OILER QUICK HITS…UPDATED…
By Jason Gregor
13 years ago
Linus Omark and Ryan O’Marra took part in their first practice and it looks like both will play tomorrow v. the Lightning. They have been playing on a line in OKC for most of the year and tomorrow they will have Ryan Jones on their wing. Sam Gagner will replace Shawn Horcoff between Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, while Dustin Penner moves to the RW alongside Andrew Cogliano and Magnus Paajarvi. Gilbert Brule will skate on the fourth line with Colin Fraser and either JF Jacques or Zack Stortini.
I’m sure at some point we will see Penner and Omark on the line same line, but Renney clearly didn’t want to make too many changes right away. Brule needs to get his feet moving and playing with Stortini might allow him to rediscover some energy in his game. With Horcoff being out two months I’d like to see Brule get a few games in the middle at some point. His style of game might be better suited down the middle, where he’ll be in more constant motion rather than starting from a standstill much of the time.
- Shawn Horcoff will be going to Toronto to get treatment on his knee. They will extract blood and then inject it directly into his knee to hopefully speed up the recovery process. He will also spend some time in a hyperbaric chamber.
- Hall had quite the practice. In a one-on-one drill, Ladislav Smid caught Hall trying to dangle with his head down and straight-armed him. It wasn’t a vicious hit or anything, but all the teammates clapped their stick on the ice in mock appreciation of the hit. Then in a shootout drill Hall tried a few too many moves and barreled into Nikolai Khabibulin. Khabibulin got up slowly favouring his knee, but walked off the ice five minutes later looking fine. The drill ended after the accidental collision.
- I’m not surprised Brule finds himself on the 4th line, but thought Jones and Penner might be on different lines. I’d guess Renney will be shuffling guys around the next few games to try and find some chemistry.
- Omark has great hands. He had three or four goals off the post and in today, but he also gets tied up easily on the rush and in the corner. I think he will excite fans with his skill and creativity, while also frustrating some with his stubborness to hold onto the puck too long.
- This will be a great test to see how Hall and Eberle play without Horcoff. Hall is a dynamic player one-on-one, and Horcoff didn’t make him better there, but in their own zone Horcoff protected him a lot. It will be great to watch how the kids and Gagner handle more responsibility. The positive about Horcoff and Ales Hemsky getting injured is it will give other guys a chance to see if they can handle tougher minutes and more responsibility.
FISTING RULES
I can only control what happens in my articles, but this is how it will play out from now on in my articles. If a guy or girl wants to race to have the first comment, knock your brains out. The point was to be the first…Not have the comment section full of one liners with the word FIST. We have lots of fun on the site, but the comment section isn’t for some fist frenzy. If you don’t like it…tsk tsk.
As for those who whine like babies because the first comment says FIST….Get a life. How does one comment ruin your day? It is one comment, if you are so smart and above the fist, then be first once so the fist won’t appear.
You people who like the FIST, feel free to be first, but any subsequent ones will politely be deleted. The point isn’t to have every comment about that.
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