With the season over and another six months until the puck drops for next year, Steve Tambellini has a lot of questions he needs to answer. The first question on his list is who will be steering the ship for next year? Steve likes to keep his cards close to his chest and has given no evidence whatsoever what will happen to Tom Renney. Steve has a few months to decide about who will be coaching the Oilers, it would be unorthodox to go to the draft table without a head coach! My question is what is the deadline for Renney? If he`s not signed by the end of the month than there`s simply too many questions and management will look elsewhere for a new coach.
The second question is of course Ryan Smyth, my understanding was Ryan was supposed to have been signed shortly after the trade deadline. That was a few months ago and it's pretty clear the two parties can't come to an agreement. Similar to the Hemsky negotiations, Tambellini is sticking to his guns and won't offer Ryan anything more than an one year deal. We all know that Smyth wants to remain an Oiler but how much of a home-town discount is he willing to surrender. Tambellini is playing a dangerous game with Ryan Smyth and Oilers fans; let's hope the two parties come to an agreement before the draft.
The final nagging question that has to be on Steve's mind is the forever injury problems that has plagued the Oilers these last few seasons. Something needs to be done, injuries is an unfortunate part of hockey but could injury prevention be the problem. Training staff can only do so much, could it be the players aren't taking the necessary precautions. Maybe the training staff need to babysit the players and make sure they're prepared for each game. Obviously there are more questions to ponder but Tambellini definitely needs to address these issues for next year.
For me, I only have one question for Steve Tambellini, what the F is going on with Linus Omark? Why was he called up if Renney had no intention on playing him. Why isn't there better communication between management and coaches. With the call-up, Omark can no longer play in the AHL playoffs and the end result has only diminished his trade value. In typical Tambellini fashion, every time I start believing in him, he goes ahead and dreams up a bone-headed scheme.
Steve Tambellini has a lot of questions and with typical Oiler fashion, Oilers fans find themselves asking too many questions as well. Oiler management do like to keep their fans guessing, I suppose it keeps the team in the limelight during the Summer.
Hopefully next year we will all have fewer questions!
Make sure you follow me on twitter @oilsoup
And of course if you're looking for more material on the Oilers checkout OilersArmy
Monday, 9 April 2012
Saturday, 7 April 2012
Hockey Night In Florida EH! Oilers Style!
Well here I am writing this blog from sunny Ft. Lauderdale where there is no snow and no sign of hockey. Work has kept me busy this week in Florida and it's been difficult finding time and news about hockey; if it wasn't for the internet I would be completely disconnected from the game I love. Ft. Lauderdale is the home of the Florida Panthers yet there is no news or talk about the Panthers and their turn-around season. You wouldn't know that the team made the playoffs and may possibly finish first in their division.
Despite having a good team, the Panthers are struggling at the gate and will probably be one of many American NHL teams to finish in the red. If the proposed realignment of the divisions goes through, it should help attendance with Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa in their division. I'm sure Gary Betman is thinking that hockey fans will schedule holidays in Florida around their teams visits to the state. Most Maple Leafs fans don't get a chance to watch games in Air Canada Centre so it conceivable that fans will travel to Miami or Tampa Bay to watch their team. Unfortunately it's a sad dilemma that the two Florida teams have to rely on fans from visiting teams for financial support.
Glad to see Betman using his creativity and thinking outside the box yet I don't see the realignment solving the financial woes of Florida. To put it bluntly, the only thing that is going to save these struggling markets in the U.S is a lucrative T.V. deal. If Canadian hockey fans are the answer to failing U.S markets, would it not make more sense to move a struggling American team to Canada? With no T.V. deal in sight, it would be in the league's best interest to have nine teams in Canada over the next few years.
Enough about Florida and a little talk about the Oilers!
The play of Dubnyk as of late has definitely convinced me that he is a bonafide starting NHL goaltender. Of course I'm not really all that surprised since I've been advocating Dubey these last few months. Oilers can go into the the Summer knowing their goaltending situation is perfectly fine.
I'm not that concerned about the defence especially if the Oilers are able to sign soon to be unrestricted free agent Justin Schultz. Regardless of what Anaheim does, Schultz will choose his final destination. The Oilers do need a top pairing defenseman yet they can afford to wait one more season to see if anyone develops in the system. Oilers should try to add some depth on the back-end but their number one priority is finding some size in the top six up-front. I'm not completely sold on Hartikainen and it may be a smarter move to have him playing in the bottom six. I kind of like the idea of having a fourth line of Paajarvi - Lander - Hartikainen. I know it won't happen but it would be an interesting line of skill and speed. If my memory serves me right, both Zetterberg and Datsyuk played bottom six minutes for their first year in Detroit.
With the season over, the Oilers will be finishing 29th overall. It will be an interesting draft because after Yakupov, it's anyone's guess who goes second. There is talk that the Oilers may trade their first round pick or even possibly move down the draft. I honestly don't see it, the team is still rebuilding and moving out of the top three in the draft often back fires.
Well time to finish up, I believe the beach is waiting for me!
Make sure you checkout a new blog consortium called Oilers Army or follow on twitter @OilersArmy
And of course you can follow me on twitter @oilsoup
Despite having a good team, the Panthers are struggling at the gate and will probably be one of many American NHL teams to finish in the red. If the proposed realignment of the divisions goes through, it should help attendance with Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa in their division. I'm sure Gary Betman is thinking that hockey fans will schedule holidays in Florida around their teams visits to the state. Most Maple Leafs fans don't get a chance to watch games in Air Canada Centre so it conceivable that fans will travel to Miami or Tampa Bay to watch their team. Unfortunately it's a sad dilemma that the two Florida teams have to rely on fans from visiting teams for financial support.
Glad to see Betman using his creativity and thinking outside the box yet I don't see the realignment solving the financial woes of Florida. To put it bluntly, the only thing that is going to save these struggling markets in the U.S is a lucrative T.V. deal. If Canadian hockey fans are the answer to failing U.S markets, would it not make more sense to move a struggling American team to Canada? With no T.V. deal in sight, it would be in the league's best interest to have nine teams in Canada over the next few years.
Enough about Florida and a little talk about the Oilers!
The play of Dubnyk as of late has definitely convinced me that he is a bonafide starting NHL goaltender. Of course I'm not really all that surprised since I've been advocating Dubey these last few months. Oilers can go into the the Summer knowing their goaltending situation is perfectly fine.
I'm not that concerned about the defence especially if the Oilers are able to sign soon to be unrestricted free agent Justin Schultz. Regardless of what Anaheim does, Schultz will choose his final destination. The Oilers do need a top pairing defenseman yet they can afford to wait one more season to see if anyone develops in the system. Oilers should try to add some depth on the back-end but their number one priority is finding some size in the top six up-front. I'm not completely sold on Hartikainen and it may be a smarter move to have him playing in the bottom six. I kind of like the idea of having a fourth line of Paajarvi - Lander - Hartikainen. I know it won't happen but it would be an interesting line of skill and speed. If my memory serves me right, both Zetterberg and Datsyuk played bottom six minutes for their first year in Detroit.
With the season over, the Oilers will be finishing 29th overall. It will be an interesting draft because after Yakupov, it's anyone's guess who goes second. There is talk that the Oilers may trade their first round pick or even possibly move down the draft. I honestly don't see it, the team is still rebuilding and moving out of the top three in the draft often back fires.
Well time to finish up, I believe the beach is waiting for me!
Make sure you checkout a new blog consortium called Oilers Army or follow on twitter @OilersArmy
And of course you can follow me on twitter @oilsoup
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