Thoughts on Oilers Lines Vs Canucks

Tonight's Oilers Forwards: 

Smyth-Hall-Hemsky

Perron-Gagner-Eberle

Hamilton-Khaira-Yakupov

Jones-Acton-Brown

Oilers Defence:

Nurse-Petry

Grebeshkov-Belov

Fedun-Hunt

Oilers Goalies (1/2 game each):

LaBarbera 

Rimmer

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I'm interested in seeing this Oilers squad tonight. 

We will see another look of Hall with Smyth and Hemsky. Possible line come the start of the season. 

The 2nd line can also be a opening night line. Gagner with Perron and Eberle on his wings. Expect at least two goals from this line tonight. 

The 3rd line is interesting. Yakupov will have to play his ass of to not make this line a liability. He's going to have to crank it up. I bet he does. 

The 4th line is another possible opening night line. I'm expecting lots of crashing and banging out of these three. All three players need to have a statement game. HNIC is the best stage there is. 

Nurse continues to impress. He's taking the left side and will slot in with Jeff Petry. These two are going to play big minutes. 

Anton Belov makes his Oilers debut alongside fellow Russian Grebeshkov. I'm excited to see Belov play. Heard lots, but I don't recall watching him ever. 

The last pairing is Fedun and Hunt. Hunt been good and this is his chance to show off his skills. 

LaBarbera and Rimmer will share the goaltending duties tonight. Each will play half a game. 

Game starts at 8pm mountain time on CBC. 

-WRITTEN BY AN OPTIMISTIC SMOKIN' RAY BURNT-

The Nuge Has Been Signed!

Word just came out the the Edmonton Oilers have signed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to a seven year extension today worth $42 million. 

Good for Ryan. Next up is Nail Yakupov and Justin Schultz. 

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY BURNT-

No More Tucked Jerseys? What The Hell?

It's the end of an era in the NHL. A rule has been passed, stating all players must wear coinciding uniforms. No player can have any gear showing except skates, gloves and helmets. That means, no more tucking of the jersey like many players do, including Ryan Smyth. 

This rule is one of the dumbest rules the NHL has ever enforced. If your jersey is tucked, you get an automatic two minute minor for delay of game. 

One such penalty was handed out tonight to the Columbus Blue Jackets player, Alexander Semin. 

Unbelieveable. 

I know that the tucked jersey didn't make Gretzky who he was, but it helped make him unique. Since when is it a crime to be a little different? 

Dumb rule NHL... dumb rule. 

-WRITTEN BY A PISSED OFF SMOKIN' RAY BURNT-

What's The Point? I Don't Get It

Tonight's preseason game versus the Winnipeg Jets is an interesting one. The 4th line consists of Moroz-Martindale-Abney. 

Sure, that line is a "tough" line, but none of the three players will make the Oilers. Ever. So why waste a good roster spot giving those three another chance to impress the Oilers brass? It makes zero sense to me. 

Both Abney and Martindale spent considerable amount of time in the ECHL. They couldn't even stay in the AHL, so why give them extra looks in the NHL?

Why not take another look at Mike Brown and Ben Eager? Or anyone else for that matter. 

I'm confused. 

What do you think?

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY BURNT-

ESPN "Experts" Rank Justin Schultz

I came across this (http://t.co/lnjOJPqwg2) this morning and thought it was interesting. ESPN asked their "experts" this week to rank the top 50 defensemen by a 1 to 10 rating.  One Oiler player managed to get on the list. 

Justin Schultz was ranked 40th (tied with
Paul Martin) by ESPN with a 6.33 rating. When you look at the list, he's in good company. Hopefully, after a decent year this season, he will move up the list to possibly the top 30, maybe even the top 20. 

I'm expecting big things out of Schultz. I guess time will tell. 

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY BURNT-