The National Strat-O-Matic Hockey League Newsletter League Established May 1, 1997 Volume #13, Issue #21 - August 15, 2010 ********************************************************************* 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 ********************************************************************* Thank you to Brian for his great article in this issue! A lot of meat in this edition - overusage penalties and league trophy voting. (Andy, also please give your recommendations for the Beliveau Trophy). Thank you all for your patience with the delays involved in the release of this newsletter. I will be getting official draft lists out as soon as time allows - it's more important to me to get them right than it is to get them done fast. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated (it would be easier for me to peer review something than to originate it). I also still need to update the roster list (which accompanies this newsletter) to include current NHL teams and 2009-10 NHL games played. If anyone has a fast way to do this, please let me know. Thanks, everyone! ********************************************************************* 2009-10 OVERUSAGE PENALTIES: I sent out the overusage rules in an e-mail earlier today. These are the teams which had overusage issues for 2009-10 (thank you to Brian for doing the legwork on this): Stone Harbor: 4 games (Backman 2, Regin 2) Buffalo: 2 games (Olesz 1, Pisani 1) Kansas City: 2 games (Rypien 2) Quebec City: 2 games (Weber 1, Giguere 1) Manayunk: 1 game (Perrault 1) Without consideration for past overusage instances, these would be the penalties assigned in the 2010 waiver draft: Stone Harbor: first-round waiver draft Buffalo: no penalty (overusage caused by North Calgary) Gulf Shores: no penalty (new ownership) Quebec City: third-round waiver draft Manayunk: fourth-round waiver draft In the past five years (actually, the past two years), these were the number of prior overusage situations: Stone Harbor: none Quebec City: 1 (2008-09) Manayunk: none To summarize, here are the final 2009-10 overusage penalties, with penalties to be assigned in the 2010 drafts: Stone Harbor: first-round waiver draft Quebec City: first-round waiver draft Manayunk: fourth-round waiver draft Note that North Calgary was not punished for causing Buffalo to overuse their players. However, effective immediately, any overusage caused by a team (whether to their own team or to another team) will be assigned to the team causing the overage. This will only apply in cases where it can be definitively proven that a team caused another team's overusage. As always, these penalties are protestable, and will be handled by the Review Board. If there were entry draft picks forfeited here, teams would have the option to delay their penalty for one year (at the cost of an equivalent waiver draft pick). Fortunately (yay!), that is not applicable this year. ********************************************************************* 2009-10 TROPHY FINALISTS: Please vote by the end of August 29. All owners should vote. Thank you! (vote for one of the following) GRETZKY TROPHY (Awarded to the league's most valuable player) G A Pts PiM DEF INT VAW Sidney Crosby 53 84 137 92 3 7 LIB Evgeni Malkin 55 84 139 90 4 6 NCH Zach Parise 65 57 122 24 2 4 W L GAA SV% ShO STM Tim Thomas 40 16 1.85 93.6 11 (vote for one of the following) SAWCHUK TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top goaltender) W L GAA SV% ShO VAW Niklas Backstrom 44 17 2.51 91.5 2 STM Tim Thomas 40 16 1.85 93.6 11 HOU Tomas Vokoun 45 19 2.01 93.2 11 (vote for one of the following) ORR TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top