The National Strat-O-Matic Hockey League Newsletter League Established May 1, 1997 Volume #11, Issue #2 - September 19, 2007 *********************************************************************** Current League Officers: Commissioner: Doug Norris Vice-Commissioner: Brian Leahy (7/15/07 to present) Email the whole league: mailto:nshl at yahoogroups dot com NSHL Chat List: mailto:nshlchat at yahoogroups dot com Web Page Administrator: Guy Caron League Web Site: http://nshl.org Files Adminstrator: Brian Leahy / Tom Vinacci League Files Site: http://www.highrantdistrict.com/SOM/NSHL Team Websites: Capital City Cougars: http://members.tripod.com/~CapCity/ Seattle Rainiers: http://math.colorado.edu/~norrisdt/rainiers/rainiers.html *********************************************************************** INTRODUCTION: Four weeks until the start of the season! There has been discussion about setting a fixed date to start each NSHL campaign. My initial idea is the Wednesday following the first Saturday in October; this would start the league between the 5th and 11th of each October, and would keep the season opener a fixed distance from the draft. Anyone with relevant thoughts should contact the commissioner's office. Lots of great newsletter articles this biweek! Thank you all - they add flavour to the league and add harmonies to the tapestry. Even if Dean doesn't like my draft choices. :-) Enjoy! *********************************************************************** 2007 DRAFT REVIEW by "Mean" Dean Engemoen Before anyone gets upset, keep in mind that I may or may not know what the hell I am talking about. LIB - 1. Evgeni Malkin 44. Shawn Belle 47. Nikita Alexeev 53. Vojtek Polak 56. Michael Blunden 77. Jussi Timonen 124. Raitis Ivanans 148. Brian Finley I hear this Malkin kid might be OK one day. Interesting to see some once-highly touted prospects such as Belle and Finley not getting much love anymore, although it seems as if Belle is going to get another chance to finally stick this season. The rest of this draft features longshots (Polak) and no-shots (Blunden, Timonen, Ivanans). Still, any draft where you add a bona-find superstar can't be all bad. GRADE: B- BUF - 2. Jordan Staal 11. Marc-Edouard Vlasic 35. Ryan Parent 80. Bryan Berard 83. Patrick Kaleta 106. Mike Card 130. Duncan Milroy 154. Martin Houle Well Staal wouldn't have been my choice at #2 but there is no denying he's a young stud and I guess it just comes down to personal preference. Love this draft, a young stud on the blueline in Vlasic and a young stud in waiting in Parent (how the hell did he fall to 35?). Even the later picks have some promise, if Berard makes the team he could have an impact for another season or two, and Milroy still has a bit of a chance as well. It pains me to say it, but Tommy did it again. GRADE: A MIN - 3. Anze Kopitar 6. Phil Kessel 21. Ladislav Smid 25. David Backes 34. Alex Edler 49. Andy Greene 120. Nate Guenin 144. Brandon Prust 147. Brian Boucher 167. Andreas Karlsson 168. Nick Tarnasky 169. Garth Murray 177. Tommi Santala 185. Steve Montador 188. Janne Niinimaa 190. George Parros Wow, wow, WOW. Anyone who doesn't like Kopitar has obviously never seen the kid play. The first 6 picks here are absolutely fantastic and all will have an impact in the NSHL in the next few years. The bottom of the draft isn't much to look at but when you get Kopitar, Kessel and Smid in the same draft it really doesn't matter. GRADE: A+ PIT - 4. Paul Stastny 31. Daniel Girardi 55. David Moss 79. Glen Metropolit 102. Antti Laaksonen 126. Alain Nasreddine 150. Barry Brust 180. Rod Pelley 191. Danny Bois 196. Byron Ritchie Stastny was an obvious choice at #4 and Moss, although lightly regarded, looked great in his half-season in Calgary last year; he wouldn't be the first low level prospect to make an impact. Getting a potentially full-time 4th line contributor in Ritchie at pick 196 is also good, but the lack of useful depth or high end prospects in this draft makes it tough to rate highly. GRADE: C+ NYL - 5. Nicklas Backstrom 18. Patrick O'Sullivan 42. Mark Eaton 43. Petteri Nummelin 52. Joel Lundqvist 76. Toby Petersen Well nobody can accuse the Lancers of going for "quantity over quality".....however, considering the players available after the top 60 or so, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm not sold on Backstrom as a long-term fix, although at least there will be one great season from him. O'Sullivan, Eaton and Lundqvist are excellent picks. GRADE: B TPK - 7. Alexander Radulov 20. Dustin Boyd 27. Clarke MacArthur 51. Alexei Kaigorodov 68. Johnny Oduya 75. Jonas Holmqvist 98. Patrick Fischer 99. Bret Hedican 107. Roman Polak 122. Brad Isbister 146. David Hale