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Center
Ice with the HFHL Gazzette’s Jim Hughson Welcome all to another edition of Center Ice.
Tonight’s spotlight will be on 26 year old Edmonton Oiler Ryan Smyth.
Smyth was originally drafted by the Oilers 6th overall in the 1994 Entry
Draft and high expectations quickly followed as an Oiler team was
desperate to be back in the spotlight. He hasn’t disappointed as he has
blossomed into one of the HFHL’s premier forwards. Playing for one team
for 8 years now is quite a feat nowadays especially with the tight
budgeted Oilers, but this youngster takes it in stride,
“Oh I love it here in Edmonton, the fans are great,
as is the coaching staff and the organization treats me and the rest of
the guys really well.”
Things weren’t all that rosy and happy smiles last
season as Smyth came under fire for not producing during the playoffs last
season which saw an Oiler team that finished the top 3 in the league
standings wise but was ousted by the 8th seeded Anaheim Mighty Ducks in
the 1st round in 7 games. More was expected from this young captain and
the Oiler faithful voiced their opinions,
“I can understand the frustration of the fans because
as a team we were frustrated ourselves. Our team finished in the in the
top 3 of the standings two years in a row yet we couldn’t get past the
1st round on either occasion. I expect more from myself and I just
didn’t do enough to get the job done. From day 1 at training camp the
guys here knew we had a mission, cup or nothing and management knows
that.”
Indeed they have, GM Hank Ma has been on a trading
frenzy recently looking to to find the players that will push this team
over the hump and hopefully bring a cup back to the Oil. “I really hate to see the guys (recently traded
players) go but management has a vision and if that vision means bringing
a cup to the Oilers and their fans then so be it, I will back them up
100%.”
That last comment speaks volumes about Ryan’s
character, even through the trading craze Smyth has been a workhorse for
his team amassing 26 points (13 G, 13 A) in 21 games played with a +10 +/-
rating and in the top 10 in league scoring.
“Sure it’s great to score goals but if I didn’t
have my team mates to pass me the puck or I didn’t have team mates to
pass the puck to, I wouldn’t be anywhere right now. It has been a
collective effort by all to get where we want to be. Tommy (Salo) has been
our MVP since day 1 giving us a chance to win every night and everyone in
the locker room has bought into coach Nolan’s system (as complex as it
is). He can be grumpy and crusty at times but he only wants to win and
push us to be our best. It has been unfortunate that we have had injuries
to our key players but no matter who steps in it seems like we still find
a way to win games. It is great to be an Oiler right now.”
Very true but it has to be an even more exciting time
to be an Oiler fan. With Smyth’s production, and recent acquisitions of
bonafide all-stars in Martin Straka and Sergei Gonchar this team looks to
be not only a contender for the Cup, they may just do it all. This is Jim
Hughson with another instalment of Center Ice, thanks for tuning in and
until next time, over and out. Number
Crunchers Predict Whirlwind of Trouble As Inflation Engulfs HFHL Before its inaugural season, foreseeing the labour unrest that has
threatened other Major league sports, the HFHL hammered out an agreement
that allowed owners to limit total payroll to 45 million dollars per
annum, but concurrently guaranteed healthy raises for free agent players.
The formula, although fair, is starting to cause problems for the now
well-established league, as for the first time in hockey history, a player
will be due to receive 19 million dollars to wield a stick and bat a piece
of rubber into a cage (this will be Joe Sakic’s salary if Dallas decides
to retain him before free agency). This ridiculous sum will consume one
third of the Stars’ payroll, a lofty total that may limit the team’s
ability to add the final few components necessary for a championship run.
The Stars are not alone. Indeed, with gargantuan raises built into the
contracts of super sniper Paul Kariya, whiner Alexei Cashin (er..Yashin),
and Eric “please don’t hit my head” Lindros set to eat away a
whopping 33 million dollars of the Isles’ 2003 budget, the warning
buzzers have started to pierce the Long Island sky as though a carpet
bombing were imminent. The same buzzers have also started to ring on the
West Coast, where The Los Angeles Kings will pay the gutless Jaromir Jagr
an enormous 16 million dollars to once again choke when the games start to
matter. Yet another example of one third of a team’s payroll being
spoken for by a single player, a winger who will likely have trouble
producing once the team can no longer afford a puck-moving defenseman and
set-up man. If this is how things are in year 3, one can only imagine what
the costs will be in the 2005 season. A few GMs aren’t interested in
finding out. Many have started to trade their most expensive players for
younger, cheaper replacements. This temporary solution will work for a
short time, and unrestricted free agency will also allow teams to sign
players at a less expensive rate over the next few seasons. But eventually
the league will face a point in time where 4 or 5 of its best young
players cannot find work due to budget constraints. A remedy will not be
easily prescribed. The owners will refuse to abandon their hard cap and
the players will not give up their annual gravy-train increases. And once
again, stories of greed, and not on-ice heroics, will take another coat of
luster off of the already over-polished game of hockey. Rob Tardif, for the HFHL Gazette Selanne
Out, Weight In The entire city of Ottawa has been wondering what the
new Ottawa Senators GM had in mind for his team. After days of silence and
a couple of major deals that reshaped the team's roster, Tuzar Irani
finally held a press conference to explain his philosophy and the
direction he would like his team to move in. When asked wether he was
satisfied with his team's position in the standing, the hard nosed GM
bluntly replied a short and sweet "No". After a few seconds of
silence he went on to explain:" Even though we havent done as well as
we had expected to in the begining of the season, the addition of Doug
Weight and Jeff Freisen will result in a refreshed outlook for this team.
The addition of Doug Weight gives the team a legitimate number one center
for years to come and also takes some pressure of Chris Drury. Even though
we lost a scoring talent like Selanne, the trade was imminent as the
chances of resigning him next year were very slim and honestly it was not
fescible financially. The additon of Freisen gives the team a threat on
the left side, and according to me the potential that Jeff posseses, has
still not been tapped completely."
When asked what he plans to do in the future, the GM
replied, " Getting third and fourth line wingers would be a priority.
This will be made easier as we have a lot of assets especially considering the quality of our prospects and the center
postion which has created a little log jam."
He also emphasized that he would prefer his team try to improve
internally, and that he would not go out and trade for high priced players
unless they are signed to multiple year contracts. He is not willing to
ransom his future for the immediate present. He also has high hopes and is
excited for his young prospects that the past GM had accumulated. He
pointed out Volchenkov, Vernette and Tjutin as future solid NHL players
who should be given time to develop. So we finally we hear from the GM,
and try to visualize the identity that this team is trying to form for
itself. For the HFHL Gazzette this is Bruce Garioche saying goodbye till
the next installment of SenSational. NEW
SEASON, SAME OLD COYOTES By Bob McManaman HFHL Gazzette Well it looks as if with the start of a new NHL season that our beloved
coyotes are just as bad as before. Let’s
take a moment and go over some of the changes for this year.
First off Phoenix has a new GM at the helm. Gary Wilson comes to the team when the last GM was removed
for not taking the team in the direction that the front office big cheese
Steve Ellman wanted the team to go in.
First thing that GM Wilson was tasked with was to cut the pro payroll.
At the top of that list was FA Brett Hull.
With a mediocure past with the Coyotes, and an already low ranking
with the GM, Brett found himself to be the first Coyote to be sent
packing.
After a pretty dismal start to the season, the next thing that GM Wilson
decided needed to be done was to initiate a coaching change.
Shortly after that, the new coach for our Coyotes became Kevin
Constantine. Kevin brings to
the Coyotes a strong offense/defense, and in addition to that has
reasonable experience in the NHL. The
only downfall that this reporter can see is that his leadership leaves
something to be desired. Hopefully
his other aspects will be enough to bring this team around and get the
players to better respond.
After the house cleaning within the first month of the new season, GM
Wilson then decided to start bringing some new faces to the team to try
and help bring the team around and turn about face to start putting some
W’s in the Win column. The
first of those changes came with the signings of some of the team’s
prospects. The following are
new additions through signings: 1.
Fedor Fedorov 2.
Joe Corvo 3.
Jay McClement 4.
Eric Westrum, and 5.
Josh Blackburn
The
next step was during the FA bid. The
Coyotes then brought the following players to the team after the bid
process was over: 1.
Rominski 2.
Hay 3.
Hillier, and 4.
Lazarev (although was aquired just after the FA bid)
The
latest round of aquasitions came when Sweeney was added to help shore up
the Coyotes defense core. While
he is somewhat aging, he should help bring the experience to some of the
other less experienced players that have done as good as they can to this
point with what they have to work with.
At
the time of this writing, the rumor mill around the front office is that a
trade was set to happen tonight with Pittsburgh.
While details are sketchy at best, the names that we have been able
to get to this point are that Pushor and possibly Jaspers (prospect) are
going to Pittsburgh for Slaney. Slaney,
while getting up in age, can only add more depth to the defensive core to
the team while at the same time adding an offensive defenseman that has
the ability to score…something that is desperately needed on this remade
Coyotes team.
From
what this reporter can see, it looks like GM Wilson is going to have his
hands full turning this team around and turning them into a winning team
like they used to be, but he seems to be off to a fair start.
While others seem to think that the GM is going in the wrong
direction, this reporter can tell you that anything is an improvement, and
perhaps everyone should just wait and see what happens. Changes for this team are not just going to happen
over-night, and in addition to that you can count on this team not seeing
playoffs in probably 3-4 years, but that’s just this reporters opinion. Creeping Up, Quietly... The
NewJersey Devils are slowing climbing out of the eastern basement, much to
the pleasure of Devils GM
Chris Scott. When asked about the teams recent success he said "We've
made some player changes and changed focus a little bit to try and be a
bit more defensive. We're climbing up the ladder and that's all I can hope
for. We've got a few challenges coming up and depending what happens there
may be a few more changes on the way." The Devils are playing some
solid hockey right now and with a head of steam they should be able to
compete against anyone. Rob
Schneider - HFHL Gazzette Columbus Looking to Improve After
the 9th game in 10 nights the Columbus Blue Jackets had wrapped it up with
a dismal 1-8 record. They have recorded the leagues worst goals
for/against ratio, only managing 50 tally's and 108 goals against, the
Columbus fans are looking for a little more out of their team.
With
the recent acquisitions of coach Ron Low, RW Mattias Norstrom, C Dave
Scatchard, C Daniel Tkaczuk and D Michel Riesener the Blue Jackets look to
have improved their team depth and scoring. As well, the additional
leadership gained will help bud the young, up and comers Rick Nash,
Alexander Frolov and Rostislav Klesla.
After
the 7-3 whooping by Colorado, we met up with Columbus' first year GM John
Alcos. "Newly appointed captain Dave Scatchard will have to lead this
young team in the right direction. These next 4 days off will give us time
to heal our injuries and work on keeping that rubber biscuit out of our
net. We are a young team, building is the key, so in the next few years to
come we will hopefully be a contender for the elusive Lord Stanley!"