defenseman) G A Pts PiM DEF INT MON Mike Green 51 54 105 72 3 6 MON Ryan Suter 11 84 95 68 4 6 TPK Shea Weber 31 40 71 106 4 11 (vote for one of the following) LEMIEUX TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top first-year player) G A Pts PiM DEF INT SHS Patrik Berglund 16 58 74 16 2 4 CGC Kris Versteeg 30 52 82 42 3 3 W L GAA SV% ShO MIN Steve Mason 24 35 3.02 91.1 4 (vote for one of the following) BLAKE TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top coach) STM Andy Bartalone VAW Junu Kim SEA Doug Norris TPK Doug North (vote for one of the following) GAINEY TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top defensive forward) G A Pts PiM DEF INT STM Pavel Datsyuk 48 55 103 34 5 8 SEA Mike Fisher 14 19 33 54 4 11 HOU Mike Richards 35 65 100 42 5 9 (vote for one of the following) HARVEY TROPHY (Awarded to the league's top defensive defenseman) G A Pts PiM DEF INT LIB Zdeno Chara 16 54 70 104 5 14 STM Robyn Regehr 0 5 5 96 5 13 LYN Brent Seabrook 15 24 39 54 4 12 TPK Shea Weber 31 40 71 106 4 11 (vote for one of the following) PARENT TROPHY (Awarded to the comeback player of the year) G A Pts PiM DEF INT HOU Patrice Bergeron 16 27 43 22 3 3 MIN Tuomo Ruutu 35 35 70 86 3 10 W L GAA SV% ShO SEA Dwayne Roloson 32 16 2.50 92.6 4 BUF Cam Ward 38 34 2.55 92.4 7 (vote for one of the following) NORRIS TROPHY (Awarded to the owner/associate who best exemplifies the spirit of the league and its members) MON Guy Caron VAW Junu Kim CCC Brian Leahy (note: I removed myself from consideration. Thank you for the votes! They are much appreciated, but I would prefer to honor another owner.) (vote for two of the following, in order of preference) 2009-10 ALL-STAR LEFT WING: G A Pts PiM DEF INT HOU Simon Gagne 48 55 103 54 4 2 TPK Ilya Kovalchuk 54 62 116 52 2 6 SEA Patrick Marleau 39 51 90 26 5 6 BRK Alex Ovechkin 68 47 115 95 3 14 NCH Zach Parise 65 57 122 24 2 4 (vote for two of the following, in order of preference) 2009-10 ALL-STAR CENTRE: G A Pts PiM DEF INT SES Jeff Carter 53 44 97 46 4 4 VAW Sidney Crosby 53 84 137 92 3 7 STM Pavel Datsyuk 48 55 103 34 5 8 TPK Henrik Sedin 26 110 136 32 2 1 NCH Eric Staal 46 62 108 62 2 5 MON Jonathan Toews 43 61 104 65 4 4 (vote for two of the following, in order of preference) 2009-10 ALL-STAR RIGHT WING: G A Pts PiM DEF INT FGF Marian Hossa 55 38 93 78 3 6 PIT Jarome Iginla 46 50 96 33 4 8 LIB Evgeni Malkin 55 84 139 90 4 6 TPK Corey Perry 50 49 99 91 2 6 (vote for two of the following, in order of preference) 2009-10 ALL-STAR LEFT DEFENSE: G A Pts PiM DEF INT LIB Zdeno Chara 16 54 70 104 5 14 STM Duncan Keith 16 49 65 42 5 6 HOU Nicklas Lidstrom 6 67 73 42 5 5 TPK Sheldon Souray 29 47 76 87 3 7 MON Ryan Suter 11 84 95 68 4 6 (vote for two of the following, in order of preference) 2009-10 ALL-STAR RIGHT DEFENSE: G A Pts PiM DEF INT SES Dan Boyle 23 38 61 63 3 3 MON Mike Green 51 54 105 72 3 6 PIT Scott Niedermayer 11 59 70 57 3 3 SEA Brian Rafalski 14 58 72 30 2 2 TPK Shea Weber 31 40 71 106 4 11 (vote for two of the following, in order of preference) 2009-10 ALL-STAR GOALTENDER: W L GAA SV% ShO VAW Niklas Backstrom 44 17 2.51 91.5 2 STM Tim Thomas 40 16 1.85 93.6 11 HOU Tomas Vokoun 45 19 2.01 93.2 11 BUF Cam Ward 38 34 2.55 92.4 7 ********************************************************************* CHANGES IN CAPITAL CITY by Brian Leahy, Capital City owner (AP) LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.....After the dismal 2009-10 season the Cougars went through, this off-season proves to be crucial in how long it takes for the club to get back into the mix of things once again. One season removed from knocking off the