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Re: Season 30 (NHL 23), 2002-03: Rebuildl and Reload [message #825263 is a reply to message #825262 ]	Tue, 22 August 2023 09:28

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7803
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

6 Cups

Dragon_Matt wrote on Tue, 22 August 2023 09:16

Wasn't Bishai the one who was fighting from inside the opposition bench?

Yes!

The oddly heated Oilers - Thrashers rivalry.

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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Re: Season 30 (NHL 23), 2002-03: Rebuildl and Reload [message #825270 is a reply to message #825263 ]	Tue, 22 August 2023 18:19

welcometotheOC
Messages: 646
Registered: April 2010
Location: Also, sadly, Cowtown

No Cups

Um, Micah Avisof ? (sp?)

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Re: Season 30 (NHL 23), 2002-03: Rebuildl and Reload [message #825312 is a reply to message #825263 ]	Wed, 23 August 2023 20:14

Teammate Avry
Messages: 18
Registered: November 2008
Location: Edmonton/Toronto/Las Vega...

No Cups

CrusaderPi wrote on Tue, 22 August 2023 09:28

Dragon_Matt wrote on Tue, 22 August 2023 09:16

Wasn't Bishai the one who was fighting from inside the opposition bench?

Yes!

The oddly heated Oilers - Thrashers rivalry.

Atlanta and Edmonton not liking each other for that brief period of time in the early 00s had to be one of the most absurd yet hilarious rivalries in NHL history.

A guy who if you turned into a gumbo is a wild mix of sports podcaster/TV reporter and sports writer.

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Season 32 (NHL 25), 2003-04: Heritage Classic [message #825301 is a reply to message #824021 ]	Wed, 23 August 2023 15:05

benv
Messages: 601
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

https://scontent.fyxd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/389869_10151489823212128_361047978_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=cx6_p0K27rkAX-B9cE6&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd3-1.fna&oh=00_AfC0K5fotfonomOUSuFfL89NZDWNquAa4-u0mtMsbOWaug&oe=650DD0E8


	Coach: Craig MacTavish						
	GM: Kevin Lowe						
							
Regular Season Record: 36W-29L-12T-5OTL (.543)--89 points							
221GF 208GA    Finish: 9th Western Conference (17th overall)--out of playoffs							
							
				Regular Season			
	Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
1	Smyth, Ryan	F	82	23	36	59	
2	Dvorak, Radek	F	78	15	35	50	
3	York, Mike	F	61	16	26	42	
4	Horcoff, Shawn	F	80	15	25	40	
5	Hemsky, Ales	F	71	12	22	34	
6	Torres, Raffi	F	80	20	14	34	
7	Moreau, Ethan	F	81	20	12	32	
8	Pisani, Fernando	F	76	16	14	30	
9	Staios, Steve	D	82	6	22	28	
10	Bergeron, Marc-Andre	D	54	9	17	26	
11	Brewer, Eric	D	77	7	18	25	
12	Cross, Cory	D	68	7	14	21	
13	Stoll, Jarret	F	68	10	11	21	
14	Smith, Jason	D	68	7	12	19	
15	Ulanov, Igor	D	42	5	13	18	
16	Isbister, Brad	F	51	10	8	18	
17	Oates, Adam	F	60	2	16	18	
18	Laraque, Georges	F	66	6	11	17	
19	Nedved, Petr	F	16	5	10	15	
20	Chimera, Jason	F	60	4	8	12	
21	Reasoner, Marty	F	17	2	6	8	
22	Ferguson, Scott	D	52	1	5	6	
23	Semenov, Alexei	D	46	2	3	5	
24	Bishai, Mike	F	14	0	2	2	
25	Luoma, Mikko	D	3	0	1	1	
26	Sarno, Peter	F	6	1	0	1	
27	Salmelainen, Tony	F	13	0	1	1	
28	Lynch, Doug	D	2	0	0	0	
29	Rita, Jani	F	2	0	0	0	
							
				Goalies			
	Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L-T	
1	Salo, Tommy	44	2487	2.58	0.896	17-18-6	
2	Conklin, Ty	38	2086	2.42	0.912	17-14-4	
3	Markkanen, Jussi	7	394	1.83	0.934	2-2-2	
4	Valiquette, Stephen	1	14	8.57	0.714	0-0-0

Transactions

June 21, 2003
• 1st round pick in 2003 (Zach Parise) traded to New Jersey for 1st (Marc Pouliot) and 2nd (Jean-Francois Jacques) round picks in 2003.
• 2003 NHL entry draft (rounds 1-3)—Oilers selected Marc Pouliot (22), Colin McDonald (51), Jean-Francois Jacques (68), and Zack Stortini (94).

June 22, 2003
• 2003 NHL entry draft (rounds 4-9)—Oilers selected Kyle Brodziak (214) and Mathieu Roy (215).

June 30, 2003
• Jussi Markkanen and 4th round pick in 2004 (Roman Kukumberg (Toronto)) traded to NY Rangers for Brian Leetch*. Oilers received 2nd round pick in 2004 (Dane Byers (NY Rangers)) when Leetch signed by NY Rangers as free agent July 30.

July 3, 2003
• Todd Marchant signed as free agent by Columbus.

July 15, 2003
• Daniel Cleary signed as free agent by Phoenix.

July 24, 2003
• Brian Swanson signed as free agent by Atlanta.

August 21, 2003
• Signed Dan Smith (formerly with Phoenix) as free agent.

October 8, 2003
• Claimed Stephen Valiquette on waivers from Florida.

November 17, 2003
• Signed Adam Oates (formerly with Anaheim) as free agent.

December 16, 2003
• Mike Comrie traded to Philadelphia for Jeff Woywitka*, 1st round pick in 2004 (Rob Schremp), and 3rd round pick in 2005 (Danny Syvret).

January 5, 2004
• Signed Igor Ulanov (formerly with Florida) as free agent.

February 16, 2004
• Peter Sarno traded to Vancouver for Tyler Moss*.

March 3, 2004
• Dwight Helminen*, Stephen Valiquette, and 2nd round pick in 2004 (Dane Byers) traded to NY Rangers for Jussi Markkanen and Petr Nedved.

March 9, 2004
• Tommy Salo and 6th round pick in 2005 (Justin Mercier) traded to Colorado for Tom Gilbert.

Another year and more player losses for the Oilers, this time tow of their top three leading scorers flew the coop. The Oilers had the habit of trading players before they became UFA to get value before they inevitably left, but they had actually kept Marchant at the 2003 deadline despite his impending UFA status. Perhaps they hoped they would be able to re-sign him? It was not to be as Marchant leveraged his good 02-03 season into a into a lucrative deal with Columbus. Mike Comrie was RFA and got into a well publicized dispute with the Oilers GM Lowe. Comrie held out of training camp and demanded a trade. He and Lowe exchanged insults through the media and Lowe actually even had a deal in place with Anaheim that would have seen a pre-NHL Corey Perry coming to the Oilers. The deal was scuttled when Lowe demanded Comrie pay the Oilers money to make the deal go through which, as you can imagine, did not go over well. Comrie would eventually be dealt to the Flyers for Jeff Woywitka and a couple of picks (obviously this looks bad in hindsight, but to be fair to Lowe, Woywitka was actually a slightly higher rated prospect than Perry at the time). They also lost a couple of their depth forwards in Cleary and Swanson who signed elsewhere, and their backup goalie (Markkanen) who was dealt to the Rangers. They didn't add anyone of significance so they would have to once again hope for improvement from within.

In goal, they still had Salo, and he would again be their go-to guy early in the season. With Markkanen gone, Ty Conklin graduated to the big team as Salo's backup. Early in the year Salo struggled, having by far his worst season with the team. His struggles caused the Oilers to go to Conklin more and more as he had better numbers, and for the most part outplayed Salo. Near the trade deadline, the Oilers decided to cut bait with Salo, dealing him to the Avalanche for prospect d-man Tom Gilbert (you'll be hearing that name again). A week earlier they had re-acquired Markkanen from the Rangers and they would go with a Markkanen/Conklin tandem down the stretch. While the duo was passable, it was clear that the Oilers lacked the elite goaltending the team was used to.

Their defence was basically unchanged from the previous season. Smith, Staios, Brewer, Cross, Ferguson, and Semenov were all back from the previous year and all would finish the season with the team. Marc-Andre Bergeron was an undrafted free agent that had had a cup of coffee with the team the previous season, and made the jump to play most of the games with the team. Igor Ulanov was also re-acquired mid-season to give them an eighth option. These eight guys would comprise the Oilers unspectacular d-core. Nobody really stood out (Staios' 28 points lead the team) but they were certainly a lunch-pail group that gave their all.

With the losses of Marchant and Comrie, others would obviously have to step up. Smyth lead the team in goals, assists and points putting up 23/36/59 in what can be considered the last year of the "dead puck era". A surprising Radek Dvorak came second with 50 points, while York (missing 20 games) contributed 42 for third place. Horcoff and Hemsky made strides this year as the former showed some offensive flair previously unseen, while the latter started to show his scoring potential the Oilers had seen when they drafted him in 2001. While Brad Isbister was not becoming the player hoped for, the other guy acquired in the Niinimaa deal (Raffi Torres) was a pleasant surprise putting up 34 points and being a true pain in the ass to play against. Also having decent seasons were the returning Moreau, Pisani, and Laraque while recent draft pick Jarret Stoll started to show some promise as well. Chimera had a disappointing season while Reasoner missed the majority with injury. Finally we have to mention the two mid-season additions. Adam Oates was a future hall of fame assist machine who was at the tail end of his career. The Oilers brought him in for veteran savvy, and while he didn't put up points like he once did, I distinctly remember both Horcoff and Stoll mentioning how it was good to have him around to bounce ideas off of (and maybe teach them faceoff technique). The bigger move was the acquisition of former phenom Petr Nedved who was also late in his career, but went on an absolute tear getting 15 points in 16 games after the Oilers got him. I've always thought this trade was a gift by Sather to his old team--for Nedved and Markkanen all the Oilers had to give up to the Rangers was their 3rd string goalie, a low-end prospect, and a 2nd round pick.

So how did the team do? Well the beginning of the season was hi-lighted by the Heritage Classic, an outdoor game between Edmonton and Montreal at Commonwealth stadium that (despite freezing temperatures) was a huge success and a formula the NHL has been milking ever since (we get a repeat this year in Edmonton for the 20th anniversary). People also remember a famous game with the Thrashers where a brawl broke out that featured Conklin beating the crap out of Nurminen and little used Oiler forward Mike Bishai fighting from the Thrashers bench. Definitely worth a look if you've never seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7nn8Y1j1d8

On the ice, the Oilers got off to a reasonably good start, before Salo started to falter and they started to slip down the standings. By February they seemed a long shot to make the playoffs, but then went on hot streak in March, largely boosted by Nedved's hot play. It was a very exciting finish as they were in a battle with St. Louis and Nashville to secure the last two playoff spots. It went down to the last day of the season; the Oilers lost and both Nashville and St. Louis won, meaning the Oilers would have to settle for ninth place and another missed playoff opportunity.

I know this has already been long, but I have to go on a mini-rant, since this is one of the memories I've held on to from this season. The Oilers' final game was against Vancouver on a Saturday night HNIC broadcast. They needed to win the game to keep their playoff hopes alive, so there was a lot of excitement going into the game and I was expecting the HNIC crew to hype this up. As I tuned in the pre-game show all the announcers could talk about was how the Canucks needed this win to clinch their first division title in several years. Ok, I didn't know this, but I assumed they would eventually move on to the Oilers side of things. It never happened. I swear all the talk was just "Canucks, Canucks, Canucks" and that the Oilers were not even mentioned once until about ten minutes into the game when the colour guy (I think it was John Garrett) finally brought up "You know this game is important to the Oilers too". I was just flabbergasted how one sided the commentary was on a national broadcast. Of course the Oilers would eventually lose the game and be eliminated, which pissed me off even more. And of course it would be a very long time until I could see another Oiler game, giving me 18 months to stew about it. Alright rant over, it's just something that always stood out for me.

Anyway, despite the missed playoffs, it was an exciting season and we would have to wait a long time to follow up on it.

