Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Oklahoma City Barons Today / Starting To Shape Up

Today we take (another) a look at the Oklahoma City Barons and where they stand right now. Things are really starting to take shape and I figured we should revisit the Barons. Steve Tambellini has been doing a credible job at creating a proper structure in OKC and they are progressing quite nicely.

PRODIGAL HOCKEY OWNER: Bob Funk Jr.
AFFILIATE TEAM: Edmonton Oilers
GENERAL MANAGER: ????
ASSISTANT GM: ???? (guessing Pat Quinn?)
HEAD COACH: Todd Nelson
ASSISTANT COACH: Gerry Fleming
TRAINER: Brandon Dionne
EQUIPMENT MANAGER: ????
MASCOT NAME: ????

WEBSITE: http://www.okcbarons.com/
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/okcbaronshockey
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/okcbarons

PROJECTED OKC BARONS ROSTER*

*subject to change

FORWARDS:

C - Ryan O'Marra
C - Chris Vande Velde
C - Brad Moran
C - Teemu Hartikainen
C - Milan Kytnar

LW - Linus Omark
LW - Liam Reddox
LW - Alexandre Giroux
LW - Gregory Stewart
LW- Phillipe Cornet
LW - Matt Marquart (probably will play with the Stockton Thunder)

RW - Magnus Paajarvi/Jordan Eberle (projecting that one of the two will be in OKC)
RW - Colin MacDonald
RW - Ben Ondrus

DEFENCEMEN:

Shawn Belle
Richard Petoit
Jake Taylor
Alex Plante
Jeff Petry
Johan Motin
Jordan Bendfield
Taylor Chorney (possible OKC player)
Theo Peckham (possible OKC player)

GOALIES:

Bryan Pitton
Backup or #1 ????

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Monday, July 19, 2010

Edmonton's New Arena / A Rant By Oil Freak / Guest Column

Once again here at OilersJambalaya.com we step outside of the boundaries. Today we have a guest post from a gentleman from the Twitter world. I seen his ranting on the arena debate and I asked him if he would want to type it out and post it here at OJ. He said yes. So here it is, an Arena Rant by Oil Freak.

Arena Rant - By Oil Freak

I have been quietly sitting back and listening to the public debate over the construction of a new arena / entertainment facility in Edmonton, but I can't sit by quietly any longer. If I have to listen to one more mouth breathing HYPOCRITE on the tv and radio broadcasts I'm going to PUKE !!!!!!!

The next time I hear someone say "I don't want my tax dollars paying for a new arena" I swear I'm going to explode. They are obviously very narrow minded, misinformed and don’t use the current facility. This is not simply an arena, it’s an “Entertainment Complex”.

These concerned citizens are the same ones that were fine with spending $100 million on a new Art Gallery. Did you hear all of us that won’t be using that facility denouncing the use of public funds in it’s construction.

We finally have an owner that is willing to sink some serious money into a new arena and entertainment facility that will put this city back on the map. Not to mention generate a crap load of revenue and thousands of jobs for the city.

We all love Rexall Place and have many fantastic memories, but the old girl is 35 years old, has no windows, is built in one of the worst parts of town and does very little for generating revenue and jobs in the surrounding area.

Northlands has reported that they could have Rexall retrofitted (a fancy way of saying renovated, lol) for around $190 million. They say 190, I say it will end up costing 250-300 when all is said and done. We have to remember where this information is coming from, Northlands, the group which stands to lose the most should the new project go ahead. Does it make a shred of sense to possibly spend over $250 million for a short term fix? I think not.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still just a pig.

Let's move into the new age and take some pride in our city.

I am ecstatic to hear that this project should be getting the go ahead very soon. If you belly achers don't like it, don't come down, cause chances are you don’t support the current facility anyways. You are not welcome to enjoy the fruits of our sports and entertainment culture that we have worked so hard and spent our hard earned money to build. You will all be eating CROW with EGG on your faces very soon, mark my words !

