The Edmonton Oilers were going to announce a signing...

 Collective eye roll...

AHL player Brad Malone. Not a joke.

Believe #LetsGoOilers are signing 32 y/o F Brad Malone to NHL contract. He’s currently on AHL deal with Bakersfield, with 19 points in 22 games.

His last NHL deal was with Oilers in 19-20, and last played NHL games in 18-19 (16 games with Oilers).https://t.co/n5GLOZYqlQ

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) January 21, 2022

In a season where disaster moves have plagued the Oilers, today after a 6-0 loss to the Panthers, this is the move that GM Ken Holland wants to make?

Bold move Ken. Bold move.

Malone hasn't played in the NHL since 2018-19. All time NHL stats are 199 GP, 13 G, 17 A, 30 P and 198 PM. What in the actual H E double hockey sticks is going on here? What will Malone bring to the team that will fix this mess? Absolutely nothing. 

At first when I seen the tweet, I thought it was a joke. I mean, it has to be right? But then the Oilers media picked up on it.

Malone tested positive for COVID...so he won't be signed for now...tough break for him.

— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) January 21, 2022

My understanding is, there won't be a Brad Malone signing at this time. Bakersfield has had some major COVID issues, that may prevent him from being available. I believe they had interest in bringing him in for bottom 6.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 21, 2022

Why sign Malone when Seth Griffith is lighting it up in Bakersfield? Copper Marody is crushing it too for the Condors. If this season is a bad dream, please wake us all up.

This tweet sums it up for me and I'm sure all of us.

If Brad Malone is the answer. I don't want to know the question.

— Oilers fans- "we are all pissy" (@heavyd12) January 21, 2022

Guess we can kill the Carey Price rumours

News filtered out today that Montreal Canadians netminder Carey Price won’t be back from injury anytime soon. 

After undergoing a substance abuse program before the season started, his progress on returning from injury has been slow at best. Most had figured after his offseason surgery that he would be ready for action sooner rather than later. But that’s not the case. 

Montreal Canadiens Vice President of communications Chantal Machabee today broke the bad news. 

Arpon Basu had the quote from her today. 

So there we have it Oiler fans. The chances of him starting rehab all over again and playing this year for any team except the Habs, is almost nil. 

Even with this heartbreaking news, it won’t stop fans from constantly bringing his name up over and over again. 

Hopefully we can all agree, it’s time to move on from this pipe dream. 

Finally the leaders of the team step up

Over a month ago before this skid turned into a train wreck, I had hoped the Oilers leadership group would hold a team meeting and work this out on their own. It was needed, and today, that meeting happened before practice. 

Entire practice after a few warmup drills have been battle drills. 1on1 2on1 2v2 - over and over. Pretty intense battles happening, Nurse setting a physical tone.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

The Oilers spent today going over battle drills. 2 on 1, 2 on 2 and 1 on 1. They made a conscious effort to really battle hard. At one point Koekkoek got a hard shoulder in on Sceviour and tempers boiled over. Sceviour smashed his stick over the boards in frustration. Which is good. This is exactly what the team needs today to move forward out of this slump. 

Oilers with some classic one on ones today. Nurse and McDavid had a great battle in one of the first run throughs. Both ended up on the ice after a good physical battle.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

Coach Tippett had this to say, "That's not something that I design, that's something that they design and that's the way they want it. To me, that's good leadership."

McDavid and Nurse battled hard against each other, then Draisaitl and Keith matched the intensity. It paved the way for the rest of the players and set the tone. 

Despite all the rage for firing coaches and trading for goalies, this is a very, very good sign for fans of the Oilers. All I can say, it’s about damn time! 

Koekkoek dropped a hard shoulder into Sceviour. Went over to apologize. Sceviour frustrated. Lots of battles and collisions so far today. pic.twitter.com/keF1dNX4We

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

***This is a must listen from Perlini. 

"Any team I've been on, when we've gone through streaks like this, usually the way out of it is practices like that & competing hard."

Perlini speaks following today's #Oilers skate. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/DM69gKps4U

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 17, 2022

The Kane saga takes a left turn

Tim Peel reported a bit ago that former Sharks forward Evander Kane will be signing with the Edmonton Oilers in mere hours. 

EDIT: David Pagnotta tweet was from a fake account. I own that mistake and deleted it. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

NEW EDIT: The real David Pagnotta tweets this. 

The words from Kane’s agent. 

What in the actual hell is going on? Your guess is as good as anyone’s right now. 

Stay tuned for more developments as they happen. 

Former Referee Tim Peel, new hockey insider?

This just came in. Former referee Tim Peel tweeted this. True? Could be. Guess we will find out shortly. 

Crazy times to be an Oilers fan this year.