Whats more fun than all of the perpetual Lockout news and the Edmonton Arena losing all momentum and grinding to a halt? How about Jordan Eberle trade rumours?

*facepalms so hard his head pops off his shoulders and rolls to OKC*

With the lockout in its 734th day, tales of meetings going late into the night between the NHL and the NHLPA hang in the snow filled winter air. That the two sides are meeting is good news. That they have taken a break from besmirching the other’s reputation in the media is good news too. 

With most of the high priced fellas almost immediately plying their trade for different teams world wide we can’t help but feel for the grinders and role players that have been booted from the NHL and are unable to find a gig during the lockout.  These chaps aren’t exactly rolling in the dough and given their relatively short shelf life in the NHL this work stoppage is making a major dent in both their careers and their finances for the rest of their lives.

This thing needs to get wrapped up for the good of the guys suffering the most. The glue guys, the grinders. The players that sit next to the multi-millionaires in the dressing room all year long but live in a completely different financial world. The Lockout cannot drag into 2013.

 

Our computer almost crashed typing in the headline above. For the first time in his Super Studlian career Jordan Eberle trade rumour whispers have surfaced over the past several days. Blame Bob Stauffer and his "something big is going to happen" rant awhile back. Blame the extreme bordom suffered by Oilers fans all around the world. Blame morons who can conceive of a situation where the one day C14 should play for anyone but the Copper and Blue.

Whatever the case we have started to see these rumours cropping up on the tweet tweets and on some blogs around the web. As a guy voted "most likely to be arrested stalking Jordan Eberle" in our imaginary High School yearbook we have been asked what we would do should 14 get dealt. We cannot even allow our working seven brain cells to ponder this matter. Not during the lockout. Not with the arena deal all but stopped in its tracks. It’s all too much.

Suffice to say that Jordan Leslie Eberle must not ever, ever, EVER be traded from the Oilers. Trade Hall and Yakupov if you must. Send the Nuge back to Pee Wee if we are looking for ways to work with a lower salary cap. But trading Eberle would be tatamount to one of the greater acts of stupidity by a franchise seemingly able to cock things up at will.

If Eberle was to be traded we can’t help but shudder at what our own rage would cook up as an act of revenge. It would be considerable.

We have taken a 10 day in City vacation due to the arrival of the legendary Sam Brown from the Morningside Panthers at Wanye Manor. For someone who is supposed to already be in San Francisco enjoying a long sober month of computer nerdery we have been decidedly less productive than we had originally intended.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – and sometimes that first step is delayed while you tour around with your Australian buddy during Snowfall 2012" -Lao-tzu. Chinese philosopher (604 BC – 531 BC)

To properly execute an in City vacation we are running completely dark – phone off, introducing ourselves as "not being from here" to people in conversation and hitting up the hotspots on a nightly basis. It has been a wicked week touring ol’ Sambo from Donair shop to pub to nightclub and back again.

For anyone who hasn’t spent a few days treating their hometown like they are on the road and seeing Edmonton (or wherever you may call home) through the eyes of a tourist we highly recommend it. It puts the City in perspective and all too often we sit about saying "there is nothing to do" on 300 nights of the year. In fact there are a lot of things to do every day in Edmonton if you look for it.

As no good guys out on the town 24/7 we should mention that Oil City Roadhouse is reborn tonight as Knoxville’s Tavern on Jasper Avenue. It’s a brand new joint – a more upscale version of Oil City – but still promises to provide ample space for the ladies of Edmonton to line up to pitch woo at whatever Oilers may be in the place on any given night.

We have wandered around in the room as it has been under lightning fast construction and it looks pretty sweet we have to say. We will definitely be in the house tonight.

Should you want to attend the grand opening and want a legit "get past the line no matter what the line is" ticket – click here.

See you at the CFR!