Salavat Yulaev Ufa picked up Oil Kings d-man and Oilers draft pick Martin Gernat 19th overall in today's KHL draft. It doesn't necessarily mean that he's heading back overseas, but it does give him an extra option in a pretty good league.

Kerry Fraser explains why the back referee is not supposed to make calls like that one.

Apparently hip problems are the key reason why Comrie is hanging it up so young. A pity; his return to the Oilers, and subsequent rapprochement with the Edmonton fans, was one of the few happy stories of the 09-10 season. Best of luck in future endeavours, Mr. Comrie!

The link is to a website gathering best wishes, and donations towards medical expenses, for Jack Jablonski, a 16-year-old Minnesotan who was terribly injured in a high school hockey game on Friday night.

In addition, the folks at Hockey Wilderness have compiled a number of the messages of support to Jablonski from members of the NHL community, and it's worth checking out.

The construction of the Swedish chapter of Oilers Alumni Abroad continues, as San Fernando joins Struds at Södertälje. SSK are currently sitting 8th out of 14 in the Allsvenskan.

All-in-all, this sounds like a pretty solid move for a Swedish 2nd division club!

Ok, maybe he didn't have the longest career in Edmonton (14 min.). Nor was it the most glorious (8.57 GAA, .714 SV%). But Steve Valiquette is an ex-Oiler, and thus worthy of a mention here!

Anyway, after failing to stick this season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL, Valiquette is off to Italy, and to Serie A's HC Valpellice Bodino Engineering. The Bulldogs are currently sitting last in Serie A, with a 9-17-3 record.

So, long story short - ESPN did not include a single hockey figure in its year-end "In Memoriam" feature. In this year, of all years. Anyway, the good folks at Broad Street Hockey have rectified matters - check out the link.

Kent Wilson has posted a translated interview with the ex-Oiler D-man over at ON. Check it out - it reminds me of why I always rather liked Bobo.

The Oulu-based team, who played in the Finnish Mestis (2nd Division) and were until very recently the employers of Janne Niinimaa, have declared bankruptcy and shut down their pro team. If I've understood the article above correctly, the junior teams will continue to operate as normal.

You may remember Mr. Benysek, the Oilers' 11th-round pick in the 1994 draft. He ended up playing only 2 NHL games for Edmonton, although he later enjoyed 2-and-a-bit full seasons with the Wild. The rest of his career has been nomadic to say the least.

Anyway, Benysek plays on! He has just signed a contract with SV Kaltern Caldaro of Italy's Serie A2. Kaltern is currently sitting 6th out of 8 teams in A2.

Given the fact that Sportsnet was tossing around a figure of 7-10 days last night, we can but hope that his absence will be a lot closer to 2 weeks than 4. On the other hand, let's also hope that he's fully healed before the Oil put him back into the lineup.

Milan Kytnar has been called up to the AHL after a brief stint in Stockton, and the Barons have also signed ECHL defenceman Dylan Yeo to a PTO.

Former Oiler stalwart Janne Niinimaa is on the move, from Kiekko-Laser of the Finnish 2nd Division to Rapperswil-Jona Lakers of the Swiss National League A, where he will join, among others, Michel Riesen.

Given the current state of the Oilers' defensive corps, I occasionally, if only semi-seriously, wonder why they don't give Niinimaa a call. He's only 36, after all...

Mr. Strudwick has apparently signed on to play with Södertälje, in the HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden's second division). Södertälje were relegated from the Elitserien last season, and are currently sporting a record of 9-10-2.

The OKC Barons have brought Dan Ringwald back up from Stockton, which would seem to suggest that they're expecting some defensive call-ups to the big team. No surprise there, but I thought it worth mentioning.

From Italy comes news that our old friend Ralph Intranuovo has moved from EV Bozen 84, who play in second-tier Serie A2, up to HC Asiago of Serie A. Intranuovo had put up 16 points in 13 games for the White Weasels - yes, that is EV Bozen's nickname - prior to the transfer.

Google Translate renders the story, from the Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod site, thus:

"Sweden striker Robert Nilsson officially became a player, "Torpedo." This season, the KHL Gagarin Cup and the 2011 World Championship silver medalist 2011 had 15 matches for "Salavat Yulaev," which scored 5 (0 5) points.

Our team will play forward at the 26th number."

Given the Hall vs. Seguin debate of 18 months ago or so, I thought this bore mentioning here. I'd be very interested to know, for sure, who was aware of this problem and when.