We did a quick study of five players and how they've been as productive Oilers in our first edition of the quarter poll rankings yesterday. All five of those players have played all 21 Oiler games to start the season.

In this edition, we'll look at Oilers who have had a good record thus far against the Avalanche, who not coincidentally the Oilers face Wednesday on TSN.

Unfortunately, doing an examination in this way actually led me down a difficult path of deciding which five Oilers to examine as Edmonton has only scored 5 goals in the two contests against the Avs. In the first meeting, the Oilers were shut-out 3-0 and the second meeting saw the Oilers actually play a solid road game winning 5-3.

That said, I think I've come up with five viable candidates.

Thinking back, it was the first time I really noticed the effectiveness of Ryan Potulny in situations I'd never seen from him before. Potulny didn't have much time in the NHL with the Oilers under MacTavish, but when he did, it was always that fourth line, shut-down and grinder type role. I'm not so sure that role suits the type of player Potulny is.

In the last Oiler game against the Avalanche, Potulny was given some time in different situations and he capitalized. He played over 12 minutes (a lot for a call up), had two points, a powerplay goal, and was an even plus/minus on the night. Pretty good.

Since then, Potulny has been steady for the Oilers in what has to be considered a temporary position. He's only plus/minus -2 in a string of Oiler losses and he's been part of line combinations that have been good energy guys for the Oilers. He's not going to be your great offensive weapon, nor your #1 shut-down guy, but all around, he's been ok.

Ryan Potulny -- B-

I called Potulny's stop temporary because I think the one player of the two who made the leap at that time and might stick is Liam Reddox. Since coming up to the team, he's been full throttle and Quinn has to like that.

Reddox doesn't have a lot to show points wise for his efforts, but a few scoring chances and powerplay goals for the Oilers have come thanks to the hustle Reddox has provided. A real bonus since his arrival, is his averaging 3 hits per game -- an average higher than anyone on the team outside of JF Jacques who at one time was in the top three in the NHL in terms of hitting.

Reddox has killed penalties for the Oilers, he's crashed the net and he took a nasty hit that would have knocked a lot of other NHL'ers out for some serious time, yet he kept on truckin'.

Liam Reddox -- B+

Mike Comrie got a goal in the last contest versus the Avs, and ironically enough, it was the last game in which he's scored this season. Let's hope he can repeat his performance on Wednesday.

Mike Comrie is hard to assess thanks to his fight with the flu and the complications it's had with his asthma. Since going down with the flu, Comrie just hasn't been the same and his last few games haven't been at all an indication of what Oiler fans should expect.

When Comrie first came to Edmonton, he had a chip on his shoulder and a lot to prove. He started strong, was a point a game player for a while, a great faceoff guy when the team needed one, and did other little things well. This after he led all NHL players in pre-season with 10 points.

Lately, Comrie's been in and out of action and when he's in, he's been slow and weaker than usual which tells us he's still not healthy.

Should Comrie get healthy, I think he'll start to pick things up, which in turn might help a player like O'Sullivan. The Oilers need it, as does Comrie still playing for a better contract. Should things not turn around, Edmonton fans can turn just as quickly as they cheer you when you get 4 points in one night and start a fight.

Mike Comrie -- C+

As of late, Lubomir Visnovsky has played well. The last game against the Avs, Visnovsky wasn't so hot, but this season, that's been a rarity as Lubomir has been the best all-around defenseman by far for the Oilers this season.

With 13 points in 19 games, a respectable plus/minus +3 and the quarter back for a ton of Edmonton's limited offense, Visnovsky has been terrific and was greatly missed in the two games for which he wasn't in the lineup.

It's no surprise as the Oilers nose-dived last season after Visnovsky went down with a shoulder injury. One he's done well to recover from.

When Visnovsky chooses to shoot he's doing so at the right time in the right situation with a cannon. It's led to a fantastic 17.2% shooting percentage, but he's been responsible for some of Edmonton's prettiest goals of the season too.

Lubomir Visnovksy -- A

Finally, Nikolai Khabibulin who made 34 saves in Edmonton's last trip to Colorado and 31 saves in their first meeting, did what he's done all season -- keep the Oilers close in a lot of games. You can't ask for much more from your goaltender.

Khabibulin came to Edmonton in a smoke cloud of controversy. He's old, he's signed long-term and he's being paid $15 million over that time. So far, he's also made Tambellini look good, which is no small feat considering how still full of holes this Oilers roster is.

If not for Khabibulin, the Oilers would be well below a .500 hockey club. Sure, he's had moments like opening night against the Flames, but he quickly picked himself back up and has been tremendous for the Oilers as of late.

The problem for Khabibulin, isn't Khabibulin. It's the rest of the team that can't score to help him, or the defense that can't get the puck out of the zone to relieve pressure.

