The draft was good for the Edmonton Oilers in many ways. They selected certain to be superstar Taylor Hall first overall, got a steal of a pick in Tyler Pitlick at #31 and moved out disgruntled center Riley Nash.

In other ways, whether you want to call it good or bad, Oilers fans also got a clear indication that GM Steve Tambellini is focused on a rebuild. Rumors were all over the place and media attention focused on the fact that Tambellini was pitching hard for Boston to move the 2nd overall pick.

As part of the offer, rumored names being sent by Edmonton included Ales Hemsky and Jordan Eberle. While I question the inclusion (or at least the logic) of Eberle as trade material, Tambellini's willingness to move the Oilers argueably best forward in Ales Hemsky tells us the Oilers organization is clearly focused on going young and getting the best possible prospects here and ready when the Oilers could contend in two or three years.

Unfortunately, one thing also clearly established this weekend was the desire to move Andrew Cogliano out of the Oilers organization. We may never know if that desire comes from a frustration at his lack of progress or simply where Cogliano fits on the Oilers depth chart, but this is now twice in the last two years Cogliano's name has come out quite publicly as trade bait.

The first time was during the Dany Heatley fiasco last season. Along with Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid, Cogliano was headed to Ottawa before the trade was squashed by Heatley and his no trade clause. At the time, it was a bad situation for the Oilers, the city of Edmonton and for all three players.

On Friday, Cogliano came up publicly again, this time as trade for the Florida Panthers #15 overall pick in the 2010 draft. Tambellini has yet to confirm that Cogliano's name was mentioned or officially offered, but Tambellini did admit in a later statement that it was unfortunate Cogliano's name came out... again.

The question I'm pondering, is should we feel sorry for Andrew Cogliano or is this just business?

It's never fun to think that the team you're on doesn't want you. Whether as a player you're reading too much into the situation or you know for fact you're not wanted, publicly being mentioned in most, if not all of the trades you're team is involved in can't feel good. This is the current status of Andrew Cogliano.

Certainly, Andrew Cogliano offers a variety of skills to any NHL team. He's fast, he's young, he's on the upside of finding his potential as a professional hockey player and from what we've seen as Oilers fans, Cogliano is willing to re-define himself as a hockey player to fit into any role the team he's on requires. Those are attractive qualities for many NHL GM's.

But, Cogliano doesn't provide so much value that other teams will pay handsomely or even fair value for his services when his name becomes public knowledge in trade talks. Now that Cogliano is known league wide as a player the Oilers are shopping and accompanied by the fact that his last year as an Oiler came with decreased production under Pat Quinn, moving him (while I think will be accomplished) won't be easy nor for a fair return.

For all the wrong reasons, Cogliano is much like Sheldon Souray. Teams know the Oilers are somewhat eager to move him, thus the leverage is in the opposing teams court. Unlike Souray, and to Cogliano's credit, Cogliano has done all he could to be a team player, a good person and a fine Oiler. Souray on the other hand, has limited his value around the league thanks to his own stupidity. Same result -- two completely different paths to get to it.

If we use Tomas Kaberle as an example, we quickly can see what Andrew Cogliano isn't. Kaberle will have up to ten teams interested in his services. Because Kaberle has proven his worth as an NHL defenceman, when Brian Burke publicly throws out the release, "Kaberle is available" Kaberle will fetch multiple teams involved in a bidding war to land him. For Burke, actively and publicly shopping Kaberle makes sense. The end justfies the means.

Yet, no one feels sorry for Tomas Kaberle. This is two summers now that his name has been the focus of draft day and possibly the second summer he remains a Maple Leaf. So given the similar situation, why is it Kaberle gets one reaction and Cogliano another?

For Cogliano, the Oilers have tried to trade him twice -- both times unsuccessfully. The difference here is that Cogliano has no clauses in his contract that give him control, he has no bidding war for his services and he has no GM telling other GM's that he'll wait until the offer is right because his player is worth more to him than what's been offered thus far. Cogliano just has to sit and wait to see where he'll be playing.

This is the life of a professional NHL hockey player. If they (and hopefully Cogliano) have learned anything by now, it's that hockey in the NHL is a business above all things. It's not personal (alright in Souray's case it might be now) it's just business. For the Oilers, Andrew Cogliano is an asset. We may hate the term, but as an asset, Cogliano's value has diminished.

