OILERS LINE COMBO'S

HALL-RNH-EBERLE
YAKUPOV-GROBO-GAGNER
PERRON-GORDON-HEMSKY
SYMTH-LANDER-JONES

THAT LOOKS GREAT COMPARED TO LAST YEAR..............PLAYOFF BOUND BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

last year he had 51P in 74GP.

this year he was playing 15 minutes a game against tough competition with a 36.7% offensive zone start which is Gordon-level tough.

Give him minutes against lesser comp with teammates like Hall n Ebs or Perron n Yak and I bet he could put up 55-60+
- TheNugeIsHuge

yup. 20+ goal, 50+ point pace average over the previous 4 seasons getting

last year he had 51P in 74GP.

this year he was playing 15 minutes a game against tough competition with a 36.7% offensive zone start which is Gordon-level tough.

Give him minutes against lesser comp with teammates like Hall n Ebs or Perron n Yak and I bet he could put up 55-60+
- TheNugeIsHuge

so he was good for about 55 in 82. not bad. certainly not quality first line center good though. and this past season was real bad on pace for 27 points...and offence needs to be his bread and butter.
I can certainly see why they bought him out that price with that type of season.
all on a playoff team too.

he's a reasonable player. great skater and could be decent in the right situation.
id consider a 1 year deal.
but don't wanna depend on him too much long term or as a top line player id say.
and not sure hes a great fit for a team like edm with our current makeup unless we moved another player of his ilk.
even then...

Unrealistic sure.... unable to work; hardly

Hall Gags Yak
Eager/brown Nuge Ebs ......Nuge is small blah bblah.. model after bos/pit.. yea yea
Perron Grabs Hemp
jones Gordon smyth
joensnu (SP)

this is a 3 line scoring team, with added fighters, and a solid 4th.

when healthy a playoff team easy.
- DrinkOil

are you Pat (frank)ing Quinn? Brown with Nuge and Ebs. That is horrid. I wish Smyth and N Schultz were gone so they could afford Grabo and Cleary

OILERS LINE COMBO'S

HALL-RNH-EBERLE
YAKUPOV-GROBO-GAGNER
PERRON-GORDON-HEMSKY
SYMTH-LANDER-JONES

THAT LOOKS GREAT COMPARED TO LAST YEAR..............PLAYOFF BOUND BABY!!!!!!!!!!!
- madmaxx

why give us a bad rep

so he was good for about 55 in 82. not bad. certainly not quality first line center good though. and this past season was real bad on pace for 27 points...and offence needs to be his bread and butter.
I can certainly see why they bought him out that price with that type of season.
all on a playoff team too.

he's a reasonable player. great skater and could be decent in the right situation.
id consider a 1 year deal.
but don't wanna depend on him too much long term or as a top line player id say.
and not sure hes a great fit for edm unless we moved another player of his ilk.
even then...
- hugefemale dog77

Grabo and Kulemin were playing ridiculously tough minutes in TO. He had an off year, but I don't think anybody could have put up 25P this year playing the minutes he did.

He was tied for 30th in C scoring in 2012, so I'd say he could be a fringe 1st line C

are you Pat (frank)ing Quinn? Brown with Nuge and Ebs. That is horrid. I wish Smyth and N Schultz were gone so they could afford Grabo and Cleary
- TheNugeIsHuge

have to... we have to.

lucic kreci
kunitz Crosby

while eager and brown are not that level, we can afford to take scoring pressure off that line and add toughness in a avon skin so soft lineup. this addresses that.

Lucic isn't exactly awesome, hes unstoppable. do you remember how philly beat boston when down 3-0 in the series? they levelled kreci and took him out the series.
having eager on that line is a detterent, and could get the winger going. you do realize now we have to protect our stars? right? ...have to

have to... we have to.

lucic kreci
kunitz Crosby

while eager and brown are not that level, we can afford to take scoring pressure off that line and add toughness in a avon skin so soft lineup. this addresses that.

Lucic isn't exactly awesome, hes unstoppable. do you remember how philly beat boston when down 3-0 in the series? they levelled kreci and took him out the series.
having eager on that line is a detterent, and could get the winger going. you do realize now we have to protect our stars? right? ...have to
- DrinkOil

there is just a slight difference between perennial 60P Lucic and barely-NHL-quality Mike Brown.

if by protecting the stars you mean Eberle having a 40P season because of his incapable left side winger, then I'd rather they all just do roids

Grabbo is a solid player, it was a tough call to buy him out. It's a GM being forced to bite the bullet and make a bet because of the cap. Nonis is betting for the Leafs the five mil a year in cap they got back is going to help them more than Grabbo. It could backfire, Grabbo's a good player. On the other hand, what's a team willing to gamble on him now?

