Patrick Powell
Salary Cap Analyst 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File: David_Booth.jpg

In analyzing this deal , the proverbial “elephant in the room” is the disparity in age and potential upside of the players involved. Booth is 26, Reinprecht is 35, Samuelsson is 34, and Sturm is 33. The latter two seem on the downsides of their respective careers whereas Reinprecht, who has probably peaked as well, will remain dead weight in the AHL. Booth clearly has the highest potential of any player in the deal, but he arguably also carries the greatest health risk due to his 54 game campaign in 2009-2010 after suffering multiple concussions.

Reinprecht had been playing in the AHL, and recently reported to Vancouver’s AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. As a result, his full season cap hit of $2.05 million will not adversely affect the Canucks, who are now within $87,000 of the cap. Booth carries a full year cap hit of $4.25 million versus $2.5 million for Samuelsson and $2.25 million for Sturm.

The Panthers still have over $9 million in salary cap space, and they now have the maximum of 23 players on their active roster. GM Dale Tallon added experience to a young roster with this move but moreover cleared future cap space. He was not afraid to make a move that sends away potential in return for flexibility, which begs the question: Will we see more deals like this?

Booth is currently signed through 2015 as he previously committed himself to the Panthers just one season before Tallon took over the team. He was traded before his production severely dropped off, which makes the deal somewhat unique. A similar deal in length, like Shawn Horcoff‘s pact with the Edmonton Oilers, certainly would not relate since the pivot lost most of his trade value when he signed his new deal. The same should be said for Scott Gomez, whose contract extends through 2014 but is already the most discussed topic in Montreal.

A similar deal to the Booth trade could be the Calgary Flames moving players like Curtis Glencross, Rene Bourque or less likely Olli Jokinen, David Moss and Niklas Hagman. GM Jay Feaster would be willing to sacrifice potential (let’s face it outside of Roman Horak, Mikael Backlund and T.J. Brodie there are no young options) for added salary flexibility for the future. Building around their younger players looks like the right way to go as the front office in Calgary finally understands cap efficiency.

Another interesting option is left wing Blake Comeau, who may have permanently found coach Jack Capuano’s doghouse. The former 47th overall pick scored more than Booth last season and as Chris Botta of The New York Times hinted, via Twitter, Comeau’s value is severely decreasing with decreased playing time. This scenario may perfectly mirror that of Booth’s as Comeau could help a contender in need of secondary scoring while preventing GM Garth Snow from investing further resources on a depreciating asset down the line.

The next option for another blockbuster could involve the currently held out Kyle Turris. We know he wants to be traded and GM Don Maloney may be forced to trade him at below his market value in order to get some usable assets for him this season. Furthermore, his subtraction would clear salary cap space for the future as the team would not have to pay him in excess of $4 million this year and likely more down the road — especially when considering his unproven talents.

Then again, the Panthers and Canucks could hook up once more. In fact, one would be foolish to rule out Mikael Samuelsson getting sent back to Vancouver once healthy as he did work in coach Alain Vigneault‘s system. Of course, this trade would not be the second, or the third even between these teams in recent years.

This deal marks the second blockbuster involving these clubs but fourth transaction in recent memory. In 2006, the Canucks acquired starting goalie Roberto Luongo, defenseman Lukas Krajicek, and sixth round draft choice (Canucks drafted Sergei Shirokov) in exchange for forward Todd Bertuzzi, goaltender Alex Auld, and defenseman Bryan Allen. Other players like Keith Ballard, Michael Grabner and Christopher Higgins have also switched jerseys over the last couple of seasons.

As Bill pointed out in his piece, Tallon sought to send a message to his young Panthers’ club with this move: you need to perform to stay. Will this message reverberate to other teams in the league? For example, the Blue Jackets (0-7-1) Sharks (3-3-0), Flames (2-4-1), Canadiens (1-4-2), and Bruins (3-5-0) have all performed below expectations in the early going. Players with these teams, particularly those earning over $4 million per season, may feel the heat from Tallon’s move. Perhaps GMs from these teams will ensure to cite David Booth as an example to demonstrate that subpar efforts will not be tolerated, and that no player is safe.

Alexander Monaghan also contributed to this article.

Though every NHL wants to make it to the playoffs for every post season, it is probably for the better that the Edmonton Oilers are not are part of the stressful push to earn a spot in the top 8 in their conference. It is not just to get another high draft pick, but because they are down so many men.

