Losing Tambo and Lowe answers everything

For those who keep logging on here wondering why I haven’t typed anything on this blog since the first game of the season, I have news for you: Who cares?

The Oilers are bottom-feeders in the NHL, their farm team (the Springfield Falcons) is in the basement, and the farm team’s farm team (the Stockton Thunder) is in second last place in its league.

These are, indeed, bad times in Edmonton.

But the sad thing is many saw this coming. As soon as training camp began, many players were on the payroll with hefty contracts.

There were talks and rumours about players needing to be shaved off the roster even before training camp, but Oilers GM Steve Tambellini opted to keep all of them while adding Mike Comrie for $1 million.

With the amount of payroll, the Oilers should be a first place team on paper or a Stanley Cup contender, but this is a team Kevin Lowe wanted to keep together since 2006 and now the results come with a record of 16-25-5.

To those that look and the glass half full, last place in the NHL is good enough for a lottery pick, but having Taylor Hall playing with bright prospects like Jordan Eberle, Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson and Anton Lander won’t be a big enough fix for this team.

Once this long and horrific season is said and done, Tambellini will have to work hard in signing coveted restricted free agents like Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano. That won’t be easy since this team is so close to the cap.

And there is someone running a team in Toronto who still has a grudge about how Dustin Penner was taken from the Anaheim Ducks.

Tambellini can’t just get rid of players for cap space simply because no one wants them.

Patrick O’Sullivan, who is really struggling this season, comes with a $2.95 million cap hit. Then there’s Tom Gilbert with his $4 million cap hit, and same thing with Steve Staios at $2.7 million. No GM in the league wants these players with those kinds of contracts.

The team’s blueline alone comes with a $22 million cap hit, and I won’t bother talking about Shawn Horcoff’s contract. That’s like beating a dead horse.

The only thing that’s going to be a solid fix for this team is a major shake up in upper management. Tambellini and Lowe must resign after promising to build a team destined for the playoffs.

But as long as Daryl Katz owns this team, fans can expect to see Lowe for a long time as the team’s president of hockey operations, and the same can be said about Tambellini.

Katz and Lowe are longtime buddies. Their friendship is full of bro-mance, but fans won’t be putting up with it much longer. They will be mad as hell and they won't take it anymore.

Horcoff is hurt, but no reason to panic

There is one thing the Edmonton Oilers are known for in hockey and that’s not hitting the panic button.

This team doesn’t make a first-instinct trade when trouble strikes or fire a coach in the middle of a long season, at least not since Glen Sather sacked George Burnett back in the 1994-95 season.

With Shawn Horcoff’s shoulder injury after taking a hard, late hit by Andy Sutton during a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders, fans in Edmonton are already hitting that giant red button.

“The Oilers need to claim someone off waivers, like (Erik) Christensen,” said one caller to the Team 1260 Tuesday. “Steve Tambellini needs to make a trade now.”

Not so fast, fans.

Horcoff’s injury, if it is a long-term injury, is probably a good thing for the copper and blue. Players like Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano will have to step up, and we all remember what happened when Horcoff was last on the long-term injured list.

Does anyone remember 2008?

Horcoff only played 53 games that season when the Oilers missed the playoff for the second time since the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006. But unlike last season, or the other failed season in 2007, 2008 gave fans hope.

Fans everywhere got to see how good Gagne and Cogliano really are as rookies and, with them paired up with — back then — a talented Robert Nilsson, they helped the Oilers get close to the playoffs as rookies.

Now the pair of young guns are older and much wiser after their poor sophomore seasons.

Both are restricted free agents after this season, so they have something to prove. And Cogliano, who has struggled a bit this season, has much more to prove after his name was linked to that botched Dany Heatley trade this summer.

And with a healthy Mike Comrie, and with Gilbert Brule continuing to play well on the dot, the Oilers are fine without their $7-million man. (Yes, I know Horcoff is a cap hit of $5.5 million. Woptie-doo.)

When the Oilers fight off this flu bug, and when they can fight off the injury bug on their blueline, the Oilers are capable enough to be an eighth to a fifth place team in the West Division without Shawn Horcoff. (No, I don’t have the homer glasses on.)

There is no reason to hit the panic button, or for fans to abandon ship.

Oilers looked good, despite a dud from the Wall

Talk about being disappointed by a hot date on prom night.

You know what I mean. You get the courage to ask her out for that special night. And once that big, successful night happens, everything goes well until you catch her making out with your best friend near the end of the dance.

Sounds somewhat familiar.

After a strong and solid 60-minute effort by the Oilers, their coveted goalie — someone who they lured through free agency — duffs one in the last minute of the game and essentially gift-wraps two points for Calgary. Maybe Nikolai Khabibulin was feeling generous.

