Commissioner's Corner

This week in Commissioners Corner:

*Special Edition* Draft Results
Weekend Review
This week in RHL History

Draft Results and Regular Season Predictions

Burlington Firecats: With the first overall pick the Firecats simply added the best fantasy player in the game with Sidney Crosby. Will it be enough? Well, to compliment Crosby up front, he added oft’ injured Henrik Zetterburg, ½ of the Sedin twin’s with Daniel along with McDonald, Nash and Shanahan. Late picks added Tkachuk and Weight. In goal he is fairly well represented with Marty Turco but falls deep with his second man Holmqvist who will battle former incumbent Marc Denis for starts all season. Defence is the teams weakness. Philippe Boucher is back for a third stint with the Cats; although Markov has improved over the past few seasons, he’ll surely miss Souray as a good chunk of his 27 PP assists were on Souray’s 19PP goals; Bergeron is constantly battling his defensive game (and as such his coach’s patience) and Commodore has done nothing to warrant a fantasy selection.

This represents a fairly soft team, with a bit of risk on Zetterburg inj. and Shanahan/Tkachuck/Weight age, Turco’s instability, etc. Upsides to look forward to could be Rick Nash finally living up to potential, Bergeron’s offensive upside, and finally the Crosby factor. My prediction has the Firecats finishing in 9th like a year ago.

Kwik-E-Mart Gougers: Second pick netted these defending champion Gougers Dany Heatley, who could be the only other player that may have gone 1st overall. Heatley’s numbers are better than Crosby’s over the past few seasons and finished ranked 1 last year but Crosby’s upside has the edge. The Gougers went for their usually strategy netting back to back goaltenders after Heatley. With these picks they were able to pick up Nabokov and Miller to form the best tandem in the league. Using these picks didn’t come without consequences and the Gougers are lacking the high end firepower in their lineup, settling on the likes of E. Staal, Havlat, Frolov, Hejduk and Kariya. On defence they show Redden, Liles, F. Kaberle and Aucoin.

The team needs work, but the good news is the GM has a history of making many moves over the course of the season. No other team has such a large upside either, with prime bouceback or breakout season candidates, Staal, Havlat, Hejduk, Kariya, Redden and Kaberle. They also hold current stalemate Scott Neidermayer and if he returns it could be the push the Gougers need to go deep into the RHL playoffs. My prediction is a 4th place finish but a better playoff push.

Alliston 93 Leafs: The rookie Leafs used the 3rd pick to select the assist king Joe Thornton. Thornton, Briere, Jokinen, Gagne, Drury and Getzlaf probably represent one of the top forward line-ups in the league. Goaltending will not be the strong suit, as Vokoun has moved over to Florida, Fernandez to Boston and Legace stayed in St. Louis. If shots allowed on goal was a category they’d be champs, but for now they’ll need to settle for chumps. The defence doesn’t get much better, with top d-man being Campbell and fellow subjects, Pitkanen, Spacek and Regehr rounding out the selections.

As mentioned the offence is steller but it ends there. Pitkanen could have a good year, but +/- doesn’t get better in Edmonton. The big guns should carry this team to a playoff spot, but will falter fast in the opening round. My prediction has the Leafs in a 5th spot.

Sarnia Colts: The Colts were predictable when they selected top minder Mikka Kiprusoff, Tanguay, Roloson, Smyth and Langkow but were un-predictable when they selected Mason with their second pick and the likes of Jordan Staal and Modano with 10 and 11. They did fill some holes using Datsyuk and Boyle, but it will be hard to compete with average fillers, Avery, Witt and Robidas. I will say the D side is fairly strong with Bouwmeester and Salo in addition to Boyle.

The Colts had a good season last year, so it’s hard to argue with success, but I’ll do it anyway. I see the Colts getting ‘put down’ and finish up buried at 11th place.

Barrie Nordiques: The Nordiques finally picked up a legitimate #1 goalie with the selection of Roberto Luongo. They added a top, but fairly risky, second man with Hasek as well. The defence represents one of the Nordiques strongest over the years, with Whitney, Kaberle, Schneider and Blake so long as the latter 2 aren’t too far past the prime years. The Nords didn’t select a forward until the 5th round and as such don’t own a top gunner. They will try to make due with Sakic, Stastny, Brindamour, Sullivan, J. Blake and Gionta. It’s going to be hard to make due with that.

These Nords are old goats - not dogs. Schneider 38, Sakic 38, Blake 38 this year, Hasek 43 this season, Brindamour 37, and Selanne 37 if he plays. I know Detroit can make it work but I don’t think Barrie can. Another tough year for the Nordiques, finishing 10th.

Peterborough Mullets: The Mullets took the safe selection of Martin Brodeur. Usually know what you get with Marty – approx 40 wins and a .915 SV% while starting most of the teams games. They started out well taking Alfredsson and Lidstrom but begin to falter after these picks. Biron will join Brodeur in net, and his play may well determine how well the Mullets goaltending will be. McCabe, Bieksa and Hamrlik join Lidstrom on the blue line to highlight the Mullets strongest line. The forwards are high risk, high reward selecting Demitra, Cole, Pomainville, Arnott and Brunette. If their situations work out, then they’ll be good selections, but I predict ½ are dropped before Christmas.

