UPDATED! Mr Poopy Pants II: Dany Comes Calling
Robin Brownlee
November 26 2009 09:29PM
HERE IT IS OFFICIALLY, as per Oilers release: OILERS HEMSKY TO HAVE SURGERY General Manager Steve Tambellini announced today right winger Ales Hemsky will undergo surgery to repair his left shoulder. Hemsky, 26, has played in 22 games this season recording seven goals and 15 assists. The Pardubice,Czech native has played his entire career with the Oilers skating in 443 games, tallying 353 points, including his 100th career goal on November 23 vs. the Phoenix Coyotes.
UPDATE FROM ROBIN B (12:42 MST): Given Quinn's reaction to the question about surgery being needed for Hemsky, we can only wait and see on this one. I'm trying to provide ON readers with the most up-to-date stuff here and I felt based on what I was told and who told me it was worth posting. The rumour spread pretty quickly among reporters this morning and I don't know if other outlets posted items, but they were certainly all over it when word got out. All I can tell you is my info didn't come from that "Did you hear about Hemsky?" buzz among reporters. All I can say at this point is I'm still inclined to believe what I was told -- I don't see why Hemsky would meet with doctors today to discuss the MRI if the opinion was "it'll be fine with 10 days rest." If the team provides an update, you'll get it here.
FURTHER UPDATE (11:26 MST): The Oilers have not confirmed the need for Hemsky to have surgery. At his availability with media after the morning skate, Coach Pat Quinn said Hemsky is meeting with doctors today to discuss the results of Thursday's MRI. When asked about the possibility of surgery for Hemsky, Quinn said, "I'm not aware of anything like that." Stay tuned for more details over the day.
UPDATE FROM BROWNLEE (10:30 MST): I'm hearing that Ales Hemsky will need surgery and is likely done for the rest of the season. No official word from the Oilers yet. Will update later.
Fans can boo Dany Heatley until their vocal chords are raw and they spew $8 beers Friday, but chances are he's going to get the last laugh when the San Jose Sharks beat the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place.>
The fact is, Heatley, who flipped off the Oilers last summer when he refused to waive a no-movement clause that would have brought him to Edmonton from the Ottawa Senators for Dustin Penner, Andrew Cogliano and Ladislav Smid, is already laughing out loud at our expense because he got what he wanted -- and that wasn't the City of Champions.
Heatley's playing for a better team than the Oilers in the Western Conference leading Sharks. He's drawing his $8-million salary in the Silicon Valley, away from the fanatical fishbowl-like existence that is Edmonton. And, just to rub it in, he's among NHL leaders with 18 goals and 29 points.
I'm relatively certain, then, Heatley will manage to stay composed when an angry Oilers faithful gets after him before, during and after the Sharks take out their frustrations on the Oilers after losing 7-2 to Chicago Wednesday.
"Heatley sucks. Heatley sucks." Yes, that'll shake him up.
Just another game
I'm guessing Heatley will spin Friday as just another game when reporters ask about his first visit to Edmonton since he queered the deal and made Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini beg last summer.
The Oilers, still stinging from Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, certainly did so this morning when asked about Heatley. What else are they going to say? "Screw you, Heater. You could have been a part of this . . ."
"It's one of those things that got made up bigger than it probably should have," coach Pat Quinn said.
"It was an attempt to bring Heatley to this hockey club. It didn't happen. You move on. It should be gone. It doesn't matter. He's a good player. He's a good kid, but he plays for someone else. We don't care about that."
With the Oilers slipping out of playoff contention with four wins and a 4-10-2 record in their last 16 games, Quinn's take is the pragmatic approach. He's certainly got bigger problems.
Fans, though, will want their pound of flesh, even if trying to collect it will come on a night when Heatley and the Sharks are likely to put the wood to the Oilers after getting embarrassed by Chicago. If Matt Greene can stick it to his former team, I shudder to think what Heatley might do.
Good luck with that.
That's leadership
When reporters asked Quinn this morning why so many players were missing for a workout at Millennium Place, he said he wanted to rest players who'd been playing a lot of minutes during a stretch that'll see the Oilers play four games in six nights.
Sorry coach, not buying that reasoning, not with the Oilers having days off between their last three games and with two days off before they play six straight games on the road.