To all the supporters, we'll see you down there in 2014, YEE HAW !!! This will be a successful, state of the art venture that we can all be very proud of.

That's my rant for now, what do you guys think ? Agree or Disagree ? I'd like to hear from you !!!

Hit me up on Twitter @Oilfreak

-Written/Ranted by Oil Freak-

Rowbotham shares his Goals

In this video, Stockton Thunder Owner Brad Rowbotham shares his thoughts on what his team needs to do to be successful during a Fan Forum.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Updated Edmonton Oilers Contracts / CapGeek.com Cap Calculator

CapGeek.com has revamped the salary cap calculator. This is the best site there is for all things related to NHL player salaries. Today I wanted to give you an updated look at where the Oilers stand today.

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR

FORWARDS
Shawn Horcoff ($5.500m) / Dustin Penner ($4.250m) / Ales Hemsky ($4.100m)
Taylor Hall ($3.750m) / Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson ($1.525m) / Jordan Eberle ($1.158m)
Ryan Jones ($0.975m) / Linus Omark ($0.875m) / Colin Fraser ($0.825m)
Zack Stortini ($0.700m) / Jean-Francois Jacques ($0.615m) / Steve MacIntyre ($0.500m)

DEFENSEMEN
Sheldon Souray ($5.400m) / Tom Gilbert ($4.000m)
Ryan Whitney ($4.000m) / Jim Vandermeer ($2.300m)
Kurtis Foster ($1.800m) / Ladislav Smid ($1.300m)
Taylor Chorney ($0.941m) / Jason Strudwick ($0.725m)

GOALTENDERS
Nikolai Khabibulin ($3.750m) /Devan Dubnyk ($0.800m)

BUYOUTS: Robert Nilsson ($-0.083m)
CARRY-OVER BONUS PENALTY: $354,500

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion)

SALARY CAP: $59,400,000;

CAP PAYROLL: $50,061,167;

BONUSES: $3,977,500

CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $13,316,333

Now remember, these totals don't include players like Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Gilbert Brule, Jeff Deslauriers and some others. The 13 million in cap space will disappear pretty quickly once these players are signed. But at least now we have a more clear outlook on where the Oilers stand.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Friday, July 16, 2010

Doug Sauter As Ambassador Of The OKC Barons?

Last night after the OKC Barons press conference, I started to think about Doug Sauter and where he stands with the new Barons team and their respective fans. As far as I understand, when the Blazers folded, so did Sauter's association with the club. To the best of my knowledge, Doug Sauter is not presently employed by the Oklahoma City Barons. I could be wrong.

From what I can tell and what I have been told, the fans and the city really liked Doug as the coach of their hometown hockey team. He came in and built a fan base for Oklahoma City and won the respect of those who came to the rink and watched the Blazers. It wasn't just the moustache that made him famous, he won two championships in his time there as coach and won the CHL Commissioner's Trophy in 1995-96 (Awarded to the Coach of the Year as selected by his coaching peers). The man is practically a legend in OKC.

Before the coaches announcement yesterday, fans (message boards and the Barons facebook page) still wanted Sauter back as head coach and some were quite upset that he wasn't chosen. I can now see why there is always so much talk about him. He was good at what he did and the fans loved him for it.

Hearing/reading all this, gave me an idea about what his possibilities are with the Barons for the future since coaching is not an option. 

It only makes sense that Sauter continues on with the "new chapter" of OKC hockey right? So I thought why not? Why not make Doug Sauter the Ambassador of the OKC Barons?

He's for the majority of OKC fans, the fan favorite. I think he could represent the team to the fans well. He could be involved in the community on behalf of the Barons and he could be there in the stands and the concourse on game days to be involved with the fans. He could easily do a lot of things that would appease the Barons fans. That instant fan base he already has gives him a head start over any other person.

Clearly, if this position is to be created, Doug Sauter is the guy I'd hire. He'd be excellent as an ambassador and I think the fans would eat it up even though he's not part of the coaching staff. I think this would make everyone happy. Including Doug.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

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