The Oilers are 60 games into the season. Good time to see where the players are at on the team.
1. Taylor Hall. 22G-23A-45Pts Even. Prediction: Will lead the team in goals. Jordan Eberle will be the reason this prediction might not come true. Everytime Hall gets close Eberle pulls away. This should be an interesting race to see who ends up being the goal leader at the end of the year.
2. Jordan Eberle. 27G-33A-60Pts +6. Prediction: Will score 25+ goals. So much for that. The only question left is will he lead the team in goals this year?
3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. 13G-22A-35Pts -3. Prediction: Will not get more than 30 points on the Oilers. He broke that prediction before the half way point. Injury has slowed his season. Didn't register a point in the third quarter and went -3. Only played in two games in that time.
4. Ryan Smyth. 17G-22A-39Pts -3. Prediction: Will score 20+ goals. What I thought was a lock to happen is now getting a little hairy. Smyth scored only two goals in the third quarter. He has taken on a weary look after seeing too many minutes earlier in the year.
5. Sam Gagner. 14G-26A-40Pts +6. Prediction: Leads team in assists.
Gagner had a stellar third quarter, putting up 20 points in 20 games. Including 8 points against Chicago in early February. Gagner is still a longshot to catch Eberle in assists (7 behind), but there is still a chance.
6. Shawn Horcoff. 11G-19A-30Pts -19. Prediction: Will be a plus player(+/-). Tough year for Horcoff. He looks to be sacrificing some defense looking for some offense. His -19 is a long way from even. This prediction is likely a dud.
7. Magnus Paajarvi. 2G-6A-8Pts -6. Prediction: Will play 82 games. Welp, this prediction is cooked. He was a healthy scratch early in the year and now is facing the liklihood of being on the IR after Scott Hartnell took out his knee last game. Paajarvi has played better as of late.
8. Ales Hemsky. 5G-21A-26Pts -14. Prediction: Will be traded by the trade deadline. Welp, four days until trade deadline and as of now, he is still an Oiler. This one could go either way, but deep down, I still feel he will be gone by Monday.
9. Eric Belanger. 3G-9A-12Pts -13. Prediction: Will score more SH goals than PP goals. One of his three goals ended up being on the power play while he has yet to register a shorty. it will likely end up that way considering the rate Belanger scores at. Belanger has not been very good this year, offensively or defensively.
10. Ryan Jones. 13G-11A-24Pts -5. Prediction: Will score 15+ goals. As hot as he was in the second quarter he was equally as cold in the third quarter. Only registered one goal and 4 points in those games. Been a healthy scratch lately, this one is still in doubt.
11. Ben Eager. 7G-4A-11Pts -4. Prediction: Will get suspended at least once. Hasn't happened yet, but it may still be coming. Eager has ramped up the physical play over the last 25 games. His teammate Andy Sutton has been suspended twice, should saved that prediction for him.
12. Darcy Hordichuk. 0G-1A-1Pts -5. Prediction: Plays in 50+ games. This prediction is a dud. He has played in only 25 games this season. With only 22 games left, do the math. I still think he should have played more, but thats just me.
13. Linus Omark. 0G-0A-0Pts -2. Prediction: Will have the worst plus/minus on the team. The Oilers beat me to this prediction by putting him in OKC early on this year. Omark didn't have enough time to do damage to his plus/minus. Shawn Horcoff is the clubhouse leader at -19.
14. Gilbert Brule. 0G-0A-0Pts Even. Prediction: Will not end the year with the Oilers. Brule's year never got off the ground with the Oilers as he didn't make the team out of training camp. Brule was claimed off of waivers by the Phoenix Coyotes during this quarter, likely ending his time as an Oiler.
15. Anton Lander. 2G-4A-6Pts -8. Prediction: Will be in the lineup opening night. Welp, got this one right. Lander has had a modest rookie season. The coaching staff is handling him with kid gloves. With Horcoff and Belanger struggling this year, it would nice to see increased icetime for him.
16. Teemu Hartikainen. 0G-0A-0Pts -4. Prediction: Plays in 40+ games for the Oilers. This prediction is a dud. Got a 3 game look and was -4 in those games and was promptly set back to OKC. Plays hard, but was pretty ineffective in those 3 games. Hartikainen's growth has stagnated this year.