[Updated on: Wed, 23 August 2023 15:15]

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Season 33 (NHL 26), 2005-06: The Surprise Cup Run [message #825361 is a reply to message #824021 ]	Tue, 29 August 2023 00:10

benv
Messages: 601
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

https://scontent.fyxd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/390193_10151504057422128_353163096_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=NlzNeTMXrL0AX_xVtc6&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd3-1.fna&oh=00_AfD06HVI2usqmMuFQdCnC35c_H1It2OjWycehpzabRZaag&oe=6514EB2B


	Coach: Craig MacTavish					
	GM: Kevin Lowe					
						
Regular Season Record: 41W-28L-4OTL-9SOL (.579)--95 points						
256GF 251GA    Finish: 8th Western Conference (14th overall)						
						
	 			Regular Season		
	Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Hemsky, Ales	F	81	19	58	77
2	Horcoff, Shawn	F	79	22	51	73
3	Stoll, Jarret	F	82	22	46	68
4	Smyth, Ryan	F	75	36	30	66
5	Pronger, Chris	D	80	12	44	56
6	Torres, Raffi	F	82	27	14	41
7	Pisani, Fernando	F	80	18	19	37
8	Bergeron, Marc-Andre	D	75	15	20	35
9	Dvorak, Radek	F	64	8	20	28
10	Staios, Steve	D	82	8	20	28
11	Moreau, Ethan	F	74	11	16	27
12	Reasoner, Marty	F	58	9	17	26
13	Peca, Mike	F	71	9	14	23
14	Spacek, Jaroslav	D	31	5	14	19
15	Smith, Jason	D	76	4	13	17
16	Samsonov, Sergei	F	19	5	11	16
17	Laraque, Georges	F	72	2	10	12
18	Ulanov, Igor	D	37	3	6	9
19	Harvey, Todd	F	63	5	2	7
20	Cross, Cory	D	34	2	3	5
21	Tarnstrom, Dick	D	22	1	3	4
22	Rita, Jani	F	21	3	0	3
23	Murray, Rem	F	9	1	1	2
24	Semenov, Alexei	D	11	1	1	2
25	Greene, Matt	D	27	0	2	2
26	Pouliot, Marc	F	8	1	0	1
27	Winchester, Brad	F	19	0	1	1
28	Roy, Mathieu	D	1	0	0	0
29	Stastny, Yan	F	3	0	0	0
30	Kolanos, Krys	F	6	0	0	0
31	Smith, Dan	D	7	0	0	0
32	Jacques, Jean-Francois	F	7	0	0	0
33	Syvret, Danny	D	10	0	0	0
34	Brodziak, Kyle	F	10	0	0	0
						
				Goalies		
	Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L-OL
1	Markkanen, Jussi	37	2016	3.13	0.880	15-12-6
2	Roloson, Dwayne	19	1163	2.42	0.905	8-7-4
3	Conklin, Ty	18	922	2.80	0.880	8-5-1
4	Morrison, Mike	21	891	2.83	0.884	10-4-2


			Playoffs			
	Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Pronger, Chris	D	24	5	16	21
2	Horcoff, Shawn	F	24	7	12	19
3	Pisani, Fernando	F	24	14	4	18
4	Hemsky, Ales	F	24	6	11	17
5	Smyth, Ryan	F	24	7	9	16
6	Samsonov, Sergei	F	24	4	11	15
7	Spacek, Jaroslav	D	24	3	11	14
8	Torres, Raffi	F	22	4	7	11
9	Peca, Mike	F	24	6	5	11
10	Stoll, Jarret	F	24	4	6	10
11	Staios, Steve	D	24	1	5	6
12	Smith, Jason	D	24	1	4	5
13	Murray, Rem	F	24	0	4	4
14	Winchester, Brad	F	10	1	2	3
15	Bergeron, Marc-Andre	D	18	2	1	3
16	Moreau, Ethan	F	21	2	1	3
17	Harvey, Todd	F	10	1	1	2
18	Tarnstrom, Dick	D	12	0	2	2
19	Laraque, Georges	F	15	1	1	2
20	Dvorak, Radek	F	16	0	2	2
21	Petersen, Toby	F	2	1	0	1
22	Greene, Matt	D	18	0	1	1
						
				Goalies		
						
	Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L
1	Roloson, Dwayne	18	1160	2.33	0.927	12-5
2	Markkanen, Jussi	6	360	2.17	0.905	3-3
3	Conklin, Ty	1	6	10.00	0.667	0-1


Playoff result:  Eliminated in Stanley Cup Final						
Round 1: vs. Detroit, won 4 games to 2; 19GF 17GA						
Round 2: vs. San Jose, won 4 games to 2, 19GF 12GA						
Round 3: vs. Anaheim, won 4 games to 1, 16GF 13GA						
Round 4: vs. Carolina, lost 3 games to 4, 16GF 19GA						
Summary:Series: 3-1; Games: 15-9; 70GF 61GA

Transactions

June 26, 2004
• Jason Chimera and 3rd round pick in 2004 (Billy Ryan (NY Rangers)) traded to Phoenix for 2nd (Geoff Paukovich*) and 4th (Liam Reddox) round picks in 2004.
• 2004 NHL entry draft (rounds 1-3)—Oilers selected Devan Dubnyk (14) and Rob Schremp (25).

June 27, 2004
• 2004 NHL entry draft (rounds 4-9)—Oilers selected Liam Reddox (112) and Bryan Young (146).

July 22, 2004
• Bobby Allen signed as free agent by New Jersey.

July 30, 2004
• Signed Toby Petersen (formerly with Pittsburgh) as free agent.

August 26, 2004
• Petr Nedved signed as free agent by Phoenix—Oilers receive compensatory 4th round pick from league in 2005 as compensation (Vyacheslav Trukhno*).

September 15, 2004
• Signed Todd Harvey (formerly with San Jose) as free agent.

NHL lockout, September 16, 2004 to July 22, 2005. No transactions.

July 30, 2005
• 2005 NHL entry draft—Oilers selected Andrew Cogliano (25), Taylor Chorney (36), Danny Syvret (81), and Chris Vande Velde (97).

August 1, 2005
• Brad Isbister traded to Boston for 4th round pick in 2006 (James Delory (San Jose)).
• Oilers receive compensentory 2nd round pick from league in 2006 (Jeff Petry) when they fail to sign Jesse Niinimaki* to NHL contract.

August 2, 2005
• Eric Brewer, Doug Lynch, and Jeff Woywitka* traded to St. Louis for Chris Pronger.

August 3, 2005
• Mike York and 4th round pick in 2006 (Kevin Montgomery (Colorado)) traded to NY Islanders for Mike Peca.

August 4, 2005
• Scott Ferguson signed as free agent by Minnesota.

August 30, 2005
• 4th round pick in 2006 (James Delroy (San Jose)) traded to Boston for Yan Stastny.

September 19, 2005
• Mike Bishai signed as free agent by Phoenix.

November 11, 2005
• Claimed Krys Kolanos on waivers from Phoenix.

November 19, 2005
• Alexei Semenov traded to Florida for 5th round pick in 2006 (Bryan Pitton*).

December 19, 2005
• Krys Kolanos claimed on waivers by Phoenix.

January 26, 2006
• Cory Cross and Jani Rita traded to Pittsburgh for Dick Tarnstrom.
• Tony Salmaleinen traded to Chicago for Jaroslav Spacek.

March 5, 2006
• Signed Rem Murray (formerly with Nashville) as free agent.

March 8, 2006
• 1st round pick in 2006 (Trevor Lewis (Los Angeles)) and 3rd round pick in 2007 (Spencer Machacek (Atlanta)) traded to Minnesota for Dwayne Roloson.

March 9, 2006
• Mike Morrison claimed on waivers by Ottawa.
• Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny, and 2nd round pick in 2006 (Milan Lucic) traded to Boston for Sergei Samsonov.

So much to unpack this season. The entire 04-05 was of course lost to the lockout and the 05-06 season would be the first to be played with the newly negotiated salary cap ($39 million!) that would forever remove the "have not" label from the Oilers franchise. There were also several rule changes implemented including the introduction of the shoot-out, which would forever remove ties from the NHL.

We have two off-seasons to deal with. The 2004 off-season was not very eventful for the Oilers. They lost Chimera (traded for picks) and Nedved (free agency), while signing a fourth line wingers in Todd Harvey and Toby Petersen. The post-lockout moves by Lowe would be what will always be remembered

Even the staunchest of Kevin Lowe detractors will generally admit that almost everything he did in 2005-06 was golden. Once the lockout ended, Lowe immediately made an enormous splash by acquiring Chris Pronger and Mike Peca in back to back days. To get Pronger he had to give up Brewer plus two prospect d-men, while the price for Peca was Mike York. While Peca (a two-time Selke winner) had just a year left on his contract it was Pronger that was the big get. A former Hart and Norris winner, he was considered one of the best defenseman in the league and Lowe was immediately able to get him to sign a five year contract with the Oilers. There was so much excitement as the Oilers hadn't had a defenseman of this caliber since Paul Coffey. Both these moves instantly made the Oilers much better. Lowe would make many other moves to improve the team as the year went on.

The Oilers would enter the year with the same two goalies as they had finished with in 2004. Conklin was initially thought of as the starter but was brutal out of the gate, very quickly making Markkanen the guy. With neither guy seizing the job the Oilers even called up Mike Morrison, a goalie who had been in the system for several years. Morrison outplayed both guys for a while and actually was given the starting job for a while as well. All three guys had almost identical save % (around .880) and it was clear to most Oiler fans that a more capable tender could really lift this team. Lowe delivered at the trade deadline acquiring veteran Dwayne Roloson who would play all games down the stretch. It's interesting that while Roloson's numbers are much better than the others, his winning percentage is actually slightly worse.

On defense of course everything now revolved around Pronger who was an absolute beast all season, playing seemingly 30 minutes a game and racking up 56 points. It was such a breath of fresh air to have such a dominant defenseman on our team for a change. Backing up Pronger we had Smith and Staios returning to contribute decent full seasons, but things were a little thin after that. Bergeron played the full year and contributed points (35) but had his defensive liabilities. Cross and Ulanov were back but both had fairly poor seasons. Semenov played only 11 games before being shipped out for scraps, while Matt Greene, a 2nd round pick from 2002 made his NHL debut and would eventually worm his way into semi-regular duty. Lowe made another huge splash in January when on the same day he acquired Jaroslav Spacek and Dick Tarnstrom in two separate trades where Cross was the only significant roster player the Oilers lost. Spacek especially was a big upgrade, and for the last two months of the season the Oilers top four of Pronger, Spacek, Smith, and Staios could compete with anyone.

Many forwards also made big leaps this year, most prominently young Hemsky. He exploded this year into a point-a-game player leading the team with 77 points. Not far behind was Horcoff who nearly doubled his point totals with a 73 point season. Third on the team was Stoll whose 68 points was more than triple what he had had in 03-04. Also making quantum leaps were Raffi Torres and Fernando Pisani, while Smyth had his best season in a while leading the team with 36 goals. Dvorak, Moreau, Laraque, and Reasoner all contributed as well. Reasoner would be traded at the deadline for scoring forward Sergei Samsonov who gave the Oilers another potent weapon on offense. This was easily the strongest group of forwards the team had produced since the cup years.

Despite the talent evident on the team, they struggled for wins all season, mostly due to their mediocre goaltending. They were very competitive all season, but it was touch and go to make the playoffs, with the team finally clinching the final spot with a dramatic Hemsky goal in the second last game of the year. But of course once they got in, everything seemed to suddenly click in and the team played the best hockey we've seen around these parts in this century. If you're at least 25, this run is probably well ingrained in your psyche, so let's just mention all the bullet point highlights:

• After splitting the first two games against Detroit, game 3 saw Detroit score the apparent game winner in OT only for replay to reveal the goal went under the net. I distinctly remember the Wings' Kirk Maltby banging on the doors behind the net trying to get the staff to open them so the Wings could leave the ice so maybe they wouldn't bother reviewing it, but the doors remained closed. Whichever Rexall staff member was responsible for that probably deserves an assist for making sure the teams stayed on the ice until it could be reviewed. Of course Stoll would then get the real winner for the Oilers in double OT.
• Horcoff blocking a shot with his face late in game 5 to preserve the Oilers win and send them home to game 6 with a 3-2 series lead.
• Everything about period 3 in game 6. This remains my personal favourite swquence from this drive. In fact let's link to it here so you can watch it again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFbaiMS73Ec
• After losing a couple of lackluster games to start the San Jose series, the Oilers found themselves in danger of going down 3-0, but then Torres tied it and, after three tense OTs, Horcoff finally got the Oilers back in the series.
• After being down 4-1 in game 4, the Oilers go to work and score in bunches to take the game 7-4.
• Polishing off the Sharks with easy wings in games 5 and 6.
• Rolling over the Mighty Ducks with a quick 5-game series win to get to the finals.
• Pisani's out of body 14 goal performance overall.

