@JohnnieOil Speaks His Mind About Taylor Hall

Our friend JohnnieOil stopped by tonight and had this to say about Taylor Hall "taking" the #4 from the only NHL Oiler to wear that number, Kevin Lowe;

"JohnnieOil said:

I dunno, in a way I like this and in another I don’t.

I understand the synergy of Lowe giving Hall “his” #4.

Lowe being the first ever Oiler pick, scoring the first goal etc there is a lot of Oiler history with that man.

Regardless of what people may think and say of Lowe now there is no denying that he has a very special place in Oiler history and his jersey should be up in the rafters, without any doubt.

And now we have Hall, our first ever #1 pick, a great talent to be sure but he is unproven in the NHL at this time. So does he deserve to take a local legends number and all that it means in the history of the oilers? I just don’t know but it does show the class and unselfishness of Lowe and his love of the team. He is demonstrating a team first attitude as president as he did when he played and I tip my Oilers hat to him.

No one was more excited when we picked Hall, definitely the right pick in my mind I just hope he lives up to the class and love of team and city that the man before him that wore that #4.

Now drop the puck already!"

It's also posted at his blog. Check it out here.

I'm an emotion kind of fellow and I did get caught up in the Hall hoopla. I love a good story and this has interesting written all over it.

JohnnieOil brings up some great points and I'd have to say, I agree 100%. I personally do hope that Taylor Hall leads himself with class and dignity much like Kevin Lowe did and makes all of Oil Country proud. He's going to be even more under fire now with that digit. Can he handle the Oil Country heat?

*fingers crossed* Hope so.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Taylor Hall Will Wear #4 For The Edmonton Oilers

Taylor Hall Will Wear #4 For The Edmonton Oilers!!!

Yours truly has been bitching and griping about why the Oilers, more importantly Kevin Lowe, haven't given Taylor Hall the elusive #4.

Well, it's happening. Unless someone is messing with my mind.

Expect a press conference tomorrow (?) as the Oilers (Lowe) present Hall with the #4 blue and orange jersey.

ON A SIDE NOTE: Our own Marsha (Scarlett) Boyd called the PC a couple of weeks ago. Atta girl Marsha!

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-

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!

Summer Winds Down

As summer winds down, it signifies many things, the most important being, the new hockey season. For the Oilers it has not been the whirl-wind offseason like it was last year with a certain selfish sniper named Dany Heatley. But, that is long forgotten (somewhat), and as we Oilers fans begin to speculate who has it to make the NHL squad, let's take a look back at what transactions took place in this rather satisfying offseason for the Edmonton Oilers after their historic draft:

June 29 - Oilers waive Captain Ethan Moreau, who is picked up by the Columbus Blue Jackets on June 30th

June 30 - Oilers trade Patrick O'Sullivan for more than he's worth (a bag of pucks in my opinion), and received Jim Vandermeer from the Phoenix Coyotes (O'Sullivan's contract is bought out by the Coyotes hours after the trade)

June 30 - Oilers buy out the remainder of Robert Nilsson's contract, he signs with KHL's Salavat Yulaev on July 23rd

July 1 - Oilers sign big D-man Kurtis Foster, who has a had a very tough career but is a very solid player.

July 1 - Oilers UFA Charles Linglet signs with KHL's Nijni Novgorod

July 2 - Oilers UFA Chris Minard signs with the Detroit Red Wings

July 2 - Oilers sign UFA Richard Petiot to a 1-year contract

July 2 - Oilers re-sign UFA Jason Strudwick to a 1-year contract

July 2 - Oilers bring back UFA tough guy Steve MacIntyre on a 1-year contract

July 3 - Oilers sign former AHL MVP UFA Alexandre Giroux to a 1-year contract

July 5 - Oilers sign Number 1 Pick Taylor Hall to a 3-year Entry Level Contract

July 7 - Oilers UFA Ryan Stone signs with the Calgary Flames

July 7 - Oilers sign UFA Brad Moran to a 1-year contract

July 9 - Oilers sign UFA Ben Ondrus to a 1-year contract

July 9 - Oilers UFA Colin McDonald signs an AHL contract with the Oklahoma City Barons

