That's right, after a long, sad (albeit academically good) NHL lockout, the Hockey Blogging Chicks pool is back!! I've sent out an email to everyone from our last time round, so if you'd like be join us again, that'd be great! If you don't receive a message in either your inbox or spam filter, please email me and I'll re-send the information! If there's a fellow blogging hockey chick I've missed whom you'd like to invite, please pass on her contact info to me, and I'll get an invitation sent out!
Here's the basic info for the league (a few changes from last time, denoted by a *):
League Name: BloggingHockeyChicks Draft Type: Live Draft Draft Time: Sat Sep 24 11:00pm EDT Max Teams: 12 Scoring Type: Rotisserie Max Moves: No maximum Max Trades: No maximum Trade Reject Time: 1 Trade End Date: March 9, 2006 Waiver Time: 2 days Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo! Sports Trade Review: Commissioner Post Draft Players: Free Agents Max Games Played: 82 Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow Start Scoring on: Wednesday, Oct 5 Roster Positions: C, C, LW, RW, W, W, D, D, Util, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, IR Stat Categories: G, A, +/-*, PIM, PPP, SOG, W, GAA*, SV%
Woohoo!! I'm so excited! Hope all you chickies can join!! (Sorry I didn't get any input for the draft date/time, but I figured that a month's notice would be enough for people. Plus with the Yahoo live draft people can pre-rank and let Yahoo draft for them if necessary.)
The new CBA might as well not exist for all the impact it seems to be making on the decision-making process of Leafs' management. While smaller market teams are stocking up on starpower and other established franchises are making moves to secure their future (like Colorado re-signing many of its young/rising stars), the Leafs continue to throw away money in short term deals on older, historically injured or otherwise suspect players.
Heck, forget the old CBA days, this feels like (as Jello commented) the old Pat Quinn as GM days! At least with Quinn we all knew and expected that he would, given a choice, stick with the tried (if not true), but when JF Jr. came on, he was supposed to take the team in a new and improved direction!
Anyway, let's say we take the word of Lindros' father/agent, Carl (as quoted in The Toronto Sun), and accept that Eric hasn't been constantly sidelined by concussions: "'On average, in the past three years, Eric has missed five games a year with concussions,' he said. 'That's fewer than Peter Forsberg or Jeremy Roenick. The bulk of Eric's concussions came in one year.'"
So what?
The timing of the concussions doesn't mitigate the danger of serious re-injury that comes from having had so many concussions.
Geh. Forget it. I'm sick of talking about the Leafs and their spectacularly UNimpressive deals.
I CAN NOT BELIEVE THE LEAFS SIGNED BERG *AND* BELAK. Apologies to any JF Jr. fans, but I think he's completely out of his bleeding mind!!! What has Berg ever done to deserve 1-year, $1.06 million deal? And why the heck would anyone want to keep Belak for another 2 years?!
Now I know that playing the comparison game across positions and with teams of very different financial and player needs is totally useless, but nonetheless I feel compelled to marvel at the fact that the Leafs are willing to pay Berg--an older and totally sucky d-man, who's only going to get worse, IMO--2.5 times as much as the Hurricanes are willing to pay Radim Vrbata--a decent young R-winger with a reasonable upside, again, IMO. It totally boggles the mind.
This does NOT bode well for the Leafs' 2005-06 season.
Heh, sorry I haven't updated here in a little bit! I've been pretty busy--working lots of OT, plus I got a new student for tutoring--so I forgot to update here!
Anyway, the Leafs recently signed Domi and Allison. Domi was probably a political move--hoping to appease fans angry at the loss of Nieuwendyk and Roberts--but I'm pretty hopeful for Allison. Yes, concussion recovery is a tricky thing, but if the Leafs are lucky, this could end up as an amazing steal. Don't quote me on this, but I have a good feeling about Allison. At the very least I think it was worth the shot.
On the Leafs in general, though, sorry, but I think they're going to suck this year. They've got an aging goaltender who hasn't played for an entire year (a year for recovery, or a year to get rusty?) and no real stand up leaders in the locker room (like Roberts). If the reports are to be believed though, Ferguson Jr. is sacrificing this season to put himself in a better position for next year's batch of quality young free agents (like Thornton, I believe). That doesn't make me any happier about this year, but at least there's hope there's some method to the apparent madness.
About the Avs, well, although I'm not happy about losing Foote or Forsberg, I do feel that the team is going in a good direction. They're making good progress in securing the team's future--locking in Hejduk for 5 years, resigning Tanguay for this year at least, and making offers for Aebischer, Liles, and Svatos--while keeping Blake and Sakic for experience and leadership (although I would've preferred Foote over Blake, frankly). I don't think they're going to win the Cup, but I think they're going to do well enough this season.
