The Sellers: Edmonton Oilers

The Sellers is a weekly column presented by NHLHotStove that will discuss all the rumblings and situations surrounding the teams that will most likely miss the playoffs.  Heading into the March 3rd trade deadline, keep an eye out here for the bottom eight to ten teams in the league that will be known as “sellers”.

Recently, the Edmonton Oilers star defenseman and powerplay quarterback expressed his willingness to waive his no trade clause in his contract. Dan Barnes with the Edmonton Journal wrote Sheldon Souray would be open to waiving his no-trade clause should there be a fit. Of course, this trade would need to make sense.

At the ripe age of 33 one would assume this player more comfortable living at home, rather than shipping himself across country.

The Oilers began the season with promise he, but injuries prevailed.  The team’s two biggest names, Nikolai Khabibulin and Ales Hemsky, most likely will miss the entire season, taking its toll on the team.  Now with no playoffs in sight the club can do nothing but sell, sell, sell.

Automatically names like Souray, Shawn Horcoff, Lubomir Visnovsky and Fernando Pisani come to mind.  However, would the Oilers go as far as to trade team captain Ethan Moreau?

Power Rankings Week Through 01/09/2010

NHL Power Rankings presented by The Hockey Guys. These rankings will be released every Sunday directly following the show and summarize the thinking of Anthony Curatolo, Brandon Augienello and Dustin Leed.

Legend: Rank – Team – Record – (Last Week) Position Change

1. Chicago Blackhawks 31-10-4 (2) +1 When you are the best you simply are the best.
2. San Jose Sharks 28-10-7 (1) -1 A few losses have shifted gears in the power rankings for the Sharks.
3. New Jersey Devils 31-10-1 (3) N/C Although the lights went out in New Jersey, the Devils haven’t lost a step in their standings.
4. Buffalo Sabres 28-11-5 (6) +2 Good teams prove that winning comes more often then not.
5. Washington Capitals 27-11-6 (9) +4 Captain Ovechking leads the charge and Washington climbs back into the top five.

Injury Updates 01/07/2010

Here are your NHL injury updates for tonight, January 7, 2010:

Tonight’s Injuries

New York Rangers

• Vaclav Prospal remains out.

Atlanta Thrashers

• Kari Lehtonen and Mark Popovic still out.

Chicago Blackhawks

• Cam Barker still out of the lineup. [Blackhawks]
• Adam Burish and Dave Bolland still out.

Boston Bruins

• Milan Lucic to return Saturday. [Boston Globe]
• Andrew Ference out six weeks. [Boston Globe]
• Mark Stuart and Patrice Bergeron still out.

Ottawa Senators

• Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza still out.

Goalie Starters 01/07/2010

Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight, January 7, 2010:

• Marc Andre Fleury expected to start against the Flyers Thursday night, Seth Rorabaugh of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
• Tim Thomas left the ice first Thursday morning, indicating that he will start the Bruins’ night game against Chicago, the Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa reports.
• Pascal Leclaire missed Wednesday’s practice for maintenance reasons, but is expected to play on Thursday night against Washington reports James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen.
• Coach John Anderson will start Johan Hedberg against the Rangers says Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Consistution.
• Jay Zawaski of 670 The Score reports Antti Niemi in nets for the Hawks.
• Thanks again to Joe English, I pretty much use his help verbatim with the tips.

Injury Updates 01/05/2010

Here are your NHL injury updates for today, January 5, 2010:

Tonight’s Injuries

Florida Panthers

• Dmitry Kulikov, David Booth and Kenndal McArdle still out.

Toronto Maple Leafs

• Carl Gunnarson expected back in 7-10 days.  [Jonas Siegel]
• Olympian Mike Komisarek set to miss the next two games. [James Mirtle]
• John Mitchell returns tonight. [Leafs Twitter]
• Mike Van Ryn out for the season.

