The team has played poorly for 6-8 games now, it's pretty low praise saying "line X" has been the best of a bad bunch.

THE SOLUTION IS SO SIMPLE.

smyth-horcoff-jones kid line mags (gagne/belanger)- hemsky (i prefer 20, but others will argue)

petrell- size - muscle - (sorry antoine, its a numbers game)

everybody gets 12-15 minuets, keep em rotating

Chris Stewart, Ryan Clowe .. any other of these types we should be looking to add no doubt. Overpay if needed. This team still looks way too small and easy to play against. It's one thing to get overmatched skill and execution wise. We don't need to see another 60 odd games of Oilers getting physically whooped on as well.

Well according to Moneypuck he's a top six, so shouldn't he be scoring then?

I find it very interesting that the Oilers are 2-4-1 with Hemsky in the line up. It raises curiosity about the chemistry in the dressing room with him around. Guess we'll have to wait until he gets hurt again before this theory is proven.

I still think they traded the wrong guy last trade deadline. Penner would really help a line of PRV and Gagner/Lander.

I'm worried about PRV. Hope the oilers aren't killing this kid.

What would it cost to get Sheldon Souray out of Dallas i wonder... he's big,strong and a cannon for a shot on the powerplay. It would be awesome to have someone like that here on the payroll.

Not feeling the 94/93/14, I'm not sure what the intent is there. Maybe Renney thinks 94 will Tone it down a bit and force the kids to get the puck ON NET instead of making fancy passes. It just might be crazy enough to work!

I like 91/89/83 more than 91's lines of the past, Although these are probably the 3 most talked about 'slumpers' thus far this season. It's interesting that Renney grouped them up and made a line of them. I WISH THEM GOOD LUCK!

It's good to See Horc/Jones back together. I Think Halls Intensity will bring This lines overall speed UP instead of slowing down Hall. The kid is too good and too stubborn to accept anything less than 'GOGOGOGO'.

It'll be good to see where things are if these lines are used Tomorrow night.

No

1 date with hordichuk, 1 Justin bieber Xmas special cd (limited edition), 3 oh Henry bars, 2 bags of jerky and $5,432,100.99 plus gst

Can't say that I disagree with your comments. Other than Ottawa I can stomach the other losses. Where in your opinion do we look to find size and grit for the top 9? Who is stupid enough to part with that kind of player? easier asked for than done. Darren Dreger was reporting last night that Carolina might look to moving Tomas Kaberle. Is that a move we want to make given his injury history. I could see a mov with Florida for Kulikov. I also could see the Oilers looking at doing a package deal with Pheonix that would include Kyle Turris. Price is right and he is the kind of body your looking for upfront.

At this point the redflags are waving. The Oilers 20 games in are porous on defence as we suspected they would be. Other than the play of Gilbert and Smid the D looks overmatched most nights. The addition of Eager looks suspect. Belanger has proven that he can play D but O is the question we all are asking. I disagree with your opinion about Omark and would rather he was with the team than not. You ask who would oyu move to make a spot for Omark. Eager is my choice. He looks out of place and disinterested. Send him packing and atleast we have a player in Omark who is willing and wants to be here. Just saying.

Good return for Sam? As in a player for a player type trade?

Hearing any names as to what sort of player 89 would fetch?

They should be trying to trade Gagner and Omark for a couple forwards that are at least 6'3" and 220lbs that hit people and still manage to put up some points and can play in the 2nd or 3rd line.

Not wanting another bad year because I think these kids need to know what it feels like to win and how much work it takes to make it happen at this level, but there is finally a big centre that looks to be the real deal. Grigorenko is his name and he just stole the #1 spot in the ISS rankings from Yakupov.

Agreed that there isn't much chance for us to get a Clowe or Stewart because every team needa a big top 6 guy. In my opinion Hartaikenen is that guy.

Please no Turris!!! We do not need another guy like that, and I would say there is no chance in hell Florida trades Kulikov, what reason would they have?

What about the past few years when he's been hurt, I believe they finished last. It has nothing to do with Hemsky coming back.

I've got two words for you: Hartikanen.

He puts the Heart back in Hartikanen.

what kind of praise do they deserve? they have been the best "line" of the bunch. reamarkably tho considering how much Hall is struggling.

I'd be all on board with Harti coming back. But if our defense sucks A$$ and are all hurt and we are going to lose games anyway, I say give Tulupov a contract and bring him and and tell him to go wild. I wanna see some bodies flying.

I'm afraid to think of where we'd be without the veteran leadership right now. The likes of Whitney,Hemsky,Horcoff and Gagner have padded reality somewhat.

My point is they haven't been good enough to deem them "untouchable" from a shake up.

well i can agree with that. of course they are not untouchable. who do you suggest they play with then? this line up that was tweeted seems awkward and dis-jointed to me.

Trade Hemsky, Gags, 1st for Carter and Umberger

I actually didn't mind the tweeted lines.

