GM's at this time of year act like they've just found catnip. It's like they spent the summer with Kevin Prendergast: everybody's Gretzky!
Today GM Steve Tambellini said we should expect no D in the list of TC invites. He said they want to have a long look at Jeff Petry, Colten Teubert, Taylor Chorney and Martin Marincin.
They'll observe those at the rookie camp and then take out the monocle, and one of those four are going to join the NHL group of six:
- Ryan Whitney
- Tom Gilbert
- Ladislav Smid
- Cam Barker
- Andy Sutton
- Theo Peckham
- Taylor Chorney 50
- Jeff Petry 50
- Colten Teubert 0
- Martin Marincin 0
When looking at the Oilers current roster, it would take the average fan about three minutes to conclude the Oilers have too many forwards and not enough defensemen.
Here it comes: A trade is coming. Chorney and a forward for a defenseman or Hemsky and a defenseman for a really good defenseman. It has to happen. I say this every fall but (in the words of the NFL folks) COME ON, MAN! Balance is a good thing. Really.
From Kypreos's twitter:
ReplyDeleteWhere does LA go next after Doughty rejects multi offers including 9 yrs/61.2M. The 6.8 aav would have matched Kopitar's as #Kings highest
Didn't the guy grow up a Kings fan? I wonder what the 15 year old version of Doughty would say after today's version of himself decided that $6.8M a year just isn't enough to play there for almost a decade.
ReplyDelete...after "holy crap, a time traveller!" of course.
Seems Doughty has no interest in exchanging UFA years for $$$.
ReplyDeletethe comments from last post about Omark make me wonder if he is the bait for a dman. My question, what would we want in return for MPS? To give up on a player like that is hard, but if you plan on resigning Hemsky, then him along with Hall, Eberle and Omark make up your top 4 wingers, so unless we plan on running 3 scoring lines that lack grit, then we need to make a move to shore up our weakness.
ReplyDeleteWe have stockpiled young forwards. There are a bunch knocking on the door (RNH, Lander, Hamilton, Harsky), and a bunch just getting going on the big club (Hall, eberle, MPS, Omark, Gagner - yes I include him since he is younger then Omark). We do not have room for all of them, and while they won't all work out, enough will to be able to cash in on the young talent pool up front to make a spalsh and get a top end dman.
Bra and panties made some noise about the Oilers going after a legit top pairing Dman, so who knows, maybe they will.
ReplyDeleteDealing from a position of strength (wing) to address a position of weakness (D), that makes far too much sense.
That's why you always draft forward scoring talent early. Legit top 6 forwards are always needed and always have good value. They mature faster as well.
I wouldn't deal 23 unti I have the ink dry on an 83 extention.
Maybe they say 91 in untouchable as 94 isn't in the plans long term.
Top 2 LW long term 4, 91.
Top 2 RW long term 14, 83 or 23.
There's an extra center hanging around if RNH makes the team too.
Paging Dennis with his Charlie Brown reference!
ReplyDeleteHow exactly does a 30th place dynasty have too many of any kind of player?
ReplyDeleteYou trade one of Omark/Paajarvi at your peril, because if you trade away the wrong one and the one you keep busts...
Of course NHL 2011 players get addicted to all that excitement. Tambellini on the other hand, prefers to assess, and keep feeding his family.
Which for this upcoming Titanic of a season, suits just fine.
LT:
ReplyDeleteHow convinced are you the Oilers are REALLY trying to make the playoffs this year, as opposed to kind of hoping that happens but mostly looking to develop?
Remember when Marc Habscheid was "the next Gretzky"?
ReplyDeleteOh, we laughed.
Re tweet by B&P:
ReplyDeleteFor those who missed it earlier, there are rumblings that the Predators and Avalanche are working out a deal involving Suter and Stastny.
@Hockeybreak
How convinced are you the Oilers are REALLY trying to make the playoffs this year, as opposed to kind of hoping that happens but mostly looking to develop?
