Update: Brownlee Wiki & Do you see what I see, edition X

The Oilers continue to beef up their blueline, have yet to land a bottom six forward, just signed Steve MacIntyre and are willing to give Sheldon Souray away for nothing.

The Oilers re-signed Jason Strudwick to a one-year deal, and they also signed D-man, Richard Petiot to a one-year deal. Petiot played in Rockford last year, the Blackhawks farm team and tallied eight goals and 37 points in 80 games. He is 6’4" adn 210 pounds and will be a depth D-man in case of injuries and should play in Oklahoma City.

They just announced that they are bringing back the Smack, by signing Steve MacIntyre to a one-year deal. MacIntyre gives them the toughness they want, but they still need a 3rd liner in my opinion.

The big news of the day is the Oilers are desperately trying to get rid of Sheldon Souray, and put him on waivers today hoping that will generate some interest from the other 29 teams.

So far there hasn’t been much interest in Souray and his $5.4 million cap hit for two years. Tambellini is hoping this move will jumpstart a conversation with one, or maybe a few, general managers. I’ll be stunned if a team takes Souray straight up on waivers, instead they would want to make a deal where Edmonton will take some salary back.

Everyone with a brain can see this, but so far the interest level in Souray has been minimal and Tambellini would love to shed Souray rather than bring him back to training camp, and he is exhausting every angle to make this happen.

Souray can’t be feeling to good about his value right now. D-men went like wildfire yesterday on the free agent market, and so far no one is willing to take him. This should be a wake up call for Souray, and if the Oilers can’t find a dance partner he might have to start the year in Edmonton.

If Tambellini can’t find any takers then Souray will be at training camp in September. If Mike Comrie can comeback to Edmonton, then so can Souray. It won’t be the ideal situation, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see that scenario unfold. Souray would come to camp with lots to prove. Neither he nor the Oilers be ecstatic about the situation, but that might be the only way for teams to get interested in Souray.

If he can stay healthy and play well for 20-30 games, I could see his value going up a bit. If a top-team loses a D-man to a season ending injury the first half of the season, Souray could be a decent replacement. His wrist still isn’t 100% and that is a concern for opposing GMs, so he it’s likely he will have to prove his wrist is okay, and he might have to do that while playing in an Oiler jersey.

The only concern with this scenario is that Souray becomes a cancer in a very young dressing room. Souray isn’t afraid to speak his mind, but he is also high-maintenance off the ice. His on-ice play wouldn’t be a concern. He plays hard, stands up for his teammates and he’d want to prove to 29 teams he is worth the money. But the Oilers would need a guarantee from him that he wouldn’t be a distraction off the ice. If he is willing to let go of the past and move forward then "bringing the Sexy back" might not be the worst scenario.

It would be fun to watch that’s for sure.

Tambellini is still trying to land a 3rd line winger or centreman. He was in the running for Cody McCormick but he ended up going to Buffalo. McCormick signed for the league minimum, $500,000 to stay in Buffalo, so he must have really liked it there because the Oilers could have easily afforded $600,000.

There is still some decent candidates on the market.

Adam Mair has some size.

Dominic Moore is a good checker and decent on draws. He isn’t very physical, but he’d fill a void on the 3rd line.

Aaron Asham is a solid winger and there is no way the Flyers can afford to re-sign him. He probably wants more than he is worth right now, but as the days goes by reality will set in and he’ll have to settle for a more realistic number of $1.2 to $1.5 million.

Does Jamal Mayers intrigue you? His game has slipped a bit, but he knows his role and wouldn’t be expensive.

It’s probably a pipe dream, but why not pitch Mike Modano. I’d take him in a heartbeat. I know that goes against the re-build philosophy, but Modano could push Shawn Horcoff and Sam Gagner for icetime and he is a winner.

Rarely does the biggest name in free agency not get a contract on July 1st, but so far Ilya Kovalchuk hasn’t been signed. It sounds like the Kings and Devils are the only teams interested in paying him the $8 million or more that he is looking for. I wonder if he is regretting turning down the $70 and $100 million offers from Atlanta?