Next
game will be at First Union Center to match up against the 3rd place,
Eastern Conference, Philadelphia Flyer. Panthers Going Down, but
Going Down with a Fight The
Florida Panthers are trying a different approach this season. GM Matt
Marleau is looking at the game in a new perspective. The Panthers are
looking to pick up as much youth that show great potential as they can.
Shvidki, Hagman, and Rossiter are only three of the expected upcoming
stars that Florida has acquired. "But we are definitely NOT
forgetting that we are still playing in this season," says GM Matt
Marleau. "While we are trading most of our depth for youth, we are
also attempting to pick up a few rough 'n tough players that will throw
their body around on the ice so that our team literally goes down
fighting." Jean
Hackman reporting for the HFHL Gazzette Suffling in Bean Town The
Bruins have made a few deals recently all revolving around the struggling
defence core, here's GM Joiner's basic run-down of the transactions.
"The
trade with the Rangers was one we felt needed to be made to help lower the
GAA of our team. O'Donnell's
presence on the ice is felt every time he jumps over the boards, and while
we may take some extra penalties in this process and give up some youth,
we believe getting another rock'em sock'em defenceman to play with Hill
was to our advantage."
"Obtaining
Ragnarsson and Ciger both from Florida was a trade we were very excited
about; Marcus gives us a staple to build a defence around, someone who is
going to change plays and stop rushes as well as throw around some weight.
He is exactly the kind of player we need to rally the defensive
core around and grow rather than wither. Ciger is an interesting
acquisition in himself, as he adds deadly speed opposite Bates, which we
think will compliment his talents perfectly." "
Trading a workhorse like Popovic was tough to do, but it sends the message
that sloppy defensive play will not be tolerated.
Both Jindrich and Cabana should help the team in the
future, in fact, Jindrich may find himself on the pro roster if he applies
himself and improves his great talents in skating and passing." In
short, Boston feels good about the new re-modeled defence it has obtained,
when GM Joiner was asked if the trading would cool off, he replied,
"It is only the beginning." Changes in Montreal, Excitement About Hockey Back Pretty
much a quarter of a season into the season, and Montreal has been the
hottest team. Who would have thought that this team would be playing this
well. The only big name star is Sergei Fedorov, and the rest are great
support players. The biggest surprise has been the play of Mike Souza, who
is leading the team in scoring. But most of
the forwards are averaging at a point a game or very close to that.
To have 4 lines that can score is remarkable. They have even surprised
their GM. Maybe its the fact that he does so little trading, that is why
the team is gelling so well as a unit. The goalie duo of Theodore and
Vokoun has been outstanding also. Overall a great effort by all in the
organization, from the GM down to the training staff. Hopefully the Habs
can keep this up for the remaining 3/4 of the season and into the
playoffs. Kings Ready to Push for More Trades? Cockiness from the Island The mighty Islanders of New York, among the most star studded teams ever put together in the history of the NHL, in a matter of less than a week, the Islanders pulled off 2 blockbuster deals that have given them arguably the best young defense in the league. Trading away elite offensive defenceman Sergei Gonchar, and young defender Nick Boynton for one of the best young players in the game, star defender Eric Brewer, and feisty checking centre Matt Cooke. This trade has given the Islander stability in both ends of the rink. Already with the best penalty kill in the game, and now with a top checking speedster Matt Cooke, the Islanders will be unbeatable on the penalty kill. The 2nd deal came on Sunday night, when GM Jacob Elias dealt away future superstar Martin Havlat for young elite defender Wade Redden and former Matt Cooke and Josh Holden line mate, as well as former WHL player of the year, Peter Schaefer. Despite the deals, the Islanders have maintained the two of the top lines in the game intact. Kariya/Yashin/Nolan on the top line and Gaborik/Lindros/Isbister on the 2nd. This gives the Islanders arguably the 2 best lines in the game, and with Cooke/Bell/Schaefer on the 3rd, Zubrus/Pyatt on the 4th and their gluttony blue chip prospects on the farm, they retain their superb depth. The Islander’s top 4 on defense now consist of superstar Rob Blake, elite defenders Wade Redden, Eric Brewer, and young future star Mike Van Ryn. Rounding out the top 6 is big bad stay at home blue chipper Kristian Kudroc and former tenth overall pick and Kamloops Blazer star Nolan Baumgartner. With Cloutier between the pipes, the Islanders on paper should undoubteably be the favourites for The Stanley Cup. Fans optimistic in Anaheim Steve Rucchin is back in town and Ducks fans are happy
to see him back with an “A” on his sweater. After a rather rough ride
with the penguins riddled by injuries Rucchin is looking for a new
beginning and he has found it with his homecoming to Anaheim. Although
some critics may say that this deal should not have taken place, and
Rucchin has little value because of his constant injuries, however the
ducks medical staff have examined him and are convinced that he should be
ready to play 70-80 games next season without being hampered by any past
injuries. “We feel that Steve can still be a very competitive player in
this league as well as a great leader, he plays a good all around game and
will be a very valuable asset to this team” stated Mike Keenan earlier
today after a Ducks practice. On another note it is reported that Ducks
defence-man Glen Wesley has
requested a trade, he has been unhappy with the limited ice time he has
received on the 3rd and 4th line and feels he could fill a greater role
elsewhere. In other news Ducks scouts have finally arrived back from
Europe after extensive scouting in Finland, Sweden, Russia and the Czech
Republic and claim they have found a diamond in the rough for the upcoming
HFHL draft. “We feel that this guy is the real deal, he’s going to be
a great player someday” stated Ducks chief of European scouting Fredrik
Nordqvist. Also scouts got a good look at one of the best prospects in the
game and argueably the best forward prospect Tuomo Ruutu, “We are
extremely glad we were able pick this guy up a #13 in the 2001 draft he is
a complete package and we expect him to jump on to out roster in the 2004
season, until then he will be refining his game with his team in
Finland”. Last night the ducks announced that the game this Tuesday
against Nashville some regulars in the lineup would be getting a rest and
be in the minors for some conditioning this includes Kristian Huselius,
Patrik Stefan, Kurt Sauer and Mattias Timander. “Although some key
players will not be playing tonight, we still feel that we have a chance
to win, we have felt that way all season and we just haven’t gotten the
lucky bounces. About 90% of our games have been close and you can always
expect our guys to give 100% every night” said coach Mike Keenan. With
all this being said the Ducks are hoping for a little more luck throughout
the rest of the season and plan to make the fight for playoff spots in the
west interesting. The
Thick of Things Johan “Ale” Nilsson The east is somewhat upside down so far into the season. The leader of
the pack are the Montreal Canadiens. The proud franchise of "Le Habs"
have come rushing out of the gates and are playing the best hockey in
years. They have the people of hockey’s capital talking about the
possible arrival of the Stanley Cup in other ways than some player
bringing it along for vacation. Something that hasn’t happened in a very
long time. Could the Canadiens be the team to beat this year?
The Tampa Bay Lightning currently hold 4th place in the East which is a
big improvement from last season. The Lightning are on pace to achieve
their best season ever. Led by Joseph and Bure, the talk of playoffs down
in Tampa is now directed at the hockey arena.
The biggest surprise in the league though are without a doubt the
Hurricanes. Can they keep this up? Many so called "experts"
including myself never foresaw this success for the Hurricanes this year.
They are very talented but very inexperienced. I doubt they will be able
to keep this up but hey I have been wrong before.
On the negative side in the East, look no further than Toronto, Boston,
the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. The Devils seem to have
gotten back onto the right track after making a few deals and playing a
bit differently and should make the playoffs. For the three original 6
teams it doesn’t look as good. The Rangers have a great first line but
can’t get going as they would like to. The Bruins and the Maple Leafs
are two proud franchises and I am sure they will take the necessary means
to right the ship. Even more annoying for Leaf fans, other than their own
team struggling, is the fact that the Canadiens are playing so well which
will piss off anyone who’s apart of the Canadian rivalry. We’ll see
what happens.
Looking west, there are not quite as many surprises among the top eight
teams as in the east. Edmonton again is right up there and are by far the
best regular season performers, if you look to all three seasons now that
the Devils are struggling. The Oilers problem has been the playoffs but
GM/Commish Hank Ma has made some real interesting moves lately to help
them when playoff time comes. It is also nice to see the Red Wings
performing again like the proud team that they are. They are once again
proving themselves as a top team in the league. As for negatives, well I
don ´t know if they can be called as something negative but I know for a
fact that Colorado and GM Mark Davies are not happy about the way the team
has been playing. The defending champions are of course one of the top
teams again this year, but are not quite as dominant as people thought
they would be. The league’s leader is the Chicago Blackhawks, something
I of course am very proud of. Finally the Blackhawks proud name are spoken
of with respect. The Blackhawks proved last season they are a team to
worry about and this year they are even better and it makes things look
interesting for the playoffs.
Finally I would like to thank the Commish, Hank and the Co-Commishes
Mark and Marc for the work they put into the league. Keep it up and
continue to make this the best league on the internet! That’s it for me, for the HFHL Gazzette, this is Johan "Ale"
Nilsson saying over and out. Season
of Surprises Gives the Weak Hope and The Strong Apathy One quarter of the way into the 3rd HFHL regular season, a feeling of
surprise has swept through the league like an Albertan Chinook. The
Eastern Conference has been dominated by two teams that finished well out
of the playoffs last year, and teams that are great on paper have had
nothing but difficulty defeating the supposed “weak sisters” of the
league. Take Montreal for example. Here we have a team whose best
defenseman is Craig Rivet with a 73 defensive rating, and yet the club has
yielded the least goals thus far, an astonishing 46 goals in 21 games.
Theodore is a great goalie, but even the best goalies cant win without
defense! On offense, the team has been led by someone named Mike Souza,
who has put 24 points on the board, a total that exceeds the totals of
Marcus Naslund, Bill Guerin and Alexei Yashin. As a result, this team,
which on paper is probably the 8th or 9th best team in the conference, is
in first place. The other glaring example is Carolina, who only have 9
players rated 70 or above, and no superstars, yet found themselves on a 7
game winning streak recently and currently occupy second place in the
conference. It was fun to see these teams doing well at first, but now it
is starting to get a bit puzzling – and makes one wonder what exactly is
the winning formula in the HFHL? Stock your team with average players and
a top goalie, or try to actually build a strong team by assembling some
good scorers, solid defensemen and a top goalie. The former has worked for
the Montreal’s and Carolina’s of the league, while the latter (and
more realistic) method has failed the Rangers, Islanders, Maple leafs, and
Devils thus far. To lay blame for these trends would be an exercise of
futility – we are talking about a computer that decides who wins and who
doesn’t. But although, as the name implies, this is FANTASY hockey,
wouldn’t it be nice to at least have it based in reality? Rob Tardif, for the HFHL Gazette Madness
in Manhattan Rangers Trade Parade Sees 24 Players and 2 Picks change Hands. A message to all New York Ranger players: Beware – you could be next.