July 13 - Oilers re-sign RFA Devan Dubnyk to a 2-year contract

July 13 - Oilers sign UFA Shawn Belle to a 1-year contract

July 14 - Oilers re-sign RFA J.-F. Jacques to a 1-year contract

July 15 - Oilers re-sign RFA Theo Peckham to a 1-year contract

July 16 - Oilers UFA Slava Trukhno signs with KHL's Novosibirsk

July 16 - Oilers sign UFA Gregory Stewart to a 1-year contract

July 16 - Oilers re-sign RFA Ryan O'Marra to a 1-year contract

July 23 - Oilers UFA Marc-Antoine Pouliot signs with the Tampa Bay Lightning

July 27 - Oilers re-sign RFA Gilbert Brule to a 2-year contract

July 31 - Oilers re-sign RFA Jeff Deslauriers to a 1-year contract

August 6 - Oilers sign UFA Martin Gerber to a 1-year contract

August 9 - Oilers re-sign RFA Liam Reddox to a 1-year contract

August 11 - Oilers UFA Dean Arsene signs with the St. Louis Blues

August 18 - Oilers UFA Fernando Pisani signs with the Chicago Blackhawks

Oilers UFA's unsigned: 6 (Mike Comrie, Josef Hrabal, Aaron Johnson, Matt Nickerson, Geoff Paukovich, Ryan Potulny)

Oilers RFA's unsigned: 2 (Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner)

If you look at last years roster, and then this years roster, you will notice that there are huge changes. It's a new era in Oil Country folks. We've finally gotten ridden of the small, inconsistent players that we've had for the better part of four seasons. Here are my projected lines for this year:

Forwards

Penner - Gagner - Hemsky

Hall - Eberle - Brule

Paajarvi - Horcoff - Cogliano

Jones - Fraser - Stortini/Jacques/MacIntyre

Scratches: the two tough guys that aren't in the lineup

Defensemen

Whitney - Gilbert

Smid (Souray*) - Foster

Vandermeer - Strudwick

Scratches: Chorney

Note: Souray will have to accept the fact that no one wants his contract, and will play in Smid's spot if so, leaving Strudwick the odd man out.

I will hold off on fully evaluating the roster until the final roster is announced after pre-season, but I can promise this, there's something special going on here in Edmonton.

-Nick "Oilers Fan" Walker

(As posted on NHLTALK202.com)

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-

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!!!

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

Oilers Jambalaya / Random Thoughts, Not The Website

This (Oilers Jambalaya - The Random Stuff) is a column that I started when this little blog started up. I only did it a few times (but I liked it) and it kind of faded away for some reason. But what the hell? It's back.

Mmmmmm.... Jambalaya

Oilers Rookie Development Camp is going on right now down at the Clareview Arena till Friday. It goes from 10:00am till 12:00pm. The place gets packed so if you are going, go early. For all the latest news and info regarding the camp, stay tuned to Oilers Jambalaya. Plus we will have a special fans report from guest writer Steve Schulte a little later in the day plus the LIVE tweets from http://twitter.com/_gelsomino.

Magnus Paajarvi Interview From Today

Khabibulin had his court case postponed today. It appears the courts were to busy to proceed with his trial or something like that. It has been rescheduled for 2 weeks from now. If convicted, he could spend up to 30 days in jail. With a delay and other court procedures, it's possible that Khabi might miss training camp if he does have to do the whole 30 days and this does drag out longer. I would expect him to try and plea bargain.

Taylor Hall's number. What is taking so long to decide? I really do think he really waiting for #44 to get traded. I mean, become available. I hope not, it's cursed. He did say a few days ago that he would think about possibly taking either 44 or 91. God I hope he takes 91 (my choice for him is #84. He could easily be the greatest #84 in the history of the NHL) instead of the 44. *fingers crossed*

That rumor that TSN's Ryan Rishaug started is quite the conversation piece today. He thinks that if the Kings land Ilya Kovalchuk (still possible), they might be willing to part with Ryan Smyth. Souray for Smyth is what he suggested. I'll be honest, I'd make that trade right now. I would even include Cogliano. I would love nothing more than to see Ryan come back and be the mentor for the kids and finally wear the captain's C. He deserved it years ago and I believe he has a lot left in that tank of his. BRING BACK SMYTH!

Wow! The Oilers seem hell bent to have some experienced guys down in Oklahoma City for next season. They have been spending money for OKC Barons like crazy and they have only picked up a few guys so far. Just paying Alex Giroux $500,000 and $225,00 for Brad Moran is whacked out. Three quarters of a million dollars for two guys. If only I could hang out with Katz for a day. He must have $10 dollar bills in the bathroom for toilet paper. Unbelievable amounts of wasted money! I hope for the OKC Barons fans sake, these veteran AHL players are worth the cash. Defenceman Jake Taylor was also signed recently for the Barons.

