CANADA MESSES UP
I think we can all finally agree that Yzerman is not a great GM and probably should be exiled to Elba. There, I said it. You were all thinking it. He’s totally off his rocker and, no surprise to us all, Kevin Lowe had his hands in assembling the most ridiculous group of hockey players that many of you will have no choice but to cheer for. It’s like he has a monopoly on disappointing me. Well, he shares it with my children and Air Canada, but you catch my drift.
I have no idea how any sane individual or largely sane GROUP of individuals can assemble an Olympic squad for Team Canada that features ALL OF Kunitz, Nash, Carter, Marleau, Hamhuis, and Vlasic but leaves out ALL OF Giroux, Seabrook, Thornton, St Louis, Neal, and Hall. This should probably be the catalyst for some kind of referendum, actually.
At LEAST you can make a case for Kunitz based on production and chemistry. What case can be made for Nash and Carter ahead of ALMOST ANY CANADIAN WHO OWNS A HOCKEY STICK? These Legacy picks are absolutely ridiculous. If Safe is Death then Canada will live forever because the team they selected is far from safe. I’m not sure if Marleau, Nash, and Carter make my Team Canada B Squad.
OILERS
The Oilers at least get to boast about some of its players making the Olympics. Hemsky made the Czech team, Marincin made the Slovak team, and Belov made the Russian team. So…there’s that. The Oilers' 8th Defenseman, 4th Defenseman, and 3rd RW are Olympians. LOOK HOW DEEP WE ARE!! Don’t you all feel better about the season now? When Canada gets eliminated because they left world class players at home so they could make legacy picks we will at least be able to cheer for the Slovaks.
The Blues roll into town tonight and Taylor Hall will likely have a little extra oomph in his game after being left off the Olympic squad, which might I add is not a big surprise to most of us but he seems to think he had a really good shot at it. The good players who were left off the team make it almost impossible for him to get in even if there are injuries but the only thing he can do is keep playing well. Anything can happen between now and the games. Yak was also left off the Russian team so the word of the day will be “Snub….
This will be another huge test for an Oilers team that has so much trouble matching up against the best in the West. Edmonton’s young forwards will need to get through the Canadian Olympic duo of Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester first. The good news is that the sharks will have to get through Edmonton’s Olympic duo of Belov and Marincin so…oh…nevermind.
LINEUPS
I don’t expect many changes after last game’s win against the Lightning, however the Oilers will be healthy scratching one of their 3 Olympians tonight. Belov sits out as Hunt and Marincin stay on. Bryzgalov has become the starter in Edmonton, which should come as no surprise given Dubnyk’s sub-.900 sv% so we should expect to see him in Net again. The transition to him being the starter could not have come soon enough for me, I don’t even see Dubnyk in the NHL next season.
Hall RNH Eberle Yak Gagner Perron Smyth Gordon Hemsky Gazdic Arco Jones
Ference J. Schultz Hunt Petry Marincin N. Schultz
Bryzgalov
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Turn Disappointment Into Motivation. Hall and Yak need to come out of the gate at top speed and let the committee of old men and has-beens who left them off their respective Olympic teams know that they made mistakes.
2) No Turnstiles. Last game Mark Spector pointed it out in the broadcast and then I couldn’t stop seeing it, but Edmonton’s defense was letting people skate right by them with scarcely even the hint of physical repercussion. It was Nick Schultz specifically who Spec drew attention to but the same actions were mirrored up and down the pairings.
3) Don’t Make This A Track Meet. It is difficult sometimes to think of them this way, but St Louis is one of the NHL’s offensive powerhouses. They have scored 101 goals 5v5. Edmonton has scored 115 goals PERIOD. They are 3rd in the NHL at even strength goals for and 5th in the NHL in PP Goals For. These guys can keep up in a track meet.
Puck drops at 7:38PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet. Game On!
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