on the headphones and run through it.

Last week I listened to some stuff from the Spoons and then a little Pursuit of Happiness and some Spirit of the West (Home For A Rest remains one of my alltime favourite songs - I am sure I will stroke out forty years in the future bouncing around to it at some wedding) and I did a little Google on some of the band members and lo and behold those cute girls with the big feathered hair don't look the same anymore. Now of course none of us do really and I'm not making any comment here that should be taken in a negative in any way. Its just that sudden shock of seeing someone who has always been frozen in time as a kid suddenly age twenty five years by the click of a mouse.

--------------------

Which makes Ryan Smyth's start such a wonderful story. He can't keep it up, he won't keep it up, all of those miles on his body, all of that battering, the ridiculous shooting percentage ... he can't keep it up, right?

So often the returning hero comes back, Wendel Clark did it twice, each time a little more dininished than the last. Doug Gilmour's own return didn't even last two shifts. Its a tough act to follow when you left town as an icon at the height of your success and then returned as an older man, beaten down by time.

And yet so far Smytty has defied all of the odds. While the kids have been up and down, as kids will be, and the team has struggled of late, Ryan Smyth comes to the rink with his thermos and brown bag lunch and punches the clock (hat tip to Twitter, sorry I cannot remember the person who tweeted that).

Its glorious.

Sorrow

2011-11-10T13:05:00.000-05:00

This is a snapshot of a project you can find here. Each poppy represents a Canadian from Toronto who died in World War Two. Tiny tree lined enclaves painted red. On Markham Street in the Annex two brothers at 745, one killed in 1942 in the air force. Two years later the second dying in Belgium with the poor bloody infantry. A few doors down towards Bloor another airman. Up towards Dupont two from a single address. Different names, half brothers perhaps? A rooming house? One gone down with his ship in early '45, the war winding down, Germany in ruins. The other killed liberating France with the Toronto Scottish.

A few streets away at 248 and 250 Albany, another airman and his neighbour, a rifleman, killed on June 6th, 1944.

If I go to eastern Toronto I find a home across the street from my own. Friends of ours once lived there. Long before they did so did a young man named Malcolm Bell, son of Malcolm and Elsie, shot down over Germany on November 3rd, 1943. I look at Roseheath, the street one west of my own. During the summer they close the street down and have a party, a band plays and the children play games and neighbours congregate for food and drinks. On Halloween we walked the length of the street, packed with trick o treaters, crazy colours and costumes, laughter and shouting children.

At the top of the street John O Halloran lived at 111. He was 28 years old when he died in Italy on May 30th 1944. Perhaps he left a wife and children? Perhaps he knew Norman Hunter from a few doors down at #83. They were in different units but how could they not have known each other, being neighbours. They are neighbours still, buried in the same cemetary at Cassino, Hunter falling nine days after O'Halloran.

Across the street at 84 lived Robert Sheckleton. He died along with seventeen shipmates when the corvette Levis was torpedoed in 1941 off of Greenland.

At 58 they received the news that Richard Carney, a 24 year old pilot, was killed on August 16th of 1943. Just three doors down at 52 just over a year later they learned that Raymond Boddy, a boy of 19, was killed in Belgium on September 15th.

And down a little further at #34, just about where the street ends, where we head west as we walk the kids to school, the ravine where we used to take the old dog to sniff and wander just behind the houses, lived young William Venton, who died in France on July 26th 1944.

Walk this street now, the neat duplexes and odd detached brick home, built in the mid twenties for the Irish and Scottish men who worked in the factories and brickyards and railcars just south of the neighbourhood. The pretty little yards and gardens. The street shadowed by the tall old trees. The young families that have flooded the neighbourhood.

It was a long time ago. One wonders about those years. Did the men whose sons had died in Europe gather at a pub on the Danforth, drinking and smoking, trying to obliterate the horror. Did the women bring meals to attempt to comfort their neighbours, weeping, heartbroken? What nightmares haunted their neighbours whose boys still lived somewhere over there?

What unbelievable sorrow must have clenched this quiet street all of those long years ago.

Putin's Request

2011-11-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

My Dearest Komrade Horcov,

How is this letter finding you? I am going out on limb and saying that you are well, perhaps even you have a gap toothed smile of satisfaction on battle scarred, broken nosed face. Even though smiling is not usually way in Motherland, unless many vodka have been consumed or small country trampled underfoot by glorious Red Army, I must say I do not blame you.

Things are well with you! I know because I read horrible newspapers from remote outpost where you play and like Great Patriotic War when we marched to Berlin, none are standing before you. Is it like that Komrade? Do you sometimes pretend when you go out on ice that you are in fact leading Russian soldiers into battle, sitting astride great while stallion, naked except for cold steel of pistol in your hand as you wave them forward to victory. Oh and also large fur hat of course.

I know now things are getting more difficult for you as you leave friendly confines of windswept Arctic nothingness and go on the road. Hopefully you will hit road rather than road hitting you as it does to anyone who dares cross into Motherland, hm. Ask Napolean or little Austrian with stupid little mustache how that went.

My friend I am happy for you but as you rampage through inferior Western professional hockey league please spare thought for your old friend Vlad for with me things are not so good.

I was born in wrong time my friend. I long for days when you could starve out peasantry or execute thousands at whim or send tanks into small nation for weekend sport. I fear that we are becoming more and more like West, fat and stupid and greasy from drinking sugary drinks and eating fried chicken made by illiterate white clad old man. And who was not Colonel!! Not even private I am thinking, certainly I would not have him in Red Army with his goofy outfit and Kentucky drawl. It is not like old times when fearless leader could find ancient pottery while on diving vacation and nobody would question it. Now everyone is in everyone's business and knows everything which is job for KGB, nobody else.

I am afraid it is not good times for me my old friend. I have barely left room in weeks since embarassing diving fiasco. Why I listed to stupid LaForge and agreed to stupid stunt is beyond me. I think I looked at this Katz fellow and saw how he corrupted local politicians and newspapers to take money from local peasants and give it to him, one of richest men in country. It is move worthy of glorious Stalin in its ballsiness. He is little man, this Katz, but if you dropped his pants you would find enormous stones, much like Russian boar rampaging through vast dark woods. So from that astounding thievery I thought I will hire this LaForge fellow to improve my relations with public. They do not fear me and I cannot massacre town like old days to inspire them to do so. So I figure I kill with kindness, impressing them with amazing feat and instead that bald headed dummy created for me a disaster. It will teach me to believe snake oil salesmen and worst of all I cannot have him shot in forest.

Oh woe is me Komrade. I am hiding in dark room with nothing but case of vodka, sitting naked on poorly made chair made poorly by Swedish company that will remain nameless. If this were old days Stockholm would be nothing but ash and I would be sitting on throne of skulls while Swedish amazon licked my bumhole but instead I sit here with sore ass and no licking. I believe I actually have open wounds from sitting here so long but I do not care. Let them ooze. I have done nothing but drink for weeks now, I am like bugeyed maniac actor Cage in that movie where he goes to Vegas and jumps out of plane with skydiving Elvises. You know one where he drinks self to death, slurping whiskey as it slides down beautiful white full breasts of sister of Melrose Place guy? Or is it horsefaced wife of Ferris Beuller. No it cannot be her, she has no breasts on horrifyingly haggard frame.

It is of no matter. I am almost there Komrade. So sad am I that even thinking of perky sunkissed nipples I am unable to even get stirring of massive cock. It lays there sadly despite my feeble attempts to arouse. Indeed it shrinks away from my touch, which is ironic because so did Mrs Putin on wedding night when she was first confronted with its enormous magnificence. It is reminding me of poem Death of My Cock by long haired bloated weirdo singer of hippy band the Doors. Did he not also drink himself to death?

I am sorry Komrade. You deserve better friend than what I am providing. I should be cheery for you with great beginning to new season but then again who knew that Komrade Nikolai could still perform like he did in old days before he became like Cold War era tank, rusted and useless. And then this Potter fellow, he is big surprise, like Lenin coming in train to turn great Revolution on ear. And this baby faced one, he is like twelve year old boy. I am certain he will enjoy road trip very much though, especially visit to Montreal. I am hoping veterans will take him to bars with best puck bunnies who will show him ropes. LOL as the decadent western children say, those French girls will break him in two. Perhaps make sure Eager goes along to protect him. He has to be good for something, yes?

I am very happy for you Komrade. For you it must be good times for certain with old friend with bad hair and monotone cliched interviews to stand by your side once again. The two of you is like turning back clock, playing other team's best players and doing so with success, it is like 2006 with Jones playing role of Todd Harvey except without the awful mustache that reminds me of child molester in old neighbourhood before we sent him to Siberia. Or did we just shoot him? Or was that Todd Harvey? I cannot remember, I am so addled with vodka.

So it is good times for you with fast start and gaptoothed smiles all around and bad times for me and so I am asking favour comrade to help me get it together. I am thinking I will come for visit. I will stay with you, yes? Just for few days I promise until I get bearings. It should not take long in little town in middle of nowhere. I will get to know places where I can eat and drink like Westerner. Perhaps I will even eat wonderfully named Poutine - as they say, when in Rome Komrade, even though idea of heartclogging fried potatoes with meat fat and cheese on it is telling me all that is wrong with fat disgusting westerners. Why not just inject air bubble directly into heart and save time, eh? Notice how I use cutesly little Canadian idiom? Eh? Ha, suddenly my spirits are lifting, even as I write this. Yes Komrade this is what I will do, I will come for visit. Tell your lovely wife Olga not to worry, I will only stay in guest room for less than week, I am sure you have room in vast mansion you must have built with millions of dollars drug oligarch has given you. Once I have found my way and met your friends I am sure they will taken with me and I will be able to find roomie. I am thinking perhaps long haired Tom Gilbert with pretty face. I would bet he gets all of the pussy and I am thinking I might get some of that.

Letting me know please and thank you.

Your pal,

Vlad.

Not A Gambler By Nature

2011-11-02T15:15:00.001-04:00

Other than heavy drinking and the anonymous sex when I was a young man I've never been much of a risk taker. I have a fairly strong sense of self preservation and based on the fact that I have sperm of steel I have been apparently hardwired to try and go forth and multiply.

I don't like flying. I don't like high speeds. Roller coasters? Forget it. You'd never catch me jumping off of a bridge tied to a big rubber band or jumping out of an airplane or any of that type of shit. Never mind that I might end up in pieces on the ground, I'm also concerned that the old ticker might explode in my chest. Same reason I avoid cocaine.

I'm all for enjoying life, I just don't get off on thrills and spills. I like your general pleasures that life affords - eating, drinking, fucking, the beauty of the outdoors, having a family and friends - that's just the way I'm built.

Here's the thing. I found out this summer that even the most mundane of pursuits have become fraught for me. I blame it on my kids.

We were at a cottage outside of Lindsay with good friends. Terrific spot they have. We lucked out with great weather this year and that weekend was no different. One afternoon we figured we'd head out on the boat for some tubing. There were three Dads and four kids, my oldest didn't want any part of it but the boy figured he'd come along. Once we got out there though he was quite content to observe as everyone took turns heading out on the big three man tube we were hauling about at a relatively slow speed.

I asked the boy if he wanted to go out and he said no. A while later I asked him again, telling him that I would go with him and he said no thank you. He was quite content to sit on the boat and watch. We were just about to head back so I asked him one last time and apparently he had screwed his courage up and he said yes.

We clambered out of the boat and onto the tube along with one of the other kids. Now when I was in PEI that summer where I was once again a young lion I had a pal who had a boat and we used to hit the harbour a few times a week and generally we'd haul out the tube and go for a spin. I'm not a big dude although I am exceptionally wiry and my buddies would get a kick because Trev would gun it and whip me around the harbour like a rag doll. I'd hit those waves and next thing you know I'd be flying, literally. It was a riot. Great fun. Also very painful at times.

What I'm saying, because it needs to be said, is I'm no baby.

And the reason this needs to be said is as we sat in the tube, myself and my boy, I was suddenly gripped by total panic. Before we began I told him that if he was scared he just had to let me know and I'd give the signal.

Well we got going and we're going at a reasonable clip but really its not that fast and I sneak a peek at him and he's having the time of his life. Me, I'm shitting my pants. Should we stop, I shout, and he turns to me, laughing, and says FASTER FASTER.

All the while I'm praying for it to end.

Why? Well its the boy being with me, that's all it could be, the thought that something might happen while we're out there. Only when the other lad with us raised his hand to stop did I breathe a sigh of relief at which point my son wanted to go again. I climbed out, replaced by another, and watched from the boat as he took another ride.

----------------

When it comes to gambles that's a pretty low level one, which makes my terror all the more amusing, well at least for you, you bastards.

Steve Tambellini has made some nice low cost gambles since June and so far these have been paying off nicely.

- Corey Potter was signed for a song and has been, so far, a top four defenceman for the Oilers

- Lennart Petrell was also signed for nothing and has emerged as a nice role player

- Ryan Smyth basically traded himself to the Oilers and he has added to the PK, the PP and to Tom Renney's ability to match lines by giving Horcoff a winger who can help him with the toughs

- by giving Eric Belanger some term, satisfying his desire for a little bit of stability, Tambellini added a big centreman who can PK, be low event and win a lot fo draws. The offence has not come yet but it most certainly will

Throw in the emergence of Ted and the rebound of Khabibulin and the fantastic play of Gilbert and Smid and the Oilers have had a nice start despite Whitney and Hemsky being hurt, the bottom six forwards having not contributed a goal yet and Ted Peckman (a different Ted) falling off the face of the earth.

And now, well now it gets difficult. I'm not talking about this road trip which will probably bring these guys back to earth somewhat. I think its clear that we have something happening here and that this year may be the start of something good.

I'm talking about the fact that the next ten months or so are going to determine if this place is going to get wrecked, maybe not by the winds of change and the weeds of sex, but still the possibility is there for a mess to be made.

This is going to take some smarts and there are going to be calculated risks taken. Does our man have what it takes? I feel better about Tambo now than I did six months ago but I really don't know if he does or not. Here is what he needs to figure out:

- what about Ales? Does he sign him? My guess is Ales would sign if he's given the right offer. The question is what is that offer and how much term and cash do you gamble on a guy who cannot stay healthy at all? Anything at all? A healthy Ales Hemsky makes this team that much more dangerous and either makes the Horcoff line an absolute killer or makes Belanger and Paajarvi a lot more dangerous. You have to keep your good players, right? Right? We always say that here. But what about the good player who only plays forty or fifty games a year? Damnit!

- do you sign Smyth for a year or two? A no brainer really. He wants to be here and he adds so much. Let him go and suddenly that vaunted depth up front is a lot thinner.

- Sam Gagner? When Hemsky comes back one thinks Jones will slide back down the depth chart, right? But what about Sam's future? You have two kid centres now plus the two vets and while its nice to have so much depth up the middle that you can move 89 to the wing, does it mean that you also move him out the door? I think we may be seeing the near future now, meaning Hemsky and Omark will be gone and they'll run Eberle, Jones and Gagner on RW until Hartikainen is ready. Then Gagner will get moved too.

- and there is Linus Omark. A lot of gnashing of teeth about Omark. I think the guy is a player and myself I would like to see him slot in beside Horcoff. Lets see what we have in the guy, right? I can see the logic behind the move though. Its a winning lineup and its better to have him play than sit in the pressbox. The problem for the Oilers and for Linus is that they are suddenly flush with forwards. He needs someone to get hurt basically. And to stay hurt.

Here's the thing about the Oilers this year. They suddenly have depth, especially up front. Here's the problem. That depth can evaporate pretty quickly if the situation is not correctly handled. You want to use the depth up front to add a top four Dman I think, especially with Whitney being such a mess. Plus its doubtful that Khabibulin can keep it up and even if he does he won't be around when things really matter. But if they move Omark or Gagner (or both) and then let Hemsky and Smyth walk suddenly that lineup is a lot less impressive.

Its a tightrope. Lets see if Tambo can figure it out. If he makes the right bets then this team is going to be set for a while. If he blows it then its possibly back to the wilderness and he'll be unemployed.

Looking Good

2011-10-29T23:20:00.000-04:00

Ten games in and the Oilers are first in the conference and sitting at 6-2-2. A fantastic start and except for the last two games its been bought and paid for. Of course 4-4-2 is a lot different animal than 6-2-2 but then again early on the Oilers had a couple of games where they outchanced the opposition and didn't get the two points so I'm not going to pick nits here. Is this the best team in the conference? No of course not. Are they a playoff team? Unlikely. They've banked a lot of points at home but they are about to hit the road and my guess is they will find it tougher sledding there. Are they better than everyone figured them for? Yes. I figured them to be ~ 25th or so and I had a lot of people say I was mental even for that. A lot of folks have them pegged for last overall, again.

I was trying to find a post I remembered writing this summer where I was trying to figure out how this club could perform. I finally found it

Here's the key passage:

I think the Oilers will likely be in the lottery next year if they are done with their moves. Too many issues from the blueline on back. Now having said that nothing is a sure thing. Nobody saw the Devils in the lottery last summer and two years ago nobody saw the Avs in the playoffs. Teams will collapse and the Oilers may rise above those clubs and because its sport and luck plays a role you never ever know what can happen. But for the Oilers to be a competitive club this season, for them to make the leap they will need, well, everything to go right.

They will need Dubnyk to become a very good goaltender or for Khabibulin to turn back the clock.

They will need Sutton to turn the clock back two years and for two or more of Petry, Peckham and Smid to take a big leap forward. Gagner too.

They will need Whitney and Horcoff and Hemsky to stay healthy. And pretty well anyone else of value.

They will have to fix the special teams especially the PK because they will likely be in the box a lot.

They need Hall and Eberle and Omark and Paajarvi to improve on their nice starts to their careers. No going sideways. No backsliding. Improvement across the board.

They will need a couple of other kids to step up. Maybe Lander.

They will need some luck on top of all that.

Is it possible? Of course. Anything is. Its unlikely, very unlikely really, but its possible.

Now we're looking at a small sample size here but lets look st these one by one:

They will need Dubnyk to become a very good goaltender or for Khabibulin to turn back the clock.

Probably the story so far. Both goalies have been excellent. Khabibulin shuts the door on Washington on Thursday night. One night later Dubnyk stops forty. Anything you can do I can do better.

They will need Sutton to turn the clock back two years and for two or more of Petry, Peckham and Smid to take a big leap forward. Gagner too.

Sutton has been better than expected. Smid has been wonderful. Petry has been in OKC, Peckham in the pressbox and Gagner has just gotten back from his injury.

They will need Whitney and Horcoff and Hemsky to stay healthy. And pretty well anyone else of value.

lol, well Horcoff has been healthy so far.

They will have to fix the special teams especially the PK because they will likely be in the box a lot.

PK has been outstanding. Rolling three pairs of forwards who know what they are doing, very good goaltending and some pretty good work from the D. Its been night and day compared to last year. And the PP has been better, a lot of puck and player movement, none of this standing around shit. Special teams won the day against the Caps. Last year they were brutal.

They need Hall and Eberle and Omark and Paajarvi to improve on their nice starts to their careers. No going sideways. No backsliding. Improvement across the board.

Hall and Eberle have been very good. Paajarvi has struggled offensively and Omark is in the pressbox.

They will need a couple of other kids to step up. Maybe Lander.

Lander has been a reasonable fourth line option, chipping in on the PK. Petrell and Potter aren't kids per se, but both have contributed, especially Potter. Of course the big story here is Ted, who has been terrific, at least at home. The next few weeks will be a test or the kid but his play has sparked the PP and allowed Renney to play Horcoff and Belanger in tougher minute roles. Huge help.

They will need some luck on top of all that.

Shots for and against were pretty well even until the last two games and then they faced one of the best teams in the league and then the Avs in the second night of a back to back. So I'm not too concerned about where they are at. Again, do I think they are a playoff club? I don't think so but we'll have a lot better handle on how good they are in a ocuple of weeks after this tough road trip.

Its funny though eh? Look at that list above. This is what I figured they needed to be respectable and the reality is a lot of what I felt they needed has not come to pass. Omark and Paajarvi have stalled. Whitney, Hemsky and Gagner have all been hurt. Petry and Peckham have done nothing. Of course Potter has come from nowhere, Smyth and Horcoff (and yes Jones) have been doing the heavy lifting and doing it well and Belanger has added to this club as well. Not to mention Gilbert's excellence.

I guess if you're a glass half full type of guy you look at this team and see Whitney and Hemsky coming back and a bunch of guys yet to get untracked and the reality is they could still get better. Sure the goaltending is not going to be all world and there are going to be some tough nights ahead but I would say they are better than any of us figured them to be. They still need a Dman or two, imo, or at least they need Whitney to come back and stay healthy and Potter to keep it up somehow.

But ten games in things are good. Its been fun and for the most part its been bought and paid for, not smoke and mirrors. So lets enjoy it, yeah?

painfull To Bow! painfulltobow!

2011-10-27T15:25:00.001-04:00

If you're on the twitter you need to check out @oldmansearch - I suspect its a put on but it looks suspiciously like what my old man's search history would look like if he ever took to Google so who knows. Regardless of whether its truth or not its certainly funny shit. Some examples:

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weather forecast for indianapolis tonight

squirrel poison

re-using stamps

cat traps

what is a pride parade for? Indianapolis

gyms with no teenagers? indianapolis

cream cheese jewish

mother in french? m something something e
------------------

My old man, like this old man, is also obsessed, at least mildly so, with the weather, killing varmints (anything smaller than a medium sized dog has to go - the other night he referred to raccoons as creatures that threaten humanity) and saving money. Apparently these traits know no borders.

Like Moe Berg sang once, I'm an adult know. My back aches and my knees hurt and I find myself waking up before the crack of crow's piss (that's before dawn for all of you non Islanders out there). We did family pictures on Sunday and I was constantly stuffing all of this newly arrived hair up my nose and back into my ears.

Hmmm.

As I get older I wonder what will amaze me when my time comes. My Dad talks about computers like they are witchcraft and every one of the three emails he has ever sent me begins and ends with the line "I'm sure you won't get this" but I'm not far behind him when it comes to being astounded by it all. We figured by now we'd have flying cars but the fact that we can use these little handheld devices to do almost anything blows that idea away any day I think. Just the other day I was back and forth with a guy from Stockholm who was pub crawling through Dublin on recommendations I wrote in a post from a while ago. He went to Davy Byrne's and Neary's as we chatted and he gave me Toner's and The Hairy Lemon as two new possibilities for my next time in that wonderful old town.

Crazy if you think about it. All of that just like that across the width of the world.

So who knows what is coming around the corner. I'm sure fifty years from now my grandson will be doing something so far beyond our understanding and laughing with his buddies about how his grandfather was using the flux capacitor to pleasure himself.

Dirty old man.

------------

Change is scary but change is good or at least so far it has been for the Oilers. Its so damn early (although its fun to see panic in the streets of other cities) although those clubs off to good starts certainly shouldn't complain. Bylasma and his injury riddled Pens run rampant without Crosby and Malkin and Orpik (and now Michalek) and the Caps are blowing everyone out (and we get them tonight hoo boy). The Avs and Stars are making the pundits look dumb and Chicago looks like they're getting the bounces they did not get last year while Marian Hossa shows, once again, that when healthy he may be their best player.

Its early but none of those clubs are complaining about the points they are racking up or how they are getting them nor should the Edmonton Oilers who have had a nice start and one that has some nice underlying numbers. Tom Renney is coaching again, after a year off, and the addition of Smyth and Belanger and Petrell and even young Lander and Eager has given him options aplenty. Horcoff is healthy so far and suddenly the PK is humming and they are winning faceoffs and he can send the kids out for those offensive zone draws and protect them from the other teams' big guns if he wants to.

Its going to get tougher, and soon, as they are going to hit the road but I would submit that this club looks to be better than we expected. Here are some reasons why:

1/ Depth up front. Hemsky is out but they can still send out three reasonable lines and when is the last time we could say that? Omark sits in the pressbox and Gagner is playing the wing and what happens when Ales comes back? Someone else drops in the lineup and possibly Lander or Petrell gets sent down. This club has more up front than at anytime since 2006/2007. And unlike that club there are some up and coming stars up front.

