EFHL Week in Review

Don't get too used to these newsletters, because I doubt they will continue to be weekly. But for now, here is a look at the last week of action plus where things stand with one week to go in the EFHL regular season. It was pretty much a week of blowouts in one of the lower scoring weeks of the season. Three teams scored less than 20 points.

Ice Dogs 36-Tortured Souls 12
I tortured Chris big time and continue to hang onto the final playoff spot. Renberg is finally where I thought he would be when I drafted him and my defense actually contributed a decent amount of points. My team has lost only once in the last six weeks in the drive for the playoffs and I slipped into second place for the period. For what’s it worth, I also moved out of the total points cellar. If I beat Rick this week, I would finish third and play Tony in the first round of the playoffs. If I lose to Rick, then Brett can get into the playoffs with a win over Tony, based on the total points tiebreaker.

Despite the loss, Chris clinches first place because Rick also lost. Chris will meet the fourth place team in the first round of the playoffs, which could be me, Brett, or Rick. It’s not a real good time to have four Penguins in your line up. To make matters worse, three of the four were hurt during the week.

12 Monkeys 29-Cougars 14
Tony knocks Tom out of the playoffs with another impressive win. Tony now has a 16 point lead for the period with one week to go and will finish second or third and play Rick or me in the first round of the playoffs. If he holds on to his period lead, he would be the fifth different winner, a nice change from last year.

The Penguins’ problems also have affected Tom, as Jagr’s season now may in jeopardy, and Francis has been banged up a little too. Verbeek (15 goals, 5 of them in one week) and the second-lowest scoring defense haven’t helped much either.

Free Radicals 42-Fargon Iceholes 11
Brett keeps his playoff hopes alive as Rob loses again. Brett was led by Lindros and the Bruins only remaining star, Bourque. Brett needs to beat Tony and have Rick beat me to make the playoffs.

Even some well-timed moves couldn’t have saved Rob last week. He had four players with goose eggs, including Tkachuk and ref-slasher Daigneault, and four more with one point.

Plaindrifters 32-Beaver Slappers 24
What a coincidence that these teams would meet after their latest dealings. If you didn’t hear, you can thank Chris because he called after last week’s newsletter was done to tell me about the trade, which supposely was made two weeks ago, before Rich was knocked out of total points contention. Rick jettisoned losers Gretzky and Niedermayer from his squad and got Yashin and Leetch from Rich. Maybe a little questionable to say the least, especially if you look at their recent stats. To quote Senators’ backup goalie Ron Tugnutt, responding on how the Capitals acquisition of Oates, Ranford, and Tocchet will affect the Senators’ (currently very close to the Caps in the standings) playoff chances, “Somebody owes somebody a favor or something.” More on that NHL blockbuster in a minute. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. The only potential problem for Rick is that it leaves him with just one move. He’s only a couple of groin injuries away from having a problem in the playoffs. I’m sure he wishes he had back some of the moves he wasted on the likes of Kurri, Bradley, Guerin, etc.

In their game, Rich won and Rick will either play Tony or Chris in the first round of the playoffs.

The Travels of Scott Niedermayer

Scott Niedermayer has easily become the most traveled player in EFHL history, and maybe fantasy hockey history. He was drafted by Brett, who dropped him after two weeks. He was picked up by Rick in December and traded two weeks later to Rich. Rich dropped him two weeks later. Believe it or not, Rick picked him up again the next week. This time Rick held onto him for three weeks before he was included as part of the latest trade. Niedermayer responded this past week with four points.

NHL Update

YES!!!!!!!!That was my reaction when I heard that EJ got canned. The Penguins may or may not go real far into the playoffs this year, but even if they don’t, we won’t be left wondering what could have happened if they had a real hockey mind behind the bench.

Two big trades have already been made and many more continue to be rumored and there are still two weeks until the March 18 deadline. Gilmour is a good fit for New Jersey and a better acquisition than Oates, who was rumored to be going to several places including New Jersey.

Oates ends up going to the Capitals, along with Ranford and Tocchet for youngsters Jim Carey, Jason Allison, and Anson Carter. This trade was a no brainer for Caps GM David Poile even with the initial problems encountered. Poile was among those who were certainly gone if the Caps missed the playoffs and no major moves were made. Plus, any team that Dale Hunter is the second leading scorer on is truly pathetic.

Oates and Tocchet obviously were not happy about coming to Washington. Oates, who was under contract, insisted on a new contract and just got a new one for at least the rest of this year. Tocchet, who is out a few days with an injury, had stated that he wanted his next stop to be his last, and Washington wasn’t on the list of teams he submitted to his GM. Philadelphia was at the top of that list. And probably the Penguins, Colorado, Dallas, and Detroit. Poor baby. He is, however, a free agent, and can sign with any team after this year. No one, including the Caps, is going to want him if he doesn’t shut his yap and have a decent last month of the season. With Oates and Tocchet, the Caps should be able to sneak in the playoffs, hopefully so the Pen’s can knock them out again.

That’s about it for now. I hope to do a playoff preview next week.

Standings and total points

Player statistics by team:

Player scoring rankings
Schedule
Rules

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