No Love for Tim Sestito

Florida Panthers @ Rexall Place tonight, game preview page written by Nick Conrad. He works for the Oilers but he probably needs to sharpen up on his Oilers knowledge or at least do some research.

Nick Conrad has no love for Tim Sestito, seen above in a pre-season tilt against the aforementioned Florida Panthers.



And by the way, it's 8 players who made their debut. Don't forget Jesse Boulerice.

Geez, what do we need to give up to get some decent and accurate Oilers coverage around here...

Anyway, I protect a 3-1 Oilers win. Schremp with an assist. Horcoff with a goal. Gagner will be a non-factor.

Jesse Boulerice Out - Tim Sestito In

Tim Sestito recalled from the Springfield Falcons. He is seen here as a member of the Stockton Thunder stick-checking some guy who is protecting the puck along the halfboards.

Here are his stats:

2007-2008 77 GP 7 G 10 A 17 PTS -25 175 PIM
2008-2009 16 GP 2 G 1 A 3 PTS -1 6 PIM

Now I know the +/- statistic is usually frowned upon as useless. But -25 is an alarming number by an rate. Good thing he's been on pace for a much better overall performance as Captain of the Oilers farm squad. Lowetide was suggesting that they called up Sestito as a MacTavish/Buchberger kind of player but I think that's not a good enough reason if that's the one that led them to this decision.

Another consideration is that the Oilers may be trying to keep the Springfield "core players" as intact as possible, "maximizing the competitiveness" of both teams. I'm not agreeing with this consideration, though I think it's a possibility.

The team has needs to address and I think Tyler Spurgeon would have been a better call up at this point in time.

We'll have to wait and see.