Showing posts with label Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson. Show all posts

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Edmonton Oilers vs Minnesota Wild Video Highlights

The game started out good for the Oilers, but once the Hemsky injury happened, that was it for the mighty Oil.  While they did manage to keep themselves in this game and make it to overtime and ultimately the shoot out, it was a stinker to have to sit through.

Khabibulin played pretty good tonight.  He sucks puck handling, but in the actual goal crease where you stop pucks, he played well.  1st star for the Oilers. 

Magnus Paajarvi was also pretty good.  He plays with wisdom. In his own right, he's a special player.

Ryan Smyth scored the Oilers only goal in regulation. His first of the season, and his first back as an Oiler.

Oilers - 1
Wild - 2  SO




Sunday, May 8, 2011

Is There Something To Cheer For? Oh Yes.. Eberle vs Paajarvi

Tomorrow features an excellent game for all the Oiler fans out there to watch. Jordan Eberle and Team Canada take on one of our favorite Oil Swedes, Magnus Paajarvi, and the rest of Team Sweden.

So far in this tournament, Paajarvi has a goal and three assists in the 5 games he's played. Not bad. Not bad at all. His only goal might have came on the power play, but he's still playing well 5 on 5 too. He's a +4 in those five games and has played an average of 15:11 per game. I'm a little surprised that he hasn't scored more because he's 2nd on his team in shots with 18. He's one to watch tomorrow for sure. Can he score and improve his shooting percentage against Canada?

There is another Oiler who has 4 points too that's playing tomorrow. Jordan Eberle. The difference here is, his 4 points are all goals. No assists. Like Paajarvi, Eberle is also +4 in the 5 games he's played. So far in this tournament, he's played an average of 12:53 per game and has taken 13 shots on goal. Is there another clutch goal waiting to be scored by Ebs? Watch for it.

Both players have been good and it's nice (although it sucks the Oil are not in playoffs) to watch these two get better and better. It's like watching your own kids grow up. *sniff sniff* This has been the best year!

Check out the game on TSN at 2:15pm Eastern time.

ON A SIDE NOTE:

Remember this article I wrote from a while back? That very same goalie is on Team Sweden and we should be able to get a good look at him tomorrow as he's played 4 out of the 5 games. Are the Oilers doing the same by watching him too? Is he really the future goalie of the Oilers?

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Christmas Day aka Opening Night for the Oilers

After a very long off-season for the Edmonton Oilers and her fans, we are ready for hockey in Oil Country.  It's game day!!  Three Oiler draft picks (Eberle, Paajarvi and Hall) will take to the ice in their first NHL regular season game.  I hope fans keep their expectations in check and not put too much pressure on the kids or the team.  This is the start of a rebuild.  Yes it is exciting.  Yes we have hope.  But be patient.  This is not a contender.....yet.  Let's face it, this is a team that will struggle at times during the year.  If they can't win, please let it be entertaining!! 

There still exists major problems in goal:  Khabibulin has not looked very good in the preseason and they will start the year with three goalies once again.  Boozy has not played since November and is recovering from surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back.  And he looked okay in one preseason game but absolute shyte in the other.  Khabby needs to be solid and give this team a chance to start the season on a winning note. The kids should rejuvenate Hemsky, Horcoff and Penner.  This team will score goals.  I think they will need to score quite a few each night since the goaltending is questionable to start the year.  

Lineup to start the year (I don't think Jones will dress, they'll want Smacintyre in the game to smack some Lames around):

Hemsky - Gagner - Penner
Hall - Horcoff - Eberle
Paajarvi - Brule - Cogliano
Stortini - Fraser - MacIntyre (Jones)

Whitney - Gilbert
Smid - Foster
Vandermeer - Peckham (Strudwick)

Khabibulin (Dubnyk/Deslauriers)


I predict an Oilers victory tonight over the Lames.  It will be 5-3. 

Update:  As per Dan Tencer, Jones will play tonight in place of MacIntyre.   Honestly, I do not understand this at all.  Why have MacIntyre on the team if you won't play him against teams with heavyweights and teams who have pushed our Oilers around in the past?  Waive him!!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

OJ/OFH Weekly Round Up

Eberle, Hall, and Paajarvi(Courtsey of EdmontonOilers.com)

This week Oil fans got their 1st taste of the future of the organization. The "Baby" Oilers won 2 of the 3 tournament games, and saw the renewal of "The Battle of Alberta". The Oilers put the Canucks down with a 4-1 win, as Mangus Paajarvi had two goals in the game. And showed why he was an excellent pick for the Oilers, with his presence in front of the net paid off. Jordan Eberle got his 1st goal as an Oiler, with an assist from Taylor Hall late in the 2nd period. And 2010 pick Tyler Pitlick put the nail in the coffin, as he scored a empty net goal in the 3rd Olivier Roy showed why he could be the future netminder for the Oilers. He stopped 28 of 29 shots, and he made some spectacular saves. Vande Velde and Hartikainen made their presence known by crashing the net several times, even though they didn't score any goals.

