Weekend Update: Finally a Conclusion?

This week looked to bring a couple of Oilers issues to conclusions. The first is the Ryan Smyth trade. On Friday, Helene Elliot tweeted that "Kings have filed formal grievance over Fraser's fitness/injury." This tweet was of couse followed up with a story in the LA Times. So, at least we know now just how unhappy Lombardi is. How the league will find the case, is yet to be determined. The Kings doctors have recommended surgery for Colin Fraser's ankle and a recovery date is not yet determined, they have to wait and see how the surgery and physical therapy goes. Our SB Nation brother Quisp seems to think that the Edmonton Journal is whining. Wow, well if the Journal is whining, what exactly is Los Angeles Kings' GM Dean Lombardi doing, especially when compared to Oilers' GM Steve Tambellini. Let's compare apples to apples shall we?

This week, Edmonton Oilers' fans saw netminder Nikolai Khabbibulin withdrew his appeal to his sentence and serve his jail time. In fact, Khabibulin is starting his 15 days behind bars starting July 30th in an Arizona prison. After these 15 days, Khabi will serve another 15 under house arrest, or as so many readers have put it, under adult grounding. On Wednesday "My Big Yap" on Edmonton Astral radio stations with Yukon jack was focussed on dreaming of being put under house arrest, a forced vacation. I couldn't help but agree with the idea that house arrest would be a dream come true for many of us.

The funny thing is that by Friday, the story seems a little different. Khabi would have to serve weekends in prison (starting this morning) but that he is on a work pass even while in prison. Khabi will not have to wear pink unless he breaks the rules, and will be permitted the hours of 9am to 9pm outside of the prison. Say what?! A low fine and a camp out in the desert for an extreme DUI, extreme speed and failure to produce insurance. In this situation that doesn't seem to be the result of celebrity, but rather the result of a high priced lawyer. Mistake or not, Khabi broke at least three laws and the average person would have to endure far worse. Because I prefer to look on the bright side I will leave this discussion for today saying at least no one was hurt, at least no one died, at least some members of the Oilers may think twice before getting behind the wheel after drinking. I hope so at least.

The Edmonton Oilers have been keeping their local players and prospects busy, working the Oilers hockey school, and making appearances at the Edmonton Indy last weekend.

Oklahoma City Barons' head coach Todd Nelson was in Edmonton and in attendance at the Edmonton Oilers development camp. Nelson likes what he sees, and was hoping to get a sneak peak at what players may be heading his way this fall. 

There may also be a conclusion to ex-Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish's time away from the bench. It is rumoured once again to be a finalist for a head coaching position. This positions is for the Chicago Wolves, the AHL team of the Vancouver Canucks. I agree with Bob Stauffer on this one, if MacT would like to coach again, and would like to coach in the NHL, I'm sure he would get picked up as soon as the first coach is fired during the season. 

Speaking of Bob Stauffer, for those of you that listen to Edmonton radio, online or otherwise, without any fanfare or notice at all, yesterday was the last edition of Oilers lunch. Now, The Team 1260 will have a guest driven sports show at noon featuring experts such as Bob McKenzie, Darren Dregor and Ryan Rishaug called Inside Hockey. At 1pm will be an hour long, daily show with Mark Spector, creatively called the Mark Spector show.  These new shows will air at the end of August, so it will likely be syndicated radio for the meantime. If you are like me and do not care for the Jim Rome show, I'll look for another online show or station. If you have suggestions, I would love to hear them. I am very excited to listen to the Spector Show, Spector is a clever man who is clearly passionate about sports and very personable. When I spoke with Spector at the draft he walked up to me and introduced himself then assured me that I don't just write for a website, that we all have important work to do. 

The Edmonton Oilers' prospects have been invited to the Team Canada camp. Of course, we know that netminder Tyler Bunz made it through the first cuts and is my favourite going into this camp. Along with Bunz will be defenseman Dillan Simpson and centreman Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The entire list of camp invitees features seven players from the 2011 silver medal winning team. Also invited is Oil Kings' captain and Keegan Lowe's defensive pairing partner Mark Pysyk.

Edmonton will host the Red and White game next Saturday at Rexall place. This game will feature a split squad of the Team Canada U18 invitees. This game should be affordable fun (all tickets just $14) for the whole family, and maybe your only chance to take in some of the up and coming stars, unless of course you were able to get your hands on some tickets to the games. In a move that should make RNH happy, he will not have to battle against Bunz, they are both on team white.

The Edmonton Oil Kings have signed Edmontonian, and bantam draft pick from this year's entry draft, Cole Benson to a standard WHL contract. Cole will participate in the Oil Kings rookie camp starting August 25th. So you see folks, the season can't be that far off. The Oil Kings' home opener will be September 30th when they host Tyler Bunz and the Medicine Hat Tigers. I doubt very much that Tyler Pitlick will be with the Tigers at that point, but I could be quite wrong.

Today is the Anton Lander farewell game in Sweden, also featuring Magnus Paajarvi. Hopefully this game will be written up in a newspaper so that I can provide more details on what happened at the game. Apparently Paajarvi is a little nervous. He shouldn't be, but I can understand that this is a big deal.

The last piece of Oilers news I bring you for the week, if you purchased a Theo Peckham #49 jersey I'm sorry to tell you you are no longer current. It seems that Peckham is really a #24 and not a #49 deep down. The opportunity presented itself, so the defenceman has made the switch. 

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Tyler Pitlick - #13 In the Oilers Top 25 Under 25 - Copper & Blue Zona

Barons Season Recap: Johan Motin - Copper & Blue Rodgers

Martin Marincin - #11 In the Oilers Top 25 Under 25 - Copper & Blue Zona

Oscar Klefbom - #10 In the Oilers Top 25 Under 25 - Copper & Blue Reynolds

Teemu Hartikainen - #9 In the Oilers Top 25 Under 25 - Copper & Blue Zona

Anton Lander - #8 in the Oilers Top 25 Under 25 - Copper & Blue Massey

Linus Omark - #7 in the Oilers Top 25 Under 25 - Copper & Blue Zona

Can Ryan Whitney keep being as dominant on defence? - Cult of Hockey Staples

Regarding Nikolai - Cult of Hockey McCurdy

Have the Oilers adequately replaced all that Dustin Penner brought to the line-up? - Cult of Hockey Staples

RE 11-12: Lennart Petrell - Lowetide

RE 11-12: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Lowetide

RE 11-12: Teemu Hartikainen - Lowetide

RE 11-12: Darcy Hordichuk - Lowetide

Great Expectations: Nikolai Khabibulin - Oil on Whyte

Bourne Blog: Why playing soft defense can prove more effective - Puck Daddy

Bourne Blog: Inside Easton Hockey’s helmet-making technology - Puck Daddy