Every able-bodied player should have been on the ice today. No problem with Ales Hemsky, injured on a dirty hit by Michal Handzus, not being there. That goes without saying. For that matter, the same goes for Shawn Horcoff, who has been playing with a bad shoulder.
But what good reason, unless there are injuries we haven't been told about, is there for captain Ethan Moreau, Steve Staios, Sheldon Souray and Dustin Penner not to be on the ice with the kids and the grunts today after stiffing against the Kings? Lubomir Visnovsky, who plays eight minutes more a night than the captain, practised, but not Moreau? Not Penner?
And . . .
-- Manny Malhotra, signed by the Sharks for a bargain basement $700,000 after pricing himself out of the UFA market early in the summer, is winning face-offs at a 60.8 per cent clip in San Jose. He's scored 4-4-8. Think the Oilers could have got him for less than the $1.25 million they offered Mike Comrie?
-- Robert Nilsson, Marc Pouliot and Ryan Stone all skated today. Nilsson put in extra work and was one of the last players off the ice. Can't see him being ready for San Jose, not with Ryan O'Marra and Colin McDonald summoned from Springfield.
-- Listen to Robin Brownlee every Wednesday and Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. on Just A Game with Jason Gregor on TEAM 1260.
General Manager Steve Tambellini announced today right winger Ales Hemsky will undergo surgery to repair his left shoulder. Hemsky, 26, has played in 22 games this season recording seven goals and 15 assists. The Pardubice,Czech native has played his entire career with the Oilers skating in 443 games, tallying 353 points, including his 100th career goal on November 23 vs. the Phoenix Coyotes.
HEMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEER NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
*sigh*
Let's just tank, already.
About the same chance Horc had, we all know how thats turning out.
Never thought of that...maybe they are giving him a bionic arm?
If that's the case, the team now has their excuse.
Trade Vish and Souray, lets go for #1 overall.
@roughneck:
Which shoulder is it? Maybe we could tape 'em together and have a 9.5 mil superstar.
Nice thought, but we'd have our work cut out for us arguing all the 'Too Many Men' calls for the rest of the season.
If that's true (that the young guys are dissapointed in the team/don't respect the vets). Then they are the problem.
What ridiculous attitudes they would have, guys that have done absolutly nothing at the NHL level have no right to "protest" their senior team mates.
I know he's only a 4.1 million dollar man, but do we not have the technology to re-build him??
@Ogden Brother
With Oiler's scouting...are we really gonna do any better whether we draft 1st or last?
Yes
good thing we only loaned reddox to springfield.
x2. Apparently HansBaurMesserschmittWatson hasn't been paying attention to all the 'sense of entitlement = poison' talk lately.
It think a small dose of reality is needed here. A team is a complicated thing and more than a collection of individuals. I've coached new teams a couple times and the transition from a group of players to an actual team is a mysterious and wonderful thing but I have no clue how its done, only observed it happening. One minute they all play for themselves, the next they start to play for each other and become far better than they were before. It has something to do with caring for each other as players, making allowances for differing talent, and generally beginning to think we instead of I.
The problem with the Oilers, as I see it, they are still a collection of players and not a team playing for each other. This is not a thing fixed by subtracting or adding players, in fact as far as I can tell, either harms the development of team. From my experience, the fact of the recent year end success as opposed to season long, has everything to do with becoming team.
The Oilers will never be anything until they get some stability in the lineup for more than a game or two. It is not so much a matter of having new players, but of having the same players for a period of time so Team can form. Only then can an occasional move be made, but this rollercoaster of injuries and replacements will never be a team.
The team (as it stands right now) has played together quite a bit. They are, after all, the Springfield Falcons.
Even if they were "mad at the team/vets" they would be costing themselves millions of dollars this summer. Normal progression for Gagner/Cogs would have likely put them in line for 3+ maybe even 4+ contracts this summer. At the current clip they should be looking at 2 million (or less)
Well put BarryS... agreed.
~We should look at the positive side of things, if Hemmer is out forthe season then Tambo no longer needs to worry about finding him a left winger, we can start looking for a right winger for penner.~
I was sure I had a positive in there someplace....I am not too sure if it's an FML moment, but if it means I see some action this weekend....FML too!
