Next Game
Edmonton Oilers
@ Detroit Red Wings
Friday, Nov 11, 2011, 5:30 PM MST
Joe Louis Arena
Barker Is Out - Oilers Twitter
After injuring his ankle during last night's game vs. BOS, defenceman Cam Barker flew to EDM this morning for further examination
Morning Skate: Striking Oil - Winging It In Motown
The kids up in Edmonton have had a fantastic start to the season. Through the first 15 games of their season, they've earned 20 points and currently sit in first place of the Northwest Division. Not too shabby for the 5th youngest team in the National Hockey League. This team is led offensively by their top line made up of three youngsters: Jordan Eberle (21), Taylor Hall (19), and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (18). Also contributing early on are the corpses of Ryan Smyth (35) and Nikolai Khabibulin (38).
Why The Wings Will Be Fine: Shooting Percentage - Winging It In Motown
I've always been the type of fan who has cherry-picked stats to suit my arguments while relying on the "eye test" when the numbers don't help me out. It's a way for me to be oblivious to other fans who claim superiority because "____ is higher than the Wings" or "_____ has a better _____ than _____".
Ryan Smyth - Shawn Horcoff - Ales Hemsky
Ryan Jones - Eric Belanger - Sam Gagner
Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Magnus Paajarvi - Anton Lander - Lennart PetrellLadislav Smid - Tom Gilbert
Andy Sutton - Corey Potter
Theo Peckham - Jeff PetryNikolai Khabibulin
NHL Power Rankings: Stars Illuminate Western Conference - SBNation.com
Nikolai Khabibulin's .964 save percentage has the Oilers on top of the Northwest Division. Tom Renney is using Shawn Horcoff to protect Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' minutes and the resulting matchups create some weird numbers. Edmonton's top line of Smyth-Horcoff-Hemsky is one of the best in the league right now.
Analyzing touches – the silken hands of Ales Hemsky - Cult of Hockey
Ales Hemsky is a divisive figure among Oiler fans. His recent return and my subsequent grading of him drew some reader commentary in the Montreal post-game thread, featuring some strongly-held and well-supported opinions. Finding my own opinion of his performance sharply divided, even before I read these comments I had already started my next "touches" project, focussed on Hemsky’s game that night. I saw Ales good and bad in this one, so maybe it’s more representative than one of those nights everything, or nothing, is going his way.
G16 Oilers at Red Wings - Lowetide
I can't wait until Taylor Hall gets the swagger back. He's not in that unreal zone yet, but even with that has 10 points in 15 games. Hall is on track to match his offense from a year ago, but hasn't kicked out the jams yet this season. He's going to break out one of these nights, maybe tonight.
Game Day "Red Wings" - Oilers Jambalaya
Let's hope that sweet smell of success they have experienced early makes them only more hungry. What really makes a good team great, is when they will take no excuses for losing but don't just say it, they go out and turn it around. That was what we saw from the early 80's Oiler team that eventually made them so great.
Complete Coverage >