Scourge Pass Edge, Bladerunners Extend Lead

At both ends of the table, the race is certainly on. The Bladerunners are on their way to a massive week already potting over 52pts with many key players still set to dress for Sunday's games. They have not built an impressive 14pt lead on the Highlanders and with news that D.Hasek may be injured (who the Kilted Ones had hoped would solve thier goaltending woes) seem certain to keep pulling away. At the other end of the standings, the Scourge continue thier strong showing this week by not only making up the 5 pt gap on the Edge but creating a 6 pt gap of their own as they blow past the Edge and into 11th place. The Scourge also become the third team in the Omnivore to post a double digit positive score, things are certainly getting much better for the rookie GM and his charges while the Edge and their fans must be wondering what are they doing wrong. Stay tuned on both fronts, the race is not over yet.

In the Challenge Cup all eyes are focused on a few matches. Most importantly, the Great Whites holding a 6pt lead on the Highlanders. If they can hold on to win they (and the Personal Vendetta and Wolves who are also leading in their games) can still hope for that final playoff spot. If the Highlanders can find a way to shut the door (which it appears the Shadowmen and Severed Heads are doing in their games) then the playoff picture will be much, much clearer. Again, stay tuned.

Here are the stats after Saturday night:

Quiet Friday But Personal Vendetta Make Some Noise

The Bladerunners got a couple of assists from M.Straka in one of only two NHL contests last night and, as a result, increased their lead on the Highlanders to 11pts. While it is always good to increase one's lead, newly acquired V.Lecavalier and D.Boyle were held pointless so there would be reason to be somewhat disappointed with the result.

The real story of the night was, again, lower down on the table where the Personal Vendetta put an explanation point on their statement to the league that they are back by passing the upstart Lost Boys and moving into eighth place. While far from the lofty heights that the Vendetta and their fans are used to, it was only a few weeks ago that the team seemed destined to "win" their first Herbivore Trophy. That threat now seems increasingly unlikely. Indeed the Personal Vendetta are making, along with the Great Whites, as spirited run to make the Challenge Cup playoffs. The Vendetta and Great Whites are winning their games against the Scourge and Highlanders respectively while the Severed Heads are also losing in their game against the Knights Templar. If those trends continue, then the hope for post-season play will still be alive for both the PV and GW faithful.

Here are the, unofficial, stats as of Friday night's games:

Rule Thoughts

In follow-up to Doug's comments, some things to think about for this summer, and rule change/clarification. I concur with Doug, this is NOT applicable to the 2007 drafts.

Prospect draft - I would agree with Doug that a weighted lottery, much like the one for the Entry Draft, be adopted. I'm personally not sure if we should connect it to the Challenge Cup, but rather a simple weighting where the last place team has 12 ballots, second last has 11 etc up to the Predator Cup winner, who would have one ballot. Alternately, we could say the Cup winner drafts last in the upcoming PrD, and give Herbi 11 ballots, down to 1 ballot for 2nd place in the Cup race. Alternately again, we can adopt a system like Doug describes, where the PrD is reverse order of finishing, but the bottom "x" teams have a weighted chance to move to top pick. For example, if we DO use the Challenge Cup, we have 8 teams not in the playoffs. We give 8 ballots to Herbi, down to one ballot for 5th place in the Challenge Cup (might need lots of tiebreakers to rank them all). We draw ONCE, and that team picks first. After the first pick, we continue in order of Predator Cup finish in reverse, so Herbi would pick next if they lost the lottery, and if they win the lottery, things remain 12th to 1st in order of selection. Clear as mud?

Entry Draft lottery - Ideally, we should use this to offset the above. For the PrD, finishing lower in the scheme above would mean a better chance at a better pick. For the ED, I think it should reward the higher teams (which is more or less what we do already). One question would be whether to give the Cup winner 12 ballots down to Herbi with 1, or give 2nd place 12 down to Herbi with 2, and the Cup winner gets 1 (after all, they did get the Cup...). We want to motivate teams to finish as high as possible, so the season end sell-offs don't become ludicrous (eg giving a front runner 6 players with none back and having no-one on your bench for the rest of the year)

Waiver Draft - clarify if a player, once picked, can be dropped during the draft, and how we handle that. Since we are required to announce our 8 drops before the draft, there will always be at least 8 rounds, however we have allowed teams to drop a 9th or 10th player after the 8 rounds are done if there is still a player out there they would rather have. Again we need to clarify what happens if a player is cut at the end of the WD. Or we can simplify it by saying ALL drops must be announced before the WD, so if you plan to drop 9, you must announce 9 by noon Friday like everyone else, no player once picked can be dropped, and we have only as many rounds/picks as are needed for each team to refill their rosters.

