Week of October 10, 2007, Issue #625
FRONT
In The Box
Dave Young and TB Player / inthebox@vueweekly.com
The first week of Oiler hockey is over and it doesn’t look so stinky, does it? With a shootout win over San Jose to kick things off, a 5-3 win over Philadelphia and a 4-2 loss to Detroit, the season is starting out pretty darned OK. Welcome back, you stupid, distracting, annoying obsession we call Oiler hockey. TB and Dave discuss.No expectations = more fun Over the summer, I was looking forward to this year more than most. It’s partly because it would be nice to leave the last 20 or 25 games of last season behind and partly because this year’s lineup just looks much more fun to watch. But I think it’s mostly because this year is not following a lockout year or trying to follow up on an exhausting Stanley Cup experience. Along with these lower expectations we’ve got a few skilled rookies and newbies in Sam “Dave’s boy” Gagner and Andrew Cogliano and Robert “Kent’s boy” Nilsson, an agitating minus machine with a cannon for a shot in Sheldon Souray and another tough captain in Ethan Moreau. The team looks faster; even the “grizzled veteran” (yeah, veterans are younger than I am now) Geoff Sanderson can still fly. Coach MacT also seems to have lightened up on the team’s tight defensive sphincter and is letting the young and skilled players do what got them drafted in the first place—and that’s not penalty killing or checking. DY
Useless Information Dept Albert Dwayne Roloson was born on the same day (October 12, 1969) that figure skater Sonja Henie died. Boy TV star Adam Rich of Eight Is Enough is exactly one year older than Roli and boy TV star Kirk Cameron is exactly one year younger. Take that one to the water cooler. DY
Movin’ On Up The Oilers now have two wins after only three games of this new season. Last year, it took the team 20 games to get two wins at the end. Things are already looking up. I love these low expectations. DY
TB’s take The Copper-and-Blue are looking a lot different these days in both personnel and their redesigned jerseys. Big additions are Sheldon Souray, Joni Pitkanen and Dustin Penner. Gone are Ryan Smyth, Jason Smith, Petr Sykora, Joffrey Lupul, M-A Bergeron and Jussi Markkanen. Kids like Sam Gagner, Robert Nilsson, Andrew Cogliano and Kyle Brodziak get their turn. Anyway: predictions anyone? The Oilers will have a very up-and-down season. The power play will be much improved while the penalty killing suffers. They will blow out the other team a few times, but will take a beating more often. This will be a “passing of the torch” year, and we will begin to see the emergence of new core players. J Smith and R Smyth are gone and younger faces are going to step up to take their spots. I'm not sure that this squad is quite ready for the playoffs this year, but I do think that it’s going to be exciting hockey. TB
Good news/bad news The bad news. NHL.com is advertising NHL Crocs for sale. The good news. There are no Oiler Crocs yet, so I don’t have any temptation to join the Crocs cultm—yet. DY
Welcome back With Ryan Smyth returning to Edmonton in a dreaded Colorado Avalanche uniform (Oct 23) I’m curious about a few things: 1) Will he be booed right off the bat or later in the game? 2) Will he throw pucks into the crowd after the pre-game warm-ups as he did for most of his Oiler career? 3) Will he be allowed to take a peek at the fancy new $3 million dressing room? and 4) Will he give 110 per cent? DY
Bad joke coming The New York Islanders signed veteran d-man Bryan Berard on Tuesday in a move to improve team depth. Team depth perception, however ... DY