NHL Fantasy League thread 8

[Hot Mustard]

Originally posted by notyoueither
It's looking pretty bleak vs dejon.

If it could have ended last Sunday, great! but he has Kipper for 2 goose eggs this week while my +/- has plummeted and his has continued upwards.

Scummy tactics have been of little help so far.

Kipper has certainly anchored my team this week. And while I wouldn't have guessed +/- would be the nail in the coffin, it is starting to look that way.

That said, you never know...there's a ton of hockey games left in the next 4 days. Assists are looking solid for you, and goals and PPP are still in play - so some breaks in +/- over the next few days could change this real quick.

Maybe 'scummy tactics' require experience in order to benefit.

[Ninot]

well, my friend gave away the playoff presale code for free... which is the dumbest thing of all, since they are selling on ebay for between 200 and 400 dollars.

I might kill him.

[notyoueither]

Is there a good local, English press we can check on for reports of hockey rage slayings?

[Asher]

There's a fun Marty Turco interview at IGN now: http://sports.ign.com/articles/701/701818p1.html

[cinch]

Fire MacT. I don't care if we beat Detroit, I can't see how we can go on with this genius at the helm.

A team where Dick Tarnstrom is basically a 7th defenseman should *not* be making juvenile defensive mistakes. That's discipline. That's coaching.

There's a time and a place for MacT's style of "I love you guys"/players-first coaching. That time has passed, and Edmonton is no longer the place. When we are losing our way into the playoffs down the stretch, we need fire, not "I think we had a good effort, just didn't get the bounces, etc."

Especially with Schremp coming up next year. This guy could be a superstar, IF we can keep his ego in check. MacT cannot.

When I see a team that has a hugely different makeup than 2 years ago, but is making the same mistakes, I think it's fair to suspect poor coaching. We should *not* be playing at the same level when Spacek is our 4th defenseman as when Ulanov was. It's just not acceptable.

And hey, if Vancouver's looking to unload Crawford... He might be an option. But I'm open to suggestions.

Anyway, putting on a positive face: Let's go Oilers, let's go (far into the playoffs)!

[Asher]

MacTavish for Crawford? You're kidding, right?

That's an even trade, and that doesn't help you. They're both inept pansies that refuse to light the fires under a player's ass like a Sutter will do.

Look at how Crawford managed with Bert/Naslund, you want someone like him dealing with Schremp?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Trashers win. Now to see how the Lightening deal with Carolina.

[Pekka]

crawford is a joke, it's official.

[Asher]

As much as it pains me to say, there's a ton of talent on Vancouver and Edmonton.

Vancouver has enough talent to compete with Ottawa and Carolina and Detroit in terms of points, and Edmonton has enough talent to compete with Calgary in terms of points, but the GMs and coaching staff for both organization need to go.

The GMs pick players with good stats but without any real idea how they'll fit into the team's system (if the team has a system, which is what I think Vancouver/Edmonton's problem is). Sutter picks players most teams wouldn't look at (Kiprusoff, Lundmark, Huselius) that were terrible on their original teams and are awesome in Calgary. That's because he's a good GM -- he doesn't just pay big bucks to get washed up players like Roloson and Tarnstrom, he looks at the younger guys that don't fit in with other teams and would fit in with Calgary. Burke was a good GM like that as well.

As for coaching -- well, you need a system. For the life of me I can't find out what Vancouver and Edmonton have for a system. Vancouver tries the run-and-gun style of play, but their offense this year is pretty bad so it doesn't work, and then they get lots of goals against due to their terrible defensive coverage and mediocre goaltending. A losing formula.

Edmonton doesn't seem to have a consistent system at all. Before Roloson the whole system seemed to be "drop and block shots, our rotating goalies are terrible" and then make overly fancy plays without any real good shots on goal. That worked out so well for them...

And I do think it's hilarious, the attitude difference between coaches like Sutter and coaches like Quinn, Crawford, and MacTavish. When Calgary plays bad, Sutter lets everyone know. He calls players out and tells it like it is. Quinn, Crawford, and MacTavish (teams clawing to get into playoffs or eliminated) seem to simply make excuses and not acknowledge why they lost. MacTavish' favorite excuses are the "lucky bounces" -- here's an idea: create those bounces. That's what good teams do!

[notyoueither]

I see Ottawa is in their normal playoff form.

[joncha]

Toronto is officially eliminated.

[Asher]

Mason (Nashville's goalie) got an even-strength empty-net goal with 9 minutes left in the third vs Phoenix. Weird.

[joncha]

It was an own-goal. Mason made the save on a delayed penalty, then the Phoenix skater played it back to the point but it went all the way back into the empty net. Since Mason was the last Predator to have contact with the puck, he got credit for it.

[Ninot]

Jose Theodore scored a goal once.

It was a backhander!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8735014814871155765&q=Theodore+Goal&pl=true

[Asher]

I was hoping it was some botched refing like in the Edmonton game where Edmonton thought they had the powerplay coming, and it turned out the penalty was against them.