The Oilers can't win. What else is new? What's the solution? Who
knows, fire the coach, trade some players. How about get Jaromir
Jagr? He'll solve our scoring woes.
Sure the Oilers could try all those things, but nobody really knows
what to do to cure the Oilers' losing ways. If this continues the
Oilers should be ready to get out the golf clubs, because they
won't be going to the playoffs.
With a tenuous grip on eighth place in the Western Conference, the
Calgary Flames are just one point behind the Oilers. It's a pretty
ugly situation. What can they Oilers do to end their losing ways?
Scotch and lots of it? Well, drinking will help, but it won't win
them any games.
How about try harder and play a whole 60 minutes? Well they tried
that. On Sunday night against Wayne Gretzky and the New York
Rangers, the Oilers did everything they needed to win. But they
still lost.
The Oilers' outhustled and outchanced the Rangers, but were unable
to bury the puck past a hot Mike Richter. They had the 1-0 lead,
but the Rangers were able to mount a comeback and defeat the Oil 45
seconds into overtime.
In the end what killed the Oilers was their inability to bury
chances. Again the Oilers now have no confidence around the net
and it shows. With the heavy hands of Todd
(I-can't-put-a-puck-in-the-ocean) Marchant and company, the Oilers
really need an injection of confidence and luck.
I'M LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
Maybe just an injection of new blood will do the trick. Coach Ron
Low certainly hopes so. The Oilers called up some young turks from
their top farm team the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Those lucky dogs coming up are centre Chris Ferraro, winger Dan
Lacouture and goalie Steve Passmore.
They won't be getting into the Oilers lineup immediately, but Low
will want to get a good look at them sometime during the next few
weeks. Ferraro is the Bulldogs leading scorer, while Lacouture has
been the Bulldog's best player since January.
Passmore will be the most interesting callup, especially with the
Oilers' unsteady goaltending situation. Bob Essensa has been
holding up the fort of late, but Mikail Shtalenkov has been
struggling.
Passmore has been ruling the AHL and the word is he has a chance to
definitely stick with the Oilers and could be a start by next
season.
With Essensa's wife expecting a child, look for Passmore to get his
chance.
Since the Oilers called up three players, they had to send down a
few. That meant centre Boyd Devereaux and Todd Rierden got the
bump.
Low stressed Devereaux was mostly sent down for conditioning, and
his situation would be a temporary one. Devereaux has been a
healthy scratch of late, and when he does dress he gets very little
ice time. Coach wants him to see some more ice and it looks like
Hamilton is what the doctor ordered.
Rierden hasn't been dressing lately, even though he played well
enough when he was dressed. He became a victim of the numbers
game. He should return before the end of the season.
SCARE HIM TO SCORE
Before the Oilers game in Anaheim, newbie Oiler Alexander Selivanov
was a chalkmark away from being a healthy scratch. But unexpected
family matters (no, not the show with that lovable Erkel) forced
second line centre Joe Beranek to return to Edmonton.
This put Selivanov onto the Oilers first line beside Doug Weight and
Billy the Butcher Guerin. Silly Selly responded with a hat trick in
the third period to lead the Oilers to a 6-2 win over the Ducks.
Then the next game in Los Angeles Alex the Great comes out and pots
another two goals in an Oilers' losing cause.
Looks like Selivanov just needs a good kick in the rear end (or the
kidneys) to jumpstart his effort.
Trade Rumours
Not very much on the trade rumour front. It's pretty quiet. The
only Oiler subject to trade talk around here is still Boris
Mironov. A new possible destination is Buffalo. But it's all
speculation.
Bobo, who is a restricted free agent this summer said even if he is
traded he would still make Edmonton his home in the offseason.
Bobo is on the verge of getting his Canadian citizenship and loves
it here in Edmonton.
Let's hope the Oilers will keep him and re-sign him this summer,
even if he can go to arbitration and ask for about $3.5 million.
With Roman Hamrlik also a restricted free agent, it looks as if
it's going to be another long summer for Oilers GM Glen Sather.