In a series of moves over the past few days, the New York Rangers have
arguably increased their talent pool, added some grit and experience, and
also set themselves up for the future. The struggling Blue-shirts added
the likes of Teemu Selanne, Trent Klatt, Martin Gelinas, Jarko Ruutu,
Andre Roy, Robin Regehr, Merik Malik, Alyn McCauley, Daniel Sedin, Jeff
Taffe, Vesa Toskela and Ari Ahonen in five separate transactions,
including four trades and one free agent signing. GM Rob Tardif was
beaming at a recent press conference, and feels his team is in good shape,
especially after adding Jack Adams front-runner Robbie Ftorek to the
coaching staff. “We brought in a hard-nosed coach, and felt that in
order to be successful, we needed to bring in some hard-nosed players to
play for him. Thus Klatt, Regehr, Malik, Ruutu and Gelinas made sense,
even though we gave up some good players to get them.” Although Klatt
and Gelinas are nearing the end of their respective careers, the team also
got an injection of youth by acquiring McCauley, Taffe, Sedin, and Ahonen.
And adding the scoring superstar Selanne didn’t hurt anything except the
budget. On the whole, the players gained are better than those lost (see
table below). Departing players include the solid but soft Peter Cajanek,
young all star goalie prospect Ryan Miller, defensive specialist Jeff
Ulmer, assist-man Doug Weight, sniping winger Radek Dvorak rugged d-man
Sean O’Donnell, and youngsters Kurtis Foster and Daniel Corso. Tardif
wished all of his departing players good luck, but in a good riddance kind
of fashion. After the teams woeful start, it was clear something needed to
be done, and trading dedicated players was the decided-upon course of
action. Tardif has done his part – now it is up to the players to
perform and move this team into the upper echelons of the Eastern
Conference. After all of the trades, it is clear that the Rangers brass improved its
team in all areas except center: OUT IN Ulmer Klatt
+ Dvorak Selanne
+ Foster Regehr
+
Valicevic
Gelinas + Goneau
Ruutu
+ Ziegler Roy
+ Hubacek
Toskela
+ NYR 4 NJ
4
= Cajanek
Sedin
= Miller Ahonen
= O’Donell
Malik
= Weight McCauley
- Corso Taffe
- Bruins
Find a Way Despite Lack of Depth: This years Bruins may be one of the best squads Boston
has seen since the inagural season of the HFHL, but for right now they
aren't playing like it. The
top line of the Bruins may be the most potent in the league at the time being,
with all three players; Samsonov, Barnes, and Steve Sullivan, all scoring
at a point a game average or higer through 20 games; and young defecemen Deron Qunit and Karel
Rachunek have contributed their fare share, but that has about rounded out
the bruins scoring. Any team
which has managed to shut down that line has had an easy time,
too easy according to GM Ryan Joiner, “We have definately underachieved
throughout the beginning of this season, which is especially dissappointing because we were hoping to get
out to a quick start this year as we did last, but it looks like we'll be
stuck climbing uphill from here."
There have been signs of improvement however, veteran defencemen and
power play specialist Sean Hill has started to regain the accuracy on his
blistering point shot, and Shawn Bates' recent 7 point +5 performance against Colombus has boosted his
stat sheet and gotten the young RW back on track. "So, since the offensive categories are doing quite well
or recovering at the moment, we can shift to the defensive side of
the puck, which is what has killed us so far this year.", said Coach
Brian Muckler. And he speaks
the truth. Names like Craig Johnson, Rene Corbet, Jason Woolley, and Peter Popovic,
which are normally synonymous with great defensive play, have been
playing, rather simply put, just plain bad.
"When guys of that (defensive) caliber have the lowest +/-
ratings on your team you just know that the other team is going to get a
lot of chacnes they just should'nt have.", added Coach Muckler. Unlike
some other teams, the Bruins simply don't have an all-star goalie who can
eliminate all those chances, and while Irbe is solid as almost anyone when
the defence in front is playing only decent, the Bruins just can't say
that their's is. "Expect
a few moves soon," said GM Joiner, "We really need a staple
workhorse on our defence core, someone who might be able to change the other teams offensive
strategies just by being on the ice, and we mean to get one." Confusion
in Mile High City
After a very busy off-season and a team raring to go...
the Colorado Avalanche may just wish the season didn’t start quite so
quickly as they haven’t exactly showed the same sort of punch that they
had when winning the Stanley Cup handily in 5 games last June. Of course
the FA and cap problems made for a very busy off-season for the club, but
the team thought they’d be ok with the moves they made. Getting a great
package deal for Pronger just before the season started, the Avalanche
thought they had a better team than last season going into the new season.
Apparently not. With a record to this point of 11-6-3 for 25 points, and a
measly 69 goals for compared to conference rival Edmonton Oilers at 81,
things just don’t seem to be adding up for the mile high city of Denver.
Colorado have made many trades and things to improve the youth on the team
as a lot of people said that the Avs needed a farm team or the team
wouldn’t last. Well, they brought in prospects, traded for farm guys,
traded for picks, and also traded for some youth that could actually help
the pro team. Players like young center studs Mike Comrie and Eric
Belanger. Young LW Alexander Tanguay who came over in the huge deal
involving Jagr, and Krys Kolanos who came over the the trade with Edmonton
that saw longtime member of the Avalanche Martin Straka leave. When we
caught up with GM Davies this afternoon, this is what he had to say :
“ I am terribly confused on what’s going on. I have
done my very best to put the best product on the ice with the money
available and it just doesn’t seem to work. Roger Nielson’s job,
although speculated may be in danger is absolutely NOT in danger
whatsoever. I am putting every responsibility on the players on the ice.
They have the talent, they have the motivation of living up to what the
players before them did, and that’s win a Stanley Cup. If newcomers who
played well on their respective teams before such as Ziggy Palffy who has
done nothing but get hurt since arriving. Keith Tkachuk who had 27 points
coming to Colorado and doesn’t have a point in 2 games with the team.
Players like Peter Forsberg who should be among the best in the league
only has minimal points, and isn’t laying the body like he once did.
This team shouldn’t only have scored 69 goals after 20 games. I am
pleased with the team I have now, but I am disappointed at the play of our
top guns right now. I am going to be patient with this team, but I won’t
sit and let another Stanley Cup slip away. I am not a very patient GM, but
I feel that what I have put together here is what will bring a repeat
Stanley Cup back to Denver for another off-season. But I’m telling you,
if they don’t start to step up in the next month or so, here will be
changes, guaranteed. Everyone knows that I am not afraid to pull a trade.
If these guys can’t do the job, expect the high picks the be dressed and
ready when season 4 comes along.” When asked about what plans Nielson
has for this team he had 1 word to say : “Win”
Very harsh words and a challenge coming from a very
frustrated GM. Nice for Roger Nielson to know that he has nothing to worry
about in the area of employment and he can spend most of his time trying
to put all these star-studded players together and make them accept one
system. One thing is for sure, if Roger can do that, and all the stars are
firing on all cylinders, this hockey club will be very tough to beat right
into late June. This is John Diefenbaker reporting for the HFHL
Gazzette. Trying
to Find the Right Mix in Pittsburgh The Penguins are off to a "ok" start.
The injury bug has hit the Penguin organization hard with: Lemieux
going down for a long period, Rucchin now injured, Mellanby who is a
locker room and team leader out for awhile, and the injury to Michal
Rozsival who is a promising young defenseman for the Penguins. But the
Penguins are playing hard and are hanging in there.
Ron Francis, Marian Hossa, Jan Hlavac, and Alexei Kovalev have done
most of the scoring for the Pens and kept them close while theam captain
and leader Mario Lemieux was out. The Penguins have been forced to used their minor league
team, the Wilkes-Barre Penguins a lot this season.
Young defenseman Jakub Cutta was called up and has played 14 games,
kudos also for Josef Melichar. Young
and promising center Kris Beech has played 15 games. We wish we didn't have to bring them up and play them because
we knew they can improve better and faster by getting ice time in the
minor league. There have been some rumors floating around that the
Penguins are looking to make some changes, but one thing we knew is that
they will build this new look team around Mario Lemieux.
"Mario is not going anywhere, we are going to build this team
around him." One player who is going to be difficult to get if a team
wants him is right winger Alexei Kovalev.
He is a scoring machine and puts up monster numbers.
Stay Tuned by reading the articles about the Penguins in the next
HFHL newspaper! The
King of the West One fourth into the season and the team to beat is the Chicago
Blackhawks. The 'Hawks lead the league in points and this with 17 road
games and only 5 home games so far. "Our play on the road has been
nothing short of spectacular and I am very pleased to see the guys work
together as a team proving just how good they really are. There is no
question about it though, it will be nice to go back to our home building
that has been sold out every game so far this season, making the United
Center resemble the old Chicago Stadium more and more... what was that?
Remember the ROAR!" GM Nilsson said with a smile when asked to talk
about the teams early success. "It is no secret that we are aiming
for the Cup this year and I feel we are maybe one or two players away from
being a complete team, and I will do my best as the GM to provide Brian
(Sutter) and the squad with those players" GM Nilsson said when asked
about whether or not the Hawks were done dealing this season. Rest assured
people, the Blackhawks are for real. Beware of the Blackhawks! Johan "Ale" Nilsson, Proud GM of the Chicago Blackhawks HFHL Time
for Some Stability in Buffalo By Jake Curry HFHL Gazzette Though the Buffalo Sabres sit in 13th place in the East Conference and
only sit one point out of the cellar, don’t expect any drastic moves
from GM Mark Jones. After
completely rebuilding the team last year and making a few deals early this
season, Jones seems to be content to let his young team grow together over
the next couple seasons. “I know no one thinks we will do much this season,” said Jones in an
exclusive interview with this reporter today.
“That is the way we like it.
People are going to overlook us and they are going to be surprised.
Just look at what we did to Chicago the other day.
They are the top team in the league.
They only lost 4 games in their first 21.
And we got a convincing 5-1 win.
We played Edmonton tight, too.
The only thing I think these young kids need to learn is that they
have to play hard every night. It
is OK to play hard and lose to the top teams, but when we lose big to the
lower ranked teams, it isn’t acceptable.” Arguably the biggest acquisition Jones has made this season has been the
signing of free agent goalie Guy Hebert.
Hebert has given the Sabres the opportunity to allow Brent Johnson
another season to develop more into a starting goalie as Hebert’s
backup. It has also given
them a solid, experienced starter they can rely on most nights.
However, they have also acquired young defender Dmitri Kalinin and
forwards Oleg Saprykin and Ramzi Abid to go along with a pro team whose
average is 24, even with Hebert’s 34 years of age included. They also boast a young and talented farm team that includes
Radim Vrbat, Jarret Stoll, Alexei Smirnov, and Marcus Nilsson, along with
a prospect list that includes 9 first round picks from the recent draft.