2/ Guys up front who can play different roles. Smyth and Belanger and Petrell and Lander can PK. Belanger can win draws. Even the kids - Paajarvi and Lander - have pro experience and can play in their own end.

3/ Ted is the real thing. He'll take his lumps on the road but the kid is a player. That allows Renney to let the kids run together and send Horcoff and Belanger out to handle tougher roles.

4/ Sifting for coal. I bust Tambellini's chops as much as most but he needs some credit here. I liked his summer for the most part but that was even without considering Petrell and Potter. Good management teams find guys like these guys. Low cost, low rish, great return on both so far. Good work especially with Potter who is playing a bigger role than anybody would expect.

5/ Defence. This was supposed to be an issue but so far even without Whitney they are hanging in there and doing far better than we ever thought. Tom Gilbert has been tremendous and Ladi Smid may have finally arrived. Sutton has been solid, immovable even (!) on the third pair. Peckham has been disappointing but he will bounce back (he says adoringly). They still need to shore this position up with a top four guy but its not so much of a gong show so far.

6/ Khabibulin and Dubnyk. Both have been very good. Not sure how long Khabibulin will keep it up but he's been great.

I suspect that they take a beating tonight. Caps are flying. Even so its been a nice start. Now, can they stay healthy and can they sustain it, especially once they go on the road?

We will see soon.

Three Day Blow

2011-10-24T14:00:00.000-04:00

I am a pretty big Hemingway fan. The Sun Also Rises is one of my favourite novels but more than anything I enjoy his short stories. He was a master of the art form. One of these stories is Three Day Blow. Its pretty typical Hemingway. Two young men drink a bottle of whiskey as the beginning of a storm rages outside. They talk about ball and fishing and whiskey and girls. Its great stuff.

Last week the boy and I ventured up north to help my old man close the family camp. (In Northern Ontario we call cottages camps.) September and October have been ridiculous in our household. Three birthdays fall over just over three weeks plus we are winding up summer activities and starting fall activities and school. And Jenn was finishing up her training and then running her second half marathon. She killed it by the way, cutting ten minutes off of her time from her first one, which she ran five years ago.

So when I told Dad we'd come up and give him a hand little did I realize that our window to get this done would be a three day one. That's all once everything was taken into account. What a life, eh? And nearer the end of October than the beginning. Still the weather looked good, highs of fifteen and sunny in the forecast just a few days beforehand. A true Indian summer.

But then just a day or two before the forecast abruptly changed to cold and rainy, as Gord Downie would say 'outside its cold and shitty', my Dad apparently thought about calling and telling us not to bother. We would have come anyhow. He'll be eighty next year and while he would not admit it, its probably best for him to have company when he heads into the woods.

My old man would fit in well in one of those old Hemingway stories. He'd be perfectly happy heading into the bush with a sleeping bag, a fishing rod, a knife, some apples and a bunch of onion sandwiches. Nothing better to him than being in the middle of nowhere.

The boy and I rose at 6:30am and a half hour later we were on the road with our one small bag and his lifejacket. A lot different than when we're taking three girls along. Then its like preparing to assault the Atlantic Wall and free Europe from the Nazis for all of the planning and gear. ;)

We made great time and so it was not long that we were loading the 14 foot for the trip across the lake. The boy hauled gear from the truck to the dock without a complaint and then we bundled him up and started across into the drizzle and cold wind. Reminded me of when I was a boy. We made that trip rain or shine every weekend, usually Friday nights right after Dad got home from work.

We got to camp and unloaded the boat and started the wood stove. I've talked about camp a number of times. There's no electricity and no running water (although they've rigged a pump and a water tank so there is water at the kitchen sink. Beats hauling buckets up the hill) and no toilet. Your heating is a wood stove and your lights, stove and fridge are on a propane tank. As I worked to get feeling back into my fingers the boy says to me:

When are we going to get to work? We're here to work.

So apparently laziness skips a generation or the boy is a Calvinist. We headed down the hill and my old man asks me if I want a beer and I say apparently happy hour has been postponed, nodding to the little guy, and so we get to it.

We put the canoe in the shed and put away the outdoor furniture and took apart the gazebo. We cut up an enormous poplar that the beavers got last winter and tacked old stovepipe around another that was their next target and we split wood and stacked wood and hauled wood through the woods. We emptied the water tank and towed the floating dock to the leeward side of an island so that the ice would not take it away and we winterized the 9.9 and put it away. It was difficult work in a lot of cases with two adults and my old man said a few times that it was a lot easier than when he was there alone.

Holy shit I could not even imagine.

It rained incessantly and the temperature dropped to just above freezing and at night we huddled under a pile of old blankets which kept us nice and warm until morning when we had to face the fact that the fire had gone out.

We ate sausages and eggs and stew and soup and chili and ham sandwiches. Once we called each day we sat in the dim light cast by the propane lamp and had a few beers and talked while the boy sat and listened or fired a ball into a little hockey net or read or amused himself in other ways. And after he was off to bed we talked into the night until we hauled our tired bodies to bed and my old man remarked on the makeup of his grandson and how he worked right beside us, not complaining, and how he wished he could see him when he was a man.

And that little aside, thrown into the conversation, was a poignant moment for me. Its been a grand decade for me, marriage and a house and travelling and three wonderful children but I lay awake later and realized that this coming decade will probably see me laying both of my parents into the ground.

Oh man that's tough. And I thought to myself that I should try and enjoy these moments as best I can but the fact is I could not have enjoyed them anymore than I did.

It was a fine time.

------------------

This season has seen a nice start for the Oilers. I think its surpassed all of our expectations. In nearly every game they have outchanced their opposition or they have been in the ballpark. The biggest surprise has been the goals against but the club has been full value in limiting scoring chances. The goaltending has been good. Tom Gilbert has been outstanding and Ladi Smid seems to have settled in as his partner quite nicely. Ryan Whitney's return from injury and Potter's emergence have added a little more calm on the blue and Andy Sutton has been better than expected. The result is a lot fewer fire drills in our own end.

Adding to the success has been the addition of Belanger and Smyth. Belanger has been fantastic on the dot and Horcoff has done better without having to handle every draw of importance. Smyth and Horcoff have handled the toughs along with Ryan Jones (!) and they ate Richards and Gaborik's lunch on Saturday. With Belanger and Smyth Renney is finally coaching, matching lines and giving the appropriate players the appropriate zonestarts.

The end result has been a far tighter defensive ship.

And of course the PK has been wonderful.

Health has a lot to do with it too with only Hemsky and Hordichuk out now. Up front there is serious depth for the first time in years. We suspected this might be the case but its playing itself out so much so that Gagner finds himself on the wing and Omark in the pressbox and while you may not agree with these moves its not like either is completely ridiculous based on results so far. And when Hemsky comes back the fight for lineup spots is going to get even tighter and when is the last time that the Oilers could say that?

Now we all know that Khabibulin is not going to be up where he is right now forever but its also true that sooner or later the percentages up front are going to start working too and they are going to begin to start to score some goals.

And things could still go sour especially if some key guys go down.

And the next twelve months is going to see a lot of key decisions - Hemsky, Smyth, Omark, adding to the D. Wrong moves could set it all back.

But you know what? There is a bit of blue sky shining through that gloom. And that is not too hard to take.

Cats and Dogs

2011-10-18T13:15:00.002-04:00

Have been a dog guy since day one. I can't remember anyone having a cat when I was a kid. Most of my friends and all of our family were campers and when you go camping you best have a dog. You certainly can't take a cat into the woods with you for three weeks. In our neighbourhood now there are pussies galore, in most Toronto neighbourhoods actually, but in Sudbury with its wide avenues and pickup trucks and brutal cold winters people didn't have outdoor cats. Plus folks don't like seeing them outside because they get at the baby birds. Seriously. My Dad would have shot any cat he saw snooping around the robins who nested every year outside of our house.

So I didn't know cats forever and that was fine by me and then I met the Girl from Rawlins Cross. She had a big furry cat that was about as dumb as you can get. We're talking brain smaller than a pea, so dumb that if it could spell it would spell dumb without the 'b'.

And of course the fucker loved me. Loved me. The feeling was not mutual.

One of the reasons it loved me so is that it was an early riser and when I was staying over, which was often, it could rely on my attention whilst my girl slumbered on, oblivious to the meowing of her mentally handicapped ward. We'd close the door to the bedroom to no effect, it would butt its head against it until I reacted in some way, which was usually to replenish the bowl she emptied overnight.

So up I would get and feed the cat and back to bed I would go and after a number of months the Girl from Rawlins Cross remarked that the cat was looking good, not so fat I mean. Now at this point we might have figured something out because the cat wasn't exercising or anything. It was an indoor cat and I swear the most exercise it ever got was banging its head into the door (and of course this might explain its stupidity, brain damage and all) but somehow we figured that it was doing laps when we were out or some damn thing. Maybe it had a membership at a feline gym or something, who knows what we were thinking.

And now she continued to lose weight and the Girl from Rawlins Cross began to worry. Perhaps this was cancer or cat AIDs or some such thing. And as the cat wasted away before our eyes she made plans to take it to the vet.

Until one day she happened to catch me feeding the cat. How come you're only putting that much into her dish, she said.

One cup it says, I said, brandishing the little cup I used to scoop the chicken flavoured cereal from the bag. (I always wonder why the big fellow didn't take out one of the kids for the taste of good red meat. I mean seriously, chicken flavoured cheerios for the descendant of an animal that kills deer and elk. Good god.)

One CUP, she said, brandishing a measuring cup, which held three of the scoops at the very least.

Hm.

---------------

Like pie is to cake for me, so to are dogs to cats. I can't say I mind our little one too much but its all rather pointless. I had a boon companion. Now I have, well, nothing is too harsh because she is an affectionate little thing and about as good a cat as one could have I guess. But she is mercurial and prone to hissing and swatting at the kids and at those times I think I probably could punt her over that house across the street no problem. My old guy wouldn't even dream of looking sideways at the kids, even when he was riddled with cancer if the baby came a calling he smiled nad put up with her abuse.

Plus the cat has a habit of getting up around six am and coming looking for me or one of the kids. Must be related to that other fool somehow. Maybe I'll start cutting back on her meals as well, until lethargy and weakness prevent her from climbing to the second floor.

Not cool. The cat I mean.

------------

Saturday night we had a gathering of Oiler fans here in Toronto (Oiler fans plus E. from The Theory of Ice) and a grand time was had by all despite the result. And as we watched the game there was a bit of a sense of disbelief. We looked at each other in wonder and as the game wore on the general consensus was that this team is a better team than many of the recent incarnations of Edmonton hockey clubs, certainly better than the motley crew from the past two years. There were some pretty cynical dudes amongst us, this wasn't a bunch of fanboys, but there were some smiles even with the result. Something may be happening as long as Tambellini and Lowe don't fuck it all up.

Its early, its oh so early, but despite Whitney and Gagner not playing a game and Hemsky only playing just over one, this club has outchanced their opposition in three games so far. For the most part the defensive zone fire drills have been few and far between. Renney has been linematching which has helped a ton. Last night the kids did not get a defensive zone faceoff all night, that heavy lifting went to Horcoff, Smyth and Jones.

Horcoff and Belanger are winning faceoffs. The powerplay has featured players and pucks moving and chances being created. The penalty kill has been very good.

Tom Gilbert has been fantastic and Ladislav Smid has been good, especially on the PK. Potter has been a find and Sutton has been better than expected. If Whitney comes back and stays healthy and can carry a pairing, perhaps with Petry, then the blue may be ok as long as Smid keeps it up.

The goaltending has been good, if not great, but in a lot of cases their workload has been minimal, which I think nobody saw coming.

And the kids have been good. At times they have been very good. Ted has been better than expected, especially in the defensive side of thing. And of course the hattrick, which Tyler especially enjoyed. ;)

I joked with Little Fury on Saturday that Ted was going to break ground on the new arena on Sunday morning, just for something to do, and that he would have it completed within a week, at no cost to the taxpayers. Kid does it all.

Its weird shit to see. Its a completely different animal than last year. And suddenly with the return of Smyth this club has become a lot easier to cheer for too.

Its nice to enjoy Oilers' hockey for a change.

The Girl On The Stairs

2011-10-15T13:50:00.000-04:00

When we were in senior year of high school our weekends generally went as follows. Fridays were THE night out. By Tuesday or Wednesday the plans were made. We might go to a one of the rare dances at our school or our sister school or at one of the many ethnic halls (we had a buddy who ran a dance almost weekly at wherever he could book - Croatian, Polish, Serbian). During hockey season we'd go watch our team pulverize their opposition - they were OFSAA bronze medallists four years running, including our senior year - and then head to the afterparty. Or we would go to a house party at one of the gang's. When we went to the ethnic halls it was our own small group, about a half dozen of us, in other cases there was a wider group of twenty five to thirty guys or more, plus the same number of girls from our sister school plus a handful of folks from other schools. And each week we'd get some fellows come in from the outlying towns or some others who we would see every few weeks, drifting in and out of our circle.

Saturday nights we'd usually get together, maybe with a few beers, watch the hockey game, play some cards. Sometimes that would be the night but other nights the phone would ring (this was long before cell phones) and someone on the other end would say that something might be happening and then we might make a couple of calls and we'd wait a while and if we were in luck the phone owuld ring again and one of the guys or girls would have their house for the night or there might be another party that popped up somewhere, perhaps someone we might not even know, and so we'd make a couple more calls and it usually meant that the guy who ran the Friday parties would come on over, he was ready to go after a Friday night of working. His name was Bruno and he had a big van and the look of a grown man and so he'd come and pick us up and we'd go and he'd buy beer or rye or whatever our poison was that night and then we'd go careening through the snowpacked streets until we found our destination.

We'd pile out of the van and into the place and we'd find our crew, usually in the kitchen, and you'd crack a beer and wander around and if you ever saw Dazed and Confused, the pool hall scene, well that's how I remember it. You'd go for a walk in the smoke and beer smell of the place, nodding at some, shaking hands with others, Sudbury's a big small town and so you knew everyone or at least knew their faces enough to say hello.

I was just a regular little dude back then, not so lucky with the ladies but I was pretty well liked I think. I was a bit of Joe OffWhite even then but then again a lot of teenagers are. We had a lot of good times, we'd drink a lot and smoke some and there was usually a joint or two passed around.

(One of the guys always was smoking up. One time we were sitting in a sauna (not on mind you) getting high and he told us that the reason his folks had sent him to our school (it was a Catholic private all boys) was to keep him away from the drugs at Sudbury Sec. We had a good laugh about that because a) we smoked a lot and b) he invariably ended up passing out in a closet or under a bed or somewhere else private a couple of hours into any night we were out. Buddy is a wildly successful businessman last I heard.)

There were two girls who we used to see about once a month or two. They were from Secondary and they didn't really travel in our circles but as I said, smalltown, so we'd see them now and then. Both were gorgeous, tall and blonde, and they cultivated a bored above it all look. I remember coming back from University my first year for Thanksgiving and of course someone organized a gettogether and so we all met at one of the guy's houses (iirc it was one of the fellows who stayed in town) and had a few beers and compared notes on our first six weeks away from home. It was the usual crew and it was a good time and amongst the crowd were these two girls, I can still remember them, why I don't know, they were both sitting on the stairs coming down into the basement, long legged in jeans, both barefoot, hair teased out in that eighties style, both looking as bored as can be.

I don't think I even ever said hello to them. Out of my league.

------------

So its a few years later now and I'm at a party in Toronto and all of a sudden one of my buddies who is from North Bay (we Northerners stick together) comes over with a buddy from his hometown who goes to York and with him is a girl who goes to York and its one of the girls from the stairs. And I'm a bit older and a lot more confident and probably somewhat drunk and so we strike up a conversation and I have her laughing and next thing you know she is asking me if I want to go out sometime.

Um, yeah!

We're talking the highschool dream realized here.

And so we go out and you know what?

That was it.

I never called her again.

Apparently that blank face wasn't haughty boredom. It was just that there was nobody home, like when they show what Homer is thinking and its nothing but Meowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeow.

Its like a girl we know back on the Island. She is beautiful and smart and funny but as an exboyfriend said she may be perfect on paper but she's a mental case.

Perfect on paper.

-----------------

I love Ales Hemsky. Love him. He's not a perfect player but nobody is. On a team that has been both bad and boring for years now he has been neither. He is brilliant. He is tough. He is the one player on the Oilers right now who can win a game singlehandedly and along with Tom Gilbert and Ryan Whitney he is the only guy in his prime on a team full of kids.

I was against trading Dustin Penner. I have always been against trading Ales Hemsky as long as his new deal isn't ridiculous. A healthy Ales Hemsky will bring futures, again. A contending team isn't going to trade a top four dman for him. If they trade him they will be a weaker team. Guaranteed.

Keep your good players I have always said. Keep them. You can never have too many good players, however many sexy kids are in the pipeline. Ales Hemsky is a very good player and he is the type of player who can contribute to a championship team in a meaningful way.

And Ales Hemsky has injury issues, specifically his shoulders. In the first game of the season and the first period of the second game, he was the best Oiler, the guy who stirred the drink, who led a dynamic first line that was running roughshod over the opposition.

Before the end of the first period of that second game he had to leave because of shoulder pain. He has not been on the ice since.

There was no big hit, no crash into the boards, no crazy torquing of his skinny frame by Robin Reghyr. The tipping point may have been a crossice pass.

It may be nothing, it may just be a little precaution until they see what happens with the MRI, in fact it may just be residual soreness and the club is being careful for once. He may miss tonight and be back out for their next game.

Or he may be done for an extensive period of time.

And if that is the case then can they really sign the guy? I doubt that he could get a longterm deal anywhere so perhaps a one year deal might work, its not like the Oilers have cap issues anyhow.

But really if this is it, if he's going to be gone for months then the truth of the matter is they can't really afford to give him money or term and that breaks my heart. He's a wonderful wonderful player. Here's hoping that its a bump in the road and he plays eighty one games this seaosn and they sign him forever and a day.

But sadly likely not the case.

East

2011-10-13T22:00:00.001-04:00

Here is my son in a picture taken when the Oilers were last in the playoffs. Today he is six.

Happy birthday son.

Nice work Oilers.

---------------------

An interesting first week so far. Everything in the first few weeks is so overblown it makes for some good times. Slow starts (we're talking a couple of losses) lead to panic and calls for bloodletting in the Haymarket. Scott Howson is about to be fired, Alain Vigneault should be called on the carpet and what about those Flames??

Of course the exact opposite reaction, the one that says points now don't matter as much as in the spring, is almost as foolish. Best to get as many points as you can now really. The Avs rode a hot start to the playoffs a few years back.

A few quick thoughts:

I liked the Oilers' win on Sunday. They outchanced a good Penguins' club. The PK was excellent. A lot of good things went on. Rumours have Whitney returning next week. If he can stay healthy this will be a better club. Of course Hemsky has already gone down. Dog giveth and Dog taketh away.

Its early but I am pretty sure based on returns so far that plenty of teams are poorer than Edmonton. The Sens, the Jets, the BJs - all look to be pretty sad. And there are more.

Watched a bit of the Flyers' game last night. I thought this was a club that would take a step back with the trades they made but Voracek has had a nice start and how about Couturier being out there with minutes left taking the draw to start the PK? As a raw rookie. Against the Sedins. When's the last time that happened?

Are the Flames as bad as they have looked? That little rush they made after New Year's last year may have just postponed the inevitable. I don't think they are that bad but I sure don't think they're much good.

Now a look at the Wales:

Contenders

Boston

No team has repeated since the late nineties although the Wings would have if they had not had Lidstrom Datsyuk and Hossa hobbled in 2009. I doubt the Bruins will do it but they are a damn good team. Unlike most recent Cup champions (except Detroit) they have loss little personnel, they are deep at every position and one would guess that Marchand and Seguin may take some big strides (Seguin played over 20 minutes last night). Do I think they can repeat? No but just because its hard to do, they are still in the mix.

Pens

Dan Bylsma may be the best coach in the league. I really rate him. Last year the Penguins were excellent despite losing Crosby, Malkin and Staal for extensive periods of time. As usual the stars are surrounded by a great cast of professionals, guys like Kunitz and Dupuis, good solid players. If Crosby and Malkin come back and stay healthy I would take the Pens over anyone in the east.

Caps

Caps are in Sharks and Sens territory now, a great club that hasn't won a damn thing yet. Some would look at their playoff failures and say 'just bad breaks' but at some point the window closes whatever the cause. I like the Caps and I like Boudreau and Ovechkin but I also think the club takes a lot of its personality from those two and (here's my theory) they're a bit hyper. I like my bench bosses and my star players to exude some calm. May be part of the growing process, may (most likely) be bullshit on my part. ;) Like the Sharks and the Canucks though the regular season is just a prelude for this club.

The next tier:

Les Sabres

Buffalo may deserve to be part of the top group but I think they may be a year or two away, just waiting on their latest crowd of youngsters to emerge. I liked their pickups this past summer and I think the guy who may be a lot better than we think is Leino. Buddy can play, remember how he did with the Flyers two springs ago? He'll see more minutes with the Sabres too.

Philly

Not sure about the Flyers yet. They are one team that has a ton of depth up front but dumping Richards and Carter? Wow. The bounty they received looks good but the problem is so many key guys here are aging they need these new kids to grow up quickly or once they are ready they will need to replace Pronger, Briere and Timmonen. Early returns are good, especially for Voracek and Couturier.

Tampa

I loved the work Yzerman did in Tampa last year. Like Boston, like Pittsburgh, Tampa's lineup is loaded with quality veterans now and that makes a big difference. Low cost, low risk moves and they ended up a goal away from the Cup Final. Well done.

Playoff teams:

Habs

I didn't like Jack Martin when he had the Sens, I think he had the horses but held them back with his conservative style. With the Habs though I think he is a good fit. He's got a terrific goalie and some solid steady Dmen and a couple of guys who can score and so they are a team that can win some games 2-1 and 3-2. Adding Cole and having Pacioretty return will help.

Chiefs

I like the work Burke has done. Of course so much depends on Reimer here but the GM has added quality guys at every position year by year until a guy like Aulie, who showed well last season, got sent down this fall. The Grabovski/Kulemin/MacArthur line is fabulous and if Connolly can get healthy he will help as well. Throw in Lombardi and Armstrong and suddenly the forwards look decent, not top top drawer but not bad. And the blue has improved as well. Not a bad club at all I think.

Bubble:

Rangers

Something about New York I don't like, not sure what it is but I see them on the outside looking in. Missing Staal for any period of time will really hurt. Not sure why and if anyone falters they'll get in there but something about them just doesn't do it for me.

Joisey

Again, not a big fan of this club. No explanation really, maybe its just because they're Jersey.

The dregs:

Isles

Team on the rise, I think we'll see them move up the ladder this year. Don't think they are good enough or deep enough to challenge for a playoff spot but next year. Love how Snow fills his roster out every year.

Canes

Meh, they have a few nice players but I think Paul Maurice gets canned this seaosn. Again.

Florida

Weirdest off season spending spree ever and really? If you wanted to fill out your roster and get to the salary floor you could have done better than to go out and give a bunch of plugs long term deals. Christ, go out and give clubs cap relief by picking up their one year and two year deals. Like Khabibulin for example. Relentless in their mediocrity.

J.E.T.S.

This team is bad. I think they are worse than the Oilers.

Sens

This team is awful and their two best players are injury prone. First pick overall.

Speeds asked me a few days ago who I figured would finish behind the Oilers - I figure the Avs, BJs, Sens and Jets and then somebody will have enough injuries or bad luck to get the Oil out of the lottery.

Big year!! Big steps!!

A Prediction Sure To Provoke Scorn

2011-10-09T15:20:00.000-04:00

Predictions are a mug's game but here I go. Looking back I'm usually on the money out west when it comes to predicting which teams make the playoffs, if not the exact order. I've nailed seven out of eight each of the last two years. Out east I'm far less successful generally, although last year I got six, an improvement over the four of the previous year. Of course I picked Ottawa to make it last year so .... here goes nothing.

