It's all uphill from here for Dustin

It was a deal to dream about in Edmonton after a rotten season. At least according to many, and I mean many, fans of the Oilers.

You’ve heard the talk before.

“You mean we have to give up a promising young hockey player, a dependable defenseman and a sack of hockey pucks for a guy like Dany Heatley? That’s fucking awesome, eh!”

Yeah, well it didn’t happen. Andrew Cogliano was left wondering where he was going to play come training camp.

There’s also Ladislav Smid who was probably thinking the same thing at his summer home in the Czech Republic or wherever he hangs out during the off-season.

Then there’s Dustin Penner. Need I say more?

Penner, who was scorned by fans and Craig MacTavish all season long, had a lot of expectations ever since Kevin Lowe stole him from the Anaheim Ducks.

Well, it wasn’t quite a steal. It was more like a hostile takeover as Lowe signed the restricted free agent to a five year $21.25 million offer sheet back in July 2007.

It was a big salary for a guy who only had one good season — something Oiler fans will never forget.

Ever since he was signed as an Oiler, Penner has done it all for the copper and blue. He’s played on the first line one night, played on the fourth line another night, and then he watches a few games from the press box. Maybe he had to diversify to earn his annual $4.25 million.

Penner was the Tin Man and Fat Albert all rolled into one in Craig MacTavish’s eyes, and everybody knew about it.

The coach would lash out by saying Penner had no heart on the ice and the fact that he’s a lard ass.

Ah, memories.

With training camp only a month or two away, could it get any worse for Penner? Maybe not.

MacTavish is gone. Pat Quinn and Tom Renney are in. And new coaches could mean a new outlook for the troubled left-winger.

Penner might also play like a man on a mission each game as he may have something to prove to Oiler fans and to prove how wrong MacT was in lashing out at him.

Who knows? But he does have 4.25 million reasons to not suck down pop and inhale cheeseburgers this summer. Everyone in the City of Champions knows that.

You were screwed by Heatley. Now show some balls!

Getting a massive coaching team assembled was a step in the right direction this summer for the Oilers and so was the move to solidify its goaltending situation for at least the next three to five years.

Locking Denis Grebeshkov to a one-year $3 million contract was also a smart move.

But acting desperate to lure a malcontent hockey star all summer long is embarrassing.

Dany Heatley obviously doesn’t want to play here, nor does he want to play with his teammates in Ottawa.

Heatley wants to be with a contending hockey team, a team like the San Jose Sharks where GM Doug Wilson wants to make a major shakeup with his roster.

His mind is set and his silence says it all. Heatley hasn’t gone public about his actions up to this point because he’s scared about pissing off Canadian hockey fans, especially in Alberta.

But Kevin Lowe, Steve Tambellini and company are obviously not good at taking any hints and they should have bruises on their knees with the amount of begging they have done this summer.

Flying to Kelowna to Heatley’s summer home was fine to avoid a looming deadline back in July 1, but to pay someone money to deliver a video package last week to his agent is absolutely absurd.

The video was supposed to show off players like Ales Hemsky and Sam Gagner, according to Dan Barnes with the Edmonton Journal last week.

That same DVD is more than likely unopened as it continues to sit on Heatley’s kitchen counter.

He probably hasn’t had time to watch it. He’s too busy riding his motorboat in the Okanagan or he’s too busy shooting hockey pucks into an empty net in his backyard.

They would have been better off sending the 40-plus goal scorer a soother with an Oilers logo on it.

(Sigh.)

Instead of begging, Tambellini should ring him out in front of the press. Show some balls for Pete’s sake.

This player has strung along two NHL teams. He demanded a trade, but he has a list of preferred teams like a six-year-old’s Christmas wish list for Santa.

And guess what? Edmonton is not on his list.

Fans are fed up about the saga, so after trying to please a spoiled rotten NHL superstar, it’s time Tambellini should go to the fans and say “we’re sorry we couldn’t lure Heatley, and here’s why…”

There are other teams out there looking to unload talent because of the salary cap and the economic situation. Why focus on one player this whole time?

Time to move on.

Time to stop the shit from hitting the fan

Things haven’t been brewing that much at all in the Oil Patch and, quite frankly, there’s a bunch of cobwebs still inside the patch ever since Pat Quinn and company were hired. That was a long time ago.

A lot — and I mean a lot — has happened to me personally in the last little while, however.

My wife and I lost our condo to a flood three months ago and we are still trying to get back into it.

I lost my media job, I am contemplating another career path and I feel like shit is really starting to hit the fan in my life. And when I mean shit, I mean elephant shit.

I haven’t been interested in tapping anything on my computer or publishing anything since I was let go from Metro in their last wave of downsizing — it’s been tough.

And just when Steve Tambellini might cheer me up in luring a superstar in Danny Heatley, another selfish player decides the City of Champions is not a destination to play hockey. Same old story over and over again.

Sigh.

I feel like I have just been shit-rolled on Whyte Avenue or kicked in the groin continuously by a group of angry teens.

But now it’s now time to get on my feet and I have just decided to do just that tonight. Maybe this blog will go somewhere or it will take me in a new path? Who knows?

I just hope you read it and maybe telling others about it.

