Matt Henderson: Oilers vs Canucks Reaction The Oilers defeated the Canucks 5-2 with standout performances by Nurse, Perron, Hunt, and others.

Jones looked horrible
Brown is Pathetic
Belov looks good, will improve
Nurse will be phenomenal after another year in the CHL
Hall will be named Captain next week, pure leader

My take from that game:

Ha ha....Rimmer.

The game was what everyone expected. No surprises anywhere.

I thought Brown showed some good jump. Rimmer was also good, we should throw him a contract. He could be our best goalie prospect.

I heard a few of the announcers givin hj's to hunt as well.
He wasnt amazing or dominant by any means. Certainly wasnt terrible either, but is the love just cause our expectations are so low? 2nd pairing ahl'er.
Average skater, competent on the PP, but gets a little panicky when rushed etc.

Fedun will probably never make a real impact in the show. Not to say, he cant develop furthur. but thats just my impression of his size, skillset and overall game.

On the other hand, i was pleasantly surprised with belov.
He looked big out there. Solid skater and Clearly has some skill. but what i liked was his calmness and how he seemed to always look for the simple play defensively.

I thought Brown showed some good jump. Rimmer was also good, we should throw him a contract. He could be our best goalie prospect.
- Cleetus

Agreed.

The guy isnt out there for points. What are they expecting from him?
Do people not understand we need physical players who will bang and forecheck like that every shift.?
As far as brown goes; i say Forget the puck. Always take the man and lay the body.
Which is essentially what he does.

Eakins harps on compete level. The guy has Minimal to zero talent, but he defines compete.
Dont be surprised if eakins plays him on a fairly regular basis

The game was what everyone expected. No surprises anywhere.
- VANTEL

Agreed. You would think Van would ice a better team, considering the game was on CBC.

I heard a few of the announcers givin hj's to hunt as well.
He wasnt amazing or dominant by any means. Certainly wasnt terrible either, but is the love just cause our expectations are so low? 2nd pairing ahl'er.
Average skater, competent on the PP, but gets a little panicky when rushed etc.

Fedun will probably never make a real impact in the show. Not to say, he cant develop furthur. but thats just my impression of his size, skillset and overall game.

On the other hand, i was pleasantly surprised with belov.
He looked big out there. Solid skater and Clearly has some skill. but what i liked was his calmness and how he seemed to always look for the simple play defensively.
- hugefemale dog77

Pretty much. It was like the training camp where Fedun surprised everyone. not because he was so amazing, but because he didn't suck. Cloutier was lobbying for a spot for him that year. Kudos to Fedun for coming back from a terrible injury but he is what he is. Same situation with Mike Hunt.
Agree about Belov. He has some actual game. God do I hate Dan Tencer.

Agreed.

The guy isnt out there for points. What are they expecting from him?
Do people not understand we need physical players who will bang and forecheck like that every shift.?
As far as brown goes; i say Forget the puck. Always take the man man and lay the body.

Dont be surprised if eakins plays him on a fairly regular basis
- hugefemale dog77

I think Eager and Brown would make a nice aggressive combo for the fourth line, until Eager gets concused again anyways.

I heard a few of the announcers givin hj's to hunt as well.
He wasnt amazing or dominant by any means. Certainly wasnt terrible either, but is the love just cause our expectations are so low? 2nd pairing ahl'er.
Average skater, competent on the PP, but gets a little panicky when rushed etc.

Fedun will probably never make a real impact in the show. Not to say, he cant develop furthur. but thats just my impression of his size, skillset and overall game.

On the other hand, i was pleasantly surprised with belov.
He looked big out there. Solid skater and Clearly has some skill. but what i liked was his calmness and how he seemed to always look for the simple play defensively.
- hugefemale dog77

I think there is a lot to the idea that Hunt looked very good because we (I) had very low expectations. Still, he was moving the puck very well on the PP. Its nice that an emergency callup from the AHL might be more than an anchor on the back end.

Pretty much. It was like the training camp where Fedun surprised everyone. not because he was so amazing, but because he didn't suck. Cloutier was lobbying for a spot for him that year. Kudos to Fedun for coming back from a terrible injury but he is what he is. Same situation with Mike Hunt.
Agree about Belov. He has some actual game. God do I hate Dan Tencer.
- TheTaoOfSemenko

Yep.

Cloutier..


Nice to see some positive things from belov.
Ive neither seen much of belov or larsen as of yet, but small sample size belov will prob be the guy in our 6 spot.

Agreed. You would think Van would ice a better team, considering the game was on CBC.
- Cleetus

Why would that even remotely matter? They're giving their youth a chance to showcase themselves; they're accomplishing that by letting them play...a lot.

They hung in there pretty good with the Oiler regulars. Taylor Hall is an absolute stud! That kid is just hitting his stride, he'll be fun to watch for years to come. They got it right when they picked him!!

I think Eager and Brown would make a nice aggressive combo for the fourth line, until Eager gets concused again anyways.
- Cleetus

That's the thing with eager.
We know what we thought he would bring.
But he's either been unwilling or unable for some reason to consistently play that havoc/crasher role.
While brown is more than willing.