The truth is, Jones doesn’t really need to make any deals for a
while now as he can wait and pick and choose from a large talent pool. “I have to admit it is a nice position to be in right now, but it is
going to be difficult in a couple seasons,” said Jones.
“If the players we think will develop, continue to develop, we
just won’t have enough roster spots for them all and we will have to
look into making some deals. Especially
with our young prospects coming along.
We don’t have that problem right now, though, so we are just
going to sit tight. We’ve
had lots of offers about some of these young kids, but we’re really not
interested in dealing them. We
only dealt Tkaczuk because we felt he was too injury prone to be really
effective for us. I can’t
tell you how many teams have asked about Vrbata, especially.
But let me make this really clear for you, Jake.
Vrbata is NOT available. He
is not going anywhere.” So don’t expect to see any significant movement in Buffalo this
season. Fans had enough
turmoil with the revolving door from last year.
This year, they should be able to not have to use a program to see
who their players are. Hopefully. Solution
to Whitney’s Fall Finally Found After a rocky start the flames are now playing 500 hockey. The
acquisition of Shawn McEachern for Andrew Cassels has filled the hole of
losing ray Whitney early in the season. The Flames GM was quoted as saying
if we lose anymore players to injuries we might as well open a hospital on
sight. After losing 7 starters the Flames are almost completely healthy
again with only ray Whitney a month away. The Flames looking forward to
making a good second half run and a conference final in the playoffs. See
u there. Gene Hackman reporting for the HFHL Gazzette Wings
buying success again ? Before and in the preseason many experts ranked Detroit
to have a 50/50 chance on getting to playoffs.Now after 21 games they are
at fourth place in Western Conference, and that with very few trades and
new signings. How come the team plays, as some people would say, over its
capacity? Gazzette asked Scotty Bowman for a comment: "I would say
that the team plays as a team. There are not many individualists on the
team now after the new GM was hired. Perhaps it is his calm Scandinavian way of working that
have had some influence on the team. I am very pleased."Gazzette also
tried to ask him about his future in Detroit but he left us with no
comment on that question. The new GM in Detroit is Anders Hising. He is
the third Scandinavian GM in the league. Perhaps it is coincidence or
perhaps it is the Swedish GMs way of thinking that have contributed to
Detroit’s start in this season. Gazzette tried to get a comment from
Anders as well: "It’s nice to get paid for a job like this. I leave
the coaching to Scotty, and the playing to the guys. It is easy to work
with pros like them. They are the one’s working." Two
Trades out of Pittsburgh The first trade the Penguins made was acquire defenseman Jamie Pushor
and young and talented prospect Jason Jaspers from the Phoenix Coyotes for
John Slaney. Pushor gives the Penguins defense more size and he is better
defensivly than Slaney was. Pushor will also add some experience to the
Pens D core. Jason Jaspers is a small, but talented winger. The Penguins
are will sign him next year and will watch him develop on their farm team
the Wilkes-Barre Penguins. The next trade just happened, the Penguins sent vetern center Steve
Rucchin and a 4th rounder to the Ducks for young and upcoming center Niko
Kapanen. Niko is just as talented as Ruccin but he is smaller. We feel
with his age and contract he would be a better fit on our team at this
point. He will get good playing minutes on our 3rd line and hopefully
develop into a better player. Gene Hackman reporting from Pittsburgh for the HFHL Gazzette Optimism
in St.Louis Finally the St.Louis times gets an exclusive interview with GM Wang. Mr.
Wang the city is in aaww that Keith Tkachuk is no longer a member of the
St.Louis Blues. Why?? Jesse Usher reporting from St.Louis for the HFHL Gazzette Disappointment
on the West Coast After numerous trades, our team hasn’’t lived up to my expectations.
W are a very inconsistent team and this could be a year full of
turmoil’’s. Maybe our team needs some chemistry and more trades would
be needed in the future in order to accommodate that. Our fans are not
attending our games because of our losing record, so what we need them to
do is to have faith in us and hope that we can turn things around. If not,
this season will be a very short one and dramatic changes will occur. On
the positive side of things we have a very young promising team for the
future. With Sedin, Chubarov, Nedorost and Yakubov our centre position
will look bright. In Heatley and Chistov they will be future All-Stars.
Our defense will be suburb with Foster, Tsybouk, Schultz, Hanisey, Knyazev,
and Babchuk. Ryan Miller will be a star in this league hopefully next
season as he is one of the top prospects. Of course we can’’t forget
about our veterans in Zhamnov, Damphousse, Kasparitis and Miller who will
have to guide and teach our younger players the ins and outs in this
league. A
lot of things will have to be improved from now till the end of the season
and hopefully we will see the post season. Gene Hackman reporting from Vancouver for the HFHL Gazzette Anaheim Mighty Ducks :
The gritty Ducks are just wheeling in the youth to add
to their already impressive resume. Boasting players such as Dan Boyle,
Kristian Huselius, Scott Hartnell, Jay McKee, Radek Bonk, Justin Williams,
Tuomo Ruutu and so forth, you would have to believe that the future is
looking bright for the
“Bruisers” of the Western Conference. As for right now, coach Mike
Keenan has gotta through with this bitching as Savard finally seems to be
playing like everyone thought he could when he was draft in the first
round by Calgary all those years ago. 20 points in 20 games is nothing to
sniffle at, and he’s leading his team in points. Radek Bonk will make a
nice 1-2 punch until the youth develops and the depth of the Ducks
increases. While on the wing, gritty winger who can score in Doan,
Huselius who is only getting better by the day, and Hartnell will be a
nice fit on the left wing for the time to come. Well, as most teams in
this league, there is an overload of D on this club with players like Dan
Boyle, who is firing on all cylinders in Cincinnati, there is no room for
him on Anaheim because of the overload. GM Marc Bouthillier is looking
desperately to find a team looking for a great young defenceman to maybe
fill a spot on LW. Just outside the playoffs looking in, things are
looking pretty promising for the Ducks as their youth seems to be
listening to crazy man Keenan which means good things to come; even if the
playoffs aren’t one of those things. Atlanta Thrashers : A team plagued with question marks. Why is Atlanta not
that dominant team that went to the second round of the playoffs in season
1 of the HFHL ? GM St.Amand is asking himself the same question. The 2
young studs : Iginla and Thornton have finally shone through this year and
become the players that everyone knew they could be. Iginla with 25 points
and Thornton with 23 points in 22 games respectively. Those 2 are
definitely the backbone of this franchise, but with a supporting cast of
Brind’Amour, Cassels, Deadmarsh, Numminen and Rafalski, this team
shouldn’t be only a .500 team. Here is their problem: They can’t seem
to keep the puck out of their own net. With the most goals against among
all playoff teams, the Thrashers can’t seem to find a defencive system
that works. Cechmanek who has been less than spectacular this season with
a measly save percentage of .875 and a GAA of 3.36. Despite his 9-9-4
record, he hasn’t exactly played like he can, and this could be a big
problem for the Thrashers if he doesn’t turn it around. It’s a tough
task to outscore teams night in and night out. The youth in Atlanta may be
able to provide some trading grounds to pluck a prominent defenceman off
someone. Players like Renberg who’s being paid 6.5 M a year shouldn’t
be -12, and Bret Hedican, who has always been a good plus player is a -10.
A #1 defenceman is needed in Atlanta, and until that happens, they will be
required to continually outscore their opponents which might be a problem
for 2 youngsters who are still developing. Boston Bruins : Well a 1 line team at first glance but I feel that this
team is deeper than people give them credit. The first line combo of
Barnes - Samsonov - Sullivan seems to be putting up the numbers, I like
the way this team competes every night. With the presence of role-players
like Kevyn Adams, Darren Van-Impe and Sean Hill, vets like Adam Graves and
Peter Popovic, and with the recent acquisition of Markus Ragnarsson who
will really help the defence core, this team is going in the right
direction rather than down like they have seemed to be going this year.
Shawn Bates helps the right side giving the Bruins a nice 2nd line punch
behind Sullivan, but with no-one to play with, Bates will be hard pressed
to reach career highs. Sitting tied for 14th place in the league with the
measly Florida Panthers, this team might be able to rise in the standings
with some smart drafting in this exceptionally deep draft. Also, a few
more smart trades, and this team will be well on their way. Before that
can happen though, a true first line center to play between Sullivan and
Samsonov is needed, and a better showing from Irbe would help. Buffalo Sabres : A very disappointing start for a team not used to
occupying the basement of anything. The once mighty Sabres have gone
through a huge make-over by GM Mark Jones. Good idea ? Depends on how you
look at it. While some will tell you he got some great young players that
will make this team a very tough team to play in a couple years, some
would say that he changed a team that could have challenged for a cup with
a little bit of tinkering. But how can you argue with names like Vrbata,
Willis, Morozov, Ohlund, Tverdovsky, Nagy, Connolly, Kraft, Smirnov,
Nilson, Abid, Novak, Stoll and the list goes on and on. This team may be
struggling to buy a win this year, the pieces are in place, now it’s
just patience. GM Mark Jones seems to have this patience and is willing to
wait until his young, exciting team is ready to evolve into a powerhouse.
With the talent on this team, I a surprised that a team like the Florida
Panthers can have a better record than the Sabres. Maybe a coaching change
is needed ? Is Lindy Ruff’s days as coach of the Sabres numbered ? Could
a vet or 2 be brought in to maybe install some confidence into the young
players so that this team can begin to look like the young team that held
off for the last playoff spot in the Conference last year ? When it comes
to youth, confidence plays a huge part. If this team can get some
confidence and a bit of a streak together, then the Buffalo Sabres will no
longer be occupying the basement of anything, that’s for sure. Calgary Flames : A tough situation brewing in Calgary. With a big move
this year moving all-star sniper Milan Hejduk to the San Jose Sharks in
return getting veteran Ray Whitney and Workhorse Valeri Bure. Whitney
plays 3 games with the team and gets hurt. He won’t be back for a good
length of time and all of a sudden the Flames are in need of a LW again.
Problem is, what do they give up to get this LW they so desperately need.
They don’t have the crazy depth at defence that they once had a while
back, their center could possibly be used as trade bait, but that’s been
their strength this year, and you don’t wanna fiddle around with a
formula that works. The RW in Calgary is very deep and they could easily
use that as trade bait. 1 game over .500 is not bad for a team that has
Sean McEachern holding the LW fort, and their point leader being a
defenceman. Speaking of defencemen, the Flames could use a #1 defencive
defenceman or a better well-rounded defenceman. Zhitnik has done a very
nice job this year leading the team in points, but he’s really only a
3rd defenceman or a 2nd defenceman, and could use some help holding the
fort in the Flames’ own end. This team has done surprising well in my
opinion this year, and should look to make some moves to get a more
balanced attack now that RW Glen Murray was picked up in free agency,
though at a hefty price of draft picks. If the Flames can’t get a more
balanced attack, then I expect them to fall drastically in the standings,
because when the playoff hockey starts, the holes on each team begin to
show, and the LW hole may be too big to fill if something isn’t done
soon. Carolina Hurricanes : Well what can I say about the Hurricanes this season. A
team not exactly loaded with star talent seems to be getting the job done.
