OilersCountry: 2010

Just finished watching the Oilers lose yet another game, make that six in a row..difference was this time the score wasn't as lopsided as some of the other recent offerings.
Tonight was exciting, this was exciting last place hockey..Lets face it, we all know the Oilers are not gonna win too many games this season, I can see them putting together a few winning stretches later on in the season.
I also predict for Taylor Hall to start finding his groove more as the season progresses, perhaps a similar to Steven Stamkos's first NHL season where he was a healthy scratch a few times only to end up red hot in the last third of the season and ending up with 23 goals, what does he have this year? Last I heard he just scored his second hat-trick of the season, leads the league with 35 points in less than 20 games..Not too shabby..this in only his third NHL season.
Now I'm not saying that Hall is the next Stamkos, but this kind of hockey if pretty normal for first overall draft picks, besides Sid the Kid and Ovie first overall picks usually dont blow up any scoresheets..lets go back and do a little history shall we?

1997:
1st Overall: Joe Thornton:
Rookie Stats: 55-3-4-7
I think his modern day stats speak for themselves.

1998:
1st Overall: Vincent Lecavalier:
Rookie Stats: 82-13-15-28
Like Thornton, his modern day stats speak for themselves.

1999:
1st Overall: Patrick Stefan:
Rookie Stats: 72-5-20-25
His best season was in 03/04 when he scored 40 points in 82 games..never played 500 games in the NHL scoring less than 200 points..just goes to show that 1st overall picks are never guaranteed future Hall Of Famers...the second and third overall picks that year were the Sedin twins, we all know how long it took them to become stars in the NHL...but looking at their past few seasons and it's clear that slow starts in their NHL careers didn't impact their long term success..

Jumping to 2002:
1st Overall: Rick Nash:
Rookie Stats: 74-17-22-39
Very respectable rookie numbers, similar to the pace Taylor Hall is on right now..
Rick Nash more than doubled his goals totals in his second season by scoring 41 goals without offensive help from teammates..Nash has gone on to score 30 or more goals five times so far in his young NHL career.

2003:
2nd Overall: Eric Staal:
Rookie Stats: 81-11-20-31
Staal only scored 11 goals in his rookie campaign but fallowed it up with 100 points in his sophomore year (two years later due to NHL Lockout season). What's also inspiring is that Hall managed to outscore Staal in every year of junior hockey..I have to add though that Hall did play for a very stacked Windsor Spitfires team, still is interesting to compare stats though..

I could go on and on and on..and as I mentioned earlier..look at Steven Stamkos, his first season was hardly an indication that we would score at a goal a game pace this season..if he stays healthy I have a feeling he'll end up with over 70 goals, who was the last man to reach 70 or more goals? Brett Hull? From the mid 90's??

Anyways..just rambling now...back to tonights game..

I think everyone looked pretty solid, however Tom Gilbert doesn't look right this season, terrible giveaways that'd you'd barely accept from even a rookie NHL'er...not sure what's gonna happen to him and his future in Edmonton...
Hemsky was flying tonight, as I was watching the game listening to the sportsnet commentators talk about how coach Renney gave Hemsky yesterday's practice off just to rest, I was thinking.."he's obviously the type of player that doesn't really need to be told what to do, he's the type who succeeds best when he makes plays based on his own judgement not by something the coach drew out for him on some chalk board during practice, but he'll figure it out as the games go on..he's his own boss out there" Seriously, every once in a while I see extreme greatness in his play, similar to how you would see Crosby or Ovechkin just taking over a game...if if somehow he could just do it on a more consistent level..maybe the coach should just let him play his game and not try teaching X's and O's to someone who's got the whole Alphabet already figured out..
Eberle and Hall both looked real good tonight and each came away with a point..Whitney continues to add on to his league leading assists by a defenceman..lets see how long that'll last..I have a feeling he might just end up with over 50 points this year...a little off my early season predictions..

Well I should wrap it up by saying..that's it that's all I got to ramble right now..it's almost one in the morning..Oilers play again on Sunday..lets see what the future holds...time to go duck hunting this Sunday.

OilersCountry

Friday, November 19, 2010

Hall, Hemsky, Eberle, Dubnyk impress..Oilers get a point.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Predictions 2010: Oilers