The club will be down eight skaters for Thursday’s match up against the Phoenix Coyotes where they look to snap a four-game losing streak. Per the Oilers Official Twitter, Gilbert Brule and Shawn Horcoff are going to be out for that tilt. Brule will be out with a concussion and Horcoff suffered a left foot injury after taking a Magnus Paajarvi shot. He told the media that being out seven-10 games is “best case scenario” but it could be longer. Alex Hemsky will not be in the line up as he is officially done for the season due to surgery he is getting on his shoulder. He will then need to rehab his shoulder for four to six months.

The five other players were already down as the injury bug has only gotten worse in the past month. One of the top defenseman Ryan Whitney has been out since December 30th due to his ankle and is done because of the required surgery. Since February 22nd, four of the Oilers have had their seasons ended.

Taylor Chorney, a call up from the AHL affiliate the Oklahoma City Barons, had only played in nine games with the big club before going down in his tenth game on February 22nd against the Minnesota Wild. A knee injury will sideline him for the remainder of the season. Hemsky was next up to see his season come to an end with his shoulder injury.

Number one overall draft pick Taylor Hall took part in his first career fight that he ultimately lost because of the injury he sustained from it. In the bout against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Hall became the second player on the season to have both a Gordie Howe hat trick and a a regular hat trick (Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins is the other). Following his dropping the gloves with Derek Dorsett, Hall left the game with what was later reported to be a high ankle sprain.

Sam Gagner got a tendon in his hand sliced when teammate Ryan Jones was getting onto the ice and Gagner was reaching for his watter bottle during the team’s most recent game against the Washington Capitals on March 9th.  He had surgery the following day and is added to the list of players done for the season.

But things are looking up for Theo Peckham. Peckham was KO-ed by Nathan Horton in a fight and left the game when his team took on the Boston Bruins on February 27th and has been out since. He skated at practice on Tuesday for the first time since his concussion as a result of the fight.

A team that has had a lot of call ups in the line up can expect more for the remainder of the season. Up Tuesday is Teemu Hartikainen and Coach Tom Renney made note that 3 more forwards will join the team for the game Thursday.

Kathryn Uggerholt
NHL Hot Stove Edmonton Oilers correspondent
Twitter: @xokathryn_

After a tough home loss to stomach on Wednesday to Southeast Division rival Atlanta (more on that in a bit), it’s all about attitude in the dressing room of the Florida Panthers. And if the club has the mindset of now-hot winger Chris Higgins, the team should be fine tonight as it prepares for another divisional matchup, this time with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Higgins’s attitude? ”You’ve got to have a short memory in this league,” the New York native said after his key goal in a 3-0 win Sunday over the Rangers. Higgins walks-the-walk, too. His failed 3-on-1 break Friday against the Canadiens immediately transitioned into the game-winning goal. Higgins put that behind him and beat New York’s Martin Biron with a sweet toe-drag shot two night later, giving Florida a two-goal edge over the Rangers and paving the way to a nice home win.

Florida would be wise to take heed of the wise words of Higgins. For the third time this season, the Panthers were embroiled in controversy in the 3-2 loss against the Thrashers. With the team and crowd buzzing, Florida appeared to tie the game at 3-3 on Bryan McCabe’s shot from the left circle. The puck bounced off the right pad of Atlanta goalie Ondrej Pavelec and a few inches beyond the goal line, wedging into the net. Unfortunately for Florida, the officiating crew ignored the plea of Steve Bernier, who was positioned behind the net and saw the puck go in. Pavelec simply reached inside the goal and plucked out the puck while everyone anticipated a review – one that never came.

Here’s an excerpt of the email correspondence between the NHL’s Mike Murphy and Miami Herald beat writer George Richards, who covers the Panthers:

“We saw the play but we did not review it. The on-ice officials indicated ‘no goal,’ so we were not alerted to a possible review/possible goal. The video goal judge did not indicate any issue because the overhead camera did not show the puck in the net. We did not see the puck in the net until the very end of the stoppage of play. It was then that we wondered how it had got into the net. Was it put into the net after the whistle? We did not know.

“When we did see the puck in the net on the last replay we immediately contacted the video goal judge but play had already resumed and our window of opportunity to review the play was gone. As an aside, this play would have been a very difficult play to award a goal on because we never know when the puck goes in the net relative to the referee blowing his whistle.