He did surprise by how good he played in Toronto I'd say, maybe he puts it together again on another level. It's tough to say, Grabbo is a real interesting player to bet on. I have no clue what's going to happen with this guy.

I'd take Grabovski on a short term deal assuming we can get rid of one of OR both of Hemsky or N Schultz. 3.5-4 million on a 1-2 year deal? His numbers were artificially low and I have faith that he'll bounce back once he stops getting played as a shutdown C, but you get paid by numbers and they weren't there this year.

People who are saying they don't understand edmonton's interestin in grabo need to stop and think for a moment. THe oilers are very very weak at center. Also sense they haven't traded hemsky that third line is going to be more of a scoring line then a shut down line and grabo fits the bill better then gordon does. Now if he was to sign the oilers would also have insurence if ganger or nuge goes down and RNH is rumored that he might not be ready until november and that gives grabovski top line minutes until hopkins returns. His attitude is what bothers me but there are all the reasons in the world why the oilers should be interested in him. I"m pleased to hear that MacT is at least showing proper interest and in the doing is showing that he understands what the team needs. Weather or not grabovski signs is out of his hands but he's making hte proper move by trying.

OILERS LINE COMBO'S

HALL-RNH-EBERLE
YAKUPOV-GROBO-GAGNER
PERRON-GORDON-HEMSKY
SYMTH-LANDER-JONES

THAT LOOKS GREAT COMPARED TO LAST YEAR..............PLAYOFF BOUND BABY!!!!!!!!!!!
- madmaxx

GROBO IS AWESOME AND LOUD!!!! CONGRATS!!!!!!!

GROBO IS AWESOME AND LOUD!!!! CONGRATS!!!!!!!
- weirdoh

Grabbo is nuts!!...
punched a Hab's fan wife, bit a hab, double fingered the habs fans on habs ice.

wonder what he would do as an oiler to the flames ???

Grabbo is nuts!!...
punched a Hab's fan wife, bit a hab, double fingered the habs fans on habs ice.

wonder what he would do as an oiler to the flames ???
- aries1976

I liked him. Gave it his all every shift. Just couldn't finish. Some blamed his tummy troubles, whatever. He cashed in on his last deal. We'll always have this...




Which led to this....




Paid too much this last deal though. Kinda torn. SO GOOD LUCK GROBO IF YOU GO TO EDMONTON AND STUFF!

I remember certain Habs fans saying how dumb he was for staying in the game after that. (frank) you. (frank) the pussies. Play the game.

You really can't say Grabbo doesn't go like a maniac, there is that...he's like a WWE character that takes all the chair shots and elbows off the a top of ladder and keeps getting up. He's like the Mankind of the NHL

this was one of Grabbo's good ones

[url]

People who are saying they don't understand edmonton's interestin in grabo need to stop and think for a moment. THe oilers are very very weak at center. Also sense they haven't traded hemsky that third line is going to be more of a scoring line then a shut down line and grabo fits the bill better then gordon does. Now if he was to sign the oilers would also have insurence if ganger or nuge goes down and RNH is rumored that he might not be ready until november and that gives grabovski top line minutes until hopkins returns. His attitude is what bothers me but there are all the reasons in the world why the oilers should be interested in him. I"m pleased to hear that MacT is at least showing proper interest and in the doing is showing that he understands what the team needs. Weather or not grabovski signs is out of his hands but he's making hte proper move by trying.
- deadsector

If there is anything to this rumour, that could mean that the Oil are concerned about how soon the Nuge will be ready to play. I'd prefer that they give Lander the chance on the top 2 lines, but they might not think he can handle that duty yet. The core is young and we won't know just how well Lander is progressing unless he gets a good chance on an offensive line. Rather than Grabo, I'd like to have some beef on the top lines, but that's not an easy find. Guys like Bickel & even Brouwer didn't show much in their early years but got better as they got older & had more experience. Doubt that Eager could become a player like them, but the Oil should be searching hard for guys like that who have size, speed and potential upside who can support our talented, smallish young guns.

