No surprise: the Oilers named veteran centre Shawn Horcoff as their new team captain on Wednesday. Bit of a surprise: Horcoff looked like a great leader on Thursday, playing well and seeming to inspire the young Oilers on and off the ice.

Here’s a bit of Oilers’ history. Horcoff is the15th player to wear the “C” since the team joined the WHA (in 1972) and the NHL (in 1979). Take a pencil: how many can you name right off the? Give yourself an A if you can name 10 Oilers’ captains and an extra point for naming the three Oilers’ captains who were also Oilers’ Head Coaches. [In case you want to check, see below.]

Horcoff succeeded Ethan Moreau, claimed by the Columbus Blue Jackets last June after the Oilers put him on waivers. Horcoff is 32 – old for a hockey player – but young for a leader. He is starting his 10th NHL season, after Edmonton took him in the fourth round (99th overall) of the 1998 NHL entry draft.

So, how good can Horcoff be as a leader? He strikes me as a solid guy, with many leadership characteristics – except, perhaps, his ability to put up big goals and assists numbers – a trait that seems to be popular with other hockey teams but not, obviously, with the current Oilers. It seemed fitting that one bounced off him into the net – he was right where he had to be, blocking for the kids.

The Oilers need Horcoff to be a good leader because they need great leadership specifically and leadership is really important to any successful sports. A good captain can lead his team to success and can also help a young team and younger players be better. On the other hand, weak leadership skills can hinder a team’s chances of competing and bonding successfully – something last year’s Oilers know all too well.

What do the current Oilers need? Obviously, they need to escape injury and create space for young players to grow. But, the Oilers also need a leadership that provides emotional strength and models conditioning in every sense of the word – physical and mental. Leadership will be needed when more established teams benefit from biased officiating – we all know young teams don’t get all the calls veterans do. Sure, leadership does come from coaches, but leaders also emerge from within the team itself. Ergo, selecting a good captain is crucial.

Horcoff needs to do more than wear the captain’s “C.” He must also lead by his example and passionate belief that the team is more important than the individual. How he handles conflicts that eventually rise when the team loses (is there a chance they won’t?) a few close games and comes under pressure will be crucial. We don’t yet know how the youthful Oilers will act under stress, but we do know that Horcoff’s ability to handle problems will be crucial. How does he show his own anger? How does he behave professionally and responsibly despite his own personal feelings of frustration? All keys!

Here are a couple of other areas that sometimes slip under the radar. For example, how good will he be at building relationships with other members of the team, in good times and bad? For example, when a young player gets sent to the minors? I hope Horcoff takes each player – coming or going – aside. He clearly needs to talk with those going down or welcome those young players coming up for a shot. Plus, there is an extra burden being captain while still playing. It can be difficult to inspire, motivate, and raise team morale while you are trying to raise your own spirits.

So far, Horcoff has passed the test. We know he will be dependable. We bet he will be a good listener. We hope he will be motivating and inspiring, and will remain calm and positive under pressure. If he can do these things, he will only add to the Oiler’s success – whatever it might be – this season. We can hope for a great amount – the first positive step has been taken.

Team Captains
Note: This list includes Oiler captains from both the NHL and WHA.

Al Hamilton, 1972–76
Glen Sather, 1976–77
Paul Shmyr, 1977–79
Ron Chipperfield, 1979–80
Blair MacDonald, 1980–81
Lee Fogolin, 1981–83
Wayne Gretzky, 1983–88
Mark Messier, 1988–91
Kevin Lowe, 1991–92
Craig MacTavish, 1992–94
No Captain, 1994–95 (Lockout)
Shayne Corson, 1995
Kelly Buchberger, 1995–99
Doug Weight, 1999–2001
Jason Smith, 2001–07
Ethan Moreau, 2007–10
Shawn Horcoff, 2010–present

There is a funny scene in the movie The Replacements, when coach Jimmy McGinty asks his players what scares them on the field. Clifford Franklin talks about bees, and the whole conversation goes off the rails. But then, Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves) adds: You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand.

Last year, the Oilers learned about quicksand. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. They were sucked in and, as Clifford Franklin adds, Quicksand's a scary motha, man. I mean, first of all, it suck you right in, and even if you scream, you get all that muck in your mouth...

Well, the Oilers had it in their mouths – everywhere, actually. But, a recent quote by Dustin Penner hints that those days are over.

Penner is quoted, You never know when the stars could align. There's been a lot of change through the management and staff and the team, kind of a fresh start. We're changing the culture here. With that comes a new mindset and a new feeling. You can just tell it's a good feeling. I think we'll surprise some people.

