Oklahoma City AHL List Narrowed - Announcement today at 4 P.M.
by Derek Zona on Feb 9, 2010 9:15 AM PST
in News
4 comments
In advance of today's 4 P.M. CST announcement concerning the new AHL team in Oklahoma City, we've discovered an additional four domains, all registered to the same address that Prodigal Hockey is registered.
www.okoilbarons.com
www.okoilers.com
www.okoilkings.com
www.okroadrunners.com
Perhaps management listened when Oiler fans bristled at the www.okcoilers.com domain. Previously, I was told that the Oil Kings were the front-runner, but a separate source says that the Roadrunners are the front-runner. With this discovery, it would seem that the 89ers and the Hawks are out of the running, but we've now been told that Prodigal Hockey isn't 100% sure of the name yet.
Thanks to the OKCSlackers message board for the investigative help.
4 comments | 0 recs |
Edmonton - Phoenix Post-Game: The Pitton of Despair
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 8, 2010 9:42 PM PST
in Game-Day Threads
11 comments
Oh, in how many ways do I hate the Oilers?
They allow five points to a former draft pick? That's a pretty good example. Matthew Lombardi, lest you forget, was a seventh-round pick of the Oilers back in 2000, but he re-entered the draft after Kevin Lowe refused to shake enough change out of the couch cushions to give him an entry-level contract. He was then picked by the Calgary Flames who traded him for Olli Jokinen, so things could always be worse.
They played not-awful hockey, on balance, considering that they lost 6-1. That's probably even worse than them simply rolling over. With Sam Gagner back home nursing what we can only assume is a career-ending knee injury, the offense lacked any degree of spontaneity or spark but it had some methodical plodding quality that battered holes in the Phoenix defense at points. They were the lesser team in spite of the shot clock, but they weren't far the lesser team. They weren't five goals worse than the Coyotes.
Well, most of them weren't. Jeff Deslauriers was. Waving at pucks passing him on the glove side like a middle-aged man at the company softball game. Standing around gawking like an idiot as pucks were deflected by him. Opening holes so large it was a wonder Radim Vrbata didn't simply skate the puck into the net just to be sure. Every time it looks like he might be putting things together or shoving it up the backsides of his critics, he is utterly destroyed by sub-par offensive chances and he makes us long for the sweet embrace of Nikolai Khabibulin and his league-average goaltending.
There was every chance in the world for the Oilers to get something positive out of this. Bryan Pitton was on the bench, and he had never played in an NHL game. Deslauriers was fanning on the puck in the most egregious manner, and in any other situations surely would have been pulled. It's not like the Oilers were playing for anything more than pride, either in the game or for the rest of the season. Let the kid get a chance, grab a puck he can take home and show the family, and tell the grandkids he played in the NHL, because at least it would be a nice story.
Bryan Pitton is surely one of the worst goaltenders the Oilers have ever given money to. Last year he posted an .886 save percentage in thirty-four games, which is horrifying in any context and even worse than horrifying when you realize he put up that number in the ECHL. In the OHL playoffs, he once posted a save percentage below .800. He's a terrible, terrible netminder, and I was still viscerally longing to see him replace Deslauriers before the game was through.
I've given up on cheering for wins and am now cheering for narrative.
11 comments | 1 recs |
Oilers v. Coyotes - Hosea 6:4-6
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 8, 2010 4:00 PM PST
in Game-Day Threads
171 comments
"What can I do with you Mr. Manager?
And what about you Mr. Dithers?
Your savvy is like a morning mist,
present in the early hours and then quickly gone forever!"
"And so the prophets of the Oilogosphere have torn you to shreds!
Outwitted by jerks behind computers! How embarassing!
Like a pack of Coyotes with fresh meat, they have pounced on your incompetence!"
"What I want from you is my mercy, not a 'righteous' sacrifice,
an acknowledgment of your failings, not more ASSessment."