It sounds like he might have to lower his asking price, or he might end up in the KHL. If he elects to go back to Russia it proves he is only interested in the money and not winning. I still think he’ll stay in the NHL, and I suspect he’ll end up in LA, but it won’t be for the money he wanted.

In case you haven’t seen the "Robin Brownlee" entry on Wikipedia, it’s worth a laugh or seven. Absolutely high-larious: Kudos to reader/listener Steve Cadger who penned it.

Robin Brownlee (born Rueben Bartholomew Bronte August 16, 1958 in Vancouver) is a Canadian hockey writer and columnist.[1][2] He covers the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League for the Canadian Press and appears regularly on The Team 1260 sports radio in Edmonton. Brownlee wrote for the Edmonton Sun from December 2000 until January 24, 2007 as the newspaper’s senior hockey writer. Brownlee currently writes for OilersNation[3] and co-hosts the Wednesday( Known as jovial Wednesdays with Brownlee) and Thursday(Known as Brownlees Irritants Day) editions of The Jason Gregor Show on the Team 1260.

Rueben was raised in the pantry of his parents’ roadside sandwich cantina, and was subsequently named after the best selling sandwich on the menu. He spent most of his days buttering bread, listening to Heino records, and dreaming of the day when his creative talents would take him far away from the sandwich-based existence to which he felt shackled.

Young Rueben had been writing articles and fictional tales about birds in his spare time, to keep his mind off of sandwiches, and to entertain the patrons of the cantina. As luck would have it, one of the patrons was a prominent magazine editor, and he was intrigued with Rueben’s inflammatory opinions on Ornithology. He encouraged him to submit one of his articles to his magazine – Ornithology Monthly. His article was published, and his journalism career had begun.

As the new rising journalism star in Ornithology circles, and with a bright future ahead, Rueben felt that he needed to change his professional name. He knew that any confusion between him, and popular East German adult film star and pro-life crusader Rueben Bronte would be career suicide in the buttoned-down world of Ornithology.

For his new name, he chose “Robin” as a nod to his first syndicated article “Robin’s Egg Green – the Search for Truth” which had won him the coveted prize of Junior Ornithologist of the Year in 1973. For his last name, he settled on “Brownlee” after the Brownlee Dam on the Snake River in Idaho, which marked the place of his conception. It was with this name that the world would come to embrace and celebrate his literary style, and flamboyant personality.

His newspaper career began coincidentally, in the village of Brownlee, Saskatchewan (pop. 50) in the early 1980’s. It was there that he wrote the wildly successful daily column “The Bird Is the Word” for the local paper. The column was published for nearly 4 months, in 8 languages, until a ‘cease and desist’ order was issued on behalf of the popular 1960’s Minnesota-based surf combo, The Trashmen. Subsequent lawsuits drove the paper into bankruptcy, and Robin’s promising career was suddenly in doubt. This sent the star journalist into a time of deep soul searching, and experimentation with liqueurs. Crème du Menthe, Blue Curacao, and Tia Maria were rumored to be among his liqueurs of choice. During this period he also began job-hopping, looking for anything that would take his mind off of his perceived failure as a journalist.

Initially he tried to make it as a hand model, but he was put off by the jealousy aimed his way by the other ‘established’ models. A stint as a magician’s assistant ended in similar fashion. Mentally exhausted, Robin took a shot at being a playwright, as his need for a creative outlet was irrepressible. His first play, a jaunty touring musical called “Hello, Sailor!” brought him the kind of success that he had not seen since his days in Brownlee, Saskatchewan.

This success was to be short lived though, as Robin found himself caught up in a glamorous world of premiers and gala luncheons. The demand for personal appearances, combined with his increasing liqueur experimentation led to what is now famously referred to as “Brownlee’s Lost Weekend”.

After this ‘lost weekend’, Robin emerged reenergized, focused, and more determined than ever to get his journalistic edge back. Disheartened with the state of Ornithology, and not wanting to open up old professional wounds, he decided to forgo bird-based writing altogether. After flipping a coin, and having it come up heads, he entered the cut-throat business of sports journalism