Fantasy Hockey - Playoff Race

[Asher]

Why would you bail on Huselius?

[Hot Mustard]

A number of reasons:
- aside from beating up on the Blues (who doesn't?), he's been ho-hum the last couple of weeks
- the last couple of weeks included losses and poor personal performances to Min and Col, who the Flames play a total of four more times, all but once on the road
- they also play Nsh, Van, and SJ
- 6 of their last 8 are on the road
- and lastly, their schedule just doesn't mesh well with what I want to do to close out the playoffs

[Asher]

Originally posted by Hot Mustard
A number of reasons:
- aside from beating up on the Blues (who doesn't?), he's been ho-hum the last couple of weeks

Yes, 10 points in 9 games in the last couple of weeks is ho-hum.

[Hot Mustard]

Well, before tonight, and without the Blues, it was 2 points in the last couple weeks, or 4 in all of March. And the 3 PP points in Mar (again, before tonight) compared to 13 in Feb played a small part as well.

Anyways, as I said, perhaps I bailed a little early. But then, perhaps not. I didn't watch the game, but the imbalance in the PPs in the box score looks a little odd. Time will tell if their remaining schedule will be as rough on them as I think, with the exception of the CHI and EDM games.

[Asher]

The imbalance was the Flames skated circles around a geriatric club which couldn't keep up, which is why the penalties were seemingly imbalanced.

I'm really hoping for a Detroit matchup in the playoffs, if we make it.

[Sparrowhawk]

I stuck with Lupul all season long, despite being dissappointed in him, and now with only a couple weeks left in the "playoffs" I drop him

Sure hope Toskala comes back to form now, I would hate to think I give up a skater to hang on to my third goalie only to have Toskala watch from the bench the rest of the season (Nabakov has played well enough that I wouldn't be surprised, though I fully expect the sharks to go back to two goalies unless Toskala is still hurt ).

/me

[Hot Mustard]

Hockey Informer has Toskala penciled in for Wed. and Sat.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher
The imbalance was the Flames skated circles around a geriatric club which couldn't keep up, which is why the penalties were seemingly imbalanced.

I'm really hoping for a Detroit matchup in the playoffs, if we make it.

While I wouldn't be that harsh in my assessment of Detroit, the powerplay disparity waas real and deserved. Once the Flames had gone two periods without a penalty, I KNEW the refs would be looking for a call but the reality was the Flames played VERY clean despite being aggressive and the one call the refs did manage to make against them was marginal.

It was refreshing actually since the Flames had taken more penalties than their opposition in a number of recent games. It seems when they are not skating as hard, they take a lot more of the hooking and holding calls.

[Flubber]

Overall the Flames played better than I had seen in a while. Team defense was good and the whole team seemed committed to it in a way I had not seen much lately. Kipper was solid but the Red Wings didn't exactly have a whole bunch of great chances

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Hot Mustard


Oh well, the Flames are cooked and finish with a bunch of tough road games anyways.

Their season will come down to to ability to win on the road. If they can score simply 9 points in their remaining 9 games, that will mean the Avs need 15 in 10 games (cannot lose 3 in regulation)

My expectation is that the Flames will come out of their funk and actually win a few on the road. BUt I would first like to see them actually put together another convincing and winning effort and finally beat the Preds.

The Avs meanwhile would have to run their record to 10-0-1 just to keep pace

[Flubber]

The funniest thing was on Calgary sports radio this morning. They typically slam anything to do with Edmonton-- derision is common. BUt today they were trying to come up with a theme song for the OIlers to motivate them to victory against the Avs-- while at the same time deride the Oilers as usual. I never heard the final selection but some of the contenders were hilarious

[Asher]

Here's why Playfair needs to be fired. The crisis is so bad the PR people are trying to make him more likeable, and it's backfiring with gems like this:

I don’t consider everything that’s going on to be that big of a deal to be really honest. I view it as a time of year where our team has to do a lot of things really well in all three zones of the rink, and I thought we did that tonight and we won a big game.

It’s hard to keep it in this focus and perspective. But it’s about the game you’re playing and then moving on. That’s how we’ve done it and that’s what we expect to continue doing.

The areas of the game I liked? I thought we did a better job of holding onto the puck in the offensive zone. I thought we did a better job of moving pucks out of our zone. I think there’s a lot more room for us to be quicker and stronger in our zone. I think there’s lots of room for improvement.

Never criticize a win.

Head coach Jim Playfair. Posted following a 2-1 win over Detroit on March 20.

Genius!

On the path of sliding out of playoff position in dramatic fashion? Nothing to worry about.

Continued incredible amounts of turnovers in a very close game with Detroit? Nothing to criticize in a win (therefore nothing to work on?).

What a ****ing dolt.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Flubber
The funniest thing was on Calgary sports radio this morning. They typically slam anything to do with Edmonton-- derision is common. BUt today they were trying to come up with a theme song for the OIlers to motivate them to victory against the Avs-- while at the same time deride the Oilers as usual. I never heard the final selection but some of the contenders were hilarious

Sounds like fun. Do you think it would be available to listen to?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Sounds like fun. Do you think it would be available to listen to?

They often post clips when the host does his "bits" but they often don't post his general banter and thats what this was. He was making suggestions and taking listener callsand emails with suggestions. The criteria seemed to be that it had to be uplifting and yet at the same time be making fun of Edmonton in some way . I didn't hear if they made a final selection but I know a couple of Barry Manilow songs were in the running.

Here's a taste of his work http://www.fan960.com/audio/mike_richards_audio1.jsp

I can't access the audio files from work


I actually find his humor very hit and miss with me but he certainly has adopted an anti-Edmonton stance as part of his persona.

[notyoueither]

Alberta wouldn't be nearly as much fun without people from Edmonton and Calgary feuding.

It would be like Apolyton without Yanks and frogs.