Edmonton Oilers (18-33-6) @ Phoenix Coyotes (35-19-5)
Jobing.com Arena, 7:30 P.M. MST
Television: Sportsnet West
More analysis after the jump...
171 comments | 0 recs |
Saving Phoenix - one student at a time?
by Derek Zona on Feb 8, 2010 2:00 PM PST
in Opinion
21 comments
It's no secret that Phoenix struggles with attendance. It's no secret that those struggles are related to the location of the arena as the Phoenix hinterlands aren't an attractive destination for night life. What's more disturbing is that the location of the arena may end up being the biggest liability for this franchise, one that even a savvy management team won't be able to overcome.
21 comments | 0 recs |
Robby Dee Interviews with The Copper & Blue
by Derek Zona on Feb 8, 2010 11:00 AM PST
in Prospects
8 comments
Robby Dee is yet another Oilers draft pick that fits the recent trend of bringing as many intelligent players into the organization as possible. Dee is a Finance major at the University of Maine and in each of the last two years has been a Maine Scholar-Athlete Award winner and has been named to the Hockey East Academic Honor Roll. Dee was a thinking man's player coming out of high school where he scored 87 points in back-to-back seasons and was named a Mr. Hockey Minnesota finalist. He went on to the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, but was only able to play half of his 18-year-old season because of a shoulder injury. He stayed in the USHL for a second year, but his season ended prematurely after yet another shoulder injury, this one completely unrelated to the first.
Dee moved on to Maine and was primarily a role player for the Black Bears in his first two seasons. This year as a junior, Dee was enjoying a breakout season with 16 points in 18 games when he was again felled with an injury, causing him to miss three weeks. Oiler fans are acutely aware of the impact of injuries on the development of prospects and Dee's injury history is beginning to read like Marc Pouliot's minus the mono, which is cause for concern.
Dee is a 6'2" 195 pound center that plays a cerebral game. He's got size but isn't known as a particularly physical player. His scouting report reads very similarly to that of Riley Nash. I had the chance to speak with Robby about Maine, his season and his injury last week prior to his first couple of games back, a huge series against conference rival New Hampshire, ranked #13 in the country, a series that could solidify Maine's post-season chances.
8 comments | 0 recs |
Paging Oilers' brain trust -- anybody home?
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 7, 2010 3:00 PM PST
in Opinion
20 comments
Big news has been commonplace around the NHL over the past 7 days. Several major trades have gone down, involving Dion Phaneuf, J.-S. Giguere, Olli Jokinen, Ilya Kovalchuk, more than a dozen other NHLers, a couple of prospects, and a handful of draft picks. It's particularly interesting to see the response in Atlanta, where the inability to come to terms with Kovalchuk and the star's subsequent departure resulted in direct dialogue between the club's ownership/management with season ticket holders in advance of yesterday's home game against Florida. The Falconer, our SBN colleague at Bird Watchers Anonymous, provides a detailed report of yesterday's town hall meeting which is well worth the read. I'll quote just a snippet from the intro:
I expected a Thrashers Townhall full of Season Ticket Holders in full revolt. I expected someone might stand up and rip up their tickets and throw them down in disgust. I expect to hear calls for the GM to be fired and new ownership. I expected to yell "show him the money!"
Instead I witnessed a spirited and rather honest-back-and-forth between fans, GM and ownership. I heard a surprisingly candid and mature discussion about the state of the team from both fans and management. From the fans I heard anger and frustration, but also a recognition that their is more than one way to build a hockey team. From management I heard both the GM and owner take their lumps and admit that "we've made mistakes" but also pledge that "we're here to win hockey games and we're committed to accomplishing that goal." There was a lot less salesmanship and a lot more plain speaking than I expected.
It's interesting to compare that situation in Atlanta to the one here in Edmonton. Not only are there no trades happening, there seems to be very little in the way of discourse from the team's ownership and management to its fan base. Occasional sound bites such as Steve Tambellini asserting "We're very confident!" do little to raise the confidence of this Oiler fan, given the sorry plight of this, the worst ever Oilers club. Buried deep in last place overall, 7 points behind the dregs of the east and fully 15 points behind the second worst team in the Western Conference. 3 wins in the last 25 games. Way too many dreadful performances like last night's 3-0 shellacking in Denver.
