FUNHL News and Notes

The season is winding down to a close, so here are some penultimate thoughts on how it has gone;

- Big Thanks go to Doug for hi stats, and to Brian for his spreadsheets. Props also go to Bob for indefatigable communication skills, to our host of the Entry Draft (uh...Dan? I sadly could not attend due to the impending arrival of Mairi, so I am no longer sure who held it), and to everyone in the pool for keeping it real and making it fun.

- I have to be honest, I never saw the Hank Sedin leading the league in scoring thing coming. I had locked them in as ppg players in the late-stage-career-Mat-Sundin mold. Steady, reliable guys, but not superstars. So Henrik's ascent to the peak of the league in scoring is genuinely shocking to me.

- Remember Patrik Stefan? Pavel Brendl? They were the guys picked ahead of, and immediately after the Sedin twins.

- I'm not thrilled with the return on the Phaneuf trade, but if the result is Ian White, Matt Stajan and Nik Hagman are productive components moving forward I'm not too disappointed. The reality is that Phaneuf has nice tools, but no tool-box, and will always be less than the sum of his parts. He's the next Jovo-cop/Al Iafrate/Bryan McCabe, all tease, and a headcase. I can see how moving Phaneuf for a group of pieces to fill in holes on the roster makes sense. What bothers me is that I would have preferred the team role the dice on futures (1st rnd picks especially) and/or precocious young talent. The fact is that dealing Phaneuf for enough spackle to patch holes on forward and D made the team competitive enough to possibly make the playoffs, and that was clearly mgt's aim. To me though, the bigger priority in a Phaneuf trade should have been addressing the lack of talent coming up the pipeline. Backlund is now up with the team (and doing ok, more or less), and Boyd was moved out for a mid-round pick, Nemisz is still a year or more away - and thats about it. The rest of our forwards in the minors are 3rd/4th line guys with varying degrees of upside, but there is not a game-breaker amongst them. So my target from Toronto wouldn't have been Stajan, but rather Nazim Kadri.

- Craig Conroy should be polishing his broadcasting skills in the near future. I love the guy, but his game has now officially reached 'awful', and at 38 years old I can't see him sticking around any longer. Langkow gives every appearance of morphing into what Conroy was two years ago - a decent third line center with lots of savvy, ok but diminishing wheels, and loads of hockey sense. Unfortunately, that role makes Langkow's contract stupidly overpriced. Moss, Nystrom, Stajan, Kotalik, Higgins, are for that matter all very useful 3rd and 4th line guys, but not a gunslinger among them. Each of them is a nice complimentary piece, but none of them can make a line go. Of the forwards the only one I would rock solidly commit to long term us Iginla - everyone else could/can/should go.

- Despite the fact I think he is imminently expendable I have to admit, the Rene Bourque reclamation project has worked out. I just wish Calgary had made some effort to get into the Cam Barker reclamation project sweepstakes as well.

- From what I've read the Oilers are 60/40 in favour of Seguin over Hall. The Oilers prefer Seguin's position (they desperately need a #1 center), his skillset (slightly better goalscorer), and the fact he's roughly even with Hall in points despite being the younger player all work in his favour. Which is fine for me, as Hall will more likely be going to Boston.

- Go see 'Clash of the Titans' (and for that matter Alice in Wonderland) in 2D, rather than the more expensive 3D. Both were shot and filmed for 2D, but 'converted' into 3d after the fact. COTT in 2D was tonnes of fun, so save your money and savor the awesomeness of the film as it was originally intended. RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

- Funny, but a few weeks after I lament the fact that Guillaume Latendresse would never reach the potential he represented on his draft day, he's traded out of the stifling confines of Montreal, to the Wild, and promptly goes ballistic ripping off a very respectable 25 goals and 37 points in 55 games.

- Also apparently rejuvenated by escaping the spotlight for the zombie-Jets is Lee Stempniak with 13 goals in his last 15 games as a Coyote, and 1st star of the month from the NHL.

- Speaking of the Coyotes, any speculation they will adopt the old Jets uniform when they return to Manitoba? No way I can see them getting away from the name 'Jets'.

- Erik Karlsson has gone from 'does he make the team being only 165lbs?' to 'is he already the teams best offensive defenseman' over the course of the season. With 11 points over the last 10 games, Karlsson has bumped everyone else to the side.

- WhileI am blowing my own horn about Karlsson, this year represents the graduation of the greatest draft in Severed Heads history;

Backstrom-C Wsh
Stastny-C Col
Ryan-R Ana
Frolik-R Fla

(in baseball terms that would be; a homerun, a triple, a stand-up double, and a single - I hit for the cycle!)

- I also have to accept back the 'Exploding In A Hail Of Goo' award I gave to Darrell for selecting Plecanek as a prospect. I saw him as Randy Robitaille with a European accent. Instead he looks like the new Saku Koivu. He's been stupid good, and I was clearly an idiot for slagging Darrell when he picked him.

- Chris Chelios was just reassigned to the Chicago Wolves, making his appearance in an NHL uniform again highly unlikely. In other news Keith Tkachuk officially calls it quits.;



Here are his stats;
--- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ----

Season   Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM

1991-92  Winnipeg Jets               NHL    17    3    5    8   28   7   3   0   3  30
1992-93  Winnipeg Jets               NHL    83   28   23   51  201   6   4   0   4  14
1993-94  Winnipeg Jets               NHL    84   41   40   81  255  --  --  --  --  --
1994-95  Winnipeg Jets               NHL    48   22   29   51  152  --  --  --  --  --
1995-96  Winnipeg Jets               NHL    76   50   48   98  156   6   1   2   3  22
1996-97  Phoenix Coyotes             NHL    81   52   34   86  228   7   6   0   6   7
1997-98  Phoenix Coyotes             NHL    69   40   26   66  147   6   3   3   6  10
1998-99  Phoenix Coyotes             NHL    68   36   32   68  151   7   1   3   4  13
1999-00  Phoenix Coyotes             NHL    50   22   21   43   82   5   1   1   2   4
2000-01  Phoenix Coyotes             NHL    64   29   42   71  108  --  --  --  --  --
2000-01  St. Louis Blues             NHL    12    6    2    8   14  15   2   7   9  20
2001-02  St. Louis Blues             NHL    73   38   37   75  117  10   5   5  10  18
2002-03  St. Louis Blues             NHL    56   31   24   55  139   7   1   3   4  14
2003-04  St. Louis Blues             NHL    75   33   38   71   83   5   0   2   2  10
2005-06  St. Louis Blues             NHL    41   15   21   36   46  --  --  --  --  --
2006-07  St. Louis Blues             NHL    61   20   23   43   92  --  --  --  --  --
2006-07  Atlanta Thrashers           NHL    18    7    8   15   34   4   1   2   3  12
2007-08  St. Louis Blues             NHL    79   27   31   58   69  --  --  --  --  --
2008-09  St. Louis Blues             NHL    79   25   24   49   61   4   0   0   0   2
2009-10  St. Louis Blues             NHL    66   13   17   30   56
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     NHL Totals                       1200  538  525 1063 2219  89  28  28  56 176

Hall of Fame worthy? His career playoff numbers (highlighted in red at the bottom) are not greatl, and he never went to the big dance, so at a minimum I think he'll have to wait a few years (ala Cam Neely), but my gut says he should be a 'Yes'. In FUNHL terms? No question about it. His 93/94 and 96/97 combined TG numbers are legendary, and for 11 years he had 100+ PIM or better with ppg offense. Pretty much the definition of power forward in the FUNHL lexicon.

Chelios on the other hand will be a first ballot inductee mortal lock no matter how you cut it.