Oh Captain, My Captain

Training camp and preseason are upon us and it's about time I started writing again. And what better topic to start with than debating who the Oilers new captain will be. Here are my favourites:

1) Ryan Smyth - #94 - Age: 37 - Years in NHL: Entering his 19th Season

Smyth has been a long time Oiler (ignoring the dark days he spent playing for the New York Islanders, Colorado Avalanche, and Los Angeles Kings). He's a gritty player, a hard worker, and arguably the guy with the biggest heart and soul on the team.

Why he should be Captain:

He's spent the most time as anyone else on the ice as an Oiler.

He's the most veteran NHLer on the team.

He's medaled seven times on the international stage - including winning Olympic Gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 - and is 24 goals away from hitting the 400 career goals milestone.

He's a great mentor, loves the game, and plays as hard as anyone on the ice, every game.

He's never been an NHL captain (which is a crime), but is "Captain Canada." He deserves the promotion in what could be his last year as an NHLer.

Why he won't be Captain:

It's a team in rebuild. We aren't focused on the past and Smytty is a vision of the former Oilers.

He's slower, he's had a couple of mediocre seasons, and he's a leader on and off the ice, regardless of whether he wears the "C" on his jersey.

This could be his last year - the team needs continuity past this season, and Smytty likely won't be around.

2) Jordan Eberle - #14 - Age: 23 - Years in NHL: Entering his 4th Season

Eberle has been a calming force on a young team with a lot of pressure on its shoulders, even as a youngster himself. Heck, he almost won the Lady Byng trophy two seasons ago in his second season in the league.

Why he should be Captain:

He'a arguably one of our best players - He had 37 points with the Oilers in a shortened season and ended second in scoring on the farm team, the Oklahoma City Barons (OKC), after only playing 34 of their 76 games. 

He's proven leadership at every level he's played at, NHL, in the minors, as a junior, and on an international stage.

He's got a good chance of being one of the guys picked to represent Canada in Sochi this winter.

He's one of the faces of the new Oiler rebuild and he's older than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Why he won't be Captain:

He's young, both as an Oiler and as an NHLer.

He's up against Taylor Hall for the position.

3) Taylor Hall - #4 - Age 21 - Years in NHL: Entering his 4th Season

Gritty player with a Frankenstein scar to prove it, Hall's got savvy skills, a hard hit, and can grind into the corners when he needs to.

Why he should be Captain:

He's arguably one of our best players - He had 50 points with the Oilers in a shortened season (a team leading number) and ended sixth in scoring on the OKC after playing only 26 of their 76 games.

He's one of the faces of the Oilers rebuild.

He's got a good chance of being one of the guys picked to represent Canada in Sochi this winter.

He's arguably the hardest working player on the team - he's even said he worries that his pushing has caused him to have less than stellar performances - even when he's consistently the best player on the ice.

Why he won't be Captain:

He's young - which, if you're anyone other than Sidney Crosby, Gabriel Landeskog, or Jonathan Toews, works against you in your drive to become a young captain.

He's up against... well, himself and apparently Sam Gagner.

4) Sam Gagner - #89 - Age: 23 - Years in the NHL: Entering his 7th Season

Part of the beginning of the rebuild, Gagner came in at the hardest time to be an Oiler in the last decade. While he can be streaky, he's a relatively consistent point getter.

Why he should be Captain:

He's young, he's a silent leader, a good enforcer, and a hard worker.

He's been around through lean times and through all of the Oilers coaching changes since Craig MacTavish left in 2009 and came back as management in 2013.

He's on the upswing as he moves towards "veterancy" on a young Oilers squad.

Why he won't be Captain:

Up until today, he would have been considered a dark horse candidate. Now local sports shows are falling all over themselves to say that he'd be a great choice after an Edmonton Blogger posted about it first.

He was trade bait the last couple of seasons and arguably, the Oilers want someone who will be around for a longer period of time as they can't keep trading away Captains when something doesn't work or they get an offer.

He's up against Hall, Eberle, Smyth, and some other dark horse candidates.

Dark Horses!!

Andrew Ference:

Stanley Cup rings speak legions and he wasn't a silent partner in Boston's win.

Ladislav Smid:

He's been around for a while and knows the team. He's also a solid "D" with streaks of grit we haven't seen since Jason Smith.

Nick Schultz:

He's a veteran "D" with some solid stats (if you don't judge him on last season along). And, Schulz's are awesome, even when they have a "t" in it.

Time for Conversation

My apologies, folks. It’s been a while since my last blog post. That’s what happens when life gets in the way and you overbook yourself. In my other life I am actively involved with my local drama society, performing in plays and musicals, and sitting on the board of directors. Life got in the way of my hockey blogging, but I’m back.