His value by no means has diminished so far that he's not tradeable. There are teams that could use his services. Ironically, one of those teams is the same home of Tomas Kaberle in Toronto. They've inquired about Cogliano, but nothing to this point has materialized.

The issue involving Cogliano now, is that teams will lowball Edmonton if and when the Oilers qualify him as a RFA before July 1st. Because Tambellini has to move contracts, he'll likely take a lesser hand to accomplish a goal -- that is moving out players who offer similar skills.

We wrote an earlier article about how busy Steve Tambellini will be over the next few days. Andrew Cogliano we think, is one of those deals Tambellini has in his back pocket and will happen sooner than later. Unfortunately, it's a deal for less than fair value and this now makes two players the Oilers won't get fair return for.

One I feel sorry for, the other makes me feel sorry for Edmonton.

I cannot say for certain what it is, but something is different about the Oilers these days. Even though they lost the Kings’ game, I didn’t despair. I don’t know what it is, but I think they are playing better. I think the goalie pulled a “Quick one” (I know – cheap) on them and stole the game, actually – as goalies sometimes do.

The Oilers played up tempo most of the night and perhaps the only glaring difference between the Oilers’ play and the Kings’ play was that the Oil didn’t seem as willing to throw the puck on the net from anywhere as the Kings did. They actually waited to have shots, which I am starting to think is not that wise a tactic. When someone scores the winning goal after being blanked for almost 160 games, you know lightning can strike. I half wanted Smid to score the tying goal – but, of course, he didn’t.

Here is what I saw. Cogliano was a water bug – everywhere. Nilsson looked as if he is a threat every shift he is on the ice. Souray can shoot – which is hardly news. Penner is a bull – so much stronger than anyone else I have seen. In his almost dust-up with long-time friend Matt Greene, he made Greene look tiny. And Gagner, while he needs to get stronger – he barely squeezed through the sideboards with the puck in the Third Period, can play. He looks like he is one smart kid. Brule and Penner really do have some chemistry – how many times did they “just miss?” And, Deslauriers seems to be gaining confidence every game. I am not that concerned if Khabibulin doesn’t come back – although I don’t want anyone to have a bad back, the money is an issue, and I suppose Deslauriers has to rest sometime.

Anyway, it was one of those games when you saw the Oilers dominating, but somehow just knew a goofy goal would decide it. And, Quick was really the difference.

Although I never played hockey myself, and can hardly serve as an expert, I seem to be seeing more lucky bounces score goals than I have ever seen before. Perhaps, this has always been the case – but, being an Oilers’ fan suggests that I watch mainly Oilers’ games. One difference I see between the Oil this year and last is that they are scoring more close-in goals – more shots that seem to not be as much set up by good plays as the result of lucky, untimely bounces for the other team. Certainly, that was true of Potulny’s goal.

I am thinking that perhaps the kids should start beating the puck to death towards the net – every time they can. If the average scoring percentage is 10% (actually it is 10.3 %) ten more shots per game will score one more goal per game. The puck has to bounce off someone for Cogliano one of these times. I hope it is twice or even three times the next game.

Here’s a daring prediction – Cogliano with at least 35 points. Right now, the season is almost half over and he has 8. Anyone else believe that Cogliano will end up with 15 goals this year?

On the 9th day of Christmas, my Oilers gave to me...

Some point production for Andrew Cogliano.

There is something about the way Andrew Cogliano has played over the last few games that suggest to me he's on the verge of breaking out and going on a hot streak. Unfortunately, he can't buy a point.

The worst part is, if Cogliano could buy a point, he'd spend every penny he had thanks to this being a contract year for him and the Oilers ready to say goodbye should he be asking for too much without the numbers to back him up.

Tuesdays game against L.A. was a perfect example. Cogliano was a plus 1, he worked hard, he was in on a lot of action, but he just couldn't seem to get on the board. He even had what looked to be an assist taken away from him on Sheldon Souray's goal.

