9 Games

The news has come down today that Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano and Robert Nilsson (as well as JF Jacques and Kyle Brodziak) have made the Oilers' opening night roster, while Ladislav Smid, Patrick Thoresen and Zach Stortini have been sent down to the minors, this raises a number of questions.

Firstly I think we have to ask whether these three players are truly ready for the big show. While I have strong feelings about Cogliano being ready for the bigs, at least in a small role, and think it's reasonable to try out Nilsson, it seems like there could be ulterior motives for Gagner making the team.

Now I have been regularly singing Gagner's praises. I loved his fight in his first World Junior tryout, and obviously he had a fantastic Super Series. Gagner however only had a mediocre World Junior tournament, and it's obvious he matured significantly in that 8 month gap, both physically and mentally. The question to me is whether he has matured enough from dominating mediocre 20 year old Russian players to be good enough to be a good player in the NHL (let alone an impact player). I didn't get to see him when the Oilers came to the 'Dome, but I know his preseason numbers weren't overwhelming.

So was the motivation to put Gagner in because he is ready for the NHL (or close) or was the motivation to put Gagner in the lineup because management is hoping he is ready for the NHL? Kevin Lowe is still trying to desperately keep his head above water and having his 07 1st rounder arrive to the big show early would be great 'proof' he's doing his job well.

Adding fuel to the fire, a 'typical' MacT guy, Patrick Thoresen, has been a victim of this training camp competition and has been put on waivers to be sent down to the AHL. It's a move that forces idle observers like me to at least raise the question.

Now Gagner, as well as Nilsson and Cogliano, have 9 games to prove they belong on this club.
I think Bob McKenzie explained it best:

Now it's up to Gagner to prove what he can do against NHL talent in NHL regular-season games. The Oilers will evaluate him over the course of nine games played – by him, not the team – and decide before his 10th game whether they want to burn the first year of his contract or return him to junior and have the contract kick in next season. Even if Gagner plays 10 or more games, it does not count towards a year of pro service for the purpose of determining free agency down the road unless he plays in 41 games, or a half season.

So the Oilers have plenty of time - before his 10th game and again before his 41st game – to make a call on where he's best to play this season, both from a development and business point of view. (Source)

update: I think BD highlights the the important question regarding Ladislav Smid's send down:

Of course sending Smid out just emphasizes what a complete joke last fall was when they played him with Staios on the second pairing rather then paying a little bit of money for a veteran Dman and letting Laddy get his feet wet on the third pair or playing big minutes in the AHL. The kid is likely going to be a good Dman but the handling of his situation has been a farce since day one. (Source)

Could Smid's early callup been a result of Lowe trying to prove his return for Pronger was decent?

Obviously there's a huge potential I'm way off on this, but I still feel these are questions worth asking. In 9 games we'll have an idea of the answer.

Random Thoughts

Flames

In the third period of the final of the 3 straight games against the Avalanche and the Flames are down a goal. How do you spell mediocre? F-L-A-M-E-S. Colorado is currently a bubble team and we can barely handle them. Sure, we're 1-1 in this 'series' but why have the Flames gone from being a team that can't score goals to a team that needs to score many goals?

Call me cynical, but I'm still not sold on Stuart. His +/- hasn't worsened since he got here, but, tonight for instance, he's been on the ice for 3 of Colorado's 4 goals. Actually, maybe thats just a sign he shouldn't be on the PK.

That brings me to the coaching this team has received. The on-ice talent needed to succeed is there, but the coaching staff seems unable to steer it in any useful direction. A team with this much talent should win consistently and meaningfully, however, the last two-three weeks have been anything but. Blowing leads late, early and midgame, blowing multiple goal leads, having terrible in zone coverage, these are characteristics that are extremely contrary to championship teams. The players need to be accountable, but so does the captain of the ship.

There are rumours Martin Gelinas will return to the team (from HF, so take it for what its worth). While no one would be happier about Gelinas' return than myself, I wonder what role he could play on our team. Amonte has become the Flames post '04 run Gelinas replacement, and although he's much crappier, they play almost identical roles. This gives us one redundant player, which is a waste. We would have to somehow get rid of Amonte, which I assume is impossible, or we would have done it already. I expect this rumour will never materialize, but I thought the same about Conroy, so I'm probably not the best judge.

I feel like we're about as far away from the Cup as we've ever been. Seriously. The way we're playing now, it'll be 4 or 5 and out.

I'm really looking forward to playing a team that isn't named 'Avalanche.'

We've now officially lost 2/3 in a series we should have been able to win 3/3.

Oilers

Between Senators practice and Oilers practice, former teammates get caught up: Danny Heatley, Steve Staios (teammates in Atlanta) along with Ethan Moreau and Mike Comrie.

Ok, lets put this season to bed. It's over. There's only one last order of business, and I've harped on it for quite some time. Kevin Lowe, if you're reading this, you know what to do.

Despite losing tonight, and in Buffalo last week, the Oilers have been playing some entertaining hockey. For those that actually ordered the PPV tonight, you got your money's worth. Sure, the Oil couldn't seem to hit the broad side of a barn door in that shootout, and Hemsky probably made you dizzy from circling the opposition net so much, but coming back from a two goal deficet with under 5 minutes is classic Oilers hockey.

Tom Gilbert and Mathieu Roy looked pretty good playing with eachother tonight actually. As far as I can tell, it was Gilbert's emergence as a decent AHL defenceman which allowed (forced?)the Oilers to trade Bergeron.

For that matter, Jacques and Winchester made nice bookends. I cringed when Morley Scott (or was it Rob Brown) mentioned JFJ was coming up with a lot of confidence thanks to his inspired play in the AHL of late (including a 4 goal game). That may well be, but you have to believe all JFJ can think about is 20GP, 0 goals.

MA Pouliot, what can you say? He looks like he's turning into a bonefide NHLer. He's been distributing the puck, mucking it up around the net, killing penalties (smartly I might add), and he's even put the puck in the net.

Nice to see Jussi get the start. If LT gets his way this could be one of Juice's last games with the franchise. He played about as well as you could hope, except for arguably the first goal. If not for Markkenan it could have been a lot uglier score tonight though.

On That's Hockey today Darren Dreger seemed to believe Lowe would not be trading Ryan Smyth and that he would be resigned in the off-season. I really hope thats true, as this team gives us flashes of what it could be.

Sounds like Brewer will re-sign in St. Louis, or at least, St. Louis is intent on re-signing him.