Two top prospects (Radulov, Boyd) and a couple of potential top 6 defensemen (Oduya, Hale) highlight an otherwise average draft. Who knows if Kaigorodov will ever come back from Russia and I doubt MacArthur or Holmqvist will ever make any kind of NSHL impact. GRADE: C+ MON - 8. Travis Zajac 23. Benoit Pouliot 32. Petr Kalus 45. Mike Green 54. Loui Eriksson 67. Fredrik Norrena 73. Maxim Lapierre 78. Jonathan Sigalet 101. Daniel Carcillo There is a lot to like at the top (Zajac) and the bottom (Eriksson, Norrena, Lapierre, Sigalet) as Guy maximized what he could get at those picks. I'm not sold at all on Pouliot or Kalus. Green could be a useable 6th D-man. GRADE: B- QCP - 9. Drew Stafford 33. Josh Hennessy 57. Niklas Grossman 81. Kyle Comisky 104. David Booth 128. Rich Peverley 152. Jonas Nordqvist 171. Aaron Rome 182. Joel Kwiatkowski Love the Grossman pick, hate the rest. Stafford will never be an impact player and I doubt any of the others will ever play an NSHL game. Heck I've never heard of most of them. GRADE: D STM - 10. Jack Johnson 15. Kris Letang 16. Troy Brouwer 59. Brian Bickell 115. Joe Piskula 160. Fredric Cassivi Andy must have wet himself to see Johnson slip to #10; amazing. Letang and Brouwer should both contribute as well; 3 impact players is pretty good for any draft. GRADE: A- SES - 12. Rob Schremp 37. Kyle Quincey 60. Frans Nielsen 85. Kurt Sauer 132. Mikko Lehtonen 155. Tomas Mojzis 174. David Printz 184. Nathan McIver Oh wow, there must have been 10 better picks at #12 than that guy. Quincey might be a serviceable 5th/6th defenseman but it's highly unlikely any of the other guys will ever play in the NSHL. Sorry Scott. GRADE: F CGC - 13. Guillaume Latendresse 36. Blair Jones 61. Sebastien Bisaillon 84. Marc Methot 108. Mark Fraser 131. Drew Larman 156. Janis Sprukts 173. Yanick Lehoux See my comments for the Sasquatch. This is a disaster. Lehoux might be a 3rd liner someday but other than that, this is a complete bust. GRADE: F LYN - 14. Mike Smith 38. Keith Yandle 50. Nigel Dawes 62. Ville Peltonen 72. Michael Funk 86. Dustin Byfuglien 96. Jeremy Williams 109. Mathieu Roy 133. Michael Ryan I presume Peltonen has a useable card for this year, and Mark certainly cornered the market on Sabres who will never play in the NSHL.......I like the Smith pick, he looks to be the heir apparent in Dallas, and Yandle and Byfuglien could add defensive depth. Dawes is intriguing. GRADE: B- HRH - 17. Joe Pavelski 41. Mikhail Grabovsky 65. Tom Gilbert 89. David Clarkson 103. Mark Mancari 112. Martin Lojek 136. Martin St. Pierre Not much to get excited about here after the top pick; Pavelski has upside AND a very useable card for this season ( I assume). He's the only impact player here. GRADE: C FGF - 19. Luc Bourdon 58. Shane O'Brien 91. Jason York Um.....did Mo forget what day the draft was? One day the Canucks are going to succeed with a high draft pick not named "Sedin". >From what I've seen so far, this isn't the one. Bourdon was AWFUL last year and hasn't looked any better at camp so far this year. He's young and has talent, but I predict that O'Brien will have a bigger NSHL impact than Bourdon. GRADE: F SEA - 22. Marek Schwarz 46. Blake Comeau 66. Dave Bolland 70. Enver Lisin 94. Tony Salmalainen 117. Derrick Walser 141. Mattias Weinhandl 162. Oleg Tverdovsky 175. Timo Helbling 186. Philippe Sauve 193. Petr Tenkrat I'll ignore the game fillers at the bottom and focus on the top picks......well, it doesn't much matter as they all suck J Sorry commish, but there is probably not a single player here that will ever make any kind of impact, including Schwarz, who seriously needs to work on his technique. Bolland is my favorite pick in this group and he's no slam dunk NSHLer. GRADE: D- FLO - 24. Ryan Callahan 26. Matt Lashoff 29. Jaroslav Halak 39. David Krejci 63. Andrej Sekera 69. Brandon Dubinsky 74. Eric Perrin 82. Doug Janik 105. Alexei Mikhov 116. Kevyn Adams 123. Junior Lessard 153. Bobby Allen 172. Mark Hartigan 183. Noah Clarke I've used the term "impact players" many times in this review and I'm not sure there are any of those here either, but at least there are PLAYERS.......it looks like Rob took the safe route rather than going for the home run hits and I like that strategy. Most of these guys will likely spend some decent time in Hellcats colours. The lack of any star power keeps this from being a great draft but it's a good one. GRADE: B MAN - 40. Ben Guite 64. Lasse Kukkonen 88. Joey MacDonald 111. Alexei Semenov 113. Ramzi Abid 135. Lars Jonsson 158. Brad Moran The lack of a high pick is devastating and there isn't a lot to make up for it, but Jonsson looked pretty good in the games he played in Philly and that's probably an