EHM 2005: Beantown Magic

[TurnerONU22]

When I started my game in 05-06, I started with the Brampton Batallion, a team in the Ontario Hockey League. It was a nice change of pace, playing a hybrid between a college and hockey game. I stuck with them for 3 years, dominating the regular season each year, but coming up just short in the playoffs, twice in the finals.

I decided I wanted another challenge, so I took over for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins. BORING. It is boring being the GM for the AHL teams, because you do very little of anything. So I quiksimmed most of the way through my two years there, losing in the Calder Cup finals my 2nd year.

At this point, I wasn't getting any chance to move up into the NHL, so I took matters into my own hands. I looked around and saw that Boston was easily the worst team in the 5 seasons of my league, finishing no higher than 13th in the Eastern Conference. So, I created a new GM, kicked Mark Messier out of his cushy new GM/Head Coach job, and started in Boston.

My History:

2005-06 Brampton - OHL 47-16-5 - 99 pts
2006-07 Brampton - OHL 40-22-6 - 86 pts
2007-08 Brampton - OHL 44-16-8 - 96 pts
2008-09 SWB - AHL 35-40-5 - 75 pts
2009-10 SWB - AHL 51-23-6 - 108 pts

[TurnerONU22]

I start the job on Thursday June 16th, 2010, two days before the NHL draft. I was going to post a nice overview of the roster, but I’m already a little ahead of this in the game and I typed most of it up, but lost it. I’ll do an overview when I get to training camp.

I start by going after a head coach, and I decide on Paul Maurice, the current coach of the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Maurice has the experience of the NHL as he coached the Hurricanes a few years ago. I like a couple of the current ass’t coaches, so I keep them aboard in minor roles. I bring in one name coach and one NAME coach. The first coach is Robbie Ftorek, the former Devils coach, to help out with the team. The other is……Mario Lemieux, who will come in and help out our forwards.

We get to the draft, and we hold the fourth overall pick. However, we have a HUGE problem. Just taking over this team, and the sucky scouting job they did before us, we cannot see anything about the majority of the prospects here. Josh Kordyban is the consensus #1 pick, and appears to be the foundation to the Washington Capitals blueline. We don’t move before the draft, so Kordyban goes to the Caps, and then we have a few choices at 4. However, we elect to move down 2 spots and trade w/Detroit to pick up the 6th pick and a 2nd rounder. We have a couple of choices at 6, but we pick Sylvain Cloutier, a defenseman out of Acadie-Bathurst from the QMJHL. This is a risk, taking a defenseman from the Q, but Cloutier is a scouted player, and has a 20 in hitting and pokechecking, so we trust that he is good defensively.

In the second round, we pick up Fern McDonald, a defenseman from Ottawa in the OHL. McDonald is a two-way player who should develop nicely. For our other 2nd round pick, we choose Julien Gosselin, a French center. Gosselin is a scoring center (20 in wristshot) but can take faceoffs nicely as well (16).

We finish off the draft with a few players, but ones that we know very little about, so I’ll talk about them if they make an impact come training camp.

63. David Davenport, LD, Soo (NAHL)
98. Dmitry Markov, LW/Rw, CSKA (RSL)
152. Matus Orzaugh, G, Victoriaville (Q)
153. Peter Klima, RW/C, Plymouth (OHL)

[JeffNights]

Peter Klima? If you're in luck then he's got the bloodline. ")

[TurnerONU22]

July 1st comes and its Free Agency time! Since I’m waiting til training camp to introduce you to the roster, I’ll just tell you now that I need some defensive depth, a couple top 6 wingers, a sturdier goalie, and a couple of checking forwards that can kill penalties.

I’m mad because I used the vacation to move from the draft to FA, so I extended contracts on a few depth guys in Providence, my minor league team, that I did not want extended. Also, the computer signed Dmitry Markov, my just drafted winger who is NOT ready for the NHL, and will be in Providence next season.

We don’t have much money to spend, so we look for some good cheap talent. On the 4th of July, we make our first two signings. Kari Lehtonen, a 26 year old goaltender, fell out of favor in Atlanta last season, so they let him walk. We sign him to a great deal, 2 years at 1 million per year. He has excellent positioning, recovery and rebound control (18,19,20), so this is an excellent bargain. Also, we ink 30 year old Tomas Kloucek, another former Thrasher who is an excellent defensive defensemen (20 in checking and hitting, 19 in pokecheck). His deal is for 3 years at 1.7 million per year.

This team doesn’t have any leadership, so our next signing is huge. 39 year old Adam Foote comes aboard from Columbus. While he is a little older than what we would like, he will help out defensive problems, while help working with our young defensmen (19 in checking, hitting and positioning). Foote will be making a little over 2 million for the next 3 years.