“But we still should have reviewed the play. That was my error.”

As McCabe later said, why not review the play? The league takes time to review everything else. Is a possible game-tying goal between two divisional rivals not worthy of a couple of minutes of stoppage in play? The video proof showing the officials’ error was as damning as FIFA’s goal controversy due to a lack of technology in last year’s World Cup. But the NHL has the technology, it’s just reluctant to use or improve it.

If you’re keeping score at home – and Panthers fans certainly are – that’s three games this year when Florida could have potentially earned a total of six points but came away with nothing because of a controversial call that could or should have gone in Florida’s favor.

Against Edmonton on opening night, Shawn Horcoff – on one of the Oilers’ 13 shots on goal — booted in the game-winning goal. In Toronto in Florida’s seventh game, Colton Orr’s bum-rush of goaltender Scott Clemmensen led to another winning goal. Then you have Wednesday’s result, leaving Florida again on the outside and looking in on league calls in important games in tight situations – and 0-3 and pointless in those games.

For the Panthers (18-18-2), all of these games are important. Currently 11th in the Eastern Conference standings and playing seven of the next eight at home, Florida could have used those points. In the best-case scenario and the Panthers would have somehow won all three games (and that’s a big if), the Panthers would sit in ninth in the conference, just three points behind Montreal and with three games in hand. Getting four of those points would have them tied with Carolina for ninth.

And since we’re talking Hurricanes, Florida will have to bring a strong effort for the second time in five days again against them tonight (7:30 ET, FSN). Uncharacteristically, the Panthers won in Raleigh on Monday in the second game of a back-to-back, getting the winning tally in overtime from Bryan Allen, despite Florida being outplayed by Carolina in the third period and watching a two-goal lead vanish. It was an enormous road win in a rivalry where the visiting team rarely wins, yet both clubs have been victorious in the other’s barn this season. The Panthers will have to keep that in mind tonight and not take Carolina lightly, even with backup goalie Justin Peters playing for the Canes.

But that other stuff from Wednesday? You know, the inexcusable non-review on the McCabe shot? And those gut-wrenching defeats in Canada when the seeing-eyes in Toronto apparently saw nothing and needed seeing-eye dogs?

Time to move on, as Higgins would say.

Bill Whitehead
NHLHS Florida Panthers Credentialed Correspondent
Twitter: @BillWhiteheadFL
Email: BillWhiteheadFL@hotmail.com

The recent influx of Oiler first liners to the medical room must be the answer to all those people who want Edmonton to finish in a lottery pick position prayers. Injuries to key Oiler players was the main reason that they finished 30th last year. If the this year’s trend continues expect to see the Oilers near the bottom. I hope it does not continue, but sometimes fate has different plans.

Ales Hemsky is out indefinitely with a groin issue and most people are pointing to at least of month of lost action. Groin injuries are tricky. There are a lot of little abductor and adductor muscles in there and it is quite easy to strain or tear one especially with Hemsky’s quick turn, and juking style of play. Hopefully, Hemsky can come back from this injury just after Christmas and play in some meaningful games. This depends on the reaction of the rest of the team.

Shawn Horcoff is out indefinitely as well with a sprained medial collateral ligament in the right knee joint. Horcoff may have been the bigger injury of the two since the type of minutes he plays as well as his importance in the faceoff circle. A breakdown of Horcoffs playing time per game looks like this:
Even Strength: 14:03
Penalty Kill 2:07
Power play 2:33 (Credit: Lowtide, Oilersnation Blog December 8th 2010).
Horcoff is responsible defensively and has put up 15 points and a plus 4 rating through 24 games. On a team as bad at faceoffs and as young as the Oilers are, Horcoff will be missed. They will miss his ability to win faceoffs as much as, his veteran, workman like approach to the game. Hemsky brings a lot to the game of hockey, but Horcoff might be the glue that was holding this team together.

The Oilers now have to get through their next period of games without their captain or their most talented winger to rely on. In come Ryan O’Marra and Linus Omark, two former first round picks that have been playing for the Oiler AHL affiliate; Oklahoma City Barons. Omark has been averaging a point a game with 13 goals and 13 assists in 26 games. He also had a five goal game earlier this season and is in eighth place in AHL goal scoring. O’Marra has one goal and 13 assists and a plus-11 rating. O’Marra is being brought up to help win a few faceoffs. Hopefully, these two players are ready to take the next step to the NHL. Ready or not, the Oilers will need to find a way to win a few games in order to keep out of the NHL standings cellar.

