I'm going to pull a LT here, and yank something from an old thread out into a new post. In the comments from my post-game thoughts from last night, Dennis said:
To close on a positive, that's three games in a row where Stoll's had honest-to-goodness scoring chances. The guy's hitting the ball hard so some of those line drives should soon start going over the fence.
I agree with Dennis. Stoll is playing well, and trying hard. But the tangible results (counting numbers) just aren't there for him. He doesn't have much offensive skill around him to help him out, either, so hard work and chances don't even lead to assists. So what to do? Do you just wait? Or do you try and spark the embers? Assuming you try the latter, there's no way you can break up the top two lines, in my opinion. Giving Stoll time with Hemsky is the easy choice, but I don't think it's the best one. He (Stoll) got some time on the point on the PP last night, but Pitkanen, Souray and Gilbert aren't going to cede much there. So then what? How do you help a guy get over that hump 5-on-5, with this roster? Myself, I'd be bringing up Schremp for a quick test before Christmas. He's playing well in Springfield (six in AHL scoring and averaging over a point a game). Put him on a line with Stoll and Thoresen. That way, Stoll gets a more skilled guy around him (sorry, Marty), and Schremp gets some defensive cover from Stoll and Thoresen. It's not the best choice in the grand scheme (we don't even have John Crosbie, let alone Sidney Crosby), but I think it's the best choice the Oilers can make right now. They need more skill on the 3rd and 4th lines. It's just a Goals For wasteland right now. Nine of the team's next ten games are also against non-Northwest Division opponents, which I think makes now as good a time as any to give the other, other 44 some ice.
So, say you follow my suggestion, you could have a lineup for Friday that looked like this:
Nilsson-Gagner-Pisani
Thoresen-Stoll-Schremp
Cogliano-Reasoner-Brodziak
Pitkanen-Gilbert
Staios-Smid
Grebeshkov-Souray
Roloson
Garon
With Sanderson and Tarnstrom watching from upstairs. Speaking of, why hasn't Tarnstrom drawn in? He was activated last Saturday. Moreau could also draw in as early as Friday, which for me would bump Brodziak out and Cogliano over to right wing. Anyhow, there's my spitballing for today. And it's all based on players within the organization. I have zero belief that a trade is happening any time soon, unless it's to ship Tarnstrom out. Thoughts?
Aaaannnndddd...is it really so hard for the Oilers to change their webpage so that it shows the positions the players are actually playing night in and night out, rather than the ones they played in junior (or in their dreams)? According to the team page, the Oilers have seven centremen.
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