Hello. It was a wacky week in the EFHL. We had a couple of pretty close games, a blowout in what was supposed to be the match up of the week, and even a trade. First a look at the scores.

Grant 33 Rich 24
I won my fifth straight, led by Damphousse (9 points), whose hat trick Saturday probably saved him from being benched. My defensemen chipped in a bunch of assists as well.

Chris 24 Charlie 18
Chris starts to regain some respectibility with his second win in a row. Believe it or not, Gratton was his leading scorer with 6 points. Charlie’s forwards could only muster 10 points for the week.

Rick 38 Mike 20
Rick easily beats Mike, led by Palffy with 9 points. Mike welcomes Mogilny back into the line up, but Vancouver is so pathetic, the question is, will it matter? And will he get along with Keenan?

Tony 49 Bill 29
Tony pummels Bill and wins his fifth in a row as both teams move to 5-1. If we kept a record for most points scored in one night, Tony might have broken it Monday. Tony was led by Selanne with 7 goals. Friesen’s 9 points and Dawe’s 6 minute natural hat trick also helped. Tony vaults from sixth to third in total points and takes a 9 point lead halfway throught the period. For Bill, Leclair had a big week again with 9 points.

Tom 32 Brett 25
Tom gets back on the winning track led by 12 points from Tkachuk, who broke open a close game with 5 points on Tuesday. Renberg added 2 goals, his first since opening night.

As I was on AOL last Thursday uploading last week’s newsletter in which I tried to analyze the lack of trades in this league, Brett and Rick were also on AOL working out the following trade. Brett sends Jagr, Roenick, and Hamrlik to Rick for Shanahan, Nieuwendyk, and Bourque. I guess since I am still trying to figure out who made out the best in this trade, it was relatively even for now. It may come down to which players can stay the healthiest.

Looking ahead to this week, the big game is me vs. Tony. The winner will be on a six game winning streak and be in first place in the Millen division.

Finally, here is a brief analysis of where each team stands through the first quarter of the season, including each team’s best pick.

Grant-My team has performed better than expected. Lindros has been worthy of the first pick overall and hasn’t been hurt yet, except for one game. My defensemen have been pretty strong (third overall), and have done it without Ozolinsh for the most part. If Zubrus can stay healthy for more than a few games at a time and continues to plays with Lindros and Leclair, Ozolinsh returns to form soon, and the rest of my guys perform reasonably well, I will be in really good shape. I know that is a lot of ifs, but none of them is too far-fetched.
Best pick-LaFontaine has looked good coming all the way back from his concussion and was a bargain fifth forward.

Chris-He is lucky to be 2-3-1 at this point. He is last in points for and against, and by pretty big margins. His Kariya watch continues with no end in sight. His team, even without Kariya, is starting to pick it up a little. Reichel has been a savior and free agent Stillman appears to be for real. On defense, Leetch and Sydor are playing better, but the last two spots have been horrendous, producing just 6 points.
Best pick-Reichel was picked as a third forward, and has been worthy.

Mike-This team has to be the biggest disappointment so far and has slumped badly the last few weeks. Modano was huge in the first month, but his production has tailed off since linemate Lehtinen has been out. Sanderson and Smyth have been invisible lately, and have been replaced. The only bright spots recently seem to be free agents Robitaille and especially Johansson, who ranks sixth among defensemen.
Best pick-I would say Modano, but that was a freaking no brainer at 18^th overall. I’ll give it to free agent Johansson.

Tony-Tony’s forwards have the most goals, 51, 9 more than the next highest. His forwards also have the fewest assists, 41, and he is the only team whose forwards have more goals than assists. His top three forwards continue to be huge, but a little bit inconsistent, which I guess Tony can live with at 5-1. Selanne continues to be ridiculously hot, with his consecutive game goal scoring streak ending last night at 11. Hull had 7 goals in his first 5 games, but has two since. Amonte and the Blackhawks were pretty bad for a while, but have turned it around lately. Housley recently recorded his 1,000^th NHL point, but has basically been average, along with the rest of his defensemen.
Best pick-Obviously right now picking Selanne 4^th overall looks like a great move.

Brett-This team has had consistent play from the top four forwards and Lidstrom on defense, but the rest of the team has some question marks. With the trade, Brett definitely improves on defense (Bourque for Hamrlik), but still has the questions up front.
Best pick-No one really sticks out as being a great pick. Lidstrom was a good pick, but may have been a no-brainer.

Charlie-At 1-5, Charlie rates as a hard luck team so far being in the middle of the pack in total points. Bondra has been disappointing so far and Bure and Yashin have been pretty much as advertised. On defense, Duchesne has been great but the rest of his guys are sorry.
Best pick-Duchesne has been better than expected and darn good for a second defenseman.

Bill-He has been led by Leclair and Recchi up front and Berard and MacInnis on defense. Sundin has been a major disappointment as a second forward, but has picked it up some though after going scoreless for the first seven games of the season. With those two defensemen ranked first and third, and Malakhov fifth, Bill has the top scoring defensemen.
Best pick-Could be a number of guys, but picking Berard as a first defensemen was somewhat risky, but has definitely paid off.

Rich-Rich, like Charlie, is 1-5, and like Charlie has a respectable 154 points. Similar to last year, he has the highest points against. But I guess with three teams with no more than one loss, there have to be some teams with bad records as well. As far as his team goes, Sakic has been a relative bargain at the 8^th pick overall. Production from the last two forwards, Kovalenko and Holzinger, has been disappointing, and obviously it would help to have Federov back. It would also help to have Tverdovsky back, but this situation is getting ugly and he is wondering if he even wants to play in Phoenix again.
Best pick-Stumpel, although Rich should lose points for not knowing that Stumpel had been traded to LA.

Tom-Tom is a quiet 3-3. I guess being second to last in points will not scare anybody. But in the Dion division, he easily could be strong enough to make the playoffs.
Best pick-Francis’ stats have not really suffered in Mario’s absence.

Rick-He appears to be starting to make a move, and now has some new faces in his line up. Palffy has rebounded after a slow start. Arnott blows and can forget about getting a huge contract next year unless he wakes up. Rick’s defensemen have been a little disappointing, and changing Hamrlik for Bourque will not help any.
Best pick-Nieuwendyk and his 10 goals as a fifth forward, although he is now gone.

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