Then of course came the Cup Final. After storming out to that 3-0 lead in game 1 we were all feeling so confident about a cup victory. The blown lead, the Roloson injury, and the Conklin/Smith gaffe cost us so much (you know the details--I won't rehash them). There would of course still be some cherished memories like the Pisani's OT shorthanded winner and the 4-0 drubbing in game 6 to tie the series, but we all know they fell just short. But hockey was back, the Oilers were good again and nothing could spoil Oil country's anticipation for next year....

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Re: Season 33 (NHL 26), 2005-06: The Surprise Cup Run [message #825363 is a reply to message #825361 ]	Tue, 29 August 2023 09:54

Dragon_Matt
Messages: 766
Registered: January 2009
Location: edmonton

No Cups

March 7 vs the Stars- Ty Conklin, who started the game and was uninjured and got the Oilers to this point with a 3-3 tie, is pulled at the end of OT as MacT puts the backup, Mike Morrison, in net for the shootout.
Would Conklin have done better and won that game, who knows... but a cold backup going in after sitting still for 60 minutes is a bit baffling.

Also, what an absolute STEAL Lowe made in that Rollison trade.

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Re: Season 33 (NHL 26), 2005-06: The Surprise Cup Run [message #825370 is a reply to message #825363 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 12:56

Adam
Messages: 7175
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

Dragon_Matt wrote on Tue, 29 August 2023 09:54

This forgets that Conklin was just a complete train wreck at shootouts that entire season. He was just so so bad at them.

It was a pretty weird move, but Morrison's one advantage on the other two was that he occasionally stopped shooters in the skills competition. And it gave us the entertaining visual of Conklin bouncing his mask in frustration at the pull.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Re: Season 33 (NHL 26), 2005-06: The Surprise Cup Run [message #825371 is a reply to message #825361 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 13:04

Adam
Messages: 7175
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

benv wrote on Tue, 29 August 2023 00:10

• After splitting the first two games against Detroit, game 3 saw Detroit score the apparent game winner in OT only for replay to reveal the goal went under the net. I distinctly remember the Wings' Kirk Maltby banging on the doors behind the net trying to get the staff to open them so the Wings could leave the ice so maybe they wouldn't bother reviewing it, but the doors remained closed. Whichever Rexall staff member was responsible for that probably deserves an assist for making sure the teams stayed on the ice until it could be reviewed. Of course Stoll would then get the real winner for the Oilers in double OT.

I believe it was Mark Spector who said the Oilers will lose in 4 games to Detroit, only because they couldn't lose in three.

Such a fun spring. I was young, single, had a little disposable income and my best friend managed a sports bar where I disposed of a lot of that income in those couple months.

I will say, the post-2006 playoff atmospheres have never yet reached the level that we saw that year. The building could not be silenced. Goals against might create a brief lull, but then before the puck was dropped again the chants would be deafening, and I think it helped lift the team off the mat whenever we had any adversity. I still remember Bryzgalov looking around like he'd entered an insane asylum during the lead up to the one game - clearly impacted by the sheer madness in that building. I hope we get back to that....although I think maybe there's something about the way that team came together that helped make some of that magic happen too.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Re: Season 33 (NHL 26), 2005-06: The Surprise Cup Run [message #825372 is a reply to message #825371 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 13:17

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7803
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

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Adam wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 13:04

benv wrote on Tue, 29 August 2023 00:10

Something about the way the team came together, the journey they (and we) went on, the economy, the community, and the building. It don't think that magical mix can be captured again. I might be getting old though maybe the millennials and zoomers will get a run that's magic to them.

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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Re: Season 33 (NHL 26), 2005-06: The Surprise Cup Run [message #825373 is a reply to message #825372 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 14:36

Adam
Messages: 7175
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

CrusaderPi wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 13:17

Adam wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 13:04

benv wrote on Tue, 29 August 2023 00:10

I think the sheer suckitude for more of the 16 years since has made the fanbase so much more fragile. We really are deflated by a bad goal. That decade before 2006 had so much plucky spirit, and the feeling that the team might be something if we were ever able to keep a star player for an extra couple years...those teams were playing against Stars and Avs teams with double or triple the payroll and staying competitive. And then the playoffs started and we had actual goaltending and got on a roll and everyone just got on board.

The teams were so likable in that era too...the EIG was a conglomerate of everyman Edmontonians who'd build local businesses. Sather always managed to spin the David vs. Goliath thing so well. And even Lowe and MacT got some mileage out of the whole "boys coming home as men" story angle. Now, we've had a fairly hard to love owner, out of touch management who have no creativity or innovative spirit, and the guy who set up sexual assault slush funds and blamed a whole season on Tobias bleeping Rieder. And even with the best players in the world on the team, we can't get out of our own way, or admit mistakes and quickly correct them.

So now I think people's faith is much quicker to falter, because people haven't had good reasons to be diehard fans for so long. I still long for the belief to return though, and for that kind of energy to be in the building again.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825366 is a reply to message #824021 ]	Tue, 29 August 2023 23:51

benv
Messages: 601
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

https://scontent.fyxd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/246569_10151517046612128_1645127362_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=UdpkMR4X3J8AX_UJPW7&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd3-1.fna&oh=00_AfB9WzBDMuMIvioTqNg78Xj_Bgg3GtUqfI-a1FnxzKsdqw&oe=65165BE6


	Coach: Craig MacTavish						
	GM: Kevin Lowe						
							
Regular Season Record: 32W-43L-4OTL-3SOL (.433)--71 points							
195GF 248GA    Finish: 12th Western Conference (25th overall)--out of playoffs							
							
	 			Regular Season			
	Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
1	Smyth, Ryan	F	53	31	22	53	
2	Hemsky, Ales	F	64	13	40	53	
3	Sykora, Petr	F	82	22	31	53	
4	Horcoff, Shawn	F	80	16	35	51	
5	Stoll, Jarret	F	51	13	26	39	
6	Torres, Raffi	F	82	15	19	34	
7	Pisani, Fernando	F	77	14	14	28	
8	Lupul, Joffrey	F	81	16	12	28	
9	Bergeron, Marc-Andre	D	55	8	17	25	
10	Reasoner, Marty	F	72	6	14	20	
11	Staios, Steve	D	58	2	15	17	
12	Thoresen, Patrick	F	68	4	12	16	
13	Tjarnqvist, Daniel	D	37	3	12	15	
14	Petersen, Toby	F	64	6	9	15	
15	Pouliot, Marc	F	46	4	7	11	
16	Smith, Jason	D	82	2	9	11	
17	Smid, Ladislav	D	77	3	7	10	
18	Greene, Matt	D	78	1	9	10	
19	Hejda, Jan	D	39	1	8	9	
20	Winchester, Brad	F	59	4	5	9	
21	Gilbert, Tom	D	12	1	5	6	
22	Nedved, Petr	F	19	1	4	5	
23	Roy, Mathieu	D	16	2	0	2	
24	Nilsson, Robert	F	4	1	0	1	
25	Brodziak, Kyle	F	6	1	0	1	
26	Moreau, Ethan	F	7	1	0	1	
27	Syvret, Danny	D	16	0	1	1	
28	Stortini, Zack	F	29	1	0	1	
29	Schremp, Rob	F	1	0	0	0	
30	Bisaillon, Sebastien	D	2	0	0	0	
31	Mikhnov, Alexei	F	2	0	0	0	
32	Young, Bryan	D	15	0	0	0	
33	Jacques, Jean-Francois	F	37	0	0	0	
							
				Goalies			
	Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L-OL	
1	Roloson, Dwayne	68	3932	2.75	0.909	27-34-6	
2	Markkanen, Jussi	22	992	3.15	0.886	5-9-1

Transactions

May 31, 2006
• Signed Patrick Thoresen as free agent.

June 24, 2006
• 3rd (Michael Forney) and 7th (Arturs Kulda) round picks in 2006 traded to Atlanta for 3rd round pick in 2006 (Theo Peckham).
• 2006 NHL entry draft—Oilers selected Jeff Petry (45) and Theo Peckham (75).

July 3, 2006
• Chris Pronger traded to Anaheim for Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid, 1st round pick in 2007 (Nick Ross (Phoenix)), and 1st (Jordan Eberle) and 2nd (Travis Hamonic (NY Islanders)) round picks in 2008.

July 4, 2006
• Signed Marty Reasoner (formerly with Boston) as free agent.

July 5, 2006
• Jaroslav Spacek signed as free agent by Buffalo.
• Georges Laraque signed as free agent by Phoenix.

July 6, 2006
• Signed Daniel Tjarnqvist (formerly with Minnesota) as free agent.
• Ty Conklin signed as free agent by Columbus.

July 10, 2006
• 7th round pick in 2007 (Nick Eno) traded to Buffalo for Jan Hejda.

July 12, 2006
• Sergei Samsonov signed as free agent by Montreal.

July 13, 2006
• Dan Smith signed as free agent by Detroit.

July 18, 2006
• Mike Peca signed as free agent by Toronto.

August 11, 2006
• Signed Petr Sykora (formerly with NY Rangers) as free agent.

August 28, 2006
• Signed Tim Sestito as free agent.

September 14, 2006
• Radek Dvorak signed as free agent by St. Louis.

September 27, 2006
• Signed Sebastien Bisaillon as free agent.

January 2, 2007
• Claimed Petr Nedved on waivers from Philadelphia.

February 18, 2007
• Marc-Andre Bergeron and 3rd round pick in 2008 (Kirill Petrov) traded to NY Islanders for Denis Grebeshkov.

February 27, 2007
• Ryan Smyth traded to NY Islanders for Robert Nilsson, Ryan O’Marra, and 1st round pick in 2007 (Alex Plante).

And the decade of darkness commences.

So just three days after losing game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Oiler fans were greeted with the news that Chris Pronger had asked for a trade due to family reasons. This was probably the most devastating news we could have as Pronger was the easy mvp of the season and cup run. But Lowe’s hand was forced and Pronger was dealt to the Ducks for two players (local forward Joffrery Lupul and young defenseman Ladislav Smid) plus three draft picks. The Oilers would now have the difficult task of trying to convince their many UFAs to stay despite the loss of their best player. Not surprisingly they were unsuccessful in most cases. Samsonov, Peca, Spacek, Tarnstrom, Dvorak, Laraque, and Conklin all followed Pronger out the door. It wasn’t all bad news though—two of their playoff darlings chose to re-sign in Roloson and Pisani. Marty Reasoner was brought back after leaving at the previous season’s deadline. They signed veteran forward Petr Sykora to boost the offense and added Daniel Tjarnqvist and Jan Hejda to boost the sagging defense. As the season got underway, the Oiler had to hope that full season of Roloson in addition to a slightly beefed up forward group would be enough to make up for the losses on defense.

Roloson was leaned on heavily as he played 68 games over the season and had decent number giving the Oilers what they needed in net. With Conklin gone, Markkanen was now the full time backup and did not have a very good season in the limited time he played.

It was impossible to make up for the loss of Pronger and the rag-tag group that remained showed this in spades. Smith and Staios remained, although the latter missed a third of the season. Greene was back and would take a full time role this season as he showed himself to be reliable defensively. Bergeron actually lead the team in points from the backend, but would be dealt in February as management grew weary of his defensive gaffes. Of the three newcomers, Smid was the most impressive playing a full season in the second pairing in his rookie year. Tjarnqvist missed half the year with injury, and Hejda was a serviceable 7th man. Making his NHL debut was Tom Gilbert who was called up to play just 12 games, but would soon become a very important player on the team. Late in the year the Oilers blueline was absolutely devastated by injury and the team was forced to call up lower end prospect Bryan Young and even pulled Sebastian Bissaillon up from the QMJHL for a couple of games in order to get six defenesemen in the lineup.

