Delauriers and XMAS Din Din

How do you feel after gorging yourself with two dinners a day for three days?Satisfied, but also dreading stepping on the scale and realizing you will have to resort to three straight days of booze – the only diet to get rid of the excess weight, because as Wanye says, “exercise is overrated.”

I’m guessing a goalie feels the same after not playing in a month. Jeff Deslauriers hasn’t played since a 4-3 loss in Dallas on November 30th. He is rustier than a guy who’s been married for 20 years, gets divorced and then has to go and wheel the ladies. It’s not pretty and neither would Deslauriers’ next NHL start be after sitting out for a month, so expect the Oilers to send him down to Springfield on a conditioning stint.

Now that the trade embargo and waiver freeze is over, Deslauriers can be sent down to see some rubber. Under the CBA, a team can send a player down for a two-week conditioning stint that doesn’t require him to clear waivers. A player basically needs to be inactive for close to a month for it to be considered legitimate, and not just a way to bypass the waiver process.

The Oilers want JDD to get down to Springfield and get him at least five or six games. Expect him to be sent down this coming Monday. That would give him a day or two of practice before the Falcons play on Wednesday. When the Oilers send him down on Monday, Dec 29th, he could play up to eight games in the two weeks that he is allowed to be there. He won’t play in all eight games, since there are two sets of three games in three nights, but you can expect him to play six. Here is the Springfield schedule for the next two weeks:

Wed Dec 31 v. Hershey
Fri Jan 02 v. Manchester
Sat Jan 03 v. Providence
Sun Jan 04 @ Portland
Wed Jan 07 v. Binghamton
Fri Jan 09 v. Hartford
Sat Jan 10 @ Portland
Sun Jan 11 @ Portland

Look for Deslauriers to play on the 31st, 02, 03, 07, 09 and then either the 10th or the 11th. And Springfield could use him having lost seven of their last eight going into tonight’s game v. Hartford.

Devan Dubynk has carried the load in Springfield starting 30 of the 31 games, so he could use a bit of a breather having allowed 3 or more goals in his last eight games. This isn’t the ideal situation for Deslauriers and the Oilers, but when he is recalled expect him to see NHL rubber right away. He will return to Edmonton on January 12th, and once he is recalled the Oilers hope to have found a trading partner to solve their three-headed monster. I’ve been told that Steve Tambellini has been working the phones for a month trying to solve the problem, but so far no team is interested in either Garon or Roloson. There has been lots of interest in Deslauriers, but the Oilers don’t want to move him.

The names that opposing GMs throw out the most when trade talks arise are Andrew Cogliano, Tom Gilbert and Jeff Deslauriers. I have it confirmed that not one single team has even brought up Rob Schremp’s name in a trade. It is interesting that just before Christmas Marc Pouliot started to get some feelers. I’m not a big rumour spreader, so I’m not saying that he will be moved, but it is interesting to hear what players other teams are interested in. Of course Ales Hemsky’s name comes up, but it’s not a long conversation obviously.