17. Curtis Hamilton. 0G-0A-0Pts Even. Prediction: Plays at least one game for the Oilers this year. I think this one will only come true if the Oilers are out of the playoff race by March. There are many ahead in the pecking order for OKC for him to get a look. He'll be in tough to get a game with the big club this year.
18. Tyler Pitlick. 0G-0A-0Pts Even. Prediction: Plays at least one game for the Oilers this year. Same as Hamilton.
19. Ryan Whitney. 1G-10A-11Pts -9. Prediction: Has the highest plus/minus on the team. I think this is another prediction that is cooked. He's played in only played in 29 game so far this season, is -9. Eberle and Gagner are the team leaders at +6.
20. Tom Gilbert. 3G-14A-17Pts -3. Prediction: Will be 2nd on the team in defenceman points. Gilbert spent a lot of the third quarter on the IR with a knee injury. Its a dogfight. Potter has 18 points while Gilbert and Petry have 17 points each. Could go anyway.
21. Ladislav Smid. 3G-6A-9Pts Even. Prediction: Will be a healthy scratch at least once this season. Smid has stabilized as an NHL Dman for the time being. He's been playing the toughs all year, lately with Petry. If he's healthy he'll play.
22. Cam Barker. 2G-0A-2Pts -2. Prediction: More than 50% of his goals will be on the PP. He has two goals and one was on the power play. Been a healthy scratch lately. May not get a chance to add to his goal totals.
23. Andy Sutton. 3G-7A-10Pts +2. Prediction: Will have more than 100 PIMS. He is a 60 PIMS right now and that includes being suspended for 13 games over two separate incidents. He only accumulated 10 PIMs over the third quarter. Has seemed to settle down his play after his suspensions.
24. Theo Peckham. 1G-2A-3Pts -1. Prediction: Will play more games than Ladislav Smid. This prediction looks to be a dud. Peckham has only played 46 games while Smid has played all 60 games. Been a healthy scratch lately and doesn't look to be in the plans for the Oilers going forward.
25. Jeff Petry. 2G-15A-17Pts -9. Prediction: Will be in the lineup opening night. Petry made opening night, but then got a stint in OKC, but now is back up with the big club. Petry's game has gorwn exponentially over the third quarter. Playing big, effective minutes.
26. Corey Potter. 3G-15A-18Pts -14. Prediction: Will play in 10+ games for the Oilers. Welp, that was easy. While leading the defense in points also has the worst (+/-) for Dmen as well. Kind of a lukewarm year for him but managed to get himself a 2 year extension from the Oilers.
27. Taylor Chorney. 0G-0A-0Pts -1. Prediction: Doesn't play in any games for the Oilers. Welp, this prediction is done. Chorney played in 5 games this year, much to the chagrin of every Oilers fan.
28. Colten Teubert. 0G-1A-1Pts -4. Prediction: Plays in 5+ games for the Oilers. He's got in 20 games this year. Has been the emergency recall guy when Dmen have gone down. He'll continue to be that guy.
29. Nikolai Khabibulin. 2.60GAA .914S%. Prediction: Plays at least one game for OKC. I doubt this is happening, although he has cooled off significantly after a piping hot start. Wonder if there is any trade value here.
30. Devan Dubnyk. 2.87GAA .909S%. Prediction: Will post under .900 Save Percentage. Dubnyk's play was a little better over the third quarter, played more games and faced a lot of rubber. Likely to stay over the Mendoza line. Still think he is a career backup at best.
31. Yann Danis. 0.00GAA .000S%. Prediction: Plays more games than Khabibulin or Dubnyk with the Oilers. This isn't happening although Yann Danis has had a real solid year for OKC, solid enough to get him an a trip to the AHL all star game. Now riding backup for Dubnyk as Khabibulin is on the IR.
32. Olivier Roy. 0.00GAA .000S%. Prediction: Doesn't play a game with the Oilers this season. Since he is playing in Stockton, I figure this one is pretty safe for the year. The Oilers would have to go through 4 goaltenders to get a look this year.
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