When asked about the possibility of surgery for Hemsky, Quinn said, "I'm not aware of anything like that."
I wonder if thats the 20 minute brain answering
hey, you're onto something.
maybe that's the strategy: go for the lottery this year, in the process make it very difficult for Cogs and Gags to raise the bar (see Cogs stuck with Capt'n and no PP) so that you can sign them for 1.5mil iso 4mil...
i'll go with injuries + new system. kinda agree with barry that jumping from 'I' to 'we' takes more than just 25 games, especially with new coaching.
still: something doesn't look right with the locker.
Hemsky might be out for the rest of the season? Oh, that's no biggie. I'm sure we can call up some to replacements from SpringfieljadsfiOPDdsjfaeo...
*begins rocking back and forth, sobbing*
common, let's be positive:
do you remember the game in Colorado? 4 PP goals sans-Hemmer?
while the Vets keep sobbing, oups, sorry, 'resting' the Kid will run with it!
*bangs head on the keyboards hoping to wake up*
For the 11 people who selected that the oilers are "Better than I predicted", i believe you have "The Oilers" and "Dustin Penner" mixed up...
@dragon
I really want to be positive, but this season seems to be unravelling at an alarming pace. Then again, maybe having Hemsky out will bring about Bill Simmons' "Ewing Theory" for the Oilers.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/010509a
Question for RB or JG or anyone else who feels like answering. If Hemsky is out for the year can we call up Eberle yet? Also who does everyone figure is the better player Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin? I havn't seen much of either but watched Tyler take a shot in the Russian allstar game last week and BOY I'll tell you that kids shot is definetly NHL calibre. WICKED fast and hard
Well, this could be the last nail in the coffin and I almost hope it is. This team has had serious problems in its makeup and its time to make some moves for next year. I don't think leadership is the problem; I don't think size is the problem (though the team is too small); I don't think individuals on the team are the problem, and, finally, coaching is not (and was not) the problem. The problem is that the coaching staff has to ask too much of the players they have. They have finesse players that need to play gritty because the team lacks grit. They have third and fourth liners galore that are continously asked to play with first line minutes to try to "put balance in the lineup". They have kids that are being asked to "step up" and develop in a losing environment. Though its not the only problem, a perfect example is the need to have Penner work the dot. If the team was put together better, and the management made some better decisions, this would not be necessary. Hemsky is hurt because last week he was told to work harder. He is not a game breaker--he's not strong enough--and he never will be. What he is is one of the best set-up players in the league who is hurt because there have been no legitimate opportunities for him to highlight his skills. He's asked again and again to elevate his game to a higher level; what this is asking him to do is play outside of his skill set. This situation is akin to asking Gagner to be an enforcer, or Moreau to work the PP--oh, wait, they've been doing that too.
Damn. I thought it said "Better then I predicted". Oops.
JW answered this yesterday: Not possible until all contract options are used from the loaning team (Springfield). And we can't ice 12-6-2 for a game.
Why do so many people think we can just bring up Eberle? He's playing in junior and can be brought up as an emergency recall only.
I agree 100%. If it is true, there is no need to pretend that we can compete for a playoff spot anymore.
So, um... does this mean we can start talking about who we're going to take in the first round this year? I think we've reached the s&*t or get off the pot stage in terms of "building" or "rebuilding" the franchise. No Hemsky = no chance of making the playoffs.
With the way the team has played up to this point and even with a healthy Hemsky what was the absolute best we would finish anyways? 8th or with some luck maybe 7th? So...top 5 pick or get swept by the Sharks or Hawks, which is better?
Hey Robin, why is L.A allowed to call up Schenn, Is he not in the same situtation as Eberle?
I would have to wonder if Hemmer is gone for the year (we all know that would be it for the playoff's), would we become sellers at the deadline? I hate thinking this way, but maybe we could get rid of some the sh!ty contracts we are carrying and re-build this team??? I'd even deal PDP, at this point you may as well sell him at top dollar, just a thought. Anyone have a second favorite team I can start watching?? (Don't say Van or Cgy)
Well, a week or so ago, we all wanted to see the PP without Ales, I guess now is our chance!!! Things are really falling into place....
Oh ya, I will send someone the 8 bucks if they nail Poopypants with a RX beer!!!
