Sam Gagner

The hits just keep on coming for the Edmonton Oilers.

After losing Taylor Hall to a high ankle sprain last month, and having already lost Ryan Whitney in December, TSN is now reporting that Sam Gagner had exploratory tendon surgery after last night's game against Washington and will be shut down for the remainder of the season as a precaution.

Ilya Kovalchuk

The Kovalchuk circus continues. No news yet on whether or not the NHL has accepted the Devils' latest offer. However, the NHL is expected to accept the latest offer worth $100 million over 15 years. They wouldn't want to lose a superstar forward to the rival KHL.

Well, long time no write for me. Not much has been going on as of late with the Edmonton Oilers, but tonight we do have some news, and we also have a few interesting rumors that include the Oilers.

The Oilers signed top RFA forward Sam Gagner to a two-year contract earlier tonight. Gagner was the sixth overall pick by the Oilers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, and has the second most points of any player in that draft year, behind only Pat Kane of the Blackhawks, who went first.

The Edmonton Oilers have locked up 20-year-old centre Sam Gagner this evening signing him to a 2 year deal worth $4.55 Million.  Gagner was a restricted free agent as of July 1st.

Update:

Added info on Kennedy

Ilya Kovalchuk

The NHL is expected to accept the Devils' latest offer or it's off to the KHL for Ilya.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the contract lasts 15 years and is worth $100M, which comes out to $6.66M a year. A coincidence? I think not.

It's mid-August now, and most NHL rosters are set for training camp, but not the Edmonton Oilers roster. The Oilers will have four rookies trying to crack the NHL roster this season: Linus Omark, Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Magnus Svensson.

It's clear that Hall will be on the Oilers roster opening night when Calgary comes to town, but Eberle, Omark and Svensson have some work to get done first.

There is all the hoopla surrounding the NHL Entry Draft at the moment, but there is also a lot of chatter regarding July 1st, when the free agent floodgates open.

However, there is another group that hasn't been discussed that much, and that's the restricted free agents.

These are always younger players that have already come into their own, or are just another season away from being franchise players.

The silver lining in this cold harsh April winter here in Edmonton is that either Hall or Seguin will be wearing the copper and blue mere months from now. These are two men who are expected to become franchise cornerstones for years, and one of them will, in all likelihood, be an Edmonton Oiler starting June 25 in Los Angeles. 

"The Fall For Hall" and "Beggin' for Seguin" are what the Facebookers are dubbing it, forming mass groups spanning thousands of members.

After Wednesday's come-from-behind win over the Colorado Avs, a blogger like myself had a plethora of story lines to select from.

Should I talk about Jeff Deslauriers finally getting some game action, only to start out poorly, worry the entire coaching staff, then make up for it towards the latter half of the game? It would have been scary if the Oilers felt they had to play Khabibulin more than they're already playing him.

One of the advantages enjoyed by the Oilers early on in the season was that they could roll any of their four lines and expect some level of offensive spark and defensive competence.

With the development of complications due to swine flu and injuries, the Oilers slowly saw their early season success fade away. The Oilers also lost a few games that they should have won.

But that's all in the past now.