Thursday, March 09, 2006

Deadline Deals in the Pool

Deadline Day Deals...
Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.comIn a less than significant move in the pool, defenseman Sean O'Donnell (Thanx For Comin' Out) was dealt from the Coyotes to the Ducks. O'Donnell has done pretty well nothing in the pool and will only add a little bit of defensive help to the Ducks who have been lacking all year.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.com Mark Recchi (The Shaving Moes) has been dealt to the best team in the league (at the break, statistically), the Carolina Hurricanes on Deadline Day. Recchi, who has enjoyed a decent season with the Penguins and Sidney Crosby (Doug's Deadbeats), will now have a chance again in the playoffs with this move. Recchi will move from playing with one young starlet to another in Eric Staal (The Slim Pickens). I think the only change in the pool will be Crosby losing out on some production in the end. Recchi will probably play at the same pace, but with linemates other than Staal. More than likely, he'll see a lot of time with another Moe, Cory Stillman (The Shaving Moes). This move may also increase the wins for Martin Gerber (Team EA) as the scoring has been upgraded as well.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.comSergei Samsonov (Team Lowes Racing) becomes the fifth player in the pool to move in the last couple days, picking up his roots in Boston and shifting them up north to Edmonton. What does this mean?? Samsonov's 18 goals will be a decent fit with the free-flow play that Edmonton's system is known for. Samsonov can skate with the best of them, when he's not hurt and could be a good match with Shawn Horcoff (The Shaving Moes) or Ales Hemsky (The Late Impact). This should be considered a healthy pool move.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.comA late trade coming off the wire saw pool defenseman, Ric Jackman (Team Chevy) move from Pittsburgh to Florida for a younger prospect. Jackman, a waiver draft pickup, was not seeing the amount of ice-time he should have deserved in Pittsburgh after Michel Therien became coach and was rumoured to be moving ever since the coaching change. In Florida, he should be able to fit right in and maybe pick up a few more points here and there.

Wednesday's Deals...

Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.comWednesday, the Montreal Canadiens sent injured goaltender, Jose Theodore (The Late Impact) to the Colorado Avalanche for Swiss goalie, David Aebischer. This would be a significant deal in the pool, if:

a) both goalies were taken in the pool this year and/or

b) Theodore wasn't injured.

As it stands though, Theodore may actually regain his Hart Trophy winning confidence in the thin air of Denver... or is it the lack of media scrutiny in Denver? Either way, there is a good chance that Theodore will become a good pick. Next year. Granted, if he's healthy soon... he might be a solid pick-up in any playoff pool you may find yourself in.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.comDefenseman Brent Sopel (Team EA) was also dealt today... to the Los Angeles Kings from the New York Islanders. The Kings were projected to be big buyers in this deadline session and they are showing some life, also picking up forward Mark Parrish for a couple of prospects and a pick. Sopel returns to the Western Conference where he had quite a bit of success with the Canucks before his couple seasons with Long Island. I would imagine he'd fit in pretty well and increase his somewhat quiet production he has had all year.



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Canucks on Deadline Day

Image hosted by Photobucket.comWell, my cries for "anything" came to fruition, as the Canucks found a few proverbial dance partners on Deadline Day and did a fair amount of dancing. A goaltender from the East, a defenseman from the East, two defensemen from the West and we shipped on defenseman to Atlanta... not to mention a few draft picks and a couple prospects leaving the organization. All in all, I would say that this is pretty good day for the Canucks.

Now, I can't say that the Canucks made waves in the hockey pool, but that really wasn't my concern today. My concern for the Canucks was to sure-up their back end, making themselves more reliable in their own end... which they did.

The addition of Keith Carney, Eric Weinrich and Sean Brown gives the Canucks three, count them, three experienced, reliable defensemen. Sure, they don't have a great offensive upside, but that's not what the Canucks needed. They need this type of player to make the correct first pass out of the zone, organize the penalty kill and keep the opposition away from Alex Auld. This will work... and it'll look even better when Ohlund, Jovanovski and Salo come back. The Canucks blueline will then rank amongst the best in the league.