I'm sure there are other issues, but I think we need to track them as they arise so we don't forget to address them in the offseason, in this case for the WDs in 07-08, and the ED and PrD lotteries in 2008.

Bladerunners Thrash Their Way To The Top, Scourge On The March

The Bladerunners start the night down 6pts in the Predator Cup standings and see that their main competition for the big prize has just pulled off their second big trade of the week. Nothing is better to calm the nerves of an anxious GM than watching your team simply go out and dominate. Last night, that was exactly what happened.

FP Marion Hossa and left winger Slava Kozlov went on a tear last night on route to leading the Bladerunners to a 17+pt evening and a 9pt lead atop the Predator Cup standings. The night has given the squad a comfortable 36-14pt lead in their Challenge Cup match against the Ramapithicines and has placed them on the verge of going +40 in the Omnivore Race. The Triple Crown seems much, much more doable than it may have seemed only 8 hours earlier and those nerves - well they don't seem quite so frayed anymore.

The other big story on the night takes place down near the bottom of the table where the Scourge are really beginning to make some noise. The Edge and their fans must be starting to sweat as the Scourge continue to breath down their neck, some five points behind. The situation is made all the more striking by the fact that while the Edge has bled points since the Entry Draft (sitting 11th in the Omnivore at almost 60pts in the hole) the Scourge, certainly to the surprise of at least one GM - me, has joined the Bladerunners and Shadowmen as a team in the black (at +7). As suggested here yesterday, the real fight may end up being between these two as they try and avoid the Herbivore while trying to hold on to the high picks that come with finishing so low.

(As a side note, I am thrilled that both teams - as well as the Knights Templar and the Personal Vendetta, who now seem ready to pass the Lost Boys, btw - are not "giving up" and accepting their fate. I have always felt that the Herbivore was something to be avoided at all costs and it is encouraging to see that the feeling is shared. Still, that first overall prospect pick may not be the "big" prize this year. If this were the Malkin draft, or the Ovechkin draft, would they be trying so hard to avoid last? I'm just throwing this out there - AND NOT WITH ANY INTENTION OF CHANGING ANYTHING FOR THE 2007 PrD - should we consider doing a lottery of sorts for the PrD. I was thinking along the line of the NHL. Predator Cup winner gets 12th, Challenge Cup playoff teams not part of lottery, weighted heavily towards last place team getting 1st pick, other teams weighted accordingly, a win moves you up no more than four slots and no team moves back more than one slot. Like I said, it is not a problem this year, IMHO, because the top prospect pick - while desireable - is not expected to be the next Ovechkin. Anyhow, just tilting at windmills. We now return you to your regularly scheduled stats.)

Here are the stats as of Thursday night:

Unpacking the latest trade

To the Highlanders: To the Great Whites:
LW Clowe SJ -----> LW Roberts Fla
RW Gaborik Min -----> RW Boyes Bos
C Bergeron Bos -----> C Fedorov Cbs
D F. Kaberle Car -----> D Morris Phx RFA
P1 Boyd Cgy (unpromoted) -----> P1 Kessel Bos (unpromoted)
Great Whites 1st PrD 07 -----> Highlanders 1st PrD 07

the active ingredients here are Gaborik and Bergeron. Gabby will load up the RW for the Highlanders, while Nylander can now be safely placed on the bench (he will inevitably get hurt) because Bergeron is a more than legit replacement. The other active ingredients (at least for the Great Whites) are the exchange of picks (Highlander's get slight win) and the exchange of prospects (slight win for the Great Whites).

Ignore the Morris, Clowe, Boyes, Fedorov components, they are essentially meaningless pieces moved around to make the deal work (actually, I don't get the inclusion of the defensemen at all - something else other than points was the motivation there). The really interesting part of the deal is;

Boyd for Kessel. Both are P1s, both are pivots with high expectations, but Boyd has less offensive pedigree and lot more grit, while Kessel just survived a cancer scare and has head case issues. If your scoring your trades at home, I'd give the 'win' on this to the Highlanders. They got several good pieces (Gaborik, Bergeron) for an exchange of prospects and an improvement on his draft situation.

