Fantasy Hockey - Seed of Chucky

[Sparrowhawk]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Jag's got four riding the pine against me tonight. I hope he changes that before game time. The fagina express wants to win it cleanly.

Not sure if it means anything, but in my week against him I noticed he didn't change his lineups until right before game time more then once. I would bet he will be online and changing it.

He seems to be one of those people who spends way too much time online



/me

[Asher]

People should get in the habit of making "default" starts on a weekly basis. Each Sunday night I fill out my starters for an entire week, then tweak as needed.

[cinch]

Trade Talk:

--The Flyers called up Petr Nedved today, causing much speculation that another team might claim him on re-entry waivers, with the Flyers picking up half his salary. Then it turned out that they were simply replacing the injured Jeff Carter, and it seems nobody still wants Nedved.

--The Bruins demoted G Hannu Toivonen, causing a flurry of trade talk over at tsn.ca. It was speculated that they were making room for an incoming goalie through a trade (Nabokov was the name mentioned), but it didn't happened. They simply called up G Brian Finley. Has Toivonen really been that bad this year?

--My own current trade fantasy is as follows:

The Sens are nearly in full-panic mode at this point. They're after some grit, and especially a second-line center, apparently. Alfie might be on his way out, and they'd probably flip a defenseman, too.

The Oilers need a defenseman. They might be looking to move a center. They are full of quality forwards, with a lot of grit.

I propose the following:

Edmonton sends C Shawn Horcoff, W Raffi Torres, and the Anaheim 1st round pick to Ottawa for W Daniel Alfredsson and D Tom Preissing.

Ottawa would get their second line center (and Horcoff belongs in a support role--too much is expected of him here; plus, he's a younger version of Craig Conroy, whom the Sens are also interested in) and some added grit in Torres. The pick would sweeten the pot.

Edmonton would receive a quarterback for the powerplay (Preissing) and a quality scoring winger to fill out the top 2 lines. This would also free up another spot up front for youth. The salary transfer between the teams would also be fairly balanced, with the Oil picking up a little bit--we have the room--and the Sens dumping some.

Hypothetically (and yes, I realize I am in full fanboy fantasy mode at this point), the Oil could then ice these lines:

Lupul--Sykora--Hemsky
Smyth--Stoll--Alfie
Thoresen--Reasoner--Pisani
Peterson/Jacques--Pouliot--Winchester

I think this would balance out the lines quite nicely. Stoll deserves to be a second line center, as he's proven himself to be a reliable scorer in a supporting role. His shot and Smytty's work ethic would go well with Alfie's finesse. Alfredsson would also be able to operate under a bit less pressure, as he won't be expected to be captain or lead the time all by himself. He can fit into a role in a team, seeing a lot of powerplay time. Reasoner also deserves to be a third-line center; having him on the fourth line, as we do now, is a waste of his checking ability. Pouliot is also ready, and would complete a youthful energy line. When Moreau returns, Thoresen could be bumped back down to that energy line, or up to fill in any injuries on the top two lines.

I know it's a little far-fetched, but given the fact that the Sens fans and Ottawa media are quickly cannibalizing their captain... it could happen.

Maybe.

[notyoueither]

Think happy thoughts.

That would be a very good trade for the Oilers. It might be good for the Sens, but I don't know enough about their woes in grit.

[Asher]

Edmonton sends C Shawn Horcoff, W Raffi Torres, and the Anaheim 1st round pick to Ottawa for W Daniel Alfredsson and D Tom Preissing.

LOLOLOL

That's seriously a lopsided trade.

Horcoff and Torres are both overrated as it is. And it's obvious in the new season. The only people high on those two loons are Oiler fans.

Alfredsson is a proven scorer, Preissing is a proven defencemen...Torres and Horcoff are average players that had one good year, and it looks like that's all.

Why would Ottawa do this? Don't they want to win?

[Asher]

Wow, suspend Greene.

[Asher]

This week is not being kind to me in this league.

[Flubber]

Habs win!!! habs win



well ok it was a shootout win

Good game-- both sides player pretty decent d and the goalies were sharp-- My big surprise was that I expected more jump from the Oiler offense .. . they generated a lot less than I thought they would

[Sparrowhawk]

Agreed, though both goals were nice ones, I had hoped for a few more chances.

and I wasn't nearly as happy as you were with the final result

/me

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Flubber
Good game-- both sides player pretty decent d and the goalies were sharp-- My big surprise was that I expected more jump from the Oiler offense .. . they generated a lot less than I thought they would

The Oilers were fortunate to come away with a point.

Last year MacT was screwing with the goalies endlessly. This year it's the forwards.

Hemsky and Sykora can score with whoever they play with.

Smyth can score if he is the one Oiler on the ice against 5 of the other guys. I know! Let's put Smyth with Hemsky and Sykora! That'll give us... err one line that the oppo has to check! That's it! That's the ticket!

[Flubber]

Flames win !! Kipper rocks!!

One of the Flames better all around efforts although I was surprised by their low shot total-- They must have had a lot of near misses.

Amonte scoring two is pretty big. Also very good for the Flames were Hamrlik and Huselius ( he player big minutes after being a health scratch last week)

Iginla was pretty much shut down. Although his point production continues, he hasn't been as abig a factor in recent games as he was a couple of weeks back

[notyoueither]

2-1 going into the third with Kipper playing well. I figured it was in the bag for the Flames.

We should have more double headers!

[cinch]

Originally posted by Asher

Edmonton sends C Shawn Horcoff, W Raffi Torres, and the Anaheim 1st round pick to Ottawa for W Daniel Alfredsson and D Tom Preissing.

LOLOLOL

That's seriously a lopsided trade.

Fair enough. I admitted I was in fanboy mode!

Still, maybe toss in another asset on the Oilers side and it's not that far out of the realm of possibility. Alfredsson is on the verge of being booed by his own fans, and I think Muckler'd love a salary dump. Preissing is not being played to his potential in Ottawa, either. And the Sens *do* need grit and speed to support up front.

But yeah--point taken.

Next line of speculation:

I wonder how much it would take to get Visnovsky out of LA... He's on the market...

[cinch]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Last year MacT was screwing with the goalies endlessly. This year it's the forwards.

Hemsky and Sykora can score with whoever they play with.

Yeah, the whole idea of "pick your poison, opponents--Edmonton's got 4 lines that can score!" seems to be disappearing. The lines just seem unbalanced now. We have the 'good line' of Smyth, Sykora, and Hemsky. Then there's the 2nd line (?) of Torres, Stoll, and Lupul, which makes little sense, because we have 2 good shots and a hard worker, but no one who can pass. Then there's the pseudo-3rd line, with our "first line center" Horcoff, with Pisani and... who was even playing left wing tonight? Jacques? Winchester? I don't know. Then Reasoner's wallowing back there somewhere...

Even if my pie-in-the-sky dreams can't come true, I'd still like to see some sort of shake-up, just so we can find some balance. Somebody who could pass would be nice.



Oh, relatedly: Why has Tjarnqvist been scratched? Is he hurt? I thought he had been one of our better players.

[Asher]

You know, I never did like MacTavish and I just now found out that he did time for Manslaughter and DUI in the 80s: http://www.fact-archive.com/encyclop...raig_MacTavish

Drunkenly ran down a young woman and spent a year in prison for it. Edmonton apparently jumped on the chance to recruit such a winner into the fold that he joined the Oilers right after being released from prison.

How much time would you get today for DUI-manslaughter? A lot more than a year, that's for sure.