There's a storm brewing, true believers, and it's looking to be a mess.
Players who have been or are out 6 games in:
Sheldon Souray
Sam Gagner
Fernando Pisani
Shawn Horcoff
Steve Staios (non-injured, out for family reasons)
Player who hasn't been in:
Ales Hemsky
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Can the Edmonton Oilers reasonably compete when six of the expected top performers aren't even in the line-up half the time? I know it's early, but if this club has shown me anything over the past couple of years it's that injuries are going to happen.
Have the Oilers gotten this under their collective belt early, or is it just an indication of things to come? Is it bad luck, training, playing philosophy? What ever it is, there have been too many injuries taking out players on a team that already looks ineffective and sluggish.
While the 4-0-0 start was exciting, I'm sure everyone can agree that it didn't look like the Oilers deserved those *wins, but they pulled them out anyway.
To be fair, with Hemsky and Horcoff out last year, the young guys stepped up and everyone took their game to the next level giving us fans that nice little winning streak to tease us all summer. What would you do if you were Craig MacTavish on Saturday?
Sit Hemsky?
Let him play out the "first month blues"?
Forget salary and put the right players on the right lines in the right positions instead of forcing the entire team to be the square peg?
Never, ever, ever play MacIntyre and Stortini on the same line again?
Look, that Brodziak, Stortini, Glencross line was lightning in a bottle and I'm sure it's tempting to think you can get that again with a few blends, but let's face it: GlenX was the straw that stirred that particular drink.
Anyway, a day off for the Oilers, let's hope they find their legs.
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*they probably deserved the Calgary tilt, but only after that abysmal first period.
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