The Oilers will send some of their prospects to the Hamilton Bulldogs (primary affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens), the Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville Predators), the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings), the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh Penguins) and the Iowa Stars (Dallas Stars).

The player's agent, Peter Semonick, met with the club's assistant general manager Scott Howson on Friday. The two sides have discussed one, two and three-year deals. Should a three-year contract be reached, Lupul would give up two years of arbitration rights. There are reports the two sides are about $400,000 apart on the three-year deal.

EDMONTON SUN: Robin Brownlee reports the Oilers are expected to announce the re-signing of forward Joffrey Lupul to a three year contract believed worth just under $7 million.

The team that pushed the Carolina Hurricanes to the seventh game of the cup final will begin the new campaign with a third of their lineup now playing somewhere else. Gone are Pronger and defensive standout Jaroslav Spacek. In are goal-scorers Joffrey Lupul and Petr Sykora.

They don't have Stanley and they don't have Pronger. And it seems the Edmonton Oilers also aren't getting a whole lot of respect.

The Oilers registered no shots in the first period of Wednesday night's loss to Detroit; but that was not the case when head coach Craig MacTavish took the podium post-game.

"It was an absolutely humiliating experience," said MacTavish. "That's not just tonight, it's been that way for the last little while. It's time for some accountability from our veterans."

Oilers to mark Messier's career

"We're breaking tradition by putting his banner up before he goes into the Hall of Fame, but we're kind of counting on that happening," said Oilers CEO Patrick Laforge.

Messier laughed at the suggestion that there will be so many tears on the ice they won't need a Zamboni.

"It'll be very emotional," said the man who was a "Mess" in more ways than one at his No. 11 event in New York.

The Oilers have claimed Petr Nedved of re-entry Waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers...

Oilers claim Nedved

The Edmonton Oilers plan to do more next month than just raise Mark Messier's No. 11 to the rafters of Rexall Place.

The NHL team and the city are planning two days of festivities to honour their favourite son.

Get ready for Moosapalooza


<link>

Uh oh! Wayne's gunna be jealous! He was told there were no favorites

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Oilers president Patrick LaForge reiterated what the team has already told The Journal several times in the past year -- that Rexall Place is "getting tired" and a replacement needs to be found by the time the team's lease expires with Edmonton Northlands in seven years.

It's like they sold their soul to the devil.

In exchange for a Cinderella playoff run and a shot at their first Stanley Cup in 16 years, the Edmonton Oilers would surrender their fate to the Prince of Darkness for all eternity.

Only somebody messed up the wording on the contract and they ended up with an eternity's worth of hardship in one season.

Alberta billionaire Daryl Katz promised Tuesday to spend whatever it takes to bring the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton if given the chance.

Katz, a pharmaceutical mogul, is taking a third stab at buying the Edmonton Oilers, reportedly for more than $170 million US.

But for whatever reason, and there may well be plenty of them, Edmonton Oilers season ticket-holders have opened their wallets faster than ever this summer. It's Aug. 1, six weeks before NHL training camp, two months before the Oilers play the San Jose Sharks in the first of 41 home games at Rexall Place and the team doesn't have a single season ticket left to sell. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Such a financial phenomenon is both commendable and curious given what has transpired, or more accurately what has not happened, since the team missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third time in six seasons.

Daryl Katz's third attempt to buy the Edmonton Oilers has been rejected. The Edmonton Investors Group (EIG), headed up by chairman Cal Nichols, also announced that the group has voted to take the 'For Sale' sign off the franchise.

Pisani Out Indefinitely

Can it get much worse for the Oil? Pisani is a good player and I hope he can heal soon and return to his game.

Ulcerative colitis is not fun. I had one bout of colitis due to an unknown allergy to an antibiotic. It was awful and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Hopefully Pisani will recover quickly and they will keep it under control.

Ulcerative colitis is not fun. I had one bout of colitis due to an unknown allergy to an antibiotic. It was awful and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Hopefully Pisani will recover quickly and they will keep it under control.

Smid, who was drafted ninth overall in the 2004 Entry Draft, was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks last summer in the Chris Pronger trade.

Last season, Smid scored three goals and added seven assists in 77 games with the Oilers. He finished the season at -16.

