Commotion
Lowetide
October 05 2010 05:49PM
This is Chris Vande Velde. His showing at this fall's training camp went mostly unnoticed what will all the commotion. We may one day look back on TC 2010 and remember it as the period of time when the Oilers finally saw that big center everyone was waiting for these many years. And that's not all.
Chris Vande Velde has a wide range of abilities. Size, skill, he was splendid in the faceoff circle at the college level and he can play a gritty game. His performance in the pre-season gives all Oiler fans hope for the future. Oilers player development man Mike Sillinger had this to say: "He's a big guy, strong guy, protects the puck really well, plays his position really well. He's not overly flashy, but he's very noticeable in doing the little things well. Decent on the faceoffs and, with his size (6-foot-2, 190 pounds), he's just so big and strong in front of the net."
Tom Renney had this to say about the college man:“Chris is a guy that just pushes it forward, gets it deep and goes into the dirty areas. He’s very responsible, he understands the game and programs well.As players like him gain experience in these games, it becomes increasingly difficult to suggest why they shouldn’t be here."
There's been a lot of chatter today about how little was accomplished at this year's training camp. I cannot believe my eyes. The Edmonton Oilers have introduced a generation of prospects to their fanbase this fall. The names Hall, Pääjärvi, Eberle and others will be heard rolling out over the next decade and longer. The secondary group (which includes Vande Velde) are the first to audition to become this team's role players and the early returns are very positive.
Roster spots were somewhat predictable, but it should also be mentioned that many of the late cuts will also be the early recalls this season. Vande Velde, Belle, Petiot, Ondrus, Omark, these are the names we'll see in 10-11 when injuries and slumps impact the main roster. This year's training camp was a snapshot, a moment in time. No more or less important than the days when Tony Hand, Alex Henry, Fernando Pisani, Blair Barnes, Esa Tikkanen and Kevin Lowe skated their first shifts on Northlands ice.
Bored by the final roster? Give your head a shake. Print the damn thing off and hang it on the wall. Lets agree we'll have another look at it in 10 years and decide at that time whether or not there was something to be excited about this fall. I'm betting yes.
Flames fans are notorious for over valuing their assests.
Sincerely, the kettle.
woo hoo
Like you say LT, Souray for the two, but no additional throw in from our side (someone mentioned Cogliano!).
And Flames fans are up in arms at this proposal! Getting Souray & Cogliano for 50cents on the dollar, and they're absolutely appalled... wtf?
now that i actually read the post, i still woo hoo. i'm extremely excited for this season. here's hoping for a ton of 5-4, 5-3, 4-3 losses for us and another lottery pick. 10/11 is gonna be an exciting season.
Just caught the end of gregor saying something like souray for glencross?? What was the rest of that rumoir? If true the oil wd have to take back more salary...staios? Sarich?
I would be interested in Lowtide's favoured line combinations. Too much about the TC ... I agree that it is time to move on.
Thanks
I think it'll be just as exciting to read about the kids in Springfield and all over the CHL plus Europe.
For example:
Curtis Hamilton Saskatoon WHL 5gp, 2-4-6 +1
No, if this is rebuild year then let Omark and VV play for Oilers and let them grow together with Hall and Co and who cares about playoffs this year, but maybe they will be good enough to make it!
No, if this is rebuild year then let Omark and VV play for Oilers and let them grow together with Hall and Co and who cares about playoffs this year, but maybe they will be good enough to make it!
DN: Well, since you asked. :-)
I'd run them like this (C-LW-RW)
Horcoff-Penner-Hemsky (tough mins) Gagner-Hall-Eberle (soft parade) Fraser-Pääjärvi-Brule (2ndary toughs) Cogliano-Jones-Stortini (energy)
The Fraser line would get killed, but that Gagner line should smoke. The top line is most certainly good enough to outscore other top drawer NHL lines.
But that isn't the way it is going to happen.
My apologies, totally unrelated, but any time there is an Oiler mention at the Onion it is worth a mention:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/nhl-to-allow-finishing-moves-in-fights-this-season,18189/
Oilchange: I think Chara's already done all of those things. Cool article.
Who the frack is Linus Omark? I mean if anyone was flat out robbed, it was (incredulously) Liam Reddox. Besides, why have Omark on the roster just to ride the pine, that kind of skill needs to be displayed. What I really know (and I will wait for tomorrow's deadline) is why we still have 3 goalies? Do we have any reason to believe this is linked to Souray?
Im hoping we see the Horcoff-Penner-Hemsky combo at least a few times this season but as you stated it probably won't happen.