We're starting to see more games where the Oilers are actually out-shooting their opponents, so hopefully that bodes well for Khabibulin, who despite his good play, has a pretty bad record to show for it.

Nikolai Khabibulin -- B +

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.

It's no secret that the amount and cost of a PPV has gone up over the past couple seasons. It's also no secret that the quality of what's being offered during those broadcasts hasn't really increased.

Oiler fans are still getting repeated player segments, in-depth profiles (which aren't getting any more in-depth than the first time we saw them), and sometimes brutal feeds from the opposition's announcers, until the regular broadcast as it was intended to be shown kicks in.

Yet the Edmonton Oilers expect fans to continue to shell out $14-$17 a game to watch what so far has been a very mediocre hockey team.

I guess the correct way to phrase that would be, "know" the fans will shell out the money, because after all, Edmonton is a hockey town and Edmonton fans need their Oilers fix. I'm no stranger to this feeling.

I for one, have no single reason to order the Sunday game against the Thrashers. Kovalchuk is hurt and likely a shade of his usually entertaining self, Souray may not make his return as he's a game time decision, and the Oilers team still seems to be full of AHL players. But, like a sucker, I'll be sending my cable company another close to $20 to see my third PPV game in November.

I'm not the only one who finds this an issue. A hot topic amongst some of the Oil blogosphere, has brought this issue to attention. So much so, that a rep for the Edmonton Oilers made a statement on the Team 1260's "Oilers Lunch" radio show and I've noticed now, has put a statement on the official Oilers website.

What I find most interesting, is that instead of actually suggesting they'll make the product better, or find a way to decrease the cost for fans since the local cable companies have decided to broadcast fewer games, they've come up with this quote...

"It’s also important to note that that Oilers PPV was created as a vehicle to broadcast Oiler games which would not otherwise be broadcast and we remain true to that initiative."

Gotcha. I agree, I'm glad there is a way to watch more of the games. However, if that is truly the reason, why are there two additional games not being broadcast on any format other than the Oilers website? Couldn't you have made those two games PPV's as well?

My guess is the answer is yes, they could have. And I'm not really sure why they didn't.

Unlike a decade ago, the Oilers are swimming in money. They are one of the most profitable NHL franchises in the league and it can't be the cost of creating the PPV that's slowing them from showing those final two games.

Or maybe, if the team feels sorry for it's fans, and we're only watching this many PPV games because Sportsnet dropped it's coverage from 48-40 games; why are we not being offered a less costly product? Oilers, you say the PPV's only go up because they have to. Does that mean the price had to as well? Because just like the quantity, the cost has continued to climb.

I suppose I could be ignorant to the workings of the Oilers network deal with PPV providers and that the cost to the franchise has increased, but somehow I doubt it.

I'm pretty sure however, I'm not ignorant enough to believe the Olympic excuse presented by an Oiler rep as to why Sportsnet has decreased it's coverage. You say the Olympics hurt the schedule? The same Olympics that start in February? To me, that has little to do with five PPV games in November, a month in which the Olympics won't be a factor.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm confused. I'd have been better if the Oilers had just come out and called this an additional revenue stream. That's what it is. The demand is there and I don't deny it. The supply is there also. Just at a cost close to the edge of what people will pay before demand goes down.

Yet again, maybe not. I'm an Oiler fan. I'll be watching the game, paying my $20 and I'm not really sure why.

On a side note...

My heart goes out to Fernando Pisani and his loved ones. His illness has flared up again and while we've yet to hear the level to which it's affecting Fernando, let's hope it's not bringing him to the end of a fine NHL career.

As injury prone as Pisani has been and with the amount of game action he's missed due to illness, it'll take a fully 100% healthy Pisani to not only be the player he once was, but possibly to obtain another contract in the NHL.

While we'll all be pulling for him to do so, but his focus shouldn't be on his career. It should be to get healthy, for the sake of he and his family.

Denis Grebeshkov is out. From a report we heard, he injured his knee in the final minute of the Buffalo game and won't be with the Oilers for the final two games of this five game road trip.

When this season started, would you have ever guessed that the Oilers of all things, would be running out of viable defensemen?

It wasn't some 19 games ago that fans and media types were mocking up trades all over the place suggesting that with the Oilers so deep on NHL quality defensemen, that it only made sense to move one. Now, less than a quarter of the way through the season, Edmonton can barely find enough defensemen to play a full game.

It's been a bad season in general for the Oilers in terms of injury and illness, but c'mon, this is getting silly. Of the probably nine viable options of defense, six Edmonton Oiler blueliners have now been out of action due to injury. Of those six, Sheldon Souray, Steve Staios, Lubomir Visnovsky, and Ladislav Smid have been impact players at times for the Oil and were greatly missed.

With Grebeshkov now gone for an undisclosed amount of time, the Oilers will be thankful to hear that Sheldon Souray, who was scheduled as unlikely until late November, might play Sunday against Atlanta.

