Update: I suppose I should comment on this because Twitter has gone nuts over nothing again - The Oilers have not confirmed it, but Scott Howson has been hired by the team. Duh. You knew this was going to happen the second he was let go in Columbus. He's been hired as a Pro Scout.
Everyone is acting on Twitter like the Oilers just drank poison. Use your heads. Columbus is a train wreck and Howson couldn't exactly do whatever he wanted to run the team. It's not like they had stacks of money to play with. I'm not saying he was GM of the Decade, but people seem to think GM's are all-powerful Gods or something. On most teams, they need to satisfy coaches, players, and owners...most of whom are cheap and completely insane. Howson was to Columbus what Tambellini is to the Oilers: The easiest scapegoat. Has it occurred to anyone that it's the roster Howson put together that's the best team in the NHL right now? Likely not.
Oilers fans should just be happy the owner cares enough to create a management team, instead of leaving things all in one guy's hands. Katz is trying to make the Oilers the new Red Wings. Am I the only one who's noticed this? Grumble grumble.
Oilers/Avs set to go in a few hours. Will the Oilers be buried in snow, or will they...ummm, what does Oil do to snow? Make it greasy?
A few notes going into the battle:
- Ryan Jones is back. Oilers are saying Teemu Hartikainen has the flu. I think they needed to get Jones back playing and Hartikainen is a kid, and we all know how the Oilers deal with those. Jones will be playing on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle...for at least 10 minutes into the 1st period. Sorry, I'm in a cynical mood. Good news is, Jones sounds fired up in pre-game interviews.
- The Oilers will roll out the Triple H line again: Chyna Hall with X-Pac Horcoff and Ales "The Heartbreak Kid" Hemsky. Actually this line plays pretty well together, so I shouldn't make jokes. A little bit of everything here. Hall is everything to this team, so any line with him on it is going to have a chance.
- I'm happy: Magnus Paajarvi, Sam Gagner and Nail Yakupov are a line. Gagner is leading the Oilers in points, and Paajarvi and Yakupov lead the Oilers in unfair benchings. Let's hope they get a goal early so Krueger allows them to play more than 12 minutes in the game. Paajarvi is quickly becoming the Oilers best all-around forward, so that means they should be sending him to the AHL any minute now. Because that's what you do with young players: Break their spirit until they learn some respect.
In truth, Paajarvi's play is going to lead to the dealing of Ryan Jones. I had someone point out to me 1,000 times that Ryan Smyth can't be a compliance buyout because he doesn't make $3mil+ per season. Thank you President Ford. Oilers might just buy him out anyway over the summer because he can't skate anymore. Smyth is a 1985 Chevette with no muffler. But between Hartikainen and Paajarvi, something will need to give sooner or later on the wing. Jones is the type of rental teams would give up a decent pick for. Hard to ignore that, because the Oilers love the draft so much.
- Fourth line is Ryan Smyth at center with Lennart Petrell and Mike Brown. I have a prediction: That Oilers fans are going to be clapping like punch-drunk baby seals about 30 seconds into Brown's first shift in his first home game. Everyone is going to love this guy instantly. I've got to say, I think he has more to do with the Oilers waking up than Horcoff. He's just one of those guys who brings Christmas cheer at any time of the year. Hits, and fights, and does all the other stuff nobody else in hockey does anymore.
- On D, Smid + J. Schultz, Whitney + Petry, and N. Schultz + Potter, although the Oilers website has completely different combinations listed. Who will be right? This is exciting! New "Fan Right; Fan Wrong" topic?
- Devan Dubnyk will be in neck...I mean, net. Which could be a bad thing considering how he's played lately. Someone post that picture of Luongo getting beat by a beachball again? Never get tired of that. If Dubnyk can't go, the Oilers will stick the giant stuffed giraffe they won at Six Flags in net instead.
Never get tired of the Infamous Canucks Flasher either, but please don't post that pic in the comments section. Think about the children.
- I heard some crazy numbers that the Oilers need to win tonight and then go 14-7-1 the rest of the way just to make the playoffs? Not going to happen. 54pts is the playoff waterline. We need to be realistic about this, people. 14-7-1? I mean, it's not impossible, but still. There are only 4 or 5 teams in the league with that sort of winning percentage this year. Can the Oilers be a Top 5 team for the last 23 games? Not trying to be a wet blanket here, honest. Just being helping you put the rest of this season into perspective. I'm going to cheer for the Flames in the playoffs instead, because they're due.
- Oilers GM Steve Tambellini commented on trades today. This is not an exact quote, but pretty close:
"The Oilers are always open to doing something when there's an opportunity, but we won't do something if it somehow prevents us from doing something else in the future. Which, of course, is our main concern. Truthful, we want to be a playoff team and win now, and we're willing to do something, somehow, with some of our assets, but nothing involving those assets that somehow, at some point, could do something to assist us down the road in becoming a better team. You also need to consider that some of the NHL's other 29 teams will do something with some of their assets, and somehow, some way, we must match those moves while somehow, someway, finding some players to keep here to develop over the long-term. Winning in the NHL is not about this season, or next, or the one after that, nor is it about what you've done in the past. It's about staying the course, even when you're not sure where you're going, when you'll get there, or how you'll arrive at the destination. And most of the time, the destination isn't even that important, as long as you continue to move forward."
Will blog after the game. Here we go, Cows, here we go!
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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