Erik Cole News

You don't have to agree with the Oilers pursuit of Dany Heatley to see the logic of it.

TSN reports that free agent goalie Nikolai Khabibulin has agreed a four-year, $14 million deal with the Edmonton Oilers.

When the free-agent marketplace opens at 10:01 MDT time today, it will be as chaotic as the Boxing Day sales at West Edmonton Mall.

The free-agency period opened at noon ET today and our experts weigh in on where players are going and what the moves mean.

The Senators were reduced to spectators on Day 1 of NHL free agency. GM Bryan Murray spent the day working the phones, but it's tough to make a deal while handcuffed by having $51 million committed in salaries for next season and Dany Heatley holding the franchise hostage after nixing a trade to Edmonton at the 11th hour on Tuesday.

How about Heatley for Phaneuf? : So, herea s the rumour: The Calgary Flames add Jay Bouwmeester, then flip Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa for Dany Heatley.

The Oilers made the following transactions in and around the July 1 free agent period in recent years: 2008 June 29 -- Traded Matt Greene and Jarret Stoll to the Los Angeles Kings for Lubomir Visnovsky July 1 -- Traded Joni Pitkanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for Erik Cole July 1 --Traded Raffi Torres to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Gilbert Brule ...

First-round draft pick Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson poses with oilers general manager Steve tambellini during the NHL entry draft on Friday in Montreal.

This year, the Oilers have a seven-game, 14-day road trip that begins today against the Nashville Predators.

Nobody's quite certain what's ailing the Edmonton Oilers these days. After shocking the NHL and making it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006 they lost to Carolina the Oilers have missed the playoffs the last three seasons.

It's not just faceoffs where Cogs is falling down at the center position. He can't get it done defensively.

In keeping with my predictions in the NHL Playoffs, the conference finals: East: Carolina v. Pittsburgh Potentially a dynamite series.

This is Steve Tambellini's one good chance to remake the Oilers and to end the rampant Toronto Maple Leaf-itis here in Edmonton, though it will come at a high price.

Q Are we forgetting any Edmonton Oilers coaching candidates outside of the obvious ones? A Apparently, Kevin Lowe, Oilers president of hockey operations, has interviewed Pat Quinn, who's also in the running for the Minnesota Wild general manager job, and CBC broadcaster Marc Crawford in Vancouver.

Report card 2008-09, Dustin Penner. I'm sure it was just my over-active imagination, but it seemed to me that if there was one thing Oilers coach Craig MacTavish was going to do this year, it was to take Dustin Penner off the team's top line, away from Ales Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff, and to keep him off.

Scratch one more must-win game from the to-be-sure-to-do list that will accompany the Edmonton Oilers from now until the end of the regular season.

"Usually you worry about things when you make a trade with 17 games left as a coach, because there's such a small window to get the kind of chemistry we needed to make it to the playoffs.

How to pick up Bouwmeester for a reasonable cap hit of $4 million a season. Let's just pretend for a moment that Jay Bouwmeester is keen to play in his homtown Edmonton and the Oilers are keen to have him.

Named the fifth captain in the Oilers NHL history, replacing Kevin Lowe. March 21, 1994 April 1997 Retires from the NHL.

The Oilers finished six points out of a playoff spot this season under head coach Craig MacTavish.