It was hoped that the forward group would be the saving grace of this team. Horcoff, Hesmky, Smyth, Stoll, Torres, and Pisani would be augmented by Sykora and Lupul giving the team what was hoped would be a potent offense. It never came to fruition. Of all the players only Smyth could be said to have a great season. He was averaging a point a game (53 points in 53 games) when he got into contract negotiations with management that never got resolved and he was summarily traded at to the Islanders at the deadline for two prospects and draft pick. This was a stunning trade, as Smyth had been considered the heart of the team for so many years. The trade coincided with the retirement of Messier’s jersey retirement night and Lowe had to bow out of the ceremony to avoid the fan derision at him for the trade.

Despite leaving the team, Smyth’s 53 points tied him for the lead with Hemsky and Sykora who both had decent seasons. Horcoff saw his point totals dip to 51, while both Stoll (who missed 31 games) and Torres also dropped significantly. Pisani couldn’t hope to continue his playoff magic and had a more ordinary season, while the biggest disappointment of all was Joffrey Lupul who just couldn’t seem to get comfortable in Edmonton. His 28 points were half what he had achieved in Anaheim the previous year. Moreau was hobbled with injury the entire year, while the remaining forwards were rounded out by Reasoner, Petersen (who was the Oilers secret weapon on the power play), newcomer Patrick Thoresen (a fast start but soon cooled off), Brad Winchester (his only full season with the team, which was somewhat disappointing). Finally we saw the first real looks at three players the Oilers had drafted in 2003 in Marc Pouliot, Jean-Francois Jacques, and Zack Stortini. Jacques famously got 0 points in his 37 games on route to going scoreless in his first 58. Oh and finally the season saw a return of Petr Nedved, but he simply didn't have it anymore.

The Oilers got out of the gate ok, but then soon started to falter. As February approached, they got further and further from the playoff cut line, and then after Smyth was traded went into a complete tailspin, going on a 12 game losing streak and winning just two games in the last 20. This was a quite a humbling result for a team that had just been to the Stanley Cup Final. Overall they finished with 71 points which was last in the division and 12th in the conference, a full 25 points back of 8th place Calgary.

Oh and I'll just conclude by giving you these two nuggets. Even in a season where they missed the playoffs, the Oilers couldn't avoid drama with Dallas. The Stars made two visits to Edmonton in 06-07. In their first visit in November this happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAMiZ0vcE4Q

In their second visit in January this happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bBns6ZUn0U&t=81s

These were definitely the most talked about moments from a dissapointing season.

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825367 is a reply to message #825366 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 10:29

oilfan94
Messages: 408
Registered: June 2006
Location: USA

No Cups

To me, 2006 felt like the culmination of the blue collar copper and blue era that started in the 1997 season. Underdogs that finally got everything together and had a chance to win it all. 2007 felt like the epilogue, as son many heart and soul players had left and were leaving within a year after the cup run. When the jerseys changed for 2008 it felt like it was a different team, and the identity of the team they were before was gone.

Also, I liked Petr Sykora before he played for the Oilers, and I always appreciated that he came in for that year. It was just nice to see a notable player come in and choose to sign in Edmonton as a free agent. It was such a rare thing back then, and was the bright spot during a depressing 2006 off season.

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825368 is a reply to message #825367 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 10:56

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7803
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

6 Cups

oilfan94 wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 10:29

This is a great summation of a decade of hockey. 97-07 felt like an entirely different organization than the glory years and decline oilers and the multi-rebuild to McDavid Oilers. I didn't really notice this at the time because I always linked the EIG Oilers with the Katz Oilers because of the people running the hockey operations. Looking back, I reject the concept of a decade of darkness because of that link. I see it as ongoing 24 year run of mediocrity.

Totally unrelated, Sebastien Bisaillon is my all time favorite obscure Oilers story.

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825374 is a reply to message #825367 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 14:59

smyth260
Messages: 1080
Registered: November 2007

1 Cup

Petr Sykora is the most consistent non-superstar NHL history. Does anybody else contend?

Clean house or bust

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825375 is a reply to message #825374 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 16:00

oilfan94
Messages: 408
Registered: June 2006
Location: USA

No Cups

smyth260 wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 16:59

Petr Sykora is the most consistent non-superstar NHL history. Does anybody else contend?

That is a pretty good description of him. Jordan Eberle is this generation's Petr Sykora,

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825376 is a reply to message #825374 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 16:55

Adam
Messages: 7175
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

smyth260 wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 14:59

Petr Sykora is the most consistent non-superstar NHL history. Does anybody else contend?

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=1855

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825377 is a reply to message #825376 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 17:13

smyth260
Messages: 1080
Registered: November 2007

1 Cup

What a fascinating career. Over 700 goals but the best I could find for a season of his was 5th in goals. His top goal scoring years were frequently 9th or 10th.

Clean house or bust

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825378 is a reply to message #825377 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 17:35

Adam
Messages: 7175
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

smyth260 wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 17:13

What a fascinating career. Over 700 goals but the best I could find for a season of his was 5th in goals. His top goal scoring years were frequently 9th or 10th.

My other entrants there might be:

Dino Ciccarelli - https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=992
Dave Andreychuk - https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=80

Is Luc Robitaille a star player? Pierre Turgeon? Joe Mullen? There's a few of these guys who had long careers where they always produced, but never were the star guy. Most were very rarely even the best guy on their own team. It does feel like there used to be more of them though...pretty much all those guys I could think of were 80s & 90s guys. Maybe a Patrick Marleau is in a similar category. Maybe the problem is that a perpetual 45-50 goal scorer back then is maybe a 30-35 goal scorer now, so they're just less memorable.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825380 is a reply to message #825376 ]	Thu, 31 August 2023 08:27

oilfan94
Messages: 408
Registered: June 2006
Location: USA

No Cups

Adam wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 18:55

smyth260 wrote on Wed, 30 August 2023 14:59

Petr Sykora is the most consistent non-superstar NHL history. Does anybody else contend?

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=1855

Mike Gartner man, he should be a lot more memorable than he is. From the 1987 season to the end of their careers he actually scored more goals (426 to 413) than Wayne Gretzky, and played 46 less games during that time. A testament to his consistency and to how insane Gretzky's goal numbers where his first few seasons in the NHL (outscoring Gartner by 199 goals in their first 7 seasons).

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825369 is a reply to message #825366 ]	Wed, 30 August 2023 10:57

Steve
Messages: 113
Registered: October 2006
Location: Ottawa

No Cups

Where is a weeping emoji when you need one.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

- Calvin

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825430 is a reply to message #825366 ]	Mon, 11 September 2023 10:39

auntiekris
Messages: 8
Registered: July 2006
Location: Sonoma, CA

No Cups

#$@&%* Pronger! Indeed.

I don't think I will ever change my avatar, I'm still that pissed.

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825432 is a reply to message #825430 ]	Mon, 11 September 2023 10:49

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7803
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

6 Cups

auntiekris wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 10:39

#$@&%* Pronger! Indeed.

I don't think I will ever change my avatar, I'm still that pissed.

I've come to accept Pronger was right to want to leave. History has vindicated his position. It still wasn't great for us as fans.

For years I didn't think the 2006-07 team photo existed. Back when I was in more of a content creator mindset I wanted to parody the old Devils team photo that had Lindros knocked out in it (this has apparently been forgotten by the internet) with a picture of this Oilers teams and Pronger carrying the cup. It's probably for the best that I've never seen that team photo until benv posted it.

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825435 is a reply to message #825432 ]	Mon, 11 September 2023 12:20

auntiekris
Messages: 8
Registered: July 2006
Location: Sonoma, CA

No Cups

CrusaderPi wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 09:49

auntiekris wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 10:39

#$@&%* Pronger! Indeed.

I don't think I will ever change my avatar, I'm still that pissed.

I've come to accept Pronger was right to want to leave. History has vindicated his position. It still wasn't great for us as fans.

Understatement of the century IMO, not being great for the fans. Mr. Pi, you certainly are the much bigger person than I, although I can't diagree with you. The avatar, however, stays lol.

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825437 is a reply to message #825435 ]	Mon, 11 September 2023 12:48

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7803
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

6 Cups

auntiekris wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 12:20

CrusaderPi wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 09:49

auntiekris wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 10:39

#$@&%* Pronger! Indeed.

I don't think I will ever change my avatar, I'm still that pissed.

I've come to accept Pronger was right to want to leave. History has vindicated his position. It still wasn't great for us as fans.

Understatement of the century IMO, not being great for the fans. Mr. Pi, you certainly are the much bigger person than I, although I can't diagree with you. The avatar, however, stays lol.

The avatar needs to stay. We should never forget horrors like that. We need to feel pain, it's how we learn. It's how we grow.

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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Re: Season 34 (NHL 27); 2006-07: #$@&%* Pronger! [message #825438 is a reply to message #825435 ]	Mon, 11 September 2023 12:51

Adam
Messages: 7175
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

auntiekris wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 12:20

CrusaderPi wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 09:49

auntiekris wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 10:39

#$@&%* Pronger! Indeed.

I don't think I will ever change my avatar, I'm still that pissed.

I've come to accept Pronger was right to want to leave. History has vindicated his position. It still wasn't great for us as fans.

Understatement of the century IMO, not being great for the fans. Mr. Pi, you certainly are the much bigger person than I, although I can't diagree with you. The avatar, however, stays lol.

At least it isn't his baby's crib being burned in that photo!

It is really too bad that that happened. I think that Lowe was ahead of the pack coming out of the lockout - one of the only times that happened. The big budget teams were struggling with cap compliance, and our status as a have-not previously played in our favour there.

The way that year shaped up, and the way the previous summer had gone, I think if Pronger doesn't leave, the Oilers have a ton of flexibility and are probably a destination for free agents. The Flames had seen some good players seek out employment there after the 2004 run, and I think the Oilers were better positioned since our best players were all under contract for a while yet (other than Roloson who was the first - and almost the only one - to re-sign). We probably could have had our pick of which guys we wanted to keep and guys like Spacek and Samsonov maybe re-ink. Peca had said from the time he got here that he was only here a short time, but you can live with a couple departures and it freed up cap space.

As it was, I think it set Lowe to swinging wildly, rather than having a rationale plan. He wasn't good with people leaving at the best of times, and that was such a kick in the balls that I don't think he ever recovered as a GM from it. The Pronger trade was rushed, and basically set us in motion for a rebuild which the team (management and players) didn't seem ready to do. Unless Smid had turned out to be a perennial all-star (and given the stats to that point it would have been a big surprise) then we lost that deal on the first day. Lupul had had a decent season in Anaheim, but even if he'd grown from there, he wasn't going to come anywhere close to contributing enough to replace Pronger's absence and the first round picks were always going to be late first rounders. Years out from playing and less likely to be stars. We actually did really well turning the one in to Eberle. He was the only of the three picks that we'd end up actually taking. Somehow the 2nd rounder (Hamonic!) went to the Islanders, while the other first rounder (Nick Ross) was dealt so we could move up and take Riley Nash.