Edmonton fans know Cogs as one of the fastest skaters in the NHL. He's made for an excellent penalty killing weapon for Pat Quinn and he wreaks havoc on the forecheck with his speed, but this year, he reminds me of the guy in your office that deserves a promotion but never gets one because he's too valueable where he is.

Pat Quinn likes the chemistry of Cogliano, Moreau and Potulny. Frankly, he likes the combo of any of the guys on the 4th line with Cogliano with them and as such Cogs gets very few opportunities in offensive roles.

On pace for 7 goals and 19 points, Cogliano is also on pace for a very small contract as an RFA and for the Oilers, they can't afford to have what was supposed to be a 20 goal per year prospect not producing.

On the 9th day of Christmas, I'd like to see Cogliano get at least 9 more goals that his projected pace of 7. Even that's not enough.

It's pretty standard from what I've noticed for the NHL blogosphere to do a quarter of the way through the season team review on each respective team for which they write. They examine player by player to see how each is doing, his contribution to the team, and so forth.

We'll be doing that as well, just a bit differently. I'll be breaking each article into groups of five players, not only giving grades, but going through my earlier predictions and seeing how off base I was or whether I was on the right track.

First, let me preface this with, it's hard to judge a number of the players on this team due strictly to how injured and ill they've been. With somewhere close to 100 man games missed in just 20 games total for the team, how can we fairly suggest that each player will be getting a fair review?

All that said, let's give it a shot anyways.

We'll start with the only five players to have actually played all 20 Oiler games this season. Stortini, Gilbert, Cogliano, O'Sullivan and Penner.

Penner is an easy one. While we were pretty confident that he'd have a bounce back year (our first ever article on this site was actually about Penner breaking out), we can't lie and suggest we expected the level to which Penner has kicked off this season.

Penner leads the Oilers in a ton of categories and even when his production is limited to one goal in a contest, Penner has been the best player on the ice for both teams. A far cry from watching him last season.

Penner's pace of play has come back to reality a tad bit, but he's still highly ranked in the NHL (tied for 6th) for points, plus/minus, goals scored, and he's playing in all important situations for the Oilers. He's currently tied with Dany Heatley for points, which if you'd have predicted that before the first 20 games of the season and right after the trade was veto'd, you should have bought a lottery ticket.

Penner needs another multi-point effort here in the next couple games to hope to stay ahead of Heatley, but I don't think Oiler fans need him to out-point San Jose's 50 goal scorer to be happy with Penner's performance. 35 goals and 30-35 assists would be great. 65 points at just over $4 million would make Penner a good contract for the first time since coming to Edmonton.

Penner has been the one consistent Oiler in an otherwise very inconsistent season.

Dustin Penner -- A+

Andrew Cogliano is another piece of that Heatley puzzle who seems to be doing whatCogliano normally does, just at a slower pace (we don't mean speed, as he's still one of the fastest players in the NHL). He's on track to get about 13 goals and 33 points, which for what Oiler fans and management had expected isn't great, especially in a contract year.

The problem is, it's not all Cogliano's fault. He's been on the fourth line almost all season in more of a grinder type role. Playing with Ethan Moreau and Zack Stortini night in and night out, even in the face of injuries, either means that Pat Quinn has little confidence in Cogliano to play a bigger role or he just doesn't know where else to put him.

Once again his faceoff win percentage is awful at 39% and while he's the speediest forward the Oilers have, speed won't be enough.

Fans can expect a contract issue at the end of the season, as I expect Cogliano to feel he's worth more than he'll be offered. If things look iffy, expect Cogliano to be part of a group of players moved in a trade for something a bit more proven and productive. People wondered why his name was a part of the Heatley trade. His numbers make for an obvious answer.

All that said, I do like how Cogliano has become a much more efficient penalty killer on a team that needed some assistance in that area and he looks like a threat on any given night. He just doesn't have the linemates to assist him.

Andrew Cogliano -- C+

Tom Gilbert has been bad. I'd love to say it another way, but with a plus/minus - 4 and 4 points with only 1 goal, he's not contributed in the main area he's been paid $4 million per season to contribute.

Granted, with Souray, Visnovsky and Smid out of the lineup, Gilbert was asked to play more defensive hockey. Still, Gilbert has been so unproductive, that any trade value he had to start the season has all but vanished.