excellent pick at 135. Kukkonen is serviceable, at the very least. GRADE: C NCH - 48. Kamil Kreps 143. Tomas Malec 159. Yukuta Fukufuji 164. Matt Keith 176. Michael Leighton 187. Jamie Hunt 194. Colin Fraser It says here that none of these guys will ever play 10 NSHL games. At least, the Hawks owner better hope not....... GRADE: F HOU - 71. Tomas Popperle 87. Patrick Thoresen 95. Bryan Young 97. Peter Harrold 118. David Liffiton 142. Chris Conner 157. Gabe Gauthier 163. Barry Tallackson Wow, Tallackson at 163 is the best pick (by FAR) of this bunch. I'd rather have Gabe Kaplan than Gabe Gauthier. Welcome Back, career minor leaguer. GRADE: D- CCC - 93. Jan Hedja 114. Michael Wall 137. Drew Fata 138. Adam Burish 140. Micki Dupont 161. Jeff Taffe The less said about this group, the better. You would think a goalie named "Wall" would be a good omen, but not when it's a wall of swiss cheese. Drew Fata will have less of an NSHL impact than his namesake Rico, and that's not setting the bar real high. GRADE: F VAW - 100. Craig Anderson 110. John Zeiler 121. Derek Meech 125. Kent Huskins 129. Tim Brent 134. Lawrence Nycholat How many games does Anderson play this year? That's how many decent games the Whitecaps will get from this motley crew.......call him Dr. Feelgood...... GRADE: D- NEV- 119. Kris Newbury 127. Pierre Turgeon 151. Bryan Muir 170. Yannick Tremblay 181. Eric Meloche 192. Pierre Parenteau 197. Carsen Germyn 198. Niko Dimitrakos Well.....Turgeon is the best prospect here and he's retired....but at least there are some half decent game fillers. Muir looked good last year before getting injured, could be a dark horse. GRADE: C- SHS - 166. Darryl Bootland 178. Patrick Coulombe 189. Matt Ellis 195. Curtis Glencross Coulombe has some interesting PP ability, could contribute as a part time injury filler for the Canucks. The other 3 are guaranteed NHL stars, as long as "NHL" stands for Neverplay Hockey League. GRADE: D- BRK - (no picks) GRADE: N/A *********************************************************************** CAPITAL CITY CLASSIC INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT FIELD SET by Brian Leahy, Vice-Commissioner The Capital City Cougars are once again hosting the 6th annual Capital City Classic Invitational, in Lincoln, Nebraska beginning the 24th of September. The eight-team field will consist of the North Calgary Hawks (defending tournament champions), the Buffalo Bulldogs, the Long Island Berzerkers, the Montreal Wanderers, the Seattle Rainiers, the St. Michael's Privateers, the Topeka Tarantulas and the the Vancouver Whitecaps. Fans of each team have high hopes, as the winner of the CCCI traditionally does well in the following NSHL regular season. PAST CCCI TOURNAMENT WINNERS: 2006 North Calgary Hawks 2004 Quebec City Patriotes 2003 Buffalo Bulldogs 2002 Toms River Lightning 1999 Seattle Rainiers The tournament web site for this year's event is up and running and can be found at http://capcity.tripod.com/CCCI/index07.html. Rosters for participating teams are official as of this newsletter and the official "league" file for the tourney will be posted shortly. Good luck to all of the competitors! *********************************************************************** LANCERS EMBRACING ENTIRE STATE WITH NEW MONIKER by Steve Beren, Empire State owner The new name for the New York Lancers will be Empire State Americans. "Empire State" is also part of my SOM baseball league, the ESSOM Spring League, and ESSOM stands for "Empire State Strat-O-Matic." I sent a JPG logo file to Guy, Brian, and Doug. That file works as the ESL league logo in SOM baseball, so I am hoping it works for my team logo in SOM hockey. Lancers' primary color was blue, and uniform colors red, white, and blue. All that will remain the same. The founder of the ESSOM Spring League (back in 1974) was Larry D. King, who is probably more into ice hockey and chess than he baseball, if that is possible. He participated in several SOM hockey leagues back in the 1970s and 1980s. He's "retired" from SOM, but he introduced me to SOM hockey over a quarter of a century ago, so "Empire State Americans" (maybe "ESSOMs" in the newspaper headlines?) and "ESSOM" in the logo is a tribute to him. *********************************************************************** VIEW FROM THE CLIFF by Chris Malitsky, Stone Harbor owner A new season begins for the Stone Harbor Sound. The franchise, in its third home in only its ninth season, looks for stability and consistency. The franchise has only one winning season, and that one was a team that was only two games over 0.500. It was also the only team to make a playoff appearance. The Sound are looking to get out of the "also(never)-ran" status. This