I'm starting to think that Bob Funk jr. and the Barons have no say in the "hockey operations" department. It appears like the Oilers are sorting out their own problems first without considering the fact that the Barons are new and the fans were hungry for anything related to the team. Yes I did say were. The excitement is over. I don't know what they have in store next, but you couldn't beat the hype that a couple of bloggers (OilFieldHockey/CopperandBlue/OilersJambalaya) created a while back. As of this moment they are looking to sell seasons tickets. They do pay for a sponsored link on google to be found.

So here are my questions to the OKC Barons. Why is it taking sooooooooo long to pick the name the mascot winner? (My suggestion was Edmond Von Derrick) Where is your GM? (He's important to build a team) Where is your Head Coach (Kelly Buchberger??) and his Assistants? Where is your pump-up on Twitter and other social media? Where is the fan involvement? How about another live chat?

I have asked the Stockton Thunder if there has been any progress on if they will resign with the Oilers, as their current agreement is expired. So far they tell me they are working on it and they would love to still be apart of the Oilers family. I really hope they continue being apart of the Oilers organization because here at Oilers Jambalaya, we are going to ramp up our coverage of the Stockton Thunder starting this season. So I will keep you posted if an agreement is reached. We hope so.

**Cool new changes at Oilers Jambalaya and over at OilFieldHockey.com are coming soon.

We can't wait for next year to start!

LET'S GO OILERS! LET'S GO BARONS! LET'S GO THUNDER!**

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Oilers Rookie Development Camp Day 2 Quick Update

Thanks again to @_gelsomino for the great LIVE tweets during the development camp.

Here are her tweets from today;

1. It is even busier here today.
2. After being herded like cattle from arena B to A, we are underway. Starting with stick handling drills.
3. Abbey (32) and MPS (28) owned at the 'ice plies' (for lack of a better term).
4. Hall is looking much better today, nerves gone maybe?
5. Pass around the circle. #Oilers http://twitpic.com/238nc4
6. I spy Ladislav Smid.
7. One on ones, Abney (32) trying his hand at defence.
8. Today was a lot more passing, shooting, stickhandling.
9. I am adding Abney (32) to my 'ones to watch for list.
10. Magnus Paajarvi Svensson really impressed me today. Him and Eberle both shined brighter then Hall.
11. Hall started out really strong but was looking tired towards the end, to many media tours as of late potentially?
12. Hall and Eberle are looking like 'BFF's.
13. The 'Jones Twins' with any luck future 'Sedin Sisters'.
14. He (Hall) is skilled, that is for sure, however a tad out of shape (just a tad). I bet after a few bag skates he'll be golden.
15. Honestly they all looked pretty even, the true test for them will be on Friday for the 3 on 3 games.

Well there you have it. If a fan like Jasmine is happy with these kids, well so is Oilers Jambalaya. The future looks bright for the Edmonton Oilers.

Come back tommorow and check out the LIVE TweetCast of Day 3 of the Oilers rookie development camp.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

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-

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

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-

My Review of The Draft

What can I say? I have been on Team Hall right from the beginning. Even though that "Oil Change" documentary made me think twice about my decision; because let's face it, Tyler Seguin is gonna be one hell of a player too (thank goodness he's in the eastern conference...) But back to Hall. I am extremely excited for this upcoming season, I have never been this excited for an Oilers season in fact. It's gonna be great folks, we got Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Magnus Paajarvi all coming in next year.

Let me also say I'm very happy with our draft selections this year, especially the Slovakian defenseman, Marincin, who we picked up in the 2nd round from the Riley Nash trade, he's going to be good, I'm telling you. Side note on Riley Nash, this trade had to be done, he should have been in the AHL by now but he wants to keep playing college hockey.

Also, the Oilers continued their yearly tradition of drafting a goalie, Tyler Bunz, and from what I've heard, that was a steal. On Tyler Pitlick, not a steal here folks, this was the only pick I was a little confused with due to the opportunity to draft John McFarland or shut down defenseman Alex Petrovic at the time. But hey, we will see.

Upcoming July 1st note: the Oilers MUST sign a hard-nosed veteran who can really play. Either a d-man or a center like Manny Malhotra.

