Edmonton Oilers Line Combos Vs Flames

Magnus Paajarvi - Shawn Horcoff - Linus Omark
Curtis Hamilton - Chris VandeVelde - Jordan Eberle
Philippe Cornet - Ryan O'Marra - Teemu Hartikainen
Darcy Hordichuk - Gilbert Brule - Lennart Petrell

Ladislav Smid - Corey Potter
Cam Barker - Alex Plante
Theo Peckham - Taylor Fedun

Devan Dubnyk
Olivier Roy

Some interesting notes. Horcoff is once again paired with Paajarvi and Omark. Looking like this will be the opening night 3rd line.

Brule with Hordichuk? Are the Oilers just seeing if there is chemistry between those two? Or nothing at all?

Sounds like Devan Dubnyk will play all 60 minutes.

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-

Early Observations

Four games into the pre-season (half way) and time for some early observations? At least with most players having already played at least two games, there is some indicators as to what we can possibly see brewing, as far as rosters both in Edmonton and OKC go.

First of all, I don't think anyone is fooling themselves into believing this Oilers club is a legitimate play-off contender this year. Could they challenge for a play-off spot? Possible, but it's also possible Kevin Lowe and Brian Burke will sit down over a friendly game of 'Risk'. (always loved that game)All joking aside, this is another year of rebuilding and while we all want to see great strides in improvement, it is a process.

Before I comment on some of my early observations I think it is important to note a couple things.

1) It is good to not evaluate to hard on a player's first game in pre-season, as sometimes they need that game to get the rust off. Timing and chemistry, sharpening the mind is important and sometimes it takes a game. It's how they respond back the second game that matters more. There is a requirement in most cases to see that game improved upon in the third game as well.

2) Seeing a player succeed in their first pre-season game can be a great site to behold, but they really need to show it again for at least two more games. That shows the consistency that is needed from a player. This is only a rule of thumb, not the "guidebook on how to evaluate". Every few days, I will continue to share my observations on a few more players during the pre-season.

Early Observations:

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

It can be so easy to assess  RNH's game by points alone. Fortunately for RNH , he is doing ok in that department. 3 Games played, 3 Points. Not to mention the opportunities he has been getting, or even the great set ups he has given other players who were unable to finish. Has he made some errors? Absolutely he has, but as any player on the team, if you look hard enough there is mistakes. What you will not usual see from RNH is repeat mistakes. He is a astute learner, catches on quick and thinks the game a couple steps ahead of most players, even at his young age.

His ability to play harder and smarter on the puck in the forecheck is still looking good with each passing game and his work ethic lacks nothing. He works hard to play that 200 foot game and prides himself on making that part of his game even better. Watching him on the ice can be deceptive to some, as he looks rather disinterested at times, but it's actually because he isn't chasing the puck, he's covering his lanes, anticipating plays and playing smart and waiting for the breaks. He really lets the play come to him, even on the forecheck. Many people believe he is having a quiet game, when really he is just playing smart and waiting for the moments. What is the moment? It's the pressure moment in my opinion. RNH always  seems to play better the more pressure he faces. It's still early to know if RNH stays in Edmonton or goes back to Red Deer, but at this point, he has shown nothing to the coaching staff to suggest sending him back. As has been said several times already, it's a process, and to date, that process seems to be on track.

Some food for thought. How do we know Ryan Smyth will be in Edmonton next year? Nothing is certain and if he does not return, what about the whole Smyth mentoring Nugent-Hopkins theory people have put out.? For me, unless RNH shows he isn't ready, Smyth is the mentor he needs. Horcoff did well working with Hall and Eberle, but they also were wingers to play with the Centre. RNH is a Centre who needs a winger who can mentor him and Smyth appears to be the perfect fit. Just a observation, nothing more, nothing less, but food for thought for sure.

Teemu Hartikanen

When can you last remember Teemu playing a bad game? Is that not the question that should be asked? As Robin Brownlee even tweeted Saturday evening, 'how can Teemu not be in the lineup?' You would hope that just because of contracts, you don't want to see Teemu growing his game in OKC (nothing against OKC, it's a awesome place to play and visit) when he is already playing better then several players slated to be in Edmonton on opening night. Injuries can change this whole scenario really quick, but Hartikanen brings the Oilers the type of player they truly have been lacking for some time. Two games into the pre-season and he continues to look like he is continuing where he left off at the end of last season.

Nikolai Khabibulin

Nikolai struggled in his opening night ice time and to be fair, his defence didn't do him any favours. Fans, media, bloggers all got after him by nights end. (OK, not everyone) In fact if he had 20 supporters in the city of Edmonton, I would be surprised. I didn't like what I saw but as I have mentioned in other posts. One game (especially the first game they play in pre-season) is not a accurate picture of the player and his skill. That second game and third game will really show a much more accurate account of what we have to look forward to. In defence of  KhabibulinNikolai kept this game in reach throughout the night. That's what he was originally brought in to do. Good on him, but what is now needed is another good outing like his Calgary outing. A second consecutive solid performance will shows the arrows are pointing upward for him. Falter in your third pre-season game, no matter how good you played, it's only a faint memory and it may be the beginning of the end. This next game will give us the best indication as to where Nikolai's game is at for this coming season.

