***Return To Glory: An Edmonton Oilers Dynasty(NHL '09)***

[SabresKings3623]

Edmonton Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish has announced the team's captains for the start of the '08-'09 regular season. The captains were determined by players votes, along with opinions and suggestions from the rest of the coaching staff.

CAPTAIN


Teemu Selanne




ASSISTANT CAPTAIN


Ales Hemsky




ALTERNATE CAPTAIN


Craig Rivet

MacTavish said that the captains could change throughout the season, based on what the players think about each other, and the leadership of others.

[SabresKings3623]

OILERS MAKE DEAL WITH KINGS; ACQUIRE ANZE KOPITAR




Potential Superstar/Franchise Center Anze Kopitar is the newest Oiler

The Edmonton Oilers added a tremendous amount of potential,leadership and skill by making a deal with the Los Angeles Kings for Anze Kopitar. Kings GM Dean Lombardi felt that he wouldn't be able to re-sign Kopitar before seasons end, because the center had indicated that he wanted to see what teams were interested in him, come RFA time. GM Niko Baron instantly tendered a deal to try and acquire Kopitar, and forwarded it to Lombardi via text message. Andrew Cogliano and the Oilers 1st Round Draft pick are now property of the Los Angeles Kings. Cogliano has tremendous amounts of potential to, which helped make the decsicion easier for Lombardi, to send Kopitar to Edmonton. GM of the Oilers Niko Baron commented on the trade. "Anze adds so much skill, leadership, and potential looking towards the future. He has an endless amount of potential, and there is no telling how good he may be in the near future. Putting him on a line with vetran Teemu Selanne, and developing young star Ales Hemsky, gives Anze the tools necessary to hopefully become an extremely dominant player in the NHL. He can better learn how to play the game under the leadership of Teemu, and can develop into a powerful 1-2 punch scoring combo with Hemsky. I cannot believe we've added such a skilled player like Kopitar to our already deeply talented roster. This move certainly will help us reach the playoffs, and hopefully will allow us to play very, very deep on into the playoffs. A Stanley Cup is the main goal and dream for this dynasty, to try and return the team to its gloriful days of Gretzky, and the Stanley Cups.

TO LOS ANGELES

• Center Andrew Cogliano

• Edmonton's 2009 1st Round Pick

Anze Kopitar is expected to center Ales Hemsky and Teemu Selanne on the Oilers first line in the season opener @ the Pepsi Center against the Colorado Avalanche. He will also be centering the 1st powerplay unit, 1st penalty-kill unit, and will be Edmonton's 1st designated shooter in shootouts.

[thrashman]

A lot to give up, but for Kopitar it's worth it. Especially since that will likely be a late 1st.

I like Teemu as captain as well.

[SabresKings3623]

Thanks thrashman, I'll be updating on the 1st game soon. It killed me to give up Cogliano, but in the end, I'm sure it'll be worth it, especially for Kopitar.

[SabresKings3623]

KOPITAR/HEMSKY LEAD OILERS TO 7-4 WIN vs. AVALANCHE




Anze Kopitar and Ales Hemsky celebrate Kopitar's 2nd goal of the game






VS







IN GOAL FOR THE OILERS


#32 - Mathieu Garon


IN GOAL FOR THE AVALANCHE


#1 - Andrew Raycroft





Scoring Summary


1st Period

EDM(5:48) Nilsson (Penner)

2nd Period

COL(0:09) Wolski(PP) (Liles,Clark)

EDM(1:28) Hemsky (Kopitar,Visnovsky)

COL(3:31) Smyth (Foote,Hannan)

Patrick Marleau watches as Ryan Smyth is destroyed by Alex Semin

EDM(5:07) Penner (Gilbert,Garon)

EDM(5:24) Visnovsky (Hemsky,Kopitar)

EDM(14:30) Kopitar (Hemsky,Markov)

COL(16:45) Tucker (Clark,Leopold)