If there is anything to this rumour, that could mean that the Oil are concerned about how soon the Nuge will be ready to play. I'd prefer that they give Lander the chance on the top 2 lines, but they might not think he can handle that duty yet. The core is young and we won't know just how well Lander is progressing unless he gets a good chance on an offensive line. Rather than Grabo, I'd like to have some beef on the top lines, but that's not an easy find. Guys like Bickel & even Brouwer didn't show much in their early years but got better as they got older & had more experience. Doubt that Eager could become a player like them, but the Oil should be searching hard for guys like that who have size, speed and potential upside who can support our talented, smallish young guns.
- haymac

Lander should be the 5C for at least another season. Bickell showed up when he played with Toews, Kane, Sharp, and Hossa. And when he shot at 18.4% in the playoffs.

If there is anything to this rumour, that could mean that the Oil are concerned about how soon the Nuge will be ready to play. I'd prefer that they give Lander the chance on the top 2 lines, but they might not think he can handle that duty yet. The core is young and we won't know just how well Lander is progressing unless he gets a good chance on an offensive line. Rather than Grabo, I'd like to have some beef on the top lines, but that's not an easy find. Guys like Bickel & even Brouwer didn't show much in their early years but got better as they got older & had more experience. Doubt that Eager could become a player like them, but the Oil should be searching hard for guys like that who have size, speed and potential upside who can support our talented, smallish young guns.
- haymac

lander is not an offensive guy. never really has been. even in the Ahl and junior. he's meant to have good leadership qualities and strong defensive awareness.
he's gonna be a 3rd liner at best in his career. does not belng in the top 6.

I think he needs another year in the farm, but if they wanna give him a shot at the big club, it would be bad to put him anywhere outside the bottom 6.

a bunch of things would have to happen for this to make sense. move hemsky first, and then if grabo could play wing on the 3rd or if theyd like Gordon on the 4th.
the nuge might not be ready for September, and our center depth is weak even with him healthy. (at present we're hoping lander on 4th I believe)

id entertain a one year contract. nothing longer though
- hugefemale dog77

why would he want to play on a third line behind a bunch of kids who are much younger than him

why would he want to play on a third line behind a bunch of kids who are much younger than him
- rubberduckies

I dunno...

he's not really gonna get first line duties no matter where he goes, so I guess he'll have to play 2nd or 3rd.
and if he did in fact sign with the oilers he's most likely looking at 3rd line duties. gags aint getting moved down, nor is yakupov. gags was better offensively than grabo last year and worse defensively. just makes sense

I wasn't really saying we have to get him or sign him, im not even sure how badly I want him depending on a few things. I was just commenting on what I think the scenario would have to be if he did sign with the oilers.

either way, if a team gives him the right dollars and he maybe feels like he's got a chance at winning, I think he may take an offer regardless of what situation he'll be put in. whether that would be with the oilers (probably not as I cant see us offering anything with term) or not is another story.

Lander should be the 5C for at least another season. Bickell showed up when he played with Toews, Kane, Sharp, and Hossa. And when he shot at 18.4% in the playoffs.
- TheNugeIsHuge

Up to 10/11, Bickell bounced around b/w the AHL & the Hawks. He's really progressed to a power forward with speed, hands and shows up for his mates, so he was a late bloomer. I don't think you could get the same results from other big guys like Eager in that spot.
I haven't seen much of Lander so if he's not an offensive option, the Oil likely need another C with Nuge not ready---will be interesting to see how they deal with that issue.

OILERS LINE COMBO'S

HALL-RNH-EBERLE
YAKUPOV-GROBO-GAGNER
PERRON-GORDON-HEMSKY
SYMTH-LANDER-JONES

THAT LOOKS GREAT COMPARED TO LAST YEAR..............PLAYOFF BOUND BABY!!!!!!!!!!!
- madmaxx

I'm sorry but there is not way thats the line we go into the season with. If grabovski signs you'll likely see this

hall nugent-hopkins eberle
perron ganger yakupov
smyth grabovski hemsky
jones gordon jonesou
Ganger on the RW is a horrible idea has been tried before and didn't work. Perron was traded for to play and score goals he's on the second line. With hemsky that third line is going to be a scoring line this makes the most sense. though maybe it's ryan jones and not smyth that plays there. Either way it's not a shut down line like some are thinking.
Yes it looks a lot better then last year, but theres no way the oilers use the lineup you suggested.

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any Habs rumours?!?















Nuff said