Game 2 was especially fierce as the Oilers took on Flames, and there was no love loss between the two teams. The lack of Hall, Eberle, and Paajarvi in the lineup, didn't slow things down. As the Oilers put literally put the smackdown on Flames in a 5-3 win. And several good scraps during the game, including Cameron Abney v. Chris Breen(video below of the fight). 5th Round draft pick Tyler Bunz was put in net, and didn't disappoint anyone that night. Even though He let 3 goals slip by him, but he stopped an onslaught put on by the flames. Future OKC Baron Chris Vande Velde got his first goal at the 9:21 mark in the 2nd period. With assists coming from Kristians Pelss and James Livingston. The Oilers hung on to win by getting an empty netter from Alex Plante.




Game Three was the complete opposite of the two previous games. Even though that the Big 3 were put back into the lineup. The coaching staff decided to experiment by moving Hall into the Center position. From what I saw of the game on the internet. Hall looked out of place being at center, and couldn't get the offense going against the Sharks. Sharks prospect Michael Sgarbossa came out of the game with a hat trick, and also getting an assist too. But Oiler fans had some reason to celebrate as Taylor Hall scored his 1st goal as an Oiler. But it just wasn't enough as the Sharks chewed up and spit out the Oilers. And Oilers goaltender Bryan Pitton showed why he isn't going to be resigned after this season. Cause he got lit up like a christmas tree, but there just wasn't any flow to the game for the oilers. At least Cameron Abney sure tried motivating his teammates, by taking a tilt with Samuel Finn.




Oilers GM Steve Tambellini told reporters that disgruntled player Sheldon Souray was "Persona Non-Grata" at Oilers Training Camp. This came after what seemed like that Souray had a change of heart, that he was excited with the renewed enthusiasm in the locker room. This mess with Souray has taken more turns then a roller coaster at an amusement park. There are several assumptions of what could happen to Souray, including sending him down to the Barons. But given the fact that Tambellini doesn't want Souray to be a distraction. Hopefully that Souray is just told that his services are no longer needed, like former Canadiens' player Geogre Laraque.

In Oklahoma City this week, the rink was painted, logos laid out, and the ice was formed this week. Also the Barons' Mascot has been out at the State Fair of Oklahoma. And our own Eric Rodgers(@AHLBarons) was able to capture the 1st picture of Derrick the Mountain Lion. The Barons' also announced that former Blazers' play by play broadcaster Jim Byers is going to be the play by play broadcaster for the Barons. Former RoadRunner and Oil King assistant Rocky Thompson was hired to be an assistant coach for the Barons.

Barons' Mascot: Derrick the Mountain Lion(Courtsey of Eric Rodgers)

 


The Oil Terminal podcast will return next week with a full recap of what has gone on with the Penticton Tournament. And we'll look at who looked good at the Oilers main camp. And get you up to date on the latest news from the Barons. So Stay Tuned to OilersJambalaya.com and OilFieldHockey.com. We are your Number 1 source on news and opinions on the Oilers, Barons, and the Stockton Thunder. We would like to thank Shawn McMann (@bulletacdotcom) for all the tweets from the Penticton Tournament.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Paajarvi Starts Off Fast / Oilers Rookies Win First Young Stars Game


No need for a parade yet, but it sure was damn nice to watch an Oilers game again. The win was a bonus. The Oilers rookies beat the Canucks rookies 4-1 with 2 goals from Magnus Paajarvi. Tyler Pitlick and Jordan Eberle each scored one goal. For those wondering, Taylor Hall had the assist on the Eberle goal.

Well the feed for the game was terrible. Gene Principe sounded like he was yelling all the time and his yelling was squealing. Ugh! It was ear bleeding terrible. But to see the Stockton Thunder's Mike Benton there with Gene was cool. Mike is a good guy and it was nice to see him included in the Young Stars tournament.

At one point the Canucks website said to clear your cache and the stream would work better. I tried it and it did work better. So remember that for Tuesday's game against the Flames.

Paajarvi was very good. His speed made him hard to contain. This guy is going to make the team for sure this year. He looks determined and ready.