Thats what I was talkin about their spud L.A did it the other day with Schenn and I'll bet we have twice the injured players they have. I know the optics of hockey don't talk to me like I'm stupid. Don't answer my questions unless you have something relevent to it. Thanks
I love it how supposed fans are so willing to through away what we know in favour of some supposed 18 year old saviour who may or may not be a good player in two ot rhree years. Even the great Gretzky took several years and a number(7?) of above average team mates to be make the Oilers Chanpions. Anyone remember how many cups did LA, St Louis or New York won with Gretzky?
I fear it is a lot like changing dollars into Lottery tickets. Just because someone wins, does not account for the two or three million dollars for tickets who lose. As I recall, even Number 1 overalls are a gamble.
I still am not all for a full blow-up, but if this is the turning point then here is my two cents: keep Souray and trade Vish; unless we want to tank next year too. Souray is the only legit shooter on the team and we have a plethara of play makers and set-up players. Over the season, until the deadline they should also move the following: Cogs or O'Sullivan, Pouliot and Nilson (even if its a throw-in for a bigger trade), Gilbert or Chorney. Also, do not resign Comrie and move him if at all possible, though I doubt this as much as moving Nilson and Pouliot. One again, I am against a complete blow-up, but if that's where they go, well...
He was recalled on an emergency basis and was signed to a one game amateur contract because the Kings were unable to recall someone from their AHL affiliate in time for the game.
Point 1. What we "know" is that this team isn't all that good.
Point 2. Number 1 picks, nowadays, are almost guaranteed NHL ready players. Not nearly the gamble they used to be.
I believe the loophole has something to do with it being able to get the junior in time and the call up not in time. They could only use the kid for one game and he had to be sent down. Given Eberle would likely to be playing in East Nowhere on any particular day, it would no be probable he could arrive before a farm team guy.
I believe I did add something relevent "spud". Emergency Recall...and knowing the "optics" of hockey you obviously know what that means.
IC, thanks Dan, just one more question for you, does that mean he could only play the one game for the Kings???
I'm with you on the Souray and Visnovksy train. I don't think I have the heart to let them go.
Point 1. See post 113 for the reasons why and why your point 2. will solve nothing.
Point 2, Being a guaranteed player and being a superstar are not the same thing. We have enough guaranteed players and not enough superstars, nor do we likely have time for a junior Superstar to come into his own.
PLEASE READ THE UPDATES
UPDATE FROM ROBIN B (12:42 MST): Given Quinn's reaction to the question about surgery being needed for Hemsky, we can only wait and see on this one. I'm trying to provide ON readers with the most up-to-date stuff here and I felt based on what I was told and who told me it was worth posting. The rumour spread pretty quickly among reporters this morning and I don't know if other outlets posted items, but they were certainly all over it when word got out. All I can tell you is my info didn't come from that "Did you hear about Hemsky?" buzz among reporters. My info came from from somebody with the team. All I can say at this point is I'm still inclined to believe what I was told -- I don't see why Hemsky would meet with doctors today to discuss the MRI if the opinion was "it'll be fine with 10 days rest." If the team provides an update, you'll get it here.
FURTHER UPDATE (11:26 MST): The Oilers have not confirmed the need for Hemsky to have surgery. At his availability with media after the morning skate, Coach Pat Quinn said Hemsky is meeting with doctors today to discuss the results of Thursday's MRI. When asked about the possibility of surgery for Hemsky, Quinn said, "I'm not aware of anything like that." Stay tuned for more details over the day.
@Crust
LMAO..
But will he have the funky sound effects to go with every time he goes into the opposing end or makes a shot?
That's the six million dollar question!
You bet, it would be really unlikely that the Kings could prove the need to extend their "emergency" situation since the Kings next game isn't until Saturday.
It won't matter if we have the same players for all 82 games. The make up of the team isn't what it needs to be and it's painfully obvious.
Barry take off your rose colored glasses. Our "guaranteed" players aren't good.
Tell me how exactly getting a top 5 pick will solve nothing?
@Robin Brownlee
Thanks. I know how much of a hassle it can be to keep up with real-time updates. Your dedication is appreciated.
If Hemmer's out for the rest of the season it will force Tambellini's hand. Time to put up or shut up. I almost look forward to seeing how he handles it.