A Guess at the 2012-13 Season for the Oilers

Hello Oilers Jambalaya readers, this is my first blog ever edited because of some new developments and some new thinking.

The Oilers 2013 season through NHL rumors Guy's eyes.

Opening Day Lines

First Line RW Eberle C Hopkins LW Hall

Second Line RW Hemsky C Gagner LW Yakupov

Third Line RW Paajavi C Horcoff LW Symth

Fourth Line  RW Hartikainen C Belanger LW Eager

(Paajarvi and Hartikainen could switch and Jones is hurt)

I think that the Oilers will have the lottery line during at some point this season. (Yak Hop Hallsy.)

Defence lines.

First line LD Smid and RD Petry.

Second line LD Nick Schultz and RD Justin Schultz

Third line LD Peckham and RD Whitney.

The First half of the season (24 games in)

The first half of the season, I think the Oilers will be .500 and I think that the Oilers will have a lot of fun at this point of the season.

Leading points scoring being RNH with 13 and 25 assist for 38 points.

Leading the goal scoring will be Hall with 14 goals and 15 assists for 30 points.

Eberle will be right up there with RNH and Hall with 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points.

Nail Yakupov will have 10 goals and 15 assists for 27 points.

 Justin Schultz (which will probably being playing with some one like Smid or Nick Schultz) I think he will have 9 goals and 20 assists for 29 points.

Gagner's points could be 10 goals and 15 assist for 25 points.

The Last half of the season.

The Oilers will finish in 8th place to just make the playoffs, but will lose in 6 games of the first round. (26 wins 12 losses)

My guess for the final stats for 2013.

Leading goal scorer Taylor Hall 33 goals 29 assists for 62 points.

Leading point getter will be Jordan Eberle who just beats out RNH by one point with 30 goals, 40 assists for 70 points.

 RNH had one less goal than Eberle. I think he will have 29 goals 44 assist for 74 points.

Justin Schultz points; 11 goals, 33 assists for 44 points for a good rookie year.


Nail Yakupov's points 23 goals 27 assist for 50 points on the dot.

Sam Gagner 20 goals, 20 assists for 40 points.

I think that the Oilers will have good exciting year. But even though they make the playoffs, they get kicked out early. But still being an 8th place team is a big step up from second to last. Remember Oiler fans, this lockout might have hurt us in some way, but lets not stop cheering for our oilers just because we had a couple extra months to watch other hockey.

Go Oilers go!



Yours truly NHL rumors guy. Noah Fuchs

And The Winner Is...

The NHL Awards

With approx. 30 games to go, I wanted to take a look at the front runners for the NHL's hardware.

The Art Ross Trophy

E. Malkin (61) is the leader right now but with, C. Giroux (60), S. Stamkos (57), P. Kessel (57) and 9 more players within 10 points, Malkin is not a "shoe in" by any stretch.

The Rocket Richard Trophy

S. Stamkos is once again proving he is one of the NHL's best snipers, leading the way with 34 goals. E. Malkin and P. Kessel are close with 29 each and you can't discount J. Toews with 27. I believe Stamkos will hold on for the win barring injury.

The Hart Memorial Trophy

My top 3 candidates for MVP are E. Malkin 61pts, P. Kessel 57pts and H. Lundqvist 24W 6SO and a .939 save %. Its my belief that Malkin will win this year, he has carried the Penguins all season with Sid on the shelf, though its hard to discount Lundqvist's importance for the Rangers.

The Vezina Trophy

Here are the 4 goalies I think will be in the running.

H. Lundqvist (24w,6so,.939s%), J. Quick(22w,6so,.934s%), P. Rinne(30w,4so,.925s%), J. Howard(32w,5so,.924s%). I'll give an honorable mention to T. Rask and B. Elliot, I don't feel they have or will play enough games when compared to the other candidates. In the end I give the nod to H.Lundqvist, this guy is responsible for the NYR perch atop the NHL standings.