This quote comes on the heels of an 8-2 victory over the Canucks – with both the youngsters and the veterans scoring goals – pretty heady stuff. Horcoff was leading and feeding the kids. The kids were coming through. And, Penner was feeling good. He should. He contributed; and, an 8 goal game is pretty rare. How rare? Well, all last year the Oilers didn’t have 8 goals. Not preseason. Not regular season. Eight goals is heady stuff.

If we look at his statement, we find a couple of really interesting and positive things. And it is the positive that holds the key to the Oilers’ year, I think. The Oilers have to keep thinking positive thoughts – which come easy when you are winning and much less easy when you aren’t. Positive thinking impacts one’s mental attitude and then one’s outward physical activities. But the mental is most important, because it produces growth and success. If the mental attitude expects results, the physical usually follows.

There is a lot of current talk about the “power of attraction,” which basically means that whatever people think will happen does happen. Some of this is downright goofy, but the idea that someone who anticipates happy, healthy, and successful outcomes will attract thos is far from ridiculous. What the head expects, the body finds.

The fragility of this positive feeling remains to be seen, but Penner’s words tell us it is present – and this is a good first step. That, of course, and a high skill set and a good game plan. But, Penner is right – as was Shane Falco: positive and negative thinking are both contagious.

Let’s hope this feeling rubs off on the team. Perhaps, in hockey, the positive or negative impact players have on each other is greater than in other sports. When things go well, they really go well. When they don’t, well – ask the 2009-10 Oilers. Already Penner is leading the team by affecting how the young players think. All people, not just hockey players, are disposed to help others who are positive and dislike and avoid those who are negative. In hockey, even truer!

We know that negative thoughts, words, and attitudes can be cancerous to a team – they bring with them unhappy actions. There is a physical aspect to this: when the mind is negative, real poisons are released into the blood. Such mental unhappiness and negativity then turn to physical failure and frustration. In hockey, that translates into losing.

Ok, Mr. Penner. Keep up the positive thinking. The team is 3-0 in the preseason. I am not taking the record itself all that seriously, but I am noticing – and liking – Penner’s positive attitude. Let us hope it spreads and stays. Perhaps then the Oilers could surprise.

Two years ago, at Comox’s Filberg Festival, I heard Fred Eaglesmith tell the crowd at his musical show that he was looking for his sixth ex-wife. People laughed. Of course, the joke was the mix of optimism and realism such a statement evokes – one would think that, after five failed marriages, a bit of reality would set in. Alas, one is always hoping for better – thinking that this time is THE time but knowing somehow that you are probably wrong.

So, Oiler fans, here we go again. And the metaphor about being married to the team isn’t far wrong. New season: new romance. The past season and off-season was filled with love, hate, rejection, being left at the altar, and all sorts of junior high antics of “who likes whom.” Sheldon Souray – who whispered in the wrong ear about considering a new lover – gets totally rejected in a move more of anger than insight. Mike Comrie, cute-enough without much of a downside, gets let go for who knows why. And the new boys in summer camp bring out the swoons of the public – they are, after all, so very winsome. And they promise to make our hearts flutter widely.

Like it or not, we are married to our Oilers. Our romance is more of heart than head. Yet, with all our heart-fluttering optimism, isn’t there just something in our heads that reminds us that perhaps this year’s team will be like looking for our 6th ex-wife? Will we start with wild romance and end with heartbreak?

There is an old Buddhist story about a man chased off a cliff by a charging lion. Falling to his death in the valley below, he happens to grab a slender flowering plant growing from the side of the cliff face. He looks up: lion. He looks below: valley floor. Then he looks at the plant and says: “What a beautiful flower.”

Perhaps we Oilers fans should become Buddhists and come to appreciate the “beautiful flower” that Oilers’ hockey has always been and always will be to us. We might be on our way to another train wreck, but there will be beautiful scenery along the way.

I was hoping the delay was one of simple timing. That Comrie would eventually be signed.

He was-- just with the wrong team. This is great news for Mike Comrie, but I'm disappointed that Comrie will now be playing in Pittsburg instead of Edmonton as he signed a league minimum 1 yr deal worth $500,000.

Steve Tambellini did say that the likelihood the Oilers would sign more forwards was slim, so I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. I blindly assumed that list didn't include a veteran forward who would have been a great role model for the many rookies on the Oilers this season.

Good luck Mike. I suppse you don't need the money and your chances of winning a cup before the end of your career sure just went up 10-fold.

The Oilers have officially announced Rod Phillips replacement for Edmonton Oilers play-by-play radio broadcasts -- Jack Michales of the Alaska Aces in the ECHL.