Meanwhile, the Great Whites seem to have developed a fetish for Bruins...

Ten Worst FP decisions

The Highlander's comments about regretting some trade decisions for a decade got me thinking about what the worst Franchise Player decisions we've had in the pool would be. What follows is my own quick take of the top ten worst moves, but I freely admit that I may have left some bad ones out. Please feel free to contribute to the list in the comments section.



10. Zigmund Palffy - Ramapithicines. Nobody doubted the Zigs talent level, but his inability to stay healthy for a full season made the decision to make him an FP a nightmare. He would keep anticipation high all off-season with periodic displays of jaw-dropping talent, only to float through the regular season on a bubble of indifference until he would be subject to some random devestating injury. All of this inconsistency was made that much more painful because he was the guy asked to replace Mario as Knuckledragger FP. Possibly the most frustrating points tease outside of Zhamnov in the history of the pool.


9. Alexei Yashin - Shadowmen. In the year after they made a blockbuster deal for Jagr only to then deal him away, the Shadowmen had to replace their FP with a pick in the 4th rnd. Yashin looked like a godsend at the time, but after a few seasons it became apparent that he was a dog complete with fleas and an immovable contract. Few players have gone from franchise heartthrob to public enemy #1 faster or with more venom than Yashin. His immense suckitude so bedazzled the Islanders they gave him a comparably absurd franchise contract as well. In the FUNHL, this is but a memory, but in the NHL, the bust that is Yashin as franchise cornerstone, busts onward.


8. Bryan Berard - Personal Vendetta. After his Calder year everybody was jealous of the Personal Vendetta for their expiring prospect asset of Bryan Berard - perfect for making an FP. A puck rushing defender with a booming shot and more than a little physical edge, he had the leagues GMs drooling at the highlights and deeply envious of the Personal Vendetta. Unfortunately his rookie season was actually his best, and a steady regression by Berard would eventually see him unceremoniously released. Berard upset at being dumped by the Personal Vendetta, would later almost lose an eye, and get disqualified from the Olympics for using steroids. Funny, but I actually like him better now than when he was 'the next Brian Leetch'.


7. Janne Niinimaa - The Collective (now The Lost Boys). Easily the worst case of a GM falling in love with a player outside of any rational assessment of their abilities. Niinimaa rarely played at the level of a #1 defenseman, and never cracked the top 10 in D-man scoring, but was an FP for over 2 and half years. That said, his contributions, while marginal for an FP were still better than the guy at #6.


6. Valeri Bure - The Barbarians (now the Scourge). Deceptive break-out year was to be the clear peak of Bure's abilities, and his over a ppg stats unfortunately convinced the nascent Barbarian franchise to offer him an FP contract. This disastrous FP selection was to rip a massive hole in the team's talent base for years.


5. Jim Carey - The Severed Heads and the Shadowmen. Having the 12-13 picks to take my FPs meant that Jagr, Kariya, Forsberg, etc. were already gone when I picked. I went for the best goalie on my board under 25 (the other was Brodeur, but sadly, somebody else took him). This epically bad pick was mitigated by the near immediate trade of Carey to the Shadowmen for Paul Kariya. Carey was eventually released at the end of his first year, and for all intents and purposes vanished from the multi-verse thereafter.


4. Brendan Shanahan unexpectedly released to take Jason Allison - The Knights Templar. Its interesting to look back and think that maybe this was one of those moments where a different choice might have made all the difference for a franchise. To the shock of many, the Templar GM kicked consistent power winger FP Shanahan to the curb in favour of pokey playmaker Jason Allison. You know the rest of the story, Allison had a good year and a half or so before injuries eventually destroyed his ability to contribute to a team at an elite level. Last seen Allison was a glacially paced skater who would have trouble tracking down Brett Hull without a head start. Meanwhile, Shanahan just seems to get better, having a 40+ season last year, and having climbed among the leagues top gunners for most of the this year as well.


3. Brian 'Waterboy' Boucher - The Shadowmen. In an era when the trading of your early Entry Draft picks was common, the Shadowmen were forced to reach deep into the draft to find a new FP. As you can see if you check out Boucher's career numbers, they missed.


