AHL- Apolyton Hockey League 08/09 (II): Game On

[Sparrowhawk]

Think the NHL will give Tampa Bay upper management a two year suspension for Gambling on Rick Tocchet?

/me

[-Jrabbit]

LOL

[notyoueither]

Big trouble in Sensville.

Lost back to backs to the Islanders.

Whacky rumour of the day has Spezza to the Oil for Roli and Gilbert. The rumour is coming from Ottawa.

[Asher]

That trade would go down in history books as the worst trade, ever.

[Flubber]

Asher

You may have seen the reports that the Flames had been scheduled for a couple of days off in California after their busy stint but that in light of their poor showing Thursday, they came home.

I actually witnessed their Saturday practice since my son had skating on an adjacent rink

A few observations

-- practice didn't do anything other than make them skate their asses off. They did lots of skating and shooting on net but the main drill was repeated sprints again and again and again.It was in groups and was essentially a race ( first the redshirted top two lines, then the whiteshirted bottom lines of forwards and then the blackshirted dmen with Lombardi

-On line rushes Iggy again skated with bertuzzi and Langkow while Boyd-Bourque-Cammaleri rounded out the top 6. The continue to skate Conroy with Moss and Glencross in a matchup that still doesn't work IMHO and Roy-Primeau-Nystrom-Prust took turns in various combinations.

- Lombardi participated fully in all individual drills and his shot and skating speed were top notch-- he was the only blue-shirted guy though which I took to mean "do not hit me"-- He did do some individual mucking in the corners with Rick Preston probably testing some light contact

- Roy is by far the weakest skater on the team- The 6 other guys on the bottom two lines would open gaps on him in sprints that occurred with no one else.

-Bertuzzi seems intense even in practice- when he missed a shot he seemd incredibly pissed off at himself

-Bourque looked meanest and also won the award for always missing the net by 6 inches

- Phaneuf at the end made a point of going around and tossing a Flames puck to all the children-- there was no media there that I saw so I figure its just something he does

--------------- Local media are now speculating that "some" are now calling for Keenans head. The idea ws that Keenan is supposd to ne a motivator so if the teamlooks unmotivated its his fault. The local columnist seemed to think a firing would be premature but did think the Flames better start showing improvement or it wouldn't be that far-fetched

[Flubber]

More generally

It seems that local media and fan feedback is no longer as pro Sutter as it used to be. For a while it seemed like it was taboo to ever criticize anything Sutter did as GM of the Flames but now people are being far more
analytical and critical.

personally I think he has assembled a better mix of talent up front than he had had in quite some time. I remain unsold on the defence though . I think all of their 6 regulars are decent enough but to me their top 4 don't match up that well against the better teams.


and the big question is in goal-- Kipper has been both good, average and bad at various points this season-- What he has not been this year however, is a top top goalie in this league --

[Kontiki]

The Flames are tied for second most goals allowed in the league. For a team that's supposed to have a good defence and goalie, that's not very encouraging.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Kontiki
The Flames are tied for second most goals allowed in the league. For a team that's supposed to have a good defence and goalie, that's not very encouraging.

Who the hell told you the Flames had good defense for the past couple season?

It's a very steep dropoff from Phaneuf and Regehr. Has been for several seasons.

The last time the Flames had good defense was 04, IMO. 06 was less so, but Kipper played out of his mind to lessen the impact. But last year and this? I'd say it's bottom 10 defense in the league, at best.

I think Sutter is best suited as a coach, not as GM. If you look at the stats, the Flames were at their best with by far better defense when Sutter was coach. As soon as he left, it all crashed down.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher



It's a very steep dropoff from Phaneuf and Regehr. Has been for several seasons.

True and even Phaneuf has his "adventures". He has all the physical tools and is already among the elite offensively but defensively stillneeds to work on consistency.

Hell this team will miss Jim Vandermer while he's out sice he was reasonably relaible defensively

Originally posted by Asher

The last time the Flames had good defense was 04, IMO. 06 was less so, but Kipper played out of his mind to lessen the impact.

Even 04 it was a LOT of Kipper-- but there was a greater focus on team defense with the forwards helping out a lot more than they do now-- 06? It was the Kipper show for most of the year

Originally posted by Asher
I'd say it's bottom 10 defense in the league, at best.

I don't know if I would quite go that far-- it depends on how much weighting you give those top 2 LOL

[Kontiki]

Huh, I knew there had been a dropoff in the last few years, but I didn't figure it was that bad. I'll defer to you guys, though.

But yeah, bottom 10 sounds like a stretch. Can you honestly name 20 clubs with a d-corps that you'd rather have than Calgary's? Can you even name 10?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Huh, I knew there had been a dropoff in the last few years, but I didn't figure it was that bad. I'll defer to you guys, though.

But yeah, bottom 10 sounds like a stretch. Can you honestly name 20 clubs with a d-corps that you'd rather have than Calgary's? Can you even name 10?

The problem is this: I'd want Phaneuf and Regehr on any team. I don't want to see them go.

But everyone else? The rest of them are probably 5th or 6th defensemen at best.

And Phaneuf and Regehr -- try as they might -- cannot play the whole game. So as a result you've got Phaneuf and Regehr split up, so each one is saddled with a rather boneheaded defenseman. Then you've got a third pairing that is just useless...

[Flubber]

Our pools--

I was relieved to have a super lucky week in our draft pool despite losing Nabokov to injury for the whole time-- I hope he comes back soon as he has been a wins monster for me despite not doing great on sv %.