That's not good news for the Oilers who are now looking at another few years at his salary. Fans can only hope that his 45 points last season (almost all second assists) wasn't just a fluke, nor is his only 4 points this season. On pace for about 16 points, Gilbert needs to pick it up, or the albatross contract that people like to peg Horcoff with, will look like small potatoes compared to Gilbert.

Tom Gilbert -- D-

Zack Stortini hasn't really been Zack Stortini. For a while, he was surprisingly effective and it looked like my season starting prediction of 10 goals was going to happen.

After the Nasvhille game however, Stortini hasn't done a lot in the role he's expected to play to give energy to an often lazy Oilers team. One has to wonder if all of a sudden Stortini figured he'd be more of an offensive threat and forgot why he's on the team.

The good, is that Stortini is second in the team in hits with 34. The bad, is that he's supposed to be the team agitator. He's not doing it at nearly the same pace as last season and often times, the 3rd line (a line with AHL'ers and Gilbert Brule) has out-agitated the Stortini line.

For a guy known as a scrapper (so much so, he was the NHL 2K9 consultant on fighting), his fighting this season is down. Now I'm not so much about having a player that leads the league in fights like Stortini did last season. I'm more about a player finding the right time to lift the spirits of his team with a good tilt. There has been plenty of opporuntity for that this year and Stortini just hasn't been there.

Stortini has been part of one of the more consistent lines for the Oilers, so that is a good thing. I just wonder if that speaks more about the fourth line, or the lack of production from the other three lines.

Zack Stortini -- C +

Patrick O'Sullivan has the quietest 12 points I can remember an Oiler having in a while. Brought to the team as a goal scorer and on fire during pre-season, O'Sullivan his disappeared as a sniper, showing only signs of getting 20 goals for the Oilers during things like shoot-outs and 5 on 3 powerplays.

O'Sullivan does shoot. He's tied for the team in shots with Dustin Penner at 61, however; unlike Penner who has an extremely generous shooting percentage of 19.7%, O'Sullivan is finding the net at a whopping 4.9% which is good for 242 out of 276 players. This isn't counting games where he has point blank chances and missed the net completely. Last night against Atlanta was a perfect example.

As a coach you have to wonder what direction is best for a player like O'Sullivan. Is he snake bitten? If so, despite how often he shoots, you probably have to tell him to keep shooting and maybe more often. If he's just not what you thought he'd be, you have to wonder what you do over the next couple of games if the pace continues.

I still like what O'Sullivan brings. He's grittier than I thought he'd be, he's a couple goals away from having a pretty good run going, and seems to be the type of player who can add three goals to his total in one game. We're just still waiting to see that game. His effort seems to be there.

Patrick O'Sullivan -- B-

In our next quater poll rankings we'll look at the top stars of this team. At least by definition based on their salaries, those who are supposed to be top stars. Think hard enough, you can probably guess who'll we'll be talking about.

From the outside, one might look at the position of speedy forward Andrew Cogliano and feel for this kid. After all, he's had a tremendously interesting and likely trying couple of months as a professional hockey player.

First he was traded. Part of the mind-numbing Dany Heatley soap opera, Cogliano was unofficially moved to the Ottawa Senators along with Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid. The trade, as we all know never officially happened and Cogliano stayed put. He was gracious in his media conversations and claimed to be flattered as a key component in a trade involving a 50 goal scorer, but deep inside he was disappointed.

Not much later, Cogliano, along side a number of other forwards found themselves in competition for limited roster space in Edmonton. A number of similar style, smaller forwards didn't help Cogliano's cause. Unlike some of the other forwards who knew their time was nearing an end in Edmonton, Cogliano was relatively safe. Still, Cogliano's poor faceoff percentage the previous year, the Oilers willingess to trade him, and limited cap space on a team that needed to make decisions in the upcoming years; Cogliano had to have some moments of uncertainty regarding his role on the Oilers squad, especially since he was quickly coming due for a new contract.