After that, I don't think he ever had a clear plan again prior to handing over the reins to Tambellini - and wasn't able to really elucidate a vision to Tambo either. You see the Oilers swinging for the fences each summer with questionably-though out pursuits - Jagr, Hossa, Heatley, Nylander, Vanek - followed by selling off like crazy come the deadline. They would blab so much about what they tried to do, which just underlined their failures to make things happen even more. They'd spend to the cap, and then tell everyone that they planned to be bad and finish last place to get a top pick. It's just so scattered in that next 5 years and it really all goes back to Pronger changing his mind on whether this was where he wanted to play those years.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Season 35 (NHL 28), 2007-08: Reason for optimism? [message #825381 is a reply to message #824021 ]	Thu, 31 August 2023 19:00

benv
Messages: 601
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

https://scontent.fyxd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/67207_10151528907512128_529548608_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=9Odo4Zx_PJkAX8fc6ZT&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd3-1.fna&oh=00_AfCsYmdwAmjMnJkJEIlMZS4Pu9IQhMvZfZlCBaH_ky8KPQ&oe=65188C89


	Coach: Craig MacTavish						
	GM: Kevin Lowe						
							
Regular Season Record: 41W-35L-2OTL-4SOL (.537)--88 points							
235GF 251GA    Finish: 9th Western Conference (19th overall)--Out of Playoffs							
							
	 			Regular Season			
	Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
1	Hemsky, Ales	F	74	20	51	71	
2	Horcoff, Shawn	F	53	21	29	50	
3	Gagner, Sam	F	79	13	36	49	
4	Penner, Dustin	F	82	23	24	47	
5	Cogliano, Andrew	F	82	18	27	45	
6	Nilsson, Robert	F	71	10	31	41	
7	Stoll, Jarret	F	81	14	22	36	
8	Gilbert, Tom	D	82	13	20	33	
9	Brodziak, Kyle	F	80	14	17	31	
10	Pitkanen, Joni	D	63	8	18	26	
11	Reasoner, Marty	F	82	11	14	25	
12	Pisani, Fernando	F	56	13	9	22	
13	Grebeshkov, Denis	D	71	3	15	18	
14	Staios, Steve	D	82	7	9	16	
15	Glencross, Curtis	F	26	9	4	13	
16	Sanderson, Geoff	F	41	3	10	13	
17	Stortini, Zack	F	66	3	9	12	
18	Torres, Raffi	F	32	5	6	11	
19	Souray, Sheldon	D	26	3	7	10	
20	Moreau, Ethan	F	25	5	4	9	
21	Pouliot, Marc	F	24	1	6	7	
22	Tarnstrom, Dick	D	29	1	4	5	
23	Smid, Ladislav	D	65	0	4	4	
24	Thoresen, Patrick	F	17	2	1	3	
25	Roy, Mathieu	D	13	0	1	1	
26	Greene, Matt	D	46	0	1	1	
27	Peckham, Theo	D	1	0	0	0	
28	Reddox, Liam	F	1	0	0	0	
29	Young, Bryan	D	2	0	0	0	
30	Schremp, Rob	F	2	0	0	0	
31	Jacques, Jean-Francois	F	9	0	0	0	
32	Rourke, Allan	D	13	0	0	0	
							
				Goalies			
	Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L-OL	
1	Garon, Mathieu	47	2658	2.66	0.913	26-18-1	
2	Roloson, Dwayne	43	2340	3.05	0.901	15-17-5

Transactions

June 22, 2007
• 1st (Nick Ross) and 2nd (Joel Gistedt) round picks in 2007 traded to Phoenix for 1st round pick in 2007 (Riley Nash*).
• 2007 NHL entry draft (round 1)—Oilers selected Sam Gagner (6), Alex Plante (15), and Riley Nash* (21).

June 23, 2007
• 2007 NHL entry draft (rounds 2-7)—Oilers selected Linus Omark (97) and Milan Kytnar (127).

July 1, 2007
• Joffrey Lupul and Jason Smith traded to Philadelphia for Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson, and 3rd round pick in 2009 (Cameron Abney*).

July 2, 2007
• Petr Sykora signed as free agent by Pittsburgh.

July 3, 2007
• Signed Mathieu Garon (formerly with Los Angeles) as free agent.

July 5, 2007
• Jan Hejda signed as free agent by Columbus.
• 2nd round pick in 2008 (Travis Hamonic) traded to NY Islanders for Allan Rourke and 3rd round pick in 2008 (Kirill Petrov (NY Islanders)).

July 6, 2007
• Toby Petersen signed as free agent by Dallas.
• Brad Winchester signed as free agent by Dallas.

July 12, 2007
• Signed Sheldon Souray (formerly with Montreal) as free agent.

August 2, 2007
• Signed Dustin Penner (formerly with Anaheim) as free agent—Anaheim receives Oilers’ 1st (Tyler Myers (Buffalo)), 2nd (Justin Schultz), and 3rd (Kirill Petrov (NY Islanders)) round picks in 2008 as compensation.

February 1, 2008
• Dick Tarnstrom traded to Columbus for Curtis Glencross.

February 22, 2008
• Patrick Thoresen claimed on waivers by Philadelphia.

Despite the putrid end to the 06-07 season, management was not ready to throw in the towel just yet, and the word “rebuild” was not tossed around yet. New uniforms (probably my least favourite design) would hopefully signal a quick turnaround.

First came the draft where the Oilers had three first round picks. With their own pick (6th overall) they snagged a promising scoring forward out of the OHL in Sam Gagner who would make the team and start contributing instantly (the other two picks, acquired via the Smyth and Pronger trades would both not pan out for the team). Next the Oilers were able to obtain what they hoped would be a high level d-man in Joni Pitkanen from the Flyers. To get him they dealt off their aging captain (Smith—he would be replaced by Moreau as captain) and the underperforming Lupul. On the free agent market Lowe was able to sign Matthieu Garon as a backup upgrade (Markkanen was let go) as well as Dick Tarnstrom for a second go-round with the team. He then made an even bigger splash by signing all-star Sheldon Souray to really strengthen their backend. He nearly got Michael Nylander, but Nylander backed out at the last minute (for spousal reasons—this was probably saved the Oilers from an albatross of a contract). Finally in a couple of very bold moves, Lowe made the unusual move of tendering not one but two RFA offer sheets. The first was to Tomas Vanek, but it was instantly matched by the Sabres. The second was to Anaheim’s power forward Dustin Penner. With the Ducks right up against the cap, they were not able to match and Penner was now an Oiler (at the cost of three draft picks the following year). There was of course a big sideshow around this signing between Lowe and Anaheim GM Brian Burke, but I’ll let you look that up if you haven’t heard about it. Players that would not return from the previous year (besides Smith, Lupul, and Markkanen) would be Sykora (signed with Pittsburgh), Hejda (Columbus), Petersen (Dallas), Winchester (Dallas), and Tjarnqvist (Russia).

So in goal, Roloson would have stiffer competition with the arrival of Garon. Roloson got the bulk of the work early, but as the season went on, Garon outperformed him and took over the starting job. By seasons end they had split the games pretty evenly, but Garon got most of the games in their late stretch drive and had the better overall numbers.

On defense, the additions of Souray and Pitkanen were expected to have a huge impact, but it didn’t quite work out as planned. Souray played just 26 games after a shoulder injury early in the season, and was largely a non-factor for the year. Pitkanen also suffered an injury, but managed to dress for 63 games and provided a spark of offense. There were constant rumours that he was a bit odd and didn’t mesh with his teammates, but who knows how much there is to that. The Oilers leading scorer on the backend was the surprising Tom Gilbert who played his first full season, breaking the Oiler rookie record for goals (13) and getting 33 points. Denis Grebeshkov and been acquired for Bergeron the previous year and made his debut with the team, playing the full season. Staios played all 82 games in his sixth season with the team, while Smid and Greene continued to be the very definition of defensive d-men. Tarnstrom’s return was also not as glamorous as hoped, as he played just 29 games, getting only 5 points and was dealt at the deadline.

Horcoff really emerged as an Oiler leader, rebounding from his weaker 06-07 to get 50 points in 53 games and be the Oilers’ all-star rep. He then proceeded to injure himself at the all-star game and would miss the rest of the year. Hemsky also had a great season, leading the team with 71 points. Sam Gagner had a good rookie year getting 49 points and making highlight reels with his shootout prowess. He played most of the year with two other rookies: Robert Nilsson (acquired in the Smyth trade) and Andrew Cogliano (2005 1st rounder). The three had chemistry, particularly down the stretch when the Oilers were hot and missing some key guys in Horcoff, Torres, Pisani, and Moreau. The latter three all had disappointing years marred by injuries and (in the case of Pisani) ulcerative colitis. Stoll managed to avoid injury, but saw his point totals dip to just 36. Another surprising trio was that of Kyle Brodziak, Zack Stortini (both 2003 draft picks) and Curtis Glencross (acquired late in the season for Tarnstrom). This would be a very effective third line in the stretch drive. Oh and I haven’t even mentioned their prize acquisition Dustin Penner yet. He was their leading goal scorer, potting 23 and getting 47 points. Players rotating through the fourth line included Reasoner (who played all 82 games), Geoff Sanderson (a veteran on the tail end of his career), Pouliot, and Jacques.

The Oilers had a poor start to the season and seemed destined for another very poor season. By February they were about 15 points out of a playoff spot when a funny thing happened. Despite being deprived of many of their top players (Horcoff, Torres, Souray, Moreau, and Pisani) they suddenly started to win, being lead by their kid line (Gagner/Cogliano/Nilsson), grind line (Brodziak/Stortini/Glencross) and the goaltending of Garon they went on a tear in March to climb back into the playoff race. It was quite an exciting time (I think I would call March 2008 the high point of the decade of darkness)—at one point Cogliano scored OT winners in three straight games. Unfortunately their drive fell just short—they finished the season with 88 points, 3 back of eight place Nashville.

The skilled youth on the team and the fact that they would get some of the injured guys back gave the fans hope that the team would rebound the next year.

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Re: Season 35 (NHL 28), 2007-08: Reason for optimism? [message #825384 is a reply to message #825381 ]	Thu, 31 August 2023 22:18

oilfan94
Messages: 408
Registered: June 2006
Location: USA

No Cups

I remember when Cogliano stored 3 straight OT winner seeing an article that his gloves went t9 the HHOF. Pretty cool to have something there even if it's not your plaque. Another item of note for the 2008 season is that the Oilers set another NHL record that still stands to this day at 15. That relates to all the shootout magic that Gagner had that year.

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Re: Season 35 (NHL 28), 2007-08: Reason for optimism? [message #825385 is a reply to message #825381 ]	Thu, 31 August 2023 22:41

Adam
Messages: 7175
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

benv wrote on Thu, 31 August 2023 19:00

Pitkanen also suffered an injury, but managed to dress for 63 games and provided a spark of offense. There were constant rumours that he was a bit odd and didn’t mesh with his teammates, but who knows how much there is to that.

I have heard many times that it was Craig MacTavish who most thought Pitkanen was a space cadet and that he wasn't really a fan - a big reason he'd get traded for Erik Cole that next summer in a pretty questionable deal.

Pitkanen was a great skater and was pretty good over the next three years. Cole rebounded a few years later but he was just trash in Edmonton.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Season 36 (NHL 28); 2008-09: Shuffle the Chairs [message #825392 is a reply to message #824021 ]	Sat, 02 September 2023 22:47

benv
Messages: 601
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

https://scontent.fyxd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/534144_10151539977147128_1748036391_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=Ax65kNRp35kAX802qBA&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd3-1.fna&oh=00_AfBnJbMGsxtZD8u_xlbXWvoREbamn6UdHf28cylqWzCucA&oe=651B850A


	Coach: Craig MacTavish						
	GM: Steve Tambellini						
							
Regular Season Record: 38W-35L-5OTL-4SOL (.518)--85 points							
234GF 248GA      Finish: 11th Western Conference (21st overall)--Out of Playoffs  							
							
	 			Regular Season			
	Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
1	Hemsky, Ales	F	72	23	43	66	
2	Horcoff, Shawn	F	80	17	36	53	
3	Souray, Sheldon	D	81	23	30	53	
4	Gilbert, Tom	D	82	5	40	45	
5	Gagner, Sam	F	76	16	25	41	
6	Grebeshkov, Denis	D	72	7	32	39	
7	Cogliano, Andrew	F	82	18	20	38	
8	Penner, Dustin	F	78	17	20	37	
9	Visnovsky, Lubomir	D	50	8	23	31	
10	Nilsson, Robert	F	64	9	20	29	
11	Cole, Erik	F	63	16	11	27	
12	Brodziak, Kyle	F	79	11	16	27	
13	Moreau, Ethan	F	77	14	12	26	
14	Pouliot, Marc	F	63	8	12	20	
15	Pisani, Fernando	F	38	7	8	15	
16	Staios, Steve	D	80	2	12	14	
17	Reddox, Liam	F	46	5	7	12	
18	Kotalik, Ales	F	19	7	4	11	
19	Stortini, Zack	F	52	6	5	11	
20	Smid, Ladislav	D	60	0	11	11	
21	Strudwick, Jason	D	71	2	7	9	
22	O'Sullivan, Patrick	F	19	2	4	6	
23	Schremp, Rob	F	4	0	3	3	
24	Potulny, Ryan	F	8	0	3	3	
25	Brule, Gilbert	F	11	2	1	3	
26	MacIntyre, Steve	F	22	2	0	2	
27	Jacques, Jean-Francois	F	7	1	0	1	
28	Sestito, Tim	F	1	0	0	0	
29	Chorney, Taylor	D	2	0	0	0	
30	Boulerice, Jesse	F	2	0	0	0	
31	Peckham, Theo	D	15	0	0	0	
							
				Goalies			
	Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L-OL	
1	Roloson, Dwayne	63	3597	2.77	0.915	28-24-9	
2	Garon, Mathieu	15	815	3.17	0.895	6-8-0	
3	Deslauriers, Jeff	10	540	3.33	0.901	4-3-0

Transactions

June 6, 2008
• Danny Syvret traded to Philadelphia for Ryan Potulny.

