A Preview, A Swine Flu, and A 21-Year-Old Joke On Canada, Eh?

By Adam W Parks

STILL MISSING GRETZKY?

ESPN kicked off its 30 In 30 documentary series with Peter Berg’s "Kings Ransom", the glorious tale of how the United States of America imported Canada’s greatest export this side of Pamela Anderson: Wayne Gretzky. At the time it was impossible to imagine enough beaver pelts in the world to uproot Gretzky from his homeland. Hockey is a religion in Canada, and the Oilers traded away Jesus for a mere $15 million and three first-round draft picks. Edmontoners everywhere cried, “What’s this all aboot?” when then-owner Peter Pocklington signed on the deal and made it official August 9, 1988. The entire hockey world called it the ‘Trade of the Century’, although Canadians still consider it to be a bigger mistake than Bryan Adams. However, even Gretzky himself understands the reasoning behind the move and admits that if he could do it all over again, he would. Who wouldn’t? Instead of playing in front of an arena full of bearded, flannel-wearing moose hunters, Gretzky got to showcase his one-of-a-kind talents in Los Angeles in front of a crowd that included 1980s A-Listers like Ronald Reagon, Tom Hanks, Michael J. Fox, Sly Stallone, Tony Danza, and John Candy, a fellow Canadian who also realized a better life could be had in America.

SWINE FLU CAUSES TAINTED OIL

The Oilers have been hit with the H1N1 virus harder than any other team in the NHL, allegedly. Defenseman Ladislav Smid is the only confirmed Edmonton player to contract the dreaded flu, though several others have made claims to swine-like symptoms (though they are all probably just sick of playing in Edmonton), including fellow defensemen Denis Grebeshkov, Tom Gilbert, and Lubomir Visnovsky, along with forwards Dustin Penner, Gilbert Brule, Ales Hemsky, Mike Comrie, and Robert Nilsson. What are these guys up to in the locker room? Penner (15) and Hemsky (12) lead the Oilers in scoring, and Visnovsky, Grebeshkov, Brule, and Comrie are all on the team’s top ten. This might help explain why they have gone winless in their last three games and why they have been shutout in their last two. The leak gets worse for the Oilers as five others are currently out with injury: defensemen Steve Staios and Sheldon Souray each with a concussion, and forwards Fernando Pisani (back), Marc Pouliot (hernia), and Ryan Stone (knee). Visnovsky and Comrie are the only pestilent-ridden influenza-boys to miss tonight’s game...they will be in bed experiencing slightly more discomfort than their teammates who will host a Wings team ready to build off a big win in Vancouver.

SO...ABOUT THEM WINGS

After taking a shot to the foot against Vancouver, Pavel Datsyuk missed practice on Wednesday but will play tonight. Mike Babcock joked about the injury to reporters, “I told you that last year in the playoffs, when he got a shot in the foot too, and it ended up being a hole in his thigh. So you can’t trust me one bet.” Apparently winning gives even the usually-stoic Babcock a chance to relax and enjoy a sense of humor.

The lines will look similar to Tuesday’s game against the Canucks, though Justin Abdelkader and Kirk Maltby are scratched in favor of Darren Helm and Patrick Eaves. Derek Meech is also a scratch, and it is an encouraging sign to see Andreas Lilja as a scratch instead of being left off the roster entirely. Jimmy Howard will get the start, one that he was scheduled for even before relieving a shaky Chris Osgood in Vancouver. Here is a look at the lines for tonight:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Cleary-Filppula-Bertuzzi
Leino-Draper-Williams
May-Helm-Eaves

Lidstrom-Kronwall
Stuart-Rafalski
Erisson-Lebda

Peace.