GDB 21.0: BRING US SWEET REDEMPTION, BABY JESUS

The truth is not everyone finds a way to dig out of a massive hole. They make movies about the guys who overcome the odds to see the sunshine and touch the ocean. For everyone else? Misery, with a small ray of light that finds its way to us in times of trouble. The hope? Redemption.

The Edmonton Oilers and their fans have endured some mind-numbing disappointments over the last 15 years: G7 SCF, the Pronger trade to Anaheim and on it goes. There’s no real way out of it—the heart wants what it wants and we are fans—so we are left with our shared memories and sorrow, and precious few good moments to recall.

For someone my age, the 1980s Oilers can be enjoyed as a memory, but for the next generations—the Marchant group, the ’06 brigade, the poor girl or guy who picked the Oilers because of the cool uniform—there’s a lot of crap to crawl through before we find something with sustain in the mind`s eye.

And yet, there are moments….

And they sustain us for a time. What a beautiful moment for our man Nail, filled with great emotion after it seemed the entire hockey population of planet earth was against the Oildrop.

Kind of like today. Luck be a lady tonight!

By popular demand, none for today. I’m a big believer in the numbers, but the only thing that really counts is W-L-T and baby it isn’t good. 6-12-2 is barely better than 4-14-2, and I can talk Corsi all day but the bottom line is that soft goals against, bad coverage and an anemic power play are killing this team.

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

I plucked this from the twitter (Wanye introduced me to twitter, and now it’s vital to communication. Funny that) and I think Mr. Russell sums up Oilers nation and our view of math this morning quite well. The answer to Mr. Russell’s question? Not even close.

There’s only one point I want to make today, and it revolves around Justin Schultz. The young man is trending in Edmonton, and that’s not usually good for a defenseman. I’m at a point now where (for me) the Oilers are actually doing harm by playing him so much. Surely Jeff Petry and Mark Fayne can cover more time at even strength? Schultz’ performance this season hasn’t been good, so maybe back off those minutes and see if less is more?

Rom’s point about defensive assignments is a good one. The Oilers are losing, but they are also doing some wonky things. How wonky? Well, I’ll argue Schultz needs to play less (and Fayne way more) but the deployment makes sense.

That’s just about perfect, ladies. Schultz is getting easy easy easy competition and a major push in zone starts. That’s a really good spot, best available, but the results aren’t there and I think it might be he’s being played so much there’s not enough in the tank.

Simply put: what we SEE as lollygagging may just be inability to handle the load. That’s my opinion, love to hear your assessment.

With Pouliot out and (as of last night) 7 defensemen drawing in, the lineup was definitely going to have a different look.

David Perron was frustrated last night, but there’s iron in his words. How will Oilers management react? We wait.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: The ‘Hawks are rested, terrific and are unlikely to have mercy. A 6-2 win for Chicagoland, with four second-period goals making the difference. 

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers have coverage issues and give up a soft goal. 

The power play explodes! Well, they get one goal.