Penguins Owned Game 3

We have ourselves a new leader in the pool! Steve W. has overcome the huge lead that Mike D. set-up for himself at the beginning of the Conference Finals. Steve matched the Mike's point total on Saturday night, getting himself tied and using the goals for tie-break to take the lead. Trevor overtook Brad for third spot in the pool as well on Saturday, also using the goals scored tie-break to take the lead. The difference between 1st and 4th is now only 10 points.

Anyways, back to the action on the ice. The Penguins now have themselves a stranglehold on the Hurricanes, after beating Carolina 6-2 in Game 3. The Penguins offense has been just too much for the Hurricanes to handle and it's all thanks to the superstars being superstars.

Evgeni Malkin isn't letting anyone show him up in this series, leading the Penguins again in Game 3, with 2 goals, including the winner, and an assist for a 4-point night in the pool. Malkin alone has been a wrecking ball, leading all pool players in the Conference Finals with 11 points through 3 games. He now leads all pool players in the playoffs with 31 points and has the lead in GWG bonus points with 3.

Also having a big night for the Penguins in Game 3 were Bill Guerin (goal & assist), Chris Kunitz (2 assists), Ruslan Fedotenko (goal & assist), Sergei Gonchar (2 assists), Sidney Crosby (goal & assist) and Marc-Andre Fleury (win). It really looks like the Penguins have it all set-up for a repeat performance in the Cup Finals now and congratulations to all of those who thought that way at the beginning of the playoffs, it could very well be paying off for you.

If there was a bright spot for the Hurricanes on Saturday, it was that Tuomo Ruutu did return to the line-up from his lower body injury. The returned player didn't quite give the home team the spark that they so desperately needed, but he should also be available for Game 4 on Monday.

Pool Outlook for Washington

The Capitals showed off their offensive prowess to the 'enth degree again in 2009, as they were third in the league in goal scoring, helping them to a Southeast Division title. The young skilled forwards of Washington were on display and doing some great things all year, despite a couple injury setbacks. Unfortunately for the Caps, they ran into a strong Pittsburgh team in the playoffs and that ended their good run in the second round.

Alex Ovechkin missed three games this season, due to some family issues, but still managed to come back and score, almost at will. Ovechkin finished the year with 56 goals and 54 assists in 79 GP, second in the league for pool scoring. He continues to keep his name in the debate for the first overall pick in your fantasy draft, as he should. In my fantasy draft this past season, Ovechkin was taken number two, which was a dead on accurate pick. Does he go number one in your draft in the Fall?

There was plenty to be excited about from the other two young superstars up front for the Capitals, as Nicklas Backstrom finished 14th in pool scoring this season and Alex Semin finished 27th. Having three quality forwards in the top 30 of pool scorers means that you are truly onto something. Backstrom avoided the sophomore jinx with 88 points in all 82 GP, while Semin battled injury, but still had 79 points in 62 GP. The forwards from Washington will be a hot commodity in your fantasy draft, so if you want them, you have to be early to get them. Brooks Laich also enjoyed a good season, finisheing fourth among Caps forwards with 53 points in 82 GP, ranking him 114th in pool scoring, 84th among forwards. He certainly isn't a household name, so he could figure into being a good pick for your team if he slides down a ways in the draft. Past Laich, the depth of scoring does drop off a bit, as Viktor Kozlov, Tomas Fleischmann, Sergei Fedorov and Michael Nylander were all around for points here and there, but none really could join the scoring parade at a reasonable click or get themselves on one of the bigger lines for too long.

The Capitals are also quite fortunate to have the league's best scoring defenseman in Mike Green. He finished the year with 73 points in 62 GP, ranking him first among defenders, 42nd in the league overall. At only 23 years old, he has the potential of becoming a high second round pick in fantasy circles, but in the 42nd ranking, he does open himself up for a late second round or early third round pick (to be safe), but could go as high as a late first round pick, for those who are terrible impatient. Unfortunately for the Capitals, the gap between Green and the next defenders is quite large, when it comes to offense. Next on the list was Milan Jurcina, who finished the year with 3 goals and 11 assists in 79 GP, which ranked him 501st in the league, 126th among defenders.