Campbells

Like most years I think there are a handful of clubs that are shoo-ins, those clubs so good and so deep that they can survive injuries and slumps easily. This year I think there are three teams that are Cup contenders imo.

Vancouver

The Canucks remain the best team in the conference imo. They said goodbye to Ehrloff and Torres but they will have Higgins and Lapierre for a full year and have Edler and Tanev rising on the blue. Raymond is out longterm but Kesler apparently is only out for a couple of more weeks. The plus for Vancouver? Their division is so poor that they probably will win the Conference beating up the patsies they get to play six games each. Still a really unlikeable group and in reality nothing matters until the playoffs for them.

Sharks

Lots of folks picking San Jose to come out of the west, same as its been for nearly a decade. Again a bit of a bleah division, expect them to pick up a lot of points playing weak sisters Phoenix and Dallas. Havlat is an upgrade over A-Rod Heatley and Burns and White will aid the blue but like the Canucks its all about the playoffs for these guys. If Couture becomes as good as he looks to become then this is a different club and Handzus gives them another element.

Chicago

Hawks were best eighth place team in history last year, they had a terrific goal differential and if Patrick Sharpo had scored in G7 OT who knows how far they would have gone. They never recovered from the combination of winning the Cup the previous spring as well as the ravages wrought upon them by the cap that summer when they lost over a third of their roster. The Turco experiment was a failure and Duncan Keith looked a shadow of himself and they never got untracked. Crawford is the number one guy from day one this year and I'd expect bouncebacks from Keith and others. The bounty from all of those trades from 2010 is still a year or two away but even without those kids the Hawks have a ton of talent, especially at the top end. They're bigger too which should help and having Frolik for the whole year will be big.

After the big three I think you're looking at three teams that should make the playoffs easily but are likely pretenders.

LA

The KIngs haven't done a damn thing yet and they may be a step beneath the top three but on paper they are impressive. Very strong up the middle and nice top two lines, a deep blue with all types of quality, good young goaltending. Looking at their roster the one question I would have is their bottom six forwards, they haven't the depth of the clubs ahead of them imo. Should easily make the playoffs though.

Wings

Time is running out on the Wings. Ian White is a solid player, though no Rafalski, but the problem for Detroit is the same problem we all have. Time marches on. Hard to say Niklas Lidstrom is in decline when he just won another Norris but he is slipping a bit. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Stuart, Franzen, Bertuzzi, Cleary - all are on the wrong side of thirty and with age comes injuries. Wings are still an excellent team but I think this year is the year the slide begins.

Nashville

An interesting year for the Preds, one might say a definitive year for the franchise, with key players Renne, Suter and Weber all nearing unrestricted free agency. Nobody does more with less than Poile and Trotz and I think they will make the playoffs pretty easily this year. The problem for them is trying to keep these players. If they do then they might actually take the next step. Without them and they become like the turn of the century Oilers, another little team that could that ended up being a farm club for the big boys.

After the top six its really iffy. The Western Conference is not what it once was. Former powers (or at least perennial playoff clubs) Dallas, Anaheim, Colorado and Calgary have all aged or bled talent while young up and coming teams like the Blues and BJs and Coyotes have never arrived or may never will. (Caution Oilers' fans.)

The level of talent on all of these clubs is so thin that I believe that a rash of injuries similar to what the Oilers had last season (and the season before that and the season before that) could easily send any of them into the elevator shaft. Scratch that ... these teams are so thin that even one or two injuries to key personnel could send them into a tailspin.

For the last two playoff spots I'm going to go with the following, just because I have to pick someone, right?

Ducks

The Ducks are thin but their top level of talent is so good - Perry, Getzlaf, Ryan, Lubo, Selanne - plus I believe in Carlyle. I didn't think they would make it last year, they proved me wrong. I think they sneak in again this year.

Dallas

I really really want to pick the Stars for the basement but I look at what they have up front and think they have enough to pull out an eighth place finish. I'm not sold on their D or their goaltending but they have enough good forwards to get them through. (Although if Lehtonen or Robidas go down then they're truly fucked.

Blues

St Louis seems to be a hot pick when it comes to young clubs taking that next step. I'm not so in love with them plus they are in the toughest division out west. If Halak has a very good year then they'll be in the mix I guess, certainly Arnott and Langenbrunner will help.

The also rans in this conference are many. Seriously I could see any of these clubs finishing last. We'll go with this order but I could see this sussing out almost any way you can think of.

Calgary Falmes

Next year they will be bottom of the conference unless Feaster can pull a rabbit out of a hat or some kids come out of nowhere. Iggy is aging, Kiprusoff is slipping, the once solid D is almost as thin as the Oilers and up front they have the makings of a nice lineup, if it were six or seven years ago. Jokinen, Stajan, Hagman, the list of guys who add nothing goes on and on. They still have solid quality in Bourque, Glencross and Moss but the remaining forwards are aging or terrible. If Giordano or Bouwmeester (or both) go down, they'll sink like a stone. I may have them ranked too high at tenth but I don't like any of the other clubs here either.

Wild

Minnesota has always been so blah and now with the addition of Heatley they are unlikeable as well. Mediocre, anonymous, they are the poster club for a league with too many teams. Koivu makes a huge difference for them, otherwise they're going nowhere.

Phoenix

THis may be too high but I have a lot of faith in Dave Tippett. That goaltending though ... if they still had Bryzgalov they'd probably be a playoff team again but losing him plus guys like Belanger, Fiddler and even Special Ed is probably enough to sink them.

Your Edmonton Oilers

Folks ask me who I could pick the Oilers above and here's how I look at it. Their GD was abysmal last year but for a couple of months they were essentially an AHL club. Could injuries happen again? Sure but they are deeper than in years past and at some point the freaky run of guys getting hurt has to stop. With Whitney out the D is awful but it looks like he may be back soon and if he and Gilbert can play the majority of the season I think they can do well enough to lift the club out of the basement. I think the PK is going to be better and I think the goaltending is as well. They're still a couple of top four Dmen short but I think Whitney can shepherd Petry well enough that they can keep their heads above water.

And looking at the rest of the conference I see teams as thin or thinner than Edmonton. A couple of injuries and they'll fall right past them. Maybe even if they stay healthy.

BJS

They added Carter but this club is bad. Like a lot of these clubs they're pretty well a one line team, their D is mediocre and their goaltending iffy. Howson will be unemployed a year from now.

Avs

And so will Greg Sherman. The Avs are poor all around from their goaltending out. They have a couple of nice players in Duchesne and Stastny but they're pretty rotten. And they don't even have their number one pick anymore. Oops!

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So that's it. I'll look at the Wales in the next day or two. Of course injuries will play a huge role this year as in every year and its hard to say what teams will emerge and which will fail (who figured on the Devils last year). Its a mug's game as I said.

But yes I do figure on the Oilers to jump four or five spots in the overall standings. They could totally finish last overall again but I think they are close in talent to a few teams now and a combination of them being better and a few teams falling apart pushes them up and out of the lottery.

Questions and Answers

2011-10-06T14:02:00.004-04:00

A number of people who still live in their mom's basements, including our own Tyler Dellow, whose Mom yells at us a lot when we get cheezie dust all over her good chesterfield, participated in a Q and A with the Post. Although I am a dashingly handsome man and an excellent lover I am also lazy so I have copied their questions and here are my own answers:

1. Which player would you build a franchise around?

Even with the concussion I'd go with Crosby - I think he will be back and he will be okay and last year before he got hurt he had so completely separated himself from the rest of the league that its no contest.

2. Who would be the first pick in your fantasy draft this year (and where would you take Sidney Crosby)?

Fantasy? Emma Stone. Love those redheads. Fantasy hockey? I'm 43, I have no idea what that is.

3. What player do you expect the biggest bounce-back season from?

Duncan Keith. Buddy was worn out to start last season and never got his groove back alternately doing too little and trying to do too much. With a long summer I expect him back in form.

4. Who do you expect the biggest growth from?

I'll say Jordan Eberle, he had a good rookie season, I have a feeling he really makes a huge leap. Or maybe JF Jacques. Its bound to happen.

5. What prospect/rookie are you most excited about watching this year?

Pretty well any young Oiler player for obvious reasons but most of all Ted, if he becomes a star then the Oilers will be looking fantastic in the years to come.

6. What off-season addition will have the biggest impact for his new team?

I'd have to say Mike Richards, he give the Kings great depth up the middle.

7. Who will win the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer (and with how many points)?

A Sedin, lets say Pierre-Jacques because they look the same to me and what does it matter? 120 points because they play four patsies six times each.

8. Who will win the James Norris Trophy as the top defenceman?

Keith in a big rebound year for him and his club.

9. Who will win the Brendan Shanahan Award for most games suspended?

Either Matt Cooke who cannot help himself and will pay in full for all of his sins the first time he steps over the line or some poor no name goon who blatantly headshots a star player and gets executed in the market square.

10. Who is the most overpaid player in the league?

Has to be Wade Redden, he's not even playing in the NHL and he's pulling down immense coin. If we're talking about guys still in the NHL it has to be Gomez. He's a shadow of his former self.

11. Who is the most underpaid?

Frans Nielsen, tremendous player.

12. Which team will have the biggest improvement this year?

The Devils.

13. Which team will have the biggest dropoff?

I'm tempted to say Phoenix except I believe in Dave Tippett so lets go with the Flames. Sooner or later they are going to drop off of the cliff and I look at their lineup and see a team that is getting thinner everywhere. With Kiprusoff sliding and Iginla aging I think this may be the year it falls apart.

14. Which coach would you like behind your bench?

Seeing as my team is the Edmonton Oilers I want Joel Quenneville, he has done a great job with a young Chicago team and was solid in his previous stop in St. Louis as well.

15. Which general manager would you like building your roster?

I like Chiarelli from Boston because he built the majority of that roster through trades and FA. The Oilers have a ton of kid forwards and prospects but need an astute eye to start moving up the ladder by bringing in pieces to augment the kids. He's the guy.

16. Which coach or GM is the most likely to be fired before the season ends?

Who is Colorado's coach? Sacco? I think he takes the fall early if they struggle (and they will). I think the GM screwed up with that trade and he will lose HIS job over it before the Capitals select in the lottery next summer.

17. How many Canadian teams do you expect to make the playoffs?

Vancouver, Montreal and I do think Toronto will make it this year.

18. Which Canadian team is in for the longest year?

Calgary. I think that Edmonton and Ottawa fans are resigned that their clubs will be poor so if they are then so it goes and if they do better than expected its gravy. Calgary, on the other hand, has been pretty solid for nearly a decade but are about to slide. I think most Flames' fans are going to be shocked as to how bad the club is.

19. Who will pick first in next year’s draft?

Hard to say because injuries always play a part. I'm going with Washington just because that would be almost Scott Niedermeyer/Tom Kurvers funny.

20. Who will win the Stanley Cup?

Chicago is going to rebound and win their second in three years. My Dad will be a happy little old guy and hopefully my wife and I will again have drunken couch sex whilst a toothless Duncan Keith mumbles and slurs in the background. Some memories never fade.

Num Me Vexo?

2011-10-05T18:40:00.003-04:00

Two weeks from today the boy and I are heading north for three days to help my old man close up the camp. I haven't done this in years, maybe since I was a kid, but Dad is getting up there and needs the extra hands.

Should be an interesting trip, nothing like northern Ontario in the fall, the colours are brilliant, the days are crisp and lovely, the nights ... well the nights are going to be cold and of course we're talking a wood stove so heat will be intermittent, dependent on one of us getting up and feeding the fire.

I'm interested to see how the boy handles it. He's excited and intrigued and my old man is over the moon. Not sure how long that will last when he starts to complain about stacking wood and fetching th etwo old guys another beer.

Thing is its going to be hard work. We have to haul up the boats and stow away the canoe and tables and chairs. The floating dock has to come out, Dad went with a flaoting dock because every few years he'd come up in the spring to find that the ice had carried away portions of the dock. He'd build another (I helped him do this once, you want to talk about a bastard of a job) and then a few years later it would be gone as well.

The biggest job is disposing of a poplar that the beavers took down sometime last winter. It was a massive tree, probably a hundred and fifty years old or more. So we're turning that sucker into firewood. Of course I have the typical hands of your twentyfirst century urban Canadian, I don't put lotion on them or anything but they're softer than Lupul, by the end of the three days they'll likely be hamburger.

Jenn is a little nervous about the idea of the boy being up there, he'll have just turned six, never mind that my old man is pushing eighty. What happens if something happens, she says, and you can see the wheels turning. I shrug and say that we will be careful (we will) and that if something happens we will deal with it.

This is the McLean way and it makes her mental. We're not dopes, its not like we do things like you see in those annual lists that people use to point out that natural selection exists but we like our good times and part of our good times include removing ourselves from civilization and any possibility of prompt medical care. And if something happens, such as the time lightning struck and the camp caught on fire, true story I will tell you some day, then we figure it out In that case Mom and Dad ran up and down the hill, naked (it was the middle of the night), and hauled up buckets of water until they put it out. They then had a beer at which point we realized the neighbour's camp was also on fire, this one too big to put out so Mom took us next door to our other neighbour and then returned with the men from there and Dad took the boat across the lake in a huge thunderstorm to get the fire pump and rouse folks from other camps. They ended up saving the camp althought the damage was immense.

So shit can happen, hell I could get hit by a bus or drop dead of a heart attack tomorrow, and our attitude is to be careful (of course) but you can't live in fear or what the hell could you ever do?

If we had a family crest it would be a couple in a boat on a lonesome lake in the background, maybe a moose and a wolf with a fish jumping over them, the moose would have a paddle, the wolf a hockey stick, a bottle of wine and a case of beer and the family motto underneath:

Num Me Vexo?

It would be a bit busy but very apropos.

------------------

I think Steve Tambellini must be related to me somehow, my goodness you look at this roster and the fact that its been five years out of the playoffs and two straight last place finishes and you have to wonder, why man, why? You know you have only two top four guys, one with a chronic injury. You have a bunch of great kids up front and some dandy prospects coming on D who are going to take a while. So the D is not going to be fixed anytime soon.

Why would you not shore things up a bit? The Thin Blue Line indeed, even before Smid and Chorney and Fedun were hurt (and lets face facts the latter two weren't going to help the big club, at least this year, maybe never). I can just see my Dad having a beer with Steve saying 'we'll play it by ear' and 'it will work itself out', two of his favourite sayings (mine too) and Steve nodding with that vacant grin.

Its tough being an Oilers' fan, patience, patience right? I understand it and really at this point unless they were to add two top four guys this club wasn't going anywhere near the playoffs anyhow. Take your lumps, get another high pick, see what Lander and Hartikainen and Omark have and then next year winnow out some of the forwards for the D you need and you should be on your way as long as you make the right choices.

This has to be the plan, it certainly cannot be the case that they look at this D corps and goaltending and figure its enough, right?

Has to be although then again until last year this club was a cap team for four seasons that management expected to compete so maybe the disconnect between reality and what management has actually assembled is really a chasm. Which is terrifying.

And with rumours (and they are just rumours) that Lowe is coming back at some point in the next couple of years one wonders if Tambellini might want to actually worry a bit and maybe, maybe, try and get things moving along or his career as general manager is going to make John Ferguson Jr. look like Sam Pollack.

The thought of Lowe coming back actually sickens me a bit. He is the guy who got us into this mess and I keep thinking Bob Pulford all over again. Pulford was Bill Wirtz's righthand man for thirty years and in those thirty years the most success the club had was when he was least involved in the early nineties. Despite the franchise falling to pieces Wirtz stayed loyal to his man. When Dollar Bill died one of the first things his son did was cut Pulford loose.

Three seasons later Chicago won their first Cup since 1961.

Not a coincidence, friends, not a coincidence.

What does Pulford have to do with Lowe? Well Lowe's years as GM did not exactly bring much glory except for 2006 and even then the season almost died on the vine for the obvious want of a goalie. And his moves after June 19th 2006 bordered on the unfathomable.

If the rumours are true and Lowe returns then we are in for a long dark winter imo because it means the owner is tied to this guy despite the evidence.

And that worries me.

They are rumours though. Lets hope that they remain nothing more than that.

I Like Plaid

2011-10-02T23:00:00.000-04:00

So today the Oilers made their final cuts until the injury situation susses itself out.

Going to OKC - Keller, Green, O'Marra, Brule all have to clear waivers and likely will. Hartikainen also gets sent out.

With Smid apparently out a month there are presently a half dozen healthy D:

Tom Gilbert - apparently will play 45 minutes a night or perhaps, like Brad McCrimmon did in the Memorial Cup Final, perhaps he will just play the entire game. No wonder he's a little cantankerous these days.

Andy Sutton - as big as a house and about as mobile, he may be the second best defenceman on the club right now. Which is terrifying.

Theo Peckham - love the way Theo plays but I think he's a bottom pairing guy right now and maybe for always

Jeff Petry - a guy who looked to be on the bubble early in camp he got better as it wore on, ideally he would be paired with Whitney I think, he's going to have his tough moments but a vet would help him immensely

Cam Barker - he looked pretty poor in preseason and likely he is going to be a top four guy by default, I didn't mind the signing, its only money, but I also thought he probably wasn't going to pan out. He's definitely going to get his chance though.

Corey Potter - veteran tweener hasn't looked too bad, with all of the injuries he may stick around for a while

So to fill the seventh spot there are four options. Whitney may be ready. I think he may be making progress as most reports are that he may be good for opening night. He can't be far away if they are saying that I would guess. Chorney tweaked his knee. He may be the seventh if he's okay to go and even if both he and Whitney are ready he may stick at Potter's expense. The other two options - picking up a quality guy via trade (next summer I expect this) or picking up filler on the waiver wire.

We knew the blue was the problem with this club. If Whitney is ready then he and Gilbert may be able to make things work (I've liked Gilbert's preseason) with whatever partners get sent their way. But then again maybe not. Too thin in any case.

-------------------------

Injuries also playing a part up front with Eager and Gagner out. Presently there are thirteen forwards ready to go. I would think that Eager may be ready for opening day although that's nothing but a hunch.

Horcov - the dirty Russian looks a little quicker. Really really hope he stays healthy and has a very good year.

Belanger - great signing, he will help

Ted - the kid is going to get his nine games and probably will be up for the season, imo. Sometimes he looks like a kid and sometimes he shows flashes of what he may be. I think he may have an impact on the PP immediately. Did about as much as he could in preseason.

Lander - a bit of a surprise in that I figured they might keep the plug O'Marra in his place so he could get the big minutes in OKC. When Gagner comes back he will get sent down but he'll be back and likely may take Gagner's job within the year, Sam will be the bait for that Dman they need. Struggled at times and was very very good at others. Another keeper.

Hall - no worries here

Paajarvi - he looks more confident and I like seeing him on the PK

Smyth - great to have him back

Hordichuk - his presence didn't deter Duco from going after Hall in the preseason, he's not the worst player ever to play for the Oilers but really a bit pointless I think.

Petrell - Zona (I think it was) described him as Thoresen without offence which I thought was impossible (and I love Thoresen). Anyhow here's exactly the type of guy the Oilers need - great on the PK, hustles, hard on the puck, a good fourth liner. A nice story and a feather in management's cap.

Hemsky - I hope they sign him. That is all.

Eberle - kid looked terrific in camp for the most part

Omark - if they move Hemsky he's going to get a big opportunity I think. He gets overlooked but he has skill and balls, I couldn't understand folks who felt he might not make the team.

Jones - A lot of folks I really respect hated that Hartikainen got cut and Jones is still here but I don't mind it. Teemu will get big minutes in OKC and as soon as a top nine guy goes down he'll be up and likely for good once they move Ales. I don't think Jones is blocking him. As for 'fan favourite' Ryan Jones well he hasn't clue anywhere but around the opposing net but he always has had that. I doubt he scores 18 again but he'll score some, he always has. I don't mind his contract other than to me its another sign that management is not too bright but of course you might argue that they are throwing fans a bone and they won't even look at him when the contract is up and they have better players around.

Anyhow that's my thoughts on Teemu, I'm not too concerned about it and I actually think its less of an affront than the Omark move a year ago. Hartikainen is a beauty but none of the top nine wingers (Hall, Paajarvi, Smyth, Hemsky, Eberle, Omark) should lose their job to him. He'll be back soon.

The only possible surprise amongst the cuts is Brule and that's mostly because he has a big ticket (how do Tambellini and Lowe explain all of the money Katz has spent on guys in the minors anyhow? Jesus.) - the kid sounds like a terrific guy but he was awful last year and worse this preseason. Throw in the medical issues and its no surprise. Too bad for the kid. Doug MacLean ruined him.

I like the forwards a lot. They are green but Smyth and Belanger are going to help a lot and the kids are really something. And Petrell and Eager I think will help somewhat as well.

The blue is shitty and the goaltending is iffy unless Dubnyk is the real deal. So ... its going to be one more long year and then one presumes some of the forwards get moved to shore up the blue.

Be Careful Out There!

2011-09-30T14:50:00.001-04:00

As you get older your shit starts to break down. My wife's fighting a hip problem as she trains for a half marathon and I have a bit of a bad back these days. A couple of weeks ago I slept a bit off and ended up with a sore shoulder for a few days. And with another season of Capsule hockey starting I look forward to those mornings when I get out of bed and hobble around like a little old man. Its the freakish stuff that is the most annoying though. A few winters ago my old man yanked at a shed door that was frozen shut. He ended up tearing his bicep up which ended his curling season early that year. He healed up okay only to find out that somehow while he had his bad arm he managed to damage his shoulders some way, probably to do with compensating for his arm. Ended up fighting that through the whole summer. He was not impressed.

I had my own freak accident last summer. I was upstairs and got a little worked up, as I tend to do, might have seen a pair of the wife's underwear in the hamper or something (it doesn't take much), and so with the entire family around and the actual opportunity to have sex then and there impossible I was forced to take manners into my own hands.

So to speak.

I can't remember why but what I did was lay on the bed with my legs over the edge, I think figuring that if I heard someone coming up the stairs I could stand up quickly after putting my Magic Johnson away. Like the Dunphys we don't have a lock on the old bedroom door.

It didn't come to that but a word to the unwise, not a good idea as I ended up pulling a muscle, well another one, in my upper back as I was playing the back nine.

Bastard hurt like crazy for two weeks.

-----------------

The Oilers have been a poor team for the last five years now, mostly because they have employed a lot of bad hockey players and because management has been screwing the pooch but there has been another contributing factor to this disaster - injuries.

Some of it has been attributed to the team not being tough enough and some of it has been freakish and some of it has been the result of the Oilers employing guys who tend to get injured.

Much has been made of the team 'getting their show run' and the Oilers have had their share of guys who have had their bells rung over the years by opponents who don't seem too concerned about retribution. So Stoll was driven into the boards head first and Hemsky takes an enormous amount of abuse every time he steps over the blueline and of course they have been a smaller team these last few years and so bigger clubs take some liberties. First team toughness was supposed to take care of this but of course we've seen Ethan Moreau, Sheldon Souray and Taylor Hall all get injured fighting so ... maybe not so good. They then hired the biggest baddest goon they could find because it was after Laraque left that this all began. Problem is the biggest goon couldn't play hockey and he didn't really act as a deterrent anyhow. Every year MacIntyre played with the club there were still the same situations. Guys getting picked on, gooned, concussed and so on.

So this year we see the third option, the addition of Eager and Hordichuk and Sutton to augment Peckham and Peckman, guys who can, mostly, play a bit and whose job will be to fight the other team's goons (see Hordichuk v Fedoruk the other night) and prevent guys like Mike Duco from going after the franchise kids. Oh wait, that didn't happen?

This is the problem with the whole deterrence argument. Sometimes it doesn't make a lot of sense when it runs into cold hard fact. And there's also the fact that the most successful team in the league these past number of years, the Red Wings, have not employed a goon in ages. They fight less than any team in the league. And when Chicago won it all they didn't employ a goon. Nor did Carolina.