In the auction pool I was actually quite disappointed -- Losing Nabby probably cost me the wins category (San Jose kept on winning) but still I was leading Asher 4-3 as late as late last night with only a period or so left in the last two games of the week. I think all it took was an assist by each of Seteguchi and Getzlaf (swinging A, PPA and +/-) and the results turned to a 4-1 loss. Very frustrating as I think I lost 3 categories by a margin of one. This was enough for Asher to leapfrog me into first so I guess congrats to Asher

But that was balanced somewhat as I won a similar number of categories by similar margins in my only other pool ( a non-poly draft at yahoo).

Is it just me or do there seem to be a lot of nagging injuries out there this year. I lose Nabokov but no IR status. I replace him with Brent Johnson and next thing I know he's down-- Its "not serious" so he backs up Theodore but doesn't play. I've also seen Cheechoo, Alfredsson, Briere and Rolston go down for varying periods and I've noticed other squads seem to always have a DTD guy or two as well

[Asher]

In draft league: I was down 5-0 to joncha on saturday morning, up 4-1 by saturday night, and ended up tied 3-3 on sunday night.

In auction league: I beat Flubber for first.

In my other yahoo league...Brodeur's injury ****ed me hard. It's rotisserie and I'm on pace to be about 12 goalie games short of the max, which is awful. I've had to resort to having 4 ****ing goalies, all of which are ****ing useless:
Huet, Boucher, Weekes, Legace.

Huet is now a backup to "WHERE ARE THEY NOW?" Khabibulin, Boucher is playing for now but hit or miss, Weekes has sat out consecutive games for Clemmenson (WTF), and Legace had his "Sarah Palin" injury for weeks and then came back and promptly SUCKED.

Awful. My GAA last night alone was like 8. Awfulllll.

[Asher]

Penner looks to be on his way out. If only another team would be dumb enough to take on that contract.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sports/oilers/story.html?id=8094df3b-bf43-479c-b973-c10dd439e3ef

MacTavish slams Penner's poor performance, attitude

DETROIT - Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish took the gloves off today and drilled winger Dustin Penner with a verbal roundhouse right to the kisser.

"When we signed Dustin we thought he'd be a top-two-line player," said MacTavish as the team prepares to face the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.

"We thought the contract ($4.25 million average for five years) was a starting point for him, but he views it as a finish line. I can't watch it, certainly not for another 2 1/2 years," he said.

Actually, it's 3 1/2 years.

Penner, who got a detention Saturday and wasn't part of the Oilers class in their game against Colorado, likely won't play again against the Wings tonight unless the unhappy coach has a change of heart at the morning skate.

He has some major fences to rebuild with his coach, who hasn't liked the winger's competitive fire, which has been a flicker, according to MacTavish, or his stats (he's only scored in two games).

Penner may have been stung by MacTavish's comments but didn't dispute anything he was saying.

"It's time for me to bring that part of my game (competitiveness) up ... that's a part of my game that's always been harder for me to attain," said Penner. "I have to take the right steps."

He led the Oilers in goals last year with 23 (13 on the power play), bouncing back after major questions about his conditioning in the early going. He showed up at camp this September fitter than he'd ever been and had two goals in the first game of the regular season against Colorado. But he's only had one since, and he was playing on the third line when MacTavish, looking to make changes, yanked him on Saturday.

Penner has certainly heard knocks on his game before.

"The path I took (to the NHL) was unique," said Penner, who was cut from kids' teams as a youngster, never played major junior, went to a small U.S. school on a look-see, then managed to crack the University of Maine lineup, before finally being signed by the Anaheim Ducks.

"There was a lot of hardship leading up playing in the minors where I had a point and a half a game, then getting to Anaheim and winning the Cup, then coming to Edmonton with the big contract.

"What I have to do is figure how I got here and how can I reapply myself to where they want me to be and, more importantly, where I want to be."

MacTavish said he's not in good enough condition, which brought a perplexed look from Penner.

"My (fitness) tests were better this year than last. But I guess you can always be in better shape."

Penner is the classic big body. He's not a punishing hitter and not a fighter, so he has to score as John LeClair did in Philadelphia with his Legion of Doom buddies Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg. And like the marginally physical Johan Franzen is doing in Detroit, who's not overly physical but has great hands and plays hard because of the peer pressure of living up to the standards of the Wings' big guns.

"I've heard the stories about guys who are similar in size to me and I've heard names like John LeClair, not just from friends but from other players I've played with," Penner said. "The bigger the tire the less it has to spin to get the same amount of distance as a smaller one.

"I want to be a productive part of this team and I haven't been."

The best part of Penner's game is his work from the hash-marks to the net. He also did a pretty good job killing penalties earlier this year. That was MacTavish's way of getting him more minutes.

But through the neutral zone he's not much of a threat with the puck on his stick, and the transition game hurts him because of his lack of footspeed. All big bodies have that problem. If he was scoring, the Oilers wouldn't care. But he isn't.

"You can't throw gratuitous ice-time at a player that's inconsistent," said MacTavish. "It's his competitiveness.

"The frustrating thing for me is he has the game but he can't find it and you have to put the work in. He has a great set of tools but his legs are inconsistent. He needs more horsepower," said MacTavish.

While playing on the top unit last year, Erik Cole took that spot in training camp, but Penner said he has no problem playing on the third or fourth line.

"Mac wants me to play certain roles, and as a player you accept that because he wants the team to win," Penner said.

"He has to get his game to a level where he can help us," MacTavish added. "To this point, it hasn't gotten there. Where do we go from here? Hopefully when he gets in, he'll be more motivated than he's been. At times we've seen his competitiveness but we need more of it."

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher


In auction league: I beat Flubber for first.

yes-- DAMN YOU TO HELL

Actually it was a week where neither team excelled and it was probably the closest week I have seen in a while. NONE of the categories were really out of reach for either of us.

Personally I am just happy to have maintained a reasonably high standing when nabokov has been such a relative disappointment. I saw how he injured himself and still don't understand it-- it was a shootout for cripes sake