Edmonton sends Smid and Stortini to AHL
LINK

TSN has learned that the Edmonton Oilers have signed Kevin Lowe to a four-year contract extension.

The announcement was made official at a media conference Saturday morning.

Well it is the Holiday season, time to find out who has been naughty and nice as yours truly plays the role of Santa.
...
To Kevin Lowe -to finish two points ahead of the Anaheim Ducks at the end of the season.
...
To Dustin Penner - a 30- goal season to shove it up Burkie's ...
...
To former Oilers Chris Pronger and Mike Comrie - that Oilers fans stop acting like jilted lovers when they come to town.

The so-called Plan B proponents have thrown in the towel and the sale of the Edmonton Oilers to local billionaire Daryl Katz is all but guaranteed.
...
According to an EIG source, the shelving of Plan B had most to do with the fact Katz bumped his offer to $22,000 per share for a net tax equivalent of $200 million. The new bid, forwarded through an intermediary last Wednesday to at least one holdout shareholder, represented a 6.3-per-cent increase over Katz's fourth offer of $20,687 per share for an equivalent of $188 million.

Sheldon Souray's first season with the Edmonton Oilers has come to end.

The defenceman who signed a five-year, $27 million contract in the offseason will not suit up with team for the rest of year, following arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder late last week.

Sheldon Souray's first season with the Edmonton Oilers has come to end.http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=229467&hubname=nhl

Uncertain as to where he is going to be after the league's trade deadline passes on Tuesday afternoon, unwilling to have his two boys pestered at school, Roloson sent his family back to Ontario just before the Oilers headed out for their four-game, 10-day road trip.
...
"Playing in a Canadian city is tough on the kids," Roloson said. "They're young and the older kids at school know a little more and are not afraid to say things ... Kids can be pretty mean, so it gets pretty ugly at times. There are times the kids come home crying, and that's tough to see as a parent.

"We're not going to be home much anyway so everybody has moved back to Ontario. Now they'll be in school for four or five months instead of two. Then whatever happens, happens."

Ethan Moreau out with a broken ankle for the entire season.

Oilers still sitting with 3rd/4th worst record in entire league.

NHL players routinely get $1 million to chase a puck around the ice, but to see an ordinary joe named Darwin Head actually win $1 million by firing 15 pucks into the net in 24 seconds from the far blueline was an eye-opener for them.

"Get him on the power play," joked Edmonton Oiler centre Marty Reasoner, trying to digest the accomplishment of the sawmill worker from Prince Albert, Sask., on TSN's Canucks-Avalanche game in Vancouver on Wednesday night.

"Pretty good feat. I don't know if I could do it, especially doing it in the tIme he did it in," said Oiler winger Dustin Penner, factoring in the ramped-up crowd at GM Place, the national TV audience, and the pressure of being out on the ice, with the clock ticking.

Off-season Game Plan: Oilers

"There are so many guys on the team playing better than they've ever played before," head coach Craig MacTavish told the Edmonton Journal, "And the objective for them is to come in at this level next year. I think it's realistic that they can."
...
The Oilers should legitimately be among the teams battling for a playoff spot next season and that process would be made even easier with a couple of solid off-season acquisitions. Kevin Lowe, you're up.

Forwards Dustin Penner and Kyle Brodziak are healthy scratches for tonight's contest against the Avalanche while Liam Reddox and Jesse Boulerice are in. TSN's Ice Chips

The Edmonton Oilers have placed defenceman Ladislav Smid on injured reserve because of a concussion. TSN

How's that $21mil poached RFA working out for ya there, K-Lowe ?!?

Sounding more and more like Penner is not exactly what the doctor ordered for the price put out for him. Hmmmmm perhaps the Oilers will be trying to unload him and his big salary like some GM's in this new cap era.

... The Dustin Penner free agent signing is proving a disaster for Edmonton.

He is out of shape and iceberg-slow against NHL competition...

Mark Spector (ex-NP writer now at Sportsnet)

The corn-fed Dustin Penner squeezed back into Craig MacTavish's lineup on Thursday night, resuming a relationship that has become hockey's version of staying together for the sake of the kids.

MacTavish can't stand this guy as a player. But he's stuck with him for three more seasons at (gulp!) US $4.25 million.

Two more years
Read More >>