The Oilers Play of Late Has Management Asking a Lot of Questions.

With the end of the season one game away, the Edmonton Oilers will have a busier off-season than most.

Starting on Tuesday when the Draft Lottery takes place and the Oilers either retain their number one pick or move down to drafting second; the lottery is just one of many big days ahead for the Oil in the next four months.

Even a handful of players who might normally wonder which golf course they'll play first over which team in the playoffs after finishing dead last, have a lot of options to weigh and likely some sleepless nights.

For players like Sam Gagner, Gilbert Brule, Andrew Cogliano, Devan Dubnyk, Jeff Deslauries, Mike Comrie, Fernando Pisani, Marc Pouliot, JF Jacques, and Aaron Johnson, wondering where they fit into a still smaller cap space situation will linger on their minds.

With the likes of Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin, Jordan Eberle, Pajarrvi-Svensson, Linus Omark and other prospects getting a fair look at this years camp, there simply aren't enough spots and some changes are guaranteed to be made.

For players like Sheldon Souray, Ethan Moreau, Robert Nilsson, Patrick O'Sullivan and possibly, but not probably Dustin Penner, Ales Hemsky and Tom Gilbert; their positions on a clearly rebuilding team are in question.

The problem now becomes, who goes, who doesn't and who deserves a chance this coming year or the year after, depending on which year management feels is the year to ice the team of the future?

The play of late from some of the roster on this 30th place team isn't helping management make those decisions.

Players like Mike Comrie, who might have been an easy one to let slip through the cracks will have to be given serious consideration thanks to his play of late, including Saturdays two goal performance. He's been steady when in the line-up, can quarterback a powerplay in the abscence of some of the injured stars, (which the Oilers never seem shy of) and he's a proven veteran on what will be a very young team.

Tom Gilbert, who was rumoured as trade bait to a number of teams including recently Boston alongside Dustin Penner for their top first round draft pick, now has 9 points in the last four games and is no longer an after-thought when making more cap room becomes an option. Gilbert is showing signs of why he was given a larger contract to begin with and paired with Ryan Whitney could be one half of the Oilers top defence pair going forward.

Marc Pouliot has showed signs, Andrew Cogliano has been rejuvinated in a top six forward role along side Penner, and Shawn Horcoff, who we all know is likely untradeable, is doing much more now to try and earn some of that money, than he did the first 60 games of the season. Even Ethan Moreau, who was offered to almost everyone at the trade deadline, hasn't been half bad since he realized nobody wanted him.

So who goes to make room? The Oilers have some tough choices ahead of them.

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Thank Goodness for Tyler Seguin and Taylor Hall

All I can say is, thank goodness this year, a year in which the Oilers finally have a top tier draft pick, that both Tyler Seguin and Taylor Hall are in the same draft at spots number one and two.

All over the net today, I've found items like this Oilers draft lottery simulator. While the Oilers stand a 48.2% chance of maintaining the first overall pick in this years draft, they stand a 51.8% chance that someone else moves up, thus moving the Oilers down to number two.

The Oilers as well as all of their fans who eagerly await the arrival of either Seguin or Hall will find out on Tuesday where exactly the Oilers will draft.


The good news? The Oilers can't draft worse than 2nd. That guarantees either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin, who continue to go back and forth in NHL scouting as to who should be the clear cut number one.


The bad news? I refreshed that simulator over 9 times before the Oilers finally retained the pick.


Give it a shot. See how many times it takes you before your Edmonton Oilers are drafting first overall?



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