THe Oil will rely on their call ups from Oklahoma City.

Coming up: Tampa Bay Lightning visiting the Oilers tonight at 7pm.

Tampa (15-10-3) will be coming in looking to take advantage of the youthful, injury plagued Oilers (10-12-5). Edmonton has been playing better as of late and has nine points in their last five games and has gone 6-2-2 in their last 10 games. Tampa has also been playing well going 6-3-1 over their last 10 games. Tampa will be without their captain Vincent Lecavalier and right winger Steve Downie tonight.

It looks like O’Marra will play centre on the 3rd line in between Ryan Jones and Magnus Paajarvi, while Omark will play right wing on the 2nd line with Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner. J.F. Jacques and Steve MacIntyre are expected to be in the press box for this one.

The title is a quote from Russel Crowe in Gladiator and is fitting for this past Tuesday night’s third installment of the “Battle of Alberta” for the 2010-11 season. That night there was a goal, and a fight filled contest between two rivals on opposite ends of the development spectrum.

Calgary is an aging warhorse that is trying to prove that it still has plenty of fight left in them. Edmonton is a young and upcoming team that is trying to prove that they belong…or at least on the right developmental track. I like to think that last nights game gave us some insight into the direction of the Edmonton Oilers.

Through almost two periods of hockey, it was the Flames’ game to lose. They were winning battles, controlling the puck and scoring with relative ease. The Oilers were trying their best not to simply roll over and play dead. Late in the first Gagner and Jokinen fought (decision to the much smaller Gagner, but it was close) as did Fraser and Giordano and Strudwick and Jackman in second period. Then late in the second period, a new Oiler (Eberle) decided he was going to make his presences felt with a cheeky backhand on the shortside that had no business beating Kiprusoff. At the end of the second period, the Oilers had something to build on.

The Oilers used that momentum to tie up the game with some great skating and timely scoring from Paajarvi and Gilbert that exposed a slow footed Calgary. Eventually, the Oil lost in the shoot out, but wow, what a finish.

So, Why should the faithful be excited? The Oilers only have 5 points in 7 games and have lost 5 straight. But you have to feel optimistic about their future. This team is very fast, and can make the polished play. They have the potential to put up goals in a short period of time. They also have the ability to give away the puck and scoring chances just as fast.

The Oilers are very raw and may place in the bottom 10 of the NHL this year. But I believe (for the first time in a few years) that the Oilers are on the right track in their player development. Even Flames fans would have to admit, last nights games was a lot of fun to watch. Here is to hoping that we see more of the run and gun style of play. Losses will pile up, some wins may come, but I know I will be sitting on the edge of my seat, looking for a glimpse into the future, truly entertained.

Oil spills:

Oiler Stats through 7 Games
Ryan Whitney has 8 assists
Horcoff, Eberle and Hemsky have 5 points (each with 3g and 2a)
Dustin Penner leads the team with 16 Penalty minutes

Kane Lambert
NHLHS Edmonton Oilers Correspondent

One can’t blame the Edmonton Oiler fans for counting down the minutes until the opening day first puck drop to start off the season against their arch rival Calgary Flames October 7th. Not only is it an opportunity for the Oilers to start off the season with a bang over their nemesis rivals but they can showcase their new and improved team. There is no doubt this team is much improved compared to last year bringing in guys like Kurtis Foster and Jim Vandermeer along with rookie studs Magnus Paajarvi, Jordan Eberle and 1st overall draft pick Taylor Hall.

Magnus Paajarvi leads the Oilers in pre-season scoring with 3 goals and 1 assist and that’s in just 1 game! Shawn Horcoff is trying to have a rebounding year to prove fans that he is at least worth a partial amount of his hefty yearly salary and is off to a good start averaging 2 points a game in his first 2 games of the exhibition season. Other notables are Ryan Whitney with 4 apples in 2 games, Jordan Eberle with 3 points in 2 games and even rookie center Chris Vande Velde has 3 points. Needless to say the Oilers seem like an offensive bunch which many have predicted including me and many other prognosticators around the NHL world.

The big question is will this team gel and form into a tough team to play against night in and night out? If anyone can do that head coach Tom Renney certainly can, Renney has a fulfilling task ahead managing the learning curve of the new additions to the club thus getting them to play the system that Renney employs.