Goaltending in the regular season didn't seem to be too much of an issue, especially if the goaltenders can keep less pucks out of the net than the offense is putting in on the other side. Jose Theodore took the lead in Capitals tending this past year, winning 32 games, shutting out 2 and picking up 3 assists for 71 pool points in the year. He will be mired in a goaltending battle come next season, as Simeon Varlamov, who won 4 games (for 8 points) in the regular season, came in for Theodore in the playoffs and played exceptionally well. Brent Johnson also fared pretty well before an injury, finishing the season with 12 wins and an assist for 25 pool points.

2010 Season Outlook
With Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Green and Varlamov in tow already for 2010, the outlook isn't too bad at all. Of course, the wild card for the Capitals has been injuries, but putting that aside, there really isn't too much concern going into the 2010 season, but I'm sure there are a couple holes that could be filled, hopefully that could improve the team into more of a scoring threat and a playoff contender.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Alex Ovechkin	Mike Green	Jose Theodore
Nicklas Backstrom	Tom Poti	Simeon Varlamov
Alex Semin	John Erskine
Brooks Laich	Brian Pothier
Tomas Fleischmann
Michael Nylander
David Steckel
Matt Bradley
Chris Clark

The Capitals will be going into the summer with a middle of the road number against the cap with 15 guys already signed on for next season. There are a couple young kids signed on, that will likely get a case for a regular job, but for the time being, this is the 15 players that we're going to go with. Currently, with these 15 guys, the cap hit is approximately $46.4 million, which doesn't leave them with a great deal of space for the last 8 spots, but it should help them to find talent where they need it most.

The Capitals free agency situation has a nice mix of UFAs and RFAs heading to market this summer and we'll start with the UFAs for right now. Viktor Kozlov, Sergei Fedorov, Brent Johnson and Donald Brashear, lead the way out to the marketplace, but there have been some rumblings that some of these veterans may still have a place in Washington for next season. Both Kozlov and Fedorov have been good role models for the young Russians on the team and Johnson may still be kept around to be in the fight for a spot on the team in goal.

On the RFA side, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Milan Jurcina, Shaone Morrisonn and Jeff Schultz all found regular (or semi-regular) spots with the team in 2009 and will likely see some good negotiation with the club going forward. No one should be surprised if all five players get new deals right away this Summer.

Possibly, the only thing stopping these free agents from getting a new contract this summer, may be the influx of some new young talent. If Simeon Varlamov gets a full-time job, Brent Johnson should be out. Anton Gustafson could be getting a long look as a third line centre, possibly rendering Boyd Gordon expendible. John Carlson and Karl Alzner could get some looks this Fall, making a couple defenders think about their immediate future. There isn't a lot of sure-fire talent making the jump next season, but there are some names to watch for 2010, especially through training camp.

I know I will have a number of Capitals players high on my list this Fall, but there are a couple that I might put a couple notches down, just so I'm not in a big rush to pick them up. Ovechkin would be my guy, if I had first overall pick in my fantasy draft, as he's pretty much a sure thing. I would also value Backstrom quite high as well, as that tandem is all but a sure thing. Green, I will also value quite highly, but I'm not going to give up on a high producing forward to take him on the back-end. His totals should go up, but that is purely at the discretion of yourself at the time of the draft. The Caps will make some good next year, for sure.

Blackhawks Draw One Back

Well, the Blackhawks managed to pull one out of the bag at home, proving to everyone that they aren't quite finished with the playoffs just yet. The Hawks had to take the Red Wings into overtime to get the job done, but they now only sit one game behind in the series. The final score in Chicago last night was 4-3.

The game did a number on the pool as well, shrinking the lead to 5 points, as Steve W. continues to chase down Mike D. in these Conference Finals. The final two money positions have some new occupants after the game on Friday night, as Brad W. and Trevor B. took the third and fourth spots, respectively, with the Blackhawks win.

Leading the way for the Hawks in Game 3 was Patrick Sharp, who collected two goals, including the winner, for a 3-point night in the pool. Sharp was a pretty popular pick in Box 5 for the Hawks, he was taken 15 times. Also having a good night for the Blackhawks was Samuel Pahlsson, who ended up with a goal and an assist.

Only one Red Wings player had a multiple-point night and that was Marian Hossa, who had a pair of assists in the game.