Vancouver Whitecaps, who had notched the best record in the league that season, and coming up a goal short of reaching the Western Conference finals after taking the Topeka Tarantulas to a game 7 before losing by a 2-1 score, the Cougars fell on hard times as old age crept up on their roster and finished with 64 points - the lowest in franchise history - and gained entry to the draft lottery. To top it off, in the lottery, the Cougars fell from 5th to 7th overall position in next month's rookie entry draft. Once the off-season began, things started to look up for the team. Over the course of the season, via a few trades, the Cougars acquired a small stockpile of draft choices. Some of them, Cougars GM Brian Leahy decided, might be better off used to bring in players who already had some experience in "the league." In late June, Leahy traded several of the picks to St. Michael's for a pair of pivots - Jarret Stoll and Antoine Vermette. Vermette figures to be the team's top line center, while Stoll looks to lead the second line as well as contribute on the point during power-plays. A couple of weeks later, in a deal which surprised many, the Cougars shipped goalie Ondrej Pavelec to Manayunk. In return, Capital City received the 4th overall pick in the draft. Pavelec, acquired last August from Lyndonville in a multi-player deal, was projected to be the backup to Jonas Hiller yet again this coming season. In Manayunk, he stands to have more opportunity to compete for the starting job. To solve their need for a backup, Leahy then went out and acquired Curtis McElhinney from the Florida Hellcats for aging center Ryan Johnson. Johnson, who had 3 goals and 5 points in 65 games last season, played much on the checking line and looked to be on the bubble this year as the team tries to shift to a roster of younger players. This month began with a flurry of activity as the Cougars looked to settle their roster prior to the cut-down deadline on August 11th. First, the team traded their 4th round pick to Fort Garry for physical defenseman Shane O'Brien. A few days later, veteran winger and general consensus all-around pest Sean Avery was dealt to Minneapolis for Andy Greene, who is described as a mobile, puck-moving defenseman. The Cougars then decided to offer up their 2nd round pick, 29th overall, to see what it might fetch. Fielding offers, as well as making some of his own, Leahy ultimately went back to a familiar trading partner in St. Michael's. Coming back in the deal were defenseman Matt Hunwick and a young import forward in Jesse Joensuu. Arrivals: Sean Avery, Ryan Johnson, Ondrej Pavelec Departures: Andy Greene, Matt Hunwick, Jesse Joensuu, Curtis McElhinney, Shane O'Brien, Jarret Stoll, Antoine Vermette DRAFT THOUGHTS With the NSHL Entry Draft just a month away and the Waiver Draft a week later, focus now shifts on bringing in new, young talent as well as more depth to round out the team roster. At the present time, the Cougars own the 4th and 7th overall picks in the entry draft and then they don't pick again until the 5th round. When asked if they had any particular needs or positions they were looking to fill via the two first round picks, Leahy responded by saying, "We look to take the best available players to us at those slots." While the first several picks in entry drafts tend to become predictable selections as it gets closer to draft day, the Cougars are still keeping quiet as to whether they will make an obvious pick or go off the board when it is their turn on the podium come September 11th. NEWS & NOTES The Cougars have announced that they will play some exhibition games against several NHL teams