I would like to see the Oilers try to play a puck possession game similar to the Chicago Blackhawks although it may be a lot more challenging considering the skill set is not quite where a team like Chicago or Washington has…yet. With veterans like Dustin Penner, Ales Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff around it will more than likely help these new players get settled in their new environment.

OK, so most people are predicting the Oilers to finish last in their division and I guess that’s “somewhat” reasonable with them being such a young team but deep down we all know predictions are for the birds therefore no one knows how good their team will be as much as they think they do until at least 20 or so games into the year.

Still up in the air is the goaltending situation, I truly believe one of these goaltenders will have to be moved as all 3 goalies, Khabibulin, Deslauriers, and Dubnyk are on 1-way contracts. Khabibulin will not be moved as his contract will be a tough one to deal away but if most saw Khabby play in his first game in an extremely long time, he looked very sharp. The Oiler brass will need to decide which goalie they are going to go with for the future and possibly move the other. Martin Gerber is also licking his chops at getting back into the NHL again so all of the aforementioned goaltenders will be pushed. Edmonton may decide to roll 3 goaltenders to start the season and see how it plays out as there is always a chance for injuries and Khabibulin is known to have a few of those from time to time.

Still no news on the Sheldon Souray front, we may not see anything happen unless a notable defenseman on another team goes down and may want to fill that spot with a very good defenseman in Souray. Many thought the New York Islanders would be all over Souray considering they lost Mark Streit for at least 6 months but that is not the case, any rumors of a deal for Souray have been nixed.

In ending, what NHL fans do know is this young Edmonton team is built for speed, scoring and the future and Edmonton fans should be excited for this upcoming season. This Oiler team will have its up and downs but guaranteed they will bring excitement throughout the league plus will not be a push over like last season.

Get ready Oiler fans, it’s going to be a fun season!

Trent Kondo
NHLHS Edmonton Oilers Correspondent
tkondo@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @TK0N

Sam Gagner received his just deserves today in accepting a 2 year deal worth $4.55 million dollars. Gagner, son of ex-Nhler Dave Gagner, had a decent season last year tallying 15 goals and 26 assists for 41 points matching his production from the 2008/2009 season albeit playing 8 less games.

Sam was drafted 6th overall in the 2007 entry draft behind ex fellow London Knight team mate Patrick Kane, James Van Riemsdyk, and Kyle Turris.

While Gagner does not earn quite the contract that Kane receives ($6.3mill) he is right on pace with players like David Perron and Kyle Turris plus he is slated in as the number 2 line center and possibly a first line center if he can outperform veteran Shawn Horcoff.

In a previous blog I had mentioned Sam to be one of the key guys to have an upcoming season seen here:

http://nhlhotstove.com/player-projection-sam-gagner/

There should be nothing holding Sam back with a well spread out young and extremely fast crop of  Oilers forwards this upcoming season including the much talked about Taylor Hall.

Gagner has been much maligned for his inconsistent scoring but some certain media people need to realize he does not get to skate with guys such as a Jonathan Toews as Patrick Kane does. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not comparing the two players as there is a sizable gap between the two players skill wise but a lot of a young players success depends on what type of surrounding players he has.

Oiler GM Steve Tambellini can now focus on the signing of Andrew Cogliano in which it is believed that Cogliano’s agent Anton Thun are both  mulling over their options at this time. Thun recently mentioned in a Vancouver Sun article;

“We’ve had some communications with Edmonton … to be quite honest, not extensive,” said Cogliano’s agent Anton Thun. “When it comes to getting a contract done, it’s money. We are not in agreement over the dollars.”

For the Oilers sake let’s hope they can get this speedster signed to possibly a 1 year deal and see what he can do, although Andrew’s points have been diminishing the last few seasons he has the ability to be an every day NHL player.

Trent Kondo
NHLHS Edmonton Oilers Correspondent
tkondo@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @TK0N

The additions of Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, Jordan Eberle and the highly touted #1 overall pick Taylor Hall one would expect Sam Gagner to have a break out year in his upcoming 4th NHL season.

In his previous 3 years he has managed 49, 41, and 41 points respectively for a total of 131 points in 224 games. He is yet to show his offensive capabilities like he did with the London Knights of the OHL but of course this is the NHL not juniors.