Well, if you're asking where the win was for Nikolai Khabibulin, well, he didn't come away with the statistical win. Khabibulin did not come out onto the ice for the third period after allowing 3 goals on 18 shots, leaving the game to Cristobel Huet to finish the third and the 1:52 of overtime. The word on Khabibulin was that he left the game with a lower body injury. That wasn't the only injury that the Blackhawks suffered, as they lost Martin Havlat to a crushing check by Niklas Kronwall in the first period. It looked as though Havlat suffered a concussion due to the hit and Kronwall was ejected from the game after a five minute major for interference.

The Red Wings were also without Pavel Datsyuk, who was sat down to heal a bruised foot, which he suffered in an earlier playoff game. Datsyuk had been skating, but decided against playing, just to be on the cautious side. You should likely expect him to go in Game 4, now that it has become a series.

Pool Outlook for Vancouver

At the beginning of the season, the expectations of the Canucks were only as high as the pre-season that came before... which actually turned out to be cautiously high. On paper, the Canucks didn't vastly improve their team over the summer and it wasn't until the mid-point before Mats Sundin came to town. The Canucks did fare well in the year overall, winning the Northwest Division, despite a long injury layoff for Roberto Luongo. It was just a hard crash at the end of the year, being ousted by the Blackhawks in the second round of the playoffs.

Despite missing quite a bit of action this season with a groin injury, Roberto Luongo still finished the season well, with 33 wins, 9 shutouts and an assist for 85 pool points. He finished 17th in pool scoring in the league, keeping his stock rather high going into the 2010 campaign. The 85 points had him ranked 6th among goalies in the league, which still seems astounding since he missed a month and a half worth of action. Nevertheless, he came back stronger than ever, which made keeping him around during his injury worth while.

In Luongo's absence, the Canucks were going to rely on young Cory Schneider and Curtis Sanford, but that wasn't working out too well. The team went out and acquired Jason LaBarbera from the Kings to help out, which he did and then ended up being Luongo's back-up. There really wasn't a great deal of points to be had in the back-up department when it was all said and done.

Up front, it was one of the better seasons for Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who both finished in the top 20 in pool scoring in 2009, both with 82 points. For Henrik, that was a career year. Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows each broke out this year, scoring 59 and 51 points, respectively. Pavol Demitra, signed on in the summer, had a bit of a bounce back year, climbing back into the top 100 in scoring with 53 points in 69 GP, but certainly wasn't dominant. Beyond those, there wasn't a lot of pool players in the mix. Mats Sundin, in his mid-season jump back into the fray, had 28 points in 41 GP, certainly not the biggest draw for the money he was paid to play.

Finally, on defense, it was a career year for Kevin Bieksa, scoring 11 goals and adding 32 assists in 72 GP for the Canucks. His injury in 2008 did hamper his stock a fair bit in my draft in 2009, but as a mid-season acquisition, he was quite good. Alexander Edler had himself a breakout year on the blueline for the Canucks, with 37 points in 80 GP, ranking him 34th among defensemen in the pool. Both Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo had rough years, finishing with 25 points each and injuries for Salo were not helping him out very much. Bieksa and Edler should be considered two worthy defenders for your pool team next season.

2010 Season Outlook
It's going to be a busy Summer in Vancouver, as there are a lot of question marks going forward with the team, especially when it comes to all the free agents. The management is going to have to pick a direction with all the free agents and stick to it, just for the sake of continuity. The team has a reasonable core signed up already, but it does lack their big names, in terms of scoring.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Ryan Kesler	Kevin Bieksa	Roberto Luongo
Pavol Demitra	Alex Edler
Alex Burrows	Sami Salo
Steve Bernier	Willie Mitchell
Mason Raymond
Ryan Johnson
Darcy Hordichuk

The current base of the team consists of 12 players at a salary cap hit of $35.3 million, but the difference towards the cap ceiling will be filled up quite quickly. Having the starting goalie, four of their top defensemen and a good group of forwards signed at the current amount does seem pretty good though. There should only be a few different ways that this team will go, but we won't find out until the pens hit paper.

Of course the biggest free agent concerns are all unrestricted, as the Sedin twins are both up for new deals this summer, as well as Mats Sundin, Mattias Ohlund, Jason LaBarbera, Taylor Pyatt, Curtis Sanford and Ossi Vaananen. There isn't a big case for any of these players to stay on at the moment, especially with the cap number not announced yet and some RFAs to handle as well.