Goalie Starters 01/05/2010

Here are your expected starting goalies for January 5, 2010:

• Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson starts for the Leafs according to Jonas Siegel of Toronto’s AM 960.
• The Ottawa Senators Official Twitter writes Brian Elliot gets the nod in goal.
• Michal Neuvirth gets another try says Tarik El-Bashir of The Washington Post.
• Dave Stubbs with Habs Inside/Out confirms Carey Price as the Montreal tender.
• Marty Turco in nets writes Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News. His opponent will be Martin Brodeur according to Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice.
• Seth Rorabaugh’s Empty Netters reports Brent Johnson facing Ondrej Pavelec in Pittsburgh tonight.  Will confirm on the Atlanta side of things.

UPDATED @ 11:51 AM

• Tim Thomas expected back in nets writes Fluto Shinzawa of The Boston Globe. Makes sense considering his counterpart, Tuukka Rask, started last night at Madison Square Garden.

Power Rankings Week Ending 01/03/2010

NHL Power Rankings presented by The Hockey Guys. These rankings will be released every Sunday directly following the show and summarize the thinking of Anthony Curatolo, Brandon Augienello and Dustin Leed.

Legend: Team – Record – Position Change (Last Week)

1. San Jose Sharks - 27-8-7 (4) +3  Winners of 8 straight have propelled the Sharks to the top of the THG Power Rankings. Best team in the league deserves the best.
2. Chicago Blackhawks – 28-10-3 (2) N/C The Hawks will not go away this year and look really strong. Don’t expect a drop out of the top five much at all.
3. New Jersey Devils – 29-10-1 (1) -3 Mr. Brodeur is the best in the game, and his Devils are atop the East. Need we say more?
4. Colorado Avalanche – 24-13-6 (12) +8 The Avalanche have made strides this season and are showing that not only was it a hot start to keep them where they are.
5. Nashville Predators- 25-14-3 (6) +1 The Preds have been coming on strong, more so as of late.  Dark horse in the West? Absolutely.

The Man Behind the Mask: Dwayne Roloson

Welcome to the 1st installment of “The Man Behind the Mask” series. Throughout the course of the year, we will be taking a look at the players who mean the most to the game. The Goalies. Our first article will be on none other then New York Islanders goaltender Dwayne Roloson.

In 27 games played this season the 40 year old netminder for the Islanders has been able to obtain points in all but seven of his starts. He has helped the Islanders, currently, to exceed expectations. Although the season is still closing in on the half way mark, the Islanders have a lot to prove but Roloson has provided more then enough of a boost to have the Islanders squeak into the playoffs.

Plenty of hockey left to play for Roloson and his Islanders this season and at this point anything is possible. Who knew that Roloson would be the veteran piece to have these New York Islanders, projected to be a lottery pick team again, fighting for a playoff spot? Aside from Garth Snow, no one.

Roloson brings a history worth discussing to Long Island.

Injury Updates 01/02/2010

This thread will be updated all day, so keep refreshing it as the day goes along. Just a quick note, if I omitted a source it is due to a previous report with no recent updates. Here are your injury updates for tonight:

Injuries Tonight

Carolina Hurricanes

• Scott Walker and Sergei Samsonov out for today’s match. They will be replaced by Zach Boychuk and Jiri Tlusty.
• Eric Cole, Joe Corvo and Chad LaRose remain out.

New York Rangers

• Vaclav Prospal expected out another couple of weeks.

Vancouver Canucks

• Kevin Bieksa, Pavol Demitra and Ryan Johnson out.

Dallas Stars

• Everybody healthy!

Tampa Bay Lightning

• Matt Walker, Todd Fedoruk and Jeff Halpern still out.

Goalie Starters 01/02/2010

Please remember to keep refreshing this page or follow me on Twitter for the fastest updates. Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight:

• Andrew Gross of The Record writes Matt Zaba will back up Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers.  Bob Harwood Waeghe of Canes Country writes Cam Ward should be in net.
• Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News predicts Marty Turco facing Roberto Luongo.

UPDATED @ 12:02 PM

• Mike Smith and Marc Andre Fleury expected in nets according to Seth Rorabaugh’s Empty Netters.

UPDATED @ 12:16 PM

• Pekka Rinne starts for the Preds, says their official Twitter.

UPDATED @ 1:03 PM

• Michael Russo of The Star Tribune puts Martin Brodeur and Niklas Backstrom in nets for their teams, respectively.