Perron Delivers In Return

There is no question David Perron was absolutely thrilled to have been dealt by the St. Louis Blues to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Magnus Paajarvi and a second round pick during the summer of 2013. 

Clearing The Deck

Be it tonight in Colorado against the Avalanche or Sunday evening when John Tavares and the New York Islanders pay a visit to Rexall Place, forward Benoit Pouliot would be making his return to the Edmonton Oilers starting lineup. 

Victory!!!

Despite having won just once in their last twenty-one games and in the midst of a nightmare of a season, it was always a matter of when and not if the Edmonton Oilers would win another hockey game. While they may have tried their very best to blow yet another multi-goal lead on home ice, at least for one night, the team wearing Orange and Blue found a way to get the job done over at Rexall Place.

Positive Signs

On an evening in which the Edmonton Oilers put together one of their finest all around performances of the season and managed to score three goals for the first time in the month of December, it was still not enough to keep this group from dropping their sixth consecutive game.

Back To Reality

Well…it was nice while it lasted. After ending their eleven game winless skid on Sunday night with a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks at Rexall Place, the Edmonton Oilers wasted little time in returning to form during Tuesday’s return engagement at the Shark Tank. 

Relief!!!

In the grand scheme of things, last night’s 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks doesn’t mean much of anything. We are nearing the middle of December and the Edmonton Oilers have just now won their first game of the year against a Western Conference opponent…so excuse me for not being overly excited about this group’s first victory since the ninth of November. 

Worst Case Scenario

While it may not have been the news the Edmonton Oilers or their fans were hoping for, the fact Taylor Hall will be out of the lineup for the next two to four weeks should have surprised absolutely no one. 

An Unjust Result

As far as an evening of hockey goes, Saturday was one that both the Edmonton Oilers and their fans would love to forget. As if dropping a third consecutive decision to the Vancouver Canucks in their first eleven outings of 2014-15 wasn’t already bad enough, the Oilers managed to also lose the services of Taylor Hall during yesterday’s 3-2 loss at Rexall Place. 

Back To Reality

It was nice while it lasted but the Edmonton Oilers four game win streak was destined to come to an end and come to end it did on Wednesday against the high-flying Nashville Predators. While the 4-1 scoreline frankly flattered the team wearing Orange and Blue, they still had every chance to stretch their run to five straight despite putting together what was simply a dreadful opening twenty minutes of hockey. 

Could Craig MacTavish And Ron Hextall Be Talking Trade?

As a general rule, I have always made a point of not paying too much attention to trade rumours during the open month of any National Hockey League season. Unless a team has a player that is in the midst of a contract dispute or flat out demanded to be traded, we rarely if ever see deals involving legit NHL talent this early in the year. 

Can It Really Get Much Worse?

Despite the best efforts of one Taylor Hall, the Edmonton Oilers found a way to simply give away another two points on Wednesday night in Arizona, dropping a 7-4 decision to the Coyotes. While the top line of Hall, Jordan Erberle and Mark Arcobello combined for three goals and seven points, it was the team’s play in their own end coupled with yet another disastrous outing from netminder Ben Scrivens that cost them. 

The Draisaitl, Perron and Pouliot Experiment

The moment Craig MacTavsih announced the Edmonton Oilers signing of winger Benoit Pouliot to a five year $20 million deal, it was obvious the role in which the organization envisioned using the former New York Ranger during the upcoming 2014-15 season.

How much is too much?

With the Edmonton Oilers annual trip to Penticton and the Young Stars Tournament now in the books, the focus will shift to the start of their National Hockey League Training Camp. Come Friday morning/afternoon we will all get our first on ice look of what many are hoping will be a playoff team in 2014-15.

Will Yakupov be 2nd or 3rd line player in 2014-15?

Edmonton Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish was a very busy man both leading up to the National Hockey League’s annual Free Agent Frenzy and on July 1st itself. He managed to not only ship Sam Gagner out of town but also brought in the quartet of Keith Aulie, Mark Fayne, Benoit Pouliot and Teddy Purcell for the coming 2014-15 campaign.

Perron may not be here for a long time

With David Perron’s first year in Edmonton Oilers silks now in the books, you would be hard-pressed to find a single Oilers fan who did not love what the twenty-five year old brought to the rink on a nightly basis. While he did post career highs in goals (28) and points (57), it was his style of play and refusal to make excuses that won over the masses throughout Oil Country. 

Can You Say Ugly?

It wasn’t supposed to go like this. 2013-14 was the year the Edmonton Oilers were going to play meaningful games deep into the season. While few had them slated to qualify for post-season play for the first time since 2006, almost everyone felt this team was good enough to compete for a spot.

The meaningless wins just keep coming

While the Edmonton Oilers have come out with four consecutive solid efforts against teams either comfortably in or battling for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, it has been the play of the opposition’s netminder that has ultimately handed Dallas Eakins’s side back-to back victories.

Better effort = Same result

Despite being soundly beaten by the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night, it would be rather ridiculous for either the Edmonton Oilers or their fans to be overly disappointed with their effort in what was a 5-2 loss to the Pacific Division leaders. 

Eakins makes a mountain out of a molehill

Following the embarrassment that was the Edmonton Oilers 8-1 thrashing at the hands of the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at Rexall Place, I went out of my way to not write a single word about the Dallas Eakins and Taylor Hall incident which occurred late in the second period on the Oilers bench.

Time to show RNH some love

Heading into the Olympic break, the Edmonton Oilers trio of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov looked to have formed a bit of chemistry. Unfortunately, the young Russian took a shot off his ankle in their first game back against the Minnesota Wild which forced him to sit out Edmonton’s next game against the Calgary Flames.