The RFA crop for the Canucks will include Kyle Wellwood, Jannik Hansen, Shane O'Brien and Rick Rypien, all of whom shouldn't be commanding too much cap space this summer, which could help the franchise work around some of the more important signings.

The Canucks are quite excited to see Cody Hodgson do well with the Manitoba Moose in the AHL playoffs, as they are poised to have him on the team next season. Hodgson was one of the big stars on Canada's WJC team in the New Year, scoring on a line with John Tavares. Hodgson should bring some big talent in the middle of the ice, not to mention already looking very mature for his age. We should be seeing Cory Schneider getting more involved with the big club, likely even in an showcase role for moving. Also likely getting a look in camp will be two defenders, Yann Sauve and Taylor Ellington, both 2nd round draft picks with good potential.

Depending on who signs what in the summer for the Canucks, there is a few question marks as to how the chemistry will work out and how many wins the team will get. You have to know that Luongo, Bieksa and Demitra will be mainstays, no matter what the climate, while Kesler, Burrows and Edler have room to fluctuate, due to inexperience. The signing of the Sedin twins will be key for the Canucks or else they are going to have to replace 160+ points with the money that is left over. Stay tuned, this will be a very interesting summer.

Kessel's Expected Return from Surgery

Well, the surgery that Phil Kessel has undergone may keep him out of the line-up a little longer than originally expected. Kessel underwent shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff and his suggested rehab time is 4-to-6 months. At the short end of the term, he could be ready to go in late September, missing the better part of training camp, which was somewhat expected, but he also could be out until November, missing the first month and a bit of the season. You will have to keep your ear to the ground on draft day, as you will want to know his status before picking him for your team.

Penguins Now Up Two

It's a Conference Final for the home teams, it seems, as the Penguins have now jumped out to a 2-0 series lead, much like the Red Wings in the West. The Penguins beat the Hurricanes, 7-4, in what was a back-and-forth battle for the better part of the hockey game. In the end, it was the Penguins' superstars that came out with all guns a blazin' and really lit the lamp in the third period to take the game over by force.

Not only did this game put the Hurricanes in a spot of trouble, it changed the complexion of the playoff pool as well, because the lead has now been dropped down to 6. Steve W. has made a huge run at Mike D. and we could see a new leader in the pool by the end of the week, if the points keep getting racked up the same way. Rounding out the top four, Benson and Dale C. #2 continue to round out the money spots, but Trevor B., has been coming up the rear quite quickly as well and only sits one point behind.

Right, well the Penguins scoring 7 goals in a game means that there should be a load of points to collect and you would be correct. Evgeni Malkin took the nod for the top player in the game, scoring a hat-trick, including the winner, and adding an assist for a 5-point night in the pool. Chris Kunitz was the next best pool player, scoring a goal and adding 2 assists for a 3-point night. Sidney Crosby, Bill Guerin and Marc-Andre Fleury round out the pool players for Pittsburgh, as they all had 2 points a piece.

Despite having four goals in the game, the Hurricanes did not have any multiple point players, as a number of them only had a single going forward.

Game-Winning Goals
Evgeni Malkin joined the group of players with a pair of game-winners now in the pool, with his third period winner on Thursday night. The bonus point also helped Malkin onto the top of the pool scoring heap, now with 25 points in scoring, plus 2 bonus points for 27 in total. Malkin has really taken the ball and ran with it in this series against the Hurricanes, already having 7 points in the first two games of the series.

It didn't seem to help too much, but Erik Cole did make it into Game 2. Cole's shifts were relatively short and he only figured into about 14 minutes of action throughout the game, registering 4 hits and 2 shots on goal.

Pool Outlook for Boston

The Boston Bruins were full of wow in the 2009 season, as they shot their way up to the top of the Eastern Conference standings by scoring a lot of goals and picking up a lot of points. They were certainly a top notch team for most poolies to pick from, especially with five players in the top 100 of pool scoring and another six players in the top 200. That's a mighty impressive season... too bad the playoffs came to such a sudden end against the Hurricanes.

Leading the way for the Bruins in the points department was Marc Savard, as he finished the year with 25 goals and 63 assists in all 82 GP in 2009. Savard finished 13th in pool scoring for the season and he has been one of the most consistent players over the last four seasons, finishing out of the top 20 once, finishing 29th in 2008. Savard has really come a long way from his days in Calgary and he has some bonafide numbers to suggest that he is a premier player in the league and a great first round pick in your draft.

