FUNHL News and Notes

- The Great Whites stall out. Which is to say, they have now collected both of the forward brothers named in 'Staal', Eric (FP), and Jordan P3. Can a trade for Marc (PV) and the drafting of Jared (Phx) be in the works?

- The ED match on Niklas Kronwall looked suspect early on, but the Severed Heads have been rewarded with a 42 pt season so far, and he has a good shot at reaching 50 for the season. Not too shabby when you consider FP Lidstrom has 48pts. The triple threat value (Pts, PIM, +/-) never emerged, but its no longer looking like the GM wasted the pick.

- If the Highlanders pull off a win this year it will be with the worst collection of Right wingers to ever lift the trophy. Boyes, Doan, Backes and Cheechoo, are decidedly uninspiring, but the team is loaded with strength at every other position to compensate.

- The Wolves decision to play all the kids down the stretch is making the chances of a Herbivore more likely.

- Rick Nash currently has ppg totals, and is (more or less) justifying his status as an FP winger.

- Word is that the Sedins want $7M a year. Each. Bet on Toronto's GM Burke making a push to land the pair for something North of $6.5 - and that Vancouver lets them go.

- Of the leagues P3 players potential FPs; Bacsktrom, Statsny, and Ryan were all picked by the Severed Heads out of that draft class. (Pats self on back). Other picks made that draft by the Heads were Brian Lee-D Ott, and Michal Frolik-R Fla, players who are both now getting a regular role with their NHL teams. Without a doubt the best draft class of talent the Heads have ever produced.

- The Shadowmen experiment with the Kostitsyn brothers doesn't seem to have panned out so much as flamed out and then circled the bowl before disapearing forever.

- Among the players under contract for next year on the Lost Boys are; the teams entire LW (including 2 FPs), Miiko Koivu at center, and the teams top seven defensemen. That oughta make the draft go a little easier.

- How much longer can the Personal Vendetta expect to get mileage out of FP Lidstrom? One more year? With Stastny now a Great White, there isn't anyone in the pipeline ready to take over soon either.

- If you were the GM of the Knights Templar, what would you do with FPs Hejduk and Tanguay? Replace one? Replace both? Shoot self in the face?

- The Shadowmen currently have six P1 players on their roster, and a boat load of 1st rnd propsect picks. Which is both bizarre and unprecedented. Something will give in the off-season.

- Personally I expect that the following P1 s won't make it to be P2s; Stoll-C LA, Homqvist-L Nsh, Winchester-R Ott, Dupuis-R Pit, and Bowman-R Car. Kontiola-C Chi and Maclean-R Phx are on the bubble for the Edge - as neither is likely to crack their NHL rosters for a starting role anytime soon, but the Edge are down two mid-round picks so they may play it safe and give each of them another year. Sterling-C Atl, is also doubtful but the PV farm system is pretty bare so he may also get to stay. If they were all flushed I can't see any of them being a re-draft of any note.

- Speaking of a GM with a situation of 'something has gotta give', the Wolves have 8 P1s, 4 P2s, and 3 P3s - but only 8 slots to carry them. Even if the Wolves GM drafts some (all) of the P3s outright, there are still four too many players for the team. Which will make for some interesting off-season bartering for sure.

- The Scourge GM suggested he was surprised at the lack of deals towards the deadline in the FUNHL, but I'm not sure if he should have been. All of the top 3 teams made large deals to shore up weaknesses prior to (the Heads) or at the deadline (PV and Highlanders). The fourth, the Bladerunners, probably considered themselves too far back to be serious contenders warranting a blowup of their roster. In the case of the Scourge, the biggest prize would have been Campbell-D Chi, but only the PV had a defense corps that could have easily accomodated him, and the PV were already light on prospects to send back, and a1st (and likely Suter-D Nsh RFA) for Campbell would have been a high price to pay for a 1/5th of a season rental. In this case the simplest explanation is probably the best, the price for the asset was too high for the return expected. Factor in as well that the Highlanders, Bladerunners and Heads all were getting significant contributions from prospects (Backstrom, Kessel, Ryan and Green) that made parting with them - even in a package deal - unpalatable, and you have all the reasons necessary for teams to stick with what they had (more or less). Worth noting that the leaders did part with; Mueller, Tavares, and Stastny in deals down the stretch - so it isn't like they completely static.