Tough Two Weeks

Yeah ok, so maybe not in the NHL, (although maybe for some teams) but for me. This week and last has been nuts, and its not going to stop until at least next Tuesday, so until then, don’t expect much out of me!

Made a big a trade in my fantasy today, hopefully I can get some feed back. I traded away Huselius, Kaberle, and Bryzgalov for Lundqvist, Enstrom, and Prospal.

I needed goaltending because Osgood isn’t getting the games I was hoping he would, and I figure Huselius is streaky as hell. So I feel that I am losing Kaberle for Lundqvist. I have Campbell anyways and maybe Vlasic can keep up his pace of play. And then maybe Hammer or Keith can pick, Enstrom too for that matter. And as for Huselius and Prospal.. well Toews is coming on, so Juice was a spare part anyways, I just wanted him gone.

Sam Gagner and The Sophomore Jinx

Alright, I personally don’t know if the sophomore jinx exists or not, personally, I think its that the young guys kind of settle down in their second year, and maybe don’t feel as though they have as much to prove. In any case, Sam Gagner is definitely suffering through it right now.

Last season, Gagner finished with 49 points in 79 games, not a whole lot but considering he wasn’t expected to even make the team, that’s pretty good. This season however has been a different story. Through 13 games, Gagner has racked up a very unimpressive 2 points, and according to TSN, he’s on pace for 12 points. There’s no way Gagner is going to finish up with 12 points this season, he’s going to snap out of it and those numbers are going to go up. Law of Averages at the very least would indicate he will eventually score a goal, he has 28 shots, and eventually one of those is going to go in.

So what should the Oil do in order to help him snap out of it? There are a few things coaches normally do, either decrease ice time, which they’ve done to no avail. They could increase his ice time, which would increase his opportunities, and perhaps his confidence as well. They could do what Wilson has been doing in Toronto, and sit him the rafters for a game or two… who knows, it seems to have worked with Matt Stajan. The other option, which is open to debate, is sending him down to the AHL and let him play a few games with Springfield.

Now, I’ll be honest, I am unsure if Gagner would have to clear waivers, but I am pretty sure that under the CBA, if you’re in an entry-level contract you’ll be exempt from clearing waivers. So here is what I was thinking… send him down for like a week, the Oilers have plenty of depth to cover for him anyways (not like he’s doing the team any good right now either) and let him tear the AHL up for a couple games. This would probably get his confidence back up, and once it is up, then the Oilers bring him back to the bigs, give him tons of ice time and he can hopefully rip it up and be back into form.

Last Night’s Preds/Flames Game

Wow, that was unexpected, especially if you read my previous posting. There are a bunch of things that I want to write about last night’s game, so I will start and in no particular order.

• The Score: Holy crap! I would have been happy to see like 6 or so pucks put away, but 13? First of all, the Flames came out flying, or so it seemed, because I still haven’t decided if it was the Flames or if it was the Preds that came out so flat. One thing is for sure though, its a good thing the Flames played one good period and got away to such a big lead, otherwise they would have been routed.
• Leads me to my next point quite nicely. The tending was horrid last night. First, Renne allows 4 goals on 10 shots, no wonder he got the hook, “Thanks for the night off!” says Ellis. Second, Kipper. I’ve said it before about him, I think he’s overrated, especially as the league’s highest paid goalie. Don’t get me wrong, on nights that he is on, he’s one of the best, but then again, all goalies in the NHL are like that. It just seems to me that Kipper has had one stellar season and since then, he hasn’t had the same swagger. Third, Ellis. Well he just didn’t impress me that much, but hell, it was his night off.
• The refs. I thought they did a splendid job. Maybe a miss on the Penalty Shot. Granted I don’t know the ins and outs of the NHL Rulebook, but I was under the impression that if the shooter got away a decent chance he shouldn’t get a penalty shot. Aucoin did clearly hook the guy, but he still had a chance to come in, make a move and get a shot off, all he needed to do was get it up and he would have scored. Maybe the refs were just trying to make it interesting.
• The Calgary Flames fans. I have this theory that all the fans that the Flames have, just started watching hockey 4-5 years ago, just soon after the Flames got made into a decent team. “Why,” you may ask. Well, its simple. They are dumb and have no hockey sense. If they knew anything, they would know that Dion probably ran his mouth off to get his back-to-back Unsportsmanlike penalties, the officials don’t just give those out for no reason. They wouldn’t cheer when the linesmen get knocked down or are almost struck by an errant puck, especially when its the other refs they are made at. (Note: The ones with those red stripes on their arms, they call the penalties and for the most part control the flow of the game.)

Anyways there was going to be more, but I am running out of time. Oh, one last thing! After a thorough discussion with my buddy, we’ve come to the conclusion that the right call was made, or wasn’t made I guess, when the Preds appeared to have Too Many Men. It was an errant puck that struck a player, and he made no attempt to play it.