Roll Out The Red Carpet!

It's once again time to hand out the Scalies - the De Koboldorum Rebus awards given to our beloved Edmonton Oilers for services rendered during the hockey season just past! I tell ya, one of these years they're going to make the playoffs, and then it's going to be really hard to pick these. In the meantime, not so much.

Team MVP: I have, over the course of the last couple of months, heard and read a number of people performing variations on the theme of "if you had told me in September that the Oilers would finish dead last by a mile but nobody would be mad at Dustin Penner (pictured above), I would have laughed." The man's eerie similarities to Frank Mahovlich have been noted elsewhere, and this year we got to see the "thunderous power-forward" side of that equation, as opposed to the "guy in the coach's doghouse" side of previous years. Despite a mid-season slump, Penner became the second Oiler, after Wayne Gretzky, to lead the team in goals, assists, points, and +/- over a season, and although it must be said that he didn't have much competition, that's still pretty impressive. So yeah, this one's Penner's.

Best Rookie: , I think. While Dubnyk, in the way that rookie goaltenders do, probably contributed more than his share to the graying of his coach, there were nonetheless very promising signs towards the end of the season. He even managed to get himself an admittedly odd call-up to Team Canada for the World Championships, although he didn't see any action. The Oilers will probably have to decide between him and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers this summer at some point, and the general consensus that I'm seeing is that they'll go with Dubnyk. The fact that he's 6'6" doesn't hurt him at all.

Most Under-Rated Player: It was Shawn Horcoff, my goodness. Yes, he had a terrible year. Yes, his +/- was one of the worst in the entire league. Yes, he's overpaid. But he was likely playing hurt, he's one of the few guys on the Oil who can reliably take a faceoff, he's by all accounts a classy guy, and his work ethic is legendary (this last is an important consideration given the large number of young guys likely to be kicking around training camp this fall). In a just world, Horcoff would be a shoo-in as the next Oilers' Captain. However, this is not a just world; this is a world where Shawn Horcoff was booed this past season by his own fans after picking up assists.

Most Improved Player: After some pondering, I think this one has to go to Gilbert Brule. The Blue-Jackets made him the poster boy for guys brought into the league too young, and this was past year was his first chance to really turn things around. He took advantage of it, with goal and point totals that were by far career bests. There's some question, of course, as to the role of luck in this renaissance (Brule's shooting percentage was suspiciously high), and thus as to whether he can keep it up, but in the meantime it was a nice job by the young man.

And thus another year of Scalies comes to a close. And now, we wish to take you back to a brighter time, the time of "a few games into the 2009-2010 NHL season," when the Oilers were more-or-less healthy, and did not despair even when down 4-1 in the second period. Watch, and enjoy (you can especially enjoy Penner's drive to the net at the 2:00 mark of the video. Remind yourself that that's an NHL defenceman trying to stop him. Even though Penner didn't score on the play, it's still impressive - truly Mahovlichian, in fact).

It's Time...

...for the Second Annual De Koboldorum Rebus Awards To Members Of The Edmonton Oilers For Their Performances During The Recently Concluded NHL Hockey Season!! Hereafter, these will be referred to as "The Scalies." Last year's edition is here.

Well, that was depressing, wasn't it? The Oilers hurtled into this season abrim with optimism, and ended up pretty much where they did last year, only without much of the fun. In the end, poor old Craig MacTavish walked the plank, and not even the most devout MacT fan (and I'm a fairly devout MacT fan) could claim that it wasn't time. And so we look ahead to next year with, well, optimism, or at least interest. There will be a new coach! New players! A refreshing new attitude! Etc. And now on to the awards:

Team MVP: It's a bit of a cop-out to pick the team's starting goalie, but let's face facts here. Dwayne Roloson became the oldest goalie ever to start 60 NHL games in a season, and stole more than a handful of points for the Oil. He was looking worn out by the end of the year, but without him the Oilers would have been done by about the beginning of March.

Best Rookie: This year's freshman class lacked the flash of last year's, with nary a Gagner nor a Cogliano to be seen. So... Well, Theo Peckham is a more promising prospect, and Steve MacIntyre was a better story (in addition to producing the best photo of the season, see above), but Liam Reddox got himself into 46 games, and, even though he didn't do much in them, that's enough to earn him the Scaly.

Most Under-Rated Player: Ooh, a repeat winner! To put it bluntly, when Dustin Penner was on the ice, the Oilers had a significantly better chance to score than did the other team (and you can go here and play with the stats if you don't believe me). And yet, once again, all we heard was that Penner is fat, lazy, stupid, a communist, and so on. Bizarrely, his coach joined in on that theme this year, which was one of the first signs that things had to gone pear-shaped with reference to MacT's tenure. Anyway, Penner's a good player, and I hope he stays in Edmonton.

Most Improved Player: After a nice rookie year, Sam Gagner's offence went away at the beginning of this season. However, his defensive play had improved dramatically, and the fact that he was playing on a wonky ankle probably had something to do with his inability to score. By the end of the season he was quite possibly the team's best player.

And so, on to next season! Excelsior (please)!

De Unctoribus Oleo Edmontonensibus

Warning: Hockey Blathering Ahead!



The Greasy Ones have now finished their season, pausing on the way out the door to kneecap the boys from Vancouver. In pre-season discussions with friends, my line was that our lads would miss the playoffs this year, but that it would be a lot of fun to watch. In this way, it would be unlike last season, when they missed the playoffs and it wasn't fun to watch at all.

Digression on the 06-07 season: Late that season, with the Oilers mired in a 12-game losing streak, I took a friend who had never seen ice hockey before to a match. 10 minutes into her first ever encounter with the sport, she turned to me and said "the Oilers are really bad, aren't they." Yes, yes they were.

Anyway, back to this season. Yes, they didn't make the playoffs again. However, this time there is reason for true optimism. For one thing, the Oilers didn't go quietly this time, winning 14 of their last 20 games and very, very nearly sneaking into 8th place, and this not-quietly-going was achieved with about 5 key members of the team out injured. For another, 15 of the guys who pulled off that run are under the age of 25 (the Oilers' second line has a combined age of 59), and they played a fast, attacking style. Yes, it was fun to watch, and fun to follow; for the first time in years, I could watch an Oilers game and recognise the players without having to squint to read the names on the backs of their sweaters. Best of all, there's no sign that next season is going to be any less entertaining.

Here, then, are the First Annual De Koboldorum Rebus Awards To Members Of The Edmonton Oilers For Their Performances During The Recently Concluded NHL Hockey Season (With Illustrations):

Team MVP: This was all about Mathieu Garon until he, inevitably, got hurt and the Oilers didn't miss a beat without him. I'm giving it to Ales Hemsky, who's one of the most skilled players in the league, and one of these years is going to have the numbers to prove it. Click here to see Mr. Hemsky in full flight.

Best Rookie: The Oilers themselves wussed out and split this award between Sam "Samwise" Gagner and Andrew Cogliano. No such wimpiness here! It was Gagner, by a nose.



Most Under-rated Player: He led the team in goals, and improved statistically in most categories from last season. He was often to be seen camping out in front of the opposing team's goal, irritating the goalie and making it hard for him to see. And yet, he got almost no press, and much of what he did get was negative. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dustin Penner.



Most Improved Player: Denis Grebeshkov. Oh my, but he was a coach's nightmare early in the season, especially playing point on the powerplay ("And the puck gets away from Grebeshkov, and it's a breakaway the other way..."). By the end of the season he was mauling guys along the boards ("paging Dion Phaneuf...") and showing skill and confidence with puck. Watch as he goes for a bit of a skate through the heart of the Calgary defence.



So, here's to next season!