You said yourself borderline.

You say he was on the verge of breaking out, well no GM in the league thought he would be the leading Vezina candidate or teams might have went after him harder this summer. It is a surprise that he is THIS good so far, and we will see what his numbers are at the end of the season.

I don't think there was enough proof that Anderson would put up these numbers at this point, not to mention that the Avs would be leading the Western Conference.

I agree Anderson has been very good, but many players and goalies have had great starts or one great year, but were never able to duplicate it. I think it is a tad early to think Anderson is a top-five goalie for years to come. He is starting strong, but has to prove it long term in my mind.

So is it time to polish up the crome on the stanley cup band wagon and give'r another coat of paint and more of them new fangled low power lights yet?

I like those odds!

Then again I also liked the odds of betting my entire life savings on the Lions to win the Superbowl at the beginning of last years football season. Hmmmm.

As far as Brownlee goes, mess with the bull and you'll get the horns.

That's all true, but Principe shouldn't act like there's no back story there. We might've been able to get that guy for cheap, but we didn't even try because we wanted a guy "who's won a stanley cup." I just wish Principe would do some real reporting instead of toeing the party line. I mean, jeez, is he on the payroll or something?

And it's not just Principe. The cliches that come out of the broadcast team are horrendous. It's like Brownless was saying about the guy who asked about "getting out on the road." Give me a break man. Ask a real question. Do some work. Look at some stats. Or why bother?

It's sad that these guys are the professionals, and yet the best info comes out of this site and a few other blogs. The "professionals" barely even compete in terms of providing information and instant analysis. They should be afraid for their jobs. The media world is going to pass them by. The average Joe can get more information in 10 minutes on the internet than they offer during the entire broadcast.

"it's sad that these guys are the professionals, and yet the best info comes out of this site and a few other blogs."

ummm just so you know? The reason this site has so much awesome information is the "professionals" that contribute. They just aren't on TV....yet.

Gene's paid to toe the company line. He's helping sell Oilers hockey through Sportsnet. You can't expect the fartcatchers to have any edge. It's not their job description. You're being a bit harsh on him.

As for the beat people, I agree. I don't see anybody making a concerted effort to break stories ahead of the other guy. It seems pretty cozy.

The average Joe isn't getting "more information on the internet in 10 minutes". They're the people who turn on the game to watch Oilers hockey. They're the ones who buy seasons tickets, sell out every game and jam the Oilers store to buy every piece of team crap they can afford. Take a look at the crowd next time you go. If hard-nosed reporting was what "average Joes" were looking for, they'd get it.

Hard core Oilers fans like the posters here make up probably about 10% of the total fan base. The rest are just there for the enjoyment of the game. They probably find Tom Gilbert's blog entertaining and actually enjoy the comedy stylings of Gene Principe.

Caught the last half a period. Potulny with 2 points? I told my Oiler fan buddies toward the end of last season that IMO, Potulny & Stone should be with the Oil. I believe I had Pouliot & Nilsson out instead... although I also believe I may have said ixnay on the Jacques-ay. Hmm, maybe almost borderline right?

Hell, I did TV on Oilers broadcasts on Sportsnet (with Principe) in 2001-03, a between periods segment, but they gassed the bit after two seasons. I was scaring the children.

I don't recall. Stupid brain.

Awesome PK Tonight. The two oldfarts who were out for awhile are back in the swing of things.

Even the other oldfart dman who has been here all along was on his game. That save he made by knocking the shot away right off after it left the Av' players stick better make saves of the week of there is no justice.

Awesome PP tonight as well.

Can't remember when we dominated special teams in a game like we did tonight.

scared kids make good employees

Go check out the picture on tsn. Gagner looks like penner grabbed his ass.

So now what?.....Would Tambi put Macintyre on waivers this week? There's no way Poltuny goes back to the A.................

Was in the stands tonight in Denver, there was a tremendous amount of Oiler jerseys in the stands, reminded me of when the Habs come to Edmonton, but a real sweet win

Not surprising. It was forgettable fluff all the way, a segment orchestrated between the Oilers and The Sun as part of the SN broadcasts.

We had to play nice, with no real criticism of the team. Working with Gene was good, though. he's a pro, regardless of what people think about his goofy schtick.

I'm really interested to see how a line of Potulny and Stone would work. Who said we have no depth on the farm?

*please don't call up anymore Falcons*

That's the trouble with kids today, so sheltered even a teddy bear like Brownlee scares them and he doesn't even look to that small kid terrorist Santa Claus. Can't believe it, some guy in the neighbourhood has his C Lights up and shining already. Not long before the line ups in the malls with crying kids getting the pics taken with SC.

