Week Twenty Newsletter

It's getting more and more exciting as the weeks go by. The Top 6 is anything but solidified... which makes it all worth while, doesn't it? Well, it's President's Day in the US and I'm missing out on updating the standings... so I'm gonna keep this brief. Everything you need to know about the lead... the trades... and all the awards are below.

How's that for brief?

Hot Teams Over the Last Four Weeks:
Caterina.. 241
Jeff...... 240
Dieter.... 230
Dale C.... 217
Don....... 214

Cold Teams Over the Last Four Weeks
Fred...... 119
Mike R.... 160
Gerald.... 163
Greg...... 164
Mike W.... 164

Let's see what happened in Week Twenty...

Player of the Week



It was a four-horse tie at the line for Player of the Week. But out of those four horse, two of them were not taken at all and one was the award winner last week... so Joe Sakic will get the nod and his pretty picture up on the newsletter.

Sakic played four games during the week and registered 8 points. One of those points was pretty significant... Sakic scored his 600th career against the Flames into an empty net. He was also a big reason as to why Josh had such a big week... Josh is one of six teams to prefer Sakic over Box 2 favourite, Joe Thornton.

Well, our new leader needed a M&S kind of week to become the new leader... and well, obviously, he did it. Jeff racked in 70 points and moved from third to first in Week Twenty. I think he can thank a few players with big points... such as Henrik Zetterberg (8 points), Jarome Iginla (7), Andrew Brunette (7), Martin Brodeur (6) and Joe Thornton (5).

With this big week, Jeff has moved a point up on Dieter and now is 14 up on Don. That's just wha the race at the top needed... a little bit of separation. Or did it? With the way the points are getting divvied out on a week-to-week basis, it's hard to imagine that Don couldn't be back in front in a couple weeks. Then again, will Jeff's team remain hot or will Dieter reclaim first? So many questions... so much money on the line.

Do I really have to pick on some people... yeah... that's another reason why I run these things. Ha ha. But seriously, the only team to drop more than one position (with a whopping two spots lost), Chris takes his third Basement Dweller award. With only 49 points during the week, he moved down from 23rd to 25th, in that tight race below the Top 20. He's only 9 points away from 21st, but even that can be a tough task in the bottom part of the Standings. There were quite a few zeros on his team page this past week... and that's not what a team needs to move up in the Standings. Right, Chris? Heh heh.

Martin Brodeur – 94 points
What can you say... the Devil is hot. Marty Brodeur has pulled 20 points out of the last four weeks, with another six in Week Twenty. He now holds a three-point advantage over scoring leader, Sidney Crosby. Brodeur is now only 4 shutouts away from the NHL record for shutouts in a season and there is still seven weeks to go before the season ends. He is also primed to be the first player to cross into triple-digits for total points and with lots of time to make that total astronomical. Now I wish I picked him up...

Long-term Injuries and Pool Trades
I think it's rather fitting to start the newsletter's trade and injury section with the biggest trade in the league. Now, if you haven't heard of this... I'll call you a liar. Quite possibly, the biggest name on the rental market, Peter Forsberg (Box 14) was dealt to Nashville for Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent and two high picks. There is only one team remaining in the pool with Forsberg and it will be hard not to think if he's healthy, he'll be putting up some great points in Nashville, as the Predators have been flying high of late.

This trade will more impact the Playoff Pool more than this pool obviously and I'm curious to see how many Playoff Poolies check off Forsberg's name in the Nashville section.

The Islanders want to make a run for the playoffs this spring and they picked up an offensive defenseman to help out their cause. Marc-Andre Bergeron (Box 4) was dealt to the Islanders for a former first-round prospect, which makes you think that the Oilers will be sellers before they are buyers when the Trade Deadline hits. At the time of publishing, Bergeron had already helped out his new team with an assist on Viktor Kozlov's goal in the first period against the Penguins.

Only one player move before the early puck drop on Monday morning... Marcus moved Patrick Eaves from the Box 21 position for Ray Whitney. This move will be used to try and fend off the charge from Caterina for the last spot in the money. Marcus wants to move ahead of Larry for sixth spot.

Trades Remaining in the Top 10:
Dieter... 0 Paul..... 1
Don...... 0 Marcus... 0
Jeff..... 0 Trevor... 4
Dale C... 1 Caterina. 0
Larry.... 0 Suzanne.. 2

Three teams will be missing Alexei Yashin for an indefinite period of time. We all know how Yashin deals with injuries... and it's tendinitis in his knee. He could milk this one for quite a while. Don't take it from me though... I'm just sayin'.

A couple teams are missing their best Eastern Conference defenseman... and they have been for a while. Now Brian Pothier is listed as out indefinitely with concussion-like syndromes. Pothier, who had a good start with the Capitals, has run into some serious injury problems this season.

Over the weekend, I'm sure everyone saw this... Brendan Shanahan and Mike Knuble colliding in mid-ice and sending both players to the injury list. Shanahan will be out at least a week with a concussion, while Knuble will be out of action for quite some time after breaking his orbital bone and cheek in his face. It was pretty scary... but it looks like both will be okay.

Well, no one actually has this guy... but Maxim Afinogenov will be lost for quite possibly the rest of the season with a broken wrist. Now, no one might have Afinogenov, but the affect of his loss could be detrimental to some teams with Sabres players. Then again, you might see some players step it up a notch... so this could be a benefit to other teams.

Hockey Night In Canada this week...




We're back to doubleheaders this weekend... and really, if it wasn't for Don Cherry, I don't think I'd watch the first one. The Leafs will travel to Philly to face the bottom-feeding Flyers. The Leafs are looking to make the playoffs... the Flyers will just be showcasing some talent to possibly sell them to another team. In the second-half, the Sharks will visit the Saddledome to take on the Flames in a key Western Conference battle. With the countdown to the playoffs on, both teams will look to improve their standing in... well... the Standings.


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