The remainder of the top Bruins forwards was a mix of new faces, young talent, grinding efforts and veteran savvy. David Krejci came out of virtually nowhere to finish with 73 points in 82 GP; Mark Recchi revived his career with 61 points in 80 GP; Phil Kessel bloomed with 60 points in 70 GP; Michael Ryder showed his admiration of Boston with 53 points in 74 GP; rookie Blake Wheeler had a good start to his career with 45 points in 81 GP; Chuck Kobasew had a tough injury-filled year, but still had 42 points in 68 GP; Milan Lucic is Boston's new favourite son with 42 points in 72 GP; and Patrice Bergeron came back from injury, only to have another, but still had 39 points in 64 GP. With those sort of numbers across the board, it should come as no surprise that they led the Eastern Conference in goals for.

The Bruins, for the better part of the season, were relying on two pillars of strength on the blueline for scoring in Zdeno Chara and Dennis Wideman. Both defenders finished with 50 points each, Chara having 19 goals in 80 GP, while Wideman had 13 goals in 79 GP. Both were instrumental parts of the Bruins power play for either shooting the puck or moving it around. Beyond those two, it wasn't a terribly offensive backend, but they got the job done. Matt Hunwick came out of the woodwork to help the team out and he has a good chance of improving to a point where he's pool ready. Mark Stuart was the only Bruins defenseman to play in all 82 games this season, but his 17 points really lowers his stock a fair bit.

It was a top 20 finish for Tim Thomas in 2009, his first time accomplishing that feat. Thomas finished the season with 36 wins, 5 shutouts and an assist for 83 points, finishing 8th among goaltenders in the league. Thomas did split a lot of time early with Manny Fernandez, who finished with 16 wins and 1 shutout (34 points), so that's the main reason why Thomas finished so low on a East-winning team. There wasn't much doubt that Thomas was the starter for the team, but there was some safety in knowing that he wasn't working quite as hard as some of the Western Conference goalies with few breaks. I would say look for Thomas' workload to increase in 2010 and his numbers to improve a bit more.

2010 Season Outlook
It really looks like it's going to be a busy summer for Bruins management, as they are going to have to sift through a number of current free agents to help fill this team up again, but it will be interesting to see what kind of numbers come out of all this, as they had some new faces emerge in a contract year and the salaries could be a bit more than expected. Even if they had to change a face or two, they still have a great core to work from.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Marc Savard	Zdeno Chara	Tim Thomas
Michael Ryder	Dennis Wideman
Blake Wheeler	Mark Stuart
Chuck Kobasew	Andrew Ference
Milan Lucic	Aaron Ward
Patrice Bergeron
Marco Sturm
Shawn Thornton

The Bruins team above currently stands at 14 active players and they have a cap value of approximately $45.4 million, which is a little bit on the high end. It doesn't leave a lot of room for adding high-end players, so the management will have a long look at their books and make some judgements before the actual salary cap number comes down the pipe for 2010.

The real difficulty for the Bruins will likely come from the RFA department, as David Krejci, Phil Kessel and Matt Hunwick will all be needing new deals going forward. Krejci was second in team scoring, Kessel led in goals and Hunwick was third in defensemen scoring on the team. Those are three big pieces that the team has to take care of before even looking at their remaining free agents. There were plenty of rumours around the deadline that Kessel would be on his way out and with the cap numbers the way they are, there could be some teeth to this rumour come Draft Day.

Hitting the open market as a UFA will be Mark Recchi, Manny Fernandez, P.J. Axelsson, Steve Montador, Stephane Yelle and Shane Hnidy, few of which have any sort of hope returning, mostly due to the cap. Axelsson and Hnidy do have reasonable shots at returning, as their cost may not be too high for the Bruins going forward.

With Fernandez likely on the way out, there will be a lot of eyes on Tukka Rask coming up from the minors, as he'll get a shot to back-up Thomas in net and even figure into getting some starts and/or taking a good stretch of games if Thomas ends up injured or has a bad cold streak. The Bruins also have a number of good prospects up front, some of which will get a long look at camp this Fall. Brad Marchand and Zach Hamill immediately spring to mind, since they were both playing in the AHL already. Keep an eye on Bruins camp for some young talent that could be possible sleepers.

