GDB minus-2: It's crunch time
Jason Gregor
September 24 2009 02:20PM
Tonight is the last chance for players to impress the coaches, and when you look at tonight’s roster it is pretty clear which players are on the bubble.
Nilsson — Brule — Stone MacIntyre — Reddox — Stortini Moreau — Gagner — Cogliano Penner — Schremp — Eberle
Grebeshkov — Staios Chorney — Gilbert Smid — Visnovsky
Deslauriers and Dubnyk
Stone, Brule, Nilsson, Reddox, MacIntyre, Schremp and Eberle are all on the bubble. And so is Pouliot, but he is out with a slight muscle pull.
Quinn hinted today that if Pouliot and Pisani don’t get into Sunday’s game, they might get veteran status and be on the 23 man roster. Pisani is shooting to play on Sunday so we’ll wait and see.
It sounds like Quinn is leaning towards moving Cogliano to the wing and will keep Gagner and either Comrie or O'Sullivan and Horcoff as the other top three centres.
It is also interesting to look at the D-pairings for tonight. I don’t think it is a guarantee that the top four will consist of 44, 71, 77 and 37. Renney wants his defense to be more aggressive, especially at the blueline. But they can only stand up the opposing forwards if the Oiler forwards are backchecking.
The story so far...
Through six pre-season games the forwards and D-men haven’t been that cohesive yet. Quinn said it was almost like they were playing as two separate units, and there was too much space between them, especially in the neutral zone.
I’m curious how long it will take for those who ripped MacTavish for sucking the offence out of young Oilers to say the same about Quinn.
Quinn is adamant that this team will be better defensively before they work on their offence. Doesn’t that sound a lot like MacTavish? The difference is that this coaching staff has a different approach in how they are selling that message.
According to the players, the coaches have consistently relayed the same messages every day. Last year, after many games MacTavish and the media and the fans complained the team wasn’t physical enough.
But a player, who agreed they weren’t, said it was never a message the coaching staff hammered home every day. As strange as it sounds, if a coaching staff isn’t constantly focusing and reminding players how they should play, then the players won’t play that way.
The messages to the players have been clearer and right now they are being hammered home on a daily basis, and I’d expect that to continue all season. The players who buy in will play, and those who don’t won’t play and ultimately won’t be here very long.
This power struggle will be won by the coaching staff, and for some veterans and young players, they'd better realize that quickly.
The best fight I saw today
Who would have thought the best fight of the pre-season would have occurred at practice, and at Eskimo practice?
After leaving Rexall I went to watch the Eskimos practice and I witnessed the most one-sided football tilt I’ve seen in a long time.
During scrimmage, O-lineman Aaron Fiacconi and D-lineman Xzavie Jackson got into it. They threw some punches and then Fiacconi showed his hockey background: he ripped off Jackson’s helmet, pulled his head down and fed him two huge uppercuts, the second one dropped Jackson.
Jackson picked himself up off the turf and stormed off to the sidelines. Meanwhile Fiacconi went back to the huddle and got ready for the next play. Not one player said anything to Jackson. He was on the far sidelines, and then he proceeded to throw off his gloves, take off his practice jersey and walked towards the north end zone of Clark field. He walked across the endzone and towards the gate. Only receiver Maurice Mann came over to try and get him to not leave practice. Jackson barked something to him, and then proceeded to continue walking towards the dumpsters.
Thirty seconds later he returned with a shovel that he had found. He was slowly walking back towards the field when trainer TD Forss and Danny Maciocia stopped to talk to him. Jackson was visibly upset, and after some talking he left towards the locker room with Forss.
His left eye was swollen shut and had a cut on it. The strangest part for me wasn’t that he found a shovel and contemplated going WWE on someone, but that not one of his defensive teammates did anything on the field, or said anything to him on the sidelines.
Their silence told me he isn’t that respected in the locker room and I can’t see him sticking around very long. Rarely is a football fight more entertaining than a hockey fight.
***UPDATE***
I got some confirmation that the Oilers and Predators are kicking each other tires. Nilsson would seem like an obvious choice, but I've heard whispers about Pouliot and Pisani as well. Nashville has lots of cap space if they want to acquire either Pisani or Nilsson.
I know the Oilers have lots of D-men, but would Hamhuis be of interest to them? We'll see.
It sounds like there might be some interesting names across the NHL that might land on waivers as early this weekend.
A WAY better second period, although it would be hard not to improve over the first.
Nice looking winger, that Cogliano.
So, I tuned in about five minutes into the second... anyone want to tell me who has been good and bad?
From what I saw, it's hard to be too critical, although Gilbert clearly brought his chaos game tonight.
Impressed with what I saw of Schremp.
@ Jonathan Willis:
Schemp was baaaaad in the 1st. Okay in the second. Nilsson has looked pretty good. Gilbert & Vishnovsky are having rough nights.
BarryS wrote:
This is the first game this year he isn't playing with pluggers and rubbydubs. And guess what? The kid's producing. Nilsson's a guy who needs some competent linemates. Now that he's got them, watch him take off.
We lose him now and he'll get picked up by a team with actual depth where he'll score 25. Then everybody here will be doing the Glencross dance.
@ David S: yeah I like Nilsson. Him and Gagner are also pretty solid as a duo.
@ Jonathan Willis: It's been a mess... a big mess.
