Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Are the Russians Goin' Home?

I suppose you could argue whether it was the home-cooking or the fact they've rocked them in the first four games of the series, but the Canadians took a period to get their legs underneath themselves and then dominated the Russians in the final two periods, winning the game 8-1.

Continuing his assault on the stat sheet, Sam Gagner had another goal and two assists in the romp, while linemate, Claude Giroux had a pair of goals and added an assist. NHL scouts must be having a great time watching their recently drafted prospects and watching a few eligible players to be drafted as well. Coyote prospect, Kyle Turris showed off more of his talent last night adding a goal and an assist to his tally sheet in the 8-game series.

In net, Jonathan Bernier looked solid again, which gives the Kings even more belief that they have one of the best goalies coming through the system. Bernier only had one powerplay goal slip by in his two starts against the Russians and may still get one more start for the Canadians before it's all said and done.

NHL TeamNamePosGA
S. GagnerF46
C. GirouxF33
B. MarchandF33
D. PerronF24
K. TurrisF41
2009 DraftJ. TavaresF14
J. GodfreyD04
S. LegeinF30
2008 DraftZ. BoychukF21
L.PyettD11
Z. HamillF11
B. SutterF02
K. EllerbyD02
M. LucicF02
T. HickeyD02
C. GillesF10
2008 DraftD. DoughtyD01

NHL TeamNamePosWSO
J. BernierG21
S. MasonG20
L. IrvingG10

Alex Vasyunov was the only Russian to solve Bernier last night, much to the delight of the Devils organization. Quite possibly the only bright spot of the evening last night, besides possibly keeping the Canadian juggernaut scoreless in the first period. One of the two would be the brightest spot.

NHL TeamNamePosGA
N/AA. RyabevF20
A. VasyunovF11
N/AV. SolodukhinF02
I. KablukovF10
N/AP. DoroninD10
N/AA. GrishinD10
2008 DraftM. ChudinovD10
N/AI. ZubovD01
E. DadonovF01
N/AM. GlukhovF01
M. MayorovF01


NHL TeamNamePosWSO
S. VarlamovG00


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Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Draft Webpage Live!

Well, the pool page is now uploaded and started to be updated with the list of people participating. If you want to go have a look at it, click here. It has lots of work yet to be done to it, but if you've signed up for the draft, you should be able to see your name on the list.

When all the teams have been listed and then chosen, your team will be viewable, much like last season, with all the numbers you'll need to see.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions for the pool, please feel free to let me know. I would like to have a complete package ready for the regular season. The pool should be as enjoyable as possible this season for everyone!


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Roenick's Bite Worthy of a Shark

Couldn't say I saw this one coming, but the San Jose Sharks have added flamboyant forward, Jeremy Roenick to their roster today by signing him to a 1-year $500,000 deal. Roenick, scored 11 goals and 17 assists in 70 games last season, could figure into your hockey pool team's plans. Roenick could figure in as a very late round forward, especially in the Sherpa's hockey pool, as we'll be going very deep into the forward pool. Roenick was not a part of the mock draft done earlier, but at 28 points, he could figure in to the 10th round of selections.

Milan MichalekJoe ThorntonJonathon Cheechoo
Ryan ClowePatrick MarleauMatt Carle
Marcel GocJoe PavelskiSteve Bernier
Patrick RissmillerJeremy Roenick
Mike Grier

Curtis Brown
Christian EhrhoffMarc-Edouard Vlasic
Craig RivetKyle McLaren
Doug MurrayRob Davison
Evgeni Nabokov
Dimitri Patzold

It's unlikely he'll figure in as a fourth line centre, but the depth at centre for San Jose does mean he'll have an uphill battle to figure in to the line-up. Thornton and Marleau are locks, while Pavelski is really up and coming at the moment... so Roenick and Brown will have a good battle for the checking line centre position. Even as a checking line centre, there should be a good number of points, as Grier has always proved to be a very good secondary scorer.

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Monday, September 03, 2007

Bell To Sit Out

Well, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have to live without one of their off-season for an indefinite period of time. Centre, Mark Bell, fresh off his conviction from his hit-and-run in California and his jail sentence that will come into effect after the coming season, will now have to sit out indefinitely thanks to the NHL's substance abuse program. The news came off the wire on Monday night that he'll sit out for an indefinite period of time, which will be determined by doctors in their abuse program.