A likely return from Shawn Horcoff is also on the horizon and could happen against the Thrashers, which would put the Oilers in a position to limit any excuses. The lines might look like the following for Sundays game if all possible returns actually happen:

Horcs/Hemmer/Penner
O'Sullivan/Gagner/Comrie
Potulny/Brule/Pisani
Stortini/Cogs/Moreau

Souray/Staios
Visnovsky/Smid
Gilbert/Strudwick

This tells us that should the Oilers not be ready to earn back some of the points they lost with a lousy record over the last 9-10 games, they'll be plum out of reasons to feel good about this team and it's ability to be a playoff contender.

This is Steve Staios. For a while he played right wing with the Atlanta Thrashers. In Edmonton, he's known as a stay-at-home defenseman. Pretty soon, he might be known as a goalie.

Should the injury situation in Edmonton get so bad, that the Oilers find a few man games go missing between their goalies, suit Staios up, he's definitely ready.

In a heartbreaking loss to the Ottawa Senators, Staios was amazing. Outside of the fact he was an amazing plus/minus -+3 in a 3 goals for effort, he had two assists and blocked an amazing 5 shots (have I said he was amazing enough yet?).

In the second period, Oilers goalie Jeff Deslaurier made 5 saves. I can't recall the last time a player had as many or more saves in one stretch than his goalie did.

The crazy part is, Staios wasn't alone in the "I can't believe they were so good" category.

Simply put, Dustin Penner dominated. Astonishingly, he didn't have more to show for it than one goal. Remember, how it wasn't that long ago, Oilers fans were ready to send Penner packing because he could never seem to score that "one goal"?

In all of last season Penner had 17 goals. This year, in 18 games, he has 11. That's on pace for a 50 goal season and only 6 goals shy of last year. It would be unreal to think he won't hit that mark, even if he slows to a snails pace.

To Penner's credit, there seem to be no signs of slowing. When Penner had the puck last night, and often even when he didn't, he was making things happen. He's been the one shining light in the Oilers many shut-out losses and he just seems to be getting better and sees this as his time to be a great hockey player.

If the Oilers can get two more seasons out of him similar to what this season is shaping up to be, we'll all owe Kevin Lowe a big glass of "what were we smokin' to have doubted you" juice. It's still early, but a huge base of fans have never been more happy to be wrong.

Even more, considering the Oilers had a crop of AHL'ers in Oiler uniforms last night, they did what a good road team needed to do to get the win. Despite the fact that Edmonton lost, it's about the most positive type of loss a team can have, kicking off this five game road trip with 3 out of a possible 4 points.

If the Oilers missing players start popping back into place, tough decisions might be coming. Furthermore, if the Oilers are lucky, Edmonton will have earned enough points to have kept themselves in contention. Great news for a team just itching to actually play the roster it had planned to ice from the start of the year.

Of course if the latest play of Liam Reddox, Ryan Potulny and Taylor Chorney have anything to say about it, that opening roster might be a tad different than what was expected.

In what is likely an non-surprising twist to the MacIntyre saga, the Florida Panthers have claimed Steve MacIntyre off of waivers.

The Panthers never really wanted to lose MacIntyre when he was placed on waivers by them a couple seasons back, hoping he'd clear for re-assignment. The Oilers in need of a tough guy at that time picked him up.

The Panther's wasted no time in returning the favor. The only difference being that the Oilers, as much as they liked the character MacIntyre brought to the team, were prepared to lose him and shed another contract.

Quinn wasn't going to play MacIntyre for more than a couple minutes a game. He only did so thanks to injury. It became quickly clear to management, that if the Oilers couldn't use him, they might as well move him.

I'm sure the Oilers wish him the best, and bet Florida will think twice about waiving him again.

Over the past couple of weeks, there has been an increase in the amount of typical rumor mill garbage that has surfaced about the Oilers. I say garbage, because 99% of what's out there isn't usually very accurate. With that said, let's take a run down at some of the latest "buzz" and weigh in on what might be true and should stay a rumor.

Michael Nylander will be picked up by Edmonton before he gets the chance to go to Europe or the KHL

This one is a real stretch and is almost 100% untrue for a couple of reasons. While the Oilers are low in offensive depth thanks to some key injuries and illness, they aren't that low. If they have had any interest at all, it wasn't evident as Nylander cleared waivers thanks to his rediculous salary that the Oilers barely escaped the first time around. Edmonton isn't looking to make that mistake again.

Should Nylander pop up on re-entry waivers, the Oilers management may ask the question knowing his $4.8 million cap hit over the next two years is reduced, but it will a question quickly squashed. Nylander isn't likely to play anywhere in the NHL this year unless Washington is so up a creek with injuries they have no other option.

Nathan Horton could be traded and the Oilers want in.

