Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Changes Needed, But Will They Come?

Once again the Oilers fall apart and don't show a quality team effort. Erik Cole is in the same position as Dustin Penner was, he is not a good fit with Pisani and Moreau. The fact that one of Brodziak or Pouliot isn't rounding out that line is nothing short of puzzling.

Further more Erik Cole does not belong on the 1st PP unit. I know that the Oilers are trying to make him feel welcome on the team, but it's time to face the facts, Erik Cole needs to play on the kid line and Dustin Penner needs to be on the top PP unit PERIOD.

Penner is much better at making little plays along the boards and his broad shoulders provide a better screen than Cole can. Cole is at his best when he gets the puck in full flight and drops his shoulder en route to the net. Penner's frame allows that extra split second of sight to be swallowed up, not allowing goaltenders to read passes and shots quite as fast. In a game of this kind of speed a split second is all that it takes to make a difference.

The Oilers also lost Ladislav Smid after what appeared to be a forearm or punch up high by former Oilers Raffi Torres. If Denis Grebeshkov still isn't ready to go, expect Theo Peckham to get the call.

My proposed Oilers line-up...

Penner-Horcoff-Hemsky
Nilsson-Gagner-Cole
Moreau-Pouliot-Pisani
Schremp/MacIntyre-Brodziak-Cogliano

This will allow the Oilers to have a legitimate offensive threat on the 4th line as well as make use of the playmaking abilities of Nilsson and Gagner.

2 comments:

Bob Arctor said...

I like your lines, but I'd rather drop Gagner down than Cogliano. He might have developed some chemistry with Schremp playing in Europe this summer?

You'd be able to sneak Hemsky or Nilsson out with the 4th line when MacIntrye draws in and make up Gagner's minutes on the Powerplay.

Bryanbryoil said...

That could definitely work. It would allow the 2nd line be be an extremely speedy line.