for the second straight year. Opponents have not yet been announced, but a schedule should be released in the next few days. Check the Cougars official web site at http://capcity.tripod.com for details. ********************************************************************* 2009-10 REGULAR SEASON LEAGUE STANDINGS: NORTHEAST DIVISION GP W L OL SL Pts Pct GF GA Long Island Berserkers 82 47 25 5 5 104 0.634 273 255 Lyndonville Blades 82 47 28 6 1 101 0.616 259 219 Corner Creek Green Calves 82 47 29 0 6 100 0.610 249 210 Buffalo Bulldogs 82 42 33 2 5 91 0.555 230 227 Pittsburgh Hornets 82 32 43 3 4 71 0.433 243 305 Brooklyn Fourteenth 82 28 48 2 4 62 0.378 208 291 ATLANTIC DIVISION GP W L OL SL Pts Pct GF GA St. Michael's Privateers 82 59 16 3 4 125 0.762 286 164 Montreal Wanderers 82 51 22 2 7 111 0.677 306 256 Florida Hellcats 82 42 30 3 7 94 0.573 268 263 Quebec City Patriotes 82 29 48 3 2 63 0.384 233 322 Stone Harbor Sound 82 27 46 3 6 63 0.384 230 292 Manayunk Bullies 82 27 48 4 3 61 0.372 194 296 NORTHWEST DIVISION GP W L OL SL Pts Pct GF GA Vancouver Whitecaps 82 59 16 1 6 125 0.762 307 199 Seattle Rainiers 82 49 25 5 3 106 0.646 292 231 Fort Garry Fiddler Crabs 82 48 28 1 5 102 0.622 298 240 Nevada Thunder 82 39 38 1 4 83 0.506 242 277 Seattle Sasquatch 82 36 41 1 4 77 0.470 271 261 North Calgary Hawks 82 29 43 2 8 68 0.415 266 346 CENTRAL DIVISION GP W L OL SL Pts Pct GF GA Houston Aeros 82 57 22 2 1 117 0.713 287 194 Topeka Tarantulas 82 55 21 1 5 116 0.707 348 233 Kansas City Scouts 82 43 36 1 2 89 0.543 258 258 Minneapolis Massasauga 82 32 44 2 4 70 0.427 201 261 Pittsburgh Sound Chasers 82 31 44 3 4 69 0.421 226 302 Capital City Cougars 82 28 46 2 6 64 0.390 221 294 ********************************************************************* CALENDAR OF EVENTS: September 1 - all award ballot winners must be voted upon by today. September 11 - 2010 NSHL Entry Draft September 17 - all teams must submit waiver draft lists September 18 - 2010 NSHL Waiver Draft *************************************************************************** ASSOCIATE LIST: SINCE GP Francois Lessard December 10, 2006 8 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 Scott Bruner June 18, 2007 0 Steve Beren February 2, 2008 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 B.J. Crombeen and LYN#2 to GSS for Cristobal Huet. - RELEASE Derek Armstrong, Chris Bourque, Denis Gauthier, Kamil Kreps, Michael Nylander, Tomas Plihal, Liam Reddox, Anthony Stewart, Ole-Kristian Tollefson, Brad Winchester. BUF - RELEASE Kirk Maltby, Ville Peltonen, Fernando Pisani, Jerred Smithson, Nate Thompson, Richard Zednik, Brendan Mikkelson, Tom Preissing, Matt Smaby, Niclas Wallin, Stephen Valiquette. CCC - TRADE Sean Avery to MIN for Andy Greene. - TRADE CCC#4 to FGF for Shane O'Brien. - TRADE CCC#2 to STM for Matt Hunwick and Jesse Joensuu. - RELEASE David Koci, David Hale, Jared Boll, Mike Brown, Adam Burish, Zack Stortini, Evgeny Artyukhin, Andrew Hutchinson, Trevor Smith, Sean Collins, Frantisek Kaberle, Daniel Tjarnqvist. CGC - RELEASE Tyler Arnason, Matt Pelech, Antti Pihlstrom, Chris Holt, Jamie Sifers, Derek Meech, Brett Lebda. FLO - TRADE FLO#3 to GSS for Sami Salo. - TRADE Matt Lashoff to NCH for NCH#4. - TRADE Ray Emery to STM for LIB#3. - RELEASE Boyd Devereaux, Joey Crabb, Joel Lundqvist, Eric Perrin, Aaron Johnson, Jason Smith, Jeff Woywitka, John Curry, Josh Tordjman. FGF - TRADE Shane O'Brien to CCC for CCC#4. - RELEASE Lucas Kaspar, Raymond Macias, Ben Bishop, Sergei Samsonov, Jonathon Kalinski, Ryan Jones, Ales Kotalik, Ben Lovejoy, Marty Reasoner. GSS - TRADE Cristobal Huet to BRK for B.J. Crombeen and LYN#2. - TRADE Sami Salo to