Canadiens 05 Feb : 07:45
Sorry guys, no sim last night. We will run the games tonight at 6pm est.
Sabres 05 Feb : 06:30
Sorry about the multiple posting in the forum, but the page locked up and wasn't sure if it got posted. I guess it did in triplicate...lol
Capitals 04 Feb : 17:33
Looks like Kovalchuk is going to freeze to death in the cold New Jersey winters from now on...
We have downloaded the rosters, looked at each team, attribute, and counted skaters with attributes at 75 or higher. Goalies were not included. Long tables do not post well into articles, so here is a summary and if enough of you want the full table, I will e-mail it to Jeff to put it on as a link.
For each of the attributes, these are the team with the highest number of skaters at 75 or higher and the percentage by division.
CK - Checking: 9 players Bruins, Devils, Rangers, Canadiens, Sharks, and Stars. By division: NE 33%, SW 26%, NW 23%, SE 18%. Looks like there is alot of hard hitting in the NE and a bunch of floaters in the SE.
FG - Fighting: 13 players Canadiens and Capitals. 11 Rangers, Panthers, Thrashers, Red Wings, and Canucks. By division: SE 26%, NW 25%, NE 24%, SW 24%.
DI - Discipline: 16 players Avalanche, 15 Maple Leafs, 13 Kings, 12 Flames and Coyotes. By division: SW 28%, NW 27%, SE 23%, NE 22%.
SK - Skating: 16 players Flyers, 15 Bruins, 14 Flames and Blues, 12 Sabres and Devils. By division: SE 28%, SW 25%, NE 24%, NW 24%. While the SE may not hit, look out they can fly by you.
ST - Strength: 11 players Rangers, 10 Panthers and Ducks, 9 Hurricanes and Sharks. By Division: NE 26%, SW 26%, SE 25%, NW 23%. DU - Durability: 19 players Ducks, 18 Kings and Flames, 17 Islanders. By division: SW 26%, SE 25%, NW 25%, NE 24%.
PH - Puck Handling: 17 players Flames, 16 Bruins, Sabres, Blues, and Kings, 15 Flyers. By division: SE,NW,SW 26%, NE 22%.
FO - Face Offs: 5 players Devils, 4 Maple Leafs and Ducks, 3 Rangers, Hurricanes, and Stars. By division: 30% NE, 28% SW, 26% NW, 17% SE. A big gap between the NE and SE on this one.
PA - Passing: 6 players Bruins, Devils, Hurricanes, Flames, and Blues. 5 for Ducks, Kings, and Sharks. By division: SW 30%, NE 28%, NW 24%, SE 18%.
SC - Scoring: 7 players Flames, 6 Devils and Sharks, 5 Flyers, Blues, Ducks, Kings, and Stars. By division: SW 36%, NW 23%, SE 21%, NE 20%. It looks like there is an arms race for scorers in the SW.
DF - Defense: 12 players Ducks, 11 Kings, 8 Devils, 7 Flames and Stars, 6 Flyers and Sharks. By Division: SW 37%, NE 24%, SE 20%, NW 19%. It looks like a viscious cycle in the SW. Teams are loading up on high DF to counteract the high SC.
EX - Experience: 15 players Penguins, 14 Sabres, 13 Kings, 12 Blackhawks, 11 Rangers, 10 Maple Leafs. By division: NE 26%, NW 25%, SE and SW 24%. Stay away from these teams come playoff time.
LD - Leadership: 15 players Penguins, 14 Sabres and Oilers, 13 Kings, 12 Blackhawks and Ducks. By division: NE 28%, SW 26%, NW 24%, SE 22%.
OV - Overall: 3 players Flyers, 2 Flames, Ducks, Kings, and Stars. By division: SW 44%, NE,SE,NW all 19%.
In the wake of controversy over the waiving of Ryan Kesler by the New Jersey Devils, the league's Board of Directors (Steve Schwartz, Angus Pippy, John Cluney, Al White, and Jeff Childs) has determined the following:
The New Jersey Devils waived Ryan Kesler. The Board believes this action was inadvertent and was not intentional, and is therefore allowing the Devils to retain Kesler.
