Ralph Kreuger becomes the new Head Coach for the Edmonton Oilers. GM Steve Tambellini announced that 52 year-old native of Winnipeg will take over the vacant spot for Tom Renney.
Kreuger spent the last 2 seasons with the club as an associate coach and will finally get his chance to coach in big leagues. Before joining the Oilers, Kreuger has been coaching the Swiss National squad between 1998 to the 2010.
"I know how much potential I feel there is in Edmonton. I don't think there's any question there's a big upside. It's there. But it's going to take a lot of hard work in the next while to there." said Krueger in an interview with the Edmonton Sun.
Krueger becomes the 11th coach to serve the Oilers under the NHL.
Nail Yakupov is an Oiler! For the third consecutive year, the Edmonton Oilers picked went up to the podium and chose the best available player of the NHL Draft. The Russian right winger from the Sarnia Sting played a mere 65 games last season, yet the dynamic forward managed to put up an incredible 101 points with 49 goals and 52 assists.
"I feel great right now, excited to be in Edmonton, it's a great time in
my life." said Yakupov after being drafted. Yakupov is quite possibly the most ready player of the draft to dive into the NHL and put up some respectable numbers. With Yakupov in the organization the hockey pundits and fans are just dying to see the top 3 picks with Hall and RNH will form and an extremely deadly first line in the future.
Yet, does he think he's ready to make the splash in Edmonton and swim with big fish with Hall and co., or sink like a Bonsignore?
"Yeah, why not? I have lots of time to work in the summer," he
said. "I think I'm ready to play in the NHL. It's a great team, pretty
young team. I saw a game in Detroit there and they showed great hockey.
It's going to be a great team, plus me, maybe."
Maybe? You can bet this kid can and will make the starting line-up come October and you can bet that this team has more than just the potential to be great team or dare I say...create a dynasty?
Hmm, maybe.
But let's be real. The Oilers haven't made the play-offs in 7 long seasons and the team MUST find the post season in 2013. Anything less than a play-off spot would definitely be a bust. The only thing the Edmonton Oilers can do is just work hard and work well with each other and play the game they love.
"I want to just work and show how I can play hockey. Help my team try and win every game. That's what I want."
Here is hoping for you to do well kid!
Congratulations to Nail Yakupov 2012 #1 Draft Pick
After being fired as head coach 3 years ago, the Edmonton Oilers have once again hired Craig MacTavish to become the organization's, senior vice-president of hockey operations.
MacTavish comes back to Edmonton after spending one year as head-coach with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL.
Wolves GM Wendell Young expressed his well wishes to MacTavish.
"The Chicago Wolves would like to thank Craig for all his contributions to the Wolves oragnization this past year. We would also like to wish him and his family the best on his future endeavours."
MacTavish, led the Wolves to the post season only to lose in the quarter finals versus the San Antonio Rampage. The Wolves completed their season with a 42-27-4-3 record.
According to TSN,Oilers GM Steve Tambellini announced that the Oilers will not re-new Tom Renny's contract. After spending two seasons with the Oilers as Head Coach, Renney was unable to bring his troops out of the basement.
The search is now on for a new Head Coach and the immediate replacement could be Assistant Coach Kelly Buchberger or Associate Coach Ralph Kreuger.
It was announced today that 19 year old Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a finalist for the Calder Trophy along with fellow rookies Grabriel Landeskog (Avalanche), and Adam Henrique (Devils). Nugent-Hopkins completed his rookie season, albeit abbreviated with an impressive 52 points in 62 games.
"It's a big honour." said Nugent-Hopkins who is now getting set to play for his country in Europe. "I got lucky coming to the Oilers. I've been given a great opportunity here and have been able to play with some great players, so it's been a lot of fun."
"The Nuge" as he is often referred to, was nearly a-point-per- game player until the untimely shoulder injury he suffered back in January versus the Chicago Blackhawks. In fact, leading up to his injury, Nugent-Hopkins was close to 15 points ahead all rookies.
"When I got hurt, I wasn't thinking about it, but it's one of those things where I started to a little bit at the end of the season because of all the questions that came up about it."
The NHL awards ceremony will take place in June 20th 2012 in Las Vegas.
For the 3rd consecutive year the Edmonton Oilers will once again choose the #1 draft pick for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. The last team to secure the top spot thrice in a row was the Quebec Nordiques during the early 90's.