FLO for FLO#3. - TRADE Vyacheslav Kozlov to MIN for Kent Huskins and MIN#3. - RELEASE Per-Johan Axelsson, Jeremy Williams, Kris Chucko, Matt Halischuk, Rick Rypien, Niclas Havelid, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Kevin Weekes, Riku Helenius. HOU - Annouce RETIREMENT of Brendan Shanahan. - RELEASE Jeffrey Hamilton, Jiri Novotny, Scott Walker, Grant Lewis, Danny Syvret, Peter Harrold, Mike Van Ryn, Ken Klee, Chris Osgood. LIB - RELEASE Fredrik Modin, Andy Hilbert, Jeremy Roenick, Darryl Sydor, Joakim Lindstrom, Derek Dorsett, Ben Eager, Jeff Tambellini, Tyson Strachan. LYN - TRADE Brian Boucher to STM for STM#3. - RELEASE Noah Welch, Nathan Paetsch, Tim Stapleton, Kyle Greentree, Alexandre Bolduc, Jamie Lundmark, Karlis Skrastins, Paul Mara. MAN - RELEASE Dany Sabourin, Curtis Sanford, Jason Jaffray, Krys Kolanos, Cody McCormick, Alexei Semenov, Richard Petiot, Lasse Kukkonen, Steve Wagner, Greg de Vries, Patrice Brisebois. MIN - TRADE MIN#6 to SEA for Jonathan Cheechoo. - TRADE Kent Huskins and MIN#3 to GSS for Vyacheslav Kozlov. - TRADE Andy Greene to CCC for Sean Avery. - RELEASE Sean Bentivoglio, Eric Boulton, Ruslan Salei, Robert Nilsson, Matt D'Agostini, Toby Petersen, Ben Maxwell. MON - RELEASE Marek Schwarz, Mikael Tellqvist, Staffan Kronwall, Colin Stuart, Nick Tarnasky, Brandon Prust, Brett Festerling, Jacob Dowell, Jean-Francois Jacques, Karri Ramo, Andreas Lilja. NEV - TRADE NEV#2 to STM for Brian Boucher. - RELEASE Michael Peca, Kris Newbury, Peter Olvecky, Garth Murray, Mathieu Dandenault, Jonas Frogren, Manny Fernandez. NCH - TRADE NCH#4 to FLO for Matt Lashoff. - RELEASE Arron Asham, Adam Hall, Matt Pettinger, Brian Sutherby, Ryan Vesce, Jamie Fraser, Bret Hedican, Thomas Pock, Tobias Stephan, Hannu Toivonen, Shawn Thornton. PIH - TRADE Craig Adams to SHS for Jack Skille. - RELEASE Petteri Nokelainen, Lawrence Nycholat, Mark Parrish, Alexandre R. Picard, Ryan Stone. PIT - Announced RETIREMENT of Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig. - RELEASE Philippe Boucher, Jassen Cullimore, Dan Hinote, Josef Melichar, Steve Regier. QCP - RELEASE Brendan Bell, Ryan Carter, Chris Conner, Brad Lukowich, Pat Rissmiller, Mike Santorelli, Raymond Sawada, Petr Sykora, Fredrik Norrena. STM - TRADE STM#3 to LYN for Brian Boucher. - TRADE Brian Boucher to NEV for NEV#2. - TRADE Matt Hunwick and Jesse Joensuu to CCC for CCC#2. - TRADE LIB#3 to FLO for Ray Emery. - RELEASE Steven Goertzen, Trevor Lewis, Spencer Machacek, Brett Sterling, Lauri Tukonen, Mike Zigomanis, Tim Jackman, Patrick Lalime, Ryan O'Byrne. SEA - TRADE Jonathan Cheechoo to MIN for MIN#6. - RELEASE Justin Pogge, Ryan Bayda, Nick Boynton, Shean Donovan, Dmitri Kalinin, Ville Koistinen, Tyler Sloan, Ossi Vaananen, Brendan Witt. SES - Announced the RETIREMENT of Rod Brind'amour. - RELEASE Radek Bonk, Peter Mannino, David Sloane, Craig Weller, Kyle Calder, Vladimir Mihalik, Jay Pandolfo, Kurt Sauer, Tim Wallace. SHS - TRADE Jack Skille to PIH for Craig Adams. - RELEASE Mark Eaton, Jannik Hansen, Enver Lisin, Cory Murphy, Michal Repik, Jason Strudwick, Jiri Tlusty, Petr Vrana, Ty Wishart. TPK - Announced the RETIREMENT of Joe Sakic, Markus Naslund. - RELEASE Sergei Zubov, Tim Conboy, Ryan Craig, Radek Smolenak, Yan Stastny, Viktor Kozlov, Matt Climie. VAW - RELEASE Cody Bass, Chris Clark, Dan Fritsche, Brett McLean, Mats Sundin, Teppo Numminen, Phil Oreskovic, Brent Sopel, Wade Dubielewicz. *************************************************************************** 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 Jeff Tsuruoka, Brooklyn owner ***************************************************************************