Jason... Arnott...

And he's a loud mouth Douche....Gags is a good kid.
- Iggysbff

Whatever you wanna say about his personality, but the fact remains that he's a better hockey player as of this moment.

who/what would you send back for eller? I could see Petteri Nokelainen or blunden moving b4 eller. Noki tho would be a beast and a great faceoff guy for your 3rd or 4th line. hes big and brings a ton of energy to every game.

Yeah, no. Couture is much better on the dot, is a better and faster skater, has the full package offensively, and has shown to be more adept in his own end than Gagner. Also, he's been consistently high scoring over his first few years.
- MaximumBone

Umm He has avged .2 ppg more than Sam granted is better on the dot. He also played with Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patty Marleau, Marty Havlat, Joe Pavelski...etc. I would argue Sam has had a far tougher road. Maybe he is better but it's close.

Whatever you wanna say about his personality, but the fact remains that he's a better hockey player as of this moment.
- MaximumBone

Not Far better as you infered.

who/what would you send back for eller? I could see Petteri Nokelainen or blunden moving b4 eller. Noki tho would be a beast and a great faceoff guy for your 3rd or 4th line. hes big and brings a ton of energy to every game.
- munky123

Guess the Habs could also dump Nokelainen for a 5th round pick or something. Clearly there's no room for him in Montreal (unless there are lots of injuries).

I disagree with this blog.

Horcoff is a motivation and confidence killer and the team will perform MUCH better without him. What was he, 3for13 in the circle? That's all he's good for, faceoffs. I can see "some" value in the fact that he has a pulse and he reads the play well enough to get back for support to avoid 2on1's and 3on2's. THe issue is that it is more often than not HE who creates those odd man rushes from his inability to recive a major league high-speed pass. HIS passes are not on the tape, he can't recieve a high speed low percentage pass on HIS tape, and his puck posession is the worst I've seen on the team in many many years. (At least Omark tried to make a stupid low percentage deke...Horcs just plain loses the puck).

I went through your list and Yakupov is better than Horcoff, NOW, and MPS is "currently" playing much better than Horcoff ever did in his career. How long can MPS keep that up is the question.

Give the rooks a chance and you'll see how this ends up. Horcoff is just not an asset to this team in his current role. Hell, give him a raise!!! just take away the C on his shirt. If you're going to gve the C to someone for nostalgia, for work ethic, and for experience, then why doesn't Smytty have it? He is that person. Just give it to Eberle or JSchultz and let Horcoff heal his thumb.

I was happy for Horcoff to learn that he HAD thumbs actually! I sure haven't seen it in his manipulation of his hockey stick.

They had few oddman rushes and lost almost 70% of the faceoffs...and took a good team to overtime. This team will be fine without Horcoff.

Having Petry and Smid that high is laughable.

Smid especially. I think they are solid 3-4 guys, but right now they have been terrible the last couple games. Smid especially. He was -3 last night.
- Iggysbff

wrong!

Jason... Arnott...
- OilerFanFromBC

He FAILED the medical with Rangers a week ago

wrong!
- JLO961

Have you watched the past few games? Everytime there is a goal scored you see Smid in the frame cursing.

He can and will be much better but having them that high on that list? Especially above Gags? Laughable!

Nice! Nokelainen would be a really smart pickup and he doesn't look to be fitting into the Habs plans. He could be had. Eller would be amazing, but he's not only a big talented center, but he was traded for Halak, so not the best PR move in Habland.

To compare Gagner to Logan Couture is not being fair to Gagner. Do people watch this game, Couture is money in the bank good. He's an allstar and what is he? 21yrs old? Just watch him, he's a star.

Doesn't Boston have a bunch of beefy centremen?

Have you watched the past few games? Everytime there is a goal scored you see Smid in the frame cursing.

He can and will be much better but having them that high on that list? Especially above Gags? Laughable!
- Iggysbff

Yeah, you're right, I agree that he should be lower than Gags. I was thinking you meant Smid didn't belong in the top ten, which he does. I didn't really look at the particular order. Smid is the kind of Dman that is on a Stanley Cup winning team. He's not quite there, but he's like a Matt Green.

I disagree with this blog.

Horcoff is a motivation and confidence killer and the team will perform MUCH better without him. What was he, 3for13 in the circle? That's all he's good for, faceoffs. I can see "some" value in the fact that he has a pulse and he reads the play well enough to get back for support to avoid 2on1's and 3on2's. THe issue is that it is more often than not HE who creates those odd man rushes from his inability to recive a major league high-speed pass. HIS passes are not on the tape, he can't recieve a high speed low percentage pass on HIS tape, and his puck posession is the worst I've seen on the team in many many years. (At least Omark tried to make a stupid low percentage deke...Horcs just plain loses the puck).

I went through your list and Yakupov is better than Horcoff, NOW, and MPS is "currently" playing much better than Horcoff ever did in his career. How long can MPS keep that up is the question.

Give the rooks a chance and you'll see how this ends up. Horcoff is just not an asset to this team in his current role. Hell, give him a raise!!! just take away the C on his shirt. If you're going to gve the C to someone for nostalgia, for work ethic, and for experience, then why doesn't Smytty have it? He is that person. Just give it to Eberle or JSchultz and let Horcoff heal his thumb.

I was happy for Horcoff to learn that he HAD thumbs actually! I sure haven't seen it in his manipulation of his hockey stick.