So ... we'll see how Eager and Sutton are going to make this work. They're the guys who are going to be riding the range, looking for that ... chuckwagon, so lets hope their presence makes a difference. I do seem to remember that teams didn't generally fuck with the Oilers when Gator and Le GG and Moreau took regular shifts, so maybe there's something there.

The best way to stop the other team's goons is to fill the net on the power play but of course we know how that goes in Edmonton. Maybe this year it changes.

HAHAHAHAHHA

No ... seriously.

As for the other issues well when you employ guys like Sheldon Souray and Ethan Moreau and poor old Fernando Pisani then likely you're going to have holes in your lineup at times. And it looks like Horcoff (age and chronic issues), Hemsky (getting pounded and chronic issues) and Whitney (chronic issues), are becoming those guys, although Whitney came to Edmonton with a bit of a reputation as being brittle iirc. With all that said I remember Saku Koivu having a rep for being brittle for years and then suddenly he got healthy and stayed that way. Sometimes guys run into some bad luck and then they end up ok.

The ironic thing was one reason folks were against signing Smyth was that they figured he'd be hurt a lot. Except for one year he has been healthy for nearly the entire contract. I'm sure that will change this year though.

In any case when it comes to the Oilers they only have themselves to blame in a few of these cases. Everyone knew that Souray and Khabibulin had injury issues so its no surprise that they were and have been hurt a lot. And the fact that the ice at Rexall may be contributing to this as well, well if I had millions of dollars invested in hockey players I might want to make sure that working conditions are the best possible that they can be.

And of course there is just the plain old run of bad luck. Pubitis and broken hands and shoulders thrown out suddenly and Souray's spill into the boards and Gagner getting his hand sliced open - shit just happens and it seems to have been happening to the Oilers a lot. Hell Laddy Smid is a one man MASH unit out there, remember when he drove himself into the boards?

But sometimes this is the way it goes. I remember the Habs having a run of a number of years where they had tons of injuries and Vancouver's D has had a couple of years with the same situation. And remember how Les Sabres had their Cup run derailed by an unbelievable run of injuries and ailments that left their blue in their game seven staffed by Brian Campbell and a bunch of guys named Mo?

Sometimes shit happens and that's all there is.

Training camp is coming to a close pretty soon and Whitney, Gagner and Eager are the question marks. Looks like Gagner is out for a while so its possible Lander gets a look at 4C although more likely Brule gets that slot and keeps it warm until Gagner returns or Lander is a little more ready. Eager and Whitney remain question marks for opening night too.

Injuries.

If Whitney misses little time and he, Hemsky and Horcoff can stay healthy (along with everyone else of importance) then even with the shaky blue I'm thinking the club may actually be out of the lottery this year. Not far out but improved.

Crazy? No because there are other teams that are going to get ravaged by injuries also. It always happens and if other clubs get crazy bad luck on this front or even lose a couple of key guys then all the Oilers will need to do is stay healthy and they'll pass them by the side of the road.

Baby steps.

Getting There

2011-09-26T14:00:00.000-04:00

Still no really hard choices made by the Oilers as another dozen cuts today. No real surprises at all.

Marincin back to junior as expected. Great first half last year and then he tailed off. I did not see him play in camp but reports describe a raw talent who needs seasoning..

Going to Oklahoma City - Roy, Lowery, Plante, Tulupov, Martindale, Pitlick, Hamilton, Cornet, House, Kytnar, Vandevelde.

Of note - Tulupov and Martindale both going to OKC. With the Oilers at 48 of 50 contracts with Marincin going back to junior they have just enough room to sign both men. Rumours of Martindale being signed have been floating about for a while now. I think we have to expect that there will be more roster moves so that they are not right against the limit. Lowetide has opined that Motin's time may be done. Perhaps another borderline prospect or two will get moved as well or maybe even the mythical quantity for quality trade for a top four defenceman.

I don't even know if I would call it a mild surprise but I did think that Vandevelde might get the call as an extra forward especially if Lander was ticketed for OKC but he doesn't make the cut.

The rest of the kids getting sent down include Pitlick who probably showed best of this list and Hamilton who we all expect to get the call some day. The biggest disappointment has to be Plante who had a lot of games in camp and looked dreadful for the most part. Like Rob Schremp was he is being passed by everyone and his dog.

Injuries have worked their way into the conversation with Whitney, Eager and now Gagner all out. No word on the severity of Gagner's injury yet. Eager was concussed so who knows with that. And Whitney sounds like a longterm issue.

So here is who is left, thirty five strong:

G - Dubnyk, Khabibulin, Denis - Dubnyk has been excellent. Khabibulin was much better last start although he let in a howler as is his wont. No surprises here, we just wait to see who starts the opener, has to be Dubnyk unless he falls apart this week I would guess.

D - Whitney, Gilbert, Smid, Barker, Sutton, Peckham, Chorney, Fedun, Petry, Potter, Teubert - Whitney's injury means there are two open spots. Teubert's injury has lost him camp so he's done. Fedun has been a nice surprise but needs seasoning so one would think its between Chorney, Petry and Potter. Petry struggled but was better last game. Potter has been solid. If I were a betting man I would say Chorney and Potter with Petry getting the first call. Long run Petry will be very good and he may make the club but I think his early stumbles give the club an easy out. They don't like waiving young guys who can be claimed and while I think Chorney is nothing but a tweener I think he makes the team.

C - Horcoff, Belanger, Gagner, Lander, Ted Nugent, O'Marra, Brule - with Gagner hurt the window opens slightly for Lander. I would still prefer to see him get sent to OKC to play on the first line there but this week may tell the tale. Nugent Hopkins is going to make this team. O'Marra may make it as the fourth line centre, believe it or not. Brule has been terrible and I wonder if they might release him outright. Seems like a nice kid but he's had a tough time. Maybe they keep him as the fourth if Gagner is hurt but his time as an Oiler is short.

Wing - Eager, Eberle, Hall, Hemsky, Smyth, Hordichuk, Paajarvi, Omark, Jones, Petrell, Tyrvainen, Green, Keller, Hartikainen - here is where things are interesting, Green and Keller are getting courtesy as vets I think so scratch them, that leaves a dozen players for ten spots if they only run four centres. If Eager is out then that leaves only one cut to make. Petrell has been excellent by all accounts. Hartikainen has also made an impact although one thinks he would be best served as a top nine guy. He can play on the fourth line but if it came to that I would prefer he gets big minutes in OKC. And then there is the other Finn Tyrvainen.

All three Finns bring something that this team has lacked these past few years. It appears that two may make it unless Eager is okay to start the season. In any case I don't think its long before all three are on the roster full time.

The tough choices still remain. Should be interesting to see how Gagner and Eager's status has an impact and whether or not Tambellini makes any moves.

In This Country - Terry Fox

2011-09-23T14:40:00.000-04:00

The idea of heroes is one that has fallen into disrepute over the years. Today its almost impossible, with cellphones and the digital age, to remain above it all, removed from humanity, from your own humanity. There are cameras and a thousand television stations and the interweb and a million, ten million, one hundred million people around the world ready to tear you apart, whether you do wrong or not. Its not as if the world was ever black and white, it never was, but a century, two centuries, three centuries ago, there were mountains to be climbed and oceans to be sailed and lands to be discovered and nations to be founded. The men who raced to the Pole and discovered new worlds and threw off the yoke of tyrants were men and so they were flawed but their accomplishments were so grand or so courageous that they could not be ignored. And they didn't have some guy with a laptop and a website slinging mud at them or some teenager with a cellphone taking pictures of them out on a bender in the Latin Quarter. ;)

There are no new worlds to be discovered, no new oceans to traverse, hell we've even been to the moon and so today's heroes have accomplishments far less impressive than in the days of yore. In the ancient myths and legends of Ireland and Greece and Norway the world teems with monsters and gods and the men, the heroes, are larger than life themselves. If you have been to Newgrange in Ireland you could see why they would have thought as much. This enormous structure was built five thousand years ago with gigantic stones quarried from a hundred miles away, the best that they can tell is that they were brought to the hill north of Dublin up the ancient rivers in leather boats. The mind boggles.

So too these days the men who came before us are larger than the men of today and so our heroes, well who are our heroes? Our politics are too fractured, the churches too discredited, the population too cynical about our leaders for anyone to rise above it all and so our heroes are men (and women) who play children's games.

Its a dangerous game. These are men and women like us and, in the case of professionals, they live entitled lives from the moment that their talent to hit a ball or skate like the wind is recognized. In the old days the flaws of men like Mickey Mantle and Bobby Hull were hidden or unknown. Today men like Michael Vick and Kobe Bryant and Ben Roethlesberger, to name just a few, have been found wanting and while we would love to think that our heroes are great guys the reality is that some of these men are stupid and some are cruel and very many of them are simply unlikeable.

But the idea remains, even amongst the most cynical of us, that these guys are like us, like the gang of guys we play Friday night hockey with, like Ray and Cam and Higgs and Dave, terrific guys, a band of brothers, pals who we could go out for pints with after the game. Witness Ryan Smyth's return and the gushing emotions that accompanied it. This mulleted, skinny, goofy looking guy is a hero. Why? Because he is dogged. Because he is not gifted with a powerful shot or slick stickhandling but has been a great pro due to hard work and smarts and determination. Because even though he is a millionaire he seems like the guy next door. Because he's involved in the community and throws pucks to the kids at rinkside. Because he is courageous, even though that word is overused in sports, he is courageous.

And so he is a hero.

When it comes to heroes you tread on shaky ground and it gets shakier when the idea of a hero and the nation comes into play. Canada has its share of great men and women and in many ways they reflect our history and our nation. There are the rogues like John A MacDonald, certainly corrupt, who built the nation. There are the famous men who discovered the country and explored it. There are the soldiers and pilots and sailors who fought and often died for our country. There are those who stood up for the rights of others. And there are men and women who represented this country in sports. Many of their stories are part of the Canadian story, the true Canadian story, and many are part of whatever national myth we may have.

Its tenuous ground. Heroes can be used by others to get us to do what we otherwise would not do and often the reality and the myth collide. I'm not talking about the fact that, for example, John A was a bit of a madman (we tend to give short shrift to our politicians anyhow) or that some of our sporting heroes probably aren't the types that we want our kids looking to. I'm talking about trying to make the link between a man and woman and a nation.

It can be done. The men and women we honour every November 11th are honoured for their courage and their sacrifice and this resonates with us because they were us, they were the Canadian collective and from Fernie to Sudbury to Truro to Charlottetown and all points in between and beyond, the stone pillars and granite monuments and plaques on old wooden churches on red dusty roads list the names of the young men who went over there and never came back. They were the sons and brothers and fathers of those times. They were us then.

And less celebrated but again very much us, those people who came here (and come here) from far away places and built this country. We have talked about them in the past, imagining the hardships, the cold, the loneliness, the isolation of what must have been, at times at least, a tough existence. And again these people represent us, many of the commenters here chimed in with their stories, the immigrant as hero, an unpopular thought in these times (and others) with many but truth. Ordinary men and women who came here for a better life and achieved it through plain old hard work and perseverance.

---------------

So then it is fitting that the greatest Canadian hero of all is an ordinary young man. I would love to say that Terry Fox reflects something about Canada that is unique but there is that tenuous ground again. Terry was quintessentially Canadian, there is no arguing that. He was a hockey fan, drank beer with his high school buddies, grew up playing road hockey and ball. We were watching Into The Wind the other night (really you must see it if you haven't) and he's talking away, tousled hair and sunburned face and bluest eyes and I turn to my wife and said that he was just a hoser through and through and I mean that in the most wonderful kind way imaginable. He was one of us. And he chose to run across our country, his actual being devoted to crossing the vast land. A Canadian boy running across Canada.

Terry Fox was a hero alright but as much as I'd like to say he reflected us, well honestly that would be giving us too much credit. He reflected the best of us, the us that settled here and built a nation and fought and died for this country, he was tough and stubborn and brave and, most impressively, he was an ordinary man. He had a temper and could be childish and sometimes that stubborness got in the way of where he was going.

But that of course is the beauty of Terry Fox. An ordinary boy stricken by an ordinary disease that every Canadian has been touched by. What he did was astounding, beyond comprehension really. Running a marathon every day would be impossible if you were healthy. Doing the same on one leg, with your body slowly turning on you as you ran through Newfoundland spruce and along the brilliant coast of Nova Scotia, past red fields of the Island and along the beautiful St John River and then the fields of Quebec and southern Ontario and finally into the Shield, granite and pine, a thousand cold lakes in the endless forest, until finally at the head of magnificent Superior the pain got to be too much and his journey ended.

An ordinary young man who did the most extraordinary thing in this country. The greatest Canadian really and I only wish I could be a better writer when I talk about him.

When You Least Expect It

2011-09-20T16:10:00.001-04:00

It was just after the turn of the year in 1997 that I parted ways with the Girl from Rawlins' Cross, almost exactly two years after the sparks first flew. Things had crashed to a halt the previous spring and then come alive again. We had a good summer but as the weather turned cooler it all began to splinter underneath and so a few days after New Years I put us out of our misery. It died with some sadness on both of our parts, some relief, mostly on her side but also on mine, and a good dose of bitterness that was mine alone. A couple of weeks later her uncle called me and asked if I wanted to go to PEI for a few months to work. It was a million miles away. I jumped at the chance.

Landed on the Island on a bitterly cold February Sunday and got to it. For a few weeks I was holed up in a suite at the Best Western and my life was working, followed by watching TV, smoking and drinking until the night was over. Its hard to keep a good man down though and so soon I was getting out and about and while there was a bit of a gaping oozing wound going on I did my best to stop the bleeding with some laughs, a lot of beer and cigarettes and soon, because I'm devilishly handsome and I have the libido of, well, something with a strong libido, some casual sex as well.

Winter bled out and then spring passed and what was supposed to be a three month stint was extended to six months and then six months became a year. Shortly after I had arrived I had begun to count the days until I'd escape but it wasn't long before I happily was signing up to stay longer. I'd made some tremendous friends and Prince Edward Island in the summer is beyond glorious and so I settled in, beer and smoke and cock in hand, hands?, for a longer haul.

Summer was just beginning when one of my new found pals told me that his girlfriend had a friend who might be right up my alley. Their reasoning was sketchy - I remember him saying that the fact that we both liked to play pool and smoke were the reasons behind the setup. Slim logic there for sure and neither of us did the setup game so I declined and she, unknown to me at this time, did as well. Besides I had a little something something going on with one of the local girls, one of those splendid arrangements where we were having the casual sex, and while I suspected it was going nowhere I also wanted to confirm that this was the case before I started running around with someone else.

It did end up going nowhere and so I became a free man and one night we lads were out on the lash and at some point your man Adam says to me that maybe we should take a run to Peakes' Quay.

Things have changed in Charlottetown. When I was there you had two bars in winter and twice that in the summer and nearly every summer night ended up at Peakes' Quay so I had no idea that the fix was in. (Nowadays you can crawl across Charlottetown and hit a pub around every corner.) We arrived and at about the same time his girl arrived from wherever they were at and so we were getting ready to play pool and suddenly in walk two girls including one with long lovely legs and flashing green eyes.

Her first thought? What's with his hair (big and bushy) and why isn't he wearing a belt (Belts, umbrellas, watches and cellphones never touched this person back in the day and even now I have only the last plus a belt I'll throw on if we're going out fancy like)?

Can't remember what I thought except that she was obviously a bit of a pistol.

Certainly there was no moment where time stopped and the heavenly hosts sang.

But it was the start of some love story.

---------------

Last spring I wrote a little something about young Hartikainen, if you're too lazy to click on the link and read what I said the jist of it was that if the Oilers are ever going to be good again in our lifetime then they need the young Finn and others like him, that is, lower round picks, to shine.

Hall and Paajarvi and Ted Nugent and Gagner ... these top ten picks aren't shoo ins but there's a good chance that they will all have long careers in the NHL, hopefully very successful careers with Edmonton. The key for the Oilers are the Hartikainens, the Omarks, the Landers and the Martindales. Bunz is the key. Gernat is the key. Musil and Pitlick and Hamilton.

Its the guys without the pedigree or with less pedigree that are going to turn this thing around. Right now the Oilers have some nice things, especially up front. They have a lot of kids tracking nicely, as LT says, at every position. But its still wobbly. Injuries, bad moves, prospects failing, all of these things happen. I'm bullish about the kids but the kids are a long way away yet.

And preseason doesn't help. Some kids are going to shine against the other clubs' scrubs and kids and then we will see the Oiler fanbase's weird, almost creepy love of kids emerge again. Maybe its because the Boys on The Bus went from being kids to becoming the greatest club of all time and there is some of this in every fanbase (maybe because so many of the most pathological fans are kids themselves) but nobody beats Oiler fans for the belief that you can replace experienced NHL hockey players with teenagers right out of junior and win doing so. Actually scratch that ... the teenagers would win if it weren't for the remaining veterans HOLDING THEM BACK!!

Of course its not just the fans, I swear on twitter the other day after a rookie tournament game where Bunz shone, someone of adult age floated the idea that they should KEEP HIM IN THE NHL if he continues to do well. Help me out here, I swear I saw it. Anyone else? Fucking madness. Keep a 19 year old goaltender up as part of a three headed goaltending monster. Yeah that will work wonders for his development.

God fucking help us.

lolz as the kidz sayz

Right?

So if Pitlick pots a couple tonight then we will hear the calls to dump Horcoff, Gagner and Belanger (preferably all three at once and immediately!) and if Musil has a nice game then expect calls for the heads of Gilbert and Whitney and probably Smid too.

So there's that to look forward to ...

All kidding aside though how the franchise handles this next ten months or so will determine a lot and tell us if Tambellini is up to the job.

What do we know?

1/ Right now the Oilers have some depth up front, actually I think you could say they have three legitimate top nine players in each position.

2/ The defence is awful. They have two top four defencemen at this point. One has pretty serious injury issues.

3/ They don't have a legitimate number one goalie right now. Dubnyk may prove to be this guy but not now.

4/ Two of those top nine forwards are UFA at the end of the year and I would bet on both being traded by spring. In return the Oilers will get prospects and/or picks, just as they did for Penner. They are not going to get an NHL ready top four defenceman or starting goalie back because contenders don't trade these players
for rentals.

5/ The Oilers have some fine prospects on D and in net but they are mostly a long way away from the big leagues.

6/ They have some nice guys coming up front. A couple of those, specifically Teemu and Lander, may very well be ready.

7/ Having said they may not be ready and the best thing for them is probably a ton of icetime in OKC rather than fourth line duty with the big club.

8/ Unless the Oilers plan on being shitty for a long time sometime soon they are going to shore up their weaknesses. Most likely this will happen via trade rather than through free agency.

----------------

Those all make sense, no? Now as we all know around here we believe in accumulating good players. Keep the ones you have, get more of them. Its a very simple concept that has escaped a management team that likes to shed good players of all types, all the while replacing them with callow kids, plugs, thugs, hasbeens and neverwillbes.

So right now the Oilers actually have found themselves in a nice position. They have some good players and it looks like they may have some more on the way. So ...

1/ Sign Hemsky and Smyth if the price is right. Even at his age Smyth is probably the third best forward on the club and Hemsky is still the best. Maybe not for long but he is a very good player. The injuries suck and the price has to be right but if you dump him then your RW depth chart suddenly has Eberle/Omark and some kid farmhands. Sign them if you can because you need to keep your good players.

2/ Until you see how situation number one plays out and you see what you have in Hartikainen and Ted Nugent you hold onto the guys whose names are bandied about as trade bait, that being Gagner and Omark first and foremost. Especially Omark. Those folks saying that he should be moved for a dman now are banking on, well I'm not sure what they're banking on.

We've been patient while management has bumbled and fumbled their way to this point.
Trading a kid RW when your #1 RW may be gone in six months and the only other options there have barely had a cup of coffee in the NHL is beyond impatient, its plain dumb.

We may have some real finds here with some of these guys and if we do then things are looking way way up and indeed in a year maybe young Teemu can slot in as a top nine guy and Lander shows that he can play too and if they do well glory be but we need to be patient and not put the cart before the horse.

Or something like that.

Right?

Right.

Tradition

2011-09-17T14:50:00.002-04:00

Each family has its own rhythm, its ways that make days, months, years similar to the others in passing, even as the kids graduate from diapers to two wheelers to all that will follow. Our family is the same and its in the fall of the year that the rituals and traditions and events that mark each year announce themselves loudest of all. A little of this is because its the opposite of the relative anarchy of summer which contains annual trips out east and up north and then not much else but a freedom from constants. Its always busy as hell but there is little that happens every summer except for our vacations and the birthday of our youngest.

September and October, on the other hand, see the calendar filled up once again. Hockey season starts for me and summer soccer turns into indoor for my wife. The kids start school and their activities, swimming and ballet for our oldest, swimming and skating for the boy, gymnastics for our youngest. We celebrate three birthdays in less than a month and there's Halloween which is a big deal and every autumn Jenn's parents come for one of their two annual visits. And there are family trips to pick apples at an orchard north of the city and to select pumpkins for carving for Halloween.

Those last two little traditions are dear to my wife's heart especially and we have a picture from every year we've been to the orchard, taken at the same spot, our family growing and growing up in a series of snapshots.

One day I am sure we will have to fight with teenagers to join us on these outings and I don't look forward to those days, not because of the arguments themselves (I can hear my daughter's laments already) but because when those days come it will mean that our little family will be closer to the day when we will be left alone and our kids will strike out on their own. Its a long time coming but our oldest will be eight next week. She's nearly halfway out the door already.

If this sounds melancholy its not meant to be. Its the way it goes and there's nothing that can be done about it. We talk about the future and I tell the kids that when the day comes they can go away to school and my wife gives me the stinkeye and they insist that they will all stay home when university comes. I smile and nod and know that when the time comes they will most likely be eager to get out and that's fine, its all a part of it and in my heart its what I want them to do, to get out and start their lives on their own and make their own way. When they do so I know we will have done a good job or so I hope.

So we are finding our own rhythm once again, each day is busy and most evenings we have something going on. On top of that Jenn and I try and continue our own little tradition we started about a year ago, each month we get the kids to bed and then one of us cooks a nice dinner, prepares dessert, the whole deal, and we stuff ourselves and drink a couple of bottles of wine and have some fun. It keeps us young and connected and gives us a break from the rush that our lives can be.

Tradition and rituals are important although some of my efforts to introduce new ones to the calendar have met with resistance, notably Oral Wednesdays, Lemon Gin Sunday Mornings and Hobo Wrestling on the third Thursday of every month.

Maybe some day .....

----------------

Speaking of tradition, training camp is opening and Ryan Whitney apparently didn't even finish off his first on ice session and while they are saying its just for precautionary reasons it looks like another tradition will also be renewed this season. Actually a couple if Whitney is unable to start the season - the loss of this club's most important players to injury, which has been going on for years now, and another terrible season for the Edmonton Oilers, which is likely anyhow and guaranteed if the big defenceman misses any significant time.

I've already said that I think this camp will have little drama, although this will change if the injuries begin to mount. The guys who might surprise, youngsters like Lander and Hartikainen, have their possible roster spots blocked by the plethora of forwards. I have no issue with this, I'd rather these guys make their bones in Oklahoma playing a ton of minutes than having them sit on the bench and play spot duty in Edmonton. Both will likely get their shot as players get hurt through the season anyhow.

Sounds like Nugent Hopkins is going to be flanked by Smyth and Eberle to start camp and that's a nice place for the rookie to be and a certain sign that he will be given every chance to make the club as expected. Gagner gets the golden opportunity between the best two players on the club and Horcoff will play shepherd to the Swedish kids to start. Meanwhile Belanger centres Eager and Jones. This could all change tomorrow but unless the kid centre crashes hard that's your starting lineup opening night, with Hordichuk and Brule in the pressbox. Its a young group but also the deepest forward corps since the 2006/2007 season. At least until Hemsky and Smyth go anyhow, continuing another Oiler tradition of trading away their best players. Been going on since those dynasty days and even now that they have the money they keep on keeping on with it. Its one tradition I would like to see end this season but I'm sure Hemsky will follow every other quality player the Oilers have had out the door.