Is it that unusual for a team this young to look like they will never win again on some nights while on other nights they tease you into thinking that they can't be beat?

these unexplained foot injuries, or chronic foot injuries are becoming a real issue, as is the prolonged spate of injuries in general. I wonder if the intense training, the long schedule, and the long travel distances make this location too stressful?

We can't do anything about the injuries but cringe and cry. But what this club needs to do is get rid of Major Tom. This team has become what their coach is passive confused. He has lost the room. He is scared to make change to lines that just are not working. So we break up the kid line, so the hell what, do it. Experiment, thats what coaches do. Hemsky take a Hike you have been over hyped since you got here. Sam , you have talent, your coaches just dont know where to play you , you should be situated to thrive on your strengths and god dammit kid you have some.

We talk about the oiler still being to small. Why is Temmu H still in OKC ? Tuebert , Chorney here is your chance once again. Bitch slap some people Tuebert , they say AHL players are leary comiong down your side. Ill tell you what, NHL players are more skilled for certain, but they maybe moreso hate to be hit , so you make some mistakes, oh well , this team has made tons of them, Be difficult.

Taylor ? Wake the f--k up kid and do what you do. Eager- u disappoint me, wtf man ? Give ur head a shake, what are you here for ? You can be a part of something special or go rot in Calgary or Florida.

Can you tell i am pissed off ? Fack - if only this team could learn how to play Pissed off. The End. I feel better and need a beer.

*Helicopter hit- [Post collision condition- verb-the spinning of the body(airbourne) while being perfectly parallel to the ice surface]

NSOPreGDP Colten Tuebert will have 22 of these type of hits against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.

Bang On! Last year when he was hurt......same thing! As soon as he returned from his first injury, we went on a losing skid.

Generally speaking whenever we have Hemsky in the line-up we play weak positional hockey. The guy goes where he wants, when he wants, and usually loses the puck. He is a pure individual player who has the occasional good rush.

For those Hemsky lovers, just when was the last time he dominated a game and secured a win for the team? Yea that was three years ago!

Right... until the Oilers upper mgmt grabs a brain and fires Tambo's ass this team won't make any changes... He sits by the sidelines holding his blanket like Linus hoping someone will take pity on him and make him a deal he can't refuse instead of having the balls to make a big deal. Injuries aside, this team is TOO SMALL. And until they fix that problem, nothing will change with this team. I do agree that we likely won't be worse than Columbus this year.. likely the Islanders as well.. so 28th place here we come and maybe that's what we need so Tambo can get railroaded out of town because this team won't improve until he's gone. MARK MY WORDS!

ooo I might have to pop into the BPs. Just up the block from me and a few bevy's already in the plans. Gotta tip well if for charity, so dont think you're doing great service JG as you ignore my orders for the girlies showing cleavage! heh

And well said Mac962... I heartily agree... although with me its not just the coach.. it's the GM with no balls as well.

Mind providing some proof that this is what 'Tambo' is doing?

Didn't think so.

For those who love to hate Tambo; you should remind yourselves that he rid us of Staios and Penner and got us Smyth for Fraser. I think there is some quote about cake I could use right now....

Smyth is likely THE ONLY good trade he's done... my point is this team is small.. it's been small the entire time he's taken over.. and he's done jack-you-know-what to improve it... Until that happens, he's not doing anything to fulfill his job description... His job is to make the team better.. which for the last 3 years has been to make the team bigger and get 1 or 2 top 4 dman.. something that has been lacking year in and year out.. nothing has changed... I don't even give him credit for the draft picks because MacGregor and team tell him who he should be choosing.. and yer a dumbass if you go against your scouts who watch the players all year.

If he does not have cajoles to make the trades then hire someone who can.

And also there Steveo... him NOT making trades to improve the team is all the proof you need.

the problem isn't with what Tambo has done but what he hasn't done as we struggle thru another injury spell. granted i'm sure it's not easy to make deals freely but nothing comes of grippng too tight. got to be able to let go some other parts than just the spare and useless ones.

Ya lets face it so far the only good trade that has happened was Smyth which apparently Tambo had next to nothing to do with it. Is there any other evidence to show that hes even made any average trades? Nope. I also think for a team to have passion the Coach needs to have passion and the way Renny reacted after the game makes me think he would rather be watching the game then coaching it.

It's just that we come on here a rail on the guy without knowing anything about what his day-to-day is like. Put yourself in his shoes.

"I'll offer you Hemsky and a pick for your up-and-coming defenseman. Sound good?"

"Take your broken player and go knock on someone else's door."

I bet that is 99% of the scenarios for Tambo. And that is shopping around our "BEST" asset!

Of course, I have no proof of this.

Other GMs make it happen even with the same kind of assests to move. They find a way, thats the difference between a good GM and one that sucks.

Where were all the gloomers and doomers when we were riding a 6 game win streak? They were planning the Stanley Cup parade route, that's where. Just 7 games later, we have to blow the whole team and season up???????????? What the.........?

What about Boston's early season losing streak? Detroit's? We've just had our win streak before our losing one. Thus, we're about the same as them today.

