- Pitkanen-Staios
- Smid-Greene
- Tarnstrom-Grebeshkov
Tom Gilbert would be the likely 7th, although Mathieu Roy will arrive determined. It's a horrible depth chart. But it's better than the forwards.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Oilers Sign Matt Greene
Kevin Lowe signed D Matt Greene today, a 2-year deal (don't know the dollars if you do pass them along please). It's a good signing in that he's one of the few backliners with more than 100 NHL games under his belt and that makes him a strong candidate for the Oilers top 4D. If Lowe doesn't add anyone over the summer, my guess for the pairings would be:
You know what? 1st overall pick in a very strong draft year is something to look forward to...and a 31st pick next to the Duck's 30th, that's practically another 1st rounder.
ReplyDeleteI think that after Pitkanen there will be a sharp fall in the minutes, with Staios, Greene, Smid, and Grebeshkov all getting very similar minutes. It should be interesting to compare our defense this year to last. On paper it seems weaker "defensively" but there's a lot more speed with adding Tarnstrom, Grebeshkov, and switching Pitkanen for Smith. I watched quite a few Philly games last season (made me feel better) and Pitkanen is an amazing skater, better than Bouwmeester in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteLowetide...for chrissakes....is it just me or does
ReplyDeletePitkanen-Boynton
Staios-Smid
Greene-Tarnstrom
look way better? I was always bullish on Boynton...a guy they could have had for nothing.
And about those lousy forwards....how the hell couldn't we sign Nagy for longer than the one year $3.75 deal he got?
Hockey isn't as much fun as it used to be.
Damn I hate Greene. He's so useless. I'd put Gilbert ahead of him, no matter how many NHL games he has. But the Oil have a hard-on for Greene....I don't know why.
ReplyDeleteMatt Greene looked really good at the World Championships when he was paired with a legitimate defenseman (i.e. Ryan Suter) rather than a marginal defenseman (i.e. Marc-Andre Bergeron).
ReplyDeleteGreene has to play with someone who can handle the puck. Things have improved with Tarnstrom and PItkanen and Grebeshkov (and Smid)...all of whom can handle the puck a lot better than Bergeron.
LT I used to post on HF and always enjoyed your stuff especially the Old baseball references. Just learned of your current digs.
ReplyDelete"It's a horrible depth chart. But it's better than the forwards."
They say Comedy is tragedy + time when will we be able to look back at this roster and laugh?
I like Greene as a player he has some limitations but he also has 2 things you can't teach size and a mean streak. With 100 or so GP's we should start to see fewer bad nights 1 would hope but still a top 4 D-man? not on a playoff team he isn't.
I'm not sure what the answer is but this team isn't just a move or two away, so if Lowe starts trading away his top prospects for NHLers the guys coming back can't be 30 somethings. For fringe a prospect like JFJ or Brodziak and mid rd picks sure but not for his most NHL ready guys ie Pouliot ,Gilbert, Cogliano.
godot10 said...
ReplyDeleteMatt Greene looked really good at the World Championships when he was paired with a legitimate defenseman (i.e. Ryan Suter) rather than a marginal defenseman (i.e. Marc-Andre Bergeron).
How fucking clueless can it get?
Greene sucked shit when he played with anyone besides MAB.
The numbers are damning.
Am I the only person that sees Smid/Greene as virtual Smith/Staios clones respectively?
ReplyDeleteHoly Lord Jesus that's bad. I'm on the record as saying that's our seven dmen as well but I'd rather put Tarnstrom in the top four rather than Greene. I think the Oilers made a mistake in choosing Greene over Hejda amd as far as the D looking better than the forwards, I really can't agree with that. The biggest problem with the forwards is that outside of Hemsky, well maybe Horc, we need someone that can drive the PP. We've got some decent outscorers at ES when it comes to the forwards but on the backend there's a tonne of youth and question marks
ReplyDeleteLowetide: the terms are 2 years, 1.15M/season
ReplyDeleteDennis - I am confused as to how the Oilers chose Greene over Hejda? Other then signing Hejda and sliding Greene down the depth chart, do you mean? Greene was an RFA.
ReplyDeleteThe one improvement on this team is the D is more mobile, has a few more guys who can make that first pass and has a couple of guys who can legitimately run a PP as well as a couple of kids in Gilbert and Grebeshkov who may have the ability to be decent on the PP.
But having said that - the D is going to have a tough tough time - poor Roloson with all of these kids.
And while I appreciate your optimism on what's up front Dennis what I see at best is a bunch of guys who might be tough to score on at ES but who also don't score a ton as well. I think for example that Pouliot and Thoresen with Torres for example might hold their own against a lot of opposition but I don't know how many points they are going to be putting on the board.
Pat, I mean that the Oilers should've brought back Hejda and then dealt off Greene for a goalie or a pick. I think that because they're diversifying the D to the point of puck-movers, which I agree with BTW, they're only leaving so much room for the humps like Hejda and Greene and the Oilers chose Matt over Jan. Look at the rest of the corps, it's basically skaters and passers.
ReplyDeleteGotcha.
ReplyDelete