The Edmonton Oilers caught a shark last night, only to let it go in the 3rd period. An OT loss is uglier when the team you're losing to is the one you're trying to pass in the standings.
What went wrong? Mostly, the play of Devan Dubnyk. I hate pinning this on one guy, as it takes a team to win or lose, but Dubnyk let in three goals he should have had, and looked awful in the shootout. Someone on my Twitter feed last night suggested maybe he's playing too many games, and I agree with that statement. If Nikolai Khabibulin is healthy enough for a start, he should go Saturday against the Blues.
There were good moments to the game for the Oilers:
- Sam Gagner continues to be the dominant offensive player for the Oilers. He scored on the powerplay and was dangerous all night.
- Magnus Paajarvi is a changed man. He's driving the net with confidence and authority now. Both he and Gagner are making it near impossible for the Oilers to deal them. Add them to the growing list of untouchables: Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov, J.Schultz, Petry, Gagner and Paajarvi gives the Oilers eight of the Core 12 they need to become a dominant team.
- Speaking of Nail Yakupov, he's much more than just an offensive weapon out there. I've been noticing him making some decent defensive plays and he has a willingness to throw hits. He's going to be a beauty. The Oilers really need to stop cutting his ice time in the 3rd period. He can't do any worse than the guys Krueger sends out there who keep blowing leads.
- Shawn Horcoff is valuable to the team. I'm not sure when the Horcoff who got the big contract returned to the Oilers, but it's nice to see. It looks like he's playing motivated hockey, which is something we haven't seen from Horcoff since perhaps 2006. He won't be bought out at the end of this season, unless the Oilers make a deal to add a ridiculously big contract or two and need to make cap room.
- Ales Hemsky, on the other hand, is playing his way off the Oilers roster. I couldn't figure out what he was doing all game. Skating around meaninglessly with the puck, or firing muffins from 50ft out directly at the goalie's chest. Poor effort from Hemsky.
- Taylor Hall had a strange game. He was all over the ice, skating faster than everyone else out there. It didn't seem like anything he tried worked though. I'm still not sold on the idea of playing Hall with anyone other than Eberle. I'd rather see Hall-Nuge-Ebs next game, and Jones-Horcoff-Hemsky.
- Lennart Petrell and Mike Brown continue to give the Oilers functional 4th line minutes. Teemu Hartikainen hardly saw the ice but played fine, all things considered.
Speaking of Hemsky, I keep thinking he's the guy who needs to be dealt, and the Oilers need to try to turn him, plus a second or third asset if necessary, to bring in some functional beef up front or a left-handed, puck-moving defenseman. I still can't improve on someone like Troy Brouwer, although in saying this I have no idea if the Caps would move him. I'm just saying that's the type of forward the Oilers need. Every time they play against a big team like the Sharks, they can't deal with them physically and lose.
I'll comment on Eklund's comment today that the Oilers and Ryan Whitney are not ready to part ways yet. I think he could be re-signed to a one year deal at less money to see how it goes. Of course, if the Oilers fall out of the playoff race by April 2 it will be a different story. If you're gonna miss the playoffs anyway, you might as well finish as poorly as possible so you can draft higher. The Oilers have six games between now and the deadline. If they go 2-4 or worse, you could see several players moved. Hemsky, Smid, Whitney, Nick Schultz, and Ryan Jones are all players who would bring interest.
Oilers GM Steve Tambellini has said recently that the Oilers could bring in a rental player at the deadline, but I don't believe him. As I've been saying all season, this year is all about setting up next season, so deals made will be for younger players who could fit into the Oilers roster for a while.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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