Same. (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)
Salary arbitration: It’s not an Oilers thing.
Not since Jason Smith went that far back in 2002.
Sam Gagner was yet another Oiler who avoided his hearing when he signed a one-year, 3.2 million-dollar contract just minutes before the start time.
» Continue reading “Arbitration? Nah.”
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”
'Gagner' is French for 'to win'. Just so you know. (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)
For the course of this offseason, I’m going to be looking back on different aspects of the Oilers 2011-2012 season: highlights, lowlights and everything in between. I won’t actually say that this will take the entire offseason to finish, but you never know. First things first: goals.
OH AND ALSO, Happy 19th Birthday, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins! Congrats on being old enough to drink in all of Canada.
» Continue reading “Oilers: A Season in Review – Part One”
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”
Mr. First Star, Ales Hemsky. (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)
Phoenix Coyotes at Edmonton Oilers – March 18, 2012
It was Fan Appreciation Night at Rexall Place tonight as the Phoenix Coyotes visited the Edmonton Oilers for the fourth and final time this season. The Coyotes have already won the series – something they’ve done three years in a row now – and were looking for a sweep tonight.
Phoenix had been 3-5-2 in their last ten; Edmonton went 4-5-1. The Oilers were looking to be spoilers tonight as they had the opportunity to prevent the Coyotes from getting back into playoff position by coming away with the win.
The Oilers were without Taylor Hall, who’s suffering from a concussion after a hit from Calgary’s Cory Sarich, but the rest of the Kid Line managed to be a big part of their 3-1 win that night.
» Continue reading “Oilers, Not Spoilers”
Devan Dubnyk has been a star in three career starts against the Sharks, with a record of 3-0-0 and a 1.58 GAA. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)
San Jose Sharks at Edmonton Oilers – March 12, 2012
This is the last meeting between these two teams this season.San Joseis 2-6-2 in their last ten, while Edmonton is 4-5-1, but the Sharks have a 10-2-0 record against the Oilers in their past twelve games. The Oilers lead the season series 2-1; both wins have been ones that took shootouts to decide. Six days ago, Edmonton beat San Jose 3-2 thanks to Sam Gagner’s shootout goal.
» Continue reading “Sharks at Oilers: Preview”
Jordan Eberle was the first star in tonight's 3-2 SO win over the San Jose Sharks. (photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)
Edmonton Oilers at San Jose Sharks – March 6, 2012
This was the third of four matchups between these two teams, each having taken a win; most recently Edmonton’s 2-1 shootout win on January 23. Coming into tonight’s game, Edmonton was 4-5-1 in their last ten, and the Sharks had an unimpressive 2-7-1 for theirs.
- Theo Peckham missed 15 games with a facial injury – played tonight
- OKC call-up Linus Omark played tonight – did not play Tuesday vs. Anaheim
- Jordan Eberle lead the Oilers with 29 goals going into tonight’s game
- Edmonton was 25-33-6 over the course of this season before tonight
- This was the second – and last – of a two-game California road trip for the Oilers.
Three Stars: 1: Jordan Eberle, 2: Logan Couture, 3: Jeff Petry
» Continue reading “Shark Fin Soup”
Sam Gagner scored the lone Oilers goal on the one-month anniversary of his 8-point night vs. the Blackhawks. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)
Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers – March 2, 2012
Flashback: It’s 1997, I’m a year old, the Spice Girls have become the first female British group with a US number one debut single, Toshiba was introducing the DVD to Americans, and the Titanic is set to be released in December. This is also the year that marked a six-year span where the Stars and the Oilers were matched up in the playoffs six times. They played 33 games over this period, and the only time either club came away with the Cup was in 1999 when the Stars were the champions.
Today, the 15th-overall Dallas Stars visited the 29th-overall Edmonton Oilers for the third matchup of the season. This was the first game of the series to take place in Edmonton, with Dallas taking 4-1 victories in both of their home games.
I’m not going to say anything about home team winners tonight.
» Continue reading “Stars Outshine Oilers”