In Sam’s defense he has played up to par with the rest of his draft class perhaps minus Patrick Kane but he is very comparable  stats wise to players like James Van Riemsdyk, Kyle Turris and David Perron. Gagner was drafted 6th overall in the 2007 NHL entry draft class.

The Edmonton Oilers are in a rebuild mode with a superabundance of young players coming in and are fairly deep in the minor system in regards to forwards. Defense is another story but it’s a start for the Oilers who finished dead last overall in the NHL last season.

The mixture of veterans like Dustin Penner, Shawn Horcoff, Nikolai Khabibulin and Ales Hemsky plus a defensive core with Ladislav Smid,Taylor Chorney, Kurtis Foster and Ryan Whitney along with a tough guy like Jim Vandermeer anchoring the back end should prove to be quite an exciting team this up coming season.

Sam could be playing on a number of different lines this season and the match-ups are endless. Could you see Gagner centering players like Hemsky and Penner? Or perhaps on a line with Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle? This upcoming season for the Edmonton Oilers will be an exciting one especially watching these young kids gel into full time NHL players. The question is can the Oilers keep the puck out of their own net? The offense will be there but the defense is the main question at stake.

If  Sam stays healthy and gets ample power-play time which I would assume he would, I would project Sam getting 25 goals and 40 assists this upcoming season in what looks to be an offensive and dynamic forward line up.

Trent Kondo
NHLHS Edmonton Oilers Correspondent
tkondo@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @TK0N

Many NHL prognosticators predicted a post season berth for the Oilers with their off-season moves and coaching staff adjustments, bringing in players like Nikolai Khabibulin to solidify the goaltending. The team also brought in a past proven winner plus offensive spark plug and home town boy Mike Comrie. The additions of legendary coach Pat Quinn and Tom Renney as his assistant also looked like a pure genius move by G.M. Steve Tambellini.

Right winger Ales Hemsky led a cast of what seemed to be a decent forward depth squad with player’s such as Dustin Penner, Sam Gagner, Shawn Horcoff and Patrick O’Sullivan and what looked to be a solid back end with Sheldon Souray, Lubomir Visnovsky, Tom Gilbert, and Denis Grebeshkov.

Edmonton started off well going 6-3-1 in their first 10 games with all signs being indicative towards a successful season upcoming for the Oilers but unfortunately this was not the case as the wheels started to fall. The team finished the month of October posting a record of 7-6-1 and over the next three months had a nauseating 9-25-2 record including the month of January where Edmonton did not even record a single victory.

The downfall can easily be blamed on injuries to Hemsky, Khabibulin and Souray along with underachieving of big money man Shawn Horcoff and supposed sniper Patrick O’Sullivan therefore leaving the reigns to Dustin Penner, youngster Sam Gagner and speedster Andrew Cogliano. Not a great scenario by any means especially now having your franchise player, number #1 goaltender and best defenseman on the shelf for an indefinite amount of time. All of the aforementioned issues and unfortunate occurrences for Edmonton spelled a 30th place finish overall and obviously dead last in the Western Conference with a mere 27 wins on the season.

In all honesty, if the Oilers were completely healthy with their full roster it’s hard to fathom if Edmonton would have been a serious contender or even participate in the post-season this year as the forward depth is just not there and the lack of solid stay at home defensemen was most definitely a key to being one of the most scored upon teams in the league. The top 4 d-men for the Oilers are pretty much considered offensive defensemen and more of a liability defensively which really is not a good nucleus to have in today’s game.

The Oilers, realizing there was no hope for post season play, then began the movement for next season stating there will be a complete rebuild of this club from the bottom to the top. They were not kidding around either in saying that as it all began quickly by moving Visnovksy to Anaheim for Ryan Whitney and a 6th rounder, Grebeskov to Nashville for a 2nd round pick, and Steve Staios to the Calgary Flames of all teams for Aaron Johnson plus a third round pick.

Add in the trade demand by Sheldon Souray after the season was over plus the firing of long time trainer Ken Lowe, Kevin Lowe’s brother and equipment tech’s Lyle Kulchisky and Barrie Stafford which a combined 84 years of service altogether for the Oiler franchise. As one can see family members and long time service means nothing if the team is not winning.