And I can’t take it.

Three things have happened in the last week that make me cringe. First, we have Marc Staal’s horrible eye injury from slap shot to the face. WARNING: This is not for the weak stomached. I haven’t listened to the video with audio, but I can only imagine the amount of pain in his voice…

 

If I’d ever seen an ad campaign for making visors mandatory in the NHL, this would be it. Between the pucks, the sticks, the arms, the skates, and the shaved ice all flying around down on the playing ice, visors can mean a world of difference. At a regular job, there are safety precautions you take. At my desk job, which isn’t all that dangerous, we use ergonomics to stave off injury and chronic conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome. In construction, you wear steel toe boots and hard hats. In hockey, a visor just seems like the obvious choice.

Granted, never having played hockey myself, I might not understand the fine details of the issue. Maybe it affects sight, and how you see the ice. Maybe you miss the puck because the visor is throwing you off… but you risk that, or you risk a scary injury like the one above, and an injury that could very well have gone much worse and ended a promising career.

Second, we have the David Dziurzunski vs Frazer McLaren fight.

 

Ask anyone who knows me, and I actually enjoy a little fighting in hockey. I think it gives players a way to blow off steam, it gets fans into the game, and a correctly timed fight can be a huge turning point in a game. This one, though, just turns plain scary and wasn’t even really key. We’re only about 20 seconds into the game and these two players drop the gloves. After a couple of hits, poor Dziurzunski goes down. Out cold. Sprawled on the ice. Watch him fall. I mean really watch him fall and tell me that isn’t scary.

Finally, we have the story of Ronny Keller, a Swiss hockey player who this week saw his career cut short and his life dramatically changed when a race for the puck into the corner of the ice led to a hit into the boards and an injury that left him paralyzed. If you follow this link, you’ll get an article from The Province, a B.C. newspaper that has the video of the injury. Unless you really want to satisfy your morbid curiosity, I recommend not watching it. It’s horrifying to watch. I regret doing so.

The world of professional sports can be an extremely dangerous one. Life altering, or life ending injuries, are not unheard of, and unfortunately, aren’t really outside the norm. You hear of a story like Ronny Keller and you wonder what, if anything could have been done to prevent it, a thought that makes you sad to even think that it was preventable. Because it was. A change in culture that swings away from unnecessary violence to get the job done means that hit doesn’t have to happen. Not knowing the context of the play, maybe a change in icing rules could have meant a difference. Maybe further training and emphasis on keeping your head up going into the corner means a difference. I don’t know what the answer is. I just know that maybe if a conversation had happened earlier, Ronny Keller would be playing hockey with his teammates today.

I think at the end of the day what I’m trying to say is that while hockey can and should be an intense and physical sport, it’s time to assess whether it needs to be a violent sport. The Staal injury is a by-product of an intense and physical sport where injuries can happen through just regular play. They’re unfortunate, and the extent of the injury might have been lessened with different equipment, but injuries like that are going to happen. The Dziurzunski fight and the Keller injury, however, aren’t and shouldn’t be inevitable. With a new contract in the NHL and negotiations out of the way for another 5-6 years, maybe it’s time we start having those hard conversations about changing the culture of violence in the game…

Canucks versus Oilers Tonight

Happy February everyone!

Can’t believe we’re already in month two of 2013. Time just flies. Can you also believe that we’re already in the third week and 9^th game of the Oilers’ 2013 season? Eight games in and the Oilers are just one point back of the Northwest Division’s leading team, the Vancouver Canucks.

And who might the Oilers be playing tonight? The Canucks, of course.

A win tonight and the arguably “streaky” Oilers could take over the top spot in the division and third place in the Western Conference with 11 points. That could prove to be a feat.

Coming off a loss in Colorado and coming up against Roberto Luongo, a hot goalie who was named one of the NHL’s three stars of the week last week, tonight’s match will be a tough one to win.

Ryan Whitney is a healthy scratch tonight, for the first time in his career. This doesn’t appear to be shocking to anyone other than Whitney himself. He hasn’t played up to his calibre all season. Maybe this will be a wake-up call. Instead, Corey Potter will be slotted in with Mark Fistric for tonight. Fistric and Potter should make an interesting pairing. Both are big players able to throw their size around the ice.

Shawn Horcoff is also back in the line-up after being out a couple of games with a neck strain.

We’ve already come to the part of the season where coaches are having to alter lines to address player injuries and cold streaks. Had the Oilers shown a ton of success with Horcoff out of the lineup, Kruger would have had a tough time figuring where, when and how to slot the Captain back in. Should the Oilers prove to have a ton of success with Whitney out and Potter and Fistric on the same line, Kruger is really going to have to juggle some things to fit Whitney back in.