2. Patrick Roy - Nobody. Easily the most criminal omission from the pantheon of FUNHL franchise players (ahead of both Dominik Hasek and Mike Modano in this regard), is the ultimate goaltending weapon - Patrick Roy. The NHL moved into full blown trap hockey just as Roy exited the prime years of his athleticism (as well as entering the era of oversized pads), and the result is his numbers actually continued to improve as he got older. He has been the goaltender on more Predator Cup winning teams than any other, yet never got any love from anyone as FP. Osgood, Carey, and Boucher all got nods to be franchise goaltenders ahead of him.

1. There is an old saying in the FUNHL, that every once in a while you are going to make a trade that has the potential to 'make you sick for a very long time' should it go bad.

When the Highlanders Traded Jagr to the Shadowmen for Petr Nedved and the Shadowmen's top three entry draft picks the following year, we have the signature case of that occurring.

Having been awarded the pick that secured the next decades top talent in the league's first ever Franchise player draft, the Highlanders selected a highlight reel dominating, offensively gifted stud in Jaromir Jagr - only to turn around and trade him away.

However, the true torture for the Highlanders franchise wouldn't begin until the Shadowmen deal Jagr to the Highlanders arch-rival Severed Heads.

The Severed Heads would cheerfully ride Jagr's gaudy offensive totals to a Triple Crown victory and back to back Predator Cup wins. Nedved would have to be traded at a loss and eventually replaced. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

The explosive points machine with the bad mullet and legendary indifference to back-checking would never hit the open market again, and the Highlanders, with their Cup drought now extending past ten years, have been mutilating their self-esteem as a franchise ever since, coldly eating their hearts out as Jagr piles highlight onto highlight in his now surely hall of fame bound career, every 'Fear My Wingspan' move another dagger to the chest...

...Well, I'm sure you get the picture...

Scourge threaten Edge, Brodeur first 100pt player

While the race for the Predator Cup continues (the Highlanders gained a couple of points on the Bladerunners last night), the battle to avoid the Herbivore is also heating up. At the start of the week the Scourge had managed to close the gap between themselves and the 11th placed Edge to 9pts. Following last night's action that gap has closed to 4pts. The Scourge have been rejuvinated by the dynamic duo of Paval Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg to be sure but are also more confident in their goaltending, having picked up Edge waiver draft cast-off Ray Emery and Keith Tkachuk.

The Edge still have the horses to hold the Scourge off but it will be interesting to see if the battle to avoid last produces some of the same players now for futures trades that have started to occur at the top of the table. Lots of fun.

A quick update on the Challenge Cup games. Following Wednesday's games, of the three teams in a playoff position only the Severed Heads are losing their game (by 10pts to the Knights Templar, who are having a great week). Of the four teams trying to catch up, none are winning their games. For there to be any change in the playoff teams, one or more teams that are "in" will have to lose all of their remaining games and one or more teams that are "out" will have to win all of their remaining games.

***Milestone Update***

In my self-absorbed obsession with a certain trade that occured following the waiver draft, I failed to note a significant event that occured on Tuesday night. Great Whites Franchise Player Martin Brodeur became the first FunHL player to garner 100pts this season. Brodeur, the 6th overall player selected during the FP draft, has been a mainstay of the Great Whites ever since. He has repeatedly outscored other, flashier, FPs but the consistancy and high level of performance makes him, hands down, the greatest FP in FunHL history. Brodeur is part of a tradition of excellent goaltending for the Great Whites that goes back to the league's first season when the franchise selected Patrick Roy with their first selection. Given his current high level of production and given that he shows no sign of slowing down, I predict that the Great Whites will continue to enjoy several more seasons of elite netminding in the years to come. Congrats Dan - nice pick!

Here are the unofficial stats as of last night:

Uh... what?

In my effort's to show case my team's TG, who is available for reasonable offers, and because I'm a little puzzled, someone please tell me more.

From Duhatchek

In Avery, the Rangers get an agitating force, the sort of energy player whom
they've been missing in an up-and-down 2006-07 season. Outspoken Avery, a
two-time NHL penalty-minutes leader, has been in all kinds of trouble, on and
off the ice, before this season, but has been mostly on a short leash and
reasonably well-behaved this year. Apart from a scuffle with teammate Scott
Thornton that left Thornton on the injured reserve list -- and was passed off as
just boys being boys -- he has mostly stuck to hockey this season.

One of my people was beating up one of Doug's FPs? Off the ice? On his own team? And this wasn't news? What actually happened, and how do I encourage more of this behaviour. "You see that Klesla guy..."