The Ottawa Senators claimed Kesler off waivers, which was their right under the previous waiver system. As compensation, the Senators will be awarded the New Jersey Devils #7 pick in the 2010 NAIHL Entry Draft.
The league has altered the Waiver rule. The following Waiver rule addendum is effective immediately:
If a player is inadvertently placed on waivers, and the waiving GM wishes to pull the player back from waivers, the GM has the 48 hour waiver period to advise any member of the Board of Directors that he wishes to recall the player from waivers. The player will then be placed back on the GM's roster, and the GM will be penalized his lowest available draft pick for the upcoming NAIHL Draft, which will be awarded to the team that has been awarded the waiver claim of the player. If the GM cannot give up any picks without leaving him short of the minimum draft pick requirements, then the GM will have to pay $1-million in compensation to the team that has been awarded the waiver claim of the player. The waiving GM only has the 48 hour waiver period to act. After this period has expired, he is no longer entitled to any action or compensation regarding the waived player.
The Board also ruled that any teams who lost a player or players to waivers inadvertently since the start of last season may submit an e-mail to the NAIHL Board of Directors requesting compensation and explaining the reasons they feel they are entitled to compensation. The Board will then rule on these individual cases, awarding compensation of an additional 7th round draft pick to these teams where warranted. Teams have until Jan. 1 to make such a claim with the Board.
The NAIHL landscape changed for six players on Monday. The San Jose Sharks and Buffalo Sabres have completed a six player deal.
Going to the Sabres are journeymen Ray Whitney,Andrew Brunette and young Defenceman Dennis Wideman along with a 2010 3rd round pick and $3 million Cash. Coming to the Sharks are Alex Burrows,Nik Antropov and veteran defenceman Niclas Havelid."We feel we are a contender", and a contenders' need for defence seemed to help fuel the trade as the Sharks GM Rob Paul said "we had our eye on Nik and Alex for sometime now. Both players can contribute offensively but we have enough firepower, its the fact that our penalty kill and even strength goals against are hurting us, when you are leading the league in goals for per game and then have a PK that is 15th in the league it will catch up to you, Both guys can also be offensive generators while giving much needed defensive help up front".
When asked over the phone, the response from the Sabres was Wideman was the key to the deal. "He fits the bill of a puck-moving, power-play defenseman that can get the puck to our forwards and can also rush the puck," said Sabres general manager Angus Pippy, who also received cash and a third-round pick. "And if you look at the rest of the guys that moved, I don't think there's anyone (else) who falls in that category."The Sharks get a stay at home defenseman in Havelid, who is essentially a rental player, and probably won't be the Sharks future plans. Whitney and Brunette are offensive sparks who will find more time on the top lines in Buffalo. Both players are towards the twilight of their careers.
With a young Super Duo Backstrom and Ovechkin the Sharks felt it necessary to trade a young Solid Dman in Wideman to give them more depth up front."We'll see what happens", Paul was quoted as saying, but did commit to Burrows who is an unrestricted free agent at years end and is likely to get an extension from Management. Antropov although expensive at $4.9 million for the next four years will be key to an attack that includes the League MVP.
"I am very exicted to be back in San Jose, having played with Ovie before, I hope that Coach Stevens can give me the chance to Play with Alex and get us to the next level". Time will tell as both clubs will suit up their players in their next games.
Almost one-quarter of the way into the 2009-10 NAIHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are enjoying a much different view. After two years in the outhouse, where they missed the playoffs, the Leafs are now in the penthouse - sitting in first-place overall.
"Nobody believes it," said longtime hockey scribe Al Strachan. "The Leafs in first? Impossible." Indeed it seems impossible in the NHL, where the Leafs namesake sits in last place overall. But the NHL is Bizarro-world to the NAIHL, where the Leafs have rolled to a record of 14-3-1 for 29 points and a winning percentage of .806.