 

Tonight should be a decent game with a couple of big bodies on both sides of the ice and some good ol’ talented stick hands as well.

I won’t be able to watch it, but I’m sure the highlights will be great. Enjoy, for those who can!

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As I play around with what I want to include in this blog, I'd love to hear some feedback. Anything you want to hear about? Any issues in the NHL (Oilers related or not) you want to read about? Anything you really like? Really hate? Really think is missing? Let me know. Leave a comment!

Even Strength Woes

After being at three Oilers games so far this year, two at home in Rexall Place and one down in Calgary at the Saddledome, I’m pleased to report that I am not a jinx and that the Oilers can win when I’m in the building. San Jose beat Edmonton 6-3. I was there. Calgary beat Edmonton4-3. I was there. But finally, last night, the boys showed a little spark. A little drive. A little, “Let’s show ‘em what we can do!” and beat Colorado 4-1. The Oilers are now 3-2 on the season, sitting tied atop the Northwest Division with Vancouver.

But, let's be honest. Five games does not a season make and there have been some fair critiques of the Oilers, even after last night’s stellar performance.

Ralph Kruger is showing that he’s the guy who knows how to run his power play. All four goals last night were scored either with a man advantage or on an empty net. That’s great news. Wonderful even. A good team should have a great power play and should make opponents worry about getting too liberal with their sticks, their arms, and their roughness. The problem is, your power play can't be the end all in a game like hockey.

The Oilers are showing their great weakness so far is their 5-on-5 play. Last night, the only Avalanche goal came on even strength. Of the Oilers' 14 goals this season, only 4 of them were even strength markers. The rookies and young guys are proving their mettle. Of the 40 total players points on the team, 31 of them come from the younger crop of players. Now, don’t get me wrong. There is the expectation with most teams that the younger guys are faster and they have a little more skill left. Particularly on the Oilers, our roster is chock full of guys in their teens and early 20s who were expected to take on the brunt of the scoring work to be done. But a long-term successful team should rely largely on one, maybe two lines for all of their point production.

You need a third and fourth line that can get a dirty goal here and there and can create some momentum. It’s not happening.

One of the great surprises last night was Teemu Hartikainen on the fourth line. He was all over the ice, providing some roughness and some heart. He came out with only one assist on the night, but he and his line (teamed up with Magnus Paajarvi and Eric Belanger) started to show fans what we need to expect from all of our lines.

And yes, this is a sort-of-subtle-but-not-so-subtle call out of our veteran third liners, Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Smyth who are both -1 on the season, the first with 2 points and the latter with 0.

Going forward, the Oilers are probably going to continue to prove to be a force to be reckoned with on the power play, and the young guys are still going to produce the most points, but they’re not going to last long if their 5-on-5 game doesn’t improve.

As a last, short little comment on last night, the after-game talk shows guys were responding to a lot of fan comments with the phrase, “Yeah, he/they’re/it’s not quite there, but don’t worry, it’ll get there.” I think it’s a fantastic phrase to put this season in perspective.

In an 82 game season, you have time to get there. You have time to get your body back into shape. You have time to figure out the chemistry between lines. You have time to drop a few games because you wanted to try something different or wanted to give a guy a chance in a new role. In 48 games, though, that time is quickly ticking away. You don’t have until the middle of February to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Yeah, we’ll get there, but we might miss the start of the show.

 

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As I play around with what I want to include in this blog, I'd love to hear some feedback. Anything you want to hear about? Any issues in the NHL (Oilers related or not) you want to read about? Anything you really like? Really hate? Really think is missing? Let me know. Leave a comment!

Arm Chair Bench Bosses Know All

Well, the Edmonton Oilers home opener could have gone better. On Tuesday night the Oilers dropped a 6-3 game to the San Jose Sharks and it was clear and evident why they did. Youth, lack of discipline, nerves, and a spotty defensive line contributed to last night’s loss, but let me tell you, no one knows the woes of the Oilers like the fans in the stands.

Being at the game, I was privy to the conversations of the extremely drunk spectators lounging behind me. There’s nothing better than drunk fans who think they know best. I’ve been guilty of this behaviour, and I hope someone went home and took me to task with their friends or significant others for the stupid things that came out of my mouth. So, here’s me taking these six fine gentlemen to task.

