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.

Lineup Juggling

MAP drives one of these. MacT has put him back on the 2nd line and perhaps if he stays there, this car will be a distant memory from his entry level contract days.

Why is MacT juggling Reddox and Strudwick? Did he find the "mould" that he wanted to play in during the 3-0 win against Vancouver, or has it become apparent that he was just fooling himself to think that was our "best game of the season?"

Here's how the lineup looks right now.

Cogliano-Nilsson-Hemsky
Horcoff-Pouliot-Cole
Gagner-Moreau-Penner
Brodziak-Reddox-Stortini

I think MacT should stick to what works and let chemistry develop elsewhere or on a per needs basis. Let's see if the revamped 1st, 2nd, or 3rd lines work. If we are looking at a 4 or 5 game losing streak a few games from now, let's go back to the Horpensky line and work elsewhere.

I'm glad to see Pouliot and Cole get a chance at a more offensive role, whereas placing Gagner and Penner on the 3rd line spreads out the offense a bit more throughout the lineup.

Red Wings @ Oilers Preview; Smid on LW

This is Steve Staios as a Vancouver Canuck. He is seen playing RW here. The Oilers will be hosting the Red Wings tonight. Full preview here and here.

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Besides Strudwick, Staios' main D-partner has been Ladislav Smid, who happens to be playing on LW tonight against the Red Wings. Out of all the D-men, Staios has the most experience at the F-position. MacBlender has played with the D-man @ F-position idea before, suggesting Souray and Staios among others.

And he has played them there before. Staios (RW/D) a few times. MacIntyre (LW/D) the entire time.

Smid is among the defenseman more prone to rush the puck and keep it in the opposition zone. He hasn't done it often enough to get consistent results from doing it, but we will see what chemistry he has with it tonight. According to the Oilers web site, he hasn't done it since he was in grade 3. Not along history of success.

Now, the Oilers ripped up the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday with 7 goals on 19 shots. The Red Wings will most certainly outshoot the Oilers in much the same fashion as on Monday and as the Blue Jackets did on Tuesday and one wonders what kind of affect this will have on the team chemistry by moving Smid up.

There is also the possibility that the Columbus win was a fluke, considering Leclaire just returned from a high ankle sprain. But the Oilers have a chance tonight to (A) prove it wasn't a fluke and (B) get redemption for the Conklin shutout loss.

Here is the perceived lineup from comments on the Oilers web site:

Moreau-Gagner-Hemsky
Penner-Horcoff-Cole
Nilsson-Cogliano-Stortini
Smid-Brodziak-Pouliot

Souray-Visnovsky
Gilbert-Grebeshkov
Strudwick-Staios
(with short instances of 37-71 and 77-44)

Dwayne Roloson *starts
Mathieu Garon

Liam Reddox is a healthy scratch. Which makes me wonder why he isn't playing on the wing instead of Smid, but I guess MacT thinks Smid brings more spunk than Reddox. Whether that spunk will be useful, we will see.

Expect Penner to have a huge game.

I will be Live with hockey master-statistician Suneil Parmar of Addicted to Oil and we might meet up with hockey journalist-philosopher David Staples of Cult of Hockey.

See you there.

GOILERS!

Will the Real Edmonton Oilers Please Stand Up: Win 7-2 Despite Being Outshot 39-19

Holy Smokes. The Oilers finally woke up. And in fine fashion, I might add.

I didn't watch this one because I was in class, but from what I hear, here's what happened:

Hemsky was a force all night

Penner was creating chances everywhere: drawing penalties, banging bodies, crashing the net, sniping wristshots...

Pouliot played like an NHL player, not an AHL callup - perhaps he is the guy who played with Sidney Crosby in Rimouski after all

Roloson was outstanding

Souray and Visnovsky played like the top pairing once again

Gagner played much better

Reddox continues to impress

I hope to acquire a copy of that game so that I can watch it for myself.

I have a few worries though. The Oilers were outshot 39-19. Horcoff said in the post game interview that the score didn't reflect how close the game was. Playing the devil's advocate, this could be the result of a few things:

A. Pascal LeClaire's ankle not being fully healed

B. The Oilers' superior offense

C. The Oilers' superior defense

D. The Oilers' superior goaltending

E. Luck

F. MacBlender finding the right chemistry, finally

G. The team waking up realising they had been shut out by Ty Conklin, of all people...

H. Unleashing the Penner within

I. Some combination of the things above

I know it reads a lot like a goddamn multiple choice exam, but I pray to God the answer is I and the combination is B,C,D,F,H, though if G is included it would help us get revenge against the Red Wings Thursday night at Rexall Place.

Maybe they woke up and realised that the loss of Fernando Pisani meant that the team would have to start putting in a group effort. Who knows.

There is doubt and rightfully so that we can win every game being outshot by 20 or more. Not every goalie not named LeClaire will give up 7 goals on 19 shots, unless the Oilers dynasty was revived tonight. Look to the Oilers putting the pedal to the metal against the Red Wings Thursday.