But who knew?? Going into the Lottery Draft the Oilers had a measly 18.8 % chance to win it, when all hockey pundits and experts thought for sure that the Columbus Blue Jackets would secure the top choice.
Perhaps it was meant to be.
"I guess if you're in the lottery and you come here you might as well win it," said Steve Tambellini. "I feel really excited about the fact that now another young talent hopefully at the level of what the past few picks have been. To add another player like that is pretty exciting for our organization."
No kidding. 2010 Draft Pick Taylor Hall has been nothing but GOLD for the Edmonton Oilers. Despite having a rough 2 years in the show due to injuries, Hall has managed to live up to the hype and the sophomore was 5 points shy of reaching 100 career points.
Rookie sensation Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the clear winner of the 2011 Draft and after boasting 52 points in 62 games in his first season for the Oil, it is rumored that the 19 year-old will win the Calder despite having less goals than Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog. Moreover, Nugent-Hopkins will represent Canada at the World Hockey Championship along side with Jordan Eberle (who led the team in scoring with 76 points by the way).
With an embarrassing amount of talent at their finger-tips, who will the Oilers pick when Steve Tambellini steps up to the podium at the Energy Console Centre in Pittsburgh?
Nail Yakupov
"I'm looking to know the top picks. Not only in what they do on the ice, but most importantly really makes them tick." said Tambellini.
The consensus among all scouting is that Sarnia Sting forward Nail Yakupov is slated to go #1 at this years draft. While Steve Tambellini understands were the 5'10" 170 pound Russian is positioned, Tambellini will do exactly what he has done in recent years and will remain mum about who he will choose.
The Edmonton Oilers announced that Magnus Paajarvi has been sent back to Oklahoma City - and it is quite possible that #91 will not be returning to Edmonton for the rest of the NHL season.
GM Steve Tambellini quotes "We believed we had confirmation to recall Magnus as one of our four call-ups after the trade deadline. The league informed us today the only way he could be recalled was under an emergency recall basis."
Paajarvi has been nothing more than good this season with the OKC Barons. The 20 year-old has 22 points in 27 games and is second behind Linus Omark in points.
Edmonton's Tom Gilbert has been traded to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for defenseman Nick Schultz.
Here is Tom's reaction when he found out that he was going home to Minnesota.
"It's a new experience for me it's just part of the business and you just gotta expect that...I can actually see my parents smiling right now. I haven't even looked at phone at all or my texts...I am sure that they (his parents) have tried calling and texting and they probably have a house for me already set up and a welcome home party...so its exciting to go back to home a team that I've been watching since I was young."
Tom Gilbert leaves the club having spent 6 years with the Oilers and amassed a grand total of 159 points in 384 games played.
"He (Oilers GM Steve Tambellini) was the first guy to tell me about the trade and wished me the best of luck and said that I am a great guy and that it was pleasure to have this Edmonton Oilers team and all the luck in Minnesota." said Gilbert.
"Well you can see the direction this team is headed, especially with these young guys that are just coming in to this league and every game they are getting better and better you can see the talents and there is so much room for improvement and the sky is the limit with these younger players...so it's so unfortunate to leave a great group of guys that I have been a part of - this is the first team I have played for for 6 years and you grow accustomed to the people around you" said Gilbert. "You wish the guys all the best you are leaving a great bunch of guys and you move on and you move on to a team that you play against all the time and you see the amount of skilled players that they have and where they are headed too, so it's exciting for me." he said.
In return, the Edmonton Oilers will welcome Nick Schultz who had this to say about his new address.
"It's good. It's tough right now...I don't know if it really sunk yet of what's going to happen but I think it's good, I mean obviously we all know that they are good young team...up and coming team with a lot of talent that's trying to build a winner there so you gotta go there and be part of that try to fit in there... said Schultz. "It's going to be tough it's going to be an adjustment for myself and for my family but it's something that we are going to have to deal with." he admitted.
Schultz brings to Oilers a shut down style play plus veteran leadership. Schultz is 29 and is native of Strasbourgh Saskatchewan Canada. The defenseman has played 743 games while earning 128 points.
The departure of Gilbert immediately brings to mind that the Oilers could be trying to free up some cap space to make room to re-sign Centre Sam Gagner.