A tidbit from the Alaska Sports Broadcast Network tells us the following about Michaels. "Last season, Michaels was selected to do the play-by-play for the NHL Network's broadcast of the 2008 ECHL All-Star Game, his third such honor. Jack won "Goldie" Awards, issued by the Alaska Broadcasters Association for "best live play-by-play" in each of the last three years (2006, '07, and '08)."

This was no easy selection for the Oilers. A plethora of who's-who applied and a number of qualified candidates turned away. The Oilers franchise must feel as though Michael's voice is the new voice to move a new Oilers team into the future. I can't imagine this job being one that Michael's won't be keeping for years.

This clip has been posted by others, but in case you haven't heard it yet, here is a sample of some of his work.

Congrats to Jack Michaels. I wasn't familiar with him, but after listening to this clip, I won't mind getting a lot more familiar with it. I can see why the Oilers made this choice.

As was already reported today by a number of sites, Fernando Pisani is no longer a man waiting by the phone and waiting for a job. After reports that not a single team had called Pisani and not a single GM expressed interest in the somewhat healthy veteran --including Oilers GM Steve Tambellini -- that all changed on Wednesday.

In what took very little time to finalize, Pisani signed a one year, one-way deal with the Chicago Blackhawks for $500,000. In many ways this makes sense for both parties and while it's understandable the Oilers have chosen to walk away from Pisani, Pisani could be a great surprise for the Hawks.

The chances were Fernando wouldn't be returning to Edmonton. Without him (or veterans like him) the Oilers are sorely lacking in veteran leadership.

Ryan Whitney, Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff, Jim Vandermeer, Jason Strudwick, Sheldon Souray, Kurtis Foster and Nikolai Khabibulin are the only current roster players who have played more than five seasons in the NHL. Sounds at first like a decent assortment, but at closer look 5 of the 8 are defencemen, while Souray and Khabibulin may not be of much help if either doesn't return.

On a team greatly lacking in veteran leadership, one could have argued bringing back a veteran forward like Pisani could have been important in a transitioning Oilers team bound to have a few bumps in the road. To give the new young Oilers futures a chance to talk, follow and understand the game at their position instead of looking to each other as rookies and struggling through changes they've not yet faced, someone with experience has to be added to the top twelve to round this roster out.

Is that someone Mike Comrie? Comrie is patiently waiting. Recently married, he's had other things on his mind, but his goal has clearly been to stay with the Oilers. Pisani going could have increased his odds Comrie's doing so ever so slightly.

Comrie is the type of player who makes sense for the Oilers. He'll take a one year deal at around $1 million dollars so the money seems to make sense. He's seen and been through everything a hockey crazed city like Edmonton can throw at a skilled young forward. Offering a mentor to the Halls, Eberles and Pajjarvis on the team is a smart move. One who is similarly skilled, and been where they are now seems logical.

Comrie also provides a strong example of a desire to be in Edmonton, when in the past that desire hasn't been at it's height. The argument that a team like Edmonton only keep players who want to play here regardless of skill is an old and tired one. Comrie doesn't fit that category or into that argument.

Comrie can still score. If healthy, it shouldn't be hard to see 20-25 goals. Should the rookies struggle, Comrie can play anywhere in your top six and on the powerplay.

Most want to see the Gagner deal get done. I do too. I'd rather add Comrie first. It's not likely Comrie will keep waiting. Gagner has no choice.

Were a ways away from talking on-ice product, but the NHL isn't exactly quiet these days. Even the Oilers have given us some news worth taking a look at:

PPV

No more PPV's? I'm all for it.

According to a press release by the Edmonton Oilers, a new agreement between the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Rogers Sportsnet means fans can watch the remaining games on the Oilers schedule not normally broadcast on TSN or CBC without having to purchase a Pay-Per-View broadcast.

In order to view games, fans will need to purchase the newly launching Sportsnet One, but at a fraction of the price of some 13 games on PPV. Word is that somewhere in the neighbourhood of $2-$3 per month the channel will offer all the games we couldn't otherwise watch. For me, I couldn't think of a better birthday present. The channel launches on the same day and not having to buy PPV's all year is a nice treat.


Kovalchuk is a no-go, but so are others?

After the NHL struck down the ridiculous 17 year contract built to obviously circumvent the NHL salary cap, TSN is now reporting that at least two NHL GM's -- Peter Chiarelli and Mike Gillis -- have confirmed the NHL is examining the validity of contracts like Marc Savard, Roberto Luongo, Marian Hossa and Chris Pronger.