The James Norris Memorial Trophy

This has been a bit of a transitional year on the NHL's backend. There are more young defencemen stepping up into the spotlight which makes for a cluster of candidates. Here's who I feel are the best D-men in the league.

Z. Chara (30pts,+27), M. DelZotto (26pts,+26), S. Weber (35pts,+19), E. Karlsson (48pts,+7), N. Lidstrom (28pts,+25), I. White (25pts,+30).

It really is a crap shoot when picking a winner out of this group but I'll give the edge to Chara based on track record, team role/importance and both his point totals and plus/minus are both among the league leaders. Is Ian White this good or is it a product of playing beside Nik Lidstrom??????

The Frank J. Selke Trophy

As defensively reliable forwards go these are the best in my opinion.

T. Seguin +33, P. Bergeron +27, M. Hossa +21, T. Bertuzzi +22, J. Franzen +21. The Bruins could have this locked up as there are a few more on the +/- leaderboard. Going solely on the numbers this is Seguins to lose I'm just not sure of the calibre of players he goes up against on a nightly basis. I'm going with M. Hossa for this one. He plays on a team that is among the leaders in goals aloud and is still +21.

The Lady Byng Trophy

Again there are a half dozen players I see as having a serious shot at winning this award. They are as follows....

J. Eberle(54pts,8pim), P. Datsyuk(54pts,14pim), P. Kessel(57pts,12pim), J. Tavares(53pts,14pim), M. Hossa(53pts,16pim), P. Elias(51pts,16pim). Another mix of young and old and I say Eberle should be able to hold on for the win. Datsyuk can't win every year....can he?

The Calder Memorial Trophy

I think there are only 2 players in the running and even then I still see a clear cut winner based on age, pro experience, and team importance. R. Nugent-Hopkins (35pts-40gms) wins over A. Henrique (34pts-44gms) and the rest of the sophomores.

The Jack Adams Trophy

I give this one to K. Hitchcock. The job he has done with the Blues is amazing. They're challenging for the Central Division and Western Conference lead after looking like a non-playoff team before he took the reins.

The Bill Masterson Trophy

J. Lupul wins hands down! Coming back from back injury and a blood infection to be among the league leaders in points while putting up career best numbers. Best come back story of the year.

The Mark Messier Trophy

I put a bunch of Captains names in a hat......shuffle, shuffle, shake, shake....and the winner is.....N.Lidstrom. Couldn't have picked a better candidate if I tried.

So there you have it, my 2/3 point of the season award winners.

-WRITTEN BY PAQ TWINN-

follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/paqtwinn

Craig MacTavish Joins The Canucks Organization

Since parting ways with the Edmonton Oilers around 2 years ago, Craig MacTavish has been doing television work for TSN and that's about it. Well that's about to change...

Officially today, MacT was hired to coach the Vancouver Canucks AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. This isn't new news, because if you have been following the tweets on my twitter page, it was retweeted when Nick Kypreos announced it -- unofficially -- on July 16th.

I have mixed feeling about this. I liked MacT and still do. I have great respect for him and I'll always consider him an Oiler. But now, he's a Canuck? That's hard to swallow.

My feelings aside, I'm happy to see him back behind the bench where he belongs. I thought for sure he was going to be the coach of the Jets or different NHL team. Never figured he'd end up in the American Hockey League. I would assume he will have the best shot to replace Alain Vigneault if he's ever fired from the Canucks.

Good luck MacT!

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-

Wayne Gretzky Collage made by @SAVEMEX29

CLICK TO ENLARGE

My 2010/11 NHL Playoff Predictions For The 1st Round (plus Cup Winner)

Well here they are folks. My bold predictions for this years 1st round of the 2010/11 Stanley Cup playoffs. Lets see how I do this year.

WEST

Blackhawks will win in 7 games over the Canucks

Sharks will win in 6 games over the Kings

Detroit will win in 6 games over the Coyotes

Ducks will win in 6 games over the Predators

EAST

Capitals will win in 6 games over the Rangers

Penguins will win in 7 games over the Lightning

Bruins will win in 6 games over the Canadiens

Flyers will win in 6 games over the Sabres

The team that will win the Stanley Cup.... Washington Capitals

What are your picks?

- WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY -

Double Dose Tweetcast: Barons v. Monsters and Oilers v. Wild

Welcome to the Double Dose Game Day, LIVE TweetCast of the

Edmonton Oilers vs Minnesota Wild
and

Oklahoma City Barons vs Lake Erie Monsters.

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OKC Barons vs Lake Erie Monsters
6:00pm CST(5PM MST) Start

LIVE GAME STATS


BARONS ROSTER

MEDIA KIT

Listen to game HERE!

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Edmonton Oilers vs Minnesota Wild
8:30pm CST(7:30pm MST) Start

GAME PREVIEW

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Oklahoma City Barons (22-15-2-4) at Lake Erie Monsters (19-19-3-4)
&

Edmonton Oilers (14-23-7) at Minnesota Wild (22-18-5) 

This LIVE TweetCast is brought to you by

OilersJambalaya.com and OilFieldHockey.com

Road Trip Game Day Tweetcast: Barons v. Rampage & Oilers v. Kings

Welcome to the Road Trip Game Day, LIVE TweetCast of the

Edmonton Oilers vs Los Angeles Kings
and

Oklahoma City Barons vs San Antonio Rampage.

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OKC Barons vs San Antonio Rampage
6:00pm MT Start

LIVE GAME STATS

GAME PREVIEW

BARONS ROSTER

MEDIA KIT

Listen to game HERE!

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Edmonton Oilers vs Los Angeles Kings
8:00pm MT Start

GAME PREVIEW

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Oklahoma City Barons (21-15-2-4) at San Antonio Rampage (25-15-1-0)
&

Edmonton Oilers (14-21-7) at Los Angeles Kings (23-19-1) 

This LIVE TweetCast is brought to you by

OilersJambalaya.com and OilFieldHockey.com

2011 NHL Winter Classic / Pens vs Caps (Including Episodes) **UPDATED**

**GAME TIME HAS BEEN CHANGED BY THE NHL TO 6:00PM MT**

http://www.nhl.com/ice/eventhome.htm?location=/winterclassic/2011

LINK TO THE ALUMNI GAME PAGE

LINK TO EPISODE #1

LINK TO EPISODE #2

LINK TO EPISODE #3

LINK TO EPISODE #4

**January 5th, 2011**

2011 NHL Winter Classic / Pens vs Caps (Including Episodes)

http://www.nhl.com/ice/eventhome.htm?location=/winterclassic/2011

LINK TO THE ALUMNI GAME PAGE

LINK TO EPISODE #1

LINK TO EPISODE #2

LINK TO EPISODE #3

LINK TO EPISODE #4

**January 5th, 2011**

The Wayne Gretzky Assist Leader Award

I had an idea a while back in April about creating an Assist Leader award and to call it the Wayne Gretzky award.

After getting all too excited that this may take off (I do that a lot), it didn't go like I had hoped at all. I went to some of the local press for help/questions with this and was told by most that I was wasting my time. One had said that the NHL has considered renaming a trophy after Gretzky anyways, so this isn't a new concept.

Well... I'm not talking about renaming an existing trophy like the Hart or the Art Ross as that MSM suggested. I'm talking about making a brand new trophy all together. One that makes sense for today's NHL.

I truly believe the NHL needs an assist leader trophy for the guys that get unrecognized. Those players matter and arguably, if there wasn't an assist, there would never be many goals.

It's hard to argue who the best goal scorer is. Howe? Lemieux? Hull? Gretzky? It's hard to argue who's the greatest player of all time. Same 4 guys plus Orr? But it sure isn't hard to figure out who the greatest passer was. That's clearly, Wayne Gretzky. Hands down.

He owns the NHL record of 1,962 career assists (including playoffs, he has a total of 2,222 assists). He has the highest assists per regular season game percentage with 1.321 per game. (1,962 assists in 1,485 games). In 1985/86, Gretzky had an NHL record 163 assists in one season (he had 11 more assists in the playoffs that year too). In 1990/91 he made the record for most consecutive assists with 48 assists in 23 straight games. To this day no other player has beaten that streak. He's tied with Billy Taylor for most assists in one single game with 7 assists. That 7 assist game happened in his first NHL season. Gretzky has a league best 270 playoff assists. There is at least another dozen or so assist records that Gretzky can call his own that I am not listing here. He's the assist king. You can't argue that.

He owns multiple records (see above). He's had his number 99 retired league wide. He was labeled the Great One. And yet no NHL trophy in his honor?

So you know what? I'm going to "waste my time". I'm going to tell the world that this needs to happen. I believe it's the right thing to do. If you do to, please sign this petition. I don't know if any amount of signatures will do anything to help this, but I'm going to try. Gretzky would never give up. Either should I.

**SIGN THE PETITION HERE**

-Written by Smokin' Ray Burnt-

Edmonton Oilers vs New York Rangers / A LIVE TweetCast

Welcome to the LIVE TweetCast of the Edmonton Oilers vs the New York Rangers. GOILERS!!!

There is 4 clips to watch. Just click next after it's over to see the rest.

Good laughs.

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Edmonton Oilers (4-8-3) at New York Rangers (8-7-1)

This LIVE TweetCast is brought to you
by the good people of OilersJambalaya.com and OilFieldHockey.com.

2010/11 NHL Predictions by Paq Twinn

Its been a while since the OJ faithful has heard from me. This will change. I will be contributing on a regular basis here at Oilers Jambalaya. So allow me to reintroduce myself, I am Paq Twinn. I am a life long Oilers fan and love the Oilers, win, lose or draw...wait, I keep forgetting that draws are not possible anymore. I believe that Tambellini had a successful summer and I am very excited to get this season going.

So without further ado, here are my predictions for the 10/11 NHL standings.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
1.Washington Capitals
2.Pittsburgh Penguins
3.Buffalo Sabres
4.New Jersey Devils
5.Philadelphia Flyers
6.Tampa Bay Lightning
7.Boston Bruins
8.Montreal Canadiens
9.Ottawa Senators
10.Florida Panthers
11.New York Rangers
12.Carolina Hurricanes
13.New York Islanders
14.Atlanta Thrashers
15.Toronto Maple Leafs

WESTERN CONFERENCE
1.San Jose Sharks
2.Vancouver Canucks
3.Chicago Blackhawks
4.Detroit Redwings
5.Anaheim Ducks
6.St.Louis Blues
7.Los Angeles Kings
8.Phoenix Coyotes
9.Calgary Flames
10.Nashville Predators
11.Edmonton Oilers
12.Colorado Avalanche
13.Dallas Stars
14.Minnesota Wild
15.Columbus Blue Jackets

The Final Four
Washington vs Pittsburgh
San Jose vs Chicago

Stanley Cup Finals
Pittsburgh vs Chicago.

Stanley Cup Champion
Pittsburgh Penguins

Well there it is. Feel free to laugh, point fingers and snicker when it all goes awry.

-Written by Paq Twinn-

The Oilers Jambalaya Predictions (Smokin' Ray Picks)

Here are my BOLD picks for this season. I'm hoping I'm close this year. *fingers crossed*

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1. San Jose Sharks

2. Chicago Blackhawks

3. Vancouver Canucks

4. Detroit Red Wings

5. Anaheim Ducks
6. LA Kings
7. Dallas Stars
8. Colorado Avalanche

9. Phoenix Coyotes*
10. Edmonton Oilers
11. Calgary Flames
12. St. Louis Blues
13. Nashville Predators
14. Columbus Blue Jackets*
15. Minnesota Wild