It's rather scary to think that the Bruins were so very good in 2009 and despite the possible turnaround in personnel, they do have some young kids that will come in and wow some people right away and fill some gaps at a reasonable price. It's going to be a hard season to pick Bruins this Fall, as there will be a lot of poolies with Bruins circled on their list. The trick will be to not overvalue the Bruins players like Lucic or Kobasew, despite them playing some quality minutes with some quality players. Right now, I'm going to marginally increase some players projected numbers, but I am also going to look at a few guys and take them down a bit, as they may have overachieved in 2009. Still, the Bruins are a quality team to pick from and will likely be picked pretty clean by the end of your draft.

Two Canes Doubtful

The Hurricanes do not expect to have either Tuomo Ruutu or Erik Cole in the line-up tonight for Game 2 against the Penguins. Both players suffered lower body injuries in Game 1, having to leave the game and not return. They are both listed as doubtful for tonight's game, but there was some indication that Cole does have a better shot of playing, if you were to seek out which one is in better shape.

In terms of the playoff pool, Ruutu was taken 3 times and Cole was taken 13 times.

Hawks Sign 2008 First Rounder

The Blackhawks announced on Wednesday that they had signed their first round pick in 2008, Kyle Beach, to a 3-year entry-level deal. Beach, a 6'3", 205 lbs. forward, is known for having some pretty good hands, but is most notable for his mean streak and size. There is a good chance that Beach will leave the junior ranks to play with the pros at some level, likely making a trip to the AHL to help him get used to playing with men. He could turn out to be one to watch in 2011, once he has his feet wet.

Pool Outlook for Anaheim

Well, now we begin the tour of teams eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, in alphabetical order and today, it's the Ducks in Anaheim. The Ducks did not have the best of regular season efforts, but when it came to the playoffs, they were a team that closely resembled that of which won the Cup in 2007. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite enough to get past the Red Wings in the second round, but they shouldn't hang their heads in disappointment, as it was a pretty tough year and yet had lots of pleasant surprises.

It could be fair to say that Ryan Getzlaf is a premier player in the league now, as he's moved up the pool rankings in leaps and bounds since the start of his career, finishing in the top 10 in pool scoring in 2009. Getzlaf finished the season with 25 goals and 66 assists in 81 GP for the Ducks, ranking him with some of the best players in the league. He should now be considered a solid first round pick in your fantasy draft next season, as he was a bargain second round pick last Fall.

The Ducks also had to be pleased with Corey Perry, who finished with 72 points in 78 GP, finishing in the top 50 in pool scoring. The emergence of Bobby Ryan (57 points in 64 GP) and Andrew Ebbett (32 points in 48 GP) should have raised some eyebrows throughout the league and the fantasy world. Teemu Selanne was playing quite well when he was healthy (54 points in 65 GP). Overall, the Ducks had some pretty good talent up front, but they did lack a little bit of depth when it came to the regular season. Those five forwards should have some consideration on your list this Fall.

The veteran defense had a pretty good year in 2009, as Scott Niedermayer led all blueliners on the team with 59 points in 82 GP, which is pretty good considering he thought about retiring last season. Chris Pronger also played every game in the regular season for the Ducks and managed 48 points. New acquisitions, James Wisniewski and Ryan Whitney, each played in 48 games in the year due to injury, but still managed to come away with 24 & 23 points, respectively. The 0.5 ppg range is pretty good for third and fourth defenders in the league and both should get a good long look for your pools next season.

In net, there was a changing of the guard by the end of the year, as Jonas Hiller took the number one job away from J-S Giguere in 2009, taking over the job for the playoffs as well. Both goalies finished with over 2,400 minutes played, but Hiller was statistically better for the pool, winning 23 games, 4 by shutout (54 pool points). Giguere won 19 and 2 by shutout (42 points), but has vowed to try and win his starting job back in training camp this year. It should prove to be a good goaltending battle in 2010, which could make it much harder for the poolies to decide who to take.

