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G51 Oilers @ Jets: Random Thoughts |
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Here are a somewhat random collection of thoughts Im having too early on a Saturday morning.
It's Hockey Day in Canada and by decree of the King all Canadian teams must play so it makes perfect sense to get this Oilers v Jets game out of the way first before anyone notices. I mean, the goal is to celebrate and showcase Hockey in this country and it's embarrassing that Eakins is still trying to explain the sport to his club.
The fact that we are now 51 games into this season and we are not seeing progress is a problem. The Oilers have significant and obvious problems with its roster, but any semblance of system play is unrecognizable, passion has been missing all year, and the players are making the same mistakes over and over again.
These are truly dark times for the Oilers. I question the players, the coaching staff, and the management. The management is so deeply entrenched that Lowe and MacT could run naked down the main concourse of Rexall Place and keep their jobs. The coach is safe no matter how ineffective he proves to be because the Oilers fired so many other good coaches that it gives the impression that coaching isnt the problem. And lastly the players are either so unskilled that its physically impossible to be angry at them for failing or so apathetic to losing that getting angry at them wouldnt matter anyway.
If we switched RNH to Defense how long would it take for him to outperform Justin Schultz? Neither are particularly physical but at least Nuge gives a crap in his own zone.
Ben Scrivens blasted a reporter for writing a fluff piece about his wife being the biggest loser in the trade because she has to leave her beautiful home state of California to come to Edmonton in the winter. The piece itself didnt actually contain anything horrible, in fact by the end of it I was sympathetic to Jenny Scrivens, but it opened the door for a bunch of mouthbreathers to attack Mrs. Scrivens via the internet. The comments on the article were disgusting and some went to twitter to personally attack the poor woman. This is a perfect example of why players wives and family are considered generally off-limits. Players are fair game (ask Dubnyk) but as soon as the spouses become the subject things can get out of hand pretty darn quickly. I hope the Scrivenses forgive the illiterate clowns who took a rather benign article and turned it into fuel for their own idiocy. And if they do not then I hope they know that not everyone here is a complete goof.
LINEUPS
Yak is out with a concussion and Hemsky is still considering amputation on that ankle of his so the lineup is lacking even more skill than normal. The hit that put Yak out looked clean but it was still on a dangerous part of the ice and knocked out a former 1st Overall Pick. I wonder what the team would have down if it was Hall who got knocked down, because when they saw that it was Yakupov the team did absolutely nothing. Bryzgalov gets the start today. Gagner moves back to C and Eberle goes back to the 1st line.
Hall RNH Eberle
Perron Gagner Jones
Smyth Gordon Hendricks
Gazdic Arcobello Joensuu
Ference J. Schultz
Belov Petry
N. Schultz Marincin
Bryzgalov
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Toughen Up. I have never seen such a buttery soft blueline in my entire life. When even the THOUGHT of the forecheck enters their heads they throw the puck away. Petry was 25 feet away from any opposing player last game when Scrivens gave him the puck. He saw one player cross the blueline and he immediately hammered the puck around the boards. They are afraid out there.
2) Gagner Back At Center. The experiment at Wing is over, at least for now, after some mixed results. He's back to taking the brunt of the defensive responsibility and the faceoffs. Can he get the job done?
3) Smarten Up. I might consider keeping this key to the game permanently, or at least until the Oilers stop taking unnecessary risks in the first minute of periods. I thought giving up a goal 14 seconds in was bad, but those Oilers are never content with being bad so they gave up one after 8 seconds. Well done, boys.
Puck drops at 12:10 PM Mountain Time on CBC. Game On!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy
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