As for the D well if Whitney is gone then there may be some drama. You have Barker and Gilbert and Smid, Peckham and Sutton. You have to think Petry getting a shot with Whitney to start camp is a tell as well. I think Petry should make the club over Chorney and Potter but I guess those two are in the mix and if someone like Teubert excels well then you never know. Remember Gilbert surprising everyone by making the club a few years back, passing a whole bunch of guys and getting his spot.

We'll see what happens. I don't see a Thoresen or Brodziak in this group, no underdog who will emerge as a feel good story. I think the roster is set. The main thing for this club is to stay healthy and after that the biggest story is Ted Nugent and whether he can be a legitimate player right out of the gate.

Here's hoping.

Ahhhhh America Americano - Canada 4 USA 2

2011-09-15T21:30:00.000-04:00

Watching the Canadians play the Americans I marvelled at how so much has changed in international hockey since 1976. And also how so little has changed.

Game two for Canada follows an 11-2 thrashing of the Finns in their tournament opener, a game infamously not on the DVD set. In 1976 international men's hockey is not at the present level of women's hockey but its closer to that than to the present day when you have nine or more teams that can compete with anyone. Sure the Swiss, Germans and Belarus have never won a medal but they are closer to the big boys (and have the scalps to prove it) than the Finns and Americans were thirty five years ago.

Both teams collect their own measure of respect in 1976. The Americans will tie the Czechs and the Finns will beat their arch rivals, the Swedes, but at this time its a three team competition with Sweden rising (the Swedes actually end up with the same record as the Russians). Its a long way from present day, that's for sure.

(As an aside, going back to Nagano the team with the most medals in the last five best on best tourneys? The Finns. Salt Lake City is the only tournament where they did not win at least a bronze. Third in Nagano and Vancouver, second in Turin and the World Cup. Pretty impressive. Second are Canada with three, all tournament victories, and the Czechs, with gold in Nagano and bronzes in 2004 and 2006. As for the once powerful Russians? Second in Nagano. Third in Salt Lake City. Not a damn thing since.)

Every time Canada plays a minnow we expect to thrash them. Actually every time we play anyone we expect to thrash them. Not the way it usually goes though. Vancouver was actually rare in that we whipped Norway and the Germans and the Russians. The shootout win against the Swiss is a pretty common (and frustrating) event.

So in 1976 in their first game the Canadians absolutely destroy the Finns, probably the last time that ever happened. Rick Martin scores a hattrick and adds two assists, Hull and Esposito score a pair each, Perreault, Orr and Lafleur all chip in with three points. The only sour note is an injury to captain Bobby Clarke. Its a slaughter and when the starting lineups are introduced for game two against the Americans the expectation is that we'll see more of the same.

The game is in Montreal and so Bowman starts five Habs, four who will be in the Hall of Fame one day - Shutt, Peter Mahovlich, Lafleur, Robinson and Serge Savard. Rogie Vachon is in net.

Starting for the Americans, Bill Nyrop and five guys you've never heard of. Actually its possible that you've never heard of Nyrop either, who played two seasons and a bit with the Habs' dynasty in the 70s and just over 200 games in the NHL in total. Gary Sargent, coming off his rookie year with the Kings, would play 400 games in the NHL. On the right wing - Fred Ahern, who played 146 games with three franchises that no longer exist, California, Cleveland and Colorado. On the left wing, Curt Bennett, who had scored 65 points (only 2 less than Esposito) the year before with the Atlanta Flames. Centring their staring line, Mike Polich, coming off a stellar season with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. Polich would make the NHL in 1977 and get in just over two hundred games.

In goal, Pete LoPresti, who would start for Minnesota for just over four seasons before going to the minors in 1978. LoPresti would play two games for your Edmonton Oilers in the 1980 season.

The rest of the American roster has more of the same. Journeyman pros and college kids mostly. There are some relatively famous names, mostly for what they do after they retire. Lee Fogolin is coming off of his rookie season. There is Lou Nanne, who will run the North Stars for years after he retires, and Larry Pleau who will win a Cup in the front office of the Rangers and later run the Blues. Craig Patrick will help manage and coach the Miracle on Ice team in 1980 and later he will build a Pens franchise that wins two Cups in the early nineties. Mike Milbury will play for the Bruins for years, beat up a fan with a shoe, destroy a franchise and then torment us on Hockey Night in Canada. Coaching the club are Bob Pulford, whose destruction of Chicago makes Milbury's work in New York look like the second coming of Sam Pollack, and Harry Neale, who would become a funny old guy.

So an interesting cast of characters but certain to be overmatched, yes?

The Canadian lines are as follows:

Shutt-Mahovlich-Lafleur
Barber-Sittler-Leach
Hull-Esposito-Dionne
Martin-Perreault-Gare

On D:

Orr-Potvin
Savard-Robinson
Lapointe-Jimmy Watson

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The game starts a little scrambly. Shutt takes a penalty on the first shift and then Nanne and Potvin take coincidentals. In the following two minutes the Americans have a shot blocked by Orr and a long shot go wide. The shorthanded Canadians force LoPresti to make two saves and shoot wide on a third attempt. The Americans pick up a too many men penalty and Esposito's centring pass banks in off of a defender and in. Not even a scoring chance yet and the Americans trail. The Perreault line hasn't even had a shift yet. Reggie Leach too. And Sittler and the Mahovlich line have barely been out for half a minute each.

Its about to get worse for the US. The Perreault line hits the ice and runs rampant. First Perreault rushes into the zone, undresses a defenceman with a beautiful inside out move and forces LoPresti to make a great save. Moments later he dances in and sets up Gare who is robbed. The Lafleur line follows and they have three glorious chances and the following shift, this time by Sittler and the Flyers, results in Potvin missing the net on a golden opportunity. The Americans are being overrun. They are big but they are not that good with one exception.

Robbie Ftorek.

Ftorek won an Olympic silver medal in 1972 and had a cup of coffee with the Wings the following year. Getting only a dozen games the next season it became clear that he is considered too small to play in the NHL and so in 1974 he jumped to the WHA. He would end up being the sixth leading scorer in WHA history and would return to the NHL with the Nordiques, scoring 73 points in 1981, along with 104 PIM. Small, yes, but skilled, fast and feisty.

Its at this point of the game that he suddenly makes himself known, hard in on the Canadian D, a fumbled puck, he forces Vachon to make a save from close in. It will be the lone bright spot for his club this period but its also a sign of what is to come. When he gets his chance he is too close in but its an illustration of what we have seen ever since. A team can dominate but all it takes is one mistake for the underdog to get back into it and shit to turn sideways. It will happen later in this very same game.

One more point to make - there is little in the way of line matching or jockeying at this point. Each team rolls their lines regardless of the situation. The Canadians are in total control. At this point though Pulford sees something or so I assume. For the rest of the game whenever Esposito Hull and Dionne hit the ice its Ftorek's line that comes over the boards.

The rest of the period is a nightmare for the Americans. They manage one more shot at the Canadian net (they miss) while the Canadians rampage. Mahovlich scores on the power play and soon after Hull scores from the slot. Its three cob after one, the Canadians have outchanced the Americans 11-1 and the Corsi is 33-6 for Canada. Its a rout.

Perreault gets a penalty to start the second period. Its a penalty the Canadians kill off easily but here, I think, is a slight turning point. After the first unit (Barber, Sittler, Orr, Potvin) does their thing, Bowman sends out his remaining four defencemen out. They do the job easily (Savard and Robinson play up front) but its an odd move. Its a slap at the Americans, imo, and while their response would mean nothing if the Canadians stay on top of their game, one wonders if the move displays some complacency on the Canadian side.

Almost immediately afterwards the Canadians go on the power play and its a disaster for a good part of it. Its the first unit - Hull, Esposito, Dionne, Orr, Potvin - that shows a lack of urgency. They get sloppy and the disciplined style they played in the first period gives way. They end up hemmed in their zone until there's a faceoff. Bowman sends out Perreault and the Americans almost score off the draw. The penalty ends and then again the Sabres' line takes over. Three straight scoring chances and it looks like things are back to normal.

But the following shifts see a little more back and forth in the play and the next shift for Esposito his line again gives up a chance that Ftorek almost finished. On the shift after the Americans suddenly score. Its a seventies' special. One of those long hard shots that nobody scores on anymore but that we saw some of in 1972. The type of goal that Lafleur would score in a few years to break Don Cherry's heart. Ahern steps over the blueline on a two on one with Bennett, gets near the circle and fires. He beats Vachon cleanly. Potvin is the only man back but Orr is about to turn the two on one into a two on two so buddy figures he'll let it rip.

Now its three to one.

Another Canadian powerplay and again the first unit does nothing. Again Perreault comes out, this time with Lafleur in Gare's place. They tear it up but Lopresti stones Perreault and then both he and Rick Martin miss glorious chances. Next its back to evens and Sittler and his Flyer linemates come out. Barber almost scores and then so does Leach and the Americans are pinned down.

And then Ftorek comes out against Esposito, Hull and Dionne and moments later its a one goal game as 21 year old Steve Jensen picks off a poor pass by Hull and goes in alone. He makes no mistake.

A couple of interesting things happen next. Jimmy Watson blocks a shot with his coconut and as he is tended to the commentators was poetic about his role as the defensive defenceman and how having a guy like Watson out there calms things down when guys like Orr is out there.

Now I know that a good stay at home partner helps when you have a guy who likes to wheel but I'm thinking a guy like Watson is more in the way here. ;) Hockey commentators. Saying shit as long as they've been around.

A minute later Shutt dives and draws a penalty. Its obvious and the crew says so and good on them. Orr hits the post on a long shot and then the period ends.

Its a totally different period. Canada has slowed down and the Americans have taken heart and suddenly they have come on. The Corsi numbers favour Canada 22-15 and the scoring chances are 8 to 4 but only 5 to 3 at ES. So it goes. The Canadians dominate in the first and get three goals. They still hold the edge in period two but are on the wrong end of it and suddenly they are in a game where a break or two can lose it for them.

The third period starts and Canada gets penalized early again. The Americans have a shot deflected and another blocked and when it gets back to evens they get three more shots off, two that Vachon has to steer aside but nothing dangerous. Its at this point that Bowman shortens his bench. Watson is out so he has five blueliners left. Orr and Potvin play a ton while Robinson anchors the second pair, first playing with Savard, then with Lapointe. But mostly its about Orr and Potvin. Bowman rides them hard, a phrase that brings disturbing images to mind, yes.

Up front Lafleur has replaced Gare on Perreault's line with Martin. Shutt doesn't see the ice in the third and as the period moves along Bowman brings out the blender. Mahovlich replaces Sittler between Leach and Barber. After an early shift Gare joins Shutt on the bench as does Sittler for a long stretch.

Overall little is happening as the Canadians shut it down. Ftorek's line gets one more shot at Esposito and get the only American scoring chance of the period. Bowman rolls Perreault out and they get the puck moving the right way again. Sittler comes out between Barber and Leach for a short shift, the Esposito line comes out again and in their brief appearance the Americans get the puck into the Canadian end again at which point Perreault comes out AGAIN. They kill off most of what is left of the game until the Americans force a draw in the Canadian zone at which point Bowman looks down his bench and discovers that his best options left are Barber and Sittler with Mahovlich replcing Leach. The Americans don't threaten and Sittler finishes it off with an empty netter.

The third period is a typical period for one of these games. The Canadians shut the Americans down totally. They take no risks and their superiority carries the day but its a position they'd rather not be in. A bad break and its a tie game after all.

Low event period when it comes to scoring chances, 4-1 for Canada, Corsi is 26-12.

Overall Corsi - at ES 55-16, Canada PP 6-0, Canada SH 4-5, Total 65-21

Scoring chances - at ES 19-5, Canada PP 4-1, Canada SH 0-0, Total 23-6

Here's individual corsi:

Here's individual scoring chances:

The Canadians put up crooked numbers across the board. Its a difficult game to take anything away from. The Americans are severely outclassed. Nine out of the twelve Canadian forwards allow one scoring chance or less the entire game.

Crazy.

There's little to say about the Canadian back end. They're very good and can not be faulted for either American goal imo. Five Hall of Famers and a solid pro in Watson. We'll see what happens down the line but they barely break a sweat in game one.

Perreault is the best player on the ice. A bit player in 1972, he got two games in and showed well for the most part at the age of 21. Now in his prime he is unstoppable, at least this game. Bowman recognizes it and gets him out there any chance he can. The funny thing is his line is shut out despite threatening every time they hit the ice.

The Sittler line is very good and on this team it appears that they are the primary defensive option. Sittler and Barber are the first PK unit and at the end of the game they are sent out to take the final draw in their end. One thinks that when Gainey and Clarke get into the lineup that they will take over this role, although Barber and Sittler do just fine of course.

Lafleur shows more once he joins up with Perreault although he, Shutt and Mahovlich have their moments early in the game. While he is solid he isn't outstanding (although the crowd goes wild every time he touches the puck).

After the very good though there is some ugly. The Esposito line gets outplayed. While the other lines are plus 8, plus 5 and plus 4 at ES, this line ends up in the red, outplayed by Robbie Ftorek. They do end up at even with Hull's goal the eventual winner (and cancelling out his godawful giveaway that led to the breakaway goal) and on top of that they do score on the power play.

Maybe its just one game but Esposito and Hull look slow and old and while Dionne is slick they generate very little. Four years and the guy who drove the bus in 1972 may be a liability this time around. It will be interesting to see what happens as they move on and face tougher opposition. Unlike 1972 where it was eight games against one opponent the preliminary round features five games with five different opponents. With two wins against the two weakest clubs in the tournament Canada is in good shape but what can Bowman take from what has happened so far and will it matter when they meet the Czechs and the Soviets?

What I did notice is that the Canadian game has evolved since 1972. The team is disciplined. There are far fewer freelance efforts. When the Americans don't give them anything they are content to dump the puck in and chase after it rather than risk the turnover. Even against a weak opponent there is little breakdown, except for the notable Hull giveaway.

Again, hard to take a lot from this game but its clear that the team has a system and even loaded with mostly offensive minded players they don't sacrifice defence for offence.

Next up for Canada - Sweden.

72 Finis, 76 Commence

2011-09-11T21:10:00.001-04:00

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I have changed a few things on the sidebar, including tagging posts so they can be found a little easier. Still a ways to go but hopefully if you're hanging out one day and you're thinking, hmm, I need to get a vasectomy soon, where are those posts about the big snip snip de snip, then you can find them a little easier.

Aiming to please, aiming to please.

As I was tagging this and tagging that I realized that I never really came up with any conclusions after the big 72 writeup last fall. So before I begin my look at the 76 Canada Cup I wanted to quickly post this total scoring chance chart from the Summit Series and make a few comments before I segue into the 76 tournament:

Only one player who was part of the final roster, Parise, was a minus in scoring chances at ES. Other than old JP there were only a handful of bit players and the overmatched D pairing of Seiling and Awrey in the red.

This was Canada's series from start to finish. Only in game five, which Sinden would later call Canada's best game (?!), were the Canadians outchanced (and badly for that matter) at ES. Throw that game out and the ES numbers are even better looking for Canada.

A few final thoughts:

Yvan Cournoyer was in the black for scoring chances in every single game, the only Canadian to be so. Just a fantastic player and probably not a coincidence that Esposito's struggles in this regard in the middle of the series were related to the little winger not being on his line.

Having said that the biggest revelation for me in the series, other than the actual results, was Phil Esposito. Absolutely tremendous player.

The Esposito line and the Clarke line are the ones everyone remembers but the Ratelle/Gilbert/Hull line were absolutely dominant in games six through eight. We're talking blanking the Russians while running up fanatstic totals themselves. A huge part of the Canadian victory.

Sinden had a bloated roster and some of the choices early on were odd ones in retrospect but once he figured it out its hard to argue with most of his roster selections, except for putting Goldworthy in the lineup in game seven after Berenson did such a fantastic job in game six, especially on the PK. Peter Mahovlich certainly had an impact as one of the two spare forwards and of course stepped in when Parise was tossed in the last game, making a big difference.

Bad goaltending, poor discipline and some bad luck made this a much closer series but even with these factors Canada was the dominant team. Put together the roster that swept the last three games and play them in an eight game series against the Soviets one hundred times and Canada wins the series between seventy five to eighty five times. Seriously. I don't doubt that for a minute. And I never thought that would be the case.

----------------------

Fast forward four years and the first thing that leaps out at you are the names on Tema Canada's roster. We can add one more thing to our thoughts on 1972. It was a team which was a transitional one when it came to Canadian hockey, similar to the 96 and 98 clubs. Eight of the men on the roster that finished that tournament were thirty or over in 1972 - Bergman, Stapleton, White, Esposito, Parise, Ratelle, Gilbert and Frank Mahovlich. Paul Henderson was twenty nine. So was Tony Esposito. Cournoyer and Dennis Hull were twenty eight. Amongst the spare parts Stan Mikita and Red Berenson were thirty two. Also interesting - a lot of spares who did not play or barely played were just kids, including three twenty one year olds - Marcel Dionne, Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin. And amongst those who played a big part in the tournament Bobby Clarke was twenty three. Brad Park was twenty four as was Guy Lapointe.

Not a lot of guys in the prime of their careers and come 1976 so many of the 1972 stalwarts are nearing the end of the line. None of the players mentioned above who would be in their thirties in 1976 are on the roster with the exception of Phil Esposito (although Jean Ratelle was sixth in scoring the previous year with 105 points). Ron Ellis, who was thirty one, was retired. Its a massive changing of the guard.

The only holdovers from 1972 - Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard on the blue as well as Bobby Orr, who did not play due to injury. Gone are the excellent pairings of Brad Park and Gary Bergman and Bill White and Pat Stapleton. Also on the blueline in 76 - Denis Potvin, Larry Robinson, Carol Vadnais and Jimmy Watson.

Yeah its a hell of a blueline.

In goal Tony Esposito is not back and Ken Dryden gets injured in training camp. The best goalie in the game at the time, Bernie Parent, is hurt as well. Rogie Vachon, Gerry Cheevers and Chico Resch will backstop the club.

Up front only Phil Esposito and Bobby Clarke are back from the top nine forwards. Peter Mahovlich is the only other returnee from those who played a major role as a forward in 1972. Joining them are Gilbert Perreault, who played two games in the Summit Series, and Marcel Dionne and Rick Martin, who did not play at all.

Filling out the roster up front - Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Bill Barber, Reggie Leach, Danny Gare, Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald and Bobby Hull and his hairpiece, who would have played in 1972 if WHA players had been a part of it.

So its a brand new team essentially. Its coached by Scott Bowman and loaded with Habs, seven of them coming off the first of four straight Cups. Also heavily represented are the Flyers (four players) and Sabres (three).

The roster is smaller than the 72 roster, twenty two skaters in all. An interesting thing to note here is that unlike 72 and so many Canadian clubs that follow there are no role players, except for Jimmy Watson, a prototypical defensive defenceman, and Bob Gainey, the mold for the defensive forward. There are no grinding wingers like Cashman, Goldsworthy and Parise, no defence first PK centres like Red Berenson, no aging veterans like Frank Mahovlich and Stan Mikita.

Against the Americans these are the lines that Scott Bowman rolls out with their goals and assists from the previous season:

Shutt (45/34), Pete Mahovlich (34/71), Lafleur (56/69)
Barber (50/62), Sittler (41/59), Leach (61/30)
Martin (49/37), Perreault (44/69), Gare (50/23)
Hull (53/70 - WHA), Esposito (29/38), Dionne (40/54)

Five players coming off one hundred point seasons. Every single player except Esposito with less than one hundred points (Shutt, Leach, Martin, Gare, Dionne) with forty or more goals.

As a matter of fact the one guy who looks to be the weak link? The hero from 72. Phil Esposito is coming off of a season where he scored twenty nine goals, only thirteen of them at ES. He is a minus thirty nine to boot.

And on the blue? Denis Potvin had thirty one goals and sixty seven assists.

So yeah the team is pretty damn good.

Next post, we'll take a look at the game against the Americans.

Looking Forward, Looking Back

2011-09-07T15:10:00.001-04:00

I'd say something about the Russian plane crash but its all too sad. All of the families left with an absence in them. Its too horrible for words.

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Last August and September we did a little project here on the Summit Series in 1972. In the next week or so I am going to start posting a new series, a look back at the 1976 Canada Cup. The first Canada Cup was the first best on best tournament ever held and in the minds of many the Canadian team was the greatest hockey club ever assembled. This was the first of five Canada Cups, a tournament Canada won four out of five times. I always get a kick out of Canadian hockey angst, although I am a fullfledged participant in it. There have been a dozen best on best tournaments if you include the 1972 Summit Series. Canadian clubs have won eight of them. No other team has won more than one. That's excellent. Unlike the English, who groundlessly feel they are automatically favourites for every major soccer tourney they enter, we Canadians actually have reason to believe that we will emerge triumphant.

So how good was this club and who drove the bus for it is what I want to see. This is a different situation than last year's look at 1972. Unlike that club which had quite a few players who I did not see in their prime, including my boyhood idol Stan Mikita, by 1976 I was a big hockey fan and had been watching NHL hockey for a few years so I have memories of most of the Canadian players involved. I actually watched the tournament although I was eight at the time so I don't remember much about it other than Sittler's famous goal. I certainly don't remember Bobby Hull, who was gone to the WHA by the time I became a hockey fan, and so it will be interesting to see him play. Also this is Bobby Orr's swan song, even playing basically on one leg he was named tournament MVP, so I am curious to see him as well.

And unlike 1972 there is not a huge mythology around the 1976 team. Its been thirty five years and there was not the drama of 1987 or 2010 or even 2002. This club sits there with the 1991 and 2004 Team Canada clubs, superb, victorous, but anonymous in a way, partially because of the coldly efficient way in which they triumphed when all was said and done. This was a great team on paper and on the ice.

Without even cracking the DVD shrinkwrap yet, looking at the Canadian roster online there are two things that stand out. First of all the roster is compact unlike the bloated collection of players from 1972. There are twenty two skaters. Secondly is the astounding quality of the Canadian team with sixteen eventual hall of famers on the roster.

Anyways times have been busy as hell for me so I'm hoping to get the games watched and posted within the month. I hope you enjoy reading about this series as much as I hope to enjoy writing about it.

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Soon, very soon, Oilers' camp is going to open up and NHL hockey is going to return.

Its probably going to be another long year unless Tambellini addresses the defence and goaltending before the start of the season. I don't see that happening really so barring a miracle its going to be another long Greyhound ride although likely there will be many more anonymous handjobs than last season.

There are positives. There are four actual left wingers on the roster and three actual centres and three actual right wingers and when is the last time we could say that? Of course Hemsky and Smyth will likely be traded for futures come the spring but for now we can enjoy the deepest corps of forwards the Oilers have had since the 2006/2007 season, deep enough that a guy like Teemu Hartikainen will probably not make the team, despite showing that he could probably play in this league right now in his cup of coffee last season.

Just as Brian Burke said the other day that the Leafs' roster is pretty well set so too is the Oilers'. You could write a lot of names down in pen.

LW - Hall, Paajarvi, Smyth, Eager, Hordichuk
C - Horcoff, Gagner, Belanger
RW - Eberle, Omark, Hemsky, Jones
D - Whitney, Gilbert, Smid, Peckham, Sutton, Barker
G - Dubnyk. Khabibulin

So we're looking at probably two forward spots and one spot on the blue. Of course injuries will change all of that as well but for now this is what we are looking at.

So we have Petry and Chorney likely battling it out for the final D spot.

And if Brule is healthy (and he's skating so one assumes he is, although one assumes he will come down with an irritated labia or uncomfortable rectum soon enough) then there is one of the two forward spots gone.