So what's the plan, Steve? Kevin? Daryl? How about a town hall meeting with your own fans to give us some idea of how the team plans to address its many problems? This fan has questions from goal through the blueline and all three forward positions, about too many bloated contracts for underperforming players and the cap hell that has resulted, about leadership and team togetherness, about nowhere near enough prime-of-career players, about the club's continuing dreadful performance on the penalty kill and the faceoff dot, about too many smurfs and too many soft players, about the dreadful state of the farm team, and on and on it goes. The questions inevitably extend to coaching and management of this sorry crew, and why the rebuilding process is still going in reverse four years removed from the Oilers' last playoff appearance.
The closest thing I've heard to "answers" to some of these many questions came in an interview Tambellini did during the Hawks broadcast on TSN a couple weeks ago, in which he provided the following somewhat garbled pearls of wisdom:
20 comments | 0 recs |
Chris VandeVelde interviews with The Copper & Blue
by Derek Zona on Feb 7, 2010 10:30 AM PST
in Prospects
14 comments
If there is any prospect in the Edmonton Oilers' system that fills a glaring need on the NHL club, it's Chris VandeVelde. The centerman, currently playing at the University of North Dakota, is big (6' 2", 207 pounds), he's strong physically and strong on his skates, he's willing to work in the corners and in front of the net (see below), he's dynamite in the faceoff circle (he's never finished below .539 for a season) and he plays tough minutes in the best conference in the NCAA. He spends time on the penalty kill, the power play and takes the most important faceoffs for the Fighting Sioux. He's everything that the team has lacks at the NHL level and his skills aren't duplicated elsewhere in the organization. In watching him play this year, his style reminds me of Michal Handzus.
VandeVelde is putting the wraps on a highly-successful career at North Dakota, where he has a chance to finish with 50 career goals. Past teammates Taylor Chorney and T.J. Oshie have gone on to play in the NHL and Oshie made the jump from the Fighting Sioux straight to the St. Louis Blues, a jump that VandeVelde hopes to complete next year. Last week, I had a chance to speak with VandeVelde about his team, and their fight to get back to the NCAA playoffs. Unfortunately, North Dakota was coming off of a sweep at the hands of Denver.
14 comments | 0 recs |
Edmonton - Colorado post-game: Blanked again
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 7, 2010 12:44 AM PST
in Game Reports
12 comments
Another Saturday night, another stinker. Just like Calgary last week, tonight the Oilers rolled over in Denver, falling 3-0 to the Avalanche. The score was much closer than the game.
Of course just when you think things can't get any worse, they do. Tonight it was Sam Gagner who limped off late in the second and didn't return, having taken another knock on his wonky knee. Too early to know how serious it is, but this seems to have been a chronic thing of late, and it may be that Sam needs some time off.
32 minutes into this one-sided affair, shots attempted stood at an astonishing 54-9 in favour of Colorado. The score at that point was only 1-0, thanks to a strong effort by Jeff Deslauriers and some equally solid work by his posts. The team in front of him? Not so much.
Around this point Pat Quinn ripped into his team during a TV timeout, and they responded by playing considerably better hockey the rest of the way, meaning they improved all the way to "lousy". Deslauriers continued to hold his team in, and the Oil did get a few bona fide chances and could have easily tied it up if the hockey gods had been in an especially persnickety frame of mind. Instead justice prevailed, the Avs got a late softie and an even later empty netter, and the better team carried the day to the tune of 3-0. The shutout was Craig Anderson's third against the Oilers this season, and in none of the three did he have a whole lot of work to do. Final shots on net were 42-20 Avs: by period 14-4, 15-8, 13-8. Final shots at net were 86-44. It wasn't pretty.
12 comments | 0 recs |
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