Since it’s the summer dead zone and we have nothing better to talk about, I thought I would take a look at Linus Omark’s shootout goal that’s been making the rounds on social media and compare it to the one that he pulled off in December of 2010.

As you probably remember, Linus Omark pissed off a good chunk of the NHL back in 2010 when he pulled out the ol’ spinarama-whoop-de-doo-fake-clapper-stick-slapper shootout move against Tampa Bay. Dan Ellis was mad, a bunch of Lightning players were mad because Ellis was mad, and the Internet was set ablaze with scorching taeks from all over the ‘was it cool or trash’ spectrum. In the very least, that goal was a change of pace from talking about the continuous pile of losses that had already been mounting by the time December had rolled around.

After Omark pulled out a similar move in a KHL shootout I felt like now would be a good time to compare the two and use my impeccable mind for analysis to break these down objectively.

For the purposes of this comparison article, we’ll be using the 2010 shootout goal against TB as the control. That goal had everything you’d want from a ‘screw you, buddy’ skills competition game winner. There was the spin, the fake shot, the slap on the ice, the perfect finish through Ellis’ legs, and the pissed off reactions that followed the game. What more could you want? It was the kind of spice that we hadn’t seen around these part for far too long, and I liked it.

As I’m sure you remember, there weren’t many positive hockey lights around the Y-E-G in 2010 and having a ridiculous game winner like Omark’s brought a little brightness to an otherwise darkened landscape. For once the Oilers were hated for something other than the fact that watching them brought a general sadness to anyone with a working pair of eyeballs. And since they were so bad for so long, I also have to give out bonus marks for to this goal for being a game winner at Rexall Place during a time when wins came around about as often as a Taylor Swift singles (not enough BTW).

In a time when wins were scarce and frustrations were high, having Linus Omark pull off this kind of DX crotch chop in the shootout was like a breath of fresh air in a house full of fart smells. It was original, it worked, and it gave us something to talk about other than the eventual death march that season turned out to be.

Final Score: 7.3/10

Over the past couple days, the clip above starting making the rounds as Linus Omark went back to the well with another spinning shootout goal. Now, I’ll admit that I have no idea when this goal happened, or what team he pulled it off against, or the fact that I don’t really care enough to look it up, but it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to be able to notice similarities between the two goals and thus we must compare.

For me, points automatically get deducted for the spin and puck flip at centre ice. Unlike Version 1.0, the spin and puck flip in the KHL clip seemed even more unnecessary than what happened against Tampa Bay. Frankly, seeing him casually skate to catch up to the puck at the blue line before ripping the clapper from the hash marks just made the pirouette at centre ice look more douchey. Make no mistake, the first goal had its own doucheyness to it but the second goal was worse for because the spin and flick had nothing to do with the end result.

Unlike his goal with the Oilers, the lead-up for this goal seemed about as necessary as watching Locked Up Abroad before getting into Shawshank Redemption. Sure, both shows have to do with life in prison but you really don’t need one to get to the other. You get it.

Final Score: 6.1/10

At the end of the day, this doesn’t really mean much of anything apart from noticing that Linus Omark likes to do twirls before shootout moves. Did I really need to spend 15 minutes writing a review of his goals? Probably not, but there isn’t really a whole lot else going on right now and I also like having excuses to pull out this old ‘HOPE’ Photoshop from back in the rebuild 2.0 days. Remember those days? I ‘member.

What say you, Nation?