The Edmonton Oilers Roster, Before The Big Change

I had an idea after talking with some of my tweeps on Twitter. Maybe we should take a premature look at what the Oilers roster may look like next season.

This is a look at the Oilers they way they stand starting July 1st, plus/minus a few additions.

Fernando Pisani, Mike Comrie, Jason Strudwick and Aaron Johnson are Unrestricted Free Agents and we will assume that none of the get signed by the Oilers except Aaron Johnson. He played well and I could see the Oilers signing him for this next season as they need the help on defence.

Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Marc Pouliot, Gilbert Brule, Ryan Potulny, JF Jacques, Devan Dubnyk and Jeff Deslauriers are all Restricted Free Agents and we will assume they all do get contracts from the Oilers. At this time, I have no idea on what will happen with JDD and DD. Both won't be on the Oilers and will one of them clear waivers and play in OKC? Will one of the be traded?

Also for the exercise, I'm going to include Taylor Hall (we all know he will be #1) and Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson. Judging by the way MPS had his season end, I think it propels him enough to concentrate this summer on working hard and he makes the team at the start of the year. Mind you, if he doesn't sign a contract, he won't be in North America next season as I'm sure he'll elect to stay in Sweden. But for this exercise, he signs a contract and makes the team (which I think will happen).

Even though I just said the opposite a few days ago, Jordan Eberle will have his and all his admirers hearts broken (mine included) when Tambellini sends him down to play with the Barons to start the year. Unless Eberle works his butt off all summer and comes to camp stronger, I don't see him making the team over MPS. On the plus side, the OKC Barons will need some hype to get people in the seats and Jordan Eberle can do that. He may just be the leader down there for the time being. The Oilers want winners at all levels and including Eberle to the Barons roster helps. I guess I just needed a day or two before I said that Eberle will be on the Oilers team. Oops! In my opinion, MPS just looked so great at the Worlds, it made me rethink that whole scenario that I talked about a few days ago.

We will also assume that Robert Nilsson, Ethan Moreau and Patrick O'Sullivan are not on the Oilers next season. They will either go to the OKC Barons or they are bought out.

**Unless changes are made -- and Tambellini said there will be -- this will be close to the opening day roster IMO.**

FORWARDS

Magnus Pääjärvi    Shawn Horcoff      Ales Hemsky
Taylor Hall               Sam Gagner        Dustin Penner
Gilbert Brule           Ryan Potulny     Andrew Cogliano
Ryan Stone              Marc Pouliot        Zack Stortini

SPARES: Ryan Jones, JF Jacques, Jordan Eberle, Liam Reddox

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DEFENCE

Ryan Whitney      Tom Gilbert
(Souray Trade)   Ladislav Smid
Taylor Chorney  Aaron Johnson

SPARES: (edit:) Jason Strudwick, Theo Peckham, Dean Arsene, Jeff Petry, Johan Motin

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GOALIES

Nikolai Khabibulin
Devan Dubnyk or Jeff Deslauriers

SPARES: Bryan Pitton, Olivier Roy

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Now that I actually spent the time writing it all out, the Oilers look terrible.

Losing Souray is going to hurt. The defence crew doesn't look very promising at all. If you really try to win games with a Chorney/Johnson pair then you are in trouble. I'm curious to see who the Oilers get back in the Souray trade. But regardless, the Oilers should pick up a 3-4 pairing guy on top of who they get in the Souray trade. They will need experience to teach the kids and his name is NOT Jason Strudwick.

Goaltending has some issues to work out as well. That's a mess I won't get into.

Judging by the Oilers forwards, they still need a good defensive type center who can win draws. Unless the Oilers find a guy for the top two lines, it appears that the 3rd line center won't be Shawn Horcoff (even though I think that's where he belongs).

By looking at this list, it very clear the Oilers have a lot of work to do this summer. I'm sure glad that my name is Smokin' Ray Burnt and NOT Steve Tambellini. At least my summer is going to be fun.

-Written by Smokin' Ray at Oilers Jambalaya-

The Barons' Barn

The Cox Convention Center(a.k.a. The Myriad) opened up to the pubic in November 1972. And has been hosts to several concerts from Elvis Presley to Guns n Roses. And is now home to the Oklahoma City Barons, and the Arena portion of the Convention Center. It's the 3rd time in the Arena's history that home to a profressional hockey team. The arena for Ice Hockey can hold up to 13,399 people according to the Wikipedia article. The Arena is under going a 4.5 million dollar renovation to bring the ice plant, locker rooms, and restrooms up to standards. This renovation plan was instrumental in bringing the Oilers top farm team to Oklahoma City. And it hasn't cost the taxpayers any additional funding through a sales tax.The Arena has a really nice scoreboard in place to give you, as you can see from this picture. It has to video boards on either end of the ice, so that fans don't miss out on any of the action. And just from the low ceiling that's it's going to be the loudest arena in the AHL. Opponents and Referees don't know what is going to hit them once set foot in "The Barons' Barn".