Any thoughts, or trade offers, welcome.

Richard

Recchi Outscores Malkin, Bladerunners Close Gap

This is the last post for a while where I will cite the Malkin trade but as it was his first game in a Severed Heads uniform, it is fitting. He had two points last night. His first point, a goal, was assisted by Mark Recchi and Sidney Crosby. His night was somewhat overshone by the three point effort of Mr. Recchi who is already settling in nicely on the Bladerunner's right wing. A 12+pt night by the Bladerunners helped them to close the gap on the Highlanders a little more and gives them a huge lead in their Challenge Cup game against the Ramapithicines.

The big story of the early week is the fantastic start made by the Knights Templar. Last season following the second Waiver Draft the Knights went into a legendary tailspin that plummeted them from 3rd to last place. GMs are already referring to the calamity in their trade talks as they are fearfull of repeating the feat. With over 19pts so far this week, the Knights (along with the Personal Vendetta) are now over the 600pt barrier and are looking to put even more distance between themselves and another Herbivore. On the point of milestones, the Great Whites (with a very solid Tuesday of their own) become the third team to break through the 700pt mark.

In the Challenge Cup the Severed Heads are both losing their games while the Great Whites and Personal Vendetta are winning in theirs. For there to be any change in the current playoff picture, those in will need to lose their remaining games and those out will have to win theirs.

Here are the Stats following Tuesday's action:

The Final Dash Begins; Omnivore Controversy

Hi Everyone,

There was only one game last night but it has taken me almost the whole day to crank out the stats as so many teams' rosters bear only a passing resemblance to the teams they had prior to the WD. I am exagerating of course but suffice it to say, post-WD weeks the statsisticians are earning their keep - thanks in advance to Darrell who doesn't get enough credit for the fantastic work he has done for years now.

With the Detroit-Rangers game the only one on last night you wouldn't think there would be much change in the stats - and you are right - however Brian pointed out an error I was making in calculating the Omnivore baselines: the Shadowmen's post-draft trades of Pominville and Volchenkov to the Ramapithicines and Edge, respectively. The last pick in the PrD was Volchenkov, by the Shadowmen. He is promptly traded to the Edge. No team can exit the PrD with more than eight prospects and both the Edge and Ramapithicines finish draft day with nine, therefore those trades must have occured following the prospect draft and thus both players belong on the Shadowmen baseline - even though they weren't on the team long enough to receive their T-shirts.

The impact of Volchenkov is almost non-existant (a one pt difference at this point) however Pominville does play on the Shadowmen baseline ahead of Bernier and Rucinsky plays on the Ramapithicine baseline now instead of Pominville. This does change the Omnivore standings for both teams by about 20pts. Those changes are reflected in the stats below.

Thanks Brian for catching this for me; Bob, now you know who to thank as well.

Here are the stats following Monday's action:

Samsonov's Bad Week

First Samsonov gets waived by the woeful Scourge and then the Canadians :(


(ed. note: the Severed Heads dressed Samsonov this week - we are sad)

(ed. note2 - when putting together posts for the FUNHL blog, don't paste your link directly to the page, instead, highlight a key word in your post, hit the 'link' button in the command bar (globe with a link in front of it), and paste the URL or the link into the space provided - this keeps the post looking clean and gives readers the opportunity to click on links that may take them to mysterious places...)

FUNHL News and Notes: Stretch Drive

The trade between the Highlanders and Shadowmen was the sound of the other shoe dropping. With the Bladerunners loading up on Severed Heads players for the stretch drive, it left the Highlanders with only a few potential dance partners, especially when it comes to goaltending. Hasek and Pronger are exactly the right answers for how the team needs to respond for the stretch drive.

Here are 6 trades (involving all 12 teams!) you might see in the next few weeks:

Trade1:

---> Scourge: Afinogenov-R Buf
---> Ramapithicines: Hemsky-R RFA

Why? Hemsky gives the knuckledraggers a decent RFA for next year, and Afinogenov gives the Scourge a weapon to escape last place at modest cost (i.e. without giving up the likely first overall 1st rnd prd pick).

Trade2:

---> Edge: Visnovsky-D LA, Liles-D Col
---> Lost Boys: Perry-R Ana P2, Malik-NYR RFA, Witt-NYI RFA

Why? Collin deals futures to stay out of last place, Richard scoops up a forward prospect with upside. illustrates the pools 2nd oldest trade dynamic - a trade not to win, but to avoid losing.