June 20, 2008
• 2008 NHL entry draft (round 1)—Oilers selected Jordan Eberle (22).

June 21, 2008
• 2008 NHL entry draft (rounds 2-7)—Oilers selected Johan Motin (103), Phillipe Cornet (133), and Teemu Hartikainen (163).

June 29, 2008
• Matt Greene and Jarret Stoll traded to Los Angeles for Lubomir Visnovsky.

July 1, 2008
• Raffi Torres traded to Columbus for Gilbert Brule.
• Joni Pitkanen traded to Carolina for Erik Cole.

July 2, 2008
• Curtis Glencross signed as free agent by Calgary.

July 3, 2008
• Daniel Tjarnqvist signed as free agent by Colorado.

July 10, 2008
• Signed Jason Strudwick (formerly with NY Rangers) as free agent.
July 17, 2008
• Marty Reasoner signed as free agent by Atlanta.

September 30, 2008
• Claimed Steve MacIntyre on waivers from Florida.

November 11, 2008
• Claimed Jesse Boulerice on waivers from Colorado.

November 21, 2008
• Jesse Boulerice claimed on waivers by Colorado.

January 17, 2009
• Mathieu Garon traded to Pittsburgh for Dany Sabourin*, Ryan Stone, and 4th round pick in 2011 (Tobias Rieder).

March 4, 2009
• Erik Cole and 5th round pick in 2009 (Matt Kennedy) traded to Carolina for Patrick O’Sullivan and 2nd round pick in 2009 (Jesse Blacker (Toronto)).
• 2nd round pick in 2009 (Jesse Blacker (Toronto)) traded to Buffalo for Ales Kotalik.

Still not ready to throw in the towel, Lowe made three big trades in three days in the 2008 offseason in an attempt to get the team over the hump. First he dealt Stoll and Greene to the Kings for all-star defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky. Then he dealt Pitkanen to the Hurricanes for power forward Erik Cole. Finally he dealt his own power forward Torres for former top prospect (and Edmonton native) Gilbert Brule. In other minor moves, he allowed Glencross and Reasoner to depart as free agents, while signing another Edmonton native in Jason Strudwick for defensive depth.

Once all this was done, Lowe surprised everyone by announcing he would no longer be the GM. Lowe became president of hockey operations and hired Steve Tambellini as the new GM of the team. Tambellini had worked in various positions with the Canucks for the past ten seasons, most recently as their assistant GM. His stint as Oilers’ GM would be remembered for his inaction then any particular moves he did.

In goal, the team started the season with three men. In addition to Garon and Roloson, they had Jeff Deslauriers who had been a top prospect in the system since being drafted in 2002. He was no longer waiver immune and the Oilers’ greatly feared him being claimed if they sent down, so he would spend the entire season on the team, but played only 10 games. Garon was designated the starter early, but injuries and superior play by Roloson would flip things. Garon ended up playing only 15 games before he was traded to Pittsburgh to allow Deslauriers to be the back up. Roloson had the heavy workload, playing in 63 games and was quite decent, putting up a .915 save percentage.

On defence, the Oilers actually did look pretty good. Three of their d-men were top 6 in team scoring—and none of them were new guy Visnovsky, brought in for this reason. After his very disappointing 07-08, Souray showed what the Oilers got him for playing injury free the whole season, and racking up 53 points. Both Gilbert and Grebeshkov took big steps up getting 45 and 39 points respectively. Visnovsky made it a quartet of d-men with offensive capability, but missed 32 games and came in with 31 points. Rounding out the d-men, Staios, Smid, and Strudwick rounded out the crew as the defensive guys. This was certainly a better crew then the Oilers had seen recently.

Up front, Hesmky did his thing once again leading the team with 66 points and staying relatively healthy. Horcoff was also heatlhy, playing all 82 games, but he had a relatively disappointing season getting only 53 points (about the same he had the previous season in 30 less games). The Gagner/Cogliano/Nilsson trio was back; Gagner was up to 49 points, but Cogliano and Nilsson’s numbers were slightly down. Penner’s numbers were also down and Erik Cole never settled in great. He would be dealt at the deadline in a mutli-team deal that saw the Oilers get Patrick O’Sullivan and Alex Kotalik who contributed somewhat, but not as much as hoped. On the bottom lines, Brodziak, Moreau, Stortini, Pouliot, and Reddox were just fine for what they were, while Pisani missed over half the season with his illness and was largely ineffective. Oh and newcomer Brule was mostly MIA, playing just 11 games.

This was probably the most competitive team the Oilers iced during the decade of darkness. They were within spitting distance of the playoffs for the entire season. They made deadline deals to try to get them over the top but they didn’t really pan out. A March slump of
3-8-0 knocked them out of contention and they would finish 6 points out.

So after three consecutive years of no playoffs the really bad stuff would start now.

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Season 37, 2009-10: Rock Bottom [message #825423 is a reply to message #824021 ]	Fri, 08 September 2023 23:10

benv
Messages: 601
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

https://scontent.fyxd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/67550_10151551721852128_1965150034_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=1bqPILNxEUEAX9ezHDT&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd3-1.fna&oh=00_AfCOx8eX1I3MQTPFCkUqq9XLrJ4VfSPpa5GtzJAedyycfQ&oe=65237A1A


Coach: Pat Quinn						
GM: Steve Tambellini						
						
	Wins	Losses	OTL	SOL	Pts	%
	27	47	2	6	62	0.378
	GF:	214	GA:	284		
	Finish:	15th Western Conference (30th overall)--Out of Playoffs				
						
 			Regular Season			
Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
Penner, Dustin	F	82	32	31	63	
Gagner, Sam	F	68	15	26	41	
Brule, Gilbert	F	65	17	20	37	
Horcoff, Shawn	F	77	13	23	36	
O'Sullivan, Patrick	F	73	11	23	34	
Visnovsky, Lubomir	D	57	10	22	32	
Potulny, Ryan	F	64	15	17	32	
Gilbert, Tom	D	82	5	26	31	
Cogliano, Andrew	F	82	10	18	28	
Nilsson, Robert	F	60	11	16	27	
Hemsky, Ales	F	22	7	15	22	
Comrie, Mike	F	43	13	8	21	
Grebeshkov, Denis	D	47	6	13	19	
Moreau, Ethan	F	76	9	9	18	
Pouliot, Marc	F	35	7	7	14	
Souray, Sheldon	D	37	4	9	13	
Stortini, Zack	F	77	4	9	13	
Whitney, Ryan	D	19	3	8	11	
Jacques, Jean-Francois	F	49	4	7	11	
Smid, Ladislav	D	51	1	8	9	
Pisani, Fernando	F	40	4	4	8	
Johnson, Aaron	D	19	3	4	7	
Staios, Steve	D	40	0	7	7	
Stone, Ryan	F	27	0	6	6	
Strudwick, Jason	D	72	0	6	6	
Chorney, Taylor	D	42	0	3	3	
Reddox, Liam	F	9	0	2	2	
McDonald, Colin	F	2	1	0	1	
O'Marra, Ryan	F	3	0	1	1	
Plante, Alex	D	4	0	1	1	
Minard, Chris	F	5	0	1	1	
Jones, Ryan	F	8	1	0	1	
Peckham, Theo	D	15	0	1	1	
Motin, Johan	D	1	0	0	0	
MacIntyre, Steve	F	4	0	0	0	
Linglet, Charles	F	5	0	0	0	
Arsene, Dean	D	13	0	0	0	
						
			Goalies			
Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L-OL	
Deslauriers, Jeff	48	2798	3.26	0.901	16-28-4	
Khabibulin, Nikolai	18	1089	3.03	0.909	7-9-2	
Dubnyk, Devan	19	1075	3.57	0.889	4-10-2

Transactions

June 26, 2009
• 2009 NHL entry draft (round 1)—Oilers selected Magnus Paajarvi (10).

June 27, 2009
• Kyle Brodziak and 6th round pick in 2009 (Darcy Kuemper) traded to Minnesota for 4th (Kyle Bigos*) and 5th (Olivier Roy*) round picks in 2009.
• 2009 NHL entry draft (rounds 2-7)—Oilers selected Anton Lander (40), Cameron Abney* (82), and Olivier Roy* (133).

July 1, 2009
• Dwayne Roloson signed as free agent by NY Islanders.
• Signed Nikolai Khabibulin (formerly with Chicago) as free agent.

July 9, 2009
• Ales Kotalik signed as free agent by NY Rangers.
• Tim Sestito traded to New Jersey for conditional draft pick in 2010 (not exercised).

July 11, 2009
• Mathieu Roy signed as free agent by Columbus.

July 13, 2009
• Signed Chris Minard (formerly with Pittsburgh) as free agent.

July 16, 2009
• Signed Dean Arsene (formerly with Washington) as free agent.

September 10, 2009
• Signed Mike Comrie (formerly with Ottawa) as free agent.

September 29, 2009
• Rob Schremp claimed on waivers by NY Islanders.

November 10, 2009
• Steve MacIntyre claimed on waivers by Florida.

March 1, 2010
• Denis Grebeshkov traded to Nashville for 2nd round pick in 2010 (Curtis Hamilton).

March 3, 2010
• Claimed Ryan Jones on waivers from Nashville.
• Lubomir Visnovsky traded to Anaheim for Ryan Whitney and 6th round pick in 2010 (Brandon Davidson).
• Steve Staios traded to Calgary for Aaron Johnson and 3rd round pick in 2011 (Travis Ewanyk*).

March 31, 2010
• Signed Charles Linglet (formerly with St. Louis) as free agent.

Ok, before I get to what I consider to be the worst season in Oilers’ history, I should mention something I omitted in the last post. In July of 2008, the EIG was out of the picture and the ownership of the team would be taken over by Daryl Katz. Katz’s deep pockets would allow the Oilers to spend right to the cap, but as we know this would not improve things in the immediate future.

Ok, back to the 2009 off season. After eight seasons, Craig MacTavish would not return as the head coach—his contract was up and the team wanted to go a different direction. They would load up on experience, hiring Pat Quinn who had been a head coach in the NHL off and on for the previous 30 years. In addition they brought on Tom Renney as an “associate coach”, another man with previous NHL head coaching experience.

The highlight of this offseason was Tambellini’s attempt to get some star power to the Oilers in the form of Dany Heatley. He completed a trade that would have seen Penner, Smid, and Cogliano all going to Ottawa for Heatley, but the trade was voided when Heatley invoked his no trade clause. Given how Heatley’s career would go from here, this was probably for the best. Other than this, it was a fairly quiet off-season. The Oilers would see 40 year old Roloson leave as a free agent and would sign the youthful Nikolai Khabibulin (a recent Stanley Cup winner and a mere 36 years old) to replace him. The only other move of any significance was perhaps the most surprising return—Mike Comrie signed a one year deal with the team in early September. Apparently all was forgiven on both sides.

The Oilers would start the year with Khabibulin as their starter with Deslauriers backing him up. After playing just 18 games Khabibulin would suffer a season ending injury, forcing the Oilers to go with Deslauriers as the starter and rookie Devan Dubnyk backing him up. Dubnyk had been in the system for 6 years after being their first round pick in 2004. None of the three men were very impressive throughout the season.

On defense, the team once again had Souray, Visnovsky, Grebeshkov, Gilbert, Staios, Smid, and Strudwick as a respectable top 7. But things would go sideways this year. After his excellent 08-09, Souray was plagued with injuries and managed only 37 games and 13 points. Smid, Staios, and Grebeshkov also missed time, and Gilbert and Visnovsky were the only top notch healthy d-men the Oilers iced. Taylor Chorney (2005 2nd rounder) made the jump to the big leagues and would play 42 games with the team. With the team going nowhere, they would trade 3 of their defense at the deadline: Visnovsky, Grebeshkov, and Staios—the latter going to the Flames in the first ever Edmonton-Calgary trade.. They would get back Aaron Johnson to fill in the remainder of the season, but most prominently they got Ryan Whitney in the Visnovsky deal. Whitney was fantastic in the last 19 games on at team going nowhere and it was refreshing seeing that he was actually happy to be in Edmonton.

