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

[notyoueither]

Week 6

Rank   Team               W-L-T     Pct Pts Last Week Wv Mvs 
1.  Flubber's Folly       28-11-9  .677 65    7-0-1    4 17 
2.  Road Kill             28-15-5  .635 61    3-4-1   10  8 
3.  Derelique My Balls    26-19-3  .573 55    4-4-0   12  2 
4.  Ice Hawks             21-14-13 .573 55    5-2-1    7  1 
5.  Malicious Pacifists   23-18-7  .552 53    5-2-1    6  9 
6.  Haunted House Boos    18-15-15 .531 51    4-1-3    3  6 
7.  The Pantless Pirates  20-19-9  .510 49    3-3-2   13 16 
8.  Matthew Modines       19-19-10 .500 48    3-3-2   14  3 
9.  Blaine's Bruisers     20-22-6  .479 46    4-4-0   11  2 
10. CrONoS_QC             18-23-7  .448 43    0-7-1    5  1 
11. Televised Hawks       14-22-12 .417 40    1-4-3    9  2 
12. Kanadiens             14-23-11 .406 39    2-5-1    2  - 
13. Siddiqui Storm        14-27-7  .365 35    4-3-1    8  1 
14. Calamitous Intent     13-29-6  .333 32    2-5-1    1  1

[Flubber]

Edmonton by now has to rank as an early season disappointment. I had expected their young team to continue their strong play of late last season-- Their lack of offense so far is troubling. I still sort of expect they will rebound and play better as the season progresses-- but so far they have been nowhere near the team I thought they would be.

The Flames face the Avs tonight and Colorado has been pretty much what I expected this season-- a reasonably good team with inconsistent goalltending. Budaj has bee reasonably good lately but earlier in the season he pretty much singlehandedly lost them a few games. If Budaj continues to show up they should be a real contender for the playoffs.

Oh and the canucks-- Luongo must be getting frustrated. he is finding if he even gives up ONE goal he does not win ?? That happens far too much to the guy. The Canucks seemed reasonably good offensively early but lately have reverted to the poorer ofensive output that was more the expectation for them

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher

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...

My assessment is not as quite as harsh as Asher's but my take on the Flames d-men goes like this

Phaneuf-- An elite talent who has the physical tools to handle things defensively but who still makes far too many mistakes.

Regehr-- a solid defensive defenseman-- usually makes few boneheaded plays but he sometimes seems like he has lost a half step from a couple years ago- He is still good but but not quite the same force of a few years ago

Van der Meer-- reasonably solid defensively and reasonably reliable but frankly a little slow at times

Giordano-- looks a little small out there but has definite offensive upside-- he is mobile and a good puckhandler but has yet to translate that into offensive results-- makes a fair number of mistakes

Aucoin-- an old horse that is past his prime-- not that fast anymore

Sarich-- There are times when I have hopes for a Regehr type guy here and he does hit hard but never seems to be consistent-- Not much offense but often does an ok job when paired with regehr

Pardy-- is a rookie and plays like it-- has obvious talents but seems to make at least one groaner of a mistake


So unlike Asher I don't see them as all necessarily all number 5 or number 6 type d-men . But I also don't see much there in the way of a must have number three guy among them either. I just see a whole bunch of mediocre

[Kontiki]

Yeah, but most teams are in the same boat. Take any other NHL team's defensemen, subtract their top two guys, and you're likely looking at another whole bunch of mediocre. Sure, there are a handful of elite d-corps, but they're pretty few and far between.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Yeah, but most teams are in the same boat. Take any other NHL team's defensemen, subtract their top two guys, and you're likely looking at another whole bunch of mediocre. Sure, there are a handful of elite d-corps, but they're pretty few and far between.

I guess-- I just like the number 3 dman of a good few teams better than what the Flames can field. perhaps its looking too close at the home team and not appreciating the flaws as much of other teams but there are lots of teams where I would LOVE to be able to take anyone I chose outside their top 2 in return for anyone they choose outside the Flames top 2.