Sam Gagner

A couple veteran player's struggled to shake the rust off in their first game of the pre-season, but Gagner seemed to have little rust. His speed has definitely been noticeably quicker and his defensive awareness in his own zone tightened up. Sam's appeared to be looking good in his second game as well, that was until he got hurt. Two games in, looking quicker on his skates, excitement is in the air about a bigger, brighter season. But another injury? Let's all hope it's a minor tweak or something and just training staff being cautious. Can't see Gagner playing tomorrow night but hopefully ready to go in two games time. If not? May not be a good sign...

For continued information on Oiler and Barons news and 2012 NHL draft watch, you can follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/revingev



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Nugent-Hopkins impressing early

Yes I know its early and yes I know the Canucks dressed a shameful roster last night but RNH has shown that he deserves to be an Oiler. The little things that he does on the ice will eventually turn into big things. RNH has shown that he has great vision on the ice with great passes to Smyth and Eberle, the way he strips opposing players of the puck and his defensive play.

RNH has done so much early on that even Ryan Smyth is impressed.
“Not only is he a humble kid away from the rink, but he sees the ice very well” said Smyth. “He has great speed and the puck doesn’t die with him, he makes a lot of great plays. Those are the type of things you just can’t teach".

The Edmonton Suns Robert Tychkowski put an article up today (and I quote) "Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, making his pre-season home ice debut, had a relatively quiet night, assisting on Eberle's goal for his only point of the game". Really? what game was he watching? Or maybe it is all about putting up points for Mr. Tychkowski. Did he not see the 3 or 4 great passes RNH made to Eberle or how RNH stripped opposing players of the puck? I just don't get how someone payed to watch the game missed that.

The only knock I see on RNH is his faceoff ability but that will come. How often do you see a young kid that is great on face-offs? Its something you get better at with experience and age.If RNH wants to remain an Oiler for the season all he needs to do is exactly what he has been doing the first 2 pre-season games.

@friesennhl on twitter

Oilers 2012 Draft watch

I know many of you are thinking, 'What the heck?'. With this past 2011 Draft now behind us, it's back to the grind for the amateur scouts of the Edmonton Oilers. In fact The Magnificent Bastard Stu MacGregor even said so himself this past Friday in a interview on 
'Oilers Now'.

I had been working on this for a bit already, so thought I should wait it out before starting to blog more on this topic. However, while I have been waiting for things to settle in regards to RNH, the masses have started before me throughout the blogging world and all over the scouting agencies.

There are several groups who have their listing of top 30, or top 10, 2012 Draft prospects. I am going to give my top 15. Let's call it...hmm...

"Rev's Top 15, Oilers 2012 Draft Watch"

The reason behind the 15 top selections is because of the placement I see the Oilers likely to finish the season in. Some have the Oilers sneaking into a play-off spot. I like that idea but not to positive they can improve that many points in a single season. The worst the Oilers could finish would be worst over all (3rd year in a row). I sure hope we are not 30th place, cause that would mean, we had a lot of injuries again. Not to mention it would also mean we did not see the improvement from players like Hall, Eberle or Paajarvi. Putting that all aside, I am estimating the Oilers will end up picking somewhere between 15th-30th over all. (the reason for"Rev's Top 15 Oilers 2012 Draft Watch".  )

Many seasons in the past, most Oiler fans had no clue of the players available to pick from in the NHL entry draft other then what they had been fed the last few months leading up to the draft. My thought is, 'Why not follow the higher ranked player's ourselves'? I mean, doesn't draft time seem a little more exciting when you know more then 2 or 3 available players? If the Oilers can improve say 5 spots and pick 25th in the 2012 NHL draft, would it not mean more to us as Oiler fans if we were a little more educated on possible players to draft?

So, having said all that, I came up with the idea to have a list of 15 players to rank throughout the year, which we can all possibly follow. Starting the first week of the NHL regular season I will be posting "Rev's Top 15 Oilers 2012 Draft Watch". This should be fun and also very interesting to see the development of the players and their progression throughout the year. I generally have done this on my own the past couple season's, but look forward to having more time to really dissect the class of 2012. Week 1 will be my rankings, followed by the 1st over all ranking and so forth, each week, until we have covered the top 15 I will be listing. At the end of those ranking, I will give a updated ranking. (estimating that will be in late January) Should there be new players who have jumped up in their ranking, we will take time to discuss more on them as well as those who may have fallen back behind my original projected top 15. As the weeks go by, I will be giving little updates of games, injuries and anything of special note on the various prospects via twitter.

Remember, while you may just be interested in knowing the potential draft picks for 2012, what we really want to do here at oilersjambalaya is take a closer look at who our NEXT potential Oiler Draft pick will be. If at anytime, there is a player who I have not mentioned and you think he deserves props and a good look, let me know. Need some info on the player? Ask away. I will try to do my best to get whatever information I can get for you. The draft is deep in higher end talent this 2012 draft where defence and centerman are plentiful. Anyone in the top 15, I would be happy to see in Oiler silks sometime in the future. #GO #OILERS

For continued information on Oiler and Barons news and 2012 NHL draft watch, you can follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/revingev