Up front, the Oilers had one bright spot—Dustin Penner who would chip in with his best NHL season getting 32 goals, 31 assists and 63 points—leading the team in all three categories. It was slim pickings after that. Hemsky would miss most of the season with injury (although he did get 22 points in the 22 games he played). Horcoff had a poor season by his standards with just 36 points and 13 goals. The Gagner, Cogliano, and Nilsson all put up similar seasons from the previous year. Brule showed improvement, finishing 3rd in team scoring with 37 points, while O’Sullivan contributed 34. Other forwards to contribute were Moreau, Potulny, Pouliot, Jacques, and Stortini. Both Comrie and Pisani would end up playing only half the games, the latter a shell of his former self as he continued to suffer from ulcerative colitis.

So how did the team do? Well I’ve already called it the worst season in team history, so you probably won’t be surprised to hear the answer is “not too well”. After a mediocre start, the team completely went into the tank after Khabibulin’s injury. They would go on a terrible losing skid in January and February. The arrival of Whitney actually settled things a bit, but the team would finish with a putrid 27-47-8 record, good for just 62 points and dead last in the league—a full 12 behind the next worst team. Pat Quinn never seemed to get anything out of the team and would be one and done as Oiler coach.

The team was definitely fully committed to the rebuild at this point.

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Re: Season 37, 2009-10: Rock Bottom [message #825424 is a reply to message #825423 ]	Sat, 09 September 2023 10:07

Teammate Avry
Messages: 18
Registered: November 2008
Location: Edmonton/Toronto/Las Vega...

No Cups

By all accounts, Pat Quinn was not the right man for this roster.

A guy who if you turned into a gumbo is a wild mix of sports podcaster/TV reporter and sports writer.

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Re: Season 37, 2009-10: Rock Bottom [message #825428 is a reply to message #825424 ]	Mon, 11 September 2023 09:52

Steve
Messages: 113
Registered: October 2006
Location: Ottawa

No Cups

Teammate Avry wrote on Sat, 09 September 2023 09:07

By all accounts, Pat Quinn was not the right man for this roster.

Sucking the hind banana!

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

- Calvin

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Re: Season 37, 2009-10: Rock Bottom [message #825425 is a reply to message #825423 ]	Sat, 09 September 2023 22:54

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7803
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

6 Cups

To this day I stand firm that the phrase “Fall for Hall” was coined by me right here on Oilfans. I believe it was then picked up by a sports radio host and spread to the masses. Sadly those posts have been purged, so I will have to live and die by my admittedly shaken memory.

I think year two of Eakins was rock bottom. This year, once we knew the year was a bust, was kind of fun.

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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Season 38 (NHL 31); 2010-11: Year of H.O.P.E. [message #825426 is a reply to message #824021 ]	Sun, 10 September 2023 00:45

benv
Messages: 601
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

https://scontent.fyxd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/28073_10151563211162128_1048584141_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=bltBkgyWAy8AX_lE5Mo&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd3-1.fna&oh=00_AfDpUO5UcjHD5hnoZYiGTmJU-tQKqF_1aLyw1u7IQw8WXQ&oe=6524DAB6


	Coach: Tom Renney						
	GM: Steve Tambellini						
							
		Wins	Losses	OTL	SOL	Pts	%
Regular Season Record		25	45	3	9	62	0.378
		GF:	193	GA:	269		
		Finish:	15th Western Conference (30th overall)--Out of Playoffs				
							
	 			Regular Season			
	Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
1	Eberle, Jordan	F	69	18	25	43	
2	Hemsky, Ales	F	47	14	28	42	
3	Hall, Taylor	F	65	22	20	42	
4	Gagner, Sam	F	68	15	27	42	
5	Penner, Dustin	F	62	21	18	39	
6	Cogliano, Andrew	F	82	11	24	35	
7	Paajarvi, Magnus	F	80	15	19	34	
8	Whitney, Ryan	D	35	2	25	27	
9	Horcoff, Shawn	F	47	9	18	27	
10	Omark, Linus	F	51	5	22	27	
11	Gilbert, Tom	D	79	6	20	26	
12	Jones, Ryan	F	81	18	7	25	
13	Foster, Kurtis	D	74	8	14	22	
14	Vandermeer, Jim	D	62	2	12	14	
15	Peckham, Theo	D	71	3	10	13	
16	Reddox, Liam	F	44	1	9	10	
17	Smid, Ladislav	D	78	0	10	10	
18	Brule, Gilbert	F	41	7	2	9	
19	Hartikainen, Teemu	F	12	3	2	5	
20	O'Marra, Ryan	F	21	1	4	5	
21	Petry, Jeff	D	35	1	4	5	
22	Jacques, Jean-Francois	F	51	4	1	5	
23	Fraser, Colin	F	67	3	2	5	
24	Chorney, Taylor	D	12	1	3	4	
25	Stortini, Zack	F	32	0	4	4	
26	Giroux, Alexandre	F	8	1	1	2	
27	Vande Velde, Chris	F	12	0	2	2	
28	Strudwick, Jason	D	43	0	2	2	
29	MacIntyre, Steve	F	34	0	1	1	
30	Petiot, Richard	D	2	0	0	0	
31	Plante, Alex	D	3	0	0	0	
32	Belle, Shawn	D	5	0	0	0	
							
				Goalies			
	Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L-OL	
1	Khabibulin, Nikolai	47	2701	3.40	0.890	10-32-4	
2	Dubnyk, Devan	35	2061	2.71	0.916	12-13-8	
3	Gerber, Martin	3	185	1.30	0.958	3-0-0

Transactions

June 24, 2010
• 6th round pick in 2010 (Mirko Hofflin) traded to Chicago for Colin Fraser.

June 25, 2010
• 2010 NHL entry draft (round 1)—Oilers selected Taylor Hall (1).

June 26, 2010
• Riley Nash* traded to Carolina for 2nd round pick in 2010 (Martin Marincin).
• 2010 NHL entry draft (rounds 2-7)—Oilers selected Tyler Pitlick (31), Martin Marincin (46), Curtis Hamilton (48), Ryan Martindale* (61), Tyler Bunz (121), and Brandon Davidson (162).
June 30, 2010
• Ethan Moreau claimed on waivers by Columbus.
• Patrick O’Sullivan traded to Phoenix for Jim Vandermeer.

July 1, 2010
• Signed Kurtis Foster (formerly with Tampa Bay) as free agent.
.
July 2, 2010
• Chris Minard signed as free agent by Detroit.
• Signed Steve MacIntyre (formerly with Florida) as free agent.
• Signed Richard Petiot (formerly with Chicago) as free agent.

July 3, 2010
• Signed Alexandre Giroux (formerly with Washington) as free agent.

July 6, 2010
• Ryan Stone signed as free agent by Calgary.

July 13, 2010
• Signed Shawn Belle (formerly with Montreal) as free agent.

July 23, 2010
• Marc Pouliot signed as free agent by Tampa Bay.

August 6, 2010
• Signed Martin Gerber (formerly with Toronto) as free agent.

August 11, 2010
• Dean Arsene signed as free agent by St. Louis.

August 18, 2010
• Fernando Pisani signed as free agent by Chicago.

August 31, 2010
• Aaron Johnson signed as free agent by Nashville.

September 3, 2010
• Mike Comrie signed as free agent by Pittsburgh.

September 9, 2010
• Ryan Potulny signed as free agent by Chicago.

February 28, 2011
• Shawn Belle traded to Colorado for Kevin Montgomery*.
• Dustin Penner traded to Los Angeles for Colten Teubert, 1st round pick in 2011 (Oscar Klefbom) and 3rd round pick in 2012 (Daniil Zharkov*).

March 8, 2011
• Signed Taylor Fedun as free agent.

April 1, 2011
• Signed Mark Arcobello as free agent.

The Pat Quinn era in Edmonton would be just the one year. The Oilers chose to move Quinn upstairs as a senior advisor (it was a nice way to fire him) and have Renney take over as the head coach.

The one benefit the Oilers got from their terrible showing in 09-10 was having the first overall pick for the first time in franchise history. The addition of Taylor Hall, a dynamic and bullish scorer in the OHL, to the roster would generate a lot of off-season anticipation. It was a perfect storm as their first rounders from 2008 and 2009—Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi—were also getting hype and ready to make the jump to the big club. Throw in Linus Omark, a 2007 4th rounder who was scoring highlight reel goals in Sweden and the natural HOPE acronym was the talk of the town.

The other big off-season news was that Souray went on a tirade about how the Oilers had mishandled his injury and he demanded to be traded. The Oilers would suspend him, waive him, demote him, and eventually buy him out, and he would never play for the team again (nor would he have any kind of NHL career again).

In other off-season transactions, the Oilers waived three players for the purpose of buying them out: Moreau, Nilsson, and O’Sullivan. Nilsson would be bought out, but Moreau was claimed by Columbus and O’Sullivan would be traded for defenseman Jim Vandermeer. Also leaving for good as UFAs would be Pisani, Pouliot, Johnson, Comrie, and Potulny. Their only significant addition would be signing defenseman Kurtis Foster. With the departure of Moreau, Horcoff would be named as the new captain.

Going into training camp all three goalies were back, but Deslauriers would be cut and spend the entire season in the AHL (he would actually never play for the Oilers again). Khabibulin was recovered from his injury and would once again be the starter with Dubnyk backing him up. Khabibulin was not good. He had a 10-32-4 record and a .890 save percentage. Dubnyk was actually much better in his first full NHL season with a 12-13-8 record and a respectable 0.916 save percentage—the kid might be a keeper.

On defence the Oilers were looking forward to having Whitney for the full season. He started the season the same as he had finished the previous one—as a dominant top pairing guy. Whitney had 27 points after 35 games when disaster struck—he injured his ankle and would miss the rest of the season. This was a devastating blow to the Oilers’ season. Elsewhere they had Gilbert put in another good season with 26 points, while newcomer Foster contributed 22. Smid was solid again, while Peckham had a solid season on the third pair. Also contributing were Vandermeer who played 72 games, Strudwick who played 43, and Jeff Petry (a 2006 2nd rounder) who made his presence felt with his first 35 NHL games.

It was the forwards that the fans were most anticipating. I still remember when the Oilers opened training camp with the lines Hall/Horcoff/Eberle, Hemsky/Gagner/Paajarvi and Penner/Coglinao/Brule and the general consensus (remember this is following a disastrous campaign) was: that looks pretty good. Well everyone was kind of mediocre to ok with no one having a dominant season. Eberle actually lead the team in scoring with 43 points. Hall missed 17 games with injury, but got 42 points, while Paajarvi chipped in 34. Both Hemsky and Horcoff missed nearly half the year and had 42 and 27 points respectively, while Gagner was able to chip in his usual 42 points. Cogliano had 35 points, while Penner had 39 before being dealt at the deadline. Brule had a brutal season playing just 41 games and getting a measly 9 points. Rounding out the forwards Omark joined the team mid-season and had 27 points, while fourth line contributers included newcomers Ryan Jones and Colin Fraser as well as Liam Reddox, Stortini, and Steve MacIntyre (when faces needed to be punched).

The season could not have got off to a better start. They opened with a 4-0 shutout win against the Flames, where Khabibulin was a wall and Eberle scored the goal of the year as his first ever NHL goal (see it again here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB9K_eG8_3I). But things just went downhill from there. Khabibulin’s play dropped sharply, and the injury to Whitney was the real season killer. In the end they matched what they had done the previous year, getting an identical 62 points and finishing dead last in the league. Only the youthful potential of the HOPE players really made this season a bit more tolerable than the previous one, but it was another bitter pill for Oiler fans.