Fast forward to the start of the season. Fans yearned to give the speedy forward top-six minutes. He'd scored 18 times in the past season on the third line and it was widely believed he could improve on those numbers if given the chance. Instead, fans found out new coach Pat Quinn preferred to place size on each of his four lines and roll them out, evenly distributing grit or "crust" to a very non-gritty team. Great concept, but bad for Cogliano, who again found himself moved down the depth charts in place of players like JF Jacques and Ryan Stone.

Add up all the obstacles facing the young Cogliano, and it's no wonder fans now feel for and worry he won't be able to produce the 20 plus goals they feel he's capable of in almost any other environment. Some fans have gone so far around Edmonton as to suggest trading him, just to give him a chance to be the player he could be, on a team that needs an offensive spark. I might suggest that Oiler fans be not so quick to give up hope.

To date, Cogliano is defying the odds. On the fourth line, Cogliano has put together five points in six games, with two goals that if nothing else, show the type of speed he possesses as a forward. Along side Ethan Moreau and Zack Stortini, Cogliano hasn't exactly been a typical fourth line forward.

Quinn wasn't exaggerating his stance that he'd be rolling all four lines. While most NHL squads might limit their fourth line players to sometimes six or seven minutes a game (sometimes less), Cogliano is averaging over twelve minutes in all situations. He's become a more counted on penalty killer, seen time on the powerplay, (rare for "fourth" liner), and has line-mates that are making him a more rounded NHL'er than he'd have been with the likes of Ales Hemsky or Sam Gagner.

Moreau and Stortini force the working man's style of play. They go into hard areas and expect their linemates to follow. The skilled forward in that spot, is the benefactor of a number of loose and errant pucks that find their way to open ice areas, thus allowing someone with both skill and speed to capitalize, sometimes against another teams weaker defense. Currently, that's where Cogliano finds himself.

As Jason Gregor of oilersnation.com put it, while Stortini and Moreau aren't blessed with natural skill like Comrie, Gagner, Cogliano, O'Sulllivan or Hemsky, they go to the tough areas more often and when teamed up with some skilled guys, they get results.

In the meantime, Cogliano's faceoff stats have gone up. He's 50% on the year (a vast improvement over his 37% total from the previous season), he's averaging about 19 shifts per game and lacks time on only the power play, which I'm sure will increase with his new offensive production.

Of all the scenarios Andrew Cogliano may have imagined he'd see starting the 2009/2010 season with the Oilers, this may be the most unlikely. It may also be the most beneficial to his young career. Time will tell, but it looks as though big things are on the horizon and Andrew Cogliano may prove to be the best piece of the Heatley trade that never left Edmonton. .

I waited. Well at least as long as was possible and with little else left to talk about before I decided it not a bad idea to make some bold predictions about the upcoming season.

I suppose I could have talked about the rediculous attempt by the Edmonton Oilers to woo one Dany Heatley from his summer home in Kelowna with a DVD/Video about the complete awesomeness of Edmonton and what it's like to be a player here. I've reserved doing that for the time being, because I just don't feel the need to keep piling the poop on top of an already crappy situation.

Instead, the "Prof" who writes for us on a regular basis and I decided we'd compare some bold predictions. I'll let him make his, I'll comment and then finish with some of my own. We welcome you to agree or disagree.

Prof's Prediction #1 : Dustin Penner will have his highest goal-scoring season. He will score at least 30 goals and have 25 assists as a plus hockey player. Penner scored 29 goals with the Ducks, but he will top that this season. Perhaps, he will not be an Oiler – but wherever he goes, here or away, he will score at least 30 goals.

Oilers Insider Prediction #1: Penner will score more goals this year than he has yet as an Oiler but won't reach 30. He won't be relegated to the fourth line as a punishment for looking lazy or disinterested, in fact he'll come out to a strong start with a new attitude under new coaching and be a go to guy for Quinn. The trade rumours won't bother him. He's dealt with worse from the fans already.

Prof's Prediction #2: Robert Nilsson is another young player who is ready to explode. Nilsson will have a break out season under the new coaching staff – and will have at least 50 points. He will be the scorer that he has shown signs of being and, while he will not be a vocal leader, he will be one of the Oilers’ scoring leaders.

Oilers Insider Prediction #2:Nilsson won't be an Oiler if the team is able to make a trade prior to opening night. Whether he's traded for a forward who fits better in the depth charts that he does who knows; but Nilsson finds himself the odd man out when Cogliano is discovered as the new wonder kid on the wing.

