A Begrudging Look at our New Oilers

Robert Nilsson
Son of Oilers scout Kent Nilsson and godson of the great Gretz, this nepo-TASTIC aquisition was born in Calgary and grew up a Flames fan. Seems like a fair trade for a guy who bled Oilers orange since the day he was born. It gets better: Robbie here is apparently the most bland man alive, listing his favourite TV show as "Friends," his favourite movie as "The Shawshank Redemption," his favourite book as "The Da Vinci Code,' and his favourite food as "pizza." Ladies, if you like your men moderately good-looking and devestatingly boring, you are in luck!

On the bright side, this Sweden-raised fellow has been compared to fellow Scandinavians Forsberg, Naslund, and the Sedin twins. He's a good skater, with solid play-making skills and a hard shot. However, his largest weakness has been identified to be his defensive game. BEAUTY!

Nilsson also seems to have a bit of Schremp in him when it comes to unconventional stick-handling techniques. This video shows him scooping and lifting the puck over a goalie's shoulder. Blinded by bitterness, even I can admit that that's pretty sweet (although I think my favourite thing about the clip is that it's called "Icehockey Superscore!").

Ryan O'Marra
Ryan here led Team Canada to the gold medal at the 2004 U-18 World Junior Cup as an assistant captain. I guess K.Lo found it reasonable to replace "Captain Canada" with "Assistant Captain Canada, Junior." O'Marra also played on the winning 2006 and 2007 Canadian World Junior Ice Hockey Championship teams, so he's got that going for him.

As this video shows, Ryan is an attractive man who is obsessed with Gatorade. He's also a good fighter. These are definitely qualities I can get behind.

TRIVIA: Mr. O'Marra has the distinction of being the first Japanese-born player to be selected in the first-round of the NHL draft, even if he was only born in Japan because his Canadian parents were travelling on business. Squee?