Young developing studs like Jay Bouwmeester and Chuck Kobasew seem to be
playing like Sakic and Lemieux, and players like Jim Baxter have decided
that they want to be the next Rob Blake of the HFHL. Paul Maurice has done
a great job getting this team all to accept one system and stick to it and
that seems to be working. Everyone is playing hard every shift and making
sure that they abide by the system. What is that doing ? It’s earning
this team wins. Sitting tied for top spot in the Eastern Conference with
the surprising Montreal Canadians, the Hurricanes have decided they have a
decent chance at a bit of a playoff run this year, and GM Kevin Lee has
made moves to boast that he thinks the same way. With the recent
acquisitions of Jonas Hoglund, Karl Dykuis, Robert Reichel and Mike Knuble,
Lee seems to want to install some veteran leadership that can also pluck
in the offence here and there to help out the developing youngsters.
Leading the way is Eric Cole who is easily the best all-around player on
the team right now and is only going to get better. Scary isn’t it ? If
the Canes can keep getting the balanced attack they have been getting, and
J-S Aubin can stand on his head night in and night out, the Canes may have
a shot at the second round of the playoffs. Past that might be a stretch
with what they have now, but trades are always on the horizon. Chicago Blackhawks : This team is good, and we all know it. The Chicago
Blackhawks have the best record in the league and rightfully so. This team
is strong throughout the lineup. Starting from the back with probably the
best goalie in the league in Martin Brodeur. Any team that has a goalie of
his calibre will do well, regardless of the team in front, but the
difference is the Blackhawks have a very good team in front of him. The
defence core boasting the threesome punch of Chelios, Jovanovski and Sydor.
The RW with sniper Tony Amonte and well rounded play-maker Theo Fleury. At
center, they have a great 1-2 punch in Roenick and Rolston. Everything is
fine there, and with the “Moose” playing 3rd line, they have great
experience and leadership among the team to make sure they keep their
heads about themselves. The only hole I see on this team is on LW. They
have a very good #1 guy in Eric Daze. He’s young, can put the puck in
the net, and will only get better over time. The problem is Henrik
Zetterberg is a 3rd liner at best and should really be on the farm
developing. Instead, he’s playing 3rd line on a team that might be
stunting his growth by making him play on the pro club so quickly. But
what choice does coach Brian Sutter have ? Kyle Calder is gone for about
2-3 weeks with a back injury, and the depth on LW is short as it is. If
anything, the Blackhawks need a LW, and they need one soon. If they can
get one, they’ll be in good shape for the playoffs ( yes, the playoffs,
that’s all they are looking at now ). But if they can’t find one soon
who can mesh with the team, then the start of a great year in Chicago may
end up in a big disappointment come April. Colorado Avalanche: The defending cup champs are finally rounding into form
after a disappointing start and are slowly catching up to the leaders in
the west. They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 due to some swift deals made by
Gm Mark Davies. All around the team looks just as good if not better than
last year, the loss of Jagr to the Kings is going to hurt them a little
bit however Palffy is a good replacement and should be able to match Jagr
in most categories. However this team is different from last year, youth
like Mike Comrie, Krys Kolanos, Zdenek Blantny and Alex Tanguay are
roaming the pro roster. This is not the only youth that has found it’s
way into the organization, Brad Boyes, Jay McClement, Jonas Johansson,
Igor Grigorenko and a wealth of draft picks including 4 1st rounders.
However their trading is still not done, they are seeking 3rd line
grinders who are a valuable part of any cup run and it looks like they
will spare no expense to do it. As for their season so far they are
underachieving despite a 13-6-3 record but that is turning around thanks
to some inspired play by Peter Foresberg and Patrick Elias who are on an 8
game and 7 game point streak respectively. All the same these two are not
the only players having success on this talented team Petr Sykora (25) and
Keith Tkachuk (32) are also among the leaders in points for their
positions. The defence core is also one of the best in the league, they
have two of the best defensive d-men in the game in Foote and Stevens who
are complemented by the likes of Jason Smith, Peter Popovic and Rick Berry
who are all defensively sounds. Offensively the Avs are a little weaker on
the back-line, Foote can put
up decent numbers but beyond Scott Niedermayer and Calle Johnasson they
will not generate as much offense from the point. A 4th 2-way d-man could
be added to increase their powerplay percentage but that is all the
improvement that they could really needs. All in all the Avs are looking
primed for another run at the cup, and at the moment they are hard pressed
for challengers. Columbus Blue Jackets: I’m not sure what to say about the Columbus Blue
Jackets this year. They seem to have a better team on paper than last
year, but it isn’t exactly showing up on the ice as expected. They have
made some great improvements to product on the ice acquiring RW stud
Branko Radivojevic and defensive rock Mattias Norstrom from the Colorado
Avalanche and Daniel Tkaczuk from the Buffalo Sabres. But at what cost ?
They have lost their 1st rnd draft choice in this upcoming deep draft
along with young center stud Mike Cammalleri. They have lost Jonas
Johansson who is a very good young prospect along with Igor Grigorenko who
will be good once he starts to play hard. They have given up a lot of
youth ( which they had to spare ) to try and put a product on the ice that
might win a few more games. The question is, was it worth it, or was it
too soon to make moves like that ? At first glance of the standings,
you’d probably say no it wasn’t worth it at all. This team has made
great steps though into becoming a team that doesn’t sit at the basement
of the league each year, and still has youth like Alexander Frolov, Mike
Komiserak, Colby Armstrong, Rick Nash, Dan Blackburn and Rostislav Klesla
to build around. Give this team some time and they should be alright,
atleast if the young players develop properly. Dallas Stars: Underachieving has seem to hit the lone star state.
This team is loaded with very good players, yet only in 6th place in the
Western Conference ? That doesn’t seem to add up does it. Similar to the
Chicago Blackhawks, the Stars have a great trio on defence with Chara,
Leetch and Hatcher. This would be a welcome defence trio on any team, and
it’s one that GM Josh Petsonk will enjoy for a couple of years to come.
The right side is a little weak in Dallas, not completely, but past Peter
Bondra, there are only developing young guys. This makes for a tough 1-2
line punch when there is no RW to support Modano and Modin. The top
checking line of each team will smother the first line with defencive
players, and the offence may drift away from the Stars. On LW, there is a
very nice tandem of Freddy Modin who is a pure goal-scorer, Simon Gagne
who is probably the most talented young player in the league ( compared to
his fellow teammate, Joe Sakic ) and gritty winger Jason Weimer who will
dig pucks out of corners all night long if you let him. Finally, the
strongest part of the Stars in my opinion is center ice. The duo of Joe
Sakic and Mike Modano will make any team scared on a nightly basis. Two
top of the line stars, one right after the other is very hard to stop, and
even past that they have a good all around play-making center in Michael
Nylander. As if that isn’t enough, the Stars have Stephen Weiss
developing up the middle to take over when the older guys need new homes.
Though is Stephen Weiss’s development being hurt when he’s not playing
on a nightly basis ? He probably should be on the farm team getting first
line ice time, because a 4th line role or sitting, isn’t something that
will help this young kid in the future. Finally, the goaltending
controversy. The Dallas stars would be much better off if they could find
a goalie that would play half decent for them. Marty Turco is playing
mediocre at best, and Byron Dafoe has been a bust for the money he’s
being paid this year. A big priority for the stars should be finding a
goalie, because they have the offence to pluck in atleast 3 a night, but
when you let in 4, it makes for a long season when the talent is there for
success. Detroit Red Wings : The Wings have enjoyed a season more like the Wings we
have seen in the past. A team that competes night in and night and out and
usually ends up on top. Last year was a disaster for the Wings, and with
management changes, they have now gotten back to their winning ways. They
seemed to have continued the trend of the rich American teams and bought
themselves some help for this season. Brett Hull came back to the Wings
after a stint with the Coyotes for 5.5 M a year over 3 years. They are
paying Todd Gill a whopping 1.2 M bucks for a guy who can’t even make
the pro team. The results are there, so coach Scotty Bowman isn’t going
to complain... too much, and GM Anders has been very please with the
performance of his team. Led by perennial MVP candidate Niklas Lidstrom
who has 29 points in 19 games and is a +15. Todd Marchant seems to have
found the scoring touch with 22 points in 21 games which is helping, and
Chris Osgoode seems to have found form again with a 2.46 GAA. The problems
I see Detroit having is they really don’t have any 2nd line players on
this team. They have the big guns in Yzerman, Shanahan, and Zednik ( who
is really a 2nd liner playing 1st line ). And past that they have a bunch
of 3rd line players filling in holes. It seems to be working, but GM
Anders might be looking to see if he can trade for a true #1 RW or a 2nd
line left wing or center. His defence is pretty healthy right now, a lot
of depth led by the MVP of the league, and they seem to be doing the job.
But if the Wings can get a little more offence, expect them to be a high
commodity when April roles around. Edmonton Oilers : Well the Oilers have finally realised that they have
too much youth, and could use some of that to trade for higher end players
to lead their team past the first round. After 2 straight years of bowing
out of the first round after dominating regular seasons, angry GM Hank Ma
is looking for answers and has seemingly pulled the trigger on some deals
that will change the tide a little bit come playoff time. Coming in is top
line center and great passer Martin Straka and center stud Mike Cammalleri,
going out is 22 year old center stud Mike Comrie, right wing stud Kyrs
Kolanos and Edmonton’s 1st rnd pick in 2003. In another deal swung
recently had Sergei Gonchar, Nick Boynton who is a very nice pickup for
the Oil, developing goalie prospect Steve Valiquette who will fit nicely
backing up Tommy Salo in nets, and the New York Islanders 1st rnd pick in
2003. Going out is young stud defenceman Eric Brewer, defensive specialist
Matt Cooke, and Edmonton’s 2nd rnd pick in 2003. These moves have very
much changed the complexion of the Edmonton Oilers and makes for a much
more dangerous lineup. Not only will they have a more dangerous lineup, GM
Hank Ma has assured there will be a little more experience and leadership
when playoff time roles around by bringing in Phil Housley and enforcer
Bryan Marchment. The past piece of the puzzle for the Edmonton Oilers will
be to find a true #1 right wing as Jani Rita really isn’t cut out for
the first line, and especially not cut out for the first line when it
really counts : The Playoffs. Florida Panthers : Turmoil is all I can say about this team. The Panthers
are trying desperately to find some solutions to help them win a few more
games. In recent trades, they acquired Markus Ragnarsson who was quickly
shipped off to Boston for Rachunek, they swapped goalies with the Colorado
Avalanche bringing in Milan Hnilicka to see if he can stop the puck, and
going out was Freddy Brathwaite. Bright spots on this team are Donald
Brashear and Claude Lapointe who have both managed 15 points so far this
year for the struggling club. But more or less the bright spot would be
their goals against. They are still high, but much lower than this time
last year which is a credit to better dealing and better line combinations
by Gm Matt Marleau. They have a nice array of picks in this upcoming
draft, and if the research is done right, they may a couple more young
studs to help them out. One thing that might help the Panthers is to try
and move some of the depth they have for some proven players. Teams need
depth, and the Panthers seem to have a lot of it. If Florida can get a few
more proven players, preferably offensive, they may be getting somewhere
in turning this team around from a team that has struggled even to get
into playoff races, to a team, that competes every night, and has a chance
to win at the very least. Los Angeles Kings : The Los Angeles Kings have had some hard times this
season. They have been playing poor hockey for a team with the talent they
possess. GM Perry Marleau decided that was enough and took a course of
action. He acquired the best player in the HFHL : Jaromir Jagr. In a 7
player blockbuster deal, the Kings sent longtime star Ziggy Palffy, 23
year old goal-scoring sensation Alexander Tanguay, young defensive
centerman Eric Belanger, and defensive rock Mattias Norstrom to the
Colorado Avalanche in exchange for superstar Jaromir Jagr, young 3rd line
centerman Sergei Brylin, and veteran defenceman Murray Baron. While some
question the price he paid for Jagr, he got the best player in the league
who leads the league in points and makes the players around him better.