Edmond Von Derrick / OKC Barons Name The Mascot Contest

So I head over to the new http://www.okcbarons.com/ on this snowy Alberta morning to fill out the entry form for the new NAME THE MASCOT contest. Well it turns out that you not only do you have to be a resident of the United States, you must live in Oklahoma.

WHAT!?! That's crazy talk.

I live in Canada and we always get stiffed on contests and promotions that are held in the States. Like for example, I think could do really well on Survivor or Big Brother, but I'm Canadian so I can't go on the show. Stupid!

So as I sit at home and get burned again on a contest that I put a lot of thought into. Before you say it. I know, I should have read the rules BEFORE I spent time on this. I thought to myself, I'm going to tell the world anyways. So here it is.

The name "Edmond Von Derrick" is my submission for the name the mascot contest.

Get it? Edmond is Edmonton. Von is very Barons like and Derrick is well... for the oil derricks.

I like it and that's why I'm bummed I can't enter.

I guess I should be use to being Canadian. Even the NHL screws us. *cough* Early game on a Saturday. IT'S SATURDAY!!! You know. Hockey NIGHT in Canada. Not Hockey Afternoon in the United States. It's our game, show some respect. Geez.

Anyways... I'm not bitter this morning. I just needed to vent. lol. Thanks for listening and have a happy Sunday.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

OKC Barons / The Possible Lines For 2010/11

With all the hype right now about the new Oklahoma City Barons, I figured I'd do up some possible lines for the upcoming season.

Be warned. These lines most likely won't happen whether it's because of contracts or a player decides to play back in Europe or something else that I can't predict. I just thought it would be fun to dream for a moment.

FORWARDS

Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson  Chris Minard           Jordan Eberle
Linus Omark                   Teemu Hartikainen        Toni Rajala
Liam Reddox                  Chris Vande Velde       Philippe Cornet
Viacheslav Trukhno           Ryan O'Marra          Matt Marquardt

Forward Spares: Geoff Paukovich, Milan Kytnar, Colin MacDonald

Smokin' Ray Says: I don't see Eberle or MPS being on this team. If anything, Eberle makes the Oilers and MPS plays one more year in the SEL as he still has no contract. I also noticed that the Oilers are weak in the Right Wing position even with the prospects. If I was the Oilers, I would be drafting RW players at this years draft as much as possible. I am also not 100% clear if Rajala can play in the AHL next season or not, but I do know he has to go back to Finland for some military obligations at some point in his life. I need to check into that further. If say if 4 or more players that I have listed don't play in OKC next season, then the Oilers/Barons need to find some guys to fills some shoes. As is, this is a good forward group. Lose those players I mentioned, and it doesn't look that good. But you never know, maybe the Oilers send down some guys like Robert Nilsson or JF Jacques and it helps the team out?

DEFENCE

Theo Peckham Taylor Chorney
Jeff Petry Johan Motin
Dean Arsene  Alex Plante

Defence Spares: Matt Nickerson, Jordan Bendfeld

Smokin' Ray Says: I like this defence group for the Barons. However, I don't think that Chorney will be here. I'm going to guess that the Oilers will keep him with the big club even though I don't think he's ready for the NHL. Peckham is also a strong possibility to be with the Oilers as well. But, add an experienced AHL defenceman and this group still looks good.

GOALIES

Jeff Deslauriers or Devan Dubnyk (I don't think either will be in OKC)
Bryan Pitton

Smokin' Ray Says: I really don't believe that JDD or Dubnyk clear waivers. Nor do I think that Tambellini will take that chance. So unless the Barons snag a better veteran goalie, they are stuck with Pitton. The goaltending needs some serious attention.

-Written by Smokin' Ray of Oilers Jambalaya-

Team name? Check. Logos? Check. Mascot?

Now that the team name and logos have been officially announced, Prodigal has decided to hold another contest. This time to name the mascot. Actually, a better way to describe it is a Create-a-Mascot contest. As there isn't an actual mascot to be named, it's a pretty fair assumption that they're going to create it based off of the name. Myself, I'd be fine without the team having a mascot, but that's just me. But thinking about it, what could be associated with the name "Baron"? Most likely, the first thing that comes to mind is Red Baron pizza. Or the Red Baron from Peanuts. A pilot and a dog dressed as a pilot. Is that something that could be used as a mascot? Evidently so. Doing a Google search, I found pictures of other Barons mascots.

This plane was the mascot of the Ocean City Barons(now the Nor'easters), a fourth-tier soccer team. Besides exceeding the non-controllable parts width(I'm sure people have been hit in the head by the wings as he went down flights of stairs), if it wasn't for the soccerball "wheels" and spinner, there's no soccer association, and I'm assuming the red plane is alluding to the Red Baron.

The Birmingham Barons mascot, a dog with it's tongue hanging out. With the goggles and the helmet, obviously alluding to the Red Baron.

So that brings me to our mascot. Unlike Ocean City and Birmingham, we have the history of oil barons. Will they decide to go with a human character like the Tulsa Oilers? Or like Ocean City and Birmingham, a characterized mascot such as a walking oil derrick? I'd rather they go with a human character. Other than the oil derrick, I can't think of anything else that would encompass Oklahoma's oil history.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-