But yes, Best case i agree with your assessment. The 2 of them would be miserable to play against.

I think there is a lot to the idea that Hunt looked very good because we (I) had very low expectations. Still, he was moving the puck very well on the PP. Its nice that an emergency callup from the AHL might be more than an anchor on the back end.
- Matt_Henderson

Fair enough.

And it's true that i knew nothing about him before last night. now i know we have a competent pro that has some room to grow and adds some depth.

Fair enough.

And it's true that i knew nothing about him before last night, and now i know we have at least a competent pro that has some room to grow abd adds some depth.
- hugefemale dog77

Any spots left? Im already in a league but you know hey.

Why would that even remotely matter? They're giving their youth a chance to showcase themselves; they're accomplishing that by letting them play...a lot.

They hung in there pretty good with the Oiler regulars. Taylor Hall is an absolute stud! That kid is just hitting his stride, he'll be fun to watch for years to come. They got it right when they picked him!!
- LeftCoaster

Ummm I dont know, entertainment value maybe.

Any spots left? Im already in a league but you know hey.
- TheTaoOfSemenko

1 spot.

1 spot.
- hugefemale dog77

There a live draft I have to be at my computer to attend?

Standouts for me were:

Jones: He is just a very bad hockey player with below average skill, horrible skater (like bottom 5% of the league horrible), with a decent compete level. He's a great guy in the room, but honestly, he should not crack this roster.

Nurse: I was and still am excited to see this kid develop.

Smyth: I haven't seen a lot of comments about Smytty and you know what? He looked fine, actually a little better than fine. Let's see how he does once the real season starts and then after 20 games...but for now he looks fine and not out of place.

Hemsky: I was happy to see him doing what he does best and seemingly putting all of the drama behind him. He's a great player when he wants to be.

Lack: The Van goalie looked pretty good actually.

The Vancouver Canucks in general: For a preseason game, I was pretty surprised at all of the jabs after whistles, borderline charging penalty hits, and beaking back and forth after whistles and from the benches. After watching Ranger do his little "kick shot" in the shootout in the Toronto game and both the Sabres and Leafs having a bit of fun in their preseason game, to watch the Canucks running guys in the preseason is, well, typical.

Another interesting thought I had was that I wonder how excited the teams in the west are, to get to fire point blank shots at the chipiest smart-aass team in the league now that their strategy is to drop in front of shots more! I don't think you will see many point shots being bailed-out of in mid windup..."oh, it's Burrows....let er RIP!" lol

There a live draft I have to be at my computer to attend?
- TheTaoOfSemenko

that's the plan yeah.

sunday sept 29th. 2pm pacific

Standouts for me were:

Jones: He is just a very bad hockey player with below average skill, horrible skater (like bottom 5% of the league horrible), with a decent compete level. He's a great guy in the room, but honestly, he should not crack this roster.

Nurse: I was and still am excited to see this kid develop.

Smyth: I haven't seen a lot of comments about Smytty and you know what? He looked fine, actually a little better than fine. Let's see how he does once the real season starts and then after 20 games...but for now he looks fine and not out of place.

Hemsky: I was happy to see him doing what he does best and seemingly putting all of the drama behind him. He's a great player when he wants to be.

Lack: The Van goalie looked pretty good actually.

The Vancouver Canucks in general: For a preseason game, I was pretty surprised at all of the jabs after whistles, borderline charging penalty hits, and beaking back and forth after whistles and from the benches. After watching Ranger do his little "kick shot" in the shootout in the Toronto game and both the Sabres and Leafs having a bit of fun in their preseason game, to watch the Canucks running guys in the preseason is, well, typical.

Another interesting thought I had was that I wonder how excited the teams in the west are, to get to fire point blank shots at the chipiest smart-aass team in the league now that their strategy is to drop in front of shots more! I don't think you will see many point shots being bailed-out of in mid windup..."oh, it's Burrows....let er RIP!" lol
- JLO961

Yeah, I wonder how many injuries they will get before they change their tactics. Any updates on Shroeder?

Nurse looks so good out there... One has to wonder if he'll be better starting in the NHL this season. I'd give him his 9 games...

I love this Khaira guy

The Oil still don't have anyone to protect the young stars. Brown was not the answer we needed to the cheap shot Weise gave to Hall. Teams have no fear of reprisals from the Oil, so expect cheap shots to continue.
My worry is there will be a cheap shot resulting in injuries. Remember Hall got hurt when he had to defend himself after being targeted by a fringe player? At least Brown stepped in here but he is not the "deterrent" the Oil need.

Pretty much. It was like the training camp where Fedun surprised everyone. not because he was so amazing, but because he didn't suck. Cloutier was lobbying for a spot for him that year. Kudos to Fedun for coming back from a terrible injury but he is what he is. Same situation with Mike Hunt.
Agree about Belov. He has some actual game. God do I hate Dan Tencer.
- TheTaoOfSemenko

What did he say now?