Week Twenty-One Newsletter

Only six more newsletters until the end of the regular season and the big buzz before Week Twenty-Two is the all about the Trade Deadline which is tomorrow at 1pm MT. The deals have already started, a few more of which have been highlighted below. Be sure to stay tuned to the Domain to keep up with all the pool-related news in regards to the trade deadline.

The Top 6 only underwent one change from last week to this week. Larry took over the 5th place position in the pool from Paul and opened up a 10-point lead over top of him. Paul actually lost ground to the rest of the Top 10, which has left himself a little more wide-open for being caught.

Up at the top, Jeff extracted another point from Dieter to extend his lead to two points, while extending his lead on Don by three points to 17. Jeff, the pool leader, had the most points in the week, but see below to check if he made this week's Mover & Shaker.

Caterina continues her hot streak closing in on the money. Being down in 20th some ten weeks ago, she has now moved 5 points away from 6th place and being one of the hottest teams in the pool may ensure some success in the coming weeks.

Hot Teams Over the Last Four Weeks:
Jeff...... 269
Dieter.... 260
Caterina.. 256
Randy..... 245
Dale C.... 245

Cold Teams Over the Last Four Weeks
Fred...... 144
Greg...... 179
Mike W.... 180
Gerald.... 189
Dan W..... 194

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

Player of the Week



I didn't want to do a repeat Player of the Week, I was really hoping on Sunday, my wish would come true. And it came true! All of a sudden Brad Richards (Box 14) nabs four points on Sunday and tied for the pool-high in points with nine. Just in case you wanted to know... Marc Savard was the other player with nine points.

The Lightning went 3-1-0 this week and their big 3 players are clicking with Richards leading the way. Richards had an assist on Tuesday, a goal and 2 assists on Thursday, an assist on Saturday and a goal and 3 assists on Sunday to cap it all off. He hasn't quite had the season that Lecavalier and St. Louis have had, but he's quietly still put up some pretty good numbers. That's a good ring to two teams ears.

"Welcome to the world of Movers & Shakers, Tom." Sorry, that Cadillac commercial is kind of addicting. Yup, we have ourselves a new name gracing the pages of the newsletter this week. Tom has taken the big award by moving up three places in the pool this week. He didn't have the biggest week, points wise, but he did find himself in the middle of a tight pack of teams and the most points in that group would move you up in a hurry.

Tom found some good points from players like Marc Savard (9 points), Evgeni Nabokov (6), Markus Naslund (4) and Martin Brodeur (4). This is Tom's highest position since Week Five, when he was 20th. His peak position was 17th in Week Two. He's only 43 points away from that peak position with only six weeks to go.

Benson to the 27th floor, please... Benson to the 27th floor. He'll have to go into the elevator and go down three places in the Standings. He's gone back down to where he was only a couple weeks ago. With Patrice Brisebois out for the rest of the season, Jason Williams not scoring, a cold Martin Straka, David Aebsicher lost his job to Jaroslav Halak and Chris Drury got popped by Chris Neil... yeah, it had Basement Dweller written all over it. Doesn't it? Yeah, I thought so.

Martin Brodeur – 98 points
Marty kept Crosby off the top of the pile this week. Crosby had a pretty good week with six points, but Brodeur had his four points to keep his title for now. Brodeur even had the day off on Sunday when his back-up, Scott Clemmensen (Box 24), took the start against the Capitals. But don't think just because he got the win that Clemmensen will be starting any more games... after waiting 30+ games to get that start, he'll probably have to wait until next season (barring injury) before his next tour in the crease.

Pool Trades
Keith Tkachuk (Box 1), taken once in the pool, was the first big Blue to move before Tuesday's deadline. He was dealt to Atlanta for Glen Metropolit, 2007 1st Rounder, 2007 3rd Rounder, 2008 2nd Rounder and a 2008 1st Rounder if Tkachuk re-signs with the Thrashers. Tkachuk has been coveted by quite a few teams and by the look of what the Thrashers gave up, it sesems like there was a large bidding war for his services.

It's a Flyer-sale! Everything must go! Useless veterans going for cheap! Well, not entirely useless, I guess. In a zero-pick-in-the-pool concern, Alexei Zhitnik (Box 17) was also dealt to the Thrashers from Philadelphia for Braydon Coburn (Box 22). No one has 'em... but this could make a difference to guys like the big three in Atlanta.

The strong just get stronger in the West. Now the Sharks have themselves a powerplay defenseman, who's a bit stronger with his shot from the point. Craig Rivet (Box 22) was shipped to the West Coast from Montreal to swim with the Sharks. Going the opposite way is Josh Gorges (Box 13) and a first round pick. Both Rivet and Gorges were both taken once in the pool. This trade went down during the early evening of Sunday. Man, I love the deadline!

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

Injuries
Already missing Maxim Afinogenov (Box 15), Chris Drury (Box 20) got popped by Chris Neil of the Senators and will be out for a period of time that is undetermined. Drury, taken eight times, will be re-evaluated this coming week for broken bones in his face, but doesn't seem to be suffering too many concussion symptoms.

Erik Cole (Box 13) will be out of the Canes' line-up for up to four weeks with a hip injury. The pick-up of Anson Carter (Box 3) will ease the Hurricanes scoring concerns, but Cole will be missed by two pool teams down the stretch.

Pavel Kubina (Box 22) broke his finger in the game against the Flyers on Saturday night and will be missed from the Leafs' line-up for a couple weeks at the least. He'll be missed by three pool teams.

It looks like Ed Jovanovski's (Box 4) season is over. Jovanovski, taken once, will more than likely go under the knife for season-ending abdomen surgery. The Coyotes, who have pretty much played themselves out of the playoffs, will play the rest of the year without their number one defenseman.

Hockey Night In Canada this week...




The unhealthy Sabres will make their return to Hockey Night In Canada, as they take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday. The Sabres, who have been decimated by injuries, will take on the other Ontario team and we can only hope that there is just as many fireworks as there were against Ottawa this past weekend. In the second half of the doubleheader, we'll see the Battle of Alberta again. The Flames and Oilers will play for better standing in the Northwest Division and should provide some good scoring for pool players.


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