Tyler Pitlick was also good tonight. Very noticeable. Great draft choice by the Oilers.

Alex Plante played in all types of situations and didn't look out of place. He's very much improved from the last time I seen him and is looking like he's going to be a force with the OKC Barons this year.

Eberle and Hall garnered a lot of attention from the Canucks but still managed to hook up for a goal. In the early part of the game Hall looked like he was in a playoff game but faded near the end of the game. Good chemistry with Eberle. No doubt they play on the same line when they make the Oilers.

Olivier Roy made some huge saves, but the goal that the Canucks scored was a terrible softy. While Roy did play well and looked good, he was shaky on the soft low shots.

Last thoughts. I found it dumb that Hall wasn't wearing #4, that Eberle isn't wearing #14 and Paajarvi didn't wear #91. Why not? It's their numbers.

Can't wait till Tuesday. Make sure you come back and enjoy the TweetCast vs the Calgary Flames.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Monday, September 6, 2010

Roster, Roster, Roster! The New Look Edmonton Oilers

Here is the Oilers roster before the big change. Steve Tambellini had a very busy summer and did quite a lot of work around here.
LAST YEAR OILERS ROSTER

He did some real wonderful stuff like getting rid of the three terrible Oilers from last year, Ethan Moreau, Patrick O'Sullivan and Robert Nilsson.

He managed to re-sign all the Restricted Free Agents that were needed to be signed, except Cogliano. From the reports that I have heard, Cogliano's camp has a contract and they, so far, have not signed. It's completely in their court now. Just sign the damn thing and have a great year to prove them, and us, wrong.

The Oilers still seem hell bent on running the team this year with a bunch of rookies and it's looking more and more like I am wrong. I said that Hall and either Pääjärvi or Eberle would be on the team. It does appear like all three have a legitimate chance of making the team. Training camp should be fun, especially if you throw in Linus Omark. That's four potential rookies on the roster. Can't wait to see what happens.

Tamby signed Martin Gerber for more than just insurance reasons. That is one hell of a deal and a two way contract to boot. Gerber will be called upon more than once this year so this one will end up being a great signing.

I suppose the biggest shocker was the Potulny/Pouliot walking. I was a little shocked that they weren't brought back. I really liked Potulny and I thought he played well enough last year to get another shot this year. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

I never really liked Pouliot, but still didn't think the Oilers would give up on him like they did. He did deserve a real solid chance that MacT never gave him.

Ryan Stone also left and went south (to Calgary). He also played well IMO, and once again, it will be strange to see an ex-Oiler in a fLames (I'm looking at you Glencross) uniform.

Mike Comrie was left to leave as well. The New Mrs. Duff has just signed with the Penguins so good luck to him.

--------------------------------------------------

So let's now take a look at the roster that the Oilers might start the year with.


FORWARDS

Dustin Penner          Sam Gagner        Ales Hemsky
Taylor Hall             Shawn Horcoff      Jordan Eberle
Magnus Pääjärvi  Andrew Cogliano    Gilbert Brule
Ryan Jones               Colin Fraser        Zack Stortini

SPARES: Steve MacIntyre, Linus Omark, Liam Reddox, Alex Giroux

------------------------------------------------------------

DEFENCE

Ryan Whitney      Tom Gilbert
(Souray Trade)   Ladislav Smid
Jim Vandermeer  Kurtis Foster

SPARES: Jason Strudwick, Theo Peckham, Shawn Belle, Taylor Chorney, Jeff Petry, Johan Motin

------------------------------------------------------------

GOALIES

Nikolai Khabibulin
Devan Dubnyk

OKC Barons:
Martin Gerber
Jeff Deslauriers

SPARES: Bryan Pitton (Stockton Thunder), Olivier Roy (Juniors)

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Three Kids Amaze The World


Now by watching this, if you are an Oilers fan, how can you NOT be excited for the season to start? We are very, very lucky to be able to witness what these three kids will do for this team in the future. GOILERS!

Friday, July 23, 2010

The Poll Results / Who Makes The Oilers This Year?

With a simple question of "Who Will Make The Oilers Roster This Season?"

These were the results of the 120 people the voted. Multiple answers were allowed (Thank You!);

Taylor Hall 114 out of 120 (95%)
Jordan Eberle 97 out of 120 (80%)
Magnus Paajarvi 100 out of 120 (83%)
Teemu Hartikainen 6 out of 120 (5%)
Linus Omark 33 out of 120 (27%)
Someone Else 8 out of 120 (6%)
None 0 (0%)

Votes so far: 120
Poll closed

A stunning 95% of people picked Taylor Hall to make the team. No doubt he will. He can't go play with the OKC Barons, so it's either Oilers or the Spitfires. I think he's beyond Juniors and he will play with the Oilers.

