Another season is underway.  Hopefully we have resolved the e-mail problems that some of you were having.  I will be sending the stats as an Excel file attachment and the newsletter as a Word file attachment from my AOL address.  In some cases these may be sent out at different times.  The stats are done first so if I can’t get to the newsletter the same day, I will send out the stats file first and the newsletter when and if it gets done.

Since the last newsletter where I mentioned that we would use team names if you guys want to and told you to e-mail me your team names, I have received only one team name.  Charlie is "The Dynasty."  I am going to use last year’s names for the teams in the league last year unless I hear from you guys soon, except for Tom, who for some reason wants to change from the awe-inspiring Cougars to Smartie’s Wall Bangers.  So mainly I need names from Bill as Mike’s team is the Armed Prophets.

Here is a quick review of last week’s games.

Grant 20  Chris 19
I managed to eek out a win in this low scoring contest.  Clearly I benefitted from Kariya missing from Chris’ line up as replacement Daze went pointless.  Injuries played a factor for both teams, as I missed Ozolinsh for a couple games and Brown for the week.  Daigle sat out the all-important late Tuesday game for Chris with elbow problems.

Mike 26  Tony 17
Mike won his first EFHL game relatively easily over Tony.  Mike was led by Forsberg with 7 points.  Tony, with Selanne, is probably the only person in the league hoping Kariya signs with the Ducks soon.

Brett 31  Charlie 26
Brett, led by Jagr and Weight with 6 points each, nips Charlie.  Charlie got a surprising 7 points from Ciccarelli and also gets to welcome Bondra into his line up.

Bill 31   Rich 26
Bill gets a win in his first EFHL contest.  Bill was led by the highest scoring defensemen of the week and also Recchi, who looks to be very solid playing with Koivu.  Rich gets 7 points from Stumpel of the Bruins, I mean Kings, in a losing effort.

Tom 26   Rick 24
I would consider this a mild upset, as Tom’s Sporting News team has a pretty good first week with two goal games from Renberg and Galley.  Rick looks solid, but was let down by his defensemen, who were the lowest scoring of the week with just two points.

As a public service, I will now take a look at the holdouts that were drafted.  There are still a few big names unsigned, which is of great amusement to the teams that do not have any holdouts.  The news is the latest that I have heard, which may or may not be up-to-date as of today (Thursday), and the players are listed is in the approximate order of importance to their EFHL teams.

Paul Kariya-The latest offer by the Ducks of 5 years and $25 million is about $3 million per year too low.  I thought he might sign right after the games in Japan, just to avoid the long trip, even though he was the main reason the Ducks were one of the teams.  Who knows when the Ducks will pony up that Disney money.  Until they do, Chris is in sorry shape.

Peter Bondra-Reported to the Caps the day after the Caps crushed Toronto in their opener, just late enough to cost Charlie six points for the week.  I guess Peter could have been a little worried that the Caps weren’t going to need him this season and had had enough of him, since he was holding out to renegotiate the contract that he held out to get a mere two years ago.

Alexander Mogilny-Haven't heard too much about his situation, but it does not look real good for him returning to Vancouver with Bure and his salary playing.  This could work out good for Mike though, depending on where Mogilny gets traded.

Sergei Federov-They are about $1million apart per year and also differing on the length of the contract desired.

Dan Alfredsson-This situation looked real ugly before the season started.  However, it may be coincidence, but Alfredsson was supposed to travel to the West Coast to meet with his agent at the same time the Senators play three games out West this week, so that could be a good sign for Bill.  With some of the young guys there that have the potential for good seasons, he could be getting a little worried that his services will not be needed.

Oleg Tverdovsky-The Coyotes are saying they won't give in and that he won't play this season unless he reduces his demands.  Fortunately for Rich, he also has Numminen, who is most likely to benefit statwise from Tverdovsky's absence.  Numminen had two goals last week in three games, matching his goal total last season for 82 games.

Sergei Gonchar-Was in Europe thinking about playing there, but signed Monday.  Would not have been signed by the Caps if he had played a game there because he would have had to clear waivers, and he wouldn’t have.  Let’s see, play for $400,000 in Europe or for $1.4 million or whatever ridiculously low salary the Caps offered.  I am sure the Caps good start and their abundance of defenseman had something to do with the resolution of this situation.

Petr Nedved-They are about $4 million apart on a five year deal.  He recently turned down a five year, $14 million contract.  He is a fool to think he is worth more, and the Penguins are fools if they offer him a penny more.  If there ever is a guy who will cruise after getting a big contract, Nedved is it, although hopefully Constantine won't allow it.  Supposedly he will decide in the next two weeks that to do.

Jeff Friesen-I have the feeling Tony did not know about this when he drafted Friesen, and evidently no one else did either because nobody mentioned it.  He signed Tuesday.

Alexei Zhitnik-Signed a one year contract Tuesday, so he can go through his all over again in a year.

Hopefully I didn’t forget any of the holdouts.  Later.