Edmonton cleared up a bit of cap space and will have even more if they can dump Souray’s contract on to another team and furthermore will have to decide on a few upcoming unrestricted free agents in the likes of Fernando Pisani, Aaron Johnson, Mike Comrie and Jason Strudwick in which I expect none will be brought back and will go elsewhere trying to find more money or a team not in rebuilding mode. They will also have 8 restricted free agents with the most notable being Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers and Gilbert Brule who will be available to entertain offers from other clubs which can be matched by the Oilers or simply let them go on their way to another club.

In ending it was a season of purgatory so to speak for the Edmonton Oilers and their fans but need to be positive as the future looks bright with the likes of Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, Jordan Eberle, Taylor Chorney and yes either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin in the upcoming NHL entry draft.

Trent Kondo
NHLHS Edmonton Oilers Contributor
tkondo@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @TKON

Despite not making the post-season for the first time since the 2003-04 season, the Anaheim Ducks gave their fans a night to remember with a rout of the Edmonton Oilers. Ryan Carter opened the scoring for the Ducks at 2:04 of the first period when he sent a wrist shot into the net behind Oilers’ goaltender, Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers. Carter’s goal was followed a mere 32 seconds later by a slap shot score from the stick of Steve Eminger.  This was just the beginning for Anaheim as the Ducks would go on to put up a total of 7 goals in the game.

With a little help from right wing, Corey Perry, Matt Beleskey notched the final goal of the 1^st at 13:24 sending the puck into the back of the net.

The only goal of the 2^nd period belonged to none other than Teemu Selanne. With only 16 seconds off the clock, Selanne netted his 14^th power play goal of the season during a hooking penalty assessed to Shawn Horcoff at 20:00 of the 1^st. Assist on Teemu’s 606^th career goal went to Saku Koivu and James Wisniewski.

The Ducks were to get another 3 in the 3^rd period with Carter adding his second of the game and George Parros notching an unassisted effort at 11:42. The final goal for the Ducks and of the game belonged to Kyle Chipcura who got one behind Deslauriers while Aaron Ward sat in the penalty box.

Edmonton did manage to get two of their own behind the Ducks’ goaltenders. One at close to the mid-point of the 1^st period when Mike Comrie’s wrister went  past starting goaltender Jonas Hiller and the 2^nd at the beginning of the third period from former Duck, Ryan Whitney when he sent one behind Anaheim’s Curtis McElhinney, who had taken over for an injured Hiller in the 2^nd period.

After the final whistle, Selanne and Niedermayer led the team on a skate around the ice to salute the fans after with the night ended as Teemu was serenaded with chants of,”One More Year.”

Video Highlights of the Edmonton Oilers vs. Anaheim Ducks on 04/11/2010

My Ducks’ 3 Stars:

3 – Kyle Chipchura: A short-handed goal and an assist, he played a very good game all around

2 – Teemu Selanne: His 606^th career goal on a power play at 00:16 of the 2^nd, the only goal in the 2^nd period

1 – Ryan Carter: 2 goals including the first of the game

Notes:

Teemu Selanne has been nominated for the Masterton Trophy.

Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne say that they will let the team know by the June entry draft as to whether or not they will return for 2010-11.

Quotes:

From Teemu Selanne on his possible retirement:

• “Obviously, I’m going to have a lot of time to rest this summer. It’s disappointing, because we had way too good a team to miss the playoffs. But in some ways, the tank doesn’t feel even close to empty.”
• “If you had asked me two months ago, it would have been easy to think, ‘This is it.’ But the way we have played since then (23-14-4 in the second half), after I got healthy, it’s been so much fun.”
  • “I feel I can still play. I still have my speed and my strength – those are the skills that make me successful. If they weren’t good enough to play at this level, it would be easy to do something else.”

“I always say, when I come to the rink every day to play hockey, I’m happy. It’s still that way. But there’s so much work, so much sacrificing, so much dedication (required in the offseason) to play at this level. You have to live for hockey – that’s the hardest part. If the season started (again) in two weeks, it would be easy (to come back).”

• “The reason why I’ve only signed one-year deals is that I can motivate myself and try to do whatever it takes and then re-evaluate again. Am I ready to push this hard again? Am I ready to dedicate all that extra time and energy for hockey? There are no compromises. You have to do it the right way or not at all.”

From Scott Niedermayer on his possible retirement:

• “I guess I’d be lying if (I said) I didn’t think about it.”
• “As you get older, you can’t do the things you used to do, but if you’re still committed to being as good as you can be, I don’t see why you shouldn’t play. It’s not a major issue.”
• “When it comes time to make a decision, it’s definitely personal.”