I didn't catch all the pre-season games but it seemed to me that Eberle had instant chemistry with whomever he played with, including Gagner and Hall so that could be a decent line for soft minutes.
Personally I think we are going to see alot of the "MacT blender" this year in the top 9.
WBC: Yeah, agreed. Eberle displayed all kinds of positives, I think we're going to enjoy him a lot this season (he just gets it).
I'd be okay with Horcoff-Eberle if they had a veteran LW to go with them. Not as a hard match tough minutes line, but that kind of line would do okay all by itself imo.
No matter how you slice it, the Oilers are going to have two soft lines and imo Renney is going to run that top 9 ragged.
No comments on the mark spector comments on gregor's show regarding souray to the lames for sarich and glencross??!!
Esa: I hadn't read it. Straight up? I like Glencross and he could certainly help this team. Sarich is the poison pill to make the money work?
Yeah, I would do it. But Souray can't play Thursday night. :-)
Spector recently posted an article on the Sportsnet site speculating that Souray + Cogliano + Picks for Sarich + Glencross might make sense for the Oilers. (http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2010/10/05/oilers_souray/)
Then Darren Dreger said this on Twitter: "Sarich is low on depth chart, but I'm told the Flames have had no discussions with the Oil about Souray or Cogliano."
Then Tencer said this (also on Twitter): "According to @DarrenDreger the Flames haven't had discussions with Oilers re: Souray. For whatever it's worth, I've heard different."
EDIT: And Tencer added this later: "I happen to think that his speculation is based on some foundation...I've heard increasing rumblings of late around this."
I wanna know what Oil fan thinks of this Flames rumor. Flames fan don't seem to like it and I can't figure out why.
Well to me souray and the lames' third from the staios trade for glencross and sarich makes sense to me for both sides. Evens up the money this year and the third rounder offsets the money for next year.
While i can live with trading Cogliano somewhere, if he turns into Matthew Lombardi for calgary i will puke.
all of a sudden Sutter and Tambolini are bff's lol, but seriously i hope they dont do that trade. Sarich is more washed up than Souray IMO and where would the Oilers put Glencross in the line-up? Now if ST can fleece Sutter again like he did in the Staios trade(3rd rounder) say Souray for their 1st or Iginla then maybe.
Not to mentionif healthy souray is a much better player than glenx and sarich. But to end the soap opera as an oil fan i would do this.
I dont think flames fans appreciate how good souray was two seasons ago. I think last year before the wrist injury he was still suffering from the concussion and oif he returns to form the flames actually win the trade hands down.
The last place for Tambi to send Souray would be Calgary. What, having Regehr run the kids over isn't enough?
If the deal happens, maybe we could get Tambi to sit slightly behind and to the right of the goalie so that Souray will try to send a howitzer through the glass to take him out.
I think to me it would depend on what Sarich is like in the dressing room, I heard that the Calgary dressing room wasn't the most hospitable of sorts last year, tho that situation has been solved?
*shrugs*
Crazy, us trading with the Flames again! I'd pull the triger on that one, maybe without Cogs, I"m not sure about sending him to the sucks. Souray, oh ya, his best days are gone, his cap hit and time in the sick bay would be perfect for them.
I'm all for ending this Souray fiasco By Any Means Necessary®, but we all realize that as soon as Souray becomes a Flame it means one of the kids is going to get his nose pushed through the back of his head via a slapper to the face right? It's pretty much inevitable.
I'd like to minimize our odds of that happening as much as possible. Look outside of the division please!
Yes please.
Unlike Omark... VandeVelde earned a position... he should be playing on the fourth line, even pushing fourth line... at least he doesn't whine like Omark does when sent down.. I still say ship Omarks butt with Souray out of town...
Souray, Omark, and Cogliano to the Rangers for Marc Staal and Chris Drury....
@Lowetide
Thanks Lowtide ...the soft parade might be the smallest line in the NHL ?
Seein as that's the way you would run them but you don't think Renney will, how do you think he will run the lines?
Personally I like
Horcoff-Hall-Hemsky
Gagner-Penner-Eberle
and then I agree with your 3rd and fourth.
I think Renney will go Horcoff-Hall-Eberle, Gagner-Penner-Hemsky and then Cogliano-MPS-Eberle. Until the 10-minutes mark. :-)
You have Eberle in there twice, now whilst that would be freakin sweet to have two Eberle's, not happening :P
I think you meant Cogliano-MPS-Brule for the third ;)
In regards to your lines though, I think if you switch Penner with MPS and give them at least the first period and thats what I see Renney doing.