There is little doubt these contracts were also set to lower the cap of each respective player. Evidence suggests neither the team nor the player expected the full length of the term to be honored and with Kovalchuk having been denied, could we see others voided?

If so, what happens? Do players like Robert Luongo become free agents again? If so, this can't be great news for the players, who with the new trend in salary signings, likely won't receive the same cushy contracts. Would Gillis really sign Luongo to another contract in the neighbourhood of 7 million per year deal if that was the cap hit? I doubt it. Would Pronger get the same lengthy term he got before at his age? Unlikely.

Using Roberto as an example, starting in 2019, Luongo's salary drops more than 50% from the previous year and 90% from the first year of the deal. In the case of Marc Savard and Chris Pronger, the cases are even more telling as both players last couple years will be paid what could be at that time less than the league minimum.

It will be interesting to see if a trend has started with the Kovalchuk ruling and how messy this gets. Could it have a factor on the new CBA and a possible lockout? We all know the NHL can't afford another one, but the players can't be happy about this new information.

Oilers Sign Liam Reddox

Is this a minor league signing? Or as Jason Gregor suggests, is Reddox the answer the Oilers are hoping to find to the questions about the penalty kill?

There is no doubt that Reddox's game is built around hustle and effort. He lacks both the size and skill not to work his butt off. Can he be the 3rd line checker to replace Fernando Pisani or Ethan Moreau the Oilers need are seem to be missing?

I would suggest yes, but I might wonder if now is that time. Reddox could become that player. I see the same type of skill set and he lies somewhere in the middle ground between a Pisani and a Moreau style of player. That said, starting the season with him there is a huge question mark and unreliable at best. I'm not sure Reddox is more than a signing to start with the Barons right now. He'll get a chance at camp to prove otherwise.

Gagner and Cogliano Still Un-signed?

Some are starting to wonder what the delay is here. Does the fact that neither contract has been signed yet mean money is an issue?

I would suggest no. I see this more as a timeline issue and something that wasn't high on the immediate priority list of Steve Tambellini because he was well aware of how much time he had to get these signings done.

Fans shouldn't worry. Players like Bobby Ryan are RFA's still available. It's unlikely Gagner or Cogs will receive offersheets. Even if they do, not ones that make the Oilers hard-pressed to choose to match.

At first this looks like an odd signing. The Oilers have 3 goalies. Two of these in Deslauriers and Dubnyk are young and fit the mold on a kids getting the majority of the time style team. To boot, both also have newly and barely dry inked deals.

The Oilers also have a veteran in Nikolai Khabibulin, who to say the least, has a future that is somewhat up in the air. It's not so much that the Oilers are 50/50 on getting rid of Bulin (if onl it were that easy). It's that his court dates continue to be pushed back and the only way Edmonton can move his contract off the books, is if the result of those court rulings result in some time behind bars for the former Stanley Cup winning netminder. Even the specifics on that are foggy.

So with three goalies, all of whom are likely to see time with the Oilers this season, why would Edmonton sign another aging veteran for $500,00 dollars? Simple. The uncertainty of the situation.

Gerber comes from the KHL where he spent that last season after some time in Ottawa and Carolina. His track record is shaky at best and he's not by any stretch, a number one goalie. His age, his past performance and his cache around the league make him a good fit in Edmonton only at this time and on this team.

Gerber signed a two-way deal. Meaning he can move up and down between the NHL and the AHL. Waivers play somewhat of a role here, but what other NHL team, with a number of more suitable options still on the UFA market, would claim Gerber off waivers? Even if by some stretch they did, how much would it really impact Edmonton's future? None.

Gerber brings a much better option the AHL than the unproven goalies currently in the system. It was an area Tambellini needed to address after taking care of many other holes on the Barons roster. If Gerber sees time in the NHL, he's motivated to perform. He brings enough game action and experience that in the event Bulin is gone or hurt (both possibilites) and Deslauriers and Dubnyk crap the bed (also both possibilites), Gerber can be called up and is a reliable option.

No, Gerber is not the ideal situation when all else fails. But, all else shouldn't fail at the same time, thus Gerber becomes a piece of a tandum puzzle.

With the uncertainty in Edmonton and Oklahoma, Geber makes some sense. He has a name to back him for kids who need to be comfortable that their goalie can handle the job. He has a Stanley Cup finals run in his back pocket (even though he wasn't the key factor in that run), and he knows the game well. At $500,000 dollars, he also doesn't create any kind of financial cap burden.

Those viewing this signing as writing on the wall in the Khabibulin situation are likely off. Moreso, this tells us the Oilers don't know what's happening here. Because they don't know and their other options are young and younger, Gerber makes sense.