So that's one spot left and Nugent Hopkins will get very chance to win it I would think and my guess is unless he is completely lost out there he will get at least nine games.

There's your roster folks, barring trade (unlikely) or injury (waiting for the first shoe to drop over here).

Bucket

2011-08-30T16:00:00.002-04:00

When I moved to PEI I didn't know a soul there so looking back things worked out pretty well. After eleven months there I ended up with a girl who would become my wife, my wonderful dog and a number of friends, including one fellow who I would have to count amongst my best friends. He worked at the company I signed on for and after a few weeks he asked me if I wanted to get out one night and as Rick Blaine once said, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. He's a bit of a madman and a great fellow most of all and we've had some terrific times.

Every year when we get back there he and I get together a few times and one of those involves a night out on the town and some heavy drinking. Last summer's episode was the usual good fun but overall it left us cold. Dealing with the kids, the sad cougars and a fairly high percentage of arseholes (maybe we're just getting old but it seems like said number is increasing), all while spending a boatload of money got us, and especially him, thinking. So this year when he suggested that we head down east to his family cottage with some steaks, some beer, a few cigars and a bottle of scotch I wholeheartedly agreed that this sounded like a capital idea (twirls cane and wipes monocle with monogrammed handkerchief).

The weather out east has been the shits but it broke for us when we got out there. After working for a few days my holiday started on the Thursday and from then on it was sunny skies so when we headed down to the Montague River it was a hot beautiful day, just perfect. We sat on the porch and polished off the beer and steaks and then settled in to smoke and drink scotch, which I am beginning to acquire a taste for. We traded tales and solved the problems of the world and sometime after nine he remarked that it was strange that his old man had not called him yet, he did every Friday night to briefly shoot the shit. About fifteen minutes later, on cue, the phone rang.

Unfortunately I can't, writing this, make you hear his voice or his accent. He has a unique sound, so to speak, thick, growly, mumbling PEI brogue. After a few hellos and some laughs, he asks us if we're going to be getting some tail. We laugh and say no and he then says the following:

Well now lets say you do want to, this is what you want to do. Drive into Montague and go to the Kentucky Fried Chicken. OK? Get yourself a bucket of chicken and you want to put that bucket of chicken on your dashboard and drive up and down the main street of Montague in your truck. And guaranteed you're going to get all the tail you'd ever want because the girls there are going to see that bucket and think you're rich!

We stopped laughing sometime the next afternoon I think. That evening we (Jenn and I) went to my pal's place for a party and his old man was at the top of the drive having a smoke when we arrived. We walked up, I shook hands, nodded at my wife and thanked him for the bucket idea, it had worked like a charm.

Haw haw haw, he said. Haw haw haw.

------------------

This season, like last season, the bucket for us Oiler fans, as noted already here a few times, will be the future. There are rumours of a trade for a defenceman and of course something may shake loose from some capstrung club but the Oilers need at least two top four defencemen (unless one of the kids makes a leap) plus some goaltending to really make a move. Plus some luck, yes?

Do we agree on that?

Even the most jaded Oilers' fan would have to agree that the kids look to be alright. The list of guys who showed they have chops last year is a long one: Hall, Everle, Paajarvi, Omark, Peckham, Petry, Dubnyk. Shit is going to happen but barring injury or other disaster we're talking seven guys who are going to have NHL careers. Add in Hartikainen and this year's collection of up and comers led by Lander and Hamilton and then all of the kids in junior and in Europe and who are in limbo right now (Nugent Hopkins, Pitlick and so on) and the future looks bright. If Hemsky and Smyth are dealt at the deadline then more pieces will be added and of course the likelihood is another top ten (and very likely a lottery) pick will be added next summer.

The question for the fan (or this fan, anyhow) is when will the future arrive? Will Hemsky and Smyth get moved at the deadline or Smyth ignored as a possible veteran presence for next year's club when it comes to summer signings? How about when Whitney and Gilbert's deals come up? This is coming sooner than we think. Will the club keep pushing the future back? Or is the signing of Belanger a sign that finally the present is almost here? Is the rumour being floated by Bra and Panties a possibility, that the Oilers are going to bring in a top four Dman for a kid or two? Is this a good thing or is it too early?

I'm tired of losing and I am sure the players are too. We're looking at six years out of the playoffs coming up around the bend. Thing is this club is still probably so iffy that a top four Dman might not be enough to get it out of a top ten pick anyways. We may be able to have our cake and eat it too, getting a player who can help when the team becomes good while still getting that high pick.

Personally if the right player is available and the right guys are going back (I know I know hedge your bets you fencesitter, right) then I think its time to start shoring up this roster, adding to the kids, making amove. And I'd sign Hemsky too as long as he's not asking for the moon.

Its time to get things moving in the right direction.

Dirty Girl

2011-08-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

I once dated a lovely girl one summer long ago. It was a summer fling and when fall came we went our separate ways.

It was pretty casual, we would catch a movie or go for drinks or hit the beach and then head to her place, we both knew that it was to be a shortlived thing.

When it came to between the sheets we had some good times, she was passionate and eager and a lot of fun. She wasn't a talker though, certainly not one of those women you hear about where the neighbours call in the cops because of the noise.

So one day we're hanging out on a patio on a sunny Saturday having a few cold beer, its one of those glorious summer days that you live for, one of the few things I miss about the old days before the kids, those days where you get slowly and pleasantly sloshed in the sun, watching the world ease by as your body and mind slowly get warmly numb. So we be hanging out for a few hours with nothing going on and no particular place to go on the horizon, drinking those beer and as evening comes calling we decide to head home to prepare for a night out with the gang. We get back to her place and one thing leads to another and we're rolling about and then all of a sudden out of nowhere she starts talking a mile of filth.

She was no prude and she could curse with the best of them but I had never imagined her talking like this in this situation, imagine your little old grey granny or your toddler walking in and riffing Samuel L. in Pulp Fiction and you get the idea of the surprise.

(As an aside our youngest is going to be an absolute potty mouth. Presently her favourite word is vagina, not as in 'I had a peepee with my vagina', more like 'You don't do that you vagina!')

It was crazy and a huge turnon and while 'Dirty Girl' (as I called her alterego later) didn't show up all of the time, her occasional appearance made for interesting times.

Yowza.

--------------------

With camp right around the corner and another long year ahead of us (I believe) the question is what will get us through another Greyhound trip of a season. Will there be enough anonymous handjobs to make it worth our while. Last year started with a beauty of a game and it wound up with a bit more of the same and while the kids provided us with some thrills overall it wasn't enough to wash the bitter taste from my gullet.

What about this year then? To compare the Oilers' season to a sexual encounter is misleading because a sexual encounter is enjoyable but I'm going to run with this one anyhow because when it comes to sex, as you know, I never pass up an opportunity to use it as a metaphor, no matter how awkward. So if the Oilers' season is going to be the dullest most depressing sex that you can conjure up in your mind then what sort of scenarios will be the equivalent of said dull, depressing partner yelling at you to stick it in their ass?

There are some obvious ones. We know that barring injury we are going to get some beauty moments from Hall and Eberle, Paajarvi and Omark, moments that briefly will ease our boredom and cynicism. Ted Peckman is going to blow some guys up and bring that spirit and elan to the ice that has been missing for years. Ben Eager will viciously assault a Sedin or Kiprusoff and for a moment we will taste a little revenge for all of the years of Reghyr pounding Ales or various Canucks abusing the kids. We will get the return of Smyth and the magic of Hemsky and there will be wonderful comebacks and glory here and there.

What I am looking for though are the really out of the blue thunderbolts that will make us stand up and cheer. Right? Right? That's the whole idea of this thought process. I'm not talking a pounding of the Flames on opening night but rather something unexpected and amazing, although really that opening night last year was just that.

So here are some possibilities.

1/ Teemu Hartikainen comes up when one of the wingers in the top nine goes down and establishes himself as a bona fide option in that role.

2/ One of the kids, Lander or Hamilton most likely, gets a shot with the big club and makes the most of it, solving another problem and filling another roster spot.

3/ Nugent Hopkins not only makes the club but thrives and has an outstanding season.

4/ Dubnyk establishes himself as a true number one goalie with a very good year.

5/ One of Smid, Peckham or Petry arrives as a top four defenceman.

What say you? Any ideas on what may give you a twinkle in your eye and an extra spring in your step when you roll out of bed the next morning? ;)

Making Good Time

2011-08-26T09:45:00.001-04:00

Whenever we go up to see my folks the first thing my old man asks after 'Do you want a beer?' is 'Did you make good time?' Now I wouldn't call it a family obsession but its an important part of the McLean vernacular - up there with 'Everything will work out' and 'that's a good deal' and 'mind your business'.

(As an aside we were having dinner Wednesday night. We're all pretty draggy after this year's odyssey. Our eldest was complaining about something and so I said to her that neither her mother or I wanted to hear her complaints, in fact she needed to go to the new head of the complaints in the household, Helen Waite. 'Who?' she asked. Helen Waite, I said, from now on if you have a complaint you can go to Helen Waite. This inspired confusion amongst the younger ranks and my wife blew garlic bread out of her nose.)

I call Dad when we get home and its 'ah you made good time' or 'hm, you didn't make very good time'.

You see I understand this though and I have the same fixation. Its a guy thing. My wife was once punctual. No more. She blames it on the kids but fact is if its the kids and I I manage to make it happen, be on time I mean. Take the kids out of the equation and she still remains ... late. Oh well, no biggie, she is allowed to have her delusions. Anyhow for her its not such a big deal but for me, when we are on the road, the less time we spend on the road the better. So, some tips for those of you who have kids.

- for the short (four or five hour) trip, schedule your departure so it doesn't cut across mealtime, if you have to stop for lunch you're adding an hour right there

- bring snacks so the little buggers don't have to stop for lunch if you run a little behind

- no water, not only will the kids not need pee breaks but if dehydration sets in they may even pass out a bit, if they're asleep you can go further

- be a fucker, a couple of years ago we were up the DVP when my wife remarked that she had left a necklace at home - I ignored her, stared straight ahead and accelerated, she was pissed but no way I was turning around and going home and then coming back, that is nearly forty fucking minutes and adding that to the trip would mean that we did not make good time

- be willing to break your normal rules if it means keeping the little buggers happy, as a general rule I hate their little handheld video games and those things don't see the light of day unless I'm severely hungover; in the car I'm happy to let them play forever as long as behind me its quiet

Now there are two parts of any trip, driving and not driving and when it comes to making good time there are tricks and expectations when it comes to both. If I am driving to Sudbury my expectation is to do it in under four hours if I'm going on a straight shot, four and a half if we need to stop for lunch. Its just over four hundred kilometres from door to door but its slow getting going and its slow finishing up as we get out of and into the cities. This was once a two lane highway for three quarters of the trip and it was an awful drive, five hours at minimum, but its four lanes for all but just over a quarter now and the remainder will be four laned soon. Someday I see us doing it in three and a half hours and when that day comes I will be truly cock of the walk.

(As a secondary note I'm not a speeder. Those of you who drive fast probably look at my expectations and laugh but I go about 15km over the limit at most - have a family you know plus I got a ticket a few years back and I have an aversion to paying those stiff goddamn fines.)

Of course there is always the unexpected circumstance. It was Easter that we were heading up the DVP nice and early when our youngest tossed all over herself. It was 9:30 and I was thinking 1:30 home and cooled before the unexpected event. Instead we had to pull over, clean her up, clean the carseat up, then we travelleed around trying to find Gravol, try and find a drug store open on Good Friday, motherfucker, and of course we had to stop for lunch because at noon we had barely gotten out of Barrie. We got in at 4:00 pm.

Yes I'll take that beer. No we did not make good time.

Now Sudbury is a sprint. PEI is a marathon.

1700 km. Break it down, its four segemnts. You can't get around it unless you drive a Vespa. You need gas. First of all there's the stops. When we stop we break out the cooler and get out the lunches. While they are getting ready I run the van over for a fillup and pick up drinks and ice or whatever we need. We used to take an hour for our breaks, now we're looking at thirty to forty minutes tops. I get back, eat up while the kids go to the pissoir and then we're off again.

On a trip like this I'm shooting for anything over 100 km per hour. If I hit that I'm happy. You hit traffic and you hit construction and if you can get that rate you're good I think. But as always you're at the whim of fate. This trip we were rolling along the shore of Lake Ontario, I mean really rolling. We were shooting for over a grand, all the way to Edmundston New Brunswick. We were killing it when we hit Montreal. We took highway twenty through Montreal and we were looking at 7pm in New Brunswick when it happened. Just about to the St. Lawrence (and what a grand sight that is) when we came to a stop. Two hours and four kilometres later we crossed the St. Lawrence (we travelled 200 metres in a half hour at one point) and the construction and our day was done, we lost two hours and had to stop for supper and at ten pm we rolled into New Brunswick.

We did not make good time.

-------------------

Depending on who you talk to the Oilers are either making good time or not so much.

If you were to talk to Steve Tambellini or any management apologist you get the old 'second year of a rebuild' tale. Based on the Khabibulin signing we know that for a fact this club's management thought they would be competitive in 2009 just as they thought they'd be competitive in 2008 when they brought in Lubo and Cole and in 2007 when they signed Souray.

Sigh.

This is where the worry about management comes in for me and a lot of other fans I think. Three seasons of missing the boat entirely on how good this club actually was is not indicative of strong management just as four seasons of alternately trading off veterans for draft picks and prospects and trading off/losing young players while bringing in older ones shows, well, confusion, no?

Its too late now and hindsight is, as we know, a clear day but for a guy like me (I'm not getting any younger) its a bitter pill to swallow to see four years wasted while management slowly and surely fucked the roster, spending tons of cash to put a disaster on the ice. Now we are rebuilding the right way which means that we are about to see our sixth year out of the playoffs.

Its hard to take.

I like Tambellini's work this summer, I do. Its not knock your socks off but the team is better than last year, if only marginally. The problem I see is that the club strength right now, on the wings, is going to be depleted in a year when Hemsky and Smyth are gone and so it will be another step back.

With all of this said there is little that we can do but wait. The good news is that there is a nice looking bunch of kids up front. Even further to the good is that there are a lot of prospects on the blue and in net who are looking pretty good as well. Some of this prospect pool will get derailed by injuries, some just won't make it but overall things look pretty cool. The bad news is that this latter group is going to take longer to develop. Eighteen and nineteen year olds don't generally star in the NHL at all but especially not as defencemen or goaltenders.

The elephant in the room? Does Tambellini have the chops to put this all together when the time comes and the kids mature a bit? You know where I stand on this. I don't think so. I hope I am wrong.

Because six poor years is really really ridiculous.

Learning To Fly

2011-08-24T14:05:00.002-04:00

I've said it before and I will say it again. I don't know if there is a greater thing about being a parent than watching your kids achieve new milestones. When they are really young they change quickly and so in a year you get all of those baby things - first smile, sitting up, sleeping through the night, new foods, first word, first step, first this, first that. Now these things are exciting (especially the sleeping through the night thing) but as the kids get older the milestones become, how do I say it, more what they are working towards achieving than natural progressions. Every kids learns to talk, know what I mean? It just happens.

But things like reading, writing, skating, swimming, riding a bike - of course most kids master these if they are exposed to them but learning how to skate or how to read, these take patience and work and so when it happens its a huge deal. Plus when a kid learns how to sit up he's not all smiles and breaking out the cigars, see? Riding a bike though, now that is a big deal to a little boy or a little girl.

These past few months have seen some exciting milestones for the boy. While our oldest has mastered riding a bike and is becoming a good swimmer, the boy faced down both challenges this summer. First he dropped the training wheels over the course of a couple of hours of an afternoon. He doesn't ride with the confidence of his sister yet but he's getting there. The bigger deal though is the swimming.

When they finished their spring lessons he was to the point where he could push off from the edge of the pool and then paddle back those few feet. Not bad, you have to start somewhere. But with a number of visits to pools and lakes and beaches this summer he is still at the point where he's wearing a lifejacket. He's not a swimmer.

We were up at camp a few weeks back and a lot of time was spent on the lake and jumping off our old dock. The kids, even the oldest, were happy to jump off of the dock wearing a lifejacket until our oldest finally got rid of it and began throwing herself into the lake with abandon.

Now the boy is a bit cautious by nature. Put it this way, he is a daredevil but he is very aware of the possibilities of harm that lurk for little kids who misstep. So while he is happy to climb and run and jump he is pretty smart about it. You won't find him doing anything stupid as a general rule.

He was a bit leery about going off the dock without the lifejacket, even though we were in the water to help him out. So we were standing on the dock in the sunshine, him standing there shivering a bit, Jenn in the water waiting, me calmly telling me that is would be cool if he jumped, no worries, him not so sure about the whole thing, mumbling that he would probably just take a pass thank you very much.

And suddenly he spun around when we weren't expecting, threw caution to the wind and flew off of the dock. Into the water he went, under the water he went and then up he came arms and legs churning furiously until he reached a spot (albeit not very far) where he could stand.

And from then on he was golden.

-------------------

We're not far away from camp opening for the Oilers and most likely its going to be another long year. So far the highest finish I have seen predicted for them is thirteenth with a third straight last place finish predicted by THN already.

(BTW I love how Oiler fans get all upset and jump up and down when a guy like Tyler Dellow predicts the club is going to do poorly and blames management for this mess. Whose fault is it anyhow and why should he believe that the guys who ran the club into the ditch are going to be able to get us out of it? I know Ty and he is a fan of the Oilers. He'd have to be to keep watching this disaster year after year. To get angry at him for pointing out that the club is shitty and that management is to blame makes no sense to me. Oh well.)

I spoke about this earlier this summer. If the team stays healthy and the kids all take a leap forward and they get a lot of luck and a few other clubs get the shit kicked out of them by injuries and bad luck (who saw NJ in the lottery last year anyhow - it happens) then they may actually surprise. That's a whole lot of ifs though. Adding Smyth and Belanger will help. I can't remember the last time the club looked this good up front. I guess 2006/2007. They have two veteran centres, they have Smyth and Hemsky, they have two kids in Hall and Eberle who played the toughs last year and did pretty well. Gagner is in his fifth year in the league which is crazy, Omark has been a pro for years and young Paajarvi may need shelter but its not like he's completely lost out there.

Of course the problem lies on the blueline and beyond. Can Whitney stay healthy and carry a kid and will Smid or Peckham have the chops to play tough minutes with Gilbert? Right now, as usual, there are two top four defencemen and that is all. And don't even get me started about the goaltending.

Here's the thing. If the Oilers were to turn everything on its collective coconut and have a good year I would gladly admit I am wrong. Gladly. Problem is I remember five years ago when fan boys were telling the skeptical that they would be eating crow. Its getting old all of this losing. And on top of it all we are going to see Ales Hemsky shipped away for another mid first round pick and kid who is years away on top of it all plus we will have to hear the howls for the heads of the remaining veterans (Gagner is now a veteran whose head is being howled for so you can see how fast the worm turns, some Oiler fans would be better served watching juniors to satisfy their preference for teenagers I think) and then more rounds of management spinning how its all part of the plan.

Bah.

And so once again we will be left to take the small enjoyments from this season. The return of Smyth. The last stylings of Hemsky in an Oiler uniform. Most of all though it will be the steps the kid take. Hall's exposive speed and shot. Eberle's deft hands. Paajarvi's wonderful skating. Omark's work with the puck and along the boards. Dubnyk's (hopeful) emergence. Petry. Peckham. The sure to come cups of coffee for Hartikainen and Lander and maybe other kids.

Its what we'll have to hang our hats on again and while their development will be fun personally I would prefer and actual hockey team that wins hockey games. I hope that day comes soon. Until then we'll have to watch the kids learn to fly.

August 'Odge Podge

2011-08-11T10:15:00.001-04:00

A little stream of consciousness a la King, Larry, not Denis ... I'm working on my French, can you not tell? ... speaking of French, we left last Saturday for PEI and we were flying flying flying, almost all the way through Montreal on 20, 4km from the bridge when we hit traffic, took us two hours to go 4 km and we arrived in Edmundston three hours later than we might have ... take those two hours away and we would have had supper when we arrived, instead we got fucked ... second year in a row this has happened, next year I think we cut through the States ... we still did 1100 km on the Saturday which left Sunday a relative breeze, five and a half hours of driving in total, piece of cake ... rumours still flying about Oilers shoring up their D and goaltending, mostly from Bra and Panties girl, she is an insider methinks or somewhat of one, which worries me considering she insists the club thinks they will be in the playoffs this season ... with this D and goaltending? Seriously? If club management thinks this then they haven't learned a goddamn thing about how to put a club together ... still a little bit of help in the UFA market and its always interesting to see who is left standing when the music stops ... Schremp to Europe but somehow POS catches on in Phoenix? Buddy has nine lives, of course Mark Bell has come back so I guess anything is possible ... I guess pedigree or being famous counts for something still ... always interesting who calls it quits, Draper and Todd Marchant have done so, others that may hang them up include Marchant's old Oiler linemates Mike Grier and Ethan Moreau as well as longtime stalwart Steve Staios. Some other famous names hanging around include Stillman, Samsonov, Drury, Jarkko Ruutu, John Madden, McCabe and Hannan ... I expect a number of these guys will call it a day but expect McCabe and Hannan will find work. Hannan and a guy like Sjostrom would help the Oilers, Ray Emery too, but I expect Edmonton is done unless they make a trade ... after months of hot sunny weather we arrived in Charlottetown to damp and cool and their warmest day this summer? 25 degrees! I don't complain about the heat anyhow but for anyone back in Ontario bitching about it you'd take it over the summer they are having here ... parsed out the blog a few days ago, compling my tales so I'd have a saved copy of them somewhere, the end result after I separated the Oilers' talk from it ... over 400 pages, 160000 words in all, holy shit, like Joyce I need a good editor to help me figure out what to do with all of this... start vacation today and hopefully the weather will get better, will make the best of it regardless, anything is better than work right now ... man could I go for a good handjob right about now ... just checking to see if you're paying attention ;) ... was on OilersNation radio last Saturday if you have not heard, go to their site if you want to check it out, was a blast talking to Allan Mitchell (Lowetide) and hopefully did not talk so much that he won't invite me back. It is definitely harder than it appears, if you misspeak you cannot take it back, for example when I explained that a storm was bad 'even for Toronto'. Jesus call in the army! I meant to say the storm was bad even if you were not from Toronto. No mulligans! ... the more I look at the Oilers this season the more I like the forwards but the less I like the D and goaltending, if everything pans out, and I do mean everything, they may be in the playoff race, but I see lottery one more time and Hemsky and Smyth gone at the deadline, which means that depth up front is gone again ... a lot of folks think Omark might be trade bait but the Hemsky situation precludes that, sign Ales and then they can think about trading a kid winger, until they do though nobody moves, you cannot go from Hemsky, Eberle, Omark as your RW depth chart to trading Omark and losing Hemsky months afterwards ... the roster is pretty well set, if nobody comes in the only questions are does RNH make it (probably at least for nine games), will Petry or Chorney be the seventh Dman (I would say Petry) and do any other kids make it (I think the prize kids - Lander, Hartikainen - start in OKC, it will be O'Marra or Vande Velde who make it if anyone does)? ... my wife is sexy hot, just thought I'd throw that in there because its truth ... I'm pvring it but have to say I'm missing my weekly dose of Al Swearengen and the rest of the inhabitants of Deadwood, to quote Al

Pain or damage don’t end the world, or despair, or fuckin’ beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man — and give some back.

Sounds like good advice for an Oilers' fan ;) ... alright off to start this holiday with a wander around the downtown of fair Charlottetown, perhaps a pint at some little pub, a browse through a bookstore, also in the plans are a few days at the family cottage, an afternoon hanging with the boy, a day of drinking by the pool sans la famille and an evening with one of best friends talking about man stuff on the river with a bottle of scotch and a pack of smokes I think.

Oooga oooga boooga!

Courage My Love

2011-08-05T13:45:00.001-04:00

I've alluded to the difficulty my mom has been going through a few times and now its time to tell the tale, in brief at least.