A coaching decision is made and wow, what a deal!

There’s a lot to chew on after today, and there’s a lot of Oiler fans that more than likely feel the same way.

And so it begins.

Hiring Pat Quinn as head coach is a step in the right direction for all the right reasons. The World Junior Hockey Tournament this year proved he can lead a team with young players and he has enough experience to get job done in making sure his veteran players are at the top of their game, no matter what the score is.

Quinn, who began his hockey career during the late 1960s as a junior in Edmonton, demands a sense of respect in the dressing room and he gets it with every team he has coached.

When he calls the shots, the players will listen — something that didn’t happen this season under Craig MacTavish all because players like Dustin Penner and Ales Hemsky gave up on him.

There has never been a season where a captain has called so many player-only meetings until now, but with this shocking announcement, that’s now all in the past.

However, with a guy like Quinn, who is desperately wanting to win a Stanley Cup before he retires, he will change a player’s work ethic.

And while Quinn demands respect and enforces work ethic, he will get the help from another great hire — Tom Renney.

Renney is a technical coach, an Xs and Os bench boss who spends a lot of time with his key players to set them straight, just ask Sean Avery this season.

The New York Rangers never should have fired him in the first place, but he’s decided to take up an assistant position with the Oilers for at least a few seasons before Quinn retires. You would have to be a pretty humble guy to do something like that.

Overall, it’s obviously a one-two coaching punch for the Oil, but a big move was promoting Kelly Buchburger as an assistant. Bucky is respected around the league for working with young and talented players.

Charlie Huddy and Bill Moores are out as assistant coaches and that shouldn’t be surprise considering how awful the Oilers were on the powerplay and the penalty kill.

But GM Steve Tambellini has said the two could be offered position within the organization, possibly as scouts.

When it’s all said and done, Tambellini has assembled a massive coaching staff and he’s already proved that he alone calls the shots — not Kevin Lowe.

Now he has to focus on the draft and free-agency, but with the revamped coaching staff, don’t expect to see star players coming to Edmonton in July.

Tambellini told the Oil Patch that it will nearly be status quo on that front, and there will be more details about it in this blog tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Pat Quinn named Oilers head coach

Here's the skinny! The Oilers have hired Pat Quinn as head coach while Tom Renney are Kelly Buchburger are hired as assistants. Charlie Huddy and Bill Moores are out of the coaching staff.

Stay tuned later tonight on what the GM Steve Tambellini said and it may shock you!

Don't spill the Kool-Aid

“Oh yeah!”

A blogger has crashed through a wall and spilled the Kool-Aid by creating an Internet firestorm all over the fact that he’s angry about whether or not TSN’s Darren Dreger pulls trade rumours out of his “ass.”

The site, which is obviously by an L.A. Kings fan, believes Dreger was making things up when he reported that the Montreal Canadians and the his Kings are contenders for Vincent Lecavalier.

The blogger, who identifies himself as “Bozo the Blogger” and uses a Kool-Aid profile pic, verbally contradicts everything that Dregs says, even the suggestion that the Kings are interested in shipping defenseman Jack Johnson for the superstar forward.

I don’t even understand why he wrote it and it didn’t make a lot of sense.

Rumours are rumours, but they always make headlines.

Now go and drink your Kool-Aid.

Forget Ales, trade Horcoff!

Trade Ales Hemsky? Fuggetaboutit.

Trade Shawn Horcoff, a player set to make an astounding $6.5 million this season? Now you’re talking.

But any owner with a strong business sense would ignore any pitch from Steve Tambellini to ditch the Oilers top-line forward and his big contract.

That is, unless you’re in Tampa Bay where there are two financially-strapped owners dealing with a much larger contract and they need to do it in an awful hurry if they don’t find any more investors.

OK Hockey, led by businessmen Oren Koules and Len Barrie, bought the Lightning back in June for $206 million and $100 million of that cash was backed by the previous owner, Palace Sports Entertainment and Galatioto Sports Partners.

And since the deal, there’s been a lot of talk that things are not going well in the Bay.

For starters, the club, allegedly, began charging its workers to park at the St. Pete Times Forum and 30 employees were let go over a “restructuring process,” reports the Tampa Bay Tribune.

The team also owes at least more than $210,000 in realty taxes over a parking lot that was due since April 1, and the financial problems have created a ton of rumours, especially around the team’s star forward, Vinny Lecavalier.

Lecavalier will make $10 million for the next seven years as part of his $85 million contract extension that will kick in after July 1, complete with a no trade clause.

Now we all heard what Tambellini said about making drastic changes in the dressing room and about holding players accountable as he made his announcement about losing Craig MacTavish as head coach.

Why not make a statement by getting rid of your heart-and-soul player for a superstar, or at least just make an attempt at the NHL Draft? That’s roughly the same time after Tambellini hires a head coach.

Horcoff’s leadership could be an attractive deal in Tampa Bay where leadership is needed in that dressing room, and it could payoff for the forward who could make a difference in a new city. That’s especially after a mediocre season in Edmonton.

Lecavalier, who has been rumoured to arrive in Edmonton before, would add a lot to an offence that hasn’t existed in three seasons.

It’s obvious he would make Hemsky a better player, possibly a superstar.