Now the votes were very close between Paajarvi and Eberle. Paajarvi edges out the new Captain Canada by three votes. Most fans believe that all three of these guys will make the team this year. I still have my doubts, but I'm sure the fans will be right.

Linus Omark did garner 33 votes and tha's not bad. I'm willing to bet that Omark starts the year with the Barons and not the Oilers. What? I like the easy bets too.

The surprising fact, 8 people actually voted for someone else to make the team. Whom may that be I wonder?

Thanks for voting everyone!

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Friday, July 9, 2010

Edmonton Oilers Rookie Development Camp 3 on 3 Tournament LIVE *TweetCast*

Welcome to the final day of the Oilers Rookie Development Camp 3 on 3 Tournament. This Tweetcast is set up to get the reactions of a wide range of people.

It will pick up the following hashtags; #Oilers, #OilersCamp, #OilersJambalaya, #OilFieldHockey.

Include those hashtags in your tweets and it will be included in the Tweetcast.

The tournament will start at 9:00am.

GOILERS!!!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Full Recap Oilers Rookie Development Camp Day 3

You know me (Smokin' Ray) and trying new things. Today we have a special guest article by Steve Schulte. Enjoy...


Rookie Camp Day 3:

Started the day a little later than I had planned but still with plenty of time to get to the rink. En route I ended up following a van covered with Oilers stickers and flags all the way from millwoods till I needed to get gas at a Shell Station. My gameplan was to try to watch all the second rounders from this year in detail as well as Petry and Bunz, this proved difficult so I’m just going to write all my observations.

The session started out similar to the Monday session, skating coach Steve Serdachny started the boys off with a few laps to warm up. During this time I had to take notice of the fact that Marincin had incredibly skinny legs and would need to bulk them up if he wants to skate at an NHL level. What I also noticed was how ahead of the pack Petry was when it came to skating, smooth stride and he looked generally comfortable.

Serdachny had them do a drill where they would cross each line on one leg and then switch to backwards and forwards respectively. Pretty much the whole team with the exception of MPS had trouble with this exercise to the point where I believe it was Lander really struggled.

Continuing with goofy drills Steve now had the players doing one leg, with the other one on top of a puck. Here was the first wipeout of the day which came ironically from one of their best skaters, Taylor Hall had a fall, which is ok because I happen to fall for Hall, Yeah I did.

The next drill was hard to watch for some players but a pleasure for others, the object was to skate from one end of the ice to the other while stickhandling two pucks, Eberle, Pitlick, MPS, and Hall did this with ease, except the first run MPS lost a puck into the corner, they followed this up by doing it backwards.

Last drill without being able to shoot a puck, all players were spaced out around the whole rink, and had to skate around and jump over their sticks, my observation here was Petry in front of me looking sexy again, and Brandon Davidson (6th round pick) struggling mightily, also M&M (Martin Marincin) tripped over his stick once, hilarity ensued.

The next thing was Sillinger explaining the plan for the next drill, there were 28 players on the ice and 27 of them were taking a knee, the one not taking a knee was good old Steve’s favorite prospect Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, nothing interesting but I found it weird, picture is on my twitter account.

We now enter my favorite drill of the day, players were paired off about 4 meters from a goalie, had to do a little lap mixed of forward and backward skating and then fight to take the shot on net, I didn’t see the person that MPS knocked off the puck to score but it was a thing of beauty, I think he can keep up with the physical game if we see things like that occur.

Players left to flood the ice after about a half hour, I heard Sillinger tell a cameraman that tomorrow we would be in rink A for the 3 on 3 tournament, which is good because it has more seats.

Buchberger takes over running the session, lots of shooting and puck work, at this point I turned my attention to T. Bunz, love his Tigers pads. Practicing two on one drills Bunz shows incredible lateral movement and sound positioning, and in two series Pitlick hit the post and was just caught on a glove save, he has a sweet shot.

A couple three on two drills but nothing very interesting, weird thing I noticed, Cornet looks a lot like MPS, however skill wise they are on different plateau’s as Cornet doesn’t really impress me.