Everything was going well for the Oilers. Sam Gagner was close to scoring a Gordie Howe hat trick tonight after Coach Pat Quinn demoted him to the fourth line. Yes, Gagner dropped the gloves last night and a he scored a goal.

Dustin Penner, who was in everyone’s doghouse last season, made a big impact in the game with a goal and an assist and so did Quinn’s new “gritty” additions to each line like J.F. Jacques, Gilbert Brule and Ryan Stone who knocked Flames defenseman Mark Giordano into the Oilers bench in the third.

Everything was clicking. The Oilers were forechecking, outshooting, outhitting, and they were even digging and clawing their way in the corners, even when they were down 3-1. This is definitely something that didn’t happen during most of last season.

Quinn’s system looked like it was making a solid difference in every player. Every check was finished and the effort was solid.

And after Gagner scored his goal to tie it up in the third, Khabibulin duffs a clearing attempt on a bouncing puck with 49 seconds left in the game. Flames forward David Moss took advantage of the poor clearing attempt by Khabibulin.

“It doesn’t feel very good right now,” said Khabibulin after the game.

“It feels like I basically lost a point, but I can’t get it back now. I got to take some positives out of the game and look forward.”

It could have been worse. It could have been Game 1 in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals. Cough, Ty Conklin, cough.

Besides being kicked in the groan on prom night, there is a lot of things that looked very well for the Oilers and if every player buys into Quinn’s system, the copper and blue will be in the playoffs quite easily. Tonight’s game is proof for all the Oiler haters out there.

It's the final countdown for Rob Schremp

Rob Schremp will have a lot in common with Europe on Saturday — and when I mean Europe, I mean the one-hit hairband rockers from the 1980s. Google it.

Come Saturday, the first day of training camp for the Edmonton Oilers, it will be “the final countdown” for the former London Knight who has only played a total of seven NHL games for the Oilers since 2006.

And after signing a $715,000 two-way contract with the Oilers last week, Schremp has everything going for him now.

There is no Craig MacTavish barking at him to step up his defensive game during this camp. This is the same coach who called everyone up from the Springfield Falcons, including the beer vendor, before deciding to call up Schremp last season. But you can’t blame MacTavish for that decision.

Schremp only scored 42 points in 69 games last season in the minors for a train wreck of a hockey team. That’s a very big drop from the 64 points he scored the year before for the Falcons.

Since Schremp has now played three full seasons in the minors, the Oilers would have to put him through waivers before shipping him back to Siberia.

If that happens, New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers are rumoured to be very interested in making a move to scoop him up.

With no MacTavish and the possibility of playing with another team, this year’s training camp is a clean slate for Schremp who has been working out with Sam Gagner in London, Ont. all summer long.

Some players have already said he is stronger, much quicker than last season, as well as having an attitude adjustment since March. He’s hungry for a permanent spot in the NHL.

Cogliano's days are numbered in Edmonton

Andrew Cogliano has the potential to be a future star in this league, but he won't be shining in Edmonton, suggests Oilers Nation blogger Jonathan Willis this week.

It’s a pretty damn good argument about a great draft pick by the Oilers.

Willis says Cogs has a gift when it comes to his offensive skills and speed. Cogs also has some work to do on the defensive side of the game, but he’s still young.

The only thing that is holding Cogliano back from turning into a power player for the Oil, says Willis, is his lousy stats when it comes to face-offs and the centre position is absolutely flooded right now with depth. This is a strong reason why Cogliano isn't a strong fit in Edmonton, suggests Willis.

Willis is very accurate. Shawn Horcoff is going to be around for the next six seasons as Edmonton’s top line or second line centre. And Sam Gagner is going to be a future top line centre within a year or two.

Cogliano, with all of his talent, is not an ideal candidate for a third or fourth line player up the middle.

Putting Cogliano on the right wing position would also cause some challenges for head coach Pat Quinn, but forget about left wing — it’s been reported that Cogs feels too uncomfortable with the position.

And let’s not forget about the other future guys up the middle like Gilbert Brule, Rob Schremp if he actually has a good training camp this season, Marc Pouliot, and Ryan Potulny.

Then there’s Anton Lander who the Oilers picked in the second round during the draft this summer. The Swedish centre played for Tirma in the Swedish Elite League where he scored 10 points in 47 games as a teenager with his younger linemate and fellow Oilers first round pick, Magnus Paarjvi-Svensson.

As Willis suggests, Cogliano is a good player for the Oilers only on a short-term basis, but he’s ideal for trade bait and that’s exactly what Steve Tambellini did by using Cogs to lure Dany Heatley from Ottawa.

It’s too bad for such a player that has such promise in the NHL, but it must happen. Staying in Edmonton would only hinder Cogliano’s development.