year looks like the year they may at least start looking like a team to respect. Through many trades, while also bypassing another draft, the Sound finally appear to be moving forward. New at the start of this season is young sniper Thomas Vanek, who Sound GM, Chris Malitsky paid a heavy price to acquire (including goalie Ryan Miller). Vanek is looked to as the starting over point. One of the most criticized deals the GM has made was a 2004 trade immediately after taking over the franchise in Drayton Valley. In a whirlwind day, the GM pulled of quite a few deals, but the most notable was shipping perennial all-star Marian Hossa off to Fort Garry. The team lost its marquee player and has struggled mightily to retool since. Vanek now gives the team promise for the future. But he does not come alone. Also brought in via trade since the middle part of last season are winger Milan Michalek, center David Legwand, winger Lee Stempniak, and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. These five players represent the core of new blood that complement other new players like wingers Scottie Upshall, Andrew Ladd, and Alexandre Picard. The team hopes these youngsters develop into a balanced attack. Veteran centers, Brendan Morrison and Mike Comrie often get unnoticed, but usually provide their 20 goals and crisp passing. Morrison also contributes nicely on the special teams. Winger Jeff Hamilton awaits a chance to prove himself as a 20 goal scorer as well. The team's strength is arguably on the defensive side. With Lundqvist in net and a deep defensive core, the team hopes to be building from the goal out - a path they started over three years ago when they acquired goalie Marc Denis. That didn't pan out as planned, but the second go-around includes some player who can play in the defensive zone. The relatively young core is headed by veterans Brad Stuart, who is only 27 and Derek Morris who is 29. They are complemented by young offense-minded Matthew Carle, basher Barret Jackman, and versatile Christian Backman. Newly acquired Jay McKee (if healthy) and youngster Nick Schultz will provide a stabling presence defensively. These six represent a balanced and deep defensive unit. The team also has Daniel Tjarnqvist and Andrew Hutchinson to fill in. Patrick Coulombe was taken late in the draft and the team hopes for a sleeper there as well as Filip Novak, who they are trying to develop into a power play quarterback in the minors. If a trade presents itself Malitsky's way this season, chances are another GM would want to pull something from this deep pool. Despite the loss of goalie Miller, the Sound this year look to finally make a little noise, break the 0.500 mark for only the second time in their history, and make only their second playoff appearance. However, it is difficult to guess their outcome as they have a very trigger happy GM when it comes to trades. This team looks like it is finally setting itself up for the future. What we hope is that any deals Malitsky is likely to talk himself into continue to complement the team's current direction. An 85-90 point season is not out of the question for this team. *********************************************************************** CAMP OPENS WITH FOCUS ON IMPROVEMENT by Brian Leahy, Vice-Commissioner (AP) LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.....With training camp recently opened, some familiar faces returned to the fold, eager to take the team even further than it went last season, while others were new and just hoping to find a spot on the roster when the season gets underway. Arrivals: forwards Adam Burish and Jeff Taffe, defensemen Micki Dupont, Drew Fata and Jan Hedja and goalie Michael Wall. Departures: forwards Mario Lemieux, Greg Johnson and Luc Robitaille. With the Cougars first pick not coming until the 4th round and standing fast regarding making any possible deals to acquire a high draft pick, the pickings were slim, but management selected players they felt could contribute towards the overall direction they wanted for the squad. None of the newly drafted players are expected to compete for any spots in the lineup at this point, but they will be given considerable ice time in camp to allow management to fully begin assessing their development in the system. Though it is still early in camp, initial groupings have found captain Joe Sakic centering a line with Slava Kozlov on his left and Daniel Alfredsson on his right. Alexei Yashin has also been centering a line with Markus Naslund on the left and the speedy Jason Blake on his right. Defensive pairs of Philippe Boucher and Joe Corvo and Andy Sutton and Mathieu Schneider have played together fairly often thus far