Coaching staff treat the fans to a 4 on 4 session, was not expecting this. Notable players on each team, Grey: Hall, MPS, Lander, Marincin, Petry. Blue: Eberle, Pitlick that midget walk-on, Jones’s. Guys next to me bet on each team with eachother, I assumed the one to pick Grey had easy money but he ended up losing. At this point I was pissed I didn’t bring a notepad to record who scores because I have a terrible memory, but the midget walk-on of who’s name escapes me cherry picked hard and blew one past Pitton.

Final thing they did, also to the delight of the fans was a quick shootout, notably MPS, Eberle both missed, Petry sniped one home and when Mr. Taylor Hall put it in the net the place went a little crazy.

Not the best write-up but what can you do I’m not a blogger, I’d like to thank the guys at Oilers Jambalaya and Oilfield Hockey for letting me do a short piece.

Also as some of you know I am a comedian and am performing in a show Monday July 19th at The Comic Strip in West Ed, Tickets are 7.50 a piece however I have lots of giveaways, if you would like to attend message me on on the twitter account provided below. Final note, if you are going to the Baseball game tonight and sitting in the prospects section come say hi, I will be wearing a shirt with abs on it as I am still trying to get my Hartikainen picture.

Thanks:
Steve Schulte
Twitter.com/steve_schulte
Youtube.com/thaseron

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Oilers Development Rookie Camp Update (Thanks @_gelsomino )

Today was the first day of the Oilers rookie development camp. The skaters were doing mostly skating drills today (but no parachute). Players included today are Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Magnus Paajarvi, Temmu Hartkinen, Anton Lander and many others.

These were the tweets that @_gelsomino sent out so we could follow along.

  1. Eberle is a better skater then Hall.
  2. Some pretty decent skaters and some not so good skaters.
  3. Petpeeve; When people start dissing on player and the team when they have NO idea what they are talking about.
  4. First half of the camp, all power skating. Second half, 3 on 0's, 3 on 1's, etc. And finished up with a quick game of rebound.
  5. Overall Eberle looked stronger then Hall today. Hall looked kind of tired actually.
  6. Ones to watch for: Hall (19), Eberle (25), MPS (28), Petry (5), and Pitlick (21).
  7. They didn't do a whole ton of puck work today. Lots of skating.
  8. No parachutes today either.
  9. I'm guessing it (edit* the players numbers) means nothing, there was a bunch of forwards with goalie numbers. I think they were randomly assigned.

So there you have it. Thanks to Jasmine for the updates and she will be tweeting all week so follow her on Twitter. She loves her Oilers and so do we. Come back tomorrow for more updates.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Can This Version Of The Edmonton Oilers Become The 1983/84 Oilers?

I have been debating for a while now if the Oilers should have more than two rookies in the lineup next season. Most of you know that --before the changes by Tamby to make the team tough-- I have thought that only Hall and Paajarvi would start the year in the NHL and Eberle and Omark would go to the Oklahoma City Barons.  But the more I talk to people about it, there is just so many questions that need to be answered and scenarios to think of.

Would the rookies be better off spending a year in Oklahoma City instead of playing in the NHL? Probably. It's only logical and makes sense.

Would it be a great way to fill the Cox Convention Center and build a fan base by adding players like Eberle and Paajarvi to the opening day roster? You bet it would and that's what the OKC Barons are going to need. You can't just open the doors and expect people to just come watch a game. Names sell.

But you also need to think that since players like Eberle and Paajarvi are signed to a contract, it would essentially burn up a year on their respective deals. Not exactly a good thing right? Hmmmm....

Then you look at the way that Tambellini is building the current Oilers roster. He's added some big boys with the likes of Vandermeer, MacIntyre and Foster to go with a talented and skilled small team. It seems like he's preparing to ice a young rookie squad with large muscle to surround them. The writings on the wall one would think.

But is it the right thing to do? Is it too soon?

So now I have myself thinking about another young Oilers team. The first cup winning team from the 1983/84 season. That team is a fairly young team much like the current one we may possibly have now.

How did that team from the 80's get so good so quick? Well I have a theory.

Gretzky, Coffey, Messier and Anderson were all just a mere 22 years old when they won the first cup. Jari Kurri and Andy Moog were 23, Kevin Lowe and Charlie Huddy were 24. Grant Fuhr was just 20.

The oldest guys on the team were Willy Lidstrom at 32 years old and Jaroslav Pouzar was 31. The only two guys over 30. Wow!

So here we have a team with no real veteran leadership yet, the won the Stanley Cup. How is that possible?

