Penner?
- Yeti1181

He crossed my mind. But hes wayy bigger and is much stronger on the boards.
Penner is better than smyth 7 days a week

Agree,Why is Everyone Hating on Smitty??

He looked like a bit slower version of his old self last night, isn't that what`s to be expected at this point?

No Respeck for Smyth!
- Byfuglien Ate Me

Leafs wants smythe? You can have him.

The other day someone asked Jason Gregor who plays like that, Gregor said there is all kinds of guys. You know what two names he came up with? Please everyone guess. I'll give you 10 minutes before I reveal the answers.
- Lahey

Holmstrom... Hartnell? Kesler when he's not being a giant waste of ice time? Jackman? Bickell? Buff? Morrow? There aren't many guys that do it. At all.

Penner?
- Yeti1181

Smyth and Holmstrom. There are so many of these (frank)ing guys that he could only come up with the two guys that are known for doing it.

Simply put finding a younger Smyth or Holmstrom is tough. Smyth is a guy that really has (frank) all for on ice talent, but he has heart and smarts that allowed him to play 1201 NHL games. Not going to be easy to find a guy as willing as him or Holmstrom.

Leafs wants smythe? You can have him.
- deks1

I like that yaks looks to engage physically, but man he was lost out there last night.

Hopin joensuu returns soon and replicates his performance in game 1. That really could be huge for us. An even bigger boost than gags over arcobello in fact.

Hall, gags, yaks
Joensuu, nuge, eberle
Perron, gordon, hemmer


Any ideas when jj's back?
- hugefemale dog77

I like what you have there... we do need this line up changed and fast... as for the defense...well that is a much tougher story

- Yeti1181

As the Sheik would say " you can go (frank) yourself"

- Yeti1181

Who and what do you cheer for tomorrow?

A 17 round shoot out?

Tell ye what, the Oilers get the win and Leafs can have a point too.

He ruined this teams morale, trade everyone start over
- Yeti1181

Well essentially if you are last or bottom 5 - do we call it rebuilding the rebuild or just the start of a new rebuild or??? thoughts???

Who and what do you cheer for tomorrow?

A 17 round shoot out?

Tell ye what, the Oilers get the win and Leafs can have a point too.
- Salvo

The Leafs are gonna kill the Oil- its not even going to be close...

Smyth and Holmstrom. There are so many of these (frank)ing guys that he could only come up with the two guys that are known for doing it.

Simply put finding a younger Smyth or Holmstrom is tough. Smyth is a guy that really has (frank) all for on ice talent, but he has heart and smarts that allowed him to play 1201 NHL games. Not going to be easy to find a guy as willing as him or Holmstrom.
- Lahey

Valid point. Seems to be a dieing breed of players.

The Leafs are gonna kill the Oil- its not even going to be close...
- saskoil21

I too have this fear.

Who and what do you cheer for tomorrow?

A 17 round shoot out?

Tell ye what, the Oilers get the win and Leafs can have a point too.
- Salvo

I'm neutral I hope for a hard fought game and everyone has some fun. Oh and for a joe Thornton celebration.

Well essentially if you are last or bottom 5 - do we call it rebuilding the rebuild or just the start of a new rebuild or??? thoughts???
- saskoil21

I believe that's known as being the maple leafs.

As the Sheik would say " you can go (frank) yourself"
- Lahey

Thanks sweet pea

The Oilers suck.... The Flames are better than us
- Reveen

not at all.

just on the yak debate... what was telling for me about the direction of the team and the players development was the difference between galchenyuk and yakupov.

gally is far ahead of yak in his development. to me thats telling of either the oilers have a poor player development system in place or that yak is not adhearing to the advice on what it takes to make it in the nhl. id like to think that its not yakupov that is the problem. seeing how he plays and his pre draft interviews ( sure he could have been saying all the right stuff) leads me to believe that he has the heart to make it. looking at the oilers as a whole, there are some glaring issues. the biggest to me is not the right mix of vets and poor use of the youngsters.

also the habs should have dusted the flames, unfortunately the habs only showed up in the last 10 mins of the game.... oilers hopefully will right the ship flames will peak and will slide. all positives for the flaems tho. just that the oilers have far more depth, they are bound to get it together!