EDM(19:10) Selanne (Hemsky,Kopitar)

3rd Period

EDM(1:53) Kopitar (Hemsky,Markov)

COL(14:39) Sakic (Clark,Leopold)

Penalty Summary



1st Period
( * Indicates win in fight)

9:58 - Tom Gilbert* - Fighting(Major) (5:00 PIM)
9:58 - Scott Hannan - Fighting(Major) (5:00 PIM)


13:49 - Craig Rivet* - Fighting(Major) (5:00 PIM)
13:49 - Ian Laperriere - Fighting(Major) (5:00 PIM)


18:27 - Lubomir Visnovsky - Tripping(Minor) (2:00 PIM)

2nd Period

18:50 - Craig Rivet* - Fighting(Major) (5:00 PIM)
18:50 - Scott Parker - Fighting(Major) (5:00 PIM)

3rd Period


(No Penalties)








FINAL SCORE: 7-4 Edmonton
TOTAL SHOTS: 43-37 Edmonton
TOTAL # OF HITS: 37-24 Edmonton




3 STARS OF THE GAME


(3) D - Lubomir Visnovsky

1 Goal, 1 Assist, 2 Points, +5


(2) LW - Ales Hemsky

1 Goal, 4 Assists, 5 Points, +5


(1) C - Anze Kopitar

2 Goals, 3 Assists, 5 Points, +5






EA SPORTS SAVE OF THE GAME


Andrew Raycroft(COL) sllides cross-crease, stacks the pads, and robs Oilers captain Teemu Selanne blind at the end of a 3-on-1 tic-tac-toe play by the dominant Hemksy-Kopitar-Selanne 1st line.

[highheatkingsb]

Man, this is sweet. Congrats on the win and I'm loving the screen shots. Keep up the great work.

[SabresKings3623]

Thanks highheat, I really appreciate it. This team scares me, especially the combo of Kopitar and Hemsky, they played so good together, and plus I have a great supporting cast. I can't wait to play through this dynasty, and hopefully make it to the playoffs. The screen shots, at least I think, are a bit to blurry with the bigger size, so I may go with a smaller size in future updates in order to make the pics clearer. Can't wait to see how your dynasty plays out either, that dynasty is awesome. I'll update on the 2nd game possibly later tonight.

[star king3]

nick 4 min till draft

[SabresKings3623]

OILERS SWAP PLAYERS WITH LIGHTNING; SHARKS

Defenseman Shane O'Brien and right-winger Devon Setoguchi are now Edmonton Oilers, while defeseman Tom Gilbert is a Tampa Bay Lightning, and Kyle Brodziak is a San Jose Shark. GM Niko Baron saw the opprotunity to add more skill and potential for the future. Setoguchi has a potential rating of (A), according to NHL central scouting. Kyle Brodziak was at a (B-). Shane O'Brien, a tough, defensive defenseman is ranked at a (B) for potential, while Tom Gilbert was topped off at a (C-). Gilbert was traded straight up for O'Brien, and Brodziak straight up for Setoguchi.

Devon Setoguchi will be scratched for the Oilers upcoming game, but is expected to dress for every game after.



Shane O'Brien will strat on the 3rd D pairing, and be a top line penalty-killer.



OILERS MAKE DEAL WITH KINGS

Highly touted Kings draft-pick, defenseman Drew Doughty, and Kings defenseman Tom Preissing are now Edmonton Oilers. Andrei Markov, Ladislav Smid, and Marc-Antoine Pouliot are Los Angeles Kings. The package deal gives Edmonton experienece in Preissing, as well as a potentially excellent offensive defenseman in Doughty. Priessing will be a top line pairing with Brian Campbell, while Doughty, who has the skill to make an immediate impact in the NHL, will anchor the 3rd defensive pair with Shane O'Brien.

Drew Doughty




Tom Preissing

[star king3]

nice and yeyah im bringin back the shannon