Can I call you Peaches? (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Goaltender Devan Dubnyk and defenceman Jeff Petry have both been signed to two-year contracts by the Edmonton Oilers.

Dubnyk’s two-year deal has an annual average value of $3.5 million dollars; Petry’s AAV is $1.75 million.

» Continue reading “Everybody’s Staying in Oil Country”

Should I stay, or should I go? (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Edmonton Oilers General Manager Steve Tambellini announced that his club has extended qualifying offers to the following RFA’s: Devan Dubnyk, Sam Gagner, Linus Omark, Theo Peckham, Jeff Petry, Alex Plante and Chris VandeVelde.

This leaves…  » Continue reading “Drafting, Signing and Training”

Jordan Eberle scored the lone Oilers goal tonight - his 33rd of the season - in Edmonton's 4-1 loss to the LA Kings. (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings – March 30, 2012

First Period

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wasted no time getting the puck to the net in tonight’s game against the Stars, forcing Jonathan Quick to make his first save only twenty seconds in. Nugent-Hopkins is tied for 2nd in rookie scoring with Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog (both 49 points), right behind Adam Henrique of the New Jersey Devils (50 points). Remember, he’s played substantially less games than both of them this season. Edmonton’s youngest Ryan couldn’t open the scoring that early, but the Stars could.

At 0:52, Anze Kopitar managed to get the puck through traffic and Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to put the visitors up by one. Seconds later, Matt Greene was called for hooking on Ryan Smyth, and the Edmonton’s second-best power play went to work. That’s when Jordan Eberle scored his tenth power play goal this year off of a tic-tac-toe play from Jeff Petry and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. LA went straight back to the Oilers net to pressure Khabibulin some more, but the score remained 1-1 with, yes, fifty-seven minutes left.

6:22 marked Sam Gagner’s holding penalty on which the Kings 23rd-ranked (no, that isn’t quite as impressive, you’re right) power play got their first chance of the night. A chance is all it was, though, because really, the Oilers’ penalty kill was just that much better than the Kings’ man advantage in that situation.

Anze Kopitar was assessed a tripping minor with just under ten minutes to go, and Edmonton was given another chance to better their power play. 43 seconds in, Willie Mitchell’s around-the-boards pass made it past Jeff Petry to Mike Richards, who sprung on a breakaway and backhanded the puck past Khabibulin for his second goal in his last thirty-two games. The rest of the penalty was killed off, along with the next few minutes, without a change in scoring.

It wasn’t until 18:25 that Ryan Jones was sent to the box for roughing after former Oiler Jarret Stoll got a shoulder in Jones’ face; Jones retaliated by knocking Stoll’s helmet off and was given the two-minute minor. The Kings couldn’t capitalize on the power play in the first, but needn’t worry as they were set to start the second period with one extra man on the ice. It was a well-needed break for the Oilers, who hadn’t recorded a single shot since Jordan Eberle’s goal at 1:34.

» Continue reading “Successfully Unsuccessful”

Hot Like Hemsky - no. 83 tallied his first career hat trick tonight, getting him named the second star. (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Edmonton Oilers at Nashville Predators – March 20, 2012

This was the first of a four-game road trip the Oilers took on as they visited the Nashville Predators in tonight’s 6-3 win.

Pekka Rinne and his team of Preds haven’t been a difficult puzzle for the Oilers, who are coming off a 3-2 shootout loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. Edmonton had a 4-2-1 record against Nashville going into tonight’s game, and were looking to end the season series on a high note.

Ben Eager dressed tonight, meaning Linus Omark would sit out; Devan Dubnyk got the start in goal.

Taylor Hall, who suffered a concussion during Friday’s game against Calgary thanks to Cory Sarich, skated today for the first time since the incident. Head Coach Tom Renney is unsure as far as whether or not he’ll be playing on the rest of this road trip. He didn’t play tonight, but Renney spoke on where Taylor’s at.

“I won’t be surprised to see him play on this trip, but at the same time but at the same time I wouldn’t if he didn’t. We’ll follow the protocol and make sure we do the right thing with him,” he said. “As mentioned, even the night he hurt himself he was doing pretty good. That being said, there’s a procedure that we’ll follow here.”

Hall passed all concussion tests and has been healthy and exercising, too.

“He had a good bike ride yesterday, his baseline test also went well,” Renney added. “He skated a little bit this morning, that went well. We’ll take it a day at a time.”

» Continue reading “Preying on the Predators”

Devan Dubnyk recorded his third career shutout tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Flyers at Oilers – February 23 2012

It was a once-in-a-season matchup for these two teams as they faced off in Rexall Place tonight.

Last season, the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1.

Tonight, the Oilers shut out the Flyers for a 2-0 win.

It was fun to watch, and even more fun to write about.

Note: I wrote this during the game and never looked back~

» Continue reading “Oilers Blank Flyers in 2-0 Victory”

Sutton Signs On - Andy Sutton (Pictured here in an Anaheim practice jersey.. oh well) signed a one-year, $1.5 million dollar contract extension with the Oilers on Monday. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, I thought I would share with you some numbers and my thoughts on what could be happening in Oil Country come February 27th.

» Continue reading “Talking Trades – Oilers Edition”