Souray to Calgary? That would be the ultimate irony. We all know how well Souray keeps his feelings internalized when he's forced to coexist with people he doesn't like. I'm sure, though, that he's put that whole 'Iginla ruined my career' thing WAY behind him. They'll be BFF's once they're on the same team. Right?
Right? . . . . .
@Lowetide
haha so true. The one thing that we all can predict is that the lines will be unpredictable. The blender lives on!
Why do people make fun of Eklund for making up random rumours? Yet, verbal diarhea from Rishaug and Spector is worth a talk.
now that trade id do before i even thought of talkin to cowtown, who knows maybe slats is on the right side of senial and say ok to that ;)
Good post on Van de Velde. If both he and Pitlick pan out and hit their ceiling then we may actually have some size up the middle finally.
WRT the Souray rumor, I think it is a smokescreen to try to get something out of another team (Rangers maybe?). I would not be surprised if Sutter did call, but right now it looks like Tambi is going to wait until the last second to assign Souray to OK in the hopes that someone bites on him. My guess is that it will not work and then he will have to go there, play, and get claimed on re-entry waivers.
Damn. I do that all the time. Seriously. But yeah, I meant Cogs-MPS-Brule for the 3line.
@Oilchange64
That is some funny stuff! Nice one!
I was very impressed with Vande Velde as well. Hopefully he becomes the solid 3rd line centre with size that this team is sorely lacking.
With regards to the Souray rumour....I would make just about any deal to get rid of Souray but I don't like this one because it makes the Flames better.
@Oilchange64
That is pure gold, thanks!
You do know the rumor is Souray, Cogliano & a draft choice (maybe the 3rd rounder the Flames gave them in the Staios trade?) for Sarich & Glencross (and perhaps another salary dump), right? Even if it were just Souray & Cogliano for Sarich & Glencross... still yes please?
No. Souray for GC and the pylon. Beyond that, nada.
@Lowetide
Then keep your 5.4M cap hit ;-)
And now from the Calgary Herald's Vicki Hall, as well...
One persistent rumour - that finally hit main-stream media websites Tuesday night - is a blockbuster trade between the Flames and the Oilers that would see Sheldon Souray, Andrew Cogliano and draft picks moving to Calgary for Cory Sarich and Curtis Glencross.
The move makes some sense. Glencross ($1.2 million US) was an on-and-off resident of head coach Brent Sutter's doghouse last season.
Sarich can still contribute at 32, but his $3.6 million contract is hefty.
The banished Souray has a cap hit of $5.4 million. Cogliano would help with team speed, and his salary comes in at $1 million.
But it's just a rumour.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Flames+Sutter+puts+Brett+waivers/3628732/story.html
Hmmmm, that's tougher.
I do like Sarich though (as a bottom pairing guy) and was hoping we'd swap O'sully for Sarich rather then for JV)
Tough call, if you get a healthy, motivated Souray Flamers probably kill that trade. If you get 50 games (over the next 2 years) then we obviously win.
I'd do Sarich for Souray straight up
Call it a push I guess.
Lordy.
So, let take score here. The Oilers make Souray sit out the whole preseason, and basically stir up the hornets nest with him as best they can, and then send him up the road to their biggest rival? Anyone else see Souray standing over an unconscious Eberle in the very near future?
IMO, Souray+Cogs for Sarich+GlenX is lopsided enough, and talk of Oilers sending picks too? Crazytown.
Great post, LT. Someone needed to highlight Vande Veldes excellent camp performance. I hope we end up seeing a lot more of him in the future.
rosscreek
Flames fans all think Souray is crappy because of how poorly he played last season. And for some reason they forget that the year before the Oil were in the playoffs as of game 75, that they were a decent team, and that Souray was their best player who got 50 points, a plus minus in the plusses on a team in the minuses, that he fought and killed guys, that he played 25 minutes a night and was very good on the PK. He was an excellent player that year and easily the Oilers' best player.
If he returns to form, even without Cogs you win hands down.
With Cogs, well I doubt Tambellini would trade a player that young with some potential just to dump Souray's contract. To me Cogs could easily be as good as Matthew Lombardi or Mason Raymond. He is 23, has played three seasons in the NHL, scored 18 goals as a 20 and 21 year old , is as fast as they get. He is not my favourite Oiler but you don't throw him in just to take Sarich and Glencross back as equal salary dumps...those two are enough in salary and don't add up to half of Souray's value IF he returns to form.