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1. Washington Capitals
2. Boston Bruins
3. Philadelphia Flyers
4. Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Buffalo Sabres*
6. New Jersey Devils
7. Montreal Canadiens
8. Atlanta Thrashers
9. New York Rangers
10. Florida Panthers
11. Carolina Hurricanes*
12. Toronto Maple Leafs
13. Tampa Bay Lightning
14. Ottawa Senators
15. New York Islanders

STANLEY CUP FINALS

Washington vs San Jose Sharks

*Switched after original post. Posted in error.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Edmonton Oilers Send Kids Packing / Cuts Have Been Made

**This is the Edmonton Oilers Press Release**

Oilers trim roster by twenty

Eight players to report for Barons training camp in Oklahoma City

Monday, 20.09.2010 / 6:30 PM / Training Camp Report
By Edmonton Oilers Press Release

Edmonton Oilers General Manager Steve Tambellini announced today the club has assigned the following eight players to their respective junior clubs today:

Jeremie Blain (D) assigned to Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL)
Tyler Bunz (G) assigned to Medicine Hat (WHL)
Drew Czerwonka (LW) assigned to Kootenay (WHL)
Brandon Davidson (D) assigned to Regina (WHL)
Curtis Hamilton (LW) assigned to Saskatoon (WHL)
Martin Marincin (D) assigned to Prince George (WHL)
Ryan Martindale (C) assigned to Ottawa (OHL)
Kristians Pelss (LW) assigned to Edmonton (WHL)

The Oilers have also released the following four players from their amateur tryout contracts and assigned them to their respective clubs:

Dallas Ehrardt (D) assigned to Moose Jaw (WHL)
Chase Schaber (C) assigned to Kamloops (WHL)
Dominik Schlumpf (D) assigned to Shawinigan (QMJHL)
Nolan Toigo (D) to UBC (CIS)

The following five players have been assigned to Oklahoma City (AHL):

Jordan Bendfeld (D)
Philippe Cornet (LW)
Milan Kytnar (C)
Matt Marquardt (LW)
Bryan Pitton (G)

The following three players have been released from their amateur tryout contracts with the Oilers and have been invited to Oklahoma City on a tryout:

Jesse Gimblett (LW)
James Livingston (LW)
Mike Thomas (RW)

-Written by the Edmonton Oilers-

Are You Attending The Rookie Young Stars Tournament?

As most of you know, we here (the Jambalaya Family and OFH.com) like to do LIVE TweetCast's of events that most people can't attend to provide a more in depth look at what is going on.

The Young Stars tournament is no exception.

We are looking for people who will be at the tournament that can tweet what they see as it unfolds. We need the help of you to make this a success.

If you are going, let us know ( email ) so we can have your tweets included in our LIVE TweetCast of the Young Stars tournament. This will indeed be a special rookie tournament for all those that get to watch it live.

Stay tuned in September for the Jambalaya families and the OilFieldHockey.com LIVE TweetCast and LIVE video footage of the games.

Brought To You By:
OilFieldHockey
Oilers Jambalaya
Flames Jambalaya
Canucks Jambalaya

It's True! No More Oilers PPV's!

Yes folks, there will never be another PPV game for at least 10 years. Wooo!

Much like we had hoped earlier, the Oilers and the Flames have both reached a deal with Rogers Sportsnet to carry at least 58 Oilers and 58 Flames games every year for the next 10 years. That's a sweet deal to me.

I guess there will be one untelevised game on Feb. 5/11. The Oilers game in Columbus conflicts with a CBC Maple Leafs broadcast. Go figure!

But whatever, 81 games on the tube is pretty awesome no matter how you look at it.

Good bye stupid $14.95 money wasters, hello VERY CHEAP $2.99 a month SportsnetOne.

Life just got better....

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Gerber signs two way deal with Oilers

From the Oilers' Website:

General Manager Steve Tambellini announced today the Edmonton Oilers have agreed to terms with goaltender Martin Gerber on a one-year contract.Gerber, 35, played last year with Altant Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In 30 appearances he went 15-6-6 with a 2.19 GAA and .914 save percentage.

