I have been pumping his tires for the past few months as a guy the Oilers need to look at when the draft rolls around. He is everything they don’t have in the system; big, physical and has decent hands. I’ve seen him ranked as high as 13, but he falls normally around 14-20. But then again some people have the Oilers taking Ryan Ellis in the 1st round. If the Oilers do that, then they should fire the scouting staff. The Oilers don’t need a puck moving D-man right now.

Kassian is the biggest forward ranked in the 1st round, and combined with his scoring he is EXACTLY what the Oilers need. Considering they have no one in the farm system close to filling out that role, I would bet if they got him that he would get a look within a year or two. In 2010/11 the Oilers will need some cheaper forwards who can produce, considering the cap will go down. If Kassian is in their system he will get a long look.

Bucci had to be referring to Horcoff and Penner’s contract. After that it is hard to find a real questionable one. Gilbert will score 45 points this year, so his $4 million doesn’t seem out of whack. The final year of Staios’ $2.7 million in 2010/11 could hurt because of how many minutes he will be playing. Outside of that I don’t see any horrible contracts on the Oilers.

I think the Province was sleeping at the wheel when they didn’t include Horcoff and Penner with the likes of Fisher, Hamrlik et al. There is no way that Horcoff can live up offensively to his $7 million dollar deal next year, ($5.5 million cap hit). It shows that there are other horrible contracts out there, but with the cap sure to go down in the 2010/11 season, either Horcoff and Penner produce or the Oilers will be hard pressed to score.

If Penner finds a way to score 25 goals then his contract won’t look as bad. Horcoff needs to be an 80-point guy and win 56% of his face-offs to even be considered equal to his contract.

This summer seems unlikely. They would have to pay him $8.5 million of his remaining $12.75 million, although they could spread it out over six years at a $1.42 million cap hit each year. While Penner is frustrating to most fans, it is too early to just give up on him. Some players take five or six years to “get it”, and if Penner does find some consistency in his game, he could be very effective. Remember, it took Bertuzzi seven years until he scored 36 goals. He scored 25 in seasons five and six. Granted Bertuzzi plays a more aggressive game, but if you are looking at production it is to early to just give up on Penner.

If he has another underachieving, uninspired season next year, then maybe they consider it next summer, but only after exhausting every possible trade avenue.

I’m not well-versed in look-a-likes, although I have a friend who resembles Elisha Cuthbert (click on Friday picture at www.justagame.ca). Yes she is single, and as long as you are better looking that Phaneuf you might get a date with her.

I’ve seen the spot since you asked, and yes there is a small resemblance. But then this guy thinks he looks like David Hasselhoff.

The lines for tonight will start like this:

21 – 10 – 83
12 – 89 – 78
19 – 13 – 34
85 – 51 – 46

So O’Sullivan and Cogliano, the two fastest forwards will play together, while Nilsson will get another shot with Gagner. Gagner scores five points in three games without Nilsson, so why not try Nilsson with Cogliano?

Nilsson and Gagner haven’t produced all season, so why keep going back to it? If MacTavish is looking for production why not try a duo that had some chemistry last year, in Cogliano and Nilsson?

After tonight, nine of the Oilers next eleven games are against teams below them in the standings. Based on how they played v. OTT and TOR there is no guarantee they will take advantage of the schedule, but the Oilers have a pretty favourable one the rest of March.

Ladislav Smid will play tonight, albeit with his faced still pretty messed up. And Roloson starts his 22nd straight.