The kids grew together. They played together as rookies. They became friends and won for each other like winners need to do. Isn't this what this current team should do? Should the opening roster include Hall, Eberle, Paajarvi and Omark? You add those four plus the youth of Gagner, Brule, Cogliano, Smid, Chorney, Peckham, & Dubnyk equals the same youthfulness as the Oilers of old. Maybe this squad can grow and learn together like that team did? Maybe this squad is just like that 83/84 team? Take a look, we even have our Pouzar's and Lidstrom's in Horcoff, Strudwick and Khabibulin. The two teams are building to be sort of the same.

But isn't the smart decision to just let the kids develop slowly? In Oklahoma City?

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Saturday, June 5, 2010

NHL Equivalence Numbers


I enjoy stats, so I figured I'd take Behind the Net's Gabriel Desjardins' NHLE on my day off and come up with what we could expect to see next year if they were to play the full season in one league.  I highly doubt that will happen, but it gives a good idea. Keep in mind that I just used the regular seasons for these numbers. Math isn't exactly my strong suit, so if I messed up, please call me out on it.

Linus Omark
2009-10 KHL: 36 points in 56 games = .643 Points per game
2010-11 AHL Projected: 97 points in 80 games = 1.21 PPG
2010-11 NHL Projected: 44 points in 82 games = .533 PPG

Magnus Päärvi-Svenson
2009-10 Elitserien: 29 points in 49 games = .591 PPG
2010-11 AHL Projected: 83 points in 80 games = 1.04 PPG
2010-11 NHL Projected: 38 points in 82 games = .461 PPG

Teemu Hartikainen
2009-10 SM-Liiga: 33 points in 53 games = .623 PPG
2010-11 AHL Projected: 61 points in 80 games = .764 PPG
2010-11 NHL Projected: 28 points in 82 games = .337 PPG

Jordan Eberle
2009-10 WHL: 106 points in 57 games = 1.86 PPG
2010-11 AHL Projected: 64 points in 80 games = .800 PPG*
2010-11 NHL Projected: 46 points in 82 games = .558 PPG*
(*Question you probably have right here is, why does Eberle have a lower projection in the AHL but a higher in the NHL than MPS and Omark have. The NHLE numbers have a specific conversion rate for the CHL leagues that skewed the numbers a little bit.)

Toni Rajala
2009-10 WHL: 63 points in 60 games = 1.05 PPG
2010-11 AHL Projected: 36 points in 80 games = .452 PPG
2010-11 NHL Projected: 26 points in 82 games = .315 PPG

Like I said, let me know if I messed something up please.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Paajarvi-Svensson coming to America

From the Oilers Website: General Manager Steve Tambellini announced today the Edmonton Oilers have signed Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson to a three-year NHL entry level contract.

Paajarvi-Svensson, the Oilers 1st round choice, 10th overall, in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, recently completed his third season with Timra IK of the Swedish Elite League. The 6’2”, 201-pound left-winger from Norrkoping, Sweden, finished third in team scoring with 29 points (12G, 17A) in 49 games.

"This is an exciting day for the Oilers organization,” said Tambellini. “In signing his first NHL contract, Magnus has demonstrated through his junior and pro career with Team Sweden that he is an explosive player who exhibits great determination going to the net. We look forward to seeing him at his first NHL training camp this fall.”

The 19-year-old has also seen considerable action internationally, most recently winning the bronze medal at the 2010 World Championship in Germany with Team Sweden. He led the team in scoring with nine points (5G, 4A) in nine games, was third in tournament scoring and was selected to the tournament all-star team, all at just 19-years-old. Paajarvi-Svensson also has won two silver medals at the 2008 and 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship. In 2008, Paajarvi-Svensson became the youngest player ever to play with Sweden when he was just 16 years and 8 months old.


Update:Paajarvi could play in Oklahoma City, if he doesn't make it with the Oilers this season.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Reason's for Optimism / Reason's to Cheer




As our collective playoff hopes fade faster then a January sunset, I just wanted to remind people, that the Oilers do have most of the pieces in place for a solid team. Not all is doom and gloom. There's always a bright side to any situation and here's the Oilers silver lining.



The Forwards

The obvious guys are Hemsky, Penner, Horcoff. Yes, Horc makes too much money for his output, but the fact remains, he can be a big part of a winning team. With the emergence of Pens this year, we finally have a big power forward that we have been looking for since we traded Messier and no I don't think they are the same player, other then the power forward part. And then there's Hemsky, that's self explanatory, the guy has mad skills.

