Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Friday, September 21, 2007

Oilers @ Canucks: Preseason Recap.

I went to the game last night with a friend of mine and I liked what I saw. Here are a few things I noticed:

- Brodziak will make this team and dress on opening night. He looks like an NHL'er out there. His speed has improved since last season, and he puts himself in the right places.

- Cogliano makes a difference out there, his speed really opens up on the ice. I think he should make the team.

- I really liked what I saw out of Souray. His shot is huge and he stuck up for Gagner when Kesler took a run at him on an offside. There was one moment on a 1on1 between Souray and some AHL'er where I noticed his problem skating backwards. He kind of lost an edge and stumbled a bit. Beyond that, it was all gravy. I think he can be very successful playing 3-4 minutes at ES with a guy like Smid.

- Tom Gilbert is better than Matt Greene. Poor Tom Gilbert.

- The top line didn't do much at ES until the third, but that's because for the first period and a half MacT was running them Power vs Power versus the twins. Needless to say, the twins were chewing them up.

- I think Gagner should make the team and play soft minutes with Hemsky and Penner. Putting either Stoll or Horc with those two either forces you to take your two best centers out of the checking game, or puts Hemsky and Penner out there in a sitatution where they are not likely to succeed (tough minutes)

- Roy had a bad night. I think he should be sent down ASAP (I think he'll make it through waivers, and if he doesn't, no big loss)

- The Greene - Smid pairing sucks as much this year as it did last year.