1) “Man, they beat us 5-on-5 man. Flat out beat us 5-on-5”

Well, that's only partly true. 3 goals were scored while San Jose had a man advantage, including the first two of the game.  One of these was also a 2 man advantage. Half of the goals were scored 5-on-5. Sure, they beat us 5-on-5, but they also got a pretty hefty leg up with some special team help. The moral of the story is that last night saw the failure of our 5-on-5 game and the failure of our usually decent penalty kill. San Jose’s power play was 3 for 6. Meanwhile, our power play was 2 for 6 on the night. Not horrible, but not spectacular.

2) “Dude, it was all Dubnyk's fault. Guy will never be a starter.”

How about we not blame the guy who had no defence playing in front of him? None, in the first period. Let's not kid ourselves. Dubnyk has to be better if he is going to be our number one guy. He just has to be. You can’t have 18 shots on goal and let 6 of them in. A save percentage of 65% just isn’t good enough. But to blame the complete failure of the first period on Dubnyk isn't fair to him and it lets some of the real culprits off the hook.

As much as we love ‘em, the young guns were nervous last night. Passes weren’t working, we couldn’t get a decent rush going past the blue line (on our side of the ice, no less), and there were some blatant missteps that, let’s be honest, rookies make. And the veterans didn’t play much better, especially since the guys taking the penalties last night were not exactly spring chickens. So yes, let’s give Dubnyk a bit of a hard time, but don’t for one moment think that it is entirely his fault.

3) “Edmonton has a coaching problem.”

This is my favourite critique from last night. “We need a better coach.” “Why can’t we get a guy who has actually coached some hockey, not that European stuff across the pond?” “Coaching is the issue.”

Sure, Ralph Kruger might not have a storied history behind an NHL bench, but the guy was our assistant coach for two years and was head coach of the Swiss National team for 12 World Championships, three Olympics, and moved the country up eight spots in the IIHF world rankings. He’s got some game.

And, let’s also remember that he’s had these guys for a seriously reduced training camp, no preseason games to determine line chemistry, and only two NHL games. Let’s not jump to conclusions and hit panic mode just two games into the season, okay? Yes, every game counts, and yes, a 6-3 loss sucks, but we’re not hitting the end of the universe yet.

 

Thursday sees the Oilers back at Rexall Place against reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Los Angeles Kings. Should be a pretty good matchup. The Kings are returning from the off season with their Stanley Cup team still basically intact. It’ll be interesting to see if they really are that good, or if 2011-2012 was just a fluke.

 

 

It's Hockey Night in Edmonton, Again!

Welcome to the launch of my new hockey-centric blog. I’ve previously dabbled in discussing Canada’s favourite past-time, discussing cheap shots and fighting, down-ward spirals, and uplifting stories. I would focus on it more and more as the season got more intense and the playoffs came closer. With the lockout of 2012, I had abandoned hope of being able to start hockey blogging again, but lo’ an’ behold, 2013 started with a miracle, and the boys are back on the ice vying for the coveted Stanley Cup! What a perfect time to tap back into my love of this sport and my home-town boys, the Edmonton Oilers.

Tonight is the home opener for the Oilers’ 2013 season. Yes, the season is a mere 48 games. Yes, only 24 of these are at home. Yes, there’s an argument to be made that this season should be played with an asterisk, calling into question whether the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions will have had to work as hard as their predecessors. But by-God, no one can say that these 48 games won’t be fun, entertaining, and intense.

One week of training camp. One week for coaches and bench-bosses to whittle their team into an entity that is NHL ready. The Oilers spent some of that time playing outdoor games at Hawrelak Park and catering to an upset fan base.

No exhibition games. No pre-cursor to the season to allow players to ramp-up to game readiness. No preseason matches to allow the coaching staff to judge guys on their ability to play in the big leagues or to scope out the up and coming talents on their rival teams.

Just straight on hockey madness. And that’s the way I like it. Don’t get me wrong. I understand the need for a good training camp. I also understand the need for a preseason. But, come on. This is exciting. There’s no waiting.

Everything matters. Every shift, every shot, every check, every deke, every wrister, every block, every dive, every penalty, every foot-race, every goal. EVERYTHING MATTERS!

 

So as the puck drops tonight, my heart will skip a beat as the rush of the game crashes over me like a wave of copper and blue madness.This season will bring back the play we're used to. It will bring forth new surprises and heart aches, and familiar chants and rivalries. There will be the thrills, the spills, the ups, the down, the hard-hits, and the high-fives. Young guns will try to prove their mettle and the old brigade will try to showcase their resilience. In a game that boasts rookies like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, and Jonathan Huberdeau, we're forced to remember the greatness of Teemu Selanne and Jaromir Jagr, both long-time veterans of this "take-no-prisoners" game.

 

I can't wait.

 

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Note: I’m playing around with the title of this blog for now. I've gone with Ice the Puck, but what do you think of my options? Feel free to vote in the right side bar!