ReplyDeleteI believe that the GM is mostly concerned with development and learning about players (who is for real and who is not). He wants (needs) some excitement and wins (a few win streaks) to avoid creeping moral failure (see 2008/9) and intense fan criticism, but would probably be happiest with a finish outside of the top 20 to get one more top ten pick. I think the plan is to start competing in 2012-13 (remember the 6 year comment by Lowe). I think this years plan is why they are ok with a marginal defence and goal situation.
I don't know anything though - I am just surmising this.
Also - I am not LT.
FFS, I had to use a captcha to log in with my non-Google google account? When I sign in on my desktop, Google knows I am my mobile persona without ever having used that persona for anything ever, other than the one time to create a Google account? Google/Blogger is evil.
ReplyDeleteJust got a motorola tablet and it wont work unless u login with a google account. Its creepy.
ReplyDelete"Creeping moral failure"
ReplyDeleteCan this phrase still be used without reference to the economy and governments and banks?
Oh look. My post captcha is...
Hater
Buy gold, people. Not later, now. Underwhelming speeches from Obama, Trichet and Merkel all in one week. They're just going thru the motions now. The SNB pegged their currency to the Euro earlier. Yup just like China and the Reminbi. This has never worked in the history of the planet and they're still tryin it. Currency wars next, trade wars after that and then the shit really hits the fan.
Err.... Am I on the right blog?
Don't buy gold. That market will cras too.
ReplyDeleteSend your money to me. I will put it in a big metal box and return it to you when the Oilers win the Cup.
Also send your gold.
ReplyDeletespOILer, when you find yourself sounding a lot like Glen Beck or Ron Paul, you might want to check your meds.
ReplyDeleteLT - I love the photo accompanying this blog post - brilliant!
I see Sportsnet has the Oilers/ Canuck rookie game on Sunday night.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait.
Hilarious Post.. haha..
ReplyDeleteThanks, LT..
"GM's at this time of year act like they've just found catnip. It's like they spent the summer with Kevin Prendergast: everybody's Gretzky!"
How exactly does a 30th place dynasty have too many of any kind of player?
ReplyDelete@Hunter: Easy. Too many smurfs. Too many plumbers. Too many bottom pairing defenders. Too many sieves.
While the people at 1600 gold feel smart now, there still in the danger zone.
ReplyDeleteBuying gold is akin to ostrich farming in my opinion, at the moment, the only way gold goes up is if you can get more people to buy it at an over inflated price tag. This might work in your favor if you aren't the bottom of the pyramid. Only problem is that it is in fact a pyramid. One day real money, with the overwhelming majority of gold will pull out and pump it into whatever currency looks like it will float. When that happens the monkeys chanting "buy gold" are going to end up with half of the 30k they put into it.
The time to buy gold was when it was 800. At record high prices run away from that shit as you are nowhere near smart enough or possessing of substantial enough capital to not get handed your ass. Nor can you likely afford to put 30k on red or black.
Sorry for the non-hockey side rant LT.
Again curses and thanks for still making me pay attention. not 100% Tod Marchant OT oiler generation but that 1990 cup is a far and vague memory. Without you I would have walked away about 2 years ago.
@speeds Paging Dennis with his Charlie Brown reference!
ReplyDeletePaging Vic with his insufficiently refuted point that "balance" is subservient to having the best players possible.
Paging Vic with his insufficiently refuted point that "balance" is subservient to having the best players possible.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, the balance being discussed here is largely forwards vs. defensemen. That kind of balance is inarguably important, since if you only have good forwards and no good defensemen, you can only put three of those "best players possible" on the ice at a time, rather than five.
Maudite, you can say the same thing about $40, and $400. The point is the Central Banks have decided to kick the can down the road again. The deflationary scenario you are describing can't happen till the can stops getting kicked. In the meantime, Au is going to do extremely well. Far better than $1600, which went out of danger with the SNB decision.
ReplyDeleteCommodity inflation is always a result of CBs trying to keep their ponzi scheme going by avoiding debt deflation. Always has been, always will be, this time isn't any different.
Bookie, I care not for Glenn Beck, but anyone who thinks Ron Paul is nuts can't be trusted. Those people will continue to fuck up the world. So... thanks.