I will be in attendance with Suneil Parmar of Addicted to Oil and we will cheer on the Oilers from home ice. See you there hockey fans.

Tencer: Lineup Changes; Problems with Oilers' offensive game

Oh, if only hockey were as simple as football. Every time you crossed the blue line you'd score a goal and Wayne Gretzky's records could be plausibly shattered by a Georges Laraque. Alas, that is not the case, and all the better for it. The nuances of the hockey lineup and getting the "right mix" for overall team chemistry is one of the more interesting aspects of acquiring offensive rushes and for breaking up the ones coming back your way.

Dan Tencer reported some lineup changes on his Oilers.nhl.com blog. And who said "bloggers" never did anything useful?

Nilsson - Horcoff - Hemsky
Penner - Cogliano - Gagner
Moreau - Pouliot - Cole
MacIntyre - Brodziak - Stortini

All I can say is: we told you so. The online Oilers community has been asking for Penner to be given a shot at top 2 line duty for weeks now, not at the detriment of the off-season acquisition Erik Cole but for the benefit of the entire team's chemistry and overall competitiveness. Furthermore, seeing Nilsson's improving play we've been asking for him to get moved up to the top line for a shot, though I still prefer keeping the Kid line together and moving Penner up to the 1st line. We'll have to wait and see.

My lineup v.s. Reported lineup:

Penner - Horcoff - Hemsky
Nilsson - Cogliano - Gagner
MacIntyre - Pouliot - Cole
Moreau - Brodziak - Stortini

I think this works with Cole playing Pisani's role while we split up the team's roughnecks Stortini and MacIntyre so we can plausibly role 4 lines. Also, by putting Penner on Hemsky's line we can re-establish that net presence we lost when we moved Penner to the 3rd line while Horcoff and Hemsky can play relatively unharassed. I agree that Nilsson has earned his 1st line ice time but I believe Penner will be more effective at that 1st line LW role as the team is built now.

I'm also going to go a step further and suggest defensive lineups:

Souray - Smid
Staios - Visnovsky
Gilbert - Grebeshkov

I'm curious how Visnovsky will fair without Souray. I'm also curious what Smid can do if he is given a chance to play with Souray. Will this mean Souray will get the freedom to be more offensive? Or will Souray drop back and let Smid do his thing. I don't think that together, Staios and Visnovsky will be as inclined to give away the puck as much, because unlike when Staios is paired with Smid or Strudwick, he is not the offensive guy in that pairing.

Sure, there's the age-old argument that coach MacBlender will mix up the lines anyway, which seems to be a convenient argument both for those in favour and against line changes, but the truth is, no matter how much MacT moves the lines he still sticks generally to the original lineup as drawn for the pre-game.

Oilers lose 2 straight; Drop games by collective score of 7-1

As reported by Dave Staples, Ray Ferraro blames part of the loss on Wednesday to the lackadaisical play by some players such as Ales Hemsky. Certainly, it doesn't help your team's chances of mounting a comeback or maintaining a team backcheck, but when the score was 3-1 already and Hemsky's not the only one taking a break, the outcome wasn't supremely altered by this individual play. Might have been an extension of the problems all night. Certainly, he needs a kick in the pants and playing with a defensively reliable centerman in Horcoff is supposed to help. We'll see if adding Nilsson will improve this further.

Are we trying to hide Hemsky's lack of defensive responsibility, you ask? You bet we are, and it's not necessarily all a bad thing. There's a reason why the Paul Coffeys, Sergei Samsonovs, and Jaromir Jagrs play with good, reliable players. Not because they're overtly one-dimensional but because they are more offensively-minded than defensively-minded. You can teach defense, but you can't teach offense. That's why guys like Hemsky will slip up in the defensive zone, occasionally and unfortunately.

Then there's the qualm about the Oilers goaltending and being outscored 7-1. Certainly, Garon's play last night wasn't stellar at all times but there were a few times when he kept the team in it. Roloson's play on Wednesday garnered 27 saves in a full 60 minute game, which is good for a 0.900 SV%, which isn't poor by any losing goaltender's perspective.

The root of the problem ofh being outscored 7-1? Offense and special teams, and not goaltending. If you acquire guys like Souray, Visnovsky, Cole and you beam about Hemsky the Kid line and their collective skills, you better deliver. Getting scored on in the PK doesn't help either, but what can you do, Steady Steve isn't around to mind the guard. How's that Strudwick fellow doing without Staios, anyway? If MacBlender really thought goaltending was a problem Roloson and DesLauriers would not be getting their alternating games in.

The key: scoring early obviously didn't do anything in Colorado, so I will say keeping overall team balance; letting the goalie (presumably Garon) get a feel for the puck early
How to do it: shake up the lines (being done)
Will it work: if they Oilers find consistency

The prediction for Saturday night:
If the Oilers win: 4-2 (EN goal)
If the Canucks win: 4-3 (OT)