Last spring she started having some pain in her legs. At first she thought it was arthritis but it became progressively worse until she could barely stand it. My Mom is old style, she's tough and stoic and so when we would find her in tears from the pain she was in we knew it had to be very bad.

Visits to the doctor found nothing. Specialist after specialist, test after test, all with no story to tell, no cause unmasked. The pain continued and she got weaker and weaker. She began to lose weight and her mobility was reduced and we feared the worse. By August she could not walk and she was in the hospital.

August, September, October, November. Dad visited each day, rain, shine, snow. They tested for everything and found nothing. It wasn't cancer, thank God. And when whatever it was ran its course it got no worse. It did leave Mom in a wheelchair and in some pain, although the pain can be controlled fairly well. I took a Greyhound bus up to Sudbury and Dad and I cleaned and prepped and in December she came home. Finally.

My folks are the most positive people around but they were tested sorely here. Bowed, bent, not broken, they vowed to carry on as best they can. They were slowing down in any case (Dad will be eighty next year, Mom is just a year behind) but now, well now there was a challenge. Because Mom, more than anything, wanted to get back up to camp.

They've been up there very summer since 1968. Every year as long as they could get up there they would. Weekends, holidays, from the time the ice broke up until the snow was about to fly. And sometimes in the dead of winter. And on top of everything there be monsters.

Here's the thing. Its boat access. Its isolated. We're not talking a cottage on a street in the Muskokas where they are packed in cheek to cheek or a modern joint you can drive up to. We're talking a boat ride across a lake from one old worn grey dock to another, a log cabin without electricity or running water or a flush toilet. We're talking an outhouse. This is the real deal. We're not talking sidewalks or pavement, there's not an ounce of that to be found.

Its not really where you would recommend a couple of near eighty year olds, one in a wheelchair, set up shop for a lengthy period of time.

This picture above is of my folks hanging out at the annual camp picnic. They made it.

They had help. My Dad's best friend Otto passed away a number of years ago and its his son who now owns the camp next door. He and his boys and Dad built a ramp from dock to the sleepcamp deck. They cleared and levelled the path through the woods to their camp so that Mom could, with help, take her scooter through the forest to their place for dinner and beers and whatever is going on that day.

They went up the day before we did and Mick lifted my Mom into his boat nice and easy and across the lake she went and when I called that night to see how things were Mick said 'well she's sitting on the deck right now, looking out on the lake, having a beer. She's pretty happy'

Two nights later we had dinner on the porch, two close families, and looked out on the lake in the gathering gloom. Dad kept saying that we never thought she'd make it back.

But they did. Goes to show you what a couple of strong hearts can accomplish, with some help of course.

The Prendergast Era - The Dregs

2011-08-02T21:00:00.001-04:00

And now for the good news. Prendergast's record is not great but there is a lot of room for improvement. The jury is still out on Cogliano, Gagner, Petry, Peckham, Dubnyk and Omark. If these guys all turn out to be players, which is possible, then Prendergast moves into the top half of the league I think. Maybe not top ten but at least better than average which was LT's original remark. And if even a few of these guys get it together then the Oilers pass a few of the teams that guys like PDO find iffy.

What is almost certain is that nobody below them is going to catch them. There are a couple of teams below the Oilers who have had or are having some success right now but some of these clubs' draft records are just awful. Not surprisingly amongst this group are perennial losers like Atlanta, Florida and the Islanders. Read on and realize that as we always like to say around here, things can definitely get worse.

Columbus

2001 - LeClaire (8), Jackman (38), Johnson (85)
2002 - Tolleson (65)
2003 - Fritsche (46), Dupuis (104), Methot (168)
2004 - Picard (8)
2005 - Brule (6), McQuaid (55), Russell (67), Boll (101)
2006 - Brassard (6), Mason (69), Sestito (85), Dorsett (189)
2007 - Voracek (7)

The BJS have been abysmal forever and taking a look at their list its easy to see why. This includes five picks at 6, 7 or 8 of which only Brassard and Voracek look like they may have careers. The rest are mostly pluggers, thugs and journeymen who bounce between the NHL and the minors. These are from the Doug MacLean era - its easy to see why he remains unemployed. So fucking poor.

Ottawa

2001 - Gleason (23), Emery (99), Schubert (127), Laich (193), Bochenski (223)
2002 -
2003 - Eaves (29), Elliot (291)
2004 - Meszaros (23), Regin (87)
2005 - Lee (9), Bass (95)
2006 - Foligno (28)
2007 -

The Sens 'almost' clubs, those terrific clubs from the turn of the century and beyond who never could get past the Leafs despite all that talent, those clubs were built on the draft. So many quality players came up to the Sens, a lot of them due to Ottawa's poor early years but also a lot of quality mined from the later rounds and from Europe. Not so much any more. A few nice players on this list - Meszaros, Laich, Gleason but really very little in terms of quality and quantity. No wonder they fell apart as the core aged and moved on, nobody has come up to replace the old guard.

Calgary

2001 - Kobasew (14), Moss (220)
2002 - Nystrom (10), Lombardi (90), McElhinney (176)
2003 - Phaneuf (9)
2004 - Prust (70), Boyd (98), Pardy (173)
2005 - Pelech (26), Sutter (179)
2006 -
2007 - Backlund (24), Aulie (116)

Lately the Flames have moved a lot of picks as Sutter brought in veterans to try and recapture the magic of 2004 but there are some first rounders here and some fairly high ones, one wonders if something more in 2001 and 2002 might have helped those clubs that could never get out of the first round in the tough west. In a lot of ways the Flames are similar to the Oilers - the tale remains to be told for Backlund and Aulie - but the quantity is not there and you'd be hard pressed to say that any more than three guys on this list are good hockey players - Moss, Lombardi and Phaneuf. Pretty bad.

Phoenix

2001 - Sjostrom (11)
2002 - Eager (23), LeNeveau (46), Jones (80)
2003 -
2004 - Winnick (265)
2005 - Hanzal (17), Yandle (105)
2006 - Mueller (8)
2007 - MacLean (32)

2005 was a nice year for the Yotes but otherwise its a bunch of fourth liners and a top ten pick who was struggling before the concussion issues. Its hard to believe that there are clubs worse than this but there are.

Florida

2001 - Krajicek (24)
2002 - Campbell (67)
2003 - Stewart (25), Meyer (55)
2004 - Olesz (7), Booth (53)
2005 - McArdle (20)
2006 - Frolik (10)
2007 - Ellerby (10)

Booth looks like a player and Frolik does too but that's about it. A few massive underachievers, a nice role player in Colie's boy but overall its awful. No wonder the franchise looks doomed.

New Jersey

2001 - Voros (229)
2002 - Janssen (117)
2003 - Parise (17)
2004 - Zajac (20)
2005 - Bergfors (23)
2006 - Zharkov (77)
2007 - Halischuk (117)

Hard to believe that Jersey is on this list at this point, I was pretty shocked to see it. A lot of folks point to the departure of Stevens and Niedermeyer as the end of this club's heyday and a lot of quality has left over the years but with the exception of Parise (a big one I know) and Zajac there is nothing here at all. You might actually bump them up the list because of Parise I guess but my god this is abysmal drafting. And there are FOUR teams worse than this.

Atlanta

2001 - Nurminen
2002 - Slater, Dwyer
2003 - Coburn (8), Enstrom (239)
2004 - Valabik (10)
2005 - Pavalec (41)
2006 - Little (12)
2007 -

You have two nice defencemen in 2003 and Pavalec and Little might be players too but here is a pretty good reason this club is now defunct. Five picks in the top two netted them some quality but they couldn't do anything after those top guys (plus they moved Coburn, well done!) and the end result is one playoff appearance in franchise history and not a win.

New York Islanders

2001 -
2002 - Bergenheim (22), Neilsen (87)
2003 - Nilsson (15), Colliton (58), Gervais (182)
2004 - Nokelainen (16), Comeau (47), Campoli (227)
2005 -
2006 - Okposo (7)
2007 - Katic (62)

Neilsen is absolutely outstanding and Comeau may be a player. Most of the rest of these guys are crap. The Isles make the Oilers look like the seventies Canadiens when it comes to procurement although things seem to be looking up.

Carolina

2001 - Zigomanis (46)
2002 - Ward (25)
2003 -
2004 - Peters (38), Carson (109)
2005 -
2006 -
2007 - Sutter (11)

The Canes are generally competitive and of course they have a Cup, a Finals appearance and a conference finals appearance in the last decade but wow this is bad. Sutter looks like a player of course and no complaints about Cam Ward but three absolute misses and five players in total over seven years? Rutherford is pretty canny when it comes to the trades and free agency I think. I wonder if the scouts from this era are still around?

Tampa

2001 - Artyukin (94)
2002 - Ranger (183), Norrena (213), Craig (255)
2003 - Rosehill (227), Tarnasty (287)
2004 - Lundin (102)
2005 - Blair Jones (102)
2006 -
2007 - Tyrell (47)

Who is the best player on this list? Ranger maybe? He showed promise before he went to walk the earth like motherfucking Kane. Seriously this is so so so bad I can't even stand it. The Oilers have maybe a dozen players who could rank in the top two here, actually most of them would be the best player here.

Its not even close.

Getting There, Drafting 2001-2007

2011-07-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

Alright so we have looked at fourteen teams so far - now we are at 'the average' or at least the median line.

Not like this exercise needs a lot of explanation but here it is again. I'm listing the draft picks of all NHL clubs between 2001 and 2007 to see where Kevin Prendergast's work ranks. Lowetide opined that it was average or perhaps even a hair above average. My reaction to that was that if Kyle Brodziak was the fifth best player you drafted during that period then I couldn't see it.

I've excluded lottery picks because KP never had that luxury.

And this is a snapshot. A year from now if Cogliano and Gagner have scored 25 goals, if Petry or Peckham has established themselves as top four D or Dubnyk has clearly become a number one goalie or Omark has blossomed then they're going to move up. If all of these guys or the majority of them become players then KP will look much better. Remember though that all clubs still have kids on their way so they could potentially drop as well.

And of course these rankings are entirely subjective. I look at what I have done so far and I can see where teams may be moved around already. I'm pretty sure that nobody I have listed so far would rank beneath the Oilers though.

Here is the Oilers' list again:

2001 - Hemsky (13), Markannen (133), Pisa (272)
2002 - Deslauriers (31), Stoll (36), Greene (44)
2003 - Pouliot (22), Jacques (68), Stortini (94), Brodziak (214), Roy (215)
2004 - Dubnyk, Schremp (25), Reddox (112)
2005 - Cogliano (25), Chorney (36)
2006 - Petry (45), Peckham (75)
2007 - Gagner (6), Omark (97)

Now on to number 15. Its getting tighter now.

Colorado

2001 - Budaj (63), McCormack (144), Svatos (227)
2002 - Boychuk (61), Gilbert (129)
2003 - Richardson (163), D. Jones (286)
2004 - Wolski (21), Oreskovich (55), Yip (239)
2005 - Stastny (44), Hensick (88), Comiskey (222)
2006 - Stewart (18)
2007 - Shattenkirk (14), Galardi (55)

You might rank the Avs higher for sure. This is a club that always seems to have drafted well. Here you have Stastny who you might compare to Hemsky but while the Oilers drafted Greene, here you have two established NHL defencemen in Gilbert and Boychuk plus a slew of youngsters just establishing themselves and Svatos and Wolski plus emerging power forward Chris Stewart and David Jones who scored 27 goals last season and a slew of Brodziak types and agitators/foot soldiers. No contest.

St. Louis

2001 - McClement (57), Cajanek (253)
2002 - King (190)
2003 - Belle (30), Backes (62), Stempniak (148), Bolduc (127)
2004 - Polak (180)
2005 - Oshie (24), Bishop (85)
2006 - Berglund (25)
2007 - Eller (13), Perron (26)

Not a bad group, the Oilers are close to these guys and could surpass them but at this point St. Louis has the edge with guys like Backes and Perron as well as quality NHLers like Stempniak, McClement and Berglund. Still some possible upside here too with guys like Eller, Oshie and Bishop. Not an amazing group but solid.

Minnesota

2001 - Koivu (6), Wanvig (36), Veilleux (93), Boogard (202)
2002 - Bouchard (8), Harding (38)
2003 Burns (20), O'Sullivan (56)
2004 - Ryan Jones (111)
2005 -
2006 - Sheppard (9), Clutterbuck (72)
2007 -

This group could be a whole lot stronger if it were not for injury issues plus the headfuckery that is POS. It still ranks better than the Oilers although its a group they could pass. But you have two sublime players in Koivu and Burns and Clutterbuck, Sheppard and Bouchard all bring something to the table. And Harding could be a number one guy as well. Shallow but better than the KP group for now.

Pittsburgh

2001 - Armstrong (21)
2002 - Christensen (69), Talbot (234)
2003 - Stone (32), Carcilo (73), Bissonette (121), Moulson (263)
2004 - Goligoski (61), Kennedy (99)
2005 - Letang (62)
2006 -
2007 - Caputi (111), Jeffrey (171)

The Pens have a lot of famous players here because they are a famous team but also you have guys like Armstrong and Carcilo and Bissonette who are all well known for various reasons. This is a group that the Oilers' group may pass fairly easily. Some good players here who helped augment all of those lottery picks - Kennedy and Talbot come to mind - but this is a very close call. What tips it for me is that you have Letang who is just a fantastic talent, Moulson who is a late bloomer who can score a lot of goals and in Goligoski you have a guy who looks to be a legitimate power play QB. Throw in Armstrong and Kennedy and Talbot and this group edges out the Oilers' kids but not by much and I would bet that in a year or two the Oilers pass these guys by the side of the road.

Toronto

2001 - Colaiacovo (17), Pilar (39), Wellwood (134), Bell (65), Harrison (82)
2002 - Steen (24), Stajan (57), White (191), Kronwall (285)
2003 - Mitchell (158)
2004 -
2005 - Rask (21), Stralman (216)
2006 - Kulemin (44), Reimer (161)
2007 - Gunnarson (194)

This is a group that many will likely disagree with, first of all because they are the Leafs (!) and secondly because its pretty damn close and I will concede that you could argue for the Oilers over this list. Like Edmonton you have a lot of guys who have had careers on the fringes and there is no Hemsky here but ... but you have Kulemin who imo is one of the underrated guys in the league (how that happens in Toronto is beyond me), a quality starter in Rask (sure he lost his job to Thomas but he can play) and pretty good players in Steen, Colaiacovo and White. Not too mention Stajan was decent before he went off the rails.

Arguable? Sure it is and this is a group the Edmonton kids could pass easily although in the two goalies and Gunnarson there is some potential as well. But at this point I take Rask, Reimer, White, Gunnarson, Colaiacovo, Steen and Kulemin over the Oilers' lot. Probably not for long but right now, deep breath, yes.

-------------------

So that's 19 and I'm sure some folks will disagree with the Leafs and Pens. I believe in the Oiler kids and think they pass a few of these teams but right now this is where I have them. Twenty. Second division, right at the bottom of the middle third.

Drafts 2001-2007 Post #2

2011-07-26T11:00:00.001-04:00

So, the Prendergast era. Good, bad, how does it compare to how other clubs drafted in the same time period if we put them on equal footing, that is we don't include lottery picks.

As mentioned previously the Oilers are still on the clock with this one and if any number of their kids develop then they might jump up the list. Of course other clubs are in the same situation.

Alright so here's the next grouping. Nine clubs, all quite clear of the Oilers, any way that you look at it, imo.

Nashville

2001 - Hamhuis (12), Tootoo (98)
2002 - Upshall (6)
2003 - Suter (7), Klein (37), Weber (49), Sulzer (92)
2004 - Radulov (15), Rinne (258)
2005 - Franson (79), O'Reilly (150), Hornqvist (230)
2006 - Geoffrion
2007 - Blum (23), Spaling (58)

Nashville would die if it could not draft well and look at this list. Three top pairing Dmen, a fantastic goaltender and a couple of snipers as well as some quality depth and a couple of kids who may really turn into something.

Buffalo

2001 - Novotny (22), Roy (32), Pominville (55)
2002 - Ballard (11), Paille (20), Wideman (241)
2003 - MacArthur (74), Hejda (106)
2004 - Stafford (13), Sekera (71), Kaleta (176)
2005 - Gragnani (87), Butler (96), Gerbe (142)
2006 - Enroth (46), Weber (57)
2007 -

Another club known for its drafting. You might argue for a few others over Les Sabres but we're looking at a whole lot of quality NHL players in this list with more likely to come, one would bet. Not the top end quality of a few teams I have ranked below them but some very good players here.

Washington

2001 - Paetsch (58), Oduya (221)
2002 - Eminger (12), Semin (13), Gordon (17)
2003 - Fehr (18)
2004 - Schultz (27), Green (29), Lepisto (66)
2005 - Tim Kennedy
2006 - Varlamov (23), Neuvirth (34), Perreault (177)
2007 -

Really we're in an area where you could move teams around and I probably would not argue too much. With the Caps you have Semin and Green on this list plus a couple of goalies who look to be starters.

Los Angeles

2001 - Steckel (30), Cammalleri (49), Huet (214)
2002 - Grebeskov (18), Rome (104)
2003 - Brown (13), Boyle (26), Tambellini (27)
2004 -
2005 - Kopitar (11), Quick (72)
2006 - Bernier (11), Lewis (17)
2007 - Moller (52), Simmonds (61)

If Quick or Bernier or both develop then the Kings will rise. Three top notch forwards here plus a goalie who had a number of good years in Huet. Plus some useful guys in Simmonds and Steckel. Quite good.

New York Rangers

2001 - Blackburn (10), Tyutin (40), Murray (79), Zidlicky (176), Hollweg (238)
2002 - Prucha (240)
2003 - Dawes (149)
2004 - Korpikoski (19), Dubinsky (60), Callahan (127)
2005 - Staal (12), Sauer (40), Pyatt (107)
2006 - Anisimov (54)
2007 -

The Rangers have the rap of being lousy at drafting but this is a nice looking list and down the road it may look even better. Staal, Dubinsky and Callahan are three guys I would trade pretty well anybody on the Oilers for, Anisimov may be a player and there is other quality here as well.

That's ten clubs. No doubt that all are better than the Oilers. Other than Hemsky I don't think an Oiler would even rank in the top five of any of these clubs. Maybe Stoll might sneak in on one or two of them.

Boston

2001 - Morrison (19), Alberts (179), Jurcina (241)
2002 - Toivenen
2003 - Stuart (21), Bergeron (45), Thompson (183)
2004 - Krejci (63), Versteeg (134), Hunwick (224)
2005 - Lashoff, Sobotka
2006 - Lucic (50), Marchand (71)
2007 -

Boston with a lot of guys who have established themselves as NHLers albeit bottom pairing or fourth line guys. Also Versteeg, a nice complimentary player on Chicago's run, one of the best two way centres in the game in Bergeron, a top notch offensvie centre in Krejci and two youngsters in Lucic and Marchand who were big parts of Boston's success this past season, especially the latter who may have been Boston's best player in the final.

A lot of folks said Boston's win proved you don't have to draft well to win. Well there's some big pieces of the puzzle here folks.

Detroit

2001 -
2002 - Hudler (58), Fleischman (63), Filppula (95), Meech (229), Ericsson (291)
2003 - Howard (64), Quincey (132)
2004 - Franzen (97)
2005 - Abdelkader (42), Helm (132)
2006 -
2007 -

The Wings have built their team through the draft and for two decades now they have been finding quality in the lower rounds. They have to, seeing as they have been a Cup contender for twenty years, with four Cups and two more trips to the Finals under their belt in that time period. They are not what they once were and when Lidstrom goes one thinks maybe they will fall off - there are three years here where not a player has arrived. Five NHLers from 2002 and five more from the following three though? And Franzen at number 97? I'd take it.

Dallas

2001 - Smith (161), Jokinen (192)
2002 - Stephan (34), Daley (43)
2003 - Eriksson (33), Crombeen (54)
2004 - Fistric (28), Sawada (52), Grossman (56)
2005 - Niskanen (28), Neal (33)
2006 -
2007 - Benn (129)

Down the road this one may rise a bit, especially if Neal and Benn turn out as expected. A lot of good solid NHLers.

Anaheim

2001 - Gerber (232)
2002 - Lupul (7), Brent (37)
2003 - Getzlaf (19), Perry (28), D. Miller (186), O'Brien (250)
2004 - Smid (9)

Really top heavy and nothing after 2004 so far but Getzlaf and Perry alone blow away the Oilers. Good thing really because there's little after that but that's all you really need, they can build the team around these two for a decade.

---------

That's fourteen clubs down and no Oilers yet. Getting closer though.

Drafting 2001-2007

2011-07-23T15:00:00.001-04:00

God bless LT who has been posting like a madman, as always, right through the dog days of summer. Meanwhile I am posting barely once a week. Oh well what can I say? Slacker. ;)

LT had a post up today about Kevin Pendergrast and his drafting record. What interested me was LT's assertion that Pendergrast's record was average or a hair above average.

This struck me as generous. LT's top five from this time period included Kyle Brodziak, a player I like, but if he is number five then I think you have a problem. And of course the Oilers do. They are shitty and have been for years. Some of this is because management puts together poor clubs and part of this is because of poor development but a lot of it has to do with poor drafting.

So here is what I did. I looked at every club between 2001 and 2007. I ignored all top five picks - Pendergrast had only one top ten pick, Gagner, who was number six in 2007.

This is a snapshot mind you. Pendergrast could look much better in a few years because there are still many players whose careers are just getting started. Of course this is true for every club so he may actually fall further down the list.

What I've done is listed guys who have spent some significant time in the NHL. A guy like Liam Reddox makes the list, Alex Plante does not. I'm sure I have missed some tweeners for some clubs. I'm not sure who the Panthers' equivalent of Liam Reddox is. Really though for this exercise its not very important.

I'm going to break this up over a number of posts just to make it easier to look at. I hope you find it interesting - unfortunately as an Oilers' fan its disheartening.

I'll start with the Oilers and then the top five clubs, imo.

Oilers

2001 - Hemsky (13), Markannen (133), Pisa (272)
2002 - Deslauriers (31), Stoll (36), Greene (44)
2003 - Pouliot (22), Jacques (68), Stortini (94), Brodziak (214), Roy (215)
2004 - Dubnyk, Schremp (25), Reddox (112)
2005 - Cogliano (25), Chorney (36)
2006 - Petry (45), Peckham (75)
2007 - Gagner (6), Omark (97)

The Oilers had a ton of quantity. Plante and Nash could still be players too. The quality, however, is seriously lacking. Its a long list of tweeners and a few of these guys are out of the NHL or on the bubble. Hemsky was a home run obviously and Stoll, Greene, Brodziak and Gagner are established NHL players. Pendergrast's legacy could change, a lot, if Gagner blossoms, if Cogliano becomes a player and if Dubnyk, Petry, Peckham and Omark all establish themselves as quality. But until then his work is clearly second division. Don't believe me? Read on. Here are my top five:

Chicago

2001 - Ruutu (9), Craig Anderson (73)
2002 - Babchuk (21), Keith (54), Wisniewski (156), Burish (282)
2003 - Seabrook (14), Crawford (52), Byfuglien (245)
2004 - Bolland (32), Bickell (41), Dowell (140)
2005 - Skille (7), Hjarlamasson (108)

Nobody out of 2006 or 2007 yet except those lottery picks so you might nick them for those but this list is fantastic in terms of quality and quanity. In five years the Hawks drafted two quality NHL starting goaltenders, three quarters of their top four D as well as another top four Dman and Babchuk and three top six forwards (I include Byfuglien as a forward here), a promising guy in Bickell and a few tweeners.

Philadelphia

2001 - Woyitka (27), Sharp (95), Seidenberg (172), Timonen (146)
2002 -
2003 - Carter (11), Richards (24), Fraser (69), Picard (85), Potulny (87)
2004 -
2005 - Downie (29), Bartulis (91)
2006 - Giroux (22), Nodl (39)
2007 -

Flyers are a funny team. Its either home runs or complete misses with very little in between. The top six here is probably the best out there - Carter, Richards, Sharp, Seidenberg, Downie, Giroux - plus there are some decent tweeners but no goaltending and a lot of zeroes on the board. You might rank them lower but the core they drafted here is fantastic.