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Re: Season 38 (NHL 31); 2010-11: Year of H.O.P.E. [message #825434 is a reply to message #825426 ]	Mon, 11 September 2023 11:27

Dragon_Matt
Messages: 766
Registered: January 2009
Location: edmonton

No Cups

Who does he think he is?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIRV0ATzW8Q

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Re: Season 38 (NHL 31); 2010-11: Year of H.O.P.E. [message #825445 is a reply to message #825434 ]	Wed, 13 September 2023 13:15

AndersonRules
Messages: 94
Registered: April 2008
Location: Shawnee, Oklahoma (OKC ar...

No Cups

Dragon_Matt wrote on Mon, 11 September 2023 11:27

Who does he think he is?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIRV0ATzW8Q

That is one of my all-time favorite videos! How they all managed to keep a straight face ...

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Season 39 (NHL 32), 2011-12: Enter the Nuge [message #825448 is a reply to message #824021 ]	Thu, 14 September 2023 17:22

benv
Messages: 601
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

https://scontent.fyxd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/422116_10151575939042128_74745052_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=idvE_YKVPlIAX_-9o7C&_nc_ht=scontent.fyxd3-1.fna&oh=00_AfCyzFRBlJjnYSh4C4RrM7xJEjDG7LYgdXPJunqzmIc8RA&oe=652AF5A3


	Coach: Tom Renney						
	GM: Steve Tambellini						
							
		Wins	Losses	OTL	SOL	Pts	%
Regular Season Record		32	40	3	7	74	0.451
		GF:	212	GA:	239		
		Finish:	14th Western Conference (29th overall)--Out of Playoffs				
							
	 			Regular Season			
	Player	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
1	Eberle, Jordan	F	78	34	42	76	
2	Hall, Taylor	F	61	27	26	53	
3	Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan	F	62	18	34	52	
4	Gagner, Sam	F	75	18	29	47	
5	Smyth, Ryan	F	82	19	27	46	
6	Hemsky, Ales	F	69	10	26	36	
7	Horcoff, Shawn	F	81	13	21	34	
8	Jones, Ryan	F	79	17	16	33	
9	Petry, Jeff	D	73	2	23	25	
10	Potter, Corey	D	62	4	17	21	
11	Whitney, Ryan	D	51	3	17	20	
12	Gilbert, Tom	D	47	3	14	17	
13	Belanger, Eric	F	78	4	12	16	
14	Smid, Ladislav	D	78	5	10	15	
15	Eager, Ben	F	63	8	5	13	
16	Sutton, Andy	D	52	3	7	10	
17	Petrell, Lennart	F	60	4	5	9	
18	Paajarvi, Magnus	F	41	2	6	8	
19	Lander, Anton	F	56	2	4	6	
20	Hartikainen, Teemu	F	17	2	3	5	
21	Schultz, Nick	D	20	0	4	4	
22	Omark, Linus	F	14	3	0	3	
23	Hordichuk, Darcy	F	43	1	2	3	
24	Peckham, Theo	D	54	1	2	3	
25	Green, Josh	F	7	1	1	2	
26	Barker, Cam	D	25	2	0	2	
27	Cornet, Phillipe	F	2	0	1	1	
28	Plante, Alex	D	3	0	1	1	
29	Vande Velde, Chris	F	5	1	0	1	
30	O'Marra, Ryan	F	7	0	1	1	
31	Teubert, Colten	D	24	0	1	1	
32	Rodney, Bryan	D	1	0	0	0	
33	Kytnar, Milan	F	1	0	0	0	
34	Chorney, Taylor	D	3	0	0	0	
							
				Goalies			
	Goalie	Games	Min	GAA	SV %	W-L-OL	
1	Dubnyk, Devan	47	2653	2.67	0.914	20-20-3	
2	Khabibulin, Nikolai	40	2261	2.65	0.910	12-20-7	
3	Danis, Yann	1	32	3.75	0.833	0-0-0

Transactions

June 15, 2011
• Signed Lennart Petrell (formerly with Columbus) as free agent.

June 24, 2011
• 2011 NHL entry draft (round 1)—Oilers selected Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1) and Oscar Klefbom (19).

June 25, 2011
• 2011 NHL entry draft (rounds 2-7)—Oilers selected David Musil (31), Travis Ewanyk* (74), Dillon Simpson (92), and Martin Gernat* (122).

June 26, 2011
• Colin Fraser and 7th round pick in 2012 (Dmitri Sinitsyn (Dallas)) traded to Los Angeles for Ryan Smyth.

July 1, 2011
• Signed Ben Eager (formerly with San Jose) as free agent.
• Signed Cam Barker (formerly with Minnesota) as free agent.
• Signed Darcy Hordichuk (formerly with Florida) as free agent.
• Signed Eric Belanger (formerly with Phoenix) as free agent.
• Sheldon Souray signed as free agent by Dallas.
• Kurtis Foster traded to Anaheim for Andy Sutton.
• Jim Vandermeer signed as free agent by San Jose.
• Colin McDonald signed as free agent by Pittsburgh.
• Signed Corey Potter (formerly with Pittsburgh) as free agent.

July 2, 2011
• Richard Petiot signed as free agent by Tampa Bay.

July 3, 2011
• Signed Josh Green (formerly with Anaheim) as free agent.
July 4, 2011
• Alexandre Giroux signed as free agent by Columbus.
• Signed Yann Danis (formerly with New Jersey) as free agent.

July 5, 2011
• Zack Stortini signed as free agent by Nashville.

July 6, 2011
• Jean-Francois Jacques signed as free agent by Anaheim.

July 12, 2011
• Jeff Deslauriers signed as free agent by Anaheim.
• Andrew Cogliano traded to Anaheim for 2nd round pick in 2013 (Marco Roy*).
• Steve MacIntyre signed as free agent by Pittsburgh.

October 11, 2011
• Taylor Chorney claimed on waivers by St. Louis.

November 10, 2011
• Claimed Taylor Chorney on waivers from St. Louis.

January 10, 2012
• Gilbert Brule claimed on waivers by Phoenix.

February 16, 2012
• Ryan O’Marra traded to Anaheim for Bryan Rodney.

February 27, 2012
• Tom Gilbert traded to Minnesota for Nick Schultz.

So before going into another downer year for the Oilers, I can report that we have our first (and so far only) team relocation in the 21st century with the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg and becoming a second incarnation of the Jets. The move was sudden and the team would play out of the south-east division for the season.

On the Oilers front, they had their 2nd consecutive 1st overall pick (they lost the draft lottery, but the winning Devils were only allowed to move up to the 4th pick leaving the last place Oilers with the 1st). Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, an offensive centre out of the Red Deer Rebels would join the team immediately and bolster their young star power.

This would be Tambellini’s busiest offseason as he really tried to improve the team. Firstly he re-acquired Ryan Smyth, for peanuts from Los Angeles since Smyth made it clear that he wanted a trade and Edmonton would be the only team he wished to join. Smyth was past his prime, but he still had a bit to contribute. Then Tambellini signed 6 players that would make contributions that season: Lennart Petrell, Ben Eager, Cam Barker, Darcy Hordichuk, Eric Belanger, and Corey Potter. Leaving the Oilers would be Vandermeer, Stortini, Jacques, Deslauriers (all UFAs), Foster (traded for Andy Sutton), Fraser (included in Smyth trade) and most importantly Cogliano who was dealt for a meagre draft pick with the Oilers feeling they had an abundance of young centres.

Khabibulin and Dubnyk would split the goaltending pretty evenly this year. Khabibulin got off to a terrfic start, before cooling off and basically being replaced by Dubnyk as the starter. The latter had really upped his game and was emerging as the Oilers’ potential goalie of the future. Both had decent and similar numbers in the end, although the team seemed to do better with Dubnyk in the net

There was potentially great news on defense—Whitney was back in the lineup; the bad news was that he was now a shell of his former self. He played 51 games over the season and that former dominance we had seen the previous two years, just wasn’t there—he was mediocre at best. That left Smid and Gilbert as the veteran guys. Gilbert would be dealt at the trade deadline straight up for veteran Nick Schultz. This was a calculated move where the Oilers thought they could use Schultz’s defensive acumen over Gilbert’s offense, but it never sat well with most Oiler fans (including me). Elsewhere, newcomer Sutton played 52 games and certainly had his moments. Petry took a big step, leading the d-men in scoring and being a reliable guy, while Peckham was once again a solid third liner. Seeing limited time was free agent Barker, who was oft-injured and not good when he wasn’t. Another hopeful was Colten Teubert (acquired in the Penner trade) who was a high draft pick but did not show much at all in his 24 games. All in all this was not a great defensive line-up.

So could the HOPE boys plus RNH backed by the reunification of the Horcoff/Hemsky/Smyth line score enough to make up for the weaker D? Well Eberle had a terrific year (he was their all-star rep that year) getting 76 points, leading the team by 23 over the next best. That would be Hall, who again suffered some injuries and managed 53 points in his 61 games. RNH was very good and likely would have walked away with the Calder were it not for a mid-season injury that saw him miss 20 games. His 52 points was actually tied with the Avs' Landeskog (who played all 82 games) who would end up with the trophy. Smyth, Hemsky, and Horcoff were all getting up in age but they did their part, with only Hemsky missing any time and each managing some production (not up to their peak years, but serviceable). Gagner was officially “Mr. 40 points” as he put up 47 points highlighted by his legendary 8-point game against Chicago. The only other player that was any kind of offensive threat was Ryan Jones who had a very respectable 19 goals and 33 points. What about Paajarvi and Omark? Paajarvi fell off a cliff, missing half the season with injuries, healthy scratches, and a demotion to the AHL he managed a paltry 8 points in 41 games. Omark played just 14 games, starting the season in the minors and never finding much NHL success again (although he was pretty good in OKC). Seemingly HOPE was down to HE. Otherwise their bottom forwards were populated by their new free agents Eager, Hordichuk, Petrell, and Belanger (none of who made a great impression). One other player worth mentioning is Anton Lander (2009 2nd rounder) who had finally graduated to the big time from the minors and became a reasonably reliable 4th line center for the team.

So the team came out of the gate incredibly well. At the end of October they were 7-2-2 after 11 games. RNH got a hat-trick in his second game and Khabibulin was superb, being the 3rd star of the month. But of course the good times could not continue. After a bad November they followed with a putrid December and they were suddenly well behind the playoff cutline never to recover. As mentioned, Khabibulin’s play fell off enough that Dubnyk would replace him as the starter, and the Oilers actually did improve towards the end of the season, going about 0.500 from February to April. The highlight of the season was of course Gagner’s 8-point night (watch it again here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MlOoT5BMXU ). Overall the team did improve about 12 points from the previous two seasons, going 32-40-10 for 74 points, but it was still a long way from respectable, as it was the 2nd worst record in the league, ahead of only Columbus. More rebuilding needed.

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Re: Season 39 (NHL 32), 2011-12: Enter the Nuge [message #825450 is a reply to message #825448 ]	Fri, 15 September 2023 14:07

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7803
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

6 Cups

The Cam Barker signing is when I knew the Tambo years were going to be a disappointment. It was so obvious the guy couldn't skate at the NHL level that anyone who thought he should be signed should have been fired on the spot.

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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Re: Season 39 (NHL 32), 2011-12: Enter the Nuge [message #825451 is a reply to message #825450 ]	Fri, 15 September 2023 15:09

Steve
Messages: 113
Registered: October 2006
Location: Ottawa

No Cups

CrusaderPi wrote on Fri, 15 September 2023 13:07

That July 1st was horrendous.

Looking at the transactions listed, only the selections of Nuge and Klefbom are positives. Tambo was the worst of this team's string of bad GMs.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

- Calvin

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Re: Season 39 (NHL 32), 2011-12: Enter the Nuge [message #825455 is a reply to message #825451 ]	Mon, 18 September 2023 10:53

Dragon_Matt
Messages: 766
Registered: January 2009
Location: edmonton

No Cups

you can't argue, we did get 'tougher'.
High point of the Oil Change docu-series was the reaction to Belanger wanting more term.

[Updated on: Mon, 18 September 2023 10:55]

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Re: Season 39 (NHL 32), 2011-12: Enter the Nuge [message #825457 is a reply to message #825455 ]	Mon, 18 September 2023 11:12

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7803
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

6 Cups

Dragon_Matt wrote on Mon, 18 September 2023 10:53

you can't argue, we did get 'tougher'.
High point of the Oil Change docu-series was the reaction to Belanger wanting more term.

He did want to be here.

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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