With a nice supporting cast of Koivu, Stumpel, Kapanen, Savage, Grier,
Zubov, Vaananen, Schneider, the Kings should be a lot higher than they are
in the standings. There is one problem with this team tough, they have no
left wing, Savage, who is a mediocre 2ND line left winger at best, can’t
hold the fort on left wing by himself. If GM Perry Marleau can find a
decent 1st line LW and his line mesh, than this team will surge up the
standings. The other problem with the Los Angeles Kings is their
goaltending. Evgeni Nabokov is a true #1 goalie, but he is playing like a
mediocre backup. A 6-13 record is not good enough, especially with a GAA
of 3.08 and a save percentage below .900. If he can’t step it up, then
the Kings may find themselves having to outscore their opponents every
game rather than actually beating them. Most importantly though, without a
left winger though to play with Jagr, they won’t be able to outscore
their opponents every night which means they will be in trouble and
without a left winger, this team might find themselves along the bottom of
the league for a long while to come. Minnesota Wild : The club that I thought would be the surprise in the
league has come a little short of that. 10th place in the Western
Conference isn’t exactly where I pictured the Wild after a great showing
last year. Josh Langfeld is leading the way for the Wild this year, and
definitely the all-star of this team. Leading the team with 18 points,
he’s paired with Kick Maltby and Olli Jokinen for a pretty decent first
line for a team that hasn’t yet enjoyed a lot of success in the HFHL as
of yet. They have some promise in nets aswell as Felix Potvin and Steve
Shields will make a nice 1-2 punch until they can find a true # 1 goalie.
There is a bit of a problem in Minnesota this year though. The defence is
aging. Joe Reekie, their top defenceman is retiring at the end of the
year, Ken Klee is 31 years old and getting older by the minute, Chris
Tamer and Paul Laus are both 32 years old, Bob Boughner is 31 years old.
If the Wild don’t get some younger defencemen or don’t use their picks
to pick a high-end decent young defenceman, they could be in trouble, and
in a hurry. If they use one of their 2nd line right wingers ( Petrov or
Krivokrasov ) to get a somewhat younger defenceman, or maybe trade Reekie
to a cup contender for a pick or a farm guy, that would help them out,
because their offence is getting better, but they are gonna need to keep
the puck out of their own net until a true #1 goalie comes to the hockey
hotbed of Minnesota. Montreal Canadians : Here is your success story of the year. The Montreal
Canadiens who were hard pressed to be in the thick of playoff races the
last 2 years find themselves at the top of the Eastern Conference a
quarter of the way through the season. Led by superstar goaltender Jose
Theodore who has been impossible to beat this season, center Sergei
Federov, and no-name left winger Mike Souza who is easily having a career
year for the Canadiens, the city of Montreal has finally gotten back a
team they can cheer for. GM Vanna has been very patient with this young
team over the last 2 years. He has easily had one of the best farm teams
with the likes of Souza, Marcel Hossa and Mikko Koivu and it’s now
transpiring into pro success for the franchise. A team with a lot of
depth, but no real top line players, the Montreal Canadiens have made it
this far with more or less a very balanced attack. 11 players with double
digits in points is a very good distribution of the offence, and when you
have a goalie as hot as Theodore is, then you have a winning combination,
or so the Canadiens have proved. My question is will this team have what
it takes when the playoffs role around or will they bow out in the first
round like the Oilers after a dominating season. Will the youth in the
lineup lose some confidence when a losing streak arises and the team fall
apart ? Youth is very unpredictable, and Buffalo is a very good example of
it. The Sabres played well during the last portion of last season, but
have fell off drastically this season. Will the Montreal Canadiens follow
suit or will the youth brought in by GM Vanna come through and actually
bring a much needed deep playoff run to the city of Montreal. The fans
sure hope so, and the players feel they can do it for sure. If they keep
playing the way they are, they just might, but let’s hope they don’t
suffer the same fate as the Sabres have. Nashville Predators : New management took over the Predators last week, and
already looking to put this team back to where they belong : Among playoff
teams. With the leader of this very fragile franchise being a very good
one in Allison, the new general manager of the Predators, Darran Chapman,
has told most GMs who have asked about Allison that he is looking to build
this franchise around the young superstar and why not ? Was second to Jagr
in points last year and is only 28 years of age. He hasn’t even reached
his prime yet. There is still a nice array of talent in Nashville at the
moment. Legwand at center along with Allison of course, Brendan Morrow at
left wing along with Martin Erat, Arkhipov at right wing along with leader
Scott Walker to hold for fort for the time being. On defence they have
Sopel and Vishnevsky as the frontrunners and Cale Hulse to round up the
top talents. But in goal is where the Nashville Predators are still very
strong. Mike Dunham is a very good starting goalie in this league and
doesn’t get the respect he deserves. Behind him is Peter Skudra who has
had some good games in the backup position for Nashville while their young
stud Brian Finley finishes up his development. The farm team is a little
thin in Nashville so that might cause some trouble trying to rebuild this
team, especially when they don’t exactly have the pleasure of a huge amt
of draft picks. This team does have the talent to do something, but it’s
going to be a though challenge for GM Chapman, but one he says he’s
ready for. New Jersey Devils : The defending Eastern Conference champions enjoyed some
time in the basement of the league this year and decided that the general
manger wasn’t doing the job so they brought yet again some new
management for this franchise. GM Chris Scott has come in and perhaps to
some made some questionable moves, but with the huge array of free agents
coming up, he’s brought in a nice mix of youth and veteran leadership
that are signed for a few years along with some good draft picks in this
upcoming draft. This allows him to go out and maybe spend a few extra
bucks on some of those Unrestricted Free Agents that will be out there
this off-season because a cup run for the Devils again may not be in
reach. With Chris Pronger, Derek Morris, and Robert Svehla manning the
blueline for the Devils and young stud Carlo Colaiacovo waiting in the
wings, along with Brad Ference and David Hale, this could be a very good
defence core for years to come. Up front at center ice, they are as deep
as any team in the league led by Jason Arnott. The left side in New Jersey
is deep depth wise, but Geoff Sanderson isn’t exactly a 1st line LW, and
could use some help. On the right side there is very little past Alexander
Mogilny and this could cause a problem, because if you can’t score you
can’t win games of course. New Jersey has been on the rise of late
though since Chris Scott has taken over the reigns. He is 5-1 since taking
over the team and continues to try and re-enforce the future of this team
to the best of his ability. I suspect that with the recent great player of
Ed Belfour in nets, that this team will easily climb back into the playoff
picture in the East, but I don’t think they have what it takes to get
back to the Cup finals yet again. Especially if they can’t get a little
more depth on the right side. New York Islanders : A star studded team to stay the least, the New York
Islanders haven’t exactly enjoyed the success they should be for a team
with so many superstars. Boasting the likes of Alexei Yashin and Eric
Lindros down the middle, Paul Kariya and Marian Gaborik on the left side,
along with Nolan and Halvat on the right. Those are 2 great scoring lines,
and should be scoring like crazy. Problem is they don’t have the
greatest defencive team in the league. GM Elias has been trying to address
this reason lately picking up Eric Brewer from the Edmonton Oilers for
offencive defenseman Sergei Gonchar. He also picked up defensive
specialist from the Oilers in Matt Cooke who will help make sure the
penalty kill isn’t culprit of any losses. This team boasts a lot of
offencive punch, but when it comes to their own end, and their
goaltending, this is where most teams will say they are in trouble and
that they need to move some of their offencive power to try and get a good
defensive defenceman to help out Blake back there. In goal, Cloutier is
still developing, and the Isles are gonna need a good number 1 goalie for
the upcoming playoff run if they hope to get to the cup finals. With the
prospects available, once San Jose has a GM, an idea for them might be to
get Hasek for some prospects and try and make a late playoff run. If the
Isles can get some goaltending and some defence without giving out too
much of their firepower, they might even become one of the better teams in
the East. Until they get a goalie though, they will be subject to
outscoring their opponents each night which is a tough task to do, even
for a team as talented as this one. New York Rangers : The Rangers are another team plagued with the big work
“underachievement”. A team that looks more like the Vancouver Canucks
of old, this team have probably one of the more talented first lines in
the league as Naslund, Bertuzzi and Morrison hook up again after a long
time apart. Gm Tardif has been very busy on the trading front of late, and
has done a good job installing some depth into this team. The most recent
trade acquiring great role-player Trent Klatt, grinder Jarkko Ruutu, and
left wing youngster Daniel Sedin for left wing stud Peter Cajanek,
goaltending prospect Ryan Miller, and defenceman stud Kurtis Foster. This
installs some great depth on this team which will help. With the first
line not producing the way they should be, this depth will help take some
pressure off the top line, and we all know people play better when
relaxed. The recent big acquisition of Teemu Selanne to help Bertuzzi on
the first line will help with the 2nd line offence, especially now that
McCauley has come to town and will help out getting Selanne the puck. A
true 2nd line left wing would really help the Rangers as Daniel Sedin
isn’t exactly top material for a 2nd line. On defence, the top pairing
of Kaberle and Yushkevich should be a good one to feed the top line. A few
injuries will test the depth at defence for the Rangers and really test
how good Roberto Luongo actually is. Luongo has had a tough season so far
with a mediocre performance which wasn’t at all what Gm Tardif had
imagined when he sent Joseph to Tampa to get him. With a 3.21 GAA and
a.878 save percentage, that isn’t exactly what GM Rob Tardif was after.