Err wait do they both play center? How many centers does this team have? And they still can't find anyone to take draws on the third line?

It's one game. "No way?" There goes the bi-polar pendulum once again based on one 60-minute segment of hockey.

Anybody else notice all the empty seats masquerading as fans? It wasn't for the Oiler jerseys, the echos would be horrendous.

Anybody else notice the empty seats? Good thing lots of Oiler fans were there or the place would be filled with echos. Maybe the fans don't believe they have a first place team.

Don'now what happened, a post got hung up in the aether and suddenly appeared. Oh well, this one makes more sence.

Good call.

Maybe the sad truth of having a 30 team league with such watered down talent, where not every team has even 1 superstar, is catching up with the teams that lose the 1 star they had.

Maybe, just maybe, teams wouldnt lose 3000 fans a night despite being a top team if there were a better Star-Team ratio.

Maybe.

So, you're saying we should try and put more teams in the deep south of America, in order for there to be more chances for superstars to play there, making hockey popular in those markets? I like it!

Stone & Potulny? Both can play center, both can play wing. Stone hasn't played much center, if any, in the NHL if I recall correctly.

*Sighs*

Yes, Jeanshorts, yes.

*Walks up to the attic and plays Russian Roulette while listening to REM's Everybody Hurts in the dark*

In the old days, I mean after the Oilers joined the NHL, the media would take a guy on most teams and build him up as a star. You know, _____________ and the team are coming to town tonight. Then a couple stories about how good this guy was. Nowadays the media has changed direction, as a group they are into destroying heroes, not making them. Of course, the "heroes" help them along through not even being as partially discrete as they were in the old days.

The only "stars" nowadays who seem to stay so are guys who must be monks like Crosby of whom you never hear anything. Or else the US Media is more circumspect about exposing hockey players given the NFL football clowns set the bar for bad behavior so high most "normal" bad behavior seems almost good.

Present company excluded, of course. I'm not against the professional reporters. I just think they need to wake up and stop pressing the replay button.

That's the really sad state we are in right now. Joe America could care less about Ovechkin scoring 50 plus goals in a season, or Crosby becoming the youngest Stanley Cup winning captain in history. But boy oh boy if they hear about Sean Avery making mediocre jokes about ex-girlfriends or Patrick Kane beating up cab drivers they're all ears!

Which, as much as I don't like Sean Avery, he, and other players with flamboyant personalities like that are good for the game at the end of the day. It's a weird dichotomy but that's just how it is.

Lovely to see all those empty seats. Whaddya expect? Hockey is Nothing in the States and I don't mind that at all. MNF in Denver will be packed however. Good for ex-Edm Bowlen. I agree the current newspapers coverage of the Oil is pathetic. There's no insight. Anyone could write those columns and we're not in their dressing rooms sniffing for stories. Paper is dead. Online lives....

Maybe conducting the interviews from a van filled with candy was a bad set idea, yes no?

Why was Jacques not playing..is he injuried?

Why not keep a guy like that? with Mc-T: 8GP 0G 3A +2 with Quinn: 1GP 1G 1A 0 not too bad!!! I know he had some PP time, but he's a decent 3rd o 4th liner.....................

"Why Brownlee Left"

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfRmkDM78UE

Heh.

I saw Ales Hemsky at the Billiards Club on saturday night, then at the movies sunday afternoon. So I guess he didn't make the road trip? Seemed pretty strange since its a 5 game road trip and I thought he was Day to Day. So whats up with hemsky, anybody?

I'm just suck of princepe's puns, my god they make me want to poke my eyes out

~there is a rumour floating around that pocklington might be selling gretzky to the kings~

is it true?

I guess the Oilers really needed to get the PP going so they gave him some time off. ;-)

Cool game last night.

The roller-coaster keeps on going...

I don't know, the NHL has grown by 43% since 1980. I'm pretty sure their talent pool has grown by at least that much as well.

You can count me among the group that likes Gene's "goofy schtick". I know where to find my hard hitting stuff, and I get it elsewhere.

I'll take his light offbeat approach any day over some of the other guys on SN like McLean or Kypreos (ugh).

Gene is always prepared, and and is very good at his job. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but I'll bet Gene does everything expected of him. That's professional - even if it means wearing a hot dog suit on occasion!

MacLean I can understand, but why the hate on for Kypreos?

Oilers place Smackintyre on waivers this morning