Trade 3:

---> Knights Templar: Briere-C Buf, McCabe-D Tor
---> Personal Vendetta: Sedin.H-Vcr RFA, Weber-D Nsh P2

The Knights made a legendary plummet from the gates of heaven to the very depths of hell (think Gandalf vs the Balrog) going from 3rd to last place in a mere 6 weeks. Having been consigned to the flames once, he will be in a hurry to avoid being so again. Expect Briere to finally pop loose because Darrell won't be helping either of the front runners with this deal, and Mike will likely beg, whine, plead and otherwise slavishly polish Darrell's knob till it happens.

Trade 4:

---> Great Whites: Arnott-C Nsh, Kariya-L Nsh
---> Shadowmen: Nash-L Clb RFA, Perreault-C Phx

The GW's are on the bubble for busting their season and they know it. This deal gives them some upgraded offense without costing much in the way of futures.

Trade 5:

---> Highlanders: Giguere-G Ana
---> Wolves: Kessel-C Bos P1

If the Highlanders are insistent on relying on Hasek the rest of the way, Giguere for Kessel gives them a backup they can trust at modest cost, if they can get a RW too, they'd be thrilled.

Trade 6:

---> Severed Heads: Staal-C Car P3
---> Bladerunners: Spezza-C Ott, Havlat-Chi

Spezza has a way superior ppg to Staal, and with the Highlanders making moves the Bladerunners can't stay still.

Questions for the Severed Heads GM on the acquisition of Malkin

- Have you been after Malkin a long time?

Literally for years. We tried initially to trade for the pick used to select him, and have never stopped pursuing him in trade. We were looking at a deal this summer that would have used an existing FP and or Spezza to bring him over along with Staal, but obviously that fell through.

- Was it an easy trade to make?

Yes. Mgt had been really high on both Parise and Stastny, as they both represented solid victories for our scouting department in finding quality prospects later in the prospect draft.



Having a high calibre team means that you don't often get to pick early in the prospect draft, so finding gems others miss is a key for us and our scouts take pride in every player they unearth. Stastny in particular was a guy we really liked, but knew wouldn't be on many lists because he was a 2nd rnd pick who had spent an extra two years at college. But the opportunity to land an FP quality player while they are still under contract as a prospect made the decision easy. We like Parise and Stastny a great deal, but in our eyes Malkin will be a future cornerstone of the Severed Heads franchise. Worth noting that the fact Malkin is an FP talent was never a question for the Bladerunners, as they knew they were giving up a huge player to us.

- Did the Bladerunners get enough for their asset?

Its hard for me to say without appearing to be disingenuous. The facts are that they got back an elite (if not THE elite) goaltender, a #1 centreman, our teams best all-round defenseman, a ppg RW and two above average prospects. If that isn't fair value for a FP player or elite prospect trade, I don't know what is. The problem as the Highlanders describe it is that this is the kind of deal that you could feel sick about for a decade (ask the Highlanders GM - he knows this feeling well).

- If you were in the Bladerunners shoes was that the deal you would have made?

What is interesting to me is that so much of the value in the trade was in Kirprusoff, when Kipper isn't even a sure thing to dress for him. For sure their GM made a calculation about not just what players he needed for his own team, but what players he needed to keep his opponents from acquiring for themselves. I think it also leaves the Bladerunners open to an FP deal that sends Luongo on for help elsewhere allowing Kiprusoff to be the Man in net. If so, he's got a deeper perspective than I probably gave him credit for.

- Is Malkin the prototype Severed Heads FP?

Big, fast, young, unbelievably talented, 'Fear My Wingspan', above a ppg as a rookie, and he wears the black and gold. So, yes, without a doubt he's got what it takes to be our FP moving forward. Once upon a time the franchise built itself around guys like Rick Tocchet, Tim Kerr and Cam Neely. Power wingers who could fight as well as score goals. The Lemieux's etc. were seen as the necessary evil of needing to add skill players to my favourites in order compete. Looking back now though, that phase of the Severed Heads didn't last very long. With the advent of FPs we moved towards a different franchise model, and so far that is one that Malkin fits comfortably into.

- Can you describe that model?

Yes, but then I would have to kill you.

