EDMONTON -- In a season of mostly bad news for the Edmonton Oilers, linemates Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins could provide some positive storylines when the NHL hands out its annual awards in June. In a season that will see the Oilers miss the playoffs for a sixth straight year, Eberle is making a bid for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly play and Nugent-Hopkins is considered a favourite to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHLs top rookie. While Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins would rather talk about a playoff push or team success than about themselves, its too late for the former and theres been little of the latter for the 29th-place Oilers. They dont, however, mind talking about each other. "This is probably a biased approach, but he deserves it," Eberle says of Nugent-Hopkins and the rookie of the year award. "Hes an honest player and he plays a good, honest game," Nugent-Hopkins says of Eberle. Still two weeks from his 19th birthday, Nugent-Hopkins has lived up to the hype surrounding him leading into the 2011 Entry Draft, when the Oilers picked him first overall from the Red Deer Rebels. Despite missing 20 games with a shoulder injury, Nugent-Hopkins has scored 18 goals and 31 assists, good enough for a tie with Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche atop the rookie scoring race. "A lot of nights, hes been our best player," Eberle said. "Hes been, I think, everything that everyone expected him to be from Day 1. "I think a lot of guys thought he was going to get sent down, but once we saw him play, it was like, Holy crap. The big characteristic is how smart he is. Hes our quarterback on the power play. Hes a guy Ive played with all year and every night youre amazed watching him out there." Eberle, 21, who led the Oilers in scoring with 43 points as a rookie last season, has scored at a point-per-game clip with 32 goals and 41 assists for 73 points in the 73 games hes played. That puts him 11th among NHL scorers going into Thursdays games. Hes managed that while accumulating just eight minutes in penalties, all minors. Matt Moulsen of the New York Islanders is the only other player among top-30 scorers with single-digits in penalty minutes. Moulsen is 27th in scoring with 64 points and has six penalty minutes. "He goes to the tough places, too. Thats where he scores most of his goals," Nugent-Hopkins said of Eberle. "Its one of those things where hes just smart about it." Eberle had just 22 penalty minutes with the Oilers in 2010-11 and he never had more than 32 minutes in four seasons with the Regina Pats. Its not surprising his favourite player is Tampa Bay Lightning forward Martin St. Louis, who has won the Lady Byng the past two seasons. "Ive tried to match my game after his," Eberle said. "Actually, I got a stick the other day when we went and played them. You watch the intensity he brings to the game and hes able to play on the edge and win battles without causing his team to go down a man. Eberle says he tries to play as smart as he can, which includes avoiding penalties. "A lot of games now have to do with special teams," he said. "If youre taking penalties, a lot of times you dont give yourself a chance to win." In terms of points-per-game, Nugent-Hopkins is the runaway leader among rookies. He leads first-year players with 22 power-play points, including 19 assists. A deft passer, hes the big reason Edmontons power play, near the bottom of the league in recent years, has been at or near the top this season. Landeskog, selected second overall, will garner plenty of votes, too. A rugged winger. Landeskog brings a physical element Nugent-Hopkins does not and he has played a significant part in Colorado contending for a playoff spot. "Obviously, theres been lots of talk about it," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Its in the back of my mind, but Im just focusing on helping the team out. "Were playing for a lot right now. We want to finish out the season as strong as possible because the way we finish this year will be a good indication of how were going to start next year." "The best thing I can do to help myself is help the team any way I can," he added. "Theres been a couple injuries, setbacks and stuff, but for the most part I think its been great. Its been a lot of fun. I got lucky coming to a team like this." Cheap Jerseys . LOUIS -- Randy Wolf followed a "horrible" outing against St. Cheap NHL Jerseys . While talking about an executive that will, at best, serve as a vocal underling to president Bryan Colangelo is hardly earth-shattering stuff, anything that distracts from the stench of cancelled games is worth diverting to for a couple of minutes. http://www.cheapjerseyspl.us.com/ . -- Rory McIlroy says he should have finished his second round at the Honda Classic, telling Sports Illustrated magazine that "it was not the right thing to do" to walk out after eight holes of his second round. Cheap NBA Jerseys . Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says Bale received "a knock on his thigh and wont be available" for the match against third-division club Xativa Olimpic. Wholesale Jerseys . He left with his confidence intact and his teams future looking very bright.Just when it looked like the field was reeling him in, Patrick Chan has raised his game and distanced himself from the pack. Breaking three of his own world records on his way to winning in Paris, Chan silenced the critics and left the audiences standing in appreciation and awe. Of course with the Olympics still over two months away, the questions are being asked; Is he ready too soon? Has he peaked too early? I personally believe there is nothing better for building confidence than knowing what perfect feels like, especially in back-to-back skates. This is something that has eluded Chan in the past. He has had a history of building a lead in the short and hanging on in the long, and of moments of brilliance followed by untimely baubles and stumbles. Now he knows what clean feels like and that he has the mind for it. What we saw in Paris from Chan was consistency and that, combined with his explosive power, was in a word - impressive. Impressive to watch. Intimidating for his competition, who now know that the game has just changed and they need to step up. In this seasons scores, Chans total in Paris has out-pointed the field by almost 30. Heading into the Grand Prix Final next week in Japan, all eyes are on Chan. He takes on the seasons top finishers and the phenomenal Japanese men; three of whom have qualified in the spots behind Chan and are hoping to gain some help with some home field advantage. A similar situation is unfolding in the pairs this season with the Russian team of Tatiana Volososhar and Maxim Trankov. What Chan did in Paris, they did in both of their competitions. They literally did not put a foot wrong in any program in either competition. The nine judges give a score for each element in the program (jumps, spins, steps, lifts) based on the quality of the element. The scores they give range from minus- 3 to plus- 3. Ninteen elements in two programs and they did not receive one minus, on any element, from any judge. All plus- 2 and plus- 3 with a sprinkling of ones. That just doesnt happen early in the season in the pairs event, where the programs are filled with high risk elements, the margin of error is great, and it takes a season for the teams to fully meld with the nuances of the choreography, the hidden technical difficulties and with each other. This season the Russians set and now own the three world records for highest short, free and total scores. This is a team with a clear focus. Untill the Vancouver Olympics, Russia held the longest unbroken gold medal streak in the Winter Games.ddddddddddddnbsp; Russia had won every Pairs gold medal since 1964, until 2010 when Russian pairs not only didnt win gold, they failed to reach the podium. We did an interview with Tatiana and Max on TSN following those Vancouver games when they were a newly formed pair. Max spoke about Vancouver, but not about plans of redemption in the pairs event. He talked about how inspired and emotional he was watching Canadians Virtue and Moir in the ice dance event. He spoke about being in the Olympic arena when Scott and Tessa won gold and the whole country celebrated with them and he said "we want the same." It is a mission that seems inevitable. The chance of competing at a home games has also brought out inspired performances from the Russian women, and so the Grand Prix final will look a lot like the Russian nationals in the ladies event. Four teenagers aged 17, two 15 year olds and a 14 year old have qualified for the final. We have watched Russia produce a series of young talented superstars but they tend to come and go and have not been able to translate early season success into success at the big events. In the ladies qualifying, the competition entered and the depth of the field, played into who made the final. Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada and American champion Ashley Wagner have qualified, while great skaters like Akiko Suzuki and Carolina Kostner are left out of the final. I believe that the podium in Sochi will look very different from the one at the final, as a number of the worlds best and brightest will not be at the ladies event in Japan. As always at this time of year, the rivalry intensifies in the dance event where we will see this seasons first head-to-head match-up of Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and World Champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White. Meryl and Charlie have the advantage in the points early in the season, but it is a game of inches with both teams capable on any given day. Unique this season in the ice dance event is the hotly contested battle for bronze. Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje are among the four teams in the hunt. What is intriguing is how much these teams have improved, and while ice dance has been sensational at the top for a number of years, the teams chasing the champions are bringing the sport of Ice Dance to a new level as a whole. cheap jerseys cheap nhl jerseys ' ' '