Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Oilers Musings: Tuesday October 11 2011



Taylor Chorney was put on waivers yesterday and claimed today by the St. Louis Blues. The Blues have injury issues on the back when Carlo Colaiacovo when down injury and claimed Chorney to be a 7th Dman over there. I wonder if the Oilers will take him back when the Blues inevitably put him on waivers again. OKC could really use Chorney if for anything because he shoots left handed. OKC, as it stands right now have 6 Dmen that all shoot right, something that will have to be fixed ASAP.

The Oilers line combos as of today's practise were:

Hall-NugentHopkins-Hemsky
-It's a line long on skill but short on braun. It bugs me that they are using Hall as an off the puck power forward. Hall and RNH are a long term combo, but Hemsky is very much a 3rd wheel on this line. All 3 will demand the puck but the Kobe Bryant of the line should be Hall by rights. The other 2 will have to find a way to be useful while not having the puck on their sticks.
Smyth-Belanger-Eberle
- I hated this line before and I still hate this line. All 3 puck distributors are playing on the first line, leaving these guys trying to figure out a way to contain the puck in the offensive zone. Without the ability to bring the puck through the neutral zone, they will struggle to get it into the offensive zone.
Paajarvi-Horcoff-Jones
- A 3rd line I have been begging for, for 2 years now, has finally gotten a look. Paajarvi will be the puck transporter with Jones net-crashing and Horcoff being the two-way shooter. All 3 of them being defensively responsible, and the making of a true checking line has been born. Bring on the toughs!
Petrell-Lander-Hordichuk
- Not a terrible 4th line, I'd like a little more tenacity on it, but its a line that will likely create more than give up which is ultimately what you want. The Oilers could really use a 4th line that goes out and pounds defensemen. Wearing down the Dmen will eventually lead to the top lines getting better opportunites later in the game.

Sutton Gilbert
Barker Petry
Smid Peckham
- No need to change the Dmen, at least not yet as they played well in the first game of the year. I could see the pairing of Smid-Peckham being an issue in the future as they are both naturally left side defenseman (Peckham playing the right side). The bigger issue lies in the fact that neither one pisses a drop offensively, so when they do have a bad game, it will stick out like a sore thumb. I'm guessing the D pairings will get tossed around a lot this year. Ryan Whitney will sure give this unit a facelift.

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