Highlanders have "Super" Sunday to pull ahead of Bladerunners

In E.Malkin's last game as a Bladerunner, he had one assist. The Highlanders had a better result from that match getting 6.5 pts from three players on route to a 44pt week and a 9pt lead atop the Predator Cup standings. The race is on and the ball is certainly in the Highlander's court to respond to the monster deal pulled off by the Bladerunners on Saturday night.

In the midst of this otherwise quiet day, only two NHL games, the Personal Vendetta capped off the league's best week, 47+pts, and are now poised to join the 600pt club any day now. The Great Whites, while losing some ground in the Predator Cup race did win their Challenge Cup race and are now on the verge of crossing the 700pt level.

In the Challenge Cup race, the teams are now packed into four groups: the Bladerunners are the only team to have clinched a playoff spot, the three other playoff positioned teams (Shadowmen, Severed Heads and Highlanders) are tied at 22pts. The next four teams (Great Whites, Wolves, Ramapithicines and Personal Vendetta) are all sitting at 16pts. One or more of the three "in" will need to lose all of their remaining games while any of these four "out" teams will need to win all three of their remaining games to force the issue to a tie-breaker calculation. At the moment the permutations are too many for me to run through all the options but suffice it to say that any team with a mathematical chance of making the playoffs is going to need some help. The Lost Boys and Edge both lost this week and join the Knights Templar and Scourge as having been eliminated from the post season.

Here are the stats going into Week 19:

Bladerunners Close Gap After Blockbuster Trade

Remember February 3rd, 2007. The Bladerunners and their fans sure will. That day they either won their third Predator Cup or traded for a decade of anguish and regret. Big day either way and the team responded to the occaision by narrowing the gap atop the Predator Cup standings.

Only a couple of games on deck today but they could have a big impact on the race so I'll keep it short here. These are the stats after Saturday night.

Malkin traded to Severed Heads

Heads GM says; FEAR. MY. WINGSPAN.

WD2 and all is quiet.

Only two games last night in the NHL means very little change in the FunHL standings. The Highlanders continue to hold a small lead atop the Predator Cup standings over the Bladerunners while the Scourge look poised to immortalize their first year with the Herbivore.

The Challenge Cup playoffs are starting to sort themselves out with the Bladerunners officially in the post-season party and the Shadowmen, Severed Heads and Highlanders all but mathematically assured a reservation.

In the Omnivore, there are two +30 teams with the Shadowmen currently holding the title of "Most Improved" just ahead of the Bladerunners while at least three more teams are flirting with officially noted improvement. The Wolves are the current holders of last place in the Omnivore standings, a sad indictment of the management team that left the draft with the third best squad and may have squandered their best chance at a title in years.

Here are the standings going into tonight's games:

Highlanders Retake Predator Cup Lead as they, and the Bladerunners, race past the 700pt mark

The Highlanders have a huge night from S.Souray (27PIM) and stong nights from S.Crosby (3pts), S.Gonchar (3pts), J.Thornton (2pts) and J.Bouwmeester (2pts) on their way to a big 20+pt evening vaulting them over the Bladerunners, who had a pretty good night of their own, and into first place. The Highlanders also now hold a lead in their Challenge Cup match against the Knights Templar which has big implications for all those teams hoping to displace them from the final playoff spot.

Both the Highlanders and Bladerunners will go into the WD with over 700pts. The Lost Boys are poised to join the 600pt club tonight and, with a good evening of their own, the Personal Vendetta have moved ahead of the Knights Templar into 9th place. While the Scourge braintrust is busy working on their tan, the team is starting to slip further and further into the cellar and now trail the 11th place Edge by over 25pts.

Best week so far belongs to the Ramapithicines who, with over 34pts are flirting with passing the Severed Heads. The last team that the Knuckledraggers passed, the Wolves, currently sport the week's worst total at a mere 7pts.

No change in the Omnirove rankings though the Severed Heads are now a double-digit positive team and the Great Whites are achingly close to becoming the 5th team in the black.

Here are the stats as of Thursday night's action:

The Forsberg Questions

His ankles have been abused, his feet no longer fit comfortably into normal or even exceptionally constructed skates, and he has a history of groin issues, and other physical breakdowns from the hard core way he plays the game.

- If you are the Flyers, do you trade him?

Yes

- What can you get for him?

About what they are asking for; a first round pick and or a decent to awesome prospect.

- Who wants him?

Everybody will consider it, but a Western team in the hunt for the playoffs with cap space - and there are several - will be the obvious contenders.

