Shooting Blanks

As we enter the stretch drive for another trademark Oiler race for eighth, I thought I'd do some reflection. With the trade deadline looking, my mind travels back to the offseason acquisitions and missed opportunities. Daryl Katz took over as owner, after being promoted to Team President, Kevin Lowe hired Steve Tambellini as the new General Manager and Craig MacTavish gushed that this was the most talented group he's had since being here. He even went as far as predicted they'd challenge for the division title. Then a funny thing happened - the season started.

Fresh off a retreat in Jasper, the Oilers came out of the gate with an impressive 4-0 record despite less than impressive hockey and the fans' excitement was sky high. Unfortunately, the 4-0 record was a misnomer for this team and they haven't touched a four game winning streak in the 55 games since. In fact, with that start a distant memory, the Oilers are a robust 25-25-5. In that span, ten teams allowed eight or more goals in a game; the Oilers own three of those duds.

It's been tough sledding as an Oilers fan this year, but the question is, what happened to the promising pre-season squad? A couple weeks ago, Kevin Lowe changed his tune from "Division Challengers" to a virtual guarantee they will make the playoffs. Unfortunately, we're three quarters of the way through the season and the players on this team aren't suddenly going to get better.

If you look around the league at the good teams the Oilers were supposedly going to run with, you'll see they all have at least two lines they can rely on for scoring. That doesn't necessarily mean six stud players racking up points; it just means they have enough horses to score goals and win games when the stars aren't aligned. The Oilers' problem stems from Ales Hemsky being the only legitimate top line player on this team. While Shawn Horcoff and Dustin Penner are serviceable as his linemates in relation to the rest of the options, along with Erik Cole, they are better suited as second line players.

With Horcoff and Penner playing with Hemsky as the de facto first line, that leaves the second line as a major concern. If opposing teams shut down the top group, the second trio needs to put up some goals and that simply doesn't happen here this season.

Despite the lofty praise and obvious support from the coach and management, Sam Gagner right now is not an NHL-calibre player. Because of his skill set and lack of size, he is not suited to third or fourth line duty, and to add insult to injury, his age means they can't send him to the AHL. Robert Nilsson is one of those maddening players whose potential is apparent but rarely achieved. Simply put, the lack of production from these two players is killing the Oilers' offence.

Sam Gagner has 6 goals, 13 assists and 19 points in 53 games. Nilsson has 7 goals, 14 assists and 21 points in his 49 games. That's 40 between two players relied on for offence. To put that in perspective, Alex Ovechkin has 45 goals this season - or five more goals than they have points. When you add in Erik Cole's 14 goals and 24 points, the Oilers second line has 64 points so far. There are nine individual players in the NHL this season with at least as many as this trio.

Comparing Gagner and Nilsson's production with players on their own team, together they have as many goals as fellow sophomore Andrew Cogliano's 13, and only one more combined goal than Ethan "Bad Penalty" Moreau's 12. Even fourth line centre Kyle Brodziak has 8 goals and 10 assists...while playing the bulk of his time with such offensive catalysts as Liam Reddox (5 goals), Zach Stortini (4 goals), Steve MacIntyre (1 goal), and even defencemen moonlighting as forwards Jason Strudwick and Ladislav Smid.

The problems on this team are numerous. They ran with an unnecessary three goalie system for half the season, they pay their porous defence a king's ransom, and their mediocrity gets them booed off home ice far more than is acceptable for a proud franchise. But when it comes to offensive production, they all stem from the same place. The problem isn't the players on the second line; the constant overvaluation of players that toe the line and sound like MacTavish excuse quotes at the top of this stinky heap.