Other news
Ryan O'Marra has been traded to Anaheim for defenseman Bryan Rodney.
He was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st but Czech forward Ales Hemsky will remain an Edmonton Oiler. Last night, the 28 year-old signed a 2 year extension worth 10 million dollars and flashy winger couldn't be happier to stay in Edmonton.
"I've been here through a lot, through up downs. It will be tough to leave the place when you see it's changing, a lot of guys coming up and you know hopefully you can make a push for the playoffs and one day maybe win the Cup. So that's why I want to stay here too. I didn't want to give up after 10 years just to leave and pack my bags." said Hemsky
Many fans and hockey pundits were very certain that #83 would be moved come trade deadline however, NOBODY saw this coming.
Whether he deserves 10 million remains to seen, however this is a player who found a home in Edmonton who also enjoys playing with the club who drafted him in 2001. Hemsky, brings veteran leadership, skill, vision and a scoring touch and recently looked good with Sam Gagner and Taylor Hall. Sadly his biggest knock during his 10 year career has been his inability to remain healthy for a single season.
Although what is striking, is that Ales Hemsky is coming into his prime and it is probably about time for him to reach his full potential. In fact, country-man Jaromir Jagr believes that Hemsky has capability to reach 100 points (perhaps if he were to change teams).
"I'm 28, I'm not 35. So I don't think I have to retire next year. It's behind me know. Last month I felt great. I'm just looking forward to play more hockey and I think I can have a long career." said Hemsky.
22 year-old Sam Gagner joined a very elite class last night when he posted 8 points to help his club beat the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 8-4. Gagner recorded 4 goals and 4 assists to tie a team record shared by #99 and #7. For his efforts Gagner was aptly named 1st, 2nd and 3rd stars. The centre-man from London Ontario centered a line between Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall and the trio amassed an incredible 16 points.
"It seemed like everything I touch was going in...said Gagner. "Everyone on the bench was telling me to stay out the the last five minutes. I didn't have the legs to stay out that long. I was pretty gassed."
The crowd at Rexall went into frenzy when #89 posted his 8th point a feat which coincidentally, has not been accomplished since '89. The chants of 'Gag-ner, Gag-ner', and 'We want 10' still echoes hangs in the rafters.
"Hearing the Gagner chant will stand out," he said. "To get that kind of ovation from people who know the game was an incredible feeling. Tough to re-create that."
Chicago Blackhawks' pint sized Patrick Kane couldn't believe his eyes when he witnessed Gagner's performance. In '06 Gagner and Kane were line-mates in the OHL for the London Knights and the pair have remained the best of friends since...though I wonder if Kane met Gagner for dinner afterwards?
"He was just giving me stare downs," said Gagner. "I don't think he was happy I one-upped him like that. We have a competition going and so far, in our (NHL) career, he's won every one. It's nice to get that one on him tonight."
Last night the Edmonton Oilers skated to a 3-2 decision over the visiting Colorado Avalanche and the man who got things rolling was none other than #14. Fresh from the All-Star festivities in Ottawa, Jordan Eberle continued with his scoring touch when he beat Av's goaltender Varlamov with a slick wrap-around. Contributing with an assist to Eberle's 19th goal of the season was rookie Philippe Cornet. The left-winger from OKC played his first every NHL game and within 5 minutes of his start, the 21 year-old recorded his NHL point.
"I felt pretty good out there for the first game." said Cornet. "Playing with players like Eberle and Gagner helps. "On that first goal, it was great work by Gagner on the cycle and it was great work by Eberle to finish it off. It feels good, I wasn't expecting to have a point in my first game, but I'll take it for sure."
Tom Renney was more than happy with the rookies performance and admitted that he would've love to see what the 6'0" winger can do on the power-play.
"You want to give him a chance to play to where his instincts are," said Renny. "He's a sniper and he's an offensive player, but he's responsible. I certainly didn't have any fear of having him out there where he was. I was actually hoping to get him some power-player time, but we scored and that was the location that he would have popped into..."I anticipate him playing again and we'll see how he does.
Also Scoring:
Late in the first frame Eric Belanger scored his second goal of the season. The veteran centre who has been having a difficult season, buried a slap-shot on the power-play to make it 2-0 Oilers. Taylor Hall scored the winner in the third. #4 pounced on a loose rebound from an Ales Hemsky shot to seal the victory for the Copper and Blue.