The kids that I like on this team are as follows; Gagner, Brule, Stone, Potulny and Stortini. These guys are keepers for sure. Even though they have had "off" games this year, none have been disappointing. In fact I, like most of you, was pleasantly surprised by the play of Stoney, Potsy and Bru, I just didn't see them playing this well for us. I'm not sure guys like Nilsson, Cogliano or J.F.Jacques will be around next season as they could be included in deals during the off season, although the Oilers do need JFJ's size and willingness to hit. And don't forget that guys like Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, who lit up the WJHC over the last couple weeks, are on their way next year too.



The Defence

Of our top six D-men I would only keep three. The guys I would keep to build around are; Visnovsky, Gilbert and Smid. Yes, I would trade Souray. I love the guy as much as anyone, but if this rebuild is going to be done properly, one of Souray or Visnovsky has to be moved. I choose Souray because he is older (by a month) and I think Lubo brings more to this team besides a booming slapshot, it's like choosing between Coffey and MacInnis in my books. Smid is turning into a great defender and Gilbert is still figuring this league out and not playing too badly doing so. Grebeshkov can bring a return in a trade and Staios or Strudwick have to go, as we only need one 7th D-man. With guys like Taylor Chorney, Theo Peckham, Alex Plante and Jeff Petry coming up, we need to make room on the back end.



The Goalies

I, like most in the hockey world, have no idea what is wrong with Khabibulin's back. What I do know is that Deslauriers has some very respectable numbers after 24 starts this season. His save % is basically on par with Khabbi's and his goals against average is better. JDD is getting some extremely valuable playing time with Khabbi out. I don't know enough about Dubnyk to make any assumptions on how he is doing. He has seen some action, but only after sitting on the bench for weeks on end.  So he has been rusty, so to speak, when he has gotten into a game. He does have a short memory though, as he was able to shake off some poor outings for the Oilers and Falcons during the last couple months. The Oilers have to keep JDD in my mind and try to trade or find some kind of loop hole in the CBA to lose Khabbi's salary from the cap hit, before deciding to trade DD.

Final Thoughts

So as you can see here, there are quite a few reasons to remain optimistic about this team. Sure rebuilds take some time, but the Oilers have many of the right pieces already in place. All they need is a season or two of premium draft picks and its off to the races in Oil Country. So as you sit and watch your Oilers lose more often then not for the rest of this season, cheer the little battles being won and the progression of the younger guys as they will carry the load in the next few years, along with *fingers crossed*, *knock on wood* Taylor Hall.

-Paq Twinn-

Monday, January 4, 2010

The Glass Half Full - Edmonton Oilers Prospects and the Junior Tournament



Well now that the World Junior tournament is almost over - minus the medal finals and the relegation games - it's time to look at what happened for the sake of the Edmonton Oilers and their prospects.  Not much is really going to change from now till it's over so why not get cracking?

In my opinion, the Oiler kids did great.  Much better than I had anticipated.  I'm thinking glass half full when I say the future looks bright for this hockey club.  Not next year, but I'd say in the next 2-4 years, this team is going to change dramatically and for the better. *fingers crossed*

We seen the dominance/emergence of (F) Jordan Eberle and (F) Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson and that really excited me as an Oiler fan, never mind the other 3 Oiler kids playing in this tournament. 

Before any games are played on Monday, Eberle had registered a point in 16 straight games for Team Canada.  He is also tied for tops on Team Canada with St. Louis Blues prospect (D) Alex Pietrangelo and second in the tournament in points with 11 in total.  In fact, only Derek Stepan has more points in the tournament than Eberle and it's only by one mealy point.  Jordan Eberle has 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points.  Not bad for a kid who only played 5 games and was slated for the 2nd line on Team Canada. 

"He's (Eberle) not afraid of the big situation," Coach Desjardins said. "He wants the puck. Even the shootout moves and things like that, he makes real strong moves."  Watch out Oiler fans, this kid is going to be a damn good player someday for the Oilers.

Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson has also had a great tournament.  He's been a force and a leader on the Swedish team and he's a very talented hockey player.  I still find it surprising that the Oilers were able to select him with the 10th pick in 2009.  This kid is a gamer and I feel fortunate as an Oiler fan that we have him in our system.  He had 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points in 5 games and was a +6.  He was a leader for the Sweden team and I'd expect some of the same here in Edmonton when he does finally reach the NHL.  As an 18 year old, he's very impressive and I'm sure, like Eberle and his #14, the Oilers have #21 reserved for Pääjärvi-Svensson.

