The New Jarret Stoll

It turns out the "other Ales" or "Ales2" has something of a cannon for a point shot. I was going over old highlights of his goals yesterday night and it seems he is something of a deadly point man. Paired up with Souray, this allows Gilbert to play 2nd pairing and for the Oilers PP to be less centered around Souray - increasing the danger element on our PP.

I hear Pisani was on the Oilers PP and hopefully this changes for next game.

Kotalik on LW?

We already know that Patrick O'Sullivan plays both wings and the C position. In the interview with Ales Kotalik he said he played all F positions as well. Hopefully this experiment turns out better than the:

• Cole at LW
• Pisani at C
• Penner at RW
• Smyth at C
• insert MacBlender moment here ...

But the interviews have inspired some newfound hope in the Oilers' chances at finding new chemistry. With guys who have the versatility to play all F positions you have to be excited to consider all the new combinations the Oilers could try:

• Kotalik on 1st line
• Kotalik on 2nd line
• O'Sullivan on 1st line
• O'Sullivan on 2nd line
• Penner on 2nd line
• Penner on 3rd line
• Pisani on 2nd line
• Pisani on 3rd line
• Stortini on 3rd line
• Stortini on 4th line

On the current depth chart, Nilsson and Jacques join MacIntyre in the press box. I think this is ill advised to dress Pouliot ahead of Jacques, but perhaps MacT is going for chemistry over individual skill.

A welcome change, I believe.

The most exciting part is that Kotalik is a skilled power forward. His consistency has been questionable in Buffalo but he has scored big points before - he has done it before and he can do it again. He may be the guy the Oilers have been looking for to play with Hemsky.

He's definitely an upgrade from the following list:

• Sergei Samsonov
• Dustin Penner
• Liam Reddox
• Ryan Potulny
• Robert Nilsson
• insert failed MacBlender 1st line experiment here ...

My hope is that MacTavish finds that inner spark that he had in his first few years in Edmonton when he could coax line chemistry out of the most obscure combinations - back when Edmonton was not a playoff team and Petr Nedved was considered a gift from the Hockey Gods themselves.

Now we know better. Rob Schremp is hockey god himself.

That being said, I can't wait to see the new power forwards in action. Catch y'all after the game.

The Other Ales

The Oilers haven't had an Ales not named "Hemsky" since the days of Ales Pisa, who departed to New York and subsequently Europe. Steve Tambellini has finally made his mark as a GM by making two seperate big deals on his first trade deadline. Seen above is Ales Kotalik, one of the new additions to the Edmonton Oilers team.

In comparison to today's deals, his acquisition of Dany Sabourin, Ryan Stone, and Steve MacIntyre were minuscule in influence. I was at first impressed that he could pawn off Mathieu Garon for more than the (at the time) market price of a 7th round pick established by Vancouver's acquisition of Jason LaBarbera. Heck, I didn't think Tambellini had the tenacity in him required to pull off some ballsy trades.

Boy was I wrong.

Sure, he didn't go the the extent of the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames, but boy, did Tambellini ever rip off the Los Angeles Kings in his trade deadline "coming out party." Maybe O'Sullivan is of little value to a team stocked full of young talent - maybe. But Justin Williams is a poor replacement for one of the leading shooters on the Los Angeles team. At age 24, he can still get much, much better. The best part is he plays both C and LW. I expect MacTavish to slot him alongside Horcoff and Hemsky. Further yet, the Oilers gave up pending UFA Erik Cole to get O'Sullivan who is signed for two more years at a contract similar to Robert Nilsson's.

It is now also clear why the Oilers didn't bite on Tuomo Ruutu, Vladimir Sobotka, and Miroslav Satan: with Patrick O'Sullivan in play, the others become secondary concerns. It could be possible that Carolina didn't want to give up on Ruutu (I know the Oilers love him) and it's also possible the Bruins didn't want to give up on Sobotka (who was not involved in deadline trade involving Matt Lashoff for Mark Recchi). With all things considered, the Oilers got the best man available from those four choices.

As for Kotalik, we got fair price for him. Early indications are that Kotalik is nothing like the European stereotype of a winger. In fact, he is often seen driving the net. We have to take it with a grain of salt, of course. He probably is a poor comparable for Erik Cole, I don't imagine he throws hits with the same regularity as the departed American winger. But can he create chances on the revamped 2nd line?

It will be interesting to see whether MacTavish keeps Penner on the Cogliano/Pisani line or whether or not he moves Penner up to 2nd line to play with the newly acquired Kotalik. I don't imagine Nilsson in a checking role, but stranger things have happened (see Liam Reddox).

I will be glad if Kotalik can keep playing his net-crashing style in Edmonton and hopefully it translates well from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. The last experiment (Cole) ended with limited success and hopefully Kotalik will find himself reborn in the Edmonton lineup. He is a rental player as of right now, but if things go right maybe he'll stick around.

Goaltending

One thing I felt that needed to be addressed at the deadline was goaltending and it didn't happen. Maybe the Oilers feel that DesLauriers, Sabourin, or Dubnyk are ready to take over should an injury occur to Dwayne Roloson.

I think this is ill-advised.

In 2005-06 we had Jussi Markkanen bringing in the rear, and he did an amiable job against the Carolina Hurricanes. We can only pray that one of the above have it in them to do the same.

Defense

With the quick recovery of Denis Grebeshkov the Oilers aren't in as dire a situation as would have originally been the case if he hadn't done so. Some may argue the Oilers D-core is too soft and I somewhat agree. But, we do have a couple sandpaper guys waiting in the wings in the form of AHL veteran Bryan Young, top-prospect Theo Peckham, and "give-me-one-more-chance" Mathieu Roy. My hope is that Steve Staios regains his former playoff form.