Injuries:
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Cam Barker were seen skating with the club and are expected to return perhaps by next week.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=386587 The Edmonton Oilers will take a break and await the Chicago Blackhawks this Thursday night at Rexall.
I will not be posting any updates and/or blogs until after the NHL All Star break. While I understand that the Edmonton Oilers are going through a very long and arduous rebuild, I cannot bare to watch less than a hand full of players putting in 100% game in and game out.
I do believe that the Edmonton Oilers are on the way up and have the potential to become an elite squad in the future. However, injuries and lack of experience should NOT be used as an excuse and it is time for both management and players to make some rapid changes before this squad finishes dead last for the 3rd straight year.
I can handle the fact that the Edmonton Oilers will miss the play-offs for the 6th straight time, but now it is simply time to find the right personnel who really wants to be a part of a storied franchise in the City of Champions.
According to the Edmonton Oilers Jordan Eberle will suit up against the St Louis Blues tonight. Less than two weeks ago the Oilers leading scorer tweaked his knee when his legs got tangled with Dallas' Jaime Benn. Eberle was slated to miss 2-3 weeks but he now feels good enough compete against the Blues.
"I'm excited,few days off missed a few games...feels good on the ice..."I am going to keep things simple and try to make the right play at the right time." said Eberle.
A photo of Taylor Hall has surfaced after he was cut on the forehead two nights ago in Columbus. The photo was released less than an hour ago by the Edmonton Journal and here is what Taylor Hall looks like with 30 stitches.
It is said that Taylor Hall may not play tonight in St. Louis but is hoping to step on the ice against the Calgary Flames this Saturday in Edmonton.
He's a Hall Scar!
A tribute to Taylor Hall. My cap with a Band-Aid! Hall Scar!
A freak accident just before game time between the Edmonton Oilers and Columbus Blue Jackets left Taylor Hall with 30 stitches. In the video below you can see Taylor Hall tripping on a loose puck and then taking out teammate Ladislav Smid - moments later Corey Potter's right skate caught Taylor Hall's left eye. According to GM Steve Tambellini Hall was ready to play. "I was talking to him when the doctors were with him. Typical Taylor he said 'I'm ready to go, I'll be playing tonight.' But I think it's best that we sat him" said the Oilers GM. Sure, maybe Taylor Hall was fine after receiving medical attention and perhaps the dynamic forward probably could've played during the 4-2 loss last night. However, the accident now has hockey pundits asking 'why isn't it mandatory for players to wear helmets during warm-up?'
In my opinion, it's called machismo. Let's face it, these players are showing off their faces, some are showing off their hockey locks or "flow" as Oilers' forward Ryan Jones calls it. In other words, the pre-game warm-up is the opportunity to look your best just prior to game-time and to give the fans something to look at.
However, for hockey player, the pre-game warm-up is also the last opportunity to relax, to feel loose and to feel comfortable before the puck drop. For some, it is part of their pre-game ritual to skate around a rink with full gear without a helmet.
Yet, in recent weeks the Oilers have lost top players due to injury - and with Edmonton sinking faster in the standings than the Titanic, they can not afford to lose more players. I wonder if Tambellini and Co., will look to make it compulsory for every player (investment) to wear full gear during pre-game.
Despite the outcome, nobody wants to see to someone lose an eye, or get severely injured or killed because he or she opted to not wear protection.
"Definitely terrible, you never want to see your teammates go off the ice like that." said Corey Potter. I turned in the corner, had two guys sliding at me and just tried to get out of the way. I don't think I've ever seen a cut that bad...it was pretty deep and long. It was pretty gross.
Breaking News!
Hours after this blog was posted according to 630 Ched, Defenseman, Theo Peckham was quoted "Seeing something like that with Taylor makes you reconsider. We're putting in place that everybody is going to be wearing helmets now in warm-up."
It is also said that the New York Rangers will make it mandatory for their players to wear helmets at all times.
After an abysmal 5-0 loss versus the Anaheim Ducks a few nights ago, Oilers fans across the nation were calling for the head of Head Coach Tom Renney while others demanded a shake-up within the organization - and one passionate fan suggested for the Oilers to cancel Saturday's Skills Competition and force a public bag skate. There was certainly heat under the asses of every Oilers player it was time for the club to find to snap a 5 game losing skid against the visiting LA Kings.