One key to the Leafs resurgence has been veteran goaltender Dwayne Roloson. He was acquired in a trade deadline deal with the Oilerrs last season in an effort to lift the Leafs into the eighth and final playoff spot. That attempt failed, but the trade has paid big dividends for the Leafs this season. Roloson has posted a 13-1-1 record with a save percentage of .926 and a goals against average of 1.67 - leading the league in all three categories.
"Rolo's on a roll," said Leafs president Don Cherry. "That was one sweet deal I pulled off to get him," said Cherry, ignoring the fact that it was general manager Alan White who made the trade for Roloson. The vetaran goaltender has benefited from a much stronger Leafs blueline in front of him. General manager White ended his spendthrift ways in free agency this season and paid big bucks - too big some would say - to land blueliners Jay McKee and Dmitri Kalinin.
The Leafs blueline also improved thanks to some shrewd roster moves late last season when White claimed Karlins Skrastins on waivers from the Oilers and Mark Eaton on waivers from Buffalo. Skrastins has two goals, 11 points and is plus 5 on the Leafs blueline.
"It feels great to play for a team that has confidence in you," he said. The same applies to Lee Stempniak. He was picked up late last season from the Predators in a deal involving some minor league talent and a fifth-round pick.
Stempniak is now the Leafs leading scorer with eight goals and 18 points through 18 games.
"Watch out baby, this is our year," said Cherry. But general manager White is not planning the route for any Cup parades yet. "it's a long, long season and a lot can happen," said White. "We're happy with the start we've had. But it's just the start. What's more important is how we finish."
The Stars were looking for answers after stumbling out to a 1-5 start (but have since recovered to 8-5). With that start, the Stars did an analysis of what was happening and who was the competition in the West. The two items that really stood out was a lack of power play success and that their goaltending did not stand up to Tim Thomas in Anaheim, Cam Ward in LA, Pekka Rinne in Nashville, Steve Mason in St. Louis, and Ryan Miller in Calgary.
The Stars were also facing many players with 2 year contracts all coming up together. While the Stars started talking to the Rangers about Nabakov and several other teams after news of Nabakov leaked to the press, they made their first move with the Vancouver Canucks. Think power play and one thinks of Sergei Gonchar. However, Gonchar's salary would require a complex deal if the Stars were to also leave cap room for a possible Nabakov deal.
The Canucks deal sent Blake, Sturm, Bieska, Walker, prospects Brown and Johnson and a #2 for Gonchar, Ponikarovsky, Wisniewski, and Tambellini. This trade will help the Stars power play as they can now roll out Crosby, Sharp, Iginla, Keith, and Gonchar on PP1, and Staal, Ponikarovsky, Gaborik, Kaberle, and Wisniewski on PP2.
Moving Sturm and Blake helped shed salary to afford Gonchar and Nabakov and moving Blake and Bieska both upcoming UFA's would help in being able to resign Nabakov. Part I of the Stars problems with the PP was fixed. Next came goaltending.
The Stars were in serious talks with the Rangers about Nabokov and the NYI's for Fleury (Shawn get ready for e-mails from other teams with offers). Fleury provided a long term solution with a better salary, but the selling price would be much higher.
Nabokov had the better ratings and experience, but is older and an upcoming UFA that will take big dollars to lock up. Key to either deal is that Craig Anderson (who was acquired in the offseason for Olesz and Weekes) was off to a great start in the NHL and will rerate very well in the NAIHL. In the end a deal was reached to ship Anderson and blue chip prospect Gustafsson to the Rangers for Nabakov.
The West and Southwest division, in particular, are loaded and it will be tough for any team to survive and represent the West in the Cup finals. However, with these moves the Stars are giving notice that they will not go down easy and expect to be in the thick of the battle all year long. We like our ability to put the puck in the net on offense, like our balance of defensive d-men and puck movers on defense, and now we have a veteran goalie who has already won one Cup with the Coyotes and will be hungry for a second one in Dallas.