I too have this fear.
- Salvo

Stop it!!!! I'm going to be there tomorrow night. It's already bad enough that its on my mind, i just don't want to be talking about it

Valid point. Seems to be a dieing breed of players.
- Yeti1181

and yet why??? How are there no other players that lack skill but have some durability as well as positional hockey sense to go to the tougher areas and collect the garbage... Do you players not see an opportunity to get rich like Smyth did by just making sacrifices each play for the reward- garabe goal or not its still a goal...

Valid point. Seems to be a dieing breed of players.
- Yeti1181

It wasn't even a breed, as much as a few idiots that really wanted to play hockey. Who the hell wants to stand in front of the net when guys are firing the puck 100 MPH at you?

The Leafs are gonna kill the Oil- its not even going to be close...
- saskoil21

you know i doubt that.

the oil are 1000000x faster than the leafs. i also think the leafs dont boast the same skill or drive that the oilers do. if the leafs win, it will be because reimer or bernier stood on their heads... the leafs blue line will get dusted many a time. mark my words

and yet why??? How are there no other players that lack skill but have some durability as well as positional hockey sense to go to the tougher areas and collect the garbage... Do you players not see an opportunity to get rich like Smyth did by just making sacrifices each play for the reward- garabe goal or not its still a goal...
- saskoil21

Jones was doing it a bit pre-lockout, then he got blinded and ended that.

I have said for a long time, that Smyth needs to be sent out to every single prospect we have and have a chat with them. We have a lot of guys that are long shots due to not being the most skilled, Smyth needs to tell these guys what to work on so that they can play in the NHL.

Ideally it would done as a coach and not a player though.

not at all.

just on the yak debate... what was telling for me about the direction of the team and the players development was the difference between galchenyuk and yakupov.

gally is far ahead of yak in his development. to me thats telling of either the oilers have a poor player development system in place or that yak is not adhearing to the advice on what it takes to make it in the nhl. id like to think that its not yakupov that is the problem. seeing how he plays and his pre draft interviews ( sure he could have been saying all the right stuff) leads me to believe that he has the heart to make it. looking at the oilers as a whole, there are some glaring issues. the biggest to me is not the right mix of vets and poor use of the youngsters.

also the habs should have dusted the flames, unfortunately the habs only showed up in the last 10 mins of the game.... oilers hopefully will right the ship flames will peak and will slide. all positives for the flaems tho. just that the oilers have far more depth, they are bound to get it together!
- munky123

Bang on... The coaching staff has completely underutilized Yak- (frank) even MPS for that matter- the scouting and development of the Oilers has been horrendous for years... and now they are trying to improve it... but its taken a long road an will continue to be a long road...

For all the wrestling and Joey Moss fans out there....

you know i doubt that.

the oil are 1000000x faster than the leafs. i also think the leafs dont boast the same skill or drive that the oilers do. if the leafs win, it will be because reimer or bernier stood on their heads... the leafs blue line will get dusted many a time. mark my words
- munky123

Bullpoop- all you have to do to break the oil is hit them hard or push them a tad physically in a corner- they will curl up and fire pucks from the perimeter the remainder of the night... Latest example was Montreal- and they are not even close to the same size as the Leafs...

Bang on... The coaching staff has completely underutilized Yak- (frank) even MPS for that matter- the scouting and development of the Oilers has been horrendous for years... and now they are trying to improve it... but its taken a long road an will continue to be a long road...
- saskoil21

Right now Yak is getting 6 seconds a game more than Hertl. 3 mins of PP time opposed to Hertl's 2:24.

We are treating Yak better than SJ is Hertl, just keep that in mind people who think we are doing something unheard of.

Add the Russian American. 14:42 which is less than Yak and Hertl, although he gets 3:16 of PP time.

Simply put, Yak needs to be better.

My post from other thread.