as well. No word yet on who is the front runner for the starting netminder spot as both Marty Turco and Manny Legace have seen equal time in goal so far. NEW ARENA, NEW JERSEYS The Cougars move into a new, state-of-the-art, 20,500 seat arena in time for the 2007-07 NSHL season. Named the Qwest Center, after the communications company that won the bidding for the arena naming rights, the team moves out of the 22 year-old Cougar Coliseum, the only home it's ever known. With more luxury boxes and a few hundred additional seats, the Qwest Center has better sight lines and no seats with any obstructions. Also connected to the new arena is a convention center, which will help draw events to the downtown Lincoln area. The team also announced new team jerseys and reverting back to its original color scheme of yellow, black and white. You can view the new jerseys by clicking on the following link: http://members.tripod.com/~CapCity/jerseys.html. Pre-orders have already begun being taken with the jerseys first becoming available on October 1st. NEWS & NOTES Veteran winger Scott Mellanby has announced that the 2007-08 NSHL season will be his last. The longtime Cougar forward was obtained back in May of 2002 from the Cabbagetown Red Rockets in exchange for goaltender Garth Snow and a draft pick. Mellanby played in 50 games for Capital City last season, scoring 4 goals and totalling 9 points. Mellanby's best output so far was back in the 2003-04 season where he notched 55 points in 81 games...Joe Sakic will once again captain the Cougars squad in the upcoming season, with defenseman Paul Martin and winger Jason Blake retaining their alternate captain status. *********************************************************************** WHO HAS LOCK CODES? If you're planning on locking your computer manager this season, please send me your lock code. This is so that I can access the manager in case of your absence, or in case another party inquires as to the legal nature of your manager. Thank you. *********************************************************************** CONSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE SEAT AVAILABLE! If you're interested in helping move the league in the right direction, please contact me concerning the open seat on the Constitutional Committee. It's not a lot of work, it's fun for the whole family, and we're thinking of getting a hot tub. *********************************************************************** NSHL CALENDAR October 15 - All NSHL teams must be at 36 players or less. October 17 - NSHL Week 1/2 - good luck to everyone! *********************************************************************** INCENTIVE POINTS: Incentive points are not discretionary, and are assigned strictly per formula without respect to extenuating circumstances. Incentive points may be appealed through the Review Board. NYL -1 IP, newsletter article SHS -1 IP, newsletter article Dean -2 IP, long newsletter article CUMULATIVE INCENTIVE POINTS: *********************************************************************** ASSOCIATE LIST: SINCE GP Dean Engemoen June 16, 2007 2 Steve Kramer December 13, 2004 0 Greg Ralls December 14, 2004 0 Andrew Smith November 19, 2005 0 J.J. Schrems May 1, 2006 0 Francois Lessard December 10, 2006 0 Chris Beddick June 11, 2007 0 Scott Bruner June 18, 2007 0 Dale Ripley September 11, 2007 0 If you're still an active associate, and aren't on this list, please get in contact with me. Thanks! Doug *********************************************************************** TRANSACTIONS: BRK - TRADE BRK#2 and BRK#4 to STM for Martin Erat. CGC - Announce RETIREMENT of Scott Young. MIN - TRADE Steve Montador and Shane Hnidy to TPK for Jarkko Ruutu and Andrei Zyuzin. - TRADE Dmitry Afanasenkov and MIN#8 to PIT for Sandis Ozolinsh. PIT - TRADE Sandis Ozolinsh to MIN for Dmitry Afanasenkov and MIN#8. STM - TRADE Martin Erat to BRK for BRK#2 and BRK#4. - TRADE Wade Redden and BRK#2 to TPK for Alex Steen and TPK#3. - SIGN Wyatt Smith, Michael Rupp, Eric Boulton. TPK - TRADE Jarkko Ruutu and Andrei Zyuzin to MIN for Steve Montador and Shane Hnidy. - TRADE Alex Steen and TPK#3 to STM for Wade Redden and BRK#2. *********************************************************************** League Governing Boards Responsibilities of the following governing boards are outlined in the Constitution. Review Board Tom Vinacci, Buffalo Bulldogs Patrick Shea, Long Island Berserkers Mark McNeil, Lyndonville Blades Constitutional Council Head: Patrick Shea (patrickjshea at verizon dot net) Doug Norris, Commissioner Brian Leahy, Vice-Commissioner Andy Bartalone, St. Michael's owner (vacant) ***********************************************************************