Also, seems to me last night's game was only game 18. Tambo, keep on the rudder, look for treasure on the bottom of the ocean, watch out for the other 29 bottom feeds, and if we're out of the playoff race come game 32, then try and make a move (to better today's club, not stock draft picks)

man, I love orange and blue koolaid!!!!!!!!!

"Same kind of assets".

We have been 30th two years in a row. No one has our kind of assets.

The Gloomer and Doomers were still calling for a trade for a top D-man.

Other teams have pulled out of the bottom in the past, just because they don't have as bad assests as the oilers do today doesn't mean they didn't have them six years ago.

You can't fold your tent because you aren't rewarded in the first seven minutes. Winning is hard. It takes heart, desire and an inner fire not to give up. I'm not sure they have enough of that right now.

This is Taylor Hall in a nutshell right now. Hall tries the same move each time. Come down the wing with speed, try to take the defenseman wide with a move and rip a shot short side. Opposing teams obviously have a good game plan against him this year, but he doesn't seem to realize this.

To make matters worse, when he doesn't have success he seems to put on a pout, instead of working through it. I think hes an all world talent and a franchise player, but he has to realize that the NHL is a difficult league and you have to work hard to have success.

Then you add something else... don't tell me if he presented a strong enough deal someone would take a chance. Hemmer is an awesome player when he is healthy. Realistically, if I am Tambo, I am trying to get Hemsky on an extension at a hometown discount. Hemsky is greatly mistaken if he thinks he is going to get some fat ass contract come July 2012 if he was hurt all year. No one will take the risk. It's Omark and Gagner that should have been traded.. and he Tambo blew it and now Omark is hurt. Nashville is in a prime situation for a trade... both Suter and Weber will need contracts next year.. both approaching 7 mill... with that much cash in Rinne already.. they can't afford 3 players at 21 mill. There is a trade that is there for the taking... sometimes if you want the big dman.. you have to give up a couple of good players and a first round pick.. I'd give up Gagner, Hemsky, Petry and 1st rounder for Weber... no questions asked.

Well I don't think they would be willing to take Hemsky. The reason they won't be able to sign one of the two is money and hemsky is going to likely demand around 5 mill + . They would have to send a forward back the oilers way and that would likely mean another 1st rounder to make them consider the deal. But I do like your thinking here and I do think there is a deal to be had. It wouldn't surprise me to see a Gagner, Omark, Plante and a 1st.

@Gregor... solid article.

one of the frustrating things of the rebuild appears to be the tendency of over-correct the vicious hard-on scouting used to have for coke-machines... with a glut of smallish, finesse players. The last "successful" power forward I can think of on the Oil was the hot-dog disaster.

I'm not saying our young group aren't exceptionally talented. they are, and they probably have a very bright future in the NHL. But it would be nice to have a bit more diversity up front. After cycling through Cogs, Nilsson, O'Sully, Schrempf, Rita, Lupul, etc, etc... and now Hall, RNH, Eberle, Gags, MP, Omark, etc, etc (the latter group is clearly and infinitely more talented... don't mistake my point)... would it have killed the organization to draft/acquire one player in the mold of Lucic??

I mean stay clear of the JFJs of the world, sure... but there is big, hitting, gritty, scoring potential out there, why does the Oil seem so blind to it?

[edit] oh and based on performance so far Eager doesn't really count in the Oilers favor in this respect. Although, I guess you could say the signing represents a recognition of the problem at an organizational level.

Meh I don't think it's that bad yet. Last night's game was definitely a stinker. That was by far the worst they've played all season. Give the Sens credit, they've been playing some good hockey lately. Four losses in a row, played four really hot teams. It's not an excuse, but we are not also a Cup contender this year. We're suppose to get beaten by those teams.

I just don't think we're gonna get the same value back for Hemsky, Gagner or even Omark at this time. The D with all the injuries is definitely a huge concern though.

The blender should definitely be in full blast though. We have a few forwards fighting it.

~well, seeing as omark is out 6-8 weeks with a broken ankle i would assume his trade value is awfully low at this time~

I do like the fact that others have picked up on the obsession that the Oilers brass have with small fast players.

This started with Lowe declaring five years ago with some of the new rules that the league will become faster and cater to the smaller players. Fast forward and lo and behold we have a small fast team. The thing that Lowe missed was that speed can be neutralized with physical play. He also failed to realize that speed demons who cannot convert a play........have limited use in the NHL.

As far as picking two first round players (Hall & RNH), may I suggest that anyone with an IQ of 20 could have made those picks.

I do agree that a good GM makes trades when the time calls for it...........we have no defense for our small, skilled forwards! Surely to goodness they thought of this earlier in the year? No.......watch Oil Change and you see they were happy signing guys ( Belenger & Barker) and feeling really good about the team. It was Semenko that suggested maybe they should get some size.........this never occurred to Tamby and Lowe on their own. Now we all know that Semenko is smarter than Lowe and Tamby.

At least we can pick another small fast forward in the 2012 draft.........probably in the top five!

Rama has spoken