At first glance the team looks weak, but I see a good mix of players contributing in a variety of categories. I think these Mullets will be tough to beat, but beaten anyway. Someone has to finish last, 12.

Oakville Red Wings: The Red Wings made 4 straight forward selections with Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Cheechoo and Gaborik. They later added Afinogenov and Morrow to round out the top 6 which should easily be the top forward group in the league. The defence should be high octane with Zhitnik, Carle, Zidlicky and Murphy all QB’s on their respective high scoring teams PP. Perry and Bertuzzi provide strong depth and both a potential break out and bounce back player. If the Red Wings have a weakness it’s most definitely in goal. Letonen is a respectable starter but does have some questions surrounding him, and Osgood/Gerber are both back-ups on their rosters. The GM will have to act quickly to rectify that situation.

In spite of the suspect goaltending, the Red Wings have enough firepower to shoot the lights out and should fly to 1st place.

Streetsville Perogies: The Perogies have a strong forward core anchored around 1st selection Jarome Iginla. Surrounded by Malkin, Richards, Cammellari, Elias and Roy they should not have any trouble scoring. Their defence is strong with top rated Chris Progner joined by Chara, Timonen, and Jovanoski. Goaltending is questionable with Dipetro and Huet. Depth players, Horton and Backstrom are both high potential players.

The Perogies have most angles covered and look to be a force this season. One of the biggest question marks surrounding this team will continue to be the dedication on the part of the manager. If this GM pulls his socks up he has the base for a championship team, but that is a big if. So for now, this team is 2nd.

Lindsay Wazooz: Last season was one to forget for the former champs after a dismal 10th place finish. Looking to rebound they selected Vincent Lecavalier and encircled him with Marleau, Nylander, Huselius, Rolston and Sykora. On D, Souray and Phanuef will add muscle while Pressing and Beauchiman will add some scoring punch. Goaltending will be run by Fleury and Budaj which could be worse. The only weakness I see on this team is depth players White, Hainsey, Brown and Keith but easily corrected as they were late pics.

The original champs are back with authority and looking hungry. I think a few forward fixes throughout the season should put them right in the mix. I think a solid 3rd place.

Georgetown Gophers: The Gophers manager hates D men and it shows once again. They selected Weber, Clark, Poti and Mara, and while not terrible, they’re not good either. But by waiting on D they picked up top notch forwards Hossa, St. Louis, Savard and Vanek. Good middle range players Michalek, Straka and Kopitar. In the mesh, Backstrom is backstrong and should be an anchor while Kolzig has nowhere to go but up.

So Kolzig could hurt, but he could also help, and the forwards look good. Defence is in need of help but overall a decent team. The Gophers are good, but somehow not spectacular, so I predict a 6th place finish and just in the playoffs.

Chatham Clamhammers: Giguere is back in Chatham and this time is joined by Cam Ward. Ward struggles with consistency but this could be a good tandem and if he plays well, could be the best. Strong on the blueline with Rafalski, Visnovski and Zubov, the Clamhammers still have a top forward with Jagr. Jagr is joined by Semin, Recchi, Naslund, Radulov and Holmstrom. The offence depth is not good but the D could make up for that.

Radulov is poised to break out and Naslund an opportunity to bounce back so the offence can get better. However, they really need that and a bit more help on the waiver wire to contend for the cup. With a good overall team the Clamhammers will compete each week but with so many good teams they will fall to 8th.

China Town Jets: The Jets are a regular season team. Last season’s regular season champs are back to defend and after selecting Spezza, they pick up Lundqvist and Emery in the nets. This is a far cry from Heatley, Broduer and Turco they had last season so they need to do some work. They have Gomez, Sundin, Kozlov, Sedin and Whitney to round out a soft forward group. On D, the Jets have Gonchar, Erhoff, Corvo and Ohlund. The Jets will need to do some trading to improve this group, but have one of the most active GM’s in the league so a turn around is possible.

Spezza is too risky to count on, but if he stay’s healthy he could challenge for the scoring title. The Jets will need to be active but based on this team they would certainly fall out of the playoff race and finish 7th.


Weekend Review

The first weekend of the RHL action is in the books, albeit a limited number of players were in action, but for those with Anaheim and/or LA players it was back to battle after a long summer off. Mike Cammalleri (3 goals) and Corey Perry (2 goals, 1 assist, 2 PIM) were the individual stat mongers, while in an oddity, 4 goalies used in the action over the weekend, none were used by RHL managers.


This week in RHL History

Did you know, back in 2006 at the RHL draft day, the S.C. Firecats used their 1st round selection to make Manny Legace their top fantasy player? Manny would go on to play in just 45 games with a record of 23-15-5 with a .907 SV%. Those season numbers represent the worst SV% and most losses in Manny’s career. With those numbers I would consider the Firecats lucky it wasn’t worse. They would go on to finish in 8th place, 25 points back of a playoff position.



Next week in Commissioners Corner:

Week #1 – in review
Transaction Observations
Injuries
This week in RHL History
More!