If Nathan Horton is actually on the block in Florida, I'm sure the Oilers do want in. But, that's a big if. Rumors surrounding Horton are not new, despite the fact that Florida's GM Randy Sexton has denied Horton's exit at every turn. Many still suggest Horton's time in Florida is limited.

Those suggesting a player like Gilbert would get it done are wrong. Gilbert has little trade value with his slow start and his $4 million cap hit for Horton's $4 million cap hit is slightly uneven. If the Oilers could get it done, expect someone like Cogliano and Grebeskov or Gilbert to be a starting point. That might not even do it.

Oilers Eyeing Someone from Tampa?

While there might be some truth to the Oilers having a peak at some of the Tampa roster, it's just as likely the amount of time Kevin Lowe has been seen at Tampa games could have more to do with Stamkos and his Olympic potential than anything else.

Vincent Lecavalier is off to a slow start, thus rumors swirl that he's once again trade bait. Don't believe it. Even for the Oilers who would love to have a player like Lecavalier in their lineup, Vinnie has an 11yr contract with a cap hit of $7.7 million. A trade like that is almost impossible for Edmonton to complete even if it were an option -- which it isn't.

Jeff Halpern's name has been thrown in there, but he's a potential Selke trophy winner the way he's been playing. Tampa would have to think long and hard about moving him.

Steve MacIntyre was Waived to Make Room For Another Contract

This one is true, but not the way you might expect. MacIntyre's writing was on the wall. He'd been the subject of a number of talks regarding clearing his contract, but injuries played a part in delaying that decision. Only recently when Quinn still refused to use him, while the Oilers were at their weakest, did Edmonton management cut the cord.

The Oilers will look to replace MacIntyre with another able body. Brad Mair from Buffalo? Doubtful, but possible. More than likely, that spot will go to a Springfield player. Reddox and Potulny both made strong cases for themselves.

Nilsson's Days in Edmonton are Numbered

True, and getting more accurate with every player that makes their way back to the Oilers after injuries have healed. Nilsson has had chances to prove he's not worth getting rid of, but he hasn't done it.

The Oilers will look to shed his salary in some fashion when that choice hits them. Right now, Edmonton is far too banged up, but that won't last forever. Nilsson has about two weeks at best to turn it around for himself or he's likely the first to go.

Oilers Looking to Make an Offer to UFA Satan?

This one is interesting only because we have no confirmation other than Satan has received offers from a few NHL teams, mostly injury depleted. The Oilers would fit into that description and could use some scoring help, which is what Satan would bring.

For the Oilers it likely would be a cost effective, short term solution. It worked with Comrie better than expected, so the Oilers might be more apt to give it a shot than they would have previously.

Got anything to add that we haven't heard about? We're all ears.

The Oilers had lost six of seven coming in to Sundays game versus Colorado. If anyone did, very few people expected the Oilers to pull out a victory over the hottest team in the NHL -- one which was going for a franchise record consecutive wins at home. The Oilers missing Ales Hemsky, Sheldon Souray, Shawn Horcoff, JF Jacques, Ladislav Smid and others only added to the evidence that this game should have been a blowout for the Avs.

So the Oilers, who likely had little other choice, came into Denver and played simple effective hockey. They shot the puck, picked up garbage goals, limited the turnovers and wound up winning 5-3 over Colorado, surprising almost everyone.

Their power play was good, their penalty kill was excellent and they're teamwork even better. They didn't necessarily have the skill to play it any other way.

Liam Reddox and Ryan Potulny got the call up in the absence of key players and both, especially Potulny, made a case as a permanent fixture when a number of those missing players return.

Sure, it's only one game, but this isn't new for Potulny who's had this kind of effect in short term stints with the Oilers before. With 3 points in 8 games last season, Potulny contributed with literally no ice time or gravy powerplay time under MacTavish, despite his strengths as a hockey player. It's likely, that while Potulny is with the Oilers this time around, he'll be given a bit more offensive responsibility in areas to which he excels.

Reddox was effective defensively and contributed a gritty or "crusty" spark if you will; that the Oilers had been missing. It was evident in the Oilers style of play.

Keeping it simple and putting pucks on net, helped the Oilers get an early lead. With two of their three goals coming in a somewhat "ugly" fashion, it was those garbage style points that put the Oilers past a team that likely should have beaten them; especially if the Oilers had continued the style of play fans were accustomed to over the last seven contests.

Perhaps for Edmonton, this victory is more than a lucky win. Perhaps its a lesson that goals come in all shapes and forms, but that the only way to score them is to get them on net. For two periods they did that. In the second they didn't, and the game change was evident.

I'm sure Edmonton doesn't want a repeat performance of the 2nd period against the Avs or a reminder of how bad they were in the games leading up to Colorado. Keep it simple, put pucks on net and play with a bit of vigour, and those reminders might be few and far between.