Moreau took a Goatish penalty
Powerplay is anemic
MacIntyre has been getting a regular shift.
Brutal give away after brutal give away.
2nd period got better, more emotion, Schremp actually did something 5 on 5
Stone looks nervous.
Gilbert has been rurned around as much as Grebs and Lubo have been (yeah it's been that good)
Bright spots are Penner again, Nilsson, And Cogliano looks good on the wing.
Brule has fallen down as much as Cole used too, and I have yet to see Stortini do anything....
@ David S:
Nilsson's a fine player, he really is. I do think he's a complimentary player, and it wouldn't bother me much if the Oilers were to trade him because they can't keep all of the midgets.
Losing him on waivers would be something else entirely.
@ Fiveandagame:
I saw one brutal giveaway from Brule, but I didn't want to be too critical given what I said about him last night ;)
How about Reddox? He looked great when I saw him, forechecking like crazy.
Good thing they started skating before the game was out of reach.
Jonathan Willis wrote:
That's bang on. He's been doing that consistently all night.
It's do or die time for Robbie. Could be his final 20 minutes as an Oiler or in our organization for that matter.
It's just nice to see the kid line one more time. :)
Stone cannot skate. This should be his last game too I would suspect.
The Delorean sure looks sharp.
@ Jonathan Willis: Reddox has seen very little ice. He is as he always is, tenacious forechecker who makes the right pass.... now only if he was 6'2 220
@ Gunner: Yeah I'm not getting what the hype about him is about he's been average at best.
BEAUTY!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Gilbert this time.
NICE!!!
The Good: Schremp - Winning faceoffs, couple of good shifts Nilsson - Nice shot on the goal, some decent plays Penner - Looks fast, nifty plays, grit in the slot Cogliano - Fast, good hands, forecheck Gagner - Playmaker Gilbert - Fast, Nice passing, good shot... Ironically, just scored as I was typing this...
The "Meh" Brule Grebs Staios Chorney Stortini Eberle JDD Smid Stone
The Bad Moreau - Penalties... Visnovsky - looks slow, out of shape SMac - Not looking good for a roster spot... Reddox - Speedy but getting pushed around WAY too easily
Brule has looked pretty solid too......
I think 4th line center is his to lose at this point.
@ Jonathan Willis: His Gullwing Style covers a lot of net :)
Oh yeah and Eberle is good but he'll go back to Jr. It's very evident tonight.
He'll be very dangerous very soon though.
Kid line is BACK
@ Jonathan:
The thing is, I don't see this year as a time for more projects. Quinn is going to have to ice the best team possible because making the playoffs isn't an option. Brule might be an interesting option, but he's a project. At the end of the day, who makes you a better team right now? At this point, I'd take a rejuvenated Nilsson over a developing Brule or a trying Reddox every time.
@ Fiveandagame:
If Reddox were 6'2", 200lbs, he'd be something else entirely.
I've got the same issues with him that I do with Brule; the effort's nice, but they're both so small.
@ Jonathan Willis: Brule has twice the skill set the Reddox has. Reddox will always be a plumber while Brule has the skill set to develop into a top six forward.
@ Jonathan Willis: At least I think so.
Grebs had a meh first 25 mins, but I thought he's been just as good, if not better than Gilbert since. Same with Brule, brutal in the first 25, but since he's been solid.
The best player all night to me has been Dustin Penner
oh and I thought JDD has been meh. Sometimes he looks really good, and sometimes I find myself holding my breath
JDD needs to stop playing the puck, or practice more...
Alon wrote:
That seems to be his style. Even last year, he gets the job done but looks shaky while doing it.
I'm callin' it now. Sam Gagner is going to have a MONSTER year.
How was there no penalty on that play?
Gunner wrote:
After watching the replay, maybe not.
Too many give-aways!!
Gunner wrote:
If you've got an hour some time, search for Reddox on youtube; there's something like 50 of his junior goals up there. He was a pure skill guy in junior; he changed his game because he wanted an NHL job.
Is it just me or is The Delorean adding a bit of Hollywood to every save tonight?
@ David S:
You are not alone. He's definitely selling the saves. Like he did in the NYR shootout, Naslund put it right in the glove, and Delorean was all hollywood after that.
Jonathan Willis wrote:
As did most NHL players.
There is a reason Brule went in the first round (6th overall) and Reddox went in the fourth (112th overall) isn't there?
Delorean is Box Office gold, look at his numbers
I like how Quinn sent out the muscle after that hit on Gilbert.
Gilbert looked like he wanted to go with Fedoruk for a second there.
Matt Damon + Mustache = wicked
Fedoruk unwilling to dance with SMac...
@ Jonathan Willis: Jonathan Willis wrote:
I was a little worried for him for a moment... I think he got a look at the name on the Jersey and backed off.
Fiveandagame wrote:
fixed
@ Fiveandagame:
60 mil on opening weekend?
Gunner wrote:
True, but then there's a reason why neither of them have put up numbers at the NHL level.
Maybe Brule lost his game to injury, maybe it's a confidence thing, but he's a fourth year pro this year and it might be time to start thinking about him as a guy who's going to be a bottom-six forward in the NHL.
Hah! Did anyone else hear the "Heads up Bitch!" as SMac came in for the hit on Fedoruk?
Great shift S Mac. He knows his limitations and does his job.