Brodziak gets the shaft.

Recently Craig MacTavish singled out Dustin Penner, Marc Pouliot and Kyle Brodziak at practice for a "bag skate". From what I've heard they weren't taking practice serious like game situations, but for Kyle Brodziak, why should he. He plays with the least skilled linemates on the team. Strudwick, Stortini, and MacIntyre have only had their ice-time with Brodziak. Last year he had 31 points over 80 games, although most of those came with the ever excellent Curtis Glencross. This year he's on pace for a 21 point output pro-rated. I feel bad for him because he has to put up with playing with MacIntyre and Stortini for the majority of his shifts. To me the guy is more than a 4th line plugger, and he shouldn't be treated like one on 5 on 5 play.

I believe for the upcoming trade deadline, Tambolowe should find this guy some linemates. How come he hasn't had the special treatment Reddox has had either. He put up superior numbers in the AHL, wins faceoffs, and plays solid defensively. He is underutilized on this team. I would also like to see the possiblity of a Moreau-Brodziak-Pisani line in the future. That seems to be the most logical shutdown line this team could produce. Another option could be trying to acquire Chris Neil from Ottawa. He's not the most skilled guy, but he'll be a upgrade over Kyles current linemates. A trade along the lines of Stortini+4th for Chris Neil could be a good deal for both teams.

How about them Oilers

Erik Cole earns his hat trick - the hard way. The nose to the grindstone, blood sweat and tears way. What a heckuva player.

Speaking of great performances, how about Brule and Brodziak, the latter of the pair was +4 on the night and I wish he would play like this more often. If Brodziak could be a defensively reliable centerman who won faceoffs, scored at a reasonable rate and chipped in the occasional offensive night such as he did against Washington, we would make the trading of Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene a no-lose situation.

As great as I thought Rob Schremp, Ryan Potulny, and Liam Reddox looked when coming up to Edmonton from the Falcons, it pales by comparison to my new found likening to Gilbert Brule's hockey tenacity.

He may be around for a while, fellas.

P.S. Congratulations, Steve MacIntyre!

Intensity

Gagner crashing the net - now that's intense.

There's a couple of players who need a little more intensity on this team:

Gagner

Brodziak

Strudwick

Penner

Penner was playing very well after MacTavish called him out. He scored a goal against Vancouver, but for the most part has been a bit sluggish with the puck. Strudwick's fighting is a plus but as a forward he needs to get in on the forecheck and frustrate his opponents. Often times I see him hanging back when he should be pressing. But I also noticed this of Smid when he was playing F. A natural consequence of filling dual roles of F and D, I guess.

What happened to the Gagner of 2007? If he can't find his scoring game right now I would suggest he should do more of the little things to get back on track:

throw the body to frustrate his opponent

crash the net

score on the empty net

That last one is a bit cheesey - I know it depends on MacT putting him out there to defend a lead in the dying minutes, which probably wouldn't happen.

Gagner's no Esa Tikkanen, but just because he's not producing on the scoreboard doesn't mean he should get frustrated - he should take it out on the other team.

And good things come to those who crash the net. Rebounds. Deflections.

And perhaps, with some confidence, we can see the same Gagner who was deking out opponents last year.

Maybe.