Funny how things go. A win last night would have given the Oilers 11 points out of 14 from this homestand, one in which a number of players finally seemed to get it going a little after slow starts.
Instead, a loss to the Blue Jackets (a different team now that Hitchcock is in charge) and, most importantly, the loss of Ryan Smyth "indefinitely", suddenly has a few people wondering if the Oilers are going to slide right out of this thing. Terry Jones at the Sun is questioning everybody, including Roloson, who apparently is no longer allowed to even have one bad game without Jones questioning his bona fides as a starter.
Remember the first time around Anaheim. Roloson had two bad games - Anaheim, Phoenix, then a good one, then another so-so, then he was ok.
Roloson is the least of this team's problems except it has become pretty clear that he has to be at the top of his game every night for them to do well.
With the cracks showing in the D nightly now (Toby Peterson?), Smyth joining Hemsky and Moreau on the sidelines and the hits these losses mean to the PP and PK, as well as the apparent fact that Sykora has joined Hemsky on the sideline, well, things don't look good. These are the things I would worry about.
Lowetide very recently opined that this team was heading for a slump and it appears that he was right on. The problem is that with the way things are this season a few bad weeks can put you in a pretty bad spot. I don't think the Oilers could slide right out of it because remember the Flames' awful start - they're back in it now. But I sure would like a March and April where every single game wasn't do or die.
We're going to see some more of the kids (Mikhnov next?) and that's the only silver lining - its not going to help them win now but it will be good to see what some of these guys can do with real minutes.
But its up to Torres, Lupul, Stoll, Sykora, Horcoff and Pisani to keep this team afloat up front.
And based on what has gone on so far, colour me skeptical.
Overstating the impact of Ryan Smyth on this team? Maybe.
But I think we may be in for a bad two weeks or so, unless this team guts it out. And I'm not sure if I see it.
3 comments:
They've recalled Mikhnov, so he gets another chance. I hope he gets to play more than 5 mins like last time.
I hate to say it, but from what i've seen of Miknov, he is not NHL ready. I went to the last preseason game in Vancouver and he looked out of place on the ice. I really hope I'm wrong on this one.
Love the pic btw =P
He'll likely get more then 5 minutes - they need offence and that's his deal.
We'll see how he looks, he had definitely come on as of late down in the minors but of course they are the minors. Anyhow, I think he has made the adjustment to the smaller ice etc but who knows if he can make the jump - likely not but its all part of the process.
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