Hockeyhead

It was a pretty impressive run for Dwayne Roloson who made his 34th consecutive start in goal last night versus the San Jose Sharks.  Roloson made 20 saves in the 2-1 Oilers’ loss, which now puts them on the brink of elimination for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West.  You can’t fault Roloson, if anyone does then there’s a round of dick-punches on the way.  It’s difficult to find any single individual to point the finger of blame towards.  Sure, the Oilers’ offence largely underachieved this season, and the new ‘kid-line’ was a colossal disappointment, but the Oilers as a whole just didn’t have ‘it’ this season.  It’s time to get realistic and think about waving the white-flag.

There’s still hope, albeit minimal as the Oil sit four points back of St. Louis (what the fuck?) for the final spot and three points back of Nashville (double what the fuck?) for ninth place.  It’s time to start asking questions as we move towards next season.  I love Craig MacTavish, I think he’s a real throwback as far as head coaches are concerned, but you have to wonder if he still has ‘the room’ in Edmonton.  Ales Hemsky frustrates fans more than Jari Kurri leaving the NHL for Italy.  Hemsky wants to be ‘the man’, he has the skills to be ‘the man’, but why won’t he just be ‘the man’?  Fernando Pisani was awesome in the Oilers’ ‘05-06 playoff run, but he’s a waste of $2.5 million.

Roloson was great this season, he wasn’t supposed to be the number one guy in goal, and he was supposed to face an uphill battle to even be number two.  We’ve probably seen the last of him though as he’s about to become a free-agent again.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to see my team invest a few million in a 40-year old goalie looking to be a number one again.  Sorry Dwayne, that’s just the way it is.