Patience is what he’ll have to show though, as Luongo is still young,
and with young goalies, you never know what you are gonna get. The
Rangers’ farm team looks promising aswell with players like Krajicek,
Taffe, Lupul and Wellwood. The Rangers or should I say Canucks have a good
look this year, and could be in a good position to again make a playoff
run. Ottawa Senators : As with a lot of teams lately, new management has taken
over the Ottawa Senators. Not pleased with how the team looks, GM Tuzar
Irani started right off making some impact trades that might help the
Senators become conference leaders yet again. First off was trading his
big money player in Teemu Selanne who is an unrestricted free agent at the
end of this season to the New York Rangers for unrestricted free agent
Doug Weight as the major part of the deal. Ottawa needed a first line
center, whereas Daniel Alfredsson, franchise player of the Senators would
do just fine as 1st line right winger, so Selanne could be moved. The
depth at center in Ottawa is very deep, and will probably be moved to try
and fill a 2nd line right wing hole that seems to be looming aswell
because of upcoming center sensation Antoine Vermette who is part of the
Senators prospect list. The Senators have a solid defence core led by
franchise defenceman Wade Redden and youngster Brad Stuart. The defence
core is very deep and shouldn’t be a problem for years to come
especially since Anton Volchenkov is also looming in the Senators prospect
list who will be a very good defenceman with Redden as a role model. The
problem I see with this team is they don’t have a prominent scorer left
now that Selanne is gone. Alfredsson is a passer, aswell as Weight, and
they really don’t have a scorer left. This might cause a problem as the
passers don’t seem to have anyone to pass to. If the Senators don’t
find a way to score, it could be a long season, as Patrick Lalime can only
keep them in so many games. Philadelphia Flyers : The Flyers have had a very solid season so far this
year. They have a balanced attack led by center Keith Primeau with 26
points and Miroslav Satan with 22 points. They have a great array of
players down the center, the wings and the defence core. They are solid
all around, and could be a very dangerous team come playoff time. They
have guys that have all been there before. Players like Primeau, LeClair,
Demitra, Satan, Simon, Desjardins. These guys will help lead this team to
victory or atleast competitiveness each night. They have a nice trio on
defence aswell, maybe not as strong as those from Dallas, Chicago or
Colorado, but Aucoin will log about 30 - 35 minutes a game, Hamrlik
provides the puck movement to get it to the forwards, and Desjardins
provides the great solid stay at home defenceman with leadership to help
out the younger guys like Hamrlik and Neckar. In net, Turek hasn’t
played all that well, and that’s good news for the rest of the league,
because if he was playing well, then the Flyers may have had no losses at
all this year. Only a .873 save percentage, those aren’t Turek-like
numbers. Now that he’s injured, Storr has to take most of the load, and
he isn’t exactly fit for top line duties. This will test the Flyers and
see how good they actually are now that their #1 goalie is out. Another
down-side for the Flyers is they don’t have a great farm team. If they
don’t draft well this year, then they could be in trouble for a good
core of players come the next few years. Pheonix Coyotes : For the team with the fewest wins this season, the
Coyotes have finally found management that can help this team pull
themselves out of the basement. With a very careful GM on their hands,
they have really made some progress this year. They have a fairly solid
defence core, and their offence has shown signs of improvement. With the
recent acquisition of Don Sweeney on the defence, it may put some pressure
off Ron Tugnutt each night. With that said, that means that offence may
not have as much pressure to score 4 a game to win. This makes for a team
that plays for each other and with 4 ties, they are getting somewhere. The
offence needs a another small star that the Coyotes could probably get
next year from their 1st rnd draft choice, or trade it away to get that
help needed. Guolla, Ronning and Ferraro lead the way in points, Guolla
leading them with 20. If they can continue that pace, and the defence core
can keep the shots down, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more
wins for this team. Also, with Feder Federov close to being able to come
up to the pro team, the Coyotes might be looking at moving one of their
centers, as they are fairly deep in that position and get a winger to help
out, especially a left winger. Things are looking up in Pheonix, and only
time will decide whether this team can make it out of what seems to be
their home of last few years : The basement of the West. Pittsburgh Penguins : A sub par start for a team that boasts Mario Lemieux,
one of the best ever to play the game and still the most dominant
offencive force when he’s healthy. Out of the playoff picture after
being the in top 4 going into last year’s playoffs isn’t exactly where
GM Brad Steckel imagined his team would be, but without Mario, this team
has struggled. Francis leads the way with 22 points, followed by Marian
Hossa with 19 and Kovalev having a disappointing season so far with only
18 points. Richter has held this team in games, but without Lemieux, this
team just can’t seem to score. Richter with a save percentage of just
under .900 and a GAA of just over 3 is pretty respectable, especially with
the injuries the defence core has suffered over the course of the year. A
nice surprise is Jan Hlavac who came over in the Roy deal from Atlanta.
He’s got 18 points in 21 games and seems to be fitting nicely on the
first line on the left side. The problem with the Pens this year has been
there depth, they have had injuries, and the depth on this club just
isn’t quite good enough to withstand the loss of Mario Lemieux, Mike
Roszival and John Slaney. That would be a huge loss for any team in this
league, not just the Pens. But I really feel the problem with the pens is
there depth. They lack depth at the wings, and their 3rd lines are very
weak at best. Moving Lemieux for some depth may be an option that GM Brad
Steckel looks at, because you can’t win without depth. Especially when
you don’t have Roy between the pipes anymore. St.Louis Blues : The Blues are enjoying another good regular season this
year. They had a great season last season and then just bow out in the
playoffs. It seemed like they just gave up or something. Though another
season brings more hopes and another chance for a team to redeem
themselves after embarrassment. The Blues have made a big change to their
lineup of late. Trading more the future, they moved all-star left winger
and a 3rd rnd pick to the Colorado Avalanche for veteran defender Al
MacInnis and left wing sniper Jeff O’Neil. This trade looks like quite a
fleece for the Blues and it may have been. Al MacInnis is one great passer
from the back and will help this team no matter what anyone says about
salary and age. He’ll provide veteran leadership for the Blues once they
hit the playoffs, and he’ll probably again be among the leaders in
points when playoff time arrives. As for O’Neil, the 88 scoring rating
he brings along will really help the blues cover for the lost points given
away by Tkachuk. O’Neil is still only 25, and will develop nicely into a
very great pickup for the Blues. Down the middle they Lecavalier and
Knutsen leading the way, Knutsen being an underrated, but a fairly decent
2nd line center for the Blues. They could probably use a better 2nd line
center and they have the depth on defence to move Knutsen and a defenceman
for a true 2nd line center. The wings are pretty deep in St.Louis, no
superstar anymore with the departure of Tkachuk, but O’Neil, York, Young
and Parrish should be able to do the trick. On defence, the Blues are very
deep. Led by new acquisition MacInnis and young Janne Niinimaa, this core
is probably the biggest reason why this team enjoys as much success during
the regular season as they do. When you have a defence core like this, and
a goalie like the Bulin wall, you’re going to win your fair share of
games. The thing that will be interesting about the Blues this year is
whether they can do better in the playoffs now that they have a little
more veteran leadership to help out the young ones. San Jose : Well the Sharks have had a tough time of late finding
management, and this could prove be a very fragile time for the team. They
aren’t playing very well, and they need a shakeup, but they have no-one
to make the moves needed to improve the club. The all-star of this team
isn’t ready for the pressures he’s put up with a very young age in
Milan Hejduk. The team needs some support for Hejduk, or they will stunt
the growth of this very talented winger. This team has some nice youth to
play around with, Gritty center Mike Fisher, Jamie Lundmark, Scottie
Upshall, Lukowich and they also have Hasek to back the team up. Problem
is, will the Sharks keep him to try and win a few games this year or will
they trade him before he retires at the end of this season ? The smart
move for the team once they get a General Manager would be to move Hasek
to a team looking to increase their chances at a cup for a couple draft
picks and start rebuilding this team. Not too much to say about this team
without management, there will be more on them in the next issue of the
HFHL Gazzette. Tampa Bay Lightning : The Lightning have completely turned things around this
season. After failing to make the playoffs and really failing to compete
in the playoff race last season, they are now sitting in fourth place in
the East which has quite a different look from last season. With sure
all-star Pavel Bure leading the way, the Tampa Bay lightning are enjoying
great seasons from Adam Oates, Dean McCammond, Peter Nedved and Alexander
Korolyuk. Not to mention they are having a great season from goaltender
Curtis Joseph who was picked up by the Lightning in the deal for young
stud goaltender Roberto Luongo. Joseph is standing on his head each and
every night. The numbers aren’t there, but he is faced with so many
shots, he can only do so much, and we know how Joseph can come up big and
win games with that one key stop. The Lightning are getting that from
Joseph and that’s making GM Josh Scott look good because of Luongo’s
struggles in New York. The positives for this team have been that Bure
seems to be scoring like a mad-man which was needed for this team to win
this season. But Bure hasn’t been the only one doing anything this
season. Oates was a great pickup by GM Josh Scott to get to the puck to
Bure, Nedved gives the team a good 2nd line center so that the top
defencive units don’t go against Bure each night. Korolyuk has been
great on LW with Bure and Oates, and the defence, despite not having a
true #1 guy has been holding to the fort to some extent. The true hero
though for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season, and the real reason they
are as high in the standings as they are it he play of Curtis Joseph.