Perhaps bottom 10 is a tad harsh-- I'm sure someone could argue that the Flames have a "top 10' defence with similar vehemence (its so subjective) . All I can say is that they have not been impressive as a group in most games-- Now in about 4 of the 6 games in the winning streak a few weeks back, they looked incredible-- But outside that they looked eminently beatable-- Maybe its that Kipper doesn't save their bacon enough-- Partly its the few goals where a backchecking winger is a step too slow-- BUt they have not been impressive-- If the Flames could afford the cap room I would totally be hoping they could pick up a very solid defensman at the trade deadline-- but as Kontiki points out they are in short supply

[Sparrowhawk]

Originally posted by Flubber
Edmonton by now has to rank as an early season disappointment. I had expected their young team to continue their strong play of late last season-- Their lack of offense so far is troubling. I still sort of expect they will rebound and play better as the season progresses-- but so far they have been nowhere near the team I thought they would be.

As an Oiler fan with Rose coloured glasses, I think it is too early to call them a disappointment. They have played a disproportionate number of games on the road and I think that will lead to a misleading statistic. While I agree that they haven't performed as well as I would like the last couple of games, I believe that if they can maintain .500 on the road and have a decent home record (as I expect in both cases) they should not only make the playoffs, but make them early enough to have their hopes fade at home ice advantage (meaing a 5-7th place conference finish).

I would not be disappointed with that.

/me

[Flubber]

Back to the draft pool-- it seems much more up and down than last year. I believe I am the 5th different person to lead this thing in 6 weeks. Quite a bit of back and forth there.

Personally I would watch out for that Derilique my Balls squad. While other squads have been up and down, kontiki's squad has quietly moved up the standings and is the ONLY squad (I think) that has not taken a loss on the week yet (3 ties)

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk


As an Oiler fan with Rose coloured glasses, I think it is too early to call them a disappointment. They have played a disproportionate number of games on the road and I think that will lead to a misleading statistic. While I agree that they haven't performed as well as I would like the last couple of games, I believe that if they can maintain .500 on the road and have a decent home record (as I expect in both cases) they should not only make the playoffs, but make them early enough to have their hopes fade at home ice advantage (meaing a 5-7th place conference finish).

I would not be disappointed with that.

* Sparrowhawk

The many road games can certainly be a factor-- While I know that the record is what is important at the end of the day, I also look at "how a team is playing" and the OIlers play of late has been disappointing IMHO, particularly their offence. EVERY team ahead of them in the standings is averaging at least half a goal a game more. I expected more even with the long road swings they have had.

Note I find the Flames play so far this year even more disappointing. they are in the pack offensively but their goals against is the second-worst in the conference

[notyoueither]

I don't think it's surprising. While I would prefer a more consistent effort and results, there are a lot of young players in the line up in prominent roles.

[Flubber]

I didn't realize the Oil would take my comments and act on them so quickly-- SEVEN goals is impressive

The Flames were monsters tonight too directing over 50 shots at the Avs-- They dominated the game from the beginning and only an ineffective power play and Budaj's heroics kept it from being ugly

The Flames actually paired Giordano with Phaneuf-- IT looked a disaster early when both let a guy stand wide open in front and the Avs took the lead-- But everyone settled down and just asskicked the Avs-- Tonight they so outclassed the Avs it wasn't even funny

But any team can put up the occasional great effort-- they visit Colorado Thursday and then face Detroit Saturday--both good tests of this new resolve they claim to have after the weekend of retooling and tweaking

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Flubber
Personally I would watch out for that Derilique my Balls squad. While other squads have been up and down, kontiki's squad has quietly moved up the standings and is the ONLY squad (I think) that has not taken a loss on the week yet (3 ties)

The seeming return of Ovechkin will hopefully be a big help for me. He was really slow out of the gates, but had 5G, 5A and was +11 last week.

[Sparrowhawk]

At the time of the auction I was quite pleased to have Brodeur and Fleury (and spent a considerable portion of my to get them). I was even more pleased when teh set up mistake was made making goalies even more valuable (4 stat categories).

Having both of them currently injured doesn't make them seem so valuable however

Picking Garon to replace the IR Brodeur is even more painful, as he seems the odd man out in Edmonton right now.

/me

[Asher]

I had to get Weekes to replace Brodeur in my other league. And then Clemmenson got back to back starts...

[Asher]

2nd week in a row I didn't meet my goalie game quota and on saturday, one of my goaltenders rode the bench...

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher
2nd week in a row I didn't meet my goalie game quota and on saturday, one of my goaltenders rode the bench...

hmmmfff-- I needed 3 goalies to get the minimum-- This Nabokov injury is just killing me-- I wouldn't mind so much if they would just put him on the freaking IR