To help out Alex Auld, the Canucks also picked up Mika Noronen from the Sabres. Now, I don't know who these people are, but there are some people in this hockey world who are looking for a Kiprusoff miracle from Noronen. I am not one of these people. I am, however, confident that Noronen will make for a finer, more reliable back-up for the team and Auld as the starter. Noronen, has done his time as a makeshift starter in Buffalo, so he can be relied upon to take on 10 to 12 games at a time... but he isn't in any way a proven backstop. Especially not in the playoffs. Saying that though, neither was Kiprusoff... but I am yet to make the miracle prediction. If that is the case... then woo wee, did we ever make a steal. But until then, it's a solid move that cost us a draft pick that we probably weren't gonna make good on anyways.

On the way out though is Steve McCarthy. I had some pretty high hopes for him back when he was drafted and was as hopeful for him when he signed on with the Canucks in the offseason. Unfortunately, he didn't pan out the way the team (or myself for that matter) wanted for him and he made his way out to Atlanta for a crummy draft pick.

The only problem with dealing McCarthy at the moment is that... well, we have a game against Nashville tonight. My fingers are crossed that one of our new defensemen can show up in time to lace 'em up. Any one of them would do... more than likely Carney, coming from Anaheim. Just want to make sure that we have enough guys to play tonight as we need to pick up some more points to catch up to Calgary.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comNashville on the other hand picked up Brendan Witt today... but they didn't lose anyone to get him. Not from the everyday roster anyways. Allegedly, the Predators are injury-riddled and all, but they still looked pretty damn good against the Flames on Tuesday night.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comIf I was to compare other teams in the Northwest, the argument is pending that the Oilers made the next biggest jump in the division. They sured up their goaltending situation with the pick-up of Dwayne Roloson, while picking up some more offensive boost in Sergei Samsonov. The Oilers were in need of both pieces of the puzzle they picked up and they did give up a lot of futures to get it, but it does make them a worthy contender, whilst making the eighth and final playoff spot harder for the rest of the teams to win now.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comThe Avalanche almost seemed to have made a step backwards in the Northwest, although they do seem to have enough to get them where they need to be in 6 weeks time... the playoffs. The goaltending swap, sending a healthy Aebischer to the Canadiens for an injured Theodore makes me scratch my head and wonder what they are trying to accomplish. But when Theodore is healthy, which may only be a couple of weeks away, he could be a very dangerous commodity for the Avs come the Cup run. Unfortunately, they received some bad news that Marek Svatos will be lost to them for the remainder of the season, which takes away quite a bit of scoring. The acquisition of Jim Dowd from Chicago will not be enough to fill that gap today.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comThe Wild didn't go too nuts this time around... from the outside looking in on the playoffs, fifth in the Northwest, two games above .500, the Wild ended up being more of a selling team than a buying team. With Roloson being shipped off for a first-rounder, Willie Mitchell dealt to the Stars and Alexandre Daigle being waived... it was time to think about next season instead of fighting too hard to crack through the concrete wall. Manny Fernandez and Marian Gaborik will be relied upon to make a good show through the rest of the year and maybe considered a pretty big spoiler to teams who want to make it in.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comFinally, we come to the lowly Flames... okay, not lowly. The Flames only picked up centre Jamie Lundmark from the Coyotes. An underachieving youngster who had tremendous potential and has yet to really live up to any of it. Don't get me wrong, I really have liked Lundmark through the years, I had him in one of my pool teams a couple years ago. He did nothing, but I had some faith in him at one time to actually pick him. The Flames didn't need to make much for trades... they lead the division without any major scoring punches, so actually sacrificing a lot to pick up something they didn't need seemed a little over the top. Unlike their divisional bretheren, the Flames were good before the deadline and remained relatively the same through the passing of the 3pm ET deadline and they'll continue to fight the good fight for the last few weeks of the season.

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Monday, March 06, 2006

Wildfire Hockey Pool Standings - End of Week 20

Team.......................................Total...This Week
Don's Dinos..................................493..........28
Langdon River Dogs...........................491..........16
The Shaving Moes.............................490..........19
Team EA......................................475..........33
Team Lowes Racing............................444..........17
THE Team.....................................444..........33
The Slim Pickens.............................428..........19
Sherpa's Yaks................................414..........24
Taffy's Tyrants..............................410..........28
Pull the Goalie..............................404..........21

Team Chevy...................................394..........12
The Late Impact..............................392..........21
Thanx For Comin' Out.........................378..........17
Doug's Deadbeats.............................375..........17

Stats updated through Sunday's games

Well, the Langdon River Dogs had a poor showing on the weekend and dropped down to 2nd place again, leaving the door open for Don's Dinos to step up to 1st once again. The Shaving Moes are still keeping pace and a gap to fourth with a decent show in Week 20.

The week high was shared by Team EA and THE Team... each picking up 33 points.

The Player of the Week was Eric Staal (The Slim Pickens) with a solid 7 points during the week.

The trade deadline in the NHL is this week with the chance that some players in the pool will be moved. We should be able to schedule one more draft session at the Wildfire if anyone is still interested in dropping a player or two. Do leave me an e-mail if this is the case... opiated@telus.net.

Injuries:
Image hosted by Photobucket.comSergei Samsonov (Team Lowes Racing) - Foot; Returned on Wednesday


Image hosted by Photobucket.comDaniel Briere (The Late Impact) - Abdominal Surgery; Returned on Wednesday


Image hosted by Photobucket.comRoman Hamrlik (The Slim Pickens) - Hand; Indefinitely


Image hosted by Photobucket.comPierre Turgeon (The Late Impact) - Shoulder; Returned on Tuesday
Marek Svatos (Pull the Goalie) - Mouth; Day-to-day

Image hosted by Photobucket.comBryan Berard (Langdon River Dogs) - Back; After the Olympics


Image hosted by Photobucket.comPavol Demitra (The Shaving Moes) - Eye & Nose; Day-to-day
Alex Frolov (Doug's Deadbeats) - Shoulder; Day-to-day

Image hosted by Photobucket.comJose Theodore (The Late Impact) - Foot; Indefinitely


Image hosted by Photobucket.comAlex Mogilny (The Slim Pickens) - In the minors


Image hosted by Photobucket.comAlexei Zhitnik (Don's Dinos) - Ankle; Returned on Tuesday


Image hosted by Photobucket.comJaromir Jagr (Langdon River Dogs) - Groin; Returned on Wednesday


Image hosted by Photobucket.comDominik Hasek (Doug's Deadbeats) - Groin; Indefinitely


Image hosted by Photobucket.comPeter Forsberg (Pull the Goalie) - Groin; Returned on Wednesday
Kim Johnsson (Team Lowes Racing) - Head; After the Olympic Break.
Simon Gagne (Team Chevy) - Knee; Day-to-day
Image hosted by Photobucket.comLadislav Nagy (Pull the Goalie) - Knee; Out for the season
Derek Morris (Doug's Deadbeats) - Ankle; Late February

Image hosted by Photobucket.comMario Lemieux (Doug's Deadbeats) - Retired
Ziggy Palffy (Pull the Goalie) - Retired

Image hosted by Photobucket.comPavel Kubina (The Slim Pickens) - Head; Returned to action Tuesday


Image hosted by Photobucket.comEric Lindros (Taffy's Tyrants) - Wrist; Out for the season


Image hosted by Photobucket.comDan Cloutier (Sherpa's Yaks) - Knee; Out for the season
Ed Jovanovski (Don's Dinos) - Groin & Abdominal Surgery; Indefinitely
Mattias Ohlund (Team Chevy) - Ribs; Indefinitely
Sami Salo (The Shaving Moes) - Shoulder; Day-to-day
Image hosted by Photobucket.comSteve Eminger (Sherpa's Yaks) - Ankle; Day-to-day
Alex Ovechkin (Langdon River Dogs) - Wrist; Played on Tuesday



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Monday, February 27, 2006

Wildfire Hockey Pool Standings in the Olympics

Team.......................................Total
The Shaving Moes.............................30
Langdon River Dogs...........................30
Don's Dinos..................................30
Thanx For Comin' Out.........................27
Team Lowes Racing............................26
THE Team.....................................23
The Slim Pickens.............................20
Team EA......................................17
The Late Impact..............................17

Doug's Deadbeats.............................15
Pull the Goalie..............................15
Sherpa's Yaks................................12
Team Chevy...................................12
Taffy's Tyrants..............................8


Well, with Sweden winning Olympic Gold, the Hockey Pool came out with this point total. The tie-breaker for this, just like our pool, is goals scored, which the Shaving Moes edged the Langdon River Dogs and Don's Dinos (16 to 11 & 9, respectively).

The Moes only had 6 players in the tournament where the Dogs had 7 and the Dinos had 8.

There was some injuries to report from the Games that will come over into the play resuming on Tuesday, but they will be reflected in the first update later this week...


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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Wildfire Hockey Pool Standings - End of Week 19

Team.......................................Total...This Week
Langdon River Dogs...........................475..........37
The Shaving Moes.............................471..........28
Don's Dinos..................................465..........26
Team EA......................................442..........30
Team Lowes Racing............................427..........18
THE Team.....................................411..........31
The Slim Pickens.............................409..........28
Sherpa's Yaks................................390..........19
Pull the Goalie..............................383..........11
Team Chevy...................................382..........30
Taffy's Tyrants..............................382..........27
The Late Impact..............................371..........19
Thanx For Comin' Out.........................361..........19
Doug's Deadbeats.............................358..........18

Stats are updated through to the Olympic games...

Friday's News:
Image hosted by Photobucket.comSergei Samsonov (Team Lowes Racing) - Foot; Day-to-day


Image hosted by Photobucket.comBryan Berard (Langdon River Dogs) - Back; After the Olympics


Image hosted by Photobucket.comJason Spezza (Sherpa's Yaks) - Head; Returned.



Thursday's News:
Image hosted by Photobucket.comDaniel Briere (The Late Impact) - Abdominal Surgery; After the Olympics


Image hosted by Photobucket.comAlexei Zhitnik (Don's Dinos) - Ankle; After the Olympics.


Image hosted by Photobucket.comJason Spezza (Sherpa's Yaks) - Head; left last night's game.


Image hosted by Photobucket.comPeter Forsberg (Pull the Goalie) - Groin; Day-to-day
Kim Johnsson (Team Lowes Racing) - Head; After the Olympic Break.
Simon Gagne (Team Chevy) - Flu; Day-to-day

Tuesday's News:
There isn't any new injury news today... everything sort of stands as is... so, I'll try and recap who's out at the moment.
Image hosted by Photobucket.comDaniel Briere (The Late Impact) - Abdominal Surgery; Late February


Image hosted by Photobucket.comRoman Hamrlik (The Slim Pickens) - Hand; Indefinitely


Image hosted by Photobucket.comPierre Turgeon (The Late Impact) - Shoulder; Indefinitely


Image hosted by Photobucket.comBryan Berard (Langdon River Dogs) - Back; Day-to-day


Image hosted by Photobucket.comAlex Mogilny (The Slim Pickens) - In the minors


Image hosted by Photobucket.comAlexei Zhitnik (Don's Dinos) - Ankle; Day-to-day


Image hosted by Photobucket.comPeter Forsberg (Pull the Goalie) - Groin; Day-to-day
Kim Johnsson (Team Lowes Racing) - Head; After the Olympic Break.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comLadislav Nagy (Pull the Goalie) - Knee; Out for the season
Derek Morris (Doug's Deadbeats) - Ankle; Late February

Image hosted by Photobucket.comMario Lemieux (Doug's Deadbeats) - Retired
Ziggy Palffy (Pull the Goalie) - Retired

Image hosted by Photobucket.comEric Lindros (Taffy's Tyrants) - Writst; Indefinitely


Image hosted by Photobucket.comDan Cloutier (Sherpa's Yaks) - Knee; Out for the season
Ed Jovanovski (Don's Dinos) - Groin & Abdominal Surgery; Indefinitely

Image hosted by Photobucket.comSteve Eminger (Sherpa's Yaks) - Ankle; Day-to-day


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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Update Coming Soon...

Since we're in the Olympic Break, I haven't been in any rush to update the site yet... saying that, I haven't had any time to do so either.

Once everything has died down at work... which could be tomorrow... I should be able to have an update for the last week!!

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Monday, February 06, 2006

Wildfire Hockey Pool Standings - End of Week 18

Team.......................................Total...This Week
The Shaving Moes.............................443..........16
Don's Dinos..................................439..........23
Langdon River Dogs...........................438..........23
Team EA......................................412..........24
Team Lowes Racing............................409..........20
The Slim Pickens.............................381..........25
THE Team.....................................380..........24
Pull the Goalie..............................372..........14
Sherpa's Yaks................................371..........26
Taffy's Tyrants..............................355..........21
Team Chevy...................................352..........24
The Late Impact..............................352..........7
Thanx For Comin' Out.........................342..........18
Doug's Deadbeats.............................340..........16

Stats are updated through Sunday's games...

The race for first is tightening up after the Langdon River Dogs & Don's Dinos reeled in The Shaving Moes during the week. The stretch run will prove to be interesting in the money spots.

The bottom of the table keeps shaking up... both Doug's Deadbeats & Thanx For Comin' Out can't decide between the two teams which one should take the bottom spot. With the injury situation, Doug's Deadbeats may have the inside track on the bottom.

The best team of the week last week was the Sherpa's Yaks... led by Henrik Sedin (7 points) had 26 points in the week and made the middle section of the pool a little more interesting.

Manny Legace (Team Chevy) was the Player of the Week for Week 18... having a great week with 8 points.

Monday's News
Returns to the line-up: Cory Stillman (The Shaving Moes) returned to the 'Canes line-up on Sunday and tallied a couple of assists. Marek Zidlicky (The Shaving Moes) also returned to the Predators line-up after missing 3 games with a hand injury. Both players are welcomed back by the Moes with open arms. Andrei Markov (The Late Impact) returned after missing 8 games with a shoulder injury.

Friday's News
Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.comTRADE - In the trade of the week on Wednesday, we had a pool player move from one team to another. The Calgary Flames dealt Steve Reinprecht (Thanx For Comin' Out) with back-up goalie Phil Sauve to the Phoenix Coyotes for goalie Brian Boucher and forward Mike Leclerc.
Long-term injuries - Ed Jovanovski (Don's Dinos) has now been listed as out indefintiely with an abdominal injury. He'll definitely be out until after the Olympics and possibly a few weeks after that.
Day-to-day injuries - Alexei Zhitnik (Don's Dinos) will miss another game or two with an ankle injury. Sidney Crosby (Doug's Deadbeats) missed last night's game with the flu, unsure how he'll be come the weekend.
Returns to the line-up - Keith Tkachuk (THE Team) returned AGAIN to the Blues line-up after missing 22 games with a broken hand. Glen Murray (Team Lowes Racing) returned to the Bruins line-up after missing 10 games with a foot injury.


Wednesday's News:
Long-term injuries - Roman Hamrlik (The Slim Pickens) is out indefinitely with a broken hand
Day-to-day injuries - Kim Johnsson (Team Lowes Racing), dizziness; Alex Ovechkin (Langdon River Dogs), groin; Ladislav Nagy (Pull the Goalie), knee; Mike Modano (Doug's Deadbeats), foot
Returns to the line-up - Bryan McCabe (Taffy's Tyrants), missed 9 games, groin.

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