Problems that might arise for the Lightning this season is their lack of
depth. They don’t have much of a farm team past Sheldon Keefe. That is a
problem that can be solved by the Tampa Bay Lighting as they have a nice
array of prospects, and quite a few picks in their inventory. If a farm
team isn’t established this off-season, then injuries and depth problems
could become more and more costly for the Lightning. All and all though,
they have had a great season, and you could see them in the playoffs past
the first round this year. That is, if they can get some help for Bure. If
no help comes for Bure, you better hope he has rocket blasters in his ass
to get around the top checking line of the team they meet in the first
round. Toronto Maple Leafs : An interesting yet confusing year for the Toronto Maple
Leafs this season. They are out of the playoff picture despite a pretty
decent looking roster consisting of great depth, along with a pretty
decent farm team for the baby Leafs. Led by captain and long time Leaf
Mats Sundin, the Leafs just can’t seem to find the win column each night
despite being competitive. For coach Pat Quinn, being competitive
doesn’t quite cut it and the players have been told that. With the likes
of talented players like Roberts, Sundin, Dvorak and great checking
specialists such as Martin Lapointe on right wing, and Bryan McCabe on the
blueline. When you have the best goalie in history between the pipes,
usually a team like this would win a few games. Things haven’t been
happening that way lately, and I am sure this is starting to bug GM Sachin
Thomas. A great acquisition this year which should be helping the Leafs
was picking up lucky Luc Robitaille from the New York Rangers. He will
help the left side and will fill a nice first line put out there by coach
Pat Quinn of Robitaille, Sundin, Dvorak. On second line, they have
probably the best grinding line that can produce in the HFHL. With Tucker
centering Roberts and Lapointe, this line can do it all, dig pucks out of
the corners, hit people, and put the puck in the net at the same time. I
question the defence core of this team though. McCabe isn’t a #1 guy,
and with the depth on this team, they could really use a #1 defenceman, or
atleast someone who can pose as a #1 who is used to a lot of minutes on
the blueline. If the Leafs can get one of those without giving up too much
offence, then Roy won’t face as many shots each night, and this team can
get back into the win column again. Vancouver Canucks : Youth movement !!! That’s all that is really needed
to be said for this team. They are a team not looking to win now, but to
build around the leadership of Vincent Damphousse with the young snipers
of the league. Boasting young superstars such as Chistov, D.Sedin,
Babchuk, Havel, Heatley, Shultz, this team will have a nice future to
come. I like what GM Chris Yuen is doing with this team. He has some good
veterans who have been there in Langenbrunner and Damphousse to help out
the youngsters who haven’t been there before. It makes for a good mix on
a team, and helps the younger guys develop with confidence because they
know that the veterans have confidence in them. The defence is a little
shaky on this team, and with the goaltenders still developing, the team is
losing some games they probably should be winning. But with the youth that
GM Chris Yuen has brought in, an 8th spot in the West is pretty satisfying
for him. The future is bright for this young team, but the team for right
now will be hard pressed to keep that final Western Conference playoff
spot with teams like Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Jose rearing up their
assess to try and bump them from that last important spot in the
standings. Washington Capitals : After a terrible start by the Capitals, they are
finally back in the playoff picture and happily sitting in 5th place in
the Eastern Conference. Many trades need to happen in Washington in order
to keep the team alive as they have 28 free agents on their roster, and
they won’t be able to sign all of them come the off-season. This team is
a team mostly with veterans that want to win, and have had pretty nice
success over the past few years going deep into the playoffs 2 years in a
row. This year shouldn’t be any different, as GM Adrian Wong has kept
the core of this team intact. There will be changes this year though
because of the free agency change, but I feel this team still has what it
takes to go deep into the playoffs. One change that has been made though.
The Capitals have always been a team with great defence that didn’t
allow many shots. This season, the team traded away Markus Ragnarsson who
has a big cornerstone to the defence group there and the team has been
allowing many more shots against this season. A possible solution to this
for GM Wong would be to move one of his right wingers, as he is lucky
enough to have great depth there, and one of them could be moved to find
the defenceman that can help the Washington Capitals remain the defencive
stronghold they once were. We will see what happens in Washington, but
changes are inevitable, or this team may be in some trouble come the
off-season. Classifieds
- Change is Inevitable New
York Islanders : Any top defencemen out there ? The New York Islanders are in search of a top 2
defenceman who can play solid minutes on the blueline. They are also
searching for a 4th line LW, and some good young players to bolster their
farm team and prospect list. Available for trade on the island are some of
the Islanders great young prospects, and Eric Lindros’s time on the
Island could be limited if the Islanders can find a #1 center and a good
prospect in return for the big center. Columbus
Blue Jackets : A new team please ? In Columbus, a right winger to reinforce the right side
is what is needed, while most of the team, except for those top prospects
could be available depending on the deal that arises. Please contact GM
John Alcos if you are interested. Edmonton
Oilers : Where are all the wingers ? The Oilers are simply looking for wingers. Nothing
more, nothing less. Gritty, talented, scorers, it really doesn’t matter,
just go to GM Hank Ma with some wingers that are available, and the trade
talks will jump out at you. Available for trade from this young team are
Sandis Ozolinsh, Anson Carter, Steve Valiquette and Ryan Smyth. Get those
offers in ! Pittsburgh
Penguins : We want new faces, please. Lemieux’s team is looking for depth at the wings,
depth at center and foremost defencemen. Willing to part with Ron
Francis, Steve Rucchin, Ryan Savoia, Kevin Stevens, Jay Legault, Martin
Sonnenberg, Steve Heinze, Scott Mellanby, John Slaney, Stephane Quintal,
Alexander Karpovtsev and perhaps Alexei Kovalev if the deal is right and
if they get what they are in need of. New York Rangers : Where art thou Canucks ? Detroit Red Wings : Why can’t we find a right
winger ? The
Red Wings are looking simply for help at right wing. They are happy with
the team so aren’t looking for anything else than a number 1 right
winger. Available for trade is their depth at defence, their youth, and
the depth they have at center. Contact GM Anders Hising if you are
interested. Colorado Avalanche : We need a damn 3rd line
right wing grinder ! The
Colorado Avalanche are in need of a 2nd or 3rd line grinder. They have
plenty of top 1st round picks, a plentiful farm team available, along with
Eric Belanger. Also on the trade bubble is Zigmund Palffy who is just not fitting in with the Avs right now. Tkachuk
and Stevens could be moved aswell. These players could be moved if the
price is right. Any offers? Contact Mark Davies, you know where to find
him. Los Angeles Kings : Don’t bug me unless you
got a top line left winger available. The
struggling Kings want to make it very clear they aren’t looking to make
many moves at the moment. The one thing they are looking for is a top line
LW. If you don’t have one of those, don’t bother GM Perry Marleau
cause he wants no part of trade talks for anything else, got it ?
Available to trade for this left winger is the Kings depth at center and
defence. Some good players at those positions, so make the offer fair. Anaheim Mighty Ducks : We want a goalie, and we
want my youth. The
Ducks are looking for a backup goalie along with picks and prospects to
help out their future. Available for trade are : Timander, Wesley and
Worrell aswell as Hall Gill, prospects Maxim Rybin, Viktor Wallin,
Jonathan Hedstrom, Torrey Diroberto, Peter Podhradsky, Brian Collins,
Marty Magers. Contact GM Marc Bouthillier if you’re interested, he’d
be happy to talk to you about it. Philadelphia Flyers : We also need right wing, come
to us, we have bigger names available. The
Wallstreet Bullies who aren’t so tough anymore are looking for a right
winger for the 1st,2nd or 3rd line, young defencemen, who can help out on
the blueline and a top notch number 1 goalie who’s rated 80 OV or
higher. Some big names available in Philly with Pavol Demitra, Chris
Gratton, Todd Fedoruk, Oleg Kvasha, Robert Kron, and
Roman Turek all looking for new homes. Pheonix Coyotes : We need scoring, and we’ll
trade for it if need be. The
Coyotes are in the market for some scoring. If you have any available,
please contact them, they will be glad to talk trades for it. In return
they have some great depth at defence to offer up, and some nice youth to
throw in your face aswell. Chicago Blackhawks : Holes to fill despite
league lead. The
Blackhawks are looking to get a 2nd line left winger at least 75 OV in
rating aswell as a better backup goalie than Trevor Kidd. The Blackhawks
have defenceman Hans Jonsson, defenceman Dick Tarnstrom (depends on the
deal), defenceman Andy Sutton, center Jeff Shantz, center Doug Gilmour,
center Rob Niedermeyer available among others. If you have interest in
anyone on the Hawks’ roster, let Johan, GM of the Blackhawks know.
Brodeur, Jovanovski and Roenick are totally untouchable though, so don’t
ask about them. Florida Panthers :
Youth’s the only way to go, don’t you agree ? The
Florida Panthers are in search of some good youthful players, preferably
players already in the system, in their first or second year of
competition. The Panthers have a lot available, they have anyone on the
roster who isn’t already part of the youth movement they are trying to
install. Any
interest let GM Matt Marleau know. Boston Bruins : Looking for a lot, and I might have a
lot to give... The
Boston Bruins are looking to move Adam Graves, Jason Woolley, Corey
Schwab, Rene Corbet, Greg Johnson and most picks and prospects are
obtainable, but won’t be readily offered. The
team is looking to obtain a fast 2nd line left winger with decent speed
more than anything, and a star defenceman. Any star defenceman will do as
the Bruins have lots of cap room and age isn’t really a factor for them
( Leadership preferred ). Also, the Bruins are looking for a good checking
3rd line center who can keep on the plus side of the +/- catagory. Other
players could be involved in a deal if approached with the right players. Buffalo Sabres : Go away, we don’t wanna trade... The
Buffalo Sabres seem to be content this season and are not looking to move
anyone. They have a few wants, but when you don’t want to move anything
that you have, it’s hard to get what you want. Therefore, talk to Mark
if you are interested, but nothing specific is available at this time for
the Buffalo Sabres. New Jersey Devils : We’re sitting ducks. The
New Jersey Devils have nothing available at the moment as they are content
with what is going on in New Jersey. Why mess with a good thing ? Dallas Stars : Bring on the blockbusters. The
Dallas Stars are in desperate need of a right winger to compliment Peter
Bondra. Other than that, the Stars are looking to deal Jason Weimer,
Fredrik Modin, Byron Dafoe, Zdeno Chara, Kim Johnsson, and Daniil Markov.
The team is looking for various things in return for each player
specifically, so if you are interested, please contact Josh Petsonk of the
Stars. St.Louis Blues :
We’re looking for anything,
anyone got anything ? The
St.Louis Blues are in search of great young players who can play in the
future, but also players who can step in and help the team win right now.
Available for trade right now is Wayne Primeau, Martin Rucinsky, Bryan
Berard, Ilya Kovalchuk who will come at a price though, Tyson Nash, and
Claude Lemieux. If you have any interest in these players, please contact
the Blues GM, and you can work something out. Calgary Flames :
Left Winger and right handed
defenceman needed. The
Calgary Flames are looking for a left winger and a right handed defenceman.
Available for trade are Todd Harvey, Shayne Corson, Jeff Cowan, Michael
Sykora and Jordan Leopold. Contact the Flames GM if you’re interested,
the offers are rolling in quickly. Washington Capitals : Quality Wingers!!!! Please
offer us quality wingers !! Young
or old!! Thin or fat?! It doesn’t matter, we require, we desire, wingers
that are 73 OV in rating or over. Also looking for defencemen with star
potential. We have young players on the block, Halpern 26, Sivek 22,
Tezikov 25, Grosek 27, Berezin as well. Carolina Hurricanes : Not much changed needed,
evidently. The
Hurricanes are more or less satisfied with the product on the ice at the
moment. GM Kevin Lee is not pleased with the plus/minus rating of his left
winger, Tomas Kallio, so a good left winger to replace him would be
appreciated. Other than that, everything is fine in Carolina as viewed by
their staff. Vancouver Canucks :
Changes is needed, disappointment
evident. The Vancouver Canucks are looking for some scoring defencemen, gritty wingers who can play on their 3rd or 4th lines, and some good special teams players. The Canucks would also like to pickup some high draft picks. The Canucks are trying to trade Alexei Zhamnov, Ville Nieminen, Sharifijanov, Mike Keane, York, Darius Kaspapritis and possibly some young players depending on what is going to the Canucks. Please contact GM Chris Yuen if you are interested.
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