[Izulde]

Petr Sykora is named to the All-Star Game as part of Team World, but it seems like such a hollow victory right now.

Nashville 9 Boston 2
That helps. A lot. Sergei Krivokrasov sets a team season high with 5 points on 2 goals and 3 assists, David Legwand gets 2 goals and 2 assists, and Andy Delmore and Petr Sykora each dish out 3 assists. That's a new career high in assists for Legwand with 28.

We're rumored to be sending Vitali Yachmenev to the Flyers for Ruslan Fedotenko and a 3rd round pick. I'm not liking it. We're much stronger on the right wing than the left wing.

Craig Conroy Player of the Week. Too bad Calgary sucks.

Nashville 5 Chicago 3
A goal and an assist each for Petr Sykora and Chris Drury. Maybe a little home cooking and some adjustment time is what we needed. I'm pleased to report that Sykora is loving it here in Nashville. He's the clear #1 guy and he's flourishing in that role.

St. Louis 8 games unbeaten.

Trade reported.

Edmonton Oilers receive
C Alyn McCauley
Toronto Maple Leafs 2003 4th round pick

Toronto Maple Leafs receive
D Sean Brown
L Jason Chimera
C Dan Baum

What this means for the Oilers
The 24 year old McCauley brings defensive punch to the Oilers' center position, which they lacked in a major way before picking him up. It's a shrewd acquisition to fill a void.

What this means for the Maple Leafs
A stay at home defenseman, the 25 year old Brown's best attribute isn't so much his defense, it's his obscenely cheap $800,000 a year for the next 6 years contract. Chimera, 22, doesn't excite, but considering Shayne Corson and Gary Roberts are both 35, the Leafs needed some sort of youth injection here. Baum is a scrub prospect.

Winner: Edmonton
The Markus Nasland trade has worked out ridiculously well for the Oilers (23 goals, 28 assists, 51 points, +2, 7.53 rating - which is #1 in goals, assists, and points, and #2 in average rating on the team), and this one has all the potential of being another great deal. Nice long-term financial move by Toronto, but now their defense at center is looking weak.

Nashville 4 Atlanta 2
Goal and assist each for Petr Sykora and Chris Drury, 2 assists for Kimmo Timonen. Admittedly we're not winning against great competition, but we're still winning.

Detroit 4 Nashville 3
Blowing 3-1 leads piss me off. Even against a Cup contender on the road.

9 game unbeaten for St. Louis. Edmonton's 2-0 since their deal.

Nashville 2 Colorado 2
We outshot them 4-0 in OT, but couldn't pull off the win.

Head coach Barry Trotz tells the news media he loves prospect R Owen Garrow. Yeah, like we're getting the #9 prospect. Then again, the rankings have shifted from the junior world championships.

Kjell Bystorm - #67 - #68 (-1) - 3* prospect by SS - regular
Ryan Hammond - #116 - #121 (-5) - 2* prospect by SS - core
Bastian Barkai - #25 - #28 (-3) - 3* prospect by SS - regular
Vratislav Jedlicka - ? - #47 - 3* prospect by SS - regular
Ondrej Turczany - #17 - #17 (Unchanged) - 3* prospect by SS - regular
Borek Prucha - #108 - #110 (-2) - 3* prospect by SS - minor leaguer
Greg Murkulov - ? - #44 - 2* prospect by SS - regular

The star system is on a 1-5 basis and the minor/regular/core are projected max ceiling roles by the scout. Hammond's interesting in that he's a 2* prospect, probably because of bad consistency, but his 86 shooting potential is likely what makes him a core player projection.

Things to keep in mind - even super scouts will disagree, so it helps to be able to have two or three scouts rotate through the draft prospects so you can triangulate them.

Also, I should have scouted my own team so I'd have an idea of what prospects might play well with the current guys on my squad. This is why the #1 rule of freeware EHM is to scout your own team ASAP and then other teams, so you can get a sense of who would fit where chemistrywise, because chemistry plays a major, major role in your team's success.

I should add that I have done none of these things, instead going after talent upgrades and hoping for the best.

I've scouted more players than the ones listed here, including the guy who's currently ranked the #2 prospect, and who my SS thinks is a franchise player in the making, but I wanted to focus on the World Junior Championship guys.

I'll do a fuller look at the prospect shortlist next post.

Mike Grier wins Player of the Week. Panthers on 7 game winless streak.

Dallas 4 Nashville 3 (OT)
Disappointing OT loss. We allowed 3 power play goals. Way to piss away Vitali Yachmenev's 2 goals and assist.

I just realized Sergei Krivokrasov played for the Predators in the first two years of the franchise's existence, so we brought him back home. Pretty cool, even if he hates being here.

Alain Vigneault is out as Canadiens coach. Brian Sutter takes over.

Anaheim 3 Nashville 2
Just couldn't rally, despite Petr Sykora's goal and assist.

So we're now 19-21-8-7 with 53 points, which ties us for the 7 spot with Vancouver, but the Canucks have 2 games in hand on us and will probably pass us up. Anaheim, who we just lost to, has a game in hand as well, but they're 3 points off the pace at 50. Don't count out Phoenix and Los Angeles making a charge, either, as the Coyotes and Kings have 4 games in hand on us and 46 points, a 7 point differential that can easily be made up with 3 wins and a tie/OT loss.

The trade deadline is drawing near, I think, so we're going to have to make some difficult choices. Do we make the push and try to get in the postseason, deal off some of our veterans, such as Krivokrasov, and stockpile for the future, or do we sit tight with what we have?

If the season ended today, we'd face either Detroit or Colorado in the playoffs. I'd rather the Avalanche - I feel like we match up better against them than the Red Wings.

55 games down. 27 more to go.