An Oilers Summer... (New Numbers, Khabibulin, Nugent-Hopkins)

Man this off season seems to be taking forever! Here is the news of the week.

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Yesterday the big news rolled out and I got fired up. No, not the Khabibulin going to jail story, but the new Oilers players decided which numbers they are going to wear for the 2011-12 season.

Pretty sad that numbers gets me fire up. Haha!

Theo Peckham as we all know is changing to #24. That's a number that he likes to wear and now that he's part of the team, full time, he's going to wear it.

Cam Barker took the unusual #13. I figured he would have chosen #2 or #8. Cogliano was the best, IMO, to wear #13 and it sure didn't bring him any luck. Let's see what happens with Barker this year.

Big Andy Sutton chose to stick with #25. If I recall, he's worn that number often in his career.

Eric Belanger has decided on wearing #20. Good number for him. He's worn a few different numbers over the years including #25 that Sutton took. BTW, put Eric Belanger into google search and look at the pictures. *my eyes are burning* The girls will like it.

Big Bad Ben Eager is going with a familiar number. Once again, he takes #55. No surprise here.

Darcy Hordichuk is the only player who hasn't chosen a number yet. I'd guess he takes #21.

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OK, I'll talk about Nik Khabibulin now. I have read the tweets and blog posts about this situation and it pisses me off. Don't give a criminal sympathy. Screw him and his deal now. This was dragged through the mud for months and months and in a roundabout way, tarnished the good name of the Edmonton Oilers. This would have been done with over a year ago if he just would have taken his punishment and moved on. I do not feel bad for him right now. I just wish the punishment was longer for wasting everyone's time.

He is to spend 15 days in jail and 15 days at home with a monitoring bracelet. He is also to undergo alcohol treatment.

I respect those who admit what they did wrong. While he admits it now, it's too late. Respect is lost...

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I am in the camp that figures that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be an Oiler this season. He will make the team. He couldn't be worse than Cogliano was on the dot. And he sure can't be worse than JF Jacques skating around out there. Make #93 a part of this team ASAP.

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-

Andrew Cogliano Traded To Ducks

After years of trying to trade Cogliano, it`s finally done. He`s been traded to the Ducks for a 2nd round pick in 2013. I don`t like this trade at all It means the Oilers, if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins isn`t ready, that they will use Gilbert Brule as a center. Brutal. What are your thoughts on this trade? -WRITTEN BY SMOKIN` RAY-

New Taylor Hall Oilers Wallpaper by @SAVEMEX29

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State of the Barons: July 4th

After the 1st weekend of free agency, the Barons have suffered some big losses. In addition to Brad Moran leaving for Sweden, we learned that Colin McDonald signed with Pittsburgh and Alexandre Giroux signed with Columbus, leaving the Barons without their top line and top three scorers from last season.

That's a huge chunk of the offense from last season, but how much exactly?

Obviously, that's a big hole to fill and unfortunately, the Oilers have yet to sign anybody that can really fill that hole. Jeff Taffe and Brett Sterling, who I would have put in that category, were both signed by Minnesota and St. Louis respectively. Josh Green showed he can score last season, but not those numbers. There's a slight possibility that Linus Omark starts out here next season, but without Liam Reddox, it'll be interesting to see if he can keep his pace where it was. Anton Lander is another possibility, but it still only fills some and not all of the gap.

One free agent that can help that is still on the board, Darren Haydar. Haydar scored 27 goals and 47 assists in 77 games for the Chicago Wolves last season. He's never had a season where he scored less than 50 points in the AHL, and he's another strong veteran that the Oilers have seemed to be looking for to fill out the roster for the Barons.

Oh, and we're still looking for a goalie.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Shane Doan... A Possible Edmonton Oiler in 2012?

I was lucky enough to not be working last night and was able to make it to my beer league slo pitch game. Well surprise to me, Brook brought his family that was in town to fill in for the players missing. Brook brought his sister Leighann and her husband Chad. Both great people and pretty good ball players too.

Shane Doan

Brook also brought out his brother Shane. What a thrill for me that was. Last time I was this close to a guy from the NHL, former Canucks player Zenith Komarniski was rabbit punching me in the face during a ball hockey game in Edmonton. I had to laugh a little as Shane's wife was giving him the gears about playing before the game started. "You be careful!" "Your not that young anymore!" "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Haha! Loved it. My wife gives me the same guff and I'm not a pro athlete.

All three of them played great. All good hitters and I think they had fun playing with us. I know I enjoyed myself.

I'm not a fanboy and I made an effort to not be a hockey nerd. It was clear anyways, as I'm rocking my Oilers shirt and hat. Even my bat is blue and orange. It's funny to know how many people didn't know who he was. It took most everyone, half the game to figure it out.

Leighann Doan (Reimer)

So did I get a picture or an autograph? No. The guy was trying to be a normal guy playing ball and I wanted to treat him as so and not pester him with hockey stuff. He's as normal as you and me.

You can tell he's a captain of a team. He went up to every single person on the team after the game was over and shaked their hands and thanked us for allowing him to play. He made sure to get everyone and he remembered everyone's names. Classy stuff that was.

To the interesting part...

So as the game is pretty much over, the topic of him being in Phoenix came up. He said that it was good and he has one more year there. Then what? He replied with a smile. Of course, he can't really say much about his situation. But you know me. I mention the Oilers as an option and he starts to go on about how great of a place Calgary is. I just about Luongo'd on my beer. CALGARY?!?!

Then he looks at me and says "Why would I ever go to Edmonton?".

While I'm standing there trying to think of my best thing to say (I'm losing my mind right at that moment and I'm sputtering something out about Hall, Eberle and RNH), he ends up standing there laughing at me. He was completely kidding around. He told me that the Oilers are his favorite team. Always have been.

"Will you come to Edmonton then and finish off your career at home?", I asked.

No answer... just a big smile.

That gives me hope. BRING DOAN HOME!!!

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-