2010 Season Outlook
Even with making the playoffs in 2009, the team did a good job to rid themselves of some possible free agents that would have made the summer a little bit more miserable, although there will be a number of decisions to be made anyways. As you can see with the table below, there are going to be plenty of holes to fill this summer.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Ryan Getzlaf	Chris Pronger	Jonas Hiller
Corey Perry	Ryan Whitney	J-S Giguere
Bobby Ryan
Teemu Selanne
Andrew Ebbett
George Parros
Petteri Nokelainen
Ryan Carter

The Ducks have some key free agents to look at this summer, which does make them players in the market, I think anyways. The 12 players they have signed already will give the team an approximate cap hit of $35.6 million, leaving them lots of room to improve the team with the 11 players they need to fill an active roster. If they are looking to spend a lot of big dollars

The Ducks free agency concerns should start with their UFA crop, as Scott Niedermayer has now finishd the contract that he returned for in 2008 and now the question will be if he wants to retire or not. This decision will impact the team greatly, especially since he was a massive cap hit this past season and would likely be one again in 2010. Brother, Rob Niedermayer, will also be up for UFA status this summer and there is some suggestion that they could be a package deal for next season, if Scott wants to play. Todd Marchant, Bret Hedican, Francois Beauchemin and Sheldon Brookbank are also UFA eligible this summer and they may find themselves new places to play by the summer's end.

The RFA crop in Anaheim is quite small, in terms of players who played a lot of games in 2009. Erik Christensen and James Wisniewski are the top RFAs that the Ducks will have to re-sign this summer, but they should hardly pose too much of a problem for the team in terms of cap space or difficulty to sign.

The Ducks don't really seem to have much to watch out for in 2010, in terms of blue chip talent from their system, especially since Bobby Ryan and Andrew Ebbett have now made the jump into the big time with a bang. The three players that look likely to get more time next season look to be Matt Beleskey, Mark Mitera and Brian Salcido. All three seemed to have reached that maturity that they should be good depth players, but no one really stands out as a bonafide pick for your pool as a sleeper. If there is someone on the Ducks who really shows off their stuff, they'll be a mid-season pick-up, if any.

If there was a good power combination to pick up in the pool next season, I would look to Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan, likely scooping both of them pretty early. The Ducks won't have the kind of trouble getting young Ryan into the line-up because of the cap this season (or any othr season), as he's earned his stripes to play with the big guys now. Corey Perry will prove to be a good pick again in 2010, but don't get too high on him at the moment, in case you know he'll be playing more top line hockey. Definitely play the wait-and-see game with Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne, as retirement is in the picture for both. Right now, this is about as far as we can go.

Red Wings Up Two

It was a much tougher test for the Red Wings on Tuesday night, as the Blackhawks played a much more solid game against Detroit, but the veteran team withstood all the pressure from the young Blackhawks and capitalized on a bad turnover in overtime to win the game, 3-2. The Red Wings now have a 2-0 series lead on the Hawks heading back to Chicago for Friday night, but the Hawks may have an answer for them when they get home.

The lead in the pool shrunk again on Tuesday night, as Steve W.'s assault on Mike D. has continued. The lead went down again from 14 to 12 in Game 2 of this Western series, while Benson and Dale C. sit 4 back of Steve and Paul, who has the most players in the top 10, sits 4 back of the money.

The Red Wings had a lot of balanced scoring in Game 2, but thanks to pool scoring, there were a couple of players who stood out from the bunch. Mikael Samuelsson scored the game-winner in overtime, so he picked up the bonus point for a 2-point night, while Chris Osgood continues to rack up wins and the 2 points that come with each victory. Everyone else who actually hit the scoresheet for Detroit, only picked up a single point in the game.

For Chicago, Jonathan Toews lighted the lamp twice to lead the Blackhawks into the extra frame, but it wasn't enough in the end. Toews did give a bit of a spark to his 8 pool teams, which likely impressed many.

Game-Winning Goals
Well, like it was mentioned before, Mikael Samuelsson was the bonus point winner in Game 2, which gave 6 teams in the pool that extra point going forward. In the pool, Mike E. continues to lead in the GWG category with 17 now, but still only sits 7th in the standings, 6 points out of the money. In terms of players in the pool, eight of them have registered 2 GWG each, including Jonathan Toews, Mikael Samuelsson and Bill Guerin, who are all still remaining in the hunt for a bonus point title. There wasn't a bonus point title before, but now I think there will be one.

In 2008, Henrik Zetterberg claimed the GWG bonus point title with 4 winners in their Cup win season and in 2007, it was Daniel Alfredsson who claimed the title in their Finals loss to the Ducks, also with 4.