ReplyDeletePaging Vic with his insufficiently refuted point that "balance" is subservient to having the best players possible.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I would attempt to refute that either, I was more referring to LT expecting a trade before or during training camp - it seems like every year LT writes something about that and it doesn't seem to happen too often.
I think balance is nice if you can get it, but am generally of the belief that it's better to have stars at F than on D, even if that ratio is out of balance.
As I understand it, the balance being discussed here is largely forwards vs. defensemen. That kind of balance is inarguably important, since if you only have good forwards and no good defensemen, you can only put three of those "best players possible" on the ice at a time, rather than five.
ReplyDeleteI think you could argue that. If it's true that forwards drive corsi/scoring chances much more than do defencemen, then it might be true that a team is better off with no "elite" D and enough elite F's to really drive play on 2 lines than to have one or two elite D and enough elite F's to only really drive play on one line.
Of course, the word "if" is pretty key there.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments, Oilers fans are rarely dull.
ReplyDeleteI try to see things as directly as possible. It's good to understand how things work, but not always good to overthink.
Gold - when the stock market is high, gold is low, and vice versa. It's better not to buy high, gold or stocks. That is all the timing you need to know unless you like gambling.
As for hockey, scoring in the playoffs is what you should be gearing for. The Canucks vs. Preds is a great example of how elite forwards are likely better to have than elite D, if you don't have both.
Stable D can get you by, no scoring up front is a problem. As long as the D can pass the puck well enough and keep it moving up, that is enough from them.
It also seems to me that unless you have a generational defenseman, running 6 good D might be better than 1 or 2 elite guys and lesser players after them because of the cap.
Buy ammo, not gold.
ReplyDeleteI am, of course, talking about the Oilers.
FastOil said...
ReplyDeleteGold - when the stock market is high, gold is low, and vice versa. It's better not to buy high, gold or stocks. That is all the timing you need to know unless you like gambling.
I don't think that is true FastOil. During the printing episode last year both equities and Gold did quite well. Equities have not been able to hold onto their gains whereas Gold has gained even more.
That increase in equities was partly because of the central banks forcing risk trades by holding interest rates arificially low.
However, rel'p between equities and gold aside, your statement about not buying high is absolutely true. I advise my clients based on valuations, and anyone buying stocks today thinking they're cheap after the getting creamed for a few months is nuts. The overvaluation in stocks goes back a decade and a return to historical pricing levels would mean a continued severe drop from their present prices (market as a whole, that is, not any one specific stock).
On the other hand, is gold presently expensive? It is from the point of view of currencies, because presently the CBs are devaluing our currencies such that everything is more expensive. It is important to remember that gold is a return OF capital play not a return ON capital. It is used to prevent the very loss of wealth the banks are forcing you to undergo as we speak. I would say from that point of view, gold is cheap and can go a lot higher from here. Now I'm not a goldbug or doomer "buy bullets, beans, and bullion" type. But I am concerned with preserving my wealth. And while the CBs continue their stupidity, gold and silver are pretty much the only options to do so.
I'm not sayng we won't see some bear market bounces in equities. After all the banks have to place the reserves they can't lend out somewhere. But the bounces will all be transitory.
When I hear the Central Banks admit they've given up trying to keep their Ponzi theft scheme alive, and will allow the necessary deflationary cycle to take hold (or even better, the central banks get dissolved), that will be when I get out of gold.
Bookie obviously doesn't realize this, but supporting central banking is essentially support for continuous war. That was the reason the governments allowed them to come into existence... to provide the nearly unlimited funding that war requires.
I think you could argue that. If it's true that forwards drive corsi/scoring chances much more than do defencemen, then it might be true that a team is better off with no "elite" D and enough elite F's to really drive play on 2 lines than to have one or two elite D and enough elite F's to only really drive play on one line.
ReplyDeleteBut that is a balance - balance doesn't mean equality, just that the proportion of player types is relevant. As I understand Vic's contention, it doesn't much matter in what measure you have checkers/scorers/complete players/whatever, so long as you're icing a lineup of good players. You're suggesting (for the sake of argument, I think) that you should load up on good forwards at the expense of good defensemen, which isn't at all the same as saying that the balance is irrelevant.