Prof's Prediction #3: Ryan Smyth will be back with the Oilers for the playoff run. He will be picked up at the trade deadline and will finish his season off with the Oilers. He will go on to play at least three more seasons and will have his number retired as an Oiler. He will become the next Oiler captain after Ethan Moreau who, sadly, will have another injury-plagued season.

Oilers Insider Predicition #3: That is some out of the box thinking, possibly wishful thinking, but a real stretch. With the trade to L.A. I think Ryan Smyth has found the home for which he will retire. It is my guess that Smyth has the injury plagued season and that while the Oilers could use a player of his style, they'll be glad they didn't spend $6 million plus to bring him back. Ryan Smyth will do wonders for a young team in L.A. as a leader even if he's hurt.

Prof's Prediction #4: The Oiler goaltending will take an unexpected turn, but will turn out better than expected at the present. This is a holding year, but one of the Oiler youngsters – and I am thinking it will be Devan Dubnyk – who will turn out to be one of the great NHL
goalies. Khababulin will be strong this year, and his play will keep the Oilers in games, but will give way to Deslauries toward the end of the season. Khababulin will turn out to be more of a leader than expected – and will show himself to have a great sense of humor. Roloson will labor in obscurity in New York and will himself move again at the trade deadline.

Oilers Insider Prediction #4: The best part about the Prof's above prediction here is that he made it prior to the Biron trade. He's bang on about Roloson, although I think Biron is the one who gets traded. I'll reserve judgement on Devan Dubnyk until next season when I think he gets his chance. It won't happen this year. Khabibulin will play well.

Prof's Prediction #5: Dany Heatley will NOT become an Oiler. In a fit of pique, Murray won’t trade Heatley until after the start of the season. Then, Ottawa will almost give him away after the season starts. With Heatley no longer in the picture, the Oilers will go with a youth movement, which will give many of the young players time to play. They will start off the season quickly, will fall on hard times, but will make a run and squeak into the playoffs.

Oilers Prediction #5: I agree that Heatley stays in Ottawa. I don't see how if they don't trade him to Edmonton, they can find another home for him -- especially in San Jose where he wants to play. I think Ottawa keeps him, he plays with Kovalev, gets 45 goals and all is forgotten in Senator's world. I do think the Oilers trade for a forward who once again isn't necessarily a top 3 (Zherdev) and he's moved in and out of that role.

Prof's Prediction #6: Oilers’ hockey – which has been more speed than skill – will be re-defined. The new coaching staff will put more priority on skill, which will allow some players who might have not yet shown themselves yet – say Lubomir Visnovsky or Tom Gilbert – to take different roles. Other players who will have much better seasons include Patrick O’Sullivan (who will come out of last year’s shell and will end up a fixture on the Oilers’ second line), Zack Stortini (who will become a fan favorite), Fernando Pisani (who will score 20 goals), and Gilbert Brule (who will score at least 12 goals and will start off the season strong).

Oilers Prediction #6: I think we too see some surprising performances from Oilers we didn't expect. O'Sullivan will lead the team in shots taken (assuming there is no Dany Heatley) and score 23 - 25 goals. Pisani, who is playing for another contract will stay healthy and score 20 and Visnovsky, playing the whole season will have 50 points plus. I say look for big things from Stortini, maybe as many as 12-15 garbage style goals and tons of penalty minutes.

Prof's Prediction #7: Robbie Schremp and Jordan Eberle will also make the big team. Eberle will struggle, ala Sam Gagner has for two years, but Schremp will be reborn under new coaching and will become a leader on the Power Play – which will improve dramatically. This will be Steve Staios’ last season as an Oiler. He will retire after this year – if he makes the year – and become an Oiler scout.

Oilers Insider Prediction #7: Schremp does alright, but not here. He'll not be re-signed and get moved as part of a package deal to another team where he will play, but never to the potential everyone was expecting. Eberle is one more year from making the team and we'll know more where he fits once Gagner's and Cogliano's contracts are either completed or they are moved. I agree regarding Staois, and will be surprised if he's not traded part way through the season to clear cap space.