140 Or Less – Just A Few More Days Edition
140 Or Less is an ongoing series where we take some of your greatest hits off of Twitter and talk about it.
This is supposed to be a weekly series, but we missed a week because I’m a lackey.
More material, I suppose.
Let’s begin.
What a disaster that was. Oiler defenceman Taylor Fedun had successful surgery to help repair his busted femur after crashing into the boards while pursing an iced puck against Minnesota last week. As far as garish injuries go, it might not have been Joe Theisman-esque (warning, garish) but it was close. Fedun took a nasty spill into the boards as Eric Nystrom was pursing him, and the result will cost Fedun his year. This incident has opened up a pretty big can of worms on touch-icing vs. no-touch and hybrid icing, and the argument is compelling in the name of player safety.
Fedun will be off his feet for a while, but we’re all hopeful for as speedy a recovery as possible. And yes, I had a couple of cold ones that night.
Season 2 of the popular Oil Change series will begin in a little over two weeks. You can check out the TV schedule here, and episodes will likely air on the NHL Network in both Canada and the States shortly after the dates you see on the link above.
While Fedun may or may not have made the final roster this year (read: there’s a good chance he could’ve), the loss of Ladislav Smid (rumour is for about a month) is another blow to an already weak D. Ryan Whitney is still up in the air, and Taylor Chorney is right there next to Whitney. We’ve really beaten the whole defence thing to a pulp here lately, and we’re not going to get quiet until something is done.
I’m with you and against you on this one. The Oilers should trade for a defenceman that can step in tomorrow. It’s blindingly obvious that the defence needs to get better in order for the Oilers to have a shot at anything this year. I’m also afraid that if Tambellini were to pull the trigger on a deal that it would be at the expense of one of the team’s jewels.
No.
I’ve seen Linus Omark’s name pop up on more than one occasion. I’ve got one piece of advice for this administration: Don’t trade the Omark.
How about trading a pick with a player? If a Leaf defenceman (notice how I’m not really picky about which one at this point) was in the cards, would it be possible to work something out with a pick and a contingency plan to pull up Brule? (Is Brule a commodity outside of Edmonton/OKC?) I can remember the Rangers working something out with the Stars to recall Sean Avery (who ironically got waived this week) in order to pluck him off the waiver wire at 50%. Maybe something like this?
Not Omark.
At this point in time, I’d never thought I’d be sitting here thinking that Strudwick would be an answer. Here we are on the fifth of October and the defence is a fire drill. Strudwick might be an improvement. I said it.
Cam Barker is going to have to have the bounce back year of the millennium if this is the case. If Cam Barker is one-half the defenceman that Tom Gilbert is this year, I believe that Cam Barker’s season will be called a success. Our starting six (as it stands today) have some tremendously grand shoes to fill if they are going to help this team win games. Corey Potter (currently the Oilers 6 guy) has nine career games over his career. He’s 27. As the roster stands, Potter is going to get some serious minutes quick.
In other words, if Cam Barker can make this team better, then I’m for it. He’ll have his shot in a few days.
The NHL’s regular season opens for real on Thursday, with Edmonton playing their first game on Sunday. There’s still time!
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