Also on Team Sweden, is (F) Anton Lander.  He was the Oilers 40th pick in 2009 draft.  He was interesting to keep an eye on because I didn't know much about him before the tournament started.  The first thing I noticed as that he must have some sort of leadership skills as he wore the "A" on his jersey.  That's a good sign.  He is also pretty good at faceoffs as he went 35W 25L for 58.33% and 13th overall in the tournament.  Not exactly a high percentage, but at least it's a starting point and has room to grow.  If he improves on this, then that might be an intangible that he brings to the Oilers and solidifies a spot for himself on the team.  Lord knows the Oilers need better faceoff people. 

After 5 games Lander has scored 4 goals and had 2 assists for 6 points.  Not bad.  He is also sitting at +3 before the Bronze (I wish it was for Gold) medal game.  Again, not bad. 

So far it's looking good for the Oilers don't you think?

Now onto Team Finland.  The Oilers have two players there and they also looked pretty good throughout this tournament.  (F) Tony Rajala and (F) Teemu Hartikainen play on a weaker team than the other Oiler prospects, do but both still had a good tournament. 

Rajala scored 1 goal and had 2 assists for 3 points after 5 games.  He is currently sitting at -1 after those 5 games.  Only scoring once is a little shocking considering it came on the PP and he fired 22 shots in those 5 games.  Is he another Patrick O'Sullivan?  See... that doesn't excite me either.  The bright side here?  He didn't have a single penalty all tournament. Glass half full.

Teemu Hartikainen was a little better than Rajala by scoring 3 goals (same as MPS) and 1 assist for 4 points after 5 games.  He also fired the puck a lot like Rajala did by blasting a team high 27 shots. In comparison, Eberle took 20 shots so far in the tournament and has 6 goals while MPS took 24 shots and had 3 goals.  If anything impressed me it was that Hartikainen did so well in goal scoring department.  I didn't expect him to be in top 20 and he is at 16th place right now.  He just may mature into a better goal scorer then he is now. I'd say Hartikainen is already on his way.

Overall Goals as of the morning of 1/4/10
1st Jordon Eberle (6 goals)
3rd Taylor Hall (5 goals)
9th Anton Lander (4 goals)
16th Teemu Hartikainen (3 goals)
16th Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson (3 goals)
HM Tony Rajala (1 goal)

With the emergence of Eberle and Pääjärvi-Svensson and Lander, I think the Oilers are going to be OK down the road.  I suppose if the two kids from Finland pan out, we can consider it a bonus.  If we show patience, this team will be good once again.  Until then though... it's painful to watch.

Ps. Taylor Hall looked great and needs to be an Oiler.  Don't you think?

-Smokin' Ray-

Saturday, June 27, 2009

The Day(s) That Was


Well the Oilers did pick up a pretty good player in Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson with the 10th pick overall of last night's 1st round selections. I'm sure we will all be happy by 2010 with this kid. He has the size that people were wanting and he seems confidant in his skills. The fingers are crossed and I hope this works out for the Oilers and MPS.


Who did the Oilers take in the other rounds? These people:


2nd round, 40th overall - Anton Lander, C, Timra (Swe)
3rd round, 71st overall - Troy Hesketh, D, Minnetonka (USHS)
3rd round, 82nd overall - Cameron Abney, RW, Everett (WHL)
4th round, 99th overall - Kyle Bigos, D, Vernon (BCHL)
4th round, 101st overall - Toni Rajala, RW, Ilves Jr (Fin)
5th round, 133rd overall - Olivier Roy, G, Cape Breton


Who are they you ask? No idea. Great reporting here huh? Ahh... I will do some intense research to find out some info.


Until then... keep you fingers crossed that this pans out for the Oilers.

Where The F*ck Have You Been?


That is the question I have been asked a lot lately. So where is Ray? Where?


I've been around, tossing out some smart ass comments on the Nation and what not. But it was really hard for me to care about hockey once the Oilers season was over. I watched the playoffs and enjoyed them, but I write about the Oilers. And as the mighty Oilers were done, so was I.


But the draft always gets me excited. I expect a lot and usually walk away a little bummed out. However last night was no exception. When we couldn't move up to get Kane, I was a little concerned. But once Glennie was taken I was really distraught. Now, I understand that the Oilers did get a good pick. (Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson). I just didn't know much about him so I wasn't jumping up and down. However, upon a little looking around, he is going to be a good player for this club.


At the end of the day, I am a baby who wanted one of two guys. I must learn to deal with disappointment. Just as I wrote that, Brodziak is traded to the Wild for two draft picks. ~Sweet! Another guy that takes faceoffs that we don't need.~


Anyways...


I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive and that I still care about all of you. :)


July 1st better be a good Oiler day.

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