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16-11-2, 1.17 p/g		11-11-7 1.0 p/g
Western Conf: 6th		Western Conf: 11th

Top Story: Think about where the ragtag, heavily outgunned Oilers might be if their coach wasn't working against success? Think about where the undermanned group might be if their GM had any sort of common sense and grabbed Adam Hall or Tim Connolly on waivers rather than monkeying around with people who punch things. Think about where this team might be if the President of pancake breakfasts wasn't busy with handshaking and baby kissing and took the time to sign a couple of defensemen in the off-season.

The Oilers are saying:

Magnus Paajarvi was beaten by bad luck last season, but won the territorial battle. Compare his results to anyone else facing third-line minutes and the contrast is stark. If the Oilers want to be a competitive team, they need Paajarvi on their roster - not anchors like Petrell, Hordichuk and Eager.

--Let's just say that the "breakout season", "finally ready for prime time", and "Oklahoma City made him a player" talk is bunk.

The Opponent is saying:

"He just plays. He doesn't get into much discussion about anything other than, 'Am I playing? Am I not playing?' He has a real focus that he doesn't allow adversity to bother him. He's got a mechanism in place that he can distribute adversity in a different direction. That's the old-school guys. You used to see them skate around all the time to get rid of the anxiety or the anxiousness. He's found a way to do that in a good way that I think helps calm him down in critical situations."

--Ken Hitchcock describing Jake Allen.

"The Kings had two lines that were a cut above the rest, so I looked at things from that perspective: ES TOI against Anze Kopitar and Mike Richards. It was kind of a scrambly game as far as ease of line matching goes, due to the sheer volume of penalties. I found this to be a hopeful sign though. My thinking is kind of that the Horcoff line should be spending as much time as possible against the other team’s better lines. I kind of suspect Krueger is using the early season to see who can do what and figure out how he should run his bench – it would explain his professed lack of concern about the line matching early on."

--Tyler Dellow, on Ralph Krueger's unwillingness to match lines.