Gushing Oil
The Oilers aim to roar through the second half of the season.
It's been a rough go of things this year for the Edmonton Oilers. Entering the season, Edmonton was brimming with confidence and full of anticipation, aiming for a playoff berth and a strong post-season push.
If they do reach those playoffs, it won't be in the way they expected however. Starting netminder Tomas Vokoun was placed on waivers after posting an absolutely dreadful record of 3-17-4, a goals against average of 4.04 and a save percentage of .843. Even if he were to clear waivers, with numbers like those it's debateable on if the Oklahoma City Barons will want him.
Former all-world goaltender Tomas Vokoun has been "awful" this season, according to General Manager Keith Foster.
"He has been awful this year. Just awful," explained Oilers General Manager Keith Foster. "I don't like o throw a guy under the bus, but he could dramatically improve those numbers and still be considered an underachiever. He has been terrible."
The Oilers are expected to go with a rotation of Christobel Huet and Rick Dipietro the rest of the season. While Huet's save percentage, .872, isn't very good either, he has still managed to post a 12-7-1 record as an Oiler, something that helps bring a sense of confidence.
Oilers fans might be seeing a lot more of Rick Dipietro the rest of the season.
As does the weak Western Conference, which has allowed the Oilers to stay in contention despite their goaltending woes. Entering action on Friday, the Oilers sat 12th but were just five points out of eighth spot and riding a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games.
"We've had some ground to make up for sure, but we fortunately haven't dug ourselves a huge hole," said forward Craig Smith, the lone rookie on the club. "We know if we were in the Eastern Conference, we'd be buried right now, so we need to take advantage of the situation we are in, not cry over lost points."
An additional bonus to the Vokoun move is it will free up $7 million in cap space for the Oilers, if they choose to look for improvements on the trade market. Prior to waiving Vokoun, the Oilers had less than $900,000 in cap space to play with.
"We'll look around and kick some tires, but the team is playing much better lately so we may just ride this out for a bit too," noted Foster. "Sometimes just making a move like this can be enough and you don't need to bring in anyone. Just having confidence in who is between your pipes can help enough."
Expect the club to ride offensive juggernauts Jason Pominville and Patrik Elias if they hope to have a better second half of the season. The duo has combined for 47 goals and 112 points already, making them the backbone of the Oilers offense.
Jason Pominville and Patrik Elias have been all-star caliber for the Edmonton Oilers so far this year.
"They've been terrific," said forward olli Jokinen, who sits third in team scoring behind the duo. "Without them, I'd hate to think where we'd be."
Likely vying for the top draft pick in the 2011 WCHL Entry Draft. The Oilers already sit with the leagues worst goals against average at 3.84 goals against per game. That's almost a full goal more than the league average of 2.89. The club also has the 27th ranked penalty kill, yet aren't allowing an obscene amount of shots, ranking 19th in shots allowed per game with 25.78, just slightly ahead of the league average of 25.24.
"It gives us hope," said defenseman Paul Mara, who has a team worse plus/minus ranking of -17. "Once again, I hate to blame all of the issues on Tomas, but when we aren't allowing a lot more shots than the average team, yet we sit dead last in goals against average and are near the bottom on the penalty kill, there has to be a reason for that.
While the offense has been much better this year, it can still get better. Forwards Niklas Hagman and Eric Belanger were expected to contribute in a third line role, yet the pair has combined for just one goal so far this season, despite pulling in a combined $3.8 million.
Eric Belanger will need to pick up the pace the rest of the season.
But overall, things are looking up. How can they not be when you are just five points away from the playoffs despite going just 1-13-3 in a 17 games stretch?
"Some teams should have buried us a long time ago and they didn't. We'll make them pay for that in the second half," said defenseman Jordan Leopold.
The Oilers aim to roar through the second half of the season.
It's been a rough go of things this year for the Edmonton Oilers. Entering the season, Edmonton was brimming with confidence and full of anticipation, aiming for a playoff berth and a strong post-season push.
If they do reach those playoffs, it won't be in the way they expected however. Starting netminder Tomas Vokoun was placed on waivers after posting an absolutely dreadful record of 3-17-4, a goals against average of 4.04 and a save percentage of .843. Even if he were to clear waivers, with numbers like those it's debateable on if the Oklahoma City Barons will want him.
Former all-world goaltender Tomas Vokoun has been "awful" this season, according to General Manager Keith Foster.
"He has been awful this year. Just awful," explained Oilers General Manager Keith Foster. "I don't like o throw a guy under the bus, but he could dramatically improve those numbers and still be considered an underachiever. He has been terrible."
The Oilers are expected to go with a rotation of Christobel Huet and Rick Dipietro the rest of the season. While Huet's save percentage, .872, isn't very good either, he has still managed to post a 12-7-1 record as an Oiler, something that helps bring a sense of confidence.
Oilers fans might be seeing a lot more of Rick Dipietro the rest of the season.
As does the weak Western Conference, which has allowed the Oilers to stay in contention despite their goaltending woes. Entering action on Friday, the Oilers sat 12th but were just five points out of eighth spot and riding a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games.
"We've had some ground to make up for sure, but we fortunately haven't dug ourselves a huge hole," said forward Craig Smith, the lone rookie on the club. "We know if we were in the Eastern Conference, we'd be buried right now, so we need to take advantage of the situation we are in, not cry over lost points."
An additional bonus to the Vokoun move is it will free up $7 million in cap space for the Oilers, if they choose to look for improvements on the trade market. Prior to waiving Vokoun, the Oilers had less than $900,000 in cap space to play with.
"We'll look around and kick some tires, but the team is playing much better lately so we may just ride this out for a bit too," noted Foster. "Sometimes just making a move like this can be enough and you don't need to bring in anyone. Just having confidence in who is between your pipes can help enough."
Expect the club to ride offensive juggernauts Jason Pominville and Patrik Elias if they hope to have a better second half of the season. The duo has combined for 47 goals and 112 points already, making them the backbone of the Oilers offense.
Jason Pominville and Patrik Elias have been all-star caliber for the Edmonton Oilers so far this year.
"They've been terrific," said forward olli Jokinen, who sits third in team scoring behind the duo. "Without them, I'd hate to think where we'd be."
Likely vying for the top draft pick in the 2011 WCHL Entry Draft. The Oilers already sit with the leagues worst goals against average at 3.84 goals against per game. That's almost a full goal more than the league average of 2.89. The club also has the 27th ranked penalty kill, yet aren't allowing an obscene amount of shots, ranking 19th in shots allowed per game with 25.78, just slightly ahead of the league average of 25.24.
"It gives us hope," said defenseman Paul Mara, who has a team worse plus/minus ranking of -17. "Once again, I hate to blame all of the issues on Tomas, but when we aren't allowing a lot more shots than the average team, yet we sit dead last in goals against average and are near the bottom on the penalty kill, there has to be a reason for that.
While the offense has been much better this year, it can still get better. Forwards Niklas Hagman and Eric Belanger were expected to contribute in a third line role, yet the pair has combined for just one goal so far this season, despite pulling in a combined $3.8 million.
Eric Belanger will need to pick up the pace the rest of the season.
But overall, things are looking up. How can they not be when you are just five points away from the playoffs despite going just 1-13-3 in a 17 games stretch?
"Some teams should have buried us a long time ago and they didn't. We'll make them pay for that in the second half," said defenseman Jordan Leopold.