They had few oddman rushes and lost almost 70% of the faceoffs...and took a good team to overtime. This team will be fine without Horcoff.
- JLO961

What no Horcoff no Boulanger! Nathan McKinnon or Seth Jones here we come.... Ok but seriously it's time to start unloading a few prospects or players in the farm system to get someone. This should speed up the life after Horcoff process.

Nice! Nokelainen would be a really smart pickup and he doesn't look to be fitting into the Habs plans. He could be had. Eller would be amazing, but he's not only a big talented center, but he was traded for Halak, so not the best PR move in Habland.

To compare Gagner to Logan Couture is not being fair to Gagner. Do people watch this game, Couture is money in the bank good. He's an allstar and what is he? 21yrs old? Just watch him, he's a star.

Doesn't Boston have a bunch of beefy centremen?
- JLO961

New GM who isn't in any way associated with the Halak trade. If the return was right I don't see any issue with Bergevin tradeing Eller. They won't give him away though

We shouldn't be limiting our search to guys that can win faceoffs, play defensively, while also contributing offense. As of now, the team's biggest concern should be on getting a faceoff specialist. Guys like Dave Steckel and Jason Arnott (as mentioned earlier), Mike Zigomanis, Dominic Moore (if he's willing), Blair Betts, Erik Christensen, or someone alike. If we don't get some players that can win faceoffs, we're gonna be (frank)ed.

We shouldn't be limiting our search to guys that can win faceoffs, play defensively, while also contributing offense. As of now, the team's biggest concern should be on getting a faceoff specialist. Guys like Dave Steckel and Jason Arnott (as mentioned earlier), Mike Zigomanis, Dominic Moore (if he's willing), Blair Betts, Erik Christensen, or someone alike. If we don't get some players that can win faceoffs, we're gonna be (frank)ed.
- MaximumBone

We need to teach our wingers how to help out too. Some days you see Smyth and Hemsky helping out other days you see the center tied up with two guys and our players are watching.

need to really look at Boston or La's lineup. Centers playing wing. This way one goes down it's not a big deal.

Umm He has avged .2 ppg more than Sam granted is better on the dot. He also played with Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patty Marleau, Marty Havlat, Joe Pavelski...etc. I would argue Sam has had a far tougher road. Maybe he is better but it's close.
- Oilersforlife

For arguments sake, I'll also include his past few years. Now has he only averaged 0.2 PPG more? Gagner has had the tougher road, but Couture has still proven to be better in every aspect of the game- if only marginally in certain categories.

We shouldn't be limiting our search to guys that can win faceoffs, play defensively, while also contributing offense. As of now, the team's biggest concern should be on getting a faceoff specialist. Guys like Dave Steckel and Jason Arnott (as mentioned earlier), Mike Zigomanis, Dominic Moore (if he's willing), Blair Betts, Erik Christensen, or someone alike. If we don't get some players that can win faceoffs, we're gonna be (frank)ed.
- MaximumBone

I agree. This isn't the juncture to look for a Horcoff replacement, or a Belanger replacement or a future 3rd line centre. This is a process of getting through the week without Belanger and then the 3 more weeks without Horcoff while staying in the win column.

A 525,000 contract for a guy that can play 12 minutes a night and take a couple faceoffs for a month.

Did he break the knuckle diving like the rest of the Oilers last night?

Potter, Yakupov, Eberle and Hall dove or embellished plays last night. It's amazing how fans say Canucks players dive (which they do) and act like their players are saints.

I suggested Nelson last week. I think he's a great fit.

Not that this would ever happen, but I've always wondered how other teams would respond to offering up future first round draft picks..Oilers have their top 5 forwards and three of four at defense set for the future..so all that's missing is 1 key piece at forward(top six) and one at defence(likely Klefbom fills this hole)..
What I suggest is make an EA sports NHL 13/New York Islanders type offer...you trade 2014s 1st Round Pick, 2015 1st, and 2016 first..include this years two second round picks as well..and add prospects like D.Musil, and/or C.Teubert..
throw in a few 4th round picks from future years as well..
Top it off with Ales Hemsky and youget t back a powerful 2nd line Winger(chris steward type)..A top four defenceman(25-30year old)..and a bottom six forward with Grit that can kill Penalties and score about 10 goals a year(another Ryan Jones type)..

Future is set..no need for first round picks for next three years, sign free agents as necessary (this wouldnt be so hard anymore because oilers would contend for top 5 in league year after year..

Overpayment? Sure...but it gets a deal done and makes oilers competitive now and for years to come..

If this doesn't work..then make an EAsports NHL 14 type offer instead.

Canucks are the dirtiest team in the NHL.

I suggested Nelson last week. I think he's a great fit.
- Dean_Youngblood

Would Brock be ready to play right away or is he still a couple years away? I never heard of him.

And, as we've discussed before, there's an upside to the Oilers being terrible this year: The 2013 Draft is incredibly deep, and the Oilers will have a range of quality centers to choose from.

How long are you guys OK with being a doormat?

" Ok, if we finish last this year, we take Jones but we can't play him because there is an upside of sucking in 2013-2014 because we can get Sam Rienhart. Well if we get Rienhart, might as well tank "as planned" in 2014-2015 and get Conner McDavid.... then we will be contenders!...... Go Oil!!!"