Calder watch 5.3.2: One attempt, One RNH point

5/3/12: One powerplay attempt, One RNH point

I. Summary of the Events 5/3/12

i) RNH: Post-game the conspiracy bug had started to bite Tom Renney as well Stauffer, as Renney inferred that the Oilers should start embellishing at every opportunity to get a penalty called. After tonight’s game, you can see why. One opportunity- One goal.

How comfortable does Eberle look parked in a forgotten space, well away from the play, 10-15 feet to the right of the goalie? Edmonton is very fortunate to have a player that can collect a cross-seam pass and has the ability to finish. Likewise, the Oilers are just as fortunate to have a player who can snap a pass through two players and outstretched sticks onto Eberle’s waiting tape. Review the goal. Listen to the sound that pass makes on Eberle’s stick. Impressive.

Once again, 5X5 RNH wasn’t able to collect any points although he and Eberle looked dangerous on an odd man rush. Like I said on the last review, if RNH has any hope of winning the Calder, Edmonton has got to have more powerplay opportunities.

ii) Hodgson: Not much to remark upon here. Big big win for Winnipeg given Sabres latest surge. Hodgson briefly entered into the highlights with a close attempt but his 16:49 did not translate into any points. Notably, he is being given powerplay opportunity (1:30) but clearly in a second string role. If he doesn’t start producing soon, this blog will be one player shorter.

Review: Monday, 5/3/12

Name	Versus	Goals	Assists		Points		+/-		ESP		SHP	PP	Time on Ice
Adam Henrique	-				Not playing
Gabriel Landeskog	-			Not playing
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	Anaheim	0	1		1	0		0			0	1	16:38
Matt Read	-				Not playing
Cody Hodgson	Winnipeg	0	0		0	-1		0			0	0	16:49

II) Preview of 6/3/12

Active day on the Calder front with four of the five nominees (unofficial) hitting the ice. Interestingly, look at the goals against/game rankings in the NHL:

Most Stingy: 1. St. Louis (Hello Mr. Hitchcock) 2. Rangers 3. LA Kings 4. Detroit 5. Boston

Most Good for a Ride: 30. Tampa Bay 29. Columbus 28. Toronto 27. Edmonton 27. Carolina

Teams in bold represent opposition for Calder candidates, which may mean likelihood of less production. Out of interest, Minnesota’s stingy defence is now only 11^th best, which is surprising given they have defensive specialist Danny Effn Heatley there.

On the Oilers front, the Nuge mounts up with his road weary (? Possible after one game) teammates to face the once mighty San Jose Sharks. To complete my analysis from above, San Jose ranks 9^th in GA/G.

Linus Omark was indeed called up as we expected and quite wisely was held out of play (3 games, 3 nights). I loved the Tweet by the fake Oiler GM Tambellini ( a must follow for any fan on Twitter) where he wrote that he thought Linus Omark was invisible tonight against Anaheim. Tres witty.

Where does Mr. Linus Give-me-a-chance Omark draw in? The smurf line of Eberle-RNH-Omark? I recall a game in Calgary when Hall had the flu and this line was trialled. If recollection serves, the results were not overly pretty.

Will be a very interesting Calderian evening. Good word- Calderian.

Daily Update: Tuesday 6/3/12

Name	Versus	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-	ESP	SHP	PP	Time on Ice
Adam Henrique	Rangers
Gabriel Landeskog	Minnesota
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	San Jose
Matt Read	Detroit
Cody Hodgson	-			Not playing

Cumulative Total for 2011/2012

Name	Position	GP	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-	ESP	SHP	PP	P/G
Adam Henrique	C	57	15	28	43	9	29	7	7	0.75
Gabriel Landeskog	L	67	18	23	41	21	29	2	9	0.61
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	C	45	15	23	39	-5	19	0	20	0.87
Matt Read	R	61	18	20	38	11	27	2	9	0.62
Cody Hodgson	C	67	16	17	33	9	23	0	10	0.49

Calder Poll: