Fantasy Hockey - The Reckoning

[cinch]

Originally posted by Flubber


Edmonton-- forwards plus


I see Edmonton a bit like I see MOntreal just with stronger forwards and maybe a weaker defense. BUt maybe the d gets a bum rap. Sure there are no "big-name" guys on theior d any more but they do seem able to win the lowscoring affairs so the jury is still out.

The Edmonton offense seems scary-good although they haven't scored as much as I thought they might. Roloson and Markkanen give them a credible 1-2 punch in net

The problem with Edmonton's offense is 2fold:

1. Horcoff was and is supremely overrated. There is no way he should be making 3.7m--he deserves to be making 2m as a third-line center with 2nd-line potential. He sucks the life out of Smyth and Lupul--although, Lupul needs to start moving his feet more and playing D. But he'll pick it up.

Note how well Smytty and Lupul played when Thoresen was bumped up to their line for a while...

2. The PP can't get it together. This probably has something to do with the coaches still having no idea how to plan a PP. It looked like they did last year, but that was only because you had Pronger to corral crappy passes from Horcoff and slap a 110mph shot off Smyth's chin and into the net.

The PP *can* be good without Pronger, but it'll need more organization. You can't just slap a mixed bag of Tjarnqvist, Stoll, Pisani, Smyth, and Hemsky out there and hope it'll all miraculously gel.

Defensively, the team has been okay--better than expected. Smith is solid; Staios has managed to keep away from boneheaded plays; Tjarnqvist has been a revelation. Smid's quiet and hardly noticeable, which is good, because I'd notice him if he were making mistakes (like Greene and Bergeron often do). Still, we'd be under .500 if not for Roli. We'll still need to dish a forward for a solid top 4 guy if we want to make a serious push to make the playoffs, I think.

And, finally, if only for the sake of my pool:

Take out Winchester and put in Mikhnov!

[notyoueither]

You drafted Mikhnov? Is your pool with a bunch of people from Edmonton?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by notyoueither
You drafted Mikhnov? Is your pool with a bunch of people from Edmonton?

I had to look and I see that Edmonton has used only the same 18 skaters so far. It seems a lot of other players rotate their lineup a little more

[cinch]

Originally posted by notyoueither
You drafted Mikhnov? Is your pool with a bunch of people from Edmonton?

In answer to the first question: Yes. In my defense, it was the 24th round, there are 11 people in the pool, and it was wrapping up at about 1 AM.

In answer to the second: Well, there's two from Calgary and one from Vancouver. The rest are purebred.

[cinch]

Originally posted by Flubber


I had to look and I see that Edmonton has used only the same 18 skaters so far. It seems a lot of other players rotate their lineup a little more

If they hadn't signed Winchester to a one-way contract, I fully believe Mikhnov would be playing right now. Winny had a bad pre-season and has been playing averagely at best so far, but they don't want their money to go to waste. (Also, he might have to pass through waivers if they send him down, but I'm not sure on that.)

There's just no other room for Mikhnov, as the team doesn't want to cut Thoresen (with good reason), and they don't want to hurt the pride of the rest of the wingers.

I'm not holding my breath for them to put him in soon. It'd just be nice...

[Asher]

Vokoun picked a helluva week to stop sucking.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by cinch


In answer to the first question: Yes. In my defense, it was the 24th round, there are 11 people in the pool, and it was wrapping up at about 1 AM.

In answer to the second: Well, there's two from Calgary and one from Vancouver. The rest are purebred.

That's a lot of players. I'm in one with 12 teams of 24 players and we were digging pretty deep by the end as well.

I think I prefer the larger rosters. There's more room to look for the surprise players, and the util position helps with the multi-position problem.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Kontiki
You have to understand that if you are a die-hard Leafs fan, you are required by law to think that Ottawa sucks and will never be as good as Toronto.

I think you just have to be a hockey fan to know that Ottawa sucks. Look at all that talent, and yet they can't score goals this year. And last year, they have a great regular season and then they choked as always.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Flubber
Where do Ottawa and Montreal fit?

On paper, Ottawa has strong offence, a solid goalie and a blue line with potential, but overall a weaker team from last year. The biggest problem for the Sens is the blue line.

Montreal, not to sure about. The goaltending is there, and the offence. The team will likely play more defensive style.

Overall, Buffalo, Carolina, New Jersey, Atlanta, New York (forgot about them in previous message), Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Flubber
I actually find this sig funny




I prefer the "Cups in my lifetime stat"

Flames 1, Leafs ZERO

Kids

"Cups in my lifetime stat"

Flames 1, Leafs 3

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
Surprisingly, it was your youngest D men doing the best as they were at the very least mobile.

+/- is deceptive because Calgary doesn't score goals. That doesn't have much to do with how good, defensively, the defensemen are.

You're too hard on Calgary. They can score goals, but they're one dimensional. They can play a offensive game, but their defense disappears. If they play a defensive game, their offence disappears.

And right now, Calgary is not scoring enough goals, and giving up way too many goals.

So +/- is a good indicator of what a defenceman can do.

As for guys getting past Gill, it was only Giordano got by (a good effort by him) and that was it.

And you're so focused on one dimension of the game that you can't see the bigger picture. It's the end results that matter.

Gill is not going to win any speed records, but he plays a solid defensive game, in position, forcing the other players to the boards. If they get around him, odds are they won't get a decent shot.

Bell and White were -1 and Harrison -2 against Calgary. They're young and inexperienced so they can't really be blamed, but they're still learning and the only reason they're playing is because 4 other defencemen are injured.

So for you to say the young guys were the best really brings your hockey knowledge into question.

[Asher]

Bell and White certainly were better than Gill and McCabe, defensively. I don't know which game you were watching.

If there's one thing I know after this many years of watching the Flames, it's what good defense is. I'm pretty sure you lost sight of that back in, oh, 1967.

As for guys getting past Gill, it was only Giordano got by (a good effort by him) and that was it.

Err. No.

Watch the highlights on NHL.com again to refresh your memory.

BTW, Giordano is an undrafted rookie. He scored twice versus Toronto's top goalie and defense. I'm not sure how bad that looks...

[Tingkai]

Good defence from Calgary? Is that what you call allowing 45 shots on goal?

Or was the good defence, the Flames fiasco where they allow a breakaway during overtime while on they're on a power play and end up losing the game?

Yeah, great defence boys.

As for Giordano, he benefitted from a depleted Leafs blue line (four d-men injured). A great effort by a Toronto boy.

As for the young guys, from what I saw, they tried their best, but their inexperience could be seen, at least on the feed I was watching.

[Asher]

The defense has sucked this year. I've said that several times in this thread.

I'm referring to the past several years under Sutter's control. I know what defensive hockey is, what the Flames have been playing has not been defensive, and Toronto's defense is terrible.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher


BTW, Giordano is an undrafted rookie. He scored twice versus Toronto's top goalie and defense. I'm not sure how bad that looks...

It looks like he made some nice plays/shots

Asher . . . I'm with you in that I believe Calgary has a betetr team than Toronto overall and that this should show up by a better regular season record

But you lose me totally as to how a game that was a TORONTO victory can be used by you to show how very very bad the Leafs are.

Guys that was one game!!!! I don't draw much conclusion about anybody from one game and in fact I think you need to be about 20 games in to really assess where teams are.

All that said, I don't think Calgary has looked particularly good this season, while , on paper, they should be stronger offensively and equally good defensively, as last year. But they don't play the games on paper