ALSO: I cannot stress how much deadweight we need to lose, like our new "Tambellini's To-Do List" says.

-Written by Nick "Oilers Fan" Walker-

The Edmonton Oilers 2010 NHL Draft Picks

THE PICKS

The Oilers select (F) Taylor Hall with the 1st overall pick.

The Oilers select (C) Tyler Pitlick with the 31st overall pick.

The Oilers (from Carolina for Riley Nash) selects (D)Martin Marincin with the 46th overall pick.

The Oilers select (LW) Curtis Hamilton with the 48th overall pick.

The Oilers select  (C) Ryan Martindale with the 61st overall pick.

The Oilers select (D) Jeremie Blain with the 91st overall pick.

The Oilers select (G) Tyler Bunz with the 121st overall pick.

The Oilers select (D) Brandon Davidson with the 162nd overall pick.

The Oilers select (LW) Drew Czerwonka with the 166th overall pick.

The Oilers select (F) Kristians Pels with the 181st overall pick.

The Oilers select (F) Kellen Jones with the 202nd overall pick.

TRADES

- The Oilers shipped Riley Nash to the Carolina Hurricanes for the (2nd round) 46th pick overall.

- Oilers trade 6th round pick in 2011 to Toronto for the 202nd overall pick in this year's draft.

Bob Stauffer talks with OKC Barons Owner, Bob Funk jr.

Taylor Hall / The Edmonton Oilers 1st Overall Draft Pick

Welcome to the Edmonton Oilers Taylor Hall. It's going to be a fun ride watching you grow.

Will the #4 ride again?

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

2010 NHL Entry Draft LIVE *TweetCast*

Welcome to the LIVE *TweetCast* brought to you by Oilers Jambalaya and OilFieldHockey.com.

Kick back your feet and watch the tweets of OilFieldHockey, OilersJambalaya, AHLBarons, NHL, NHL_Oilers, DanTencer, Oilers_Travels, DarrenDreger, JasonGregor & OKCBaronsHockey.

This should be a good time so don't miss out. We will find out if it's Taylor or Tyler. Finally.

If you are on Twitter, give us a shout. If not, join and then you can give us a shout.

Thanks for joining us here today! HISTORY IN THE MAKING

The Edmonton Oilers will have the 1st overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft.

The Edmonton Oilers will have the 1st overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft.

What an exciting time in Oil Country.

Now the big question. Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin?

Is Pat Quinn Off His Rocker? & The Battle Of The #1 Draft Picks

It appears the lines for the Oilers have changed again. This is what the Oilers official Twitter account is saying today;

18-10-34 / 27-13-91 / 28-16-67 / 12-78-46 (19).

I am officially going to say now that Pat Quinn is all but off his silver rocker. I've been good all year about giving the guy the benefit of the doubt, but enough is enough.

It appears that Patrick O'Sullivan is going to be the guy that sits out next game. What?!? I'm confused?

O'Sullivan was arguably one of the better Oilers last game and he's the one to sit? Really?

What about the shoddy play by the Captain Ethan Moreau? What about the non-existence of Fernando "2006" Pisani? What about Marc "The Waste Of A Draft Pick" Pouliot? What has he done? What about Stortini?

So while Quinn sits Mike Comrie and O'Sullivan on rotation, those wastes of roster spots keep playing. I just don't get it.

*shakes head and shrugs shoulders*

What else is bugging me today?

Is the Horcoff line really thought of as the #1 line? Really? Really?!?

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To make things a little easier for the Edmonton Oilers hockey club, the Windsor Spitfires are going to be playing the Plymouth Whalers in the 2nd round of the OHL playoffs.

That's right folks, Taylor Hall & Cam Fowler vs Tyler Seguin.

All three of the top draft picks playing in one great hockey series.

Action begins Thursday at 5 pm MT in Windsor.

Thurs., April 1 at Windsor 7:05pm EST
Sat., April 3 at Plymouth 7:05pm EST
Mon., April 5 at Windsor 7:05pm EST
Wed., April 7 at Plymouth 7:05pm EST
Thurs., April 8 at Windsor 7:05pm EST
Sat., April 10 at Plymouth 7:05pm EST
Mon., April 12 at Windsor 7:05pm EST

OHL PLAYOFF BRACKET

Taylor Hall Video

Tyler Seguin Video

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

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-