Wednesday, October 03, 2007

 

Oilers 2007/2008 Season Preview

Last Season's Prediction
I don't know if I could have been more wrong. The only thing I got right was that the power play would be awful. It was a terrible year that I don't want to even think about, so let's move on.

The Summer Turnover
Additions: Dustin Penner, Sheldon Souray, Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson, Mathieu Garon, Dick Tarnstrom, Rob Daum

Subtractions: Petr Sykora, Jason Smith, Joffrey Lupul, Jan Hejda, Jussi Markannen, Daniel Tjarnqvist, Petr Nedved, Toby Peterson, Brad Winchester, Craig Simpson

Extensions: Raffi Torres, Matt Greene, Dennis Grebeshkov, Mathieu Roy

The Starting Roster
The Oilers have listed their 23 man roster. If I was coach, my lineup for opening night against San Jose would look like this:

Dustin Penner-Shawn Horcoff-Ales Hemsky
Raffi Torres-Jarret Stoll-Robert Nilsson
Ethan Moreau-Marty Reasoner-Kyle Brodziak
Sam Gagner-Andrew Cogliano-Geoff Sanderson

Joni Pitkanen-Steve Staios
Sheldon Souray- Matt Greene
Dick Tarnstrom-Tom Gilbert

Dwayne Roloson
Mathieu Garon

Pouliot, Jacques, Grebeshkov, along with the injured Roy and Spurgeon, are watching from upstairs. I don't know how Matt Greene ever makes it onto my ideal lineup, but there he is. Scary.

I pray the Oilers keep this smile on this face all year long.


Ten Question Marks

1) How well will the rookies perform?
2) Will the defence hold up?
3) Will we be able to score any goals?
4) Is Jarret Stoll fully recovered?
5) Will Ales Hemsky make the leap?
7) Will Dustin Penner be another Joffrey Lupul?
8) Will we have an effective power play?
9) Will Dwayne Roloson be spelled enough to stay on top of his game?
10) If needed, will Kevin Lowe be able to pull off moves to improve the roster?

Five Games To Watch
1) October 23rd-Ryan Smyth comes home.
2) October 20th-First Battle of Alberta tilt.
3) December 5th-Sid the Kid makes first Edmonton appearance.
4) November 30th-Stanley Cup champs in town.
5) October 6th-Jason Smith and Joffrey Zoolander back in Edmonton.

Three Things To Look Forward To
1) A healthy Fernando Pisani.
2) The development of Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano.
3) The implosion of the Calgary Flames under Mike Keenan.

The Oilogosphere
Oilers blogs proliferate at an astronomical pace. Here's six hundred to keep your eye on this season:

Covered In Oil; mc79hockey; Lowetide; Black Dog Hates Skunks; Irreverent Oiler Fans; Hot Oil; Crude Oil; South Smythian Rolo-Gator; Always On The Road; In The Box; All Oil, All The Time; Nothing To See Here; Oil Country, Ontario; Oilblobosphere; PunjabiOil; Oil Pressure; Talkin' Hockey; The Real Deal Hockey; My Oilers

This Year's Predictions

I'm not making any. I'm cautiously optimistic at this point, but that's as far as I'll go. There are far too many question marks surrounding this team, and I don't feel confident predicting anything after a few exhibition games. It's wait and see time for Oilers fans. I don't think we'll know much about the quality and character of this team for at least a month. Fingers crossed, we return to a level of respectability, or at least see some encouraging signs of growth. At this point, I think that is about as much as we can expect. What I can say is that I look forward to the ride, as well as the many insightful, colourful and even distasteful comments that will appear on this site throughout the year. Suit up, people. It's game time. GOILERS!!!

Comments:

The one thing I'm looking forward to most this season is Hemsky. He was thrilling in pre-season.
 


You missed Lowetide in your blog list...is that not one of the Cardinal sins of the Oilogosphere (Ranking right up there with disagreeing with Vick, and mocking Dennis' accent}? I keed....I keed
 


Got em. Thanks for the catch.
 


I always feel guilty about links because everyone else on the blogosphere routinely links stuff and I don't. And it isn't because it's something I don't know how to do so that leaves laziness.

Did anyone see Beckett tonight? Holy shit.
 


Hemsky to Souray is going to be heard a lot, I'm still pissed I missed out on Souray in the office roto.

I mean he can't be as bad +/- this year can he? And with Hemmer feeding him on the PP, and those PIMs he's gold otherwise.

Oh, your lineup predictions are pretty much a carbon copied by TSN's lineup info, I think they're ripping you off =).
 


You don't have Schremp on your roster. If he was good enough to play in the SCF, he's good enough to play now.
 


Beckett was lights out tonight - looks like Francis chucked a nice game too..."good Canadian Boy" in my best Don Cherry voice!
 


I didn't have Schremp on my roster because he's not on the Oilers active roster.

There seems to be a real drop off in people linking, LT. I wouldn't worry about it. I think people just assume that our readers read the other sites, so the effort isn't always there. I know I fail to link sometimes because I just assume a reader is gonna click on to another Oilog site right after they come here.

And yes, I did see Beckett. I am on hour 8.5 of baseball. Boy, do I hate the National League. So boring.
 


Am I reading your lineup correctly in that you have Ales Hemsky centering our first line? Or are those lines supposed to be non-position-specific?

Either way, goilers.
 


No, I screwed up, though it does seem like a large number of our players will be playing out of their normal positions this year.
 


It's not a Grabia lineup without someone out of position.

And who's this Tom Gilbert fellow? Is he any relation to the great Brad Gilbert?
 


So true, Allan. I try my best, yet I somehow always mess it up. Glad to se you commenting here again. Your time spent whoring yourself out at CIO was noted.

The one thing I'm looking forward to most this season is Hemsky.

I look at the list of players, and I get excited, because I have hope in the young ones. But then I look again and realize, "five rookies in the lineup to start the year," and I worry. I mean, Dustin Penner and Matt Greene are seasoned vets on this club, and they've played less that 300 NHL games between them. Each made a trip to the SCF, mind you, but still. I like the makeup of this group already, but it's going to be a steep learning for players and fans.
 


This prediction brought to you by Joe Morgan.
 


I hear that Gilbert's one hell of a tennis player in the offseason.
 


Hey, on the topic of Josh Beckett, guess which Oilogosphere blogger has tix for G3, G4 and G5 of the ALCS in NYC?
 


Hey, on the topic of Josh Beckett, guess which Oilogosphere blogger has tix for G3, G4 and G5 of the ALCS in NYC?

No way. Fucking wicked pissah. Just don't get stabbed.
 


guess which Oilogosphere blogger has tix for G3, G4 and G5 of the ALCS in NYC?

Don't they have to beat a team from Ohio first?

They really should just let Boston and NY battle it out for the AL right now... just make it a best of 11 or something. Also, have you ever wondered who that guy is who does the John Madden impressions on Monday Night Football? Me neither.

I'm predicting the Oil to start the season 2-0 and as long as Ethan is in the lineup for more than 60 games, that they'll make the playoffs.
 


I'm actually calling Cleveland to beat the Yankees.
 


Your time spent whoring yourself out at CIO was noted.

Believe it or not, this site gets blocked at work, but I can get to any other blogspot page without a problem.

I'm glad to see that retirement hasn't mellowed you any.
 

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