Since we have Kari Lehtonen now, we make a trade. We move 25 year-old Hannu Toivonen, our current goalie, to Detroit for 24 year-old Marc Fistric, another defensemen. Fistric is a well rounded defenseman, and can contribute on both ends of the ice.

Our next two signings help out our forecheck and our penalty killing. Center Kevyn Adams and RW Trevor Letowski come aboard, both with identical 2 year 1 million dollar contracts. Both of these guys have good skills in checking and positioning, and I would like to see them on the third line. Hopefully, Maurice agrees with me.

With our glut of defensemen, I move RD Andrei Zyuzin to Chicago for a 3rd round pick next year. Zyuzin was starting to go downhill at 31 and he didn’t fit into the plans for this season, especially with the acquisition of Fistric.

We make one more move, signing that top-6 forward that I have wanted since free agency started. 27 year-old Dustin Brown, a RW fresh off of a 42 goal season for the LA Kings, signs a three year deal, worth 7.2 million dollars. He excels at getting open (18) and has good goal scoring skills.

With all of these moves, we sit right at the budget for our season, 39 million dollars, with 43 players. We expect to move a few more guys to some teams for peanuts in the next few days, as I want to have about 35 guys signed in the organization.

[TurnerONU22]

Originally Posted by JeffNights

Peter Klima? If you're in luck then he's got the bloodline. ")

He's actually not that bad, I think he could play in the NHL someday. I hope he has the bloodline

[TurnerONU22]

We trim a couple of our older prospects, sending them to San Jose, NY Islanders and Detroit, gaining 2 3rds, 2 4ths, and a 6th round pick next year, when the draft will be in our own city of Boston. We are ready to make a splash, as we currently have our 1st round pick, 5 2nd round picks, 4 3rds, 5 4ths, 2 5ths, a 6th and a 7th. Obviously, we are not going to draft 19 players next year. I hope to use these picks as bait to move up in the draft and help solidify our prospect depth, which is currently not so good despite our good positioning the past few years.

We feel like we have a good top 6 on defense, but we feel that with the youth that we have back there, we need a veteran to be the 7th man. Rory Fitzpatrick, a journeyman who recently was playing for Houston in the AHL, comes aboard for a cheap contract (400,000 for 2 years) and can play both LD and RD. Also, he has excellent coaching skills, so hopefully we’ll bring him aboard as a coach when he is done.

Now that training camp is coming up, I’ll talk a little bit about the major guys on our team

GOALIE

Kari Lehtonen – 26 years old – Signed from Atlanta this offseason, Lehtonen has an excellent glove and has excellent rebound control. He will definitely be our number 1 goalie this season

Ray Emery – 27 years old – Signed from Ottawa in ’09, Emery came in to compete with our old goalie, Hannu Toivonen, for the starting spot, but had an awful start. He’s an average goalie, but won’t really hurt us when he’s in the game.

Summary: I like this now, but we don’t have a good goalie prospect in the pipeline. We will look to draft one next year with one of our many picks.

DEFENSEMEN

Zdeno Chara – 33 years old – The hard hitting defenseman from Slovakia, the game mirrors real life here, as the Bruins signed Chara in ’09 to a 2 year $10 million dollar contract. Chara has a great shot from the point as well and is a punisher in the corners

Ryan Suter – 25 years old – Suter has developed into the player most scouts thought he would be. Nashville traded Suter in ’06 for Nick Boynton, and the Bruins are now reaping the benefits of the deal. Excellent player in his own end, Suter and Chara might be the best combo in the NHL.

Tomas Kloucek – 30 years old – Acquired this offseason, Kloucek is another punisher who likes to get physical in his own end.

Adam Foote – 39 years old – See Kloucek

Stephen Lund – 20 years old – The crown jewel of defensive prospects, Lund was drafted 4th overall in ’07, the first defensive player taken. At 6’5”, he’s a pretty big guy who scouts say is a young Chris Pronger. He will be taking over Chara’s spot sooner rather than later.

Summary: I like what we have, but I’m a little scared that our top 5 guys are very similar to each other. I would like to get an offensive defenseman in the bunch, but I will take what I have for now. Prospect wise, I think we are set up nicely, with our three early picks this year, Lund, and Fistric (we acquired from DET this year).

FORWARDS

Simon Gagne – 30 years old – Signed in ’06, Gagne has lead this team in points ever since he has been here. He will be good for 35 goals a season and about 50 assists. He is an excellent two-way player who is at his prime.

Patrice Bergeron – 25 years old – A second round pick in ’03, Bergeron is starting to become a franchise player. His 75 point campaign last season will hopefully be duplicated this year, but his future in Boston is still unclear with the great talent behind him.