Montreal

2001 - Komisarek (7), Plekanec (71)
2002 - Higgins (14)
2003 - Kostitsyn (10), LaPierre (61), O'Byrne (79), Halak (271)
2004 - Grabovski (150), Streit (262)
2005 - Latendresse (45), D'Agostini (190), Kostitsyn (200)
2006 - White (66)
2007 - Pacioretty (22), Subban (43), Weber (73)

Really terrific and could really be ranked higher even now. There is no Keith or Richards on the list is why I have them a little lower. A half dozen top nine forwards at least plus a starting goalie and some quality defencemen.

San Jose

2001 - Goc (20), Ehrhoff (106), Clowe (175)
2002 - Newbury (139)
2003 - Michalek (6), Bernier (16), Carle (47), Pavelski (205)
2004 - Greiss (94), Mitchell (126)
2005 - Setoguchi (8), Vlasic (35)
2006 - McGinn (36)
2007 - Couture (9)

This could be number one as well and may be when all is said and done. Helped out by the fact that there are three top tens of course but nine of these guys are second rounders or lower and Pavelski, Clowe, Mitchell and Ehrhoff are all triple digit draftees. Crazy.

Vancouver

2001 - Umberger (16), Bieksa (151)
2002 -
2003 - Kesler (23)
2004 - Schneider (26), Edler (91), Hansen (287)
2005 - Bourdon (10), Raymond (51)
2006 - Grabner (14)
2007 -

Similar to Philly, its big fly or nothing. The quality here can't be ignored though. If Schneider is as good as he looks we're talking about eight quality NHLers plus poor Luc Bourdon.

That's for starters. More to come.

Summertime

2011-07-17T17:00:00.001-04:00

For northern people summers are special. As a boy I spent hot summer days by lakes in remote spruce and pine forests. As a young man my summers were spent in my hometown, days working outdoors, weekends and nights spent getting into mischief with a band of the finest brothers, drinking cold beer, chasing tail, riding the wave of being young and strong and perverted, as that beautiful woman once sang, accompanied by the roar of laughter. Then years wandering the streets of Toronto, dusty and poor, baking in the endless oppressive heat, stringing meager dollars together for the next night out with friends. And then a summer in PEI, a return to the glory days of my youth the year I turned thirty, a summer spent on the harbour and rivers and ocean, endless nights of drinking, the beach and Peake's Quay and a long legged girl with flashing green eyes and a tiny black puppy with white paws and a seven emblazoned on his narrow chest. The most glorious summer in a lifetime of them.

We lived in Florida where summer has no meaning and then we returned to the good country and set up shop here in Toronto. Our summers have been fine ones and since our return there has been a rhythm to them. The trip north, the trip east. Summer sports and weekends spent enjoying everything this town has to offer. Nights out on patios and a million festivals, ravines and islands and beaches. Cold bottles of beer sweating, bottles of wine, hot nights rolling in the sheets.

Last summer began with a death and what in many ways was a typically wonderful year for us had a pall over it. Old Ben passed the Friday before the May long weekend and my mom was ill with a mystery that began in the spring and progressively worsened until she was hospitalized in August. The fear hung over us even as we enjoyed what summer offered and when autumn brought three deaths in succession it punctuated a year of discontent.

Such is life as we age. It was two summers ago as we prepared for what would be a legendary night out that our discussions turned to this fact - our parents and their generation are getting older (as we all are) and so annually sad news arrives. Sometimes it strikes close to home, other times its a distant bell.

There is not a thing that can be done but to enjoy what we have and so this summer has begun and it has the makings of another legendary one. The cold wet spring has given way to endless days of sunshine. This week will mark our tenth anniversary and since our trip to the Dominican the year has had a festive feel. We have had the usual milestones (the boy can now ride a bike and last week went tubing for the first time). There is the preparation as Jenn works towards what will be her second half marathon. There was the U2 concert last week, which left us gasping for breath, and a trip to the Kawarthas and the usual trips to Gerrard for Indian and the beach for sunshine and just last Friday a wonderful night out on the back patio at the Cloak and Dagger, pints of Boneshaker IPA and into the warm night all boozy and buzzing and the rush home to sit on the back deck and then upstairs for some fun until the wee hours and here we are all of these years later and its probably never been better. And that is something to celebrate.

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Once the free agent rush ends my thoughts tend to turn from the Oilers for a while. Threads tend to turn ugly and repetitive. There are only so many lineups to post, So many trade rumours to discuss before folks tend to turn to begin to argue about the arena, team management, Sam Gagner, Tom Gilbert and so on. The only way out of the mess is if you get traded and that's not really true. Folks argued about Ryan Smyth from the day he was traded to the day he returned.

Fan isn't derived from fanatic for nothing.

As usual there are the usual management blue skiers who say that THIS IS THE YEAR and ANY NEGATIVISM WILL HURT THE TEAM and MANAGEMENT IS NOT AT FAULT FOR ANYTHING and btw GIVE KATZ EVERYTHING HE WANTS BEFORE THE OILERS LEAVE TOWN and I guess sooner or later these guys will be right and the Oilers will return to the playoffs but its not going to be this year unless the stars align. I'm one of the most positive guys you will ever meet (that is how Vic Ferrari introduced me to the huddled masses over five years ago) but I am a realist too. The club has been terrible for five seasons now and nobody but management deserves the blame for that. Is there hope for the future? Sure there is. There are some terrific young players with the big club now and a lot of nice prospects on the way but these past few summers we have seen Schremp and Cogliano and Pouliot and Deslauriers and Jacques and O'Sullivan all fail to meet expectations and get sent down the road and for many of these former bright lights the dance is almost over. Young players don't develop in straight lines and sometimes they never develop at all. And then you're Atlanta or Florida or the Islanders and you suck forever.

I think the Oilers will likely be in the lottery next year if they are done with their moves. Too many issues from the blueline on back. Now having said that nothing is a sure thing. Nobody saw the Devils in the lottery last summer and two years ago nobody saw the Avs in the playoffs. Teams will collapse and the Oilers may rise above those clubs and because its sport and luck plays a role you never ever know what can happen. But for the Oilers to be a competitive club this season, for them to make the leap they will need, well, everything to go right.

They will need Dubnyk to become a very good goaltender or for Khabibulin to turn back the clock.

They will need Sutton to turn the clock back two years and for two or more of Petry, Peckham and Smid to take a big leap forward. Gagner too.

They will need Whitney and Horcoff and Hemsky to stay healthy. And pretty well anyone else of value.

They will have to fix the special teams especially the PK because they will likely be in the box a lot.

They need Hall and Eberle and Omark and Paajarvi to improve on their nice starts to their careers. No going sideways. No backsliding. Improvement across the board.

They will need a couple of other kids to step up. Maybe Lander.

They will need some luck on top of all that.

Is it possible? Of course. Anything is. Its unlikely, very unlikely really, but its possible.

I actually like the summer Tambo had. Sure Smyth fell into his lap but who cares. He added two quality top nine forwards for very little. Eager is a huge upgrade on JFJ (of course even I would be a slight upgrade there) and he gives the team that dick factor as well. So do Sutton and Hordichuk. Will that make a big difference? Maybe not but I think this club could use a bit of viciousness to it. They haven't been tough to play against since 2006.

They subtracted some shit and that's no big deal, I'd feel better if they recognized that JFJ and Deslauriers couldn't hack it before but oh well.

So ... that's my thoughts. I think the team is better. I think they need two more top four D and a number one goaltender before they are going anywhere and maybe those pieces are just waiting to emerge. Overall though I think they are staying on course which does not surprise me. They are incrementally better and if they stay healthy they will probably win quite a few more games if the goaltending holds up. Another top ten pick next summer and then Tambo will be on the clock methinks.

Going, Going, Gone

2011-07-12T15:30:00.000-04:00

I'm still here. still alive and kicking as it were. Summer has arrived in all of its glory and the result has been less time spent in front of the laptop and worrying about the Oilers (well, perhaps worry is too strong a word) and more time spent on the deck, at the cottage and doing things more suited for sunny days.

So I've been putting off posting what I think about the Oilers going into next summer (just a slight tease - I see their season ending up with something rhyming with 'boughtatree' or similar anyhow) but I will get to that in the next day or two. But first a few words about the suddenly departed Andrew Cogliano, traded to the Ducks for a second round pick. So he joins Jacques and Deslauriers and I wonder if Lubo is going to walk into the room this fall and say in his little Slovakian accent 'Trade me right fucking now!' when he sees that Bob Murray has collected three guys who barely have a clue between them.

I kid, slightly. While Jacques is a truly horrible player at the NHL level and Deslauriers is a poor goaltender, imo, (although to be fair to JDD the Oilers handled his development terribly - he could probably sue them for ruining his career), Cogliano is not absolutely worthless. He is a pretty good representative of what has gone wrong with the Edmonton Oilers over the past few years though.

Cogliano was picked late in the first round. He had a nice pedigree, Bob MacKenzie raved about him although he was biased (I think his kid played with Cogliano). The biggest thing about him was his speed. Todd Marchant with hands was the description bandied about. He played in the WJC and acquitted himself fairly well and was pretty good at Michigan.

God knows I've ranted enough about how the Oilers dumped good NHL players over the years, Cogliano, along with Gagner and Nilsson, arrived in the middle of that purge. In their Cup run the Oilers had the following forwards who could play the toughs or do some damage against the softs at evens or do damage on special teams: Smyth, Horcoff, Samsonov, Stoll, Hemsky, Torres, Peca, Pisani, Moreau, Dvorak.

Samsonov Peca and Dvorak were gone come fall 2006, Petr Sykora and Joffrey Lupul were their replacements, the falloff was immense, the results predictable and a year later when Cogliano came to camp Ryan Smyth was gone as well as those two.

So for Cogliano, Gagner and Nilsson (as well as Stortini and Brodziak iirc, although not for poor Robbie Schremp) it was the perfect situation. There were only six quality NHLers remaining plus Dustin Penner and Patrick Thoresen so the holes in the lineup were many and in what has become the new Oilers' way instead of bringing in some veterans to hold the fort while the kids learned their trade elsewhere, the youngsters were thrown to the wolves.

They struggled as would be expected and Nilsson was benched a number of times until it looked like his career was over and then it appears he realized it and for a couple of months the three kids played together, caught some magic in a bottle and became the toast of the town.

That would be the high water mark for the kids. Oilers' management, addled as always, responded as if they were the second coming of Gretzky, Messier and Kurri. They shipped out Stoll and Torres and Greene (Thoresen was already gone), they brought in Cole and Visnovsky and they preceded to stink. Again.

It wasn't long before Nilsson was back in the pressbox and for two years he confounded the Oilers until they cut him loose along with Patrick O'Sullivan.

As for Cogliano, well a goodly part of the blame belongs with him. The kid had try and he could skate and he wasn't afraid to go to the crease to score those dirty goals but when it came to hockey he wasn't all that good. He couldn't win draws and he was always on the wrong side of his check and he had no idea how to use that blazing speed.

Is it all his fault? Of course not. The Oilers rushed him first of all and then, as LT remarked (paraphrasing), he had three rookie years in the league. They had him over his head, they had him as a checker, they had him here, they had him there. They botched his development and it wasn't until Renney came on board that there seemed to be a plan. The plan may never have worked but the fact that there was no plan in the first place is another black mark against an organization that has fallen down and still hasn't gotten up.

Will Cogliano become a player? Well its hard to say. He's getting a wakeup call and maybe another organization will teach him what he needs to know to become a player. When Belanger came in it was clear that the writing was on the wall and that he was fourth on the depth chart at centre now.

What's frightening? Here's a tell. Cogliano was on the bubble but it was after the rookie camp that he got moved because the Oilers, bless their hearts, see a new shiny object coming up the pipe. It may be Nugent Hopkins but more likely its Lander, imo, who turned heads and had people turning cartwheels.

A fan somewhere last week (may have been LT's) was going on and on about how Cogliano was no longer necessary because of Lander and a few cautionary voices popped up. Anton Lander is a nice prospect who has played exactly as many games in the NHL as I have. Dumping a guy who has four seasons under his belt for nothing is SOP for the Oilers and if Lander or Nugent Hopkins can't make the grade than the fourth line will be a sinkhole again and if Horcoff or Gagner goes down (I know I know hard to imagine) then suddenly O'Marra or VandeVelde is your number three centre.

I mean, seriously.

I have no idea if Cogliano carves out a career or if he's in Italy in a couple of years playing with Mario Chitaroni and Robbie Schremp but you'd think you might want to not just toss him away just yet, right?

Oilers love their picks though and they just got a second. So there you go.

Every Dog Has His Day

2011-07-01T20:50:00.003-04:00

Jenn started a three day work weekend today so its Me and The Animals, a classic sitcom (cue the laughtrack as Daddy drinks while the kids run wild). We hit the beach for Canada Day, the kids built sand castles and splashed in the shallows while I looked at the girls and followed the happenings on Overpay Day on Twitter.

On the hike down we ran into a couple in the park walking a beautiful dog, its one of these newer 'breeds' called a Labradoodle, basically its a mutt although I'm sure it won't be long before they're a recognized breed, if they aren't already. I've heard of the Golden Doodle, one of our neighbours has one as does a buddy of mine, never heard of a Labradoodle though, which is weird becuase its BASICALLY THE SAME THING!

Fack me. Remember the other day when I said I knew nothing about music or a lot of other new shit? Well apparently you can add dogs to that as well and I'm a dog guy.

Anyhow I think we've found the dog we're going to get if we ever get another dog. Three different sizes, smart, gentle and no shedding. As we walked to the beach I told the kids that when Mommy asked them about the beach they were to mention that their favourite part was the dog they saw and I told our youngest to repeat after me:

Mummy I want a puppy.

Once she nailed it with the sad eyes I told her to say that to my wife every second day until we had a dog. Can't lose. ;)

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OK so UFA day is absolutely ridiculous. Even with the cap going up up up and away paying insane amounts of money for mediocre players can destroy your team. We knew it would be goofy today with clubs NEEDING to add guys and the available player pool shrinking by the minute and parity in the league meaning that any season a good team might get lucky and go a long way.

As of tonight Richards remains unsigned and apparently this is going to be the mother of all contracts. Interesting too that Tomas Vokuon, a guy who could totally help a team, remains unsigned, and Simon Gagne is also out there although in his case I think he can pick his club pretty well.

But the number of ridiculous signings that boggle the mind? Oh my God.

And here's the thing. After the dust has settled, the clubs who have been the biggest movers for the most part are actually worse than they were before (Philadelphia or Phoenix) or still really bad (Florida). Mike Gillis was smart and Boston stood pat and I really liked what San Jose and Chicago did (Montador's deal was a bit long for my taste but overall the Hawks did quite well I think). Washington too. And Carolina. Notice that we're talking some pretty good clubs here. Of course they're dealing from a position of strength, no need to sign Sean Bergenheim to a four year deal when you've just won the Cup I guess.

Two other teams who did pretty well? The Leafs. Seriously. Sounds like there's some panic and some media memebers are ranting and raving already but what do the Leafs need? A number one centre. If they don't get Richards should they pay someone else ridiculous money? No. Could they use a goalie? I think so and maybe they can grab Vokoun at a nice deal but again what should they do otherwise? Be cool. Relax. Pick up a guy getting dumped to fill your holes for a year or two.

The Leafs are getting better and I would bet that they are not done this offseason but this idea that they NEED to add players, that they NEED to get into the pool, well that idea is a bad idea.

You know who else had a good day? The Edmonton Oilers. Seriously. I was joking with Dennis King earlier today that Tambellini was having his best day ever. This was before Belanger too. Low bar right? :)

But really look at the week he has had.

He has added two top nine forwards in Smyth and Belanger. Both are good players who can handle the toughs at evens and who can PK and who can do the little things that help win hockey games.

Before this week the top nine included Cogliano and Ryan Jones. Now its as follows:

Hall-Horcoff-Eberle Smyth-Gagner-Hemsky Paajarvi-Belanger-Omark

He's added two fourth liners. Ben Eager is an upgrade on Jacques and while he is a fourth liner (that is, not very good) he scored nine goals last year, he is fast and he's a fucker who will hit anyone. Hordichuk is shittier but he's an upgrade on MacIntyre who could barely get on the ice for a shift. We knew we were getting a goon. I prefer Hordichuk to the incumbent.

So the fourth line presently is Eager and Jones and Cogliano or Brule or either Vandevelde or O'Marra or another player not yet on the radar. Maybe Lander?

Its better than last year.

And Andy Sutton comes in for Kurtis Foster. Sutton is old and apparently he is no longer what he was but he's an upgrade on Foster imo.

And finally there is Cam Barker. One year. Its not our money folks. If he gets it together, a big if absolutely, then its a win for the Oilers, they get a young Dman and they have his rights. If he's terrible then they can release him or walk away in a year. Its a gamble and there is no risk. Is the money goofy? Sure it is. But if Barker gets it together and realizes his career is on the line and actually performs? Then its well spent.

Smyth. Belanger. Eager. Hordichuk. Barker. Sutton.

At the cost of Fraser and Foster and a seventh round pick.

Four of these guys are UFA in a year and the two longest contracts are three years and at money that can be dumped easily.

I cannot believe I am saying this but Steve Tambellini did a good job today. The Oilers still need help on the blue and I'd love to see an upgrade in net. This isn't a playoff team but a series of bets that are low risk and upgrade your club? That's good management.

Get Out Of My Jello Tree!

2011-06-30T17:30:00.001-04:00

Have been a little nostalgic for the relatively old days lately. Some great threads, including a few here, with comments from Dennis King, Vic Ferrari, LT, Tyler Dellow and RiversQ. Just like old home week if only Grabia, Loxy and the CinO boys would grace us with their presence.

I love this picture. In my hometown if you go into one of the malls you will always see collections of retired miners from Inco or Falconbridge, hanging out and drinking their morning coffees. My parents' neighbour, an ancient Greek fellow with a million health issues, still treks up to the New Sudbury shopping centre every morning, has been doing do for a quarter century now I'm sure.

I remember a buddy of mine, we were in our early twenties I think, telling us how one time he was at the mall and espied a quarter on the floor near the food court. Quite excited, because like all of us he is a cheap greedy bastard, he bent over to pick it up but it would not budge. He began to work at it, picking at it, kicking it, until he heard snickering and saw a band of oldsters laughing at him because they had glued the quarter to the floor.

Amongst the themes in these meandering conversations was aging, with that popping up a few times, and these days I’m feeling it a bit. Every once in a while I have posted a picture of my son from the last time the Oilers made the playoffs. He is eight months old in the picture, all fat face and toothless grin. Yesterday he finished kindergarten and in the fall he will start grade one.

Stupid Oilers.

Last night we took the kids out to celebrate a very good school year. The oldest two are both very bright kids and very good students and so we went out for Chinese. It was a lot of fun although the food was mediocre and expensive, not a good combo. On the way home the radio is on and a song comes on and my eldest who bought her first CD the other day (it was Justin Beiber and she bought it with her own money) asks if we can turn it up.

Well the song is garbage. Its somebody who keeps saying that their name is ‘K’ and so I say to my wife who the hell is this and she says are you being an ass and I say why would you say that and she rolls her eyes and I say no for once I am serious and she says yeah right and I say no I am and who is singing this and she says who do you think, listen to the song, her name is K.

And now I’m really feeling like my old man because I say that is absolutely ridiculous and I think that you are joking me and she says well why would she say she is someone else in the song, that’s just goofy.

And I answer well when Mick Jagger was singing “Can you guess my name? the answer wasn’t Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney is not actually a walrus and what is wrong with kids nowadays anyways!

K. Shut up and go away would you?

Now have a seat over there and I’ll tell you how I singlehandedly took that trench at Vimy, wiped out a whole platoon of Jerries with nothing but a can opener, a urine soaked handkerchief and the onion on my belt.

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The day before the free agent frenzy and its looking more and like this could be absolutely mental.

But for different reasons than normal.

There is one marquee name out there. Brad Richards. After that its a bunch of middling players. There's some decent ones out there but after Vokuon I don't think there's even someone you would call an upper echelon player. Ehrhoff is the next best I guess and what was he, the fourth best defenceman on the Canucks?

Now don't get me wrong - there are some useful players out there, guys like Belanger and Gagne and on and on, but more and more players are extending their contracts with their present teams. Carolina was supposed to lose a boatload of guys, they just signed Jussi Jokinen, he joins Pitkanen and Larose, who signed yesterday.

So the supply of players has shrunk and will probably shrink further. The demand is higher than usual with plenty of teams needing to get to the salary floor. Florida, even with Campbell and Kopecky signed, need to add over twenty million in salary still I believe. Khabibulin likes warm weather, right?

So what's going to happen tomorrow? Well its going to look a lot like the trade deadline. There will be a blockbuster and then a whole lot of signings that are the equivalent of Brent Ashton for a fifth rounder type deals. TSN is going to try and get folks excited about the whereabouts of Steve Montador (and as I write this I see that Montador is off the market)and Joel Ward.

As an Oilers' fan its going to be an interesting day because we will see if the Oilers are going to add more "Ryan Smyths", that is, useful players, or if the plan is to add more Colin Frasers.

In other words are they going to start trying to climb back to respectability or are we looking at another tank job.

The biggest problem? These perfectly serviceable players are going to be getting ridiculous terms and monies. Do we want Vern Fiddler and Jan Hejda? Sure, they'd help a lot. Will we be able to sign them for a year for 3 million, as Tampa did with Roloson? Unlikely.

Do we want Vern Fiddler for four years at three million per?

So there is that and with today's trifecta of Oiler news we are reminded AGAIN that management in Edmonton is pretty well the worst, the bushest in a league so bush it reminds me of a centerfold in a seventies Penthouse.

Sheldon Souray and the last year of his ridiculous contract bought out, after spending a year getting paid over five million bucks to play in the AHL.

Ladi Smid gets an enormous raise for ... scoring no goals? Being decent? I like Smid and all but check the thread at Lowetides. Its the best. And I paraphrase:

Lowetide: 2.25 million? Hell of a deal although I feel bad he took a pay cut.

Lowetide: Wait a second. 2.25 million per year! FUCK ME!

(Note that LT did not actually say FUCK ME! That's artistic license. I'm sure he was thinking that though.)

And exhibit three the drama around the Smyth acquisition continues as apparently Fraser, like Brule, is also damaged goods. Apparently the Oilers' team barber was too busy giving Hemsky a good bleeding to properly diagnose, well, anyone.

So while I want the Oilers to shore up what needs shoring up, and its a fair size list:

Third line centre who has size, can win draws, PK, check. (if Cogliano gets moved/bumped to the fourth line)

Fourth line centre with the above attributes if Cogliano sticks and maybe even if he doesn't.

A couple of fourth liners/extra forwards with size and a clue. Of course one of these needs to be a goon because thats the way the Oilers roll, even though the SMac deterrence factor was, again, lacking.

A defenceman who can play in the top four and PK.

A veteran goalie who can share the load with Dubnyk.

That's a long list and its not going to be filled via UFA but my guess is there probably will be a couple of moves. The Oilers have Hartikainen and maybe VandeVelde who can step in this fall but that's about it.

It will be interesting. Few teams win in the frenzy and I'm pretty sure that Tambellini will be stepping up before the mic, staring off into the distance with that glazed look in his eyes and stammering that the Oilers have, yes indeed, signed Zenon Kenopka to a four year ten million dollar deal.

And a nation will turn its lonely eyes to the liquor cabinet and realize that they do not have enough booze in there to kill the pain and rage and because its Canada Day the only option will be to actually break into the liquor store in an attempt to steal a truckload of alcohol with the added bonus that the cops will arrive, thus giving us Oiler fans the opportunity to commit suicide by cop, thus ending our misery.