Dustin Penner has easily been the Edmonton Oilers best hockey player this season. With now 13 goals and 25 points and a plus/minus +11 in 23 games, Penner has been the only shining spot in an otherwise poor season for the Oilers to date.
Hemsky, Visnovksy, and Ladislav Smid have also been good for Edmonton, but none (with the exception of Penner) have had a point in the season go by without some harsh criticism.
In fact, it wasn't just days ago that Associate Coach Tom Renney was seen giving the gears to Ales Hemsky for his lack of effort in both games and practices, relying on skill alone to help work the Oilers out of this slump.
Both Renney and Pat Quinn understand, that while skill is great and not all players possess it, skill isn't enough to win those battles, wars and ultimately hockey games that the Oilers so badly need to win.
Take Saturdays game against the Blackhawks for example. A skilled but slow starting offensive threat in Patrick O'Sullivan, caught the attention of the coaches and analysts during the CBC broadcast—and not in a good way.
Kelly Hrudey and Mike Millbury both pointed out O'Sullivan's willin ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Jim Parsons
Are The Edmonton Oilers a Team With No Direction?
November 22nd, 2009 by Jim Parsons Leave a reply »
Advertisement