Pool Outlook for St. Louis

The Blues had one amazing second half of the regular season in 2009, only to be ousted in the first round of the playoffs. The season should be considered a success, since the team was mired in the basement of the Western Conference before their big run and they got to see a lot of their young players step up to the plate and swing for the fences. The best part for the Blues to look forward to is that they were also missing some major players due to injury, who will all be due back to play in 2010, which should make the Blues a much more formidable team to play against. The influx of good young talent should also make the Blues a hot bed for talent for your hockey pool too.

Despite all of their injuries, the Blues did have some sparkling talent on display, including an ever-improving Brad Boyes, who moved up in the pool rankings in 2009 from 63rd to 47th, after a 72-point season in all 82 GP. Boyes didn't have quite the goal-scoring season that he had the season before, but he did have a better all-around season, finishing off with a career-high in points.

David Backes, David Perron, Patrik Berglund and T.J. Oshie have all joined the likes of Keith Tkachuk, Andy McDonald and Paul Kariya as solid picks for the upcoming pool draft after some pretty solid years. That is really saying something when you have a team like that with four good young players that are 25 and under. If you find yourself in a draft and you're looking for a bunch of sleepers, it looks pretty wise to keep the St. Louis Blues under your breath.

On defense, the Blues were also rocked by injury, as Erik Johnson could not participate in any action this past season, thanks to a knee injury on the golf course. Carlo Colaiacovo did come in from the Maple Leafs and do an admirable job, while the big Blues defenders were hurt, but that isn't quite saying much at 30 points in 73 GP. Once Johnson comes back from injury and a few of their other big defenders are good to go again, the Blues could be much more solid on the blueline.

The Blues got some very reasonable goaltending from Chris Mason this year, as he won 27 games, 6 by shutout and added an assist for 67 pool points. After a good first round series in the playoffs, the Blues should be confident that they have a solid number one goalie in their system. Mason, a cast-off of the Predators, didn't get out to the best of starts, but certainly was instrumental in the team's surge to the playoffs. Mason took the job away from Manny Legace in the year and should be a solid number one goalie pick in the coming season.

2010 Season Outlook
The Blues have a pretty rosy outlook for the next season, having a good portion of their players that made their run into the playoffs already signed on. It'll be an interesting question to see how they fill some of the gaps in their line-up, but with the way the market is looking going towards this summer, it shouldn't be too difficult for them to find some help.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Brad Boyes	Carlo Colaiacovo	Chris Mason
David Backes	Barret Jackman
David Perron	Jay McKee
Patrik Berglund	Eric Brewer
Andy McDonald	Erik Johnson
T.J. Oshie
Alex Steen
Paul Kariya
Cam Janssen

The Blues are quite happy to have 16 players signed on for the next season with only $42.8 million (approx.) tied up in cap space already. That should give the team plenty of space to bring in Alex Pietrangelo and a number of free agents in or back into the mix. The forward lines seem to be shaping up very well, but the back-up goalie position needs to be filled and possibly a better number two defenseman is on their shopping list as well.

When it comes to RFAs in St. Louis, the Blues have a number of them that they need to look after, possibly before the July 1st market opens, just to make sure they know how much they can budget for in the next season. Jay McClement, B.J. Crombeen, Jeff Woywitka and Roman Polak are the most notable players on the list, as they played a good portion of games with the team in the regular season. These will be the players the team will need to budget for.

Keith Tkachuk, Manny Legace, Brad Winchester, Mike Weaver, Dan Hinote and David Koci are all up for UFA status this summer, but I can only see two or three possibly making it back for another season.

Well, saying that Alex Pietrangelo is one to watch is somewhat of an understatement. By somewhat, I mean, really... you should be watching this kid. Pietrangelo did get 8 games last season, but there was a little more seasoning needed, so he went back to juniors to get it, including a gold medal at the WJC. Unfortunately for St. Louis, they don't really have a great deal up front in their system, as they brought all of their key prospects in the forward ranks up already.

Sleeper city, St. Louis... wait your pool opponents out for the Blues and you should get some good sleepers. If you go after them too early, you may have given up on some more regular players, but a good pick out of St. Louis late could be clutch. I would also look for Mason to get a lot of starts out of the gate next year and if the Blues show the same sort of success that they did at the end of the 2009 season, Mason is a clutch keeper for your team.