Calgary: Other Gms don't ask for Phaneuf anymore because they already know the answer. Does Matthew Lombardi + a first get you Forsberg? Maybe. Throw in Brent Krahn-G prospect? Boyd? The Flames don't have a home-run prospect, but they have several who are above average and possess grit - making them ideal trade bait in this situation (ie. Boyd could easily be a Flyer couldn't he? Can't you see Nystrom as a Flyer?) However the deal happens, the Flames would instanty become the prohibitive Cup favourites. Foppa would join fellow Swede Huselius on a slick offensive unit (The Conroy-Iginla affair is back in bloom). Calgary fans would openly plan the parade while Oiler fans would become sucidal. The battle of Alberta would be totally lopsided again, only Calgary would be the dominant driver seat team. Please Cthullu, kill me last so I can see this happen.

Anaheim: Bobby Ryan, a first + change (a defenseman, or later round pick) looks like the winning deal to me. Burke will probably balk at putting Getzlaf or Perry into the mix - but he certainly could. The overall structure will end up depending on the status of Forsberg's wheels and what else might be coming back in the deal to Anaheim (i.e. would the Flyers include Jeff Carter to get Getzlaf+Perry?!?). When all is said and done, Detroit is the obvious choice, but Anaheim is the first place I would start shopping.

Detroit: At first glance this seems obvious. It also does at second. Kronwall and a 1st? That might do it. Grigorenko, Howard, and a 1st? Stefan Liv? Throw in Dan Cleary? Detroit is home to a bunch of elite Swedes who would love to give Mo-town a post-Stevie-Y Cup celebration, and Forsberg may well have included them as one of his preferred destinations to speed things along, but there isn't an obvious deal to make the Flyer braintrust happy in terms of the prospect they are getting back.

Should the Personal Vendetta keep him as an FP?

If they are in the top 4-5 as of Saturday morning, YES. If not, no matter what his decision for next year, or thereafter, it is I think more likely than not that Forsberg is having his PV farewell tour right now.

Will the PV trade Forsberg?

No. Forsberg is simply a love object at this stage. He's below a ppg, constantly hurt, always a threat to return to Sweden, on a crap team, without elite linemates (consider Gagne's stats sans the Forsbergian one), ready to retire, or have a limb fractured. In short, why would anyone want him?

Having said all that, here are 4 possible FUNHL scenarios to contemplate:

Scenario1: Forsberg is dealt to Detroit in real life and his numbers perk up to ppg+. Elias in NJ goes down for the rest of the year, or merely continues to suck, and like last year, the Edge begin to flirt with oblivion. Here's what happens;

---> Edge: Forsberg-C Det FP, Briere-C Buf, and a warm body at left.

---> PV: Elias-L NJ FP, Corey Perry-R P2, Edge 1st PRD in 07-08

The keys here are that Forsberg becomes a shorterm massive improvement on Elias and that the Edge is in danger of taking home bad hardware. It would be the first time Elias has ever played anywhere other than for the Edge.

Scenario 2: Forsberg is dealt to Anaheim and goes nuclear. Doug might think of something like;

---> Highlanders: Forsberg-C ANA FP,

---> Personal Vendetta: Richards-C TBay FP (inj, mysterious suckitude, or simply unexpected sub-superstarness)

....and Darrel might just take it. The key is simply that Forsberg be much hotter than Richards, the natural incentives of the pool will do the rest.

Scenario 3: Injuries to vital players on the Highlanders and Bladerunners put the Great Whites back within striking distance, Forsberg is hot in Calgary, and the previously ppg+ Marleau goes cold. I don't get the sense that the Great Whites are invested heavily in Marleau, and if they felt they had a real shot at the title we could easily see something like;

---> Great Whites: Forsberg-C Cgy FP

---> PV: Marleau-C SJ FP (inj)

The stumbling blocks are that the Great Whites are slipping further away from the leaders rather than closing on them, and that Marleau is both younger and superior to Forsberg at the moment.

Scenario 4: and ultimately - the most likely trade of all;

---> Shadowmen: Forsberg-C Pha

---> PV: an FP + assorted stuff

Quiet Night, No Changes in the Standings

With only three games in the NHL last night the impact on the FunHL standings was minimal. These stats do include the Official Stats as of Week 17, thanks again Darrell, but again not much changes as a result.

Here are the stats following Wednesday night's action: