This morning in Tampa the dust is settling from the announcement that MacTavish and Eakins made yesterday that former 1st Overall Pick Nail Yakupov will be going nowhere in a trade. The media speculation was becoming rampant and the club felt the need to shut it down before it really affected their young winger. Playing in Edmonton means that you’re going to hear your name in trade speculation, playing poorly in Edmonton means it will be thrown in your face repeatedly.
Eakins had this to say about the team’s commitment to Yak and the rumours,
“And I let him know about Thornton and Stamkos. It’s part of the process. He’s 20 years old and we’re not going to just suddenly give up on a guy because he’s going through a rough stretch. The people writing their columns and their blogs, they can create their excitement that way but all that’s out there is 100% untrue.”
Nail Yakupov has more talent than Canada has left over Park Place game pieces from McDonalds Monopoly. The Oilers are smart to shut this down and stay dedicated to making Nail a better player going forward. Hopefully with this much public support from his Coach and General Manager he can get back to the comfort level needed to play with confidence. The Oilers need his offense if they want to climb out of the basement.
The other thing they need to climb out of the basement is solid goaltending. League average in save percentage is .914 this season so far. That’s the benchmark for averageness in this league and the Oilers are woefully below that mark. It wont be long now until the Oilers are forced to spend assets on competent goaltending. Is Brian Elliot in St Louis a viable target for the Oilers? He is a pending UFA who makes almost 2 million dollars but doesn’t play all that much behind Halak. Bearing in mind the sample size is small, Elliott has a 2.07 GAA and a .932 Sv% with the Blues.
LINEUPS
This one is getting complicated. Taylor Hall and Omark will play tonight and the bodies coming out could be Eager and Acton. Taylor Hall’s recovery is WELL ahead of schedule and he is a much needed boost to the team’s offense and compete level. The team has announced that he will wear a knee brace the rest of the season, so I wonder if offseason surgery isn’t in the cards, but that’s a problem for future Taylor, Present Taylor can just worry about the Lightning. Smyth gets to play his favourite (sarcasm) position as he draws in at the 4C spot, but Eakins may juggle things in this respect.
Hall Gagner Yak
Hemsky RNH Eberle
Omark Gordon Arcobello
Gazdic Smyth Jones
Ference Petry
Smid Larsen
N. Schultz Fedun
Dubnyk
The Lightning, if you’ve been living under a rock, feature two of the best scoring forwards in the NHL in Marty St Louis and Steven Stamkos and are 7-3-0 in their last ten. The Oilers, meanwhile, feature some of the NHL’s worst goaltending. This is not a match made in Heaven for the Oil. I do not yet have the lineup for Tampa but when I do I will update the post.
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Added Fire Power. Hall and Omark are here and they aren’t expected to provide solid shutdown minutes. They are here to contribute offensively. For Hall that means testing the knee early and getting back to normal. For Omark that means being strong on the puck in the offensive zone and using that creativity.
2) Dubnyk Stops Something. That 3rd period was unacceptable from a starting goalie in the NHL. Dubnyk is under the gun to perform. He is way too far back in his net for my liking and he makes himself tiny out there. The Oil need better than what he has given them.
3) Someone stop Stamkos. Tall order and given the line combinations I don’t see it happening. There are question marks defensively right down the order. It will likely be on the tiny shoulders of Nugent-Hopkins to bear this lode.
MOVEMBER UPDATE
Houston, we have Stachedown
www.mobro.co/MattHendersonHB
Puck drops at 5:30 PM Mountain time on Sportsnet Oilers. Game on!
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