From the drop of the puck, the Oilers came out hard which seemed to surprize the road weary Kings. There was a sense of urgency among the Oilers and it appeared from the get-go that the Oilers would finally earn another "W". And who better to seal a victory but the Oilers most dynamic player Taylor Hall.
"Anaheim wasn't our best effort, the guys know that, and we really wanted to respond in a good way, for Tom and for our whole organization," said Taylor Hall who buried a beautiful pass from Shawn Horcoff with a minute and change left in OT. "Because that's not the way we want to play. For us to play like we did against a really good team, that been playing well is good."
It comes as no surprize for the sophomore winger to play hero. Taylor Hall, since coming back from injury now has 31 points in 36 games for his squad and he continues to provide that killer instinct which seems to be non existent for the rest of the Oilers.
With his supporting cast of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle out with injuries for another 3 weeks, Hall has the club on his shoulders.
"No matter how long it took, overtime or whatever, we wanted to get that win. It's a good feeling. "
With the game tied in overtime, the Los Angeles Kings were given a 2 minute penalty and the Oilers wasted no time to hammer home the winner. Ales Hemsky blasted a point shot on Jonathan Quick and the LA net-minder couldn't absorb the rebound. Shawn Horcoff, grabbed the loose puck and blindly gave a back hand pass to find Taylor Hall on the doorstep.
The Edmonton Oilers will now face the Blue Jackets in Columbus tomorrow night.
TSN chose a brilliant day to nationally broadcast a snoozer last night in Edmonton. The fans in the stands didn't actually wake up until Ales Hemsky tied the game late in the 3rd to force overtime. However, Corey Potter's tripping penalty with less than a minute to go in the game, allowed for stalwart Zach Parise to pick up the second point for Devils in OT.
"Yeah, obviously feeling pretty terrible at the moment, just trying to go out to the net there and make something happen, had a little collision there and I'm not feeling great right now." said Potter after the game.
Potter recently signed a two year extension with the big club after showing some very promising work on the depleted Blue-line this year. However, his play last night is one left for the bush league. On the replay, it appeared that Potter purposely administered a slew foot to the legs of Adam Larsson.
"It cost us the game," said head coach Tom Renney. "You know, we certainly had a chance to win the game. Corey has been very good for us but it was on those very, untimely penalties and hopefully, everybody will learn from that..."Safe to say that I wasn't really thrilled with what happend."
The only consolation for the Oilers was the much needed point they received after playing two lack-luster periods. After a scoreless first period, Kovalchuk opened the scoring in the second with a short-handed break-away goal. The Russian speedster intercepted a pass intended for recent call up Magnus Paajarvi and wristed a clean shot past countryman Nikolai Khabibulin.
"I really liked our third period, I liked how we didn't quit," said Taylor Hall who had an assist on the Hemsky goal. "We showed a lot of really good habits in coming back. It was a good effort and a good feeling to know that we can play that way at home."
The Oilers will now face the Ananheim Ducks this Friday.
Not in attendance for the game was super fan of the Oilers and Devils Kevin Smith It was said that the Hollywood director was to appear at the game in Edmonton but opted to stay at home with his sick pooch Scully.
Here is a picture of myself with Kevin Smith in Las Vegas.
The Edmonton Oilers announced that leading scorer Jordan Eberle will be out for 2-3 weeks with an knee injury. MRI results revealed that the Oilers star has a right knee sprain after getting tangled with Jaime Benn last Saturday in Dallas. "It's a lot better news than I expected...I think it kinda got extended and then with the extra push on the guy's (Benn) skate and then my knee buckled in a bit and I think I knew right away that something was wrong." said Jordan Eberle to the media. Eberle tops the Oilers in scoring with 43 points in 41 games and becomes the 6th and latest casualty for the Oilers at the moment. Less than 2 weeks ago Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went down with a shoulder injury while Tom Gilbert crahsed heavily into the boards thanks to Dan Carcillo.
Gilbert Brule was claimed off re-entry waivers from the Phoenix Coyotes this afternoon. The 25 year-old played spent three seasons with Oilers but has spent his entire year with the Oklahoma Barons.
Ralph Kreuger becomes the new Head Coach for the Edmonton Oilers. GM Steve Tambellini announced that 52 year-old native of Winnipeg will take over the vacant spot for Tom Renney. 
