FUNHL News and Notes

- Dustin Byfuglien was recently arrested for boating while intoxicated. Which is bad enough, but at the weigh in at the station he tipped the scales at brontosaurian 286lbs. Maybe you should cut back on the gravy and lard milkshakes Buff.

- Personally, I adore the new Jets uniforms. Way less garish than the rags worn by the team in its Atlanta version or even those of the Jets in their previous incarnation. Leafs fans who complain that it looks too much like their unis are just jealous. A maple leaf and a fighter jet? A uni full of win.

- As long as we're on the Jets, the Zach Bogosian for Sam Gagner rumours won't die, and they probably shouldn't. Bogosian is lodged firmly behind both Rafalski-clone Enstrom and the aforementioned North American Competitive Eating runner up Dustin Byfuglien for powerplay time. He's also watched as draft compatriots Doughty and Pietrangelo have assumed larger roles with their respective teams and developed into full-fledged stars. Gagner was been gradually given more responsibilities with the Oilers and is primed for a break out, but he's not a #1 center, and will never be a good #3 with his lack of size and foot-speed. He's now got The Nuge, Horcoff and Belanger to compete with for ice-time and linemates, and when you add in the possibility that fleet-footed wingers with size like Paajarvi or Hall could be converted to pivot and Gagner's skillset, while intriguing, becomes redundant. The fact is the Jets have a gaping hole at center that Gagner could fill, and the Oilers have a similar sized chest wound on defense that Bogosian would slot into. It makes too much sense. So of course, it won't happen.

- Mike Green had better have a terrific, injury free year, or his spot on the cash-strapped team could be in jeopardy. The Caps have John Carlson developing nicely next to Karl Alzner, and full package D-man Dmitri Orlov as a top prospect. With his cap-hit being likely to land in the $6m range, a poor year, or one with large injury gaps could spell the end of his time as a Capital.

- Have two players gone in opposite directions as fast as Wojtek Wolski and Matt Moulson? Wolski was a first round pick with a full tool box (size, speed, offensive ability), who is in danger of flushing himself out of the league. Moulson wasn't a first rounder, spent oodles of time in the minors bouncing from team to team, has cleared waivers even when he's landed somewhere, and yet has emerged as a repeat 30 goal winger on the Islanders despite limited ability.

- Another year another 'who is the LA Kings starting goaltender' question. Quick has earned the job, but Bernier is now too good to stay just a back-up. It's not like Quick is some ancient hanger-on either, he's supposed to have lost the starting position already, but keeps having good-to-great seasons. The two could very well end up platooning this season - which is probably good for the Kings - but bad for poolies.

- Not a single one of the Highlander players changed positions with the release of the Bible. The only GM who has that distinction.

- The Kessel trade from Boston to Toronto still looks to end up as record levels of unfair, but I note that Kessel still looks to be among the top possible draftees at (an albeit weak) RW, while Seguin and Hamilton are not by any means guaranteed contributers for the Bruins.

- What is the over-under on the Knights Templar releasing Heatley and making Getzlaf his new FP? Would he be blowing his brains out to do this? (Darrell seems to do OK owning the Detroit FPs).

- As long as I'm in a betting mood, which prospect defenseman in St Louis gets more points; Shattenkirk or Pieterangelo?

- The Scourge have; Grabner, Glennie, Neidereitter, and Tarasenko as P2 Rightwingers.Thats a lot of prospect talent for one position - and keep in mind that Skinner is likely not to remain a center after this season, and you have the makings of a trade.



-  Here are the top netminders from last year by FUNHL points:

Rinne	Nsh	104
Price	Mtl	101
Lundqvist	NYR	100
Thomas	Bos	100
Luongo	Vcr	98
Quick	LA	92
Fleury	Pit	92
Ward	Car	88
Bryzgalov	Pha	86
Crawford	Chi	83
Lehtonen	Dal	82
Niemi	SJ	82

I think that is about as flat as I have ever seen it with only 22 points in difference between top and bottom.We've had seasons where there were 20+pts between the top goalie and #2.

Here are some free-for all questions:

- Is Rinne a legit FP candidate? He's got the size, the stats (tied for top place in league scoring), he's the right age, and he has awesome young Norris candidates in front of him (Weber/Suter). However he also has; a backup who is as big (Lindback) - and might be as good, an impending contract situation that could blow up and see him traded, and the two Norris possibles in front of him have similar contract issues that could see either of them moved on. Would this be any question if he played at another position? No. But goalies are a strange and curious breed, even for poolies.

- If you are not hot for Rinne as an FP, what about Price?

- If you are Darrell and have Ward as your RFA at what round do you match? My guess is anything before the RFA rounds he passes. Any bids after, he matches.

- Is the flatlining of goaltenders at between 80 and 100pts part of a long term trend, or just a weird one-off? Given how our stats work, as the offense in the NHL dries up the scoring stat we use for goalies also drops - and the result of these two in combination is that it compresses goaltenders closer together. To me it looks like a trend.

- Two interesting names not on the list: Kiprusoff and Brodeur.