Bell, acquired with Toskala, only scored 11 goals in 71 games last season... a clear drop in production from the two seasons previous. He did come to Toronto with all this baggage, but now that he is suspended by the league's program, his salary will not count against the team for the time he isn't paid. Bell is scheduled to make $2 million this season, but will not see all of it, as it's unlikely that he'll start the season, with training camp less than 2 weeks away.

Alex PonikarovskyMats SundinJason Blake
Alex SteenKyle WellwoodDarcy Tucker
Bates BattagliaMatt StajanNikolai Antropov
Chad KilgerJon PohlBoyd Devereaux

Mark Bell
Tomas KaberleBryan McCabe
Pavel KubinaCarlo Colaiacovo
Hal GillIan White
Vesa Toskala
Andrew Raycroft

The Leafs are looking at building from the net outwards. With Toskala and Raycroft looking to fill the net all season (so far) and the top six defensemen are becoming a great talented bunch. The real question for the Leafs, in my opinion, will be the talent up front.

Will Jason Blake be able to score 40 goals with Mats Sundin? What about Wellwood and Stajan? Will they be capable second and third centres for the team? If the Leafs are going to succeed, they will need some production from a different guy every night, since this core group of players have not been the most consistent in the past few years.

Blake could be the cornerstone of this offense. If he scores like his numbers suggest, it will take a lot of pressure off those second and third lines.

Flames Could Lose to Russia

Well, unlike the Canadian juniors that swept the opening four games in Ufa and Omsk, the Russians are putting a couple over on the Calgary Flames organization and their depth. Already losing defenseman Mark Giordano to Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Super League, the Flames are potentially going to lose forward Andrei Taratukhin.

Taratukhin has one more season left on his contract, but will not commit to his minor-league half of the deal. All indications show that Taratukhin is all about joining the Flames full-time for this season or he'll take advantage of a newly-signed 3-year deal in Russia.

As you can see in the last team update for the Flames, Taratukhin is not on the forward list. I would honestly believe, he has an uphill battle to try and beat out guys like Dustin Boyd and David Moss, who are arguably harder working players than any Russian you'll find on any list. Head coach, Mike Keenan, does always have a wee bit of a soft spot for talented Russians... so you never know. I'm sure if Taratukhin wants to raise his desire, Keenan will spot that and quite possibly reward him.

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Sweeping Away the Russians

Much to the chagrin of the Russians, this SuperSeries hasn't been too super. It's almost laughable at how dominating the Canadian team has been. Frankly, I did sort of see this coming... the Russian players have not fared well against the Canadians in World Junior competitions, the ADT Canada/Russia challenges among other competitions in the past few years.

Now, the series shifts to Canada where the games will resume on Tuesday in Winnipeg. If the Canadians fared well in enemy territory, you can only imagine how they will do with thousands of fans cheering them on. The showcase will also be broadcast in prime time here in Canada, so many more will get to see the skill and talent of our young Canadian squad.

NHL TeamNamePosGA
S. GagnerF34
B. MarchandF32
D. PerronF13
K. TurrisF30
S. LegeinF30
C. GirouxF12
2009 DraftJ. TavaresF12
2008 DraftZ. BoychukF11
B. SutterF02
K. EllerbyD02
J. GodfreyD02
M. LucicF02
C. GillesF10
Z. HamillF01
T. HickeyD01

NHL TeamNamePosWSO
J. BernierG11
S. MasonG20
L. IrvingG10

Sam Gagner is leading by example for the Canadians, creating lots of chances and capitalizing on them as well. All those Oiler fans are licking their chops at the prospect that Gagner will be in an Oiler uniform within the next couple seasons.

Bruin prospect, Brad Marchand, showed why he's a fixture on Nike's Summer Shift campaign, as he didn't quit in Game 4 at all. A couple goals and an assist was his contribution against Russia in Game 4. The Bruins management is loving the idea of the success of their Canadian kids.

NHL TeamNamePosGA
N/AA. RyabevF20
N/AV. SolodukhinF02
I. KablukovF10
N/AP. DoroninD10
N/AA. GrishinD10
2008 DraftM. ChudinovD10
N/AI. ZubovD01
E. DadonovF01
N/AM. GlukhovF01
M. MayorovF01
A. VasyunovF01


NHL TeamNamePosWSO
S. VarlamovG00

The Russians on the other hand, now outscored 17-6, will have to find something new in themselves to pull out a win on Canadian soil. The only NHL prospect in net, Semen Varlamov, has lost his number one job and may only see one or two more games in this series. But the Russians will need to start scoring some goals to make the Canadians think about playing better defense.


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