 |
| Ben Eager |
 |
| Cam Barker |
 |
| Andy Sutton |
 |
| Darcy Hodichuk |
 |
| Eric Belanger |
In one fail swoop the Edmoton Oilers GM Steve Tambellini has upgraded the team in several areas. First and most importantly... in the face off dot.
Eric Belanger won 55% of his draws last year. This tells me that Cogliano is the most likely to get shipped out. There isn't enough spots or ice time for both players.
There will likely be one other move to make room for tough guy Darcy Hodichuck. Darcy was quoted as saying "I'm hoping Vancouver gets a tough guy, and Calgary too, it's payback time!" I am so glad that we have a guy that is tough that other fighters will actually square off with. Don't get me wrong, I love Steve McIntyre, but no one wanted to fight the big man for fear of ending up like Ivanans in Calgary at the start of 2010.
After the frenzy was over for the Oilers today, some fans were jacked up over the moves that were made. On Twitter one fan @edmontoncritic wrote this little gem..."Dear rest of the league, you're fucked, we're comin! #GOilers" The fan's here seem quite happy with the teams performance according to an Edmonton Journal poll and media outlets around town.
I on the other hand, like some of the moves today, but I am going to wait until game 20 to really have an opinion. I don't know much about any of these players except Hordichuk who played us quite often while in Vancouver. The one thing I don't like is the money we paid Cam Barker. $2.25 Million for a one year deal. Last year he posted one goal, four assists for a total of 5 points in 52 games and was -13 according to hockeydb.com and as far as Ben Eager is concerned, he is a pest that we need but he hasn't been much in the way of ffence and since he's not here for that...I guess we'll see how pesky he can be.
While we did get rid of Kurtis Foster who had an abysmal season last year and was being paid $1.8 Million for his services. I have a little sympathy for the guy as he has had more personal tragedy off the ice than a lot of people. it was probably really hard for him to think about the game of Hockey after losing his daughter. I wish him the best.
All in all I hope that the confidence fans may have lost, based on the optics of the Ryan Smyth trade, was somewhat restored today knowing that we have a GM who understands the needs and is obviously willing to address them!
GO Oilers GO!!
Hello - just a few observations:
ReplyDelete- Hordichuk = meathead
- McIntyre = dinosaur
- Belanger = stability
- Barker = upside
- Eager = distraction
- Sutton = #6 d-man
- Nugent-Hopkins = the future
- Smyth = Icon
- Oilers = getting better
Hello again - this rant is not really related to your current blog, but I'm watching SportsCentre, they're talking about the Stamkos deal, 7.5 M/yr for 5 yrs - how is it that Kevin Lowe still has a job with the Oilers after inking Horcoff to 6 yrs at 5.5 M/yr? Sure, everyone makes mistakes from time to time, but Lowe's blunders have been the worst in team history, "no contest". He must go. Also, please, God, prevent the Oilers from signing Hemsky to a similar deal, as he is definitely in the "diminishing returns" portion of his career - if the high profile free agents won't sign or play here, let's develop a winning attitude with the young, talented core we have, and move the underachievers out - no more signing late 30s goalies to 3 yr deals, or overpaying 3rd liners, just because we have the cap room.
ReplyDelete