Proof That There's Still Stuff to Talk About in August

I launched this blog in April; it was curious timing, given that the Oilers had already finished their season, and summer was approaching rapidly. I did it because I was in trade school at the time and consequently had a bunch of time and very little to do with it. Still, it's been challenging, the last month or so, trying to find relevant things to talk about, and I think that I'm far from unique in facing this problem. Looking around the blogosphere today, however, it becomes clear that there's still meaningful discussion to be had.

Take Vic Ferrari of Irreverent Oiler Fans. IOF is one of the best sources out there for statistical analysis, and especially for looking at the game in new and complex ways. They also post erratically, but of late have been writing up a storm. Over the last two days he has a lovely graph ironing out the noise and showing the a) steady progression of the Oilers, and b) steady regression of the Flames; great excerpts from the official Minnesota Wild blog (being added to the blogroll right now); and a lovely look at the Gospel of Hockey, an irreverent but both amusing and sensible look at the Edmonton Oilers (I would add it, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside in March). Tons of quality content, despite the fact we're in the middle of August.

Also posting riveting stuff is Metrognome Kent W. of Five Hole Fanatics. His most recent piece is a look at drafting goaltenders that does a good job of answering a question that divides NHL GM's: is it a good idea to invest draft picks in goaltenders? Kent says not so much; no matter what Dean Lombardi says, and I tend to agree with him. My own personal preference would be for teams to focus on undrafted goaltenders (for example, Andrew Perugini) and spending late-round picks on guys with limited exposure (i.e. Evgeni Nabokov). These kinds of gambles are low-risk, high-reward, and I imagine that if a team makes enough of them, their odds of success aren't much lower than teams spending top-100 picks.

Finally, Scouting Sweden takes a belated look at Johan Motin, a once-highly touted defenseman who slipped to the fourth round before the Oilers snagged him. Jamie's site is likely to be one to keep an eye on if you're at all interested in following Motin's progress (along with guys like Linus Omark, Bjorn Bjurling, and William Quist).