NHL Season Preview and Camp News

NHL Season Preview (September 19th 2010)

The Hockey News have presented their less-than-authoritative list of predicitons for the season, surprisingly slotting the Edmonton Oilers in at 8th in the league, naming goalie Jonas Hiller as their 'key arrival'. It is assumed that the President's Trophy is a contest between powerhouses such as the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars, with the Red Wings, Panthers and Bruins as outsiders.

At the bottom of the chart lies the Coyotes, Wild and Kings, none of which are expected to make much of an impact this season. Oilers GM Kowalski spoke humorously of the list, comparing it to the visions of the future often presented in 80s movies. All shiny glitter, fantasy and no substance. "I'd love to be 8th in the NHL when the season's over, going into the playoffs with a home game advantage, but I don't entirely believe we'll be that high" said Kowalski.


Oilers scrimmages, prospect reports

TEAM BLUE are looking to make the intra-squad games a sweep, beating TEAM WHITE 5-4, seeing speedster Andrew Cogliano net a hat trick for BLUE, all of which were assisted by Dustin Penner. Alex Plante and Toni Rajala had miserable games for WHITE, which only had Patrick O'Sullivan as a true bright spot.

TEAM RED beat TEAM GREEN 2-0 in a close contest that was capped by Anton Babchuk's brilliant effort for RED, while there were no real stand outs on GREEN, young defensemen Jon Merrill and Cam Fowler had average games.

From what the press has seen in these games, most rave about how Linus Omark looks ready to hit the NHL. Only problem is, the Oilers have not signed KHL-based Omark already and must hence wait until next summer should they opt to sign him at all. Another emerging player is powerforward Jack Skille, who has quietly built up some steam and looks confident. As expected, Andrew Cogliano was the focal point of attention during the press conference after the games, where head coach Constantine reflected very favourably upon his young forward - saying Cogliano was a quality forward.