Gerber, who is from Burgdorf, Switzerland, was originally drafted 232nd overall by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. In two seasons with the Ducks he played in 54 games going 26-21-5 before being dealt to the Carolina Hurricanes where he led the Canes to to a division championship. In 60 games Gerber posted a 38-14-6 record, 2.78 GAA and .906 save percentage.

The 5'11", 195 lbs veteran also played with the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs before heading to the KHL. In 226 games Gerber has a 110-78-21 record, 2.65 GAA and .910 save percentage.

Gerber also has some international experience and split the goaltending duties with David Aebischer for Team Switzerland in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Edmonton Oilers hockey is presented in part by the Rexall Family of Pharmacies, Molson Canadian, ATB Financial, TELUS, Cenovus Energy and Ford.

Contract Details: From @RealKyper on Twitter: Oilers sign Martin Gerber 1 year / 2-way contract. 500/200 guaranteed in minors. Oilers have him pegged as a 3/4 goalie in system.

Gilbert Brule, Jeff Deslauriers & JF Jacques File For Arbitration

As per Pierre LeBrun's tweet today, the following players have filed for arbitration. Three of these players are Edmonton Oilers. Gilbert Brule, Jeff Deslauriers & JF Jacques have all filed for arbitration.

Here is the tweet;

On Monday 5th July 2010, @Real_ESPNLeBrun said:

NHLPA announces 31 players filed for salary arbitration today: James Wisniewski, Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd, Clarke MacArthur, Greg Campbell,Blake Wheeler, Tim Kennedy, Ian WhiteAntti Niemi, Jared Boll, Anton StralmanFabian Brunnstrom, Derek Meech, Gilbert Brule, Jeff Drouin-DesLauriers,Jean-Francois Jacques, Brad Richardson, Mark Fraser, Matt Moulson, Daniel Girardi,Chris Campoli, Peter Regin, Daniel Carcillo, Cam Janssen, Nate Thompson, Tanner Glass, Jannik Hansen, Mason Raymond, Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann, Jeff Schultz

That's quite the list. Anyone else shocked that those three Oilers have chosen arbitration?

Gilbert Brule may have a case but even so, he wasn't THAT good last season. Take what you get and play better for a year or two. The money will come with production. He made $800,000 last season.

Then we have JF Jacques. Can someone explain what JF Jacques is going to say in his defence? "Uhhhh... me play hockey." I don't know why he's trying to fight anything? Last season he made $550,000. Not bad for not really playing all season. And he wants more?

Lastly we have Jeff Deslauriers. Deslauriers chose arbitration and Dubnyk didn't. I'd say another edge for DD. Jeff made $625,000 last season and I think that's pretty fair. If he is awarded more than $1 million, that's highway robbery. I'd expect him traded by the start of the season (depending on Khabi's condition).

These three should have elected to negotiate with the team privately as feelings will get hurt. I really hope that these guys settle before arbitration starts because it never ends on great terms.

Arbitration runs from July 20th and goes till August 5.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Tambellini and Hall Press Conference

The Edmonton Oilers will be hosting a Press Conference today, with Oilers GM Steve Tambellini and NHL #1 Draft Pick Taylor Hall today at Noon(1pm CDT). Video of the Press Conference(if available) will be posted on here and Oilfieldhockey.com
Listen Live on the following feeds:
630 AM CHED
Team 1260

Will he stay?

It's been a few days since Edmonton signed Giroux to a one way contract for next season. Giroux still has to show off his talent to earn a spot with the Oilers. But what happens if he doesn't get one of open spots? Will Giroux accept a veteran spot in Oklahoma City, or will he bolt for the KHL? Giroux has been a back to back champion with the Bears. He has the numbers to back up his AHL game, but was really never given a shot with the Caps. But will his success in Hershey be able to translate into success for Edmonton?  There are just too many questions about this signing, that need to be answered. If Giroux wants to be a team player in the Oilers organization. He might want to be open to the idea of playing at least part of next season in Oklahoma City.