John Tavares – 19 years old – The #1 overall pick in ’09, Tavares had 47 points on his rookie campaign in Boston. The kid has a deadly wrister and can make plays all by himself, as the scouts compare him to a more talented Vinny Lecavalier. He will be our #2 centerman this season, but will be our #1 soon.

Glen Murray – 37 years old – The wily veteran just came off of a 47 goal season at 36 years of age, we hope that he has enough left in the tank this season to produce. Making 4.1 million in his final season, we hope that he is willing to take a paycut to stay with us.

Dustin Brown – 26 years old – We got him this year on an excellent deal and he should help boost our top-6 depth. We feel that he will be the number 1 man next season, meaning that Murray’s days are numbered.

Jordan Staal – 21 years old – Drafted 4th overall in ’06, Staal had an excellent sophomore season for Boston in 08-09, scoring 53 points, but fell out of favor with the new management, which saw him playing some in Providence last season. I have confidence that while being a centerman naturally, Staal will make an excellent winger on the 2nd line.

Summary: We have the talent up here to compete for the playoffs this season, but our youth might get the best of us. With Tavares, Staal, Bergeron and Brown, we have 4 excellent players 26 years or younger. Prospect wise, we are a little weak here as well, past these 4 guys. I hope to get some young talent early on this coming draft.





Outlook for the season: I don’t see why this team was so bad in the past, with all of the talent we have here. I hope that my FA acquisitions will help boost this team into the playoffs this season, but I am not sure of that.

[TurnerONU22]

October 2010

Our first game is on the road against Buffalo, and Dustin Brown gets two goals early on, and the Bruins are in control, but our defense collapses and gives up 4 goals in the last 10 minutes, and we lose the game 5-4.

We go to Montreal next and we play a good first twenty minutes keeping the game scoreless. We give up two goals in the 2nd, but Glen Murray cuts the lead in half on the PP. However, that’s all we are able to manage and we fall 2-1.

NOTE: I just notice something that I hope that Riz has fixed in the next game. If I had enough money, I could field an all-star lineup from the free agents available. Jaromir Jagr, Joe Thorton, Rick Nash, and Ryan Smyth are the biggest names out there. What happens is that the teams sign everyone and then nobody has any cash left to sign these guys. I hope that there is a way to make sure that these guys get signed in the next version.

Opening night for Boston comes against the Atlanta Thrashers, and Zdeno Chara starts things off nicely by scoring from the point on the PP. Patrice Bergeron is set up nicely by Jordan Staal in the 2nd to make it 2-0. Erik Cole score for Atlanta just 2 minutes later. In the 3rd, John Tavares scores his first of the season to clinch the game, with Boston winning 3-1.

We have another home game against the Rangers, and Glen Murray is the first to show up, scoring just 28 seconds into the game. Murray then scores on a one timer from the slot on the PP. Jordan Staal finds some open ice and dekes out the goalie, putting the score at 3-0. At the 17 minute mark, Glen Murray sneaks behind the defense, gets a great pass from John Tavares, and completes the hat trick!!! 4-0 at the break and the game is all but over. The teams trade goals in the second, then Murray pots his fourth goal!!! The Bruins win this game handily 7-3.

We see that Nicklas Grossman, a 25 year old Swedish defenseman, whom we traded to years ago to Anaheim for Tyler Kennedy, is being shopped around. We inquire and they want a 4th round pick this year for him. We agree to that and are just waiting for confirmation on the deal. Grossman is a skilled defenseman who has excellent positioning and pokechecking. I could see him competing with Fistric in the 3rd pairing.

We are at home against Montreal and we get a nice start, with Brown scoring on the PP and Eriksson potting his first on the season to give us a 2-0 lead in the 1st. In the 2nd, John Tavares gets his 2nd of the season off of a nice assist from Gagne. Montreal gets two in the 3rd from Bryan Little and Latendresse to make it a close game, but goals from Bergeron and Murray help close out this game and we win 5-3.

We pick up Grossman from Anaheim, and he will come aboard and be ready for our next game. We keep 8 defensemen for now, as Fistric would have to pass through waivers to go down. I still want an offensive defenseman, but that will come in time.

Nashville comes into town and we hope to continue our winning streak. Simon Gagne scores in the first period after a nice assist from Bergeron. In the 2nd, Sami Kapanen evens the score for Nashville to make it 1-1 after 40 minutes. Journeyman P.J. Stock beat Foote to the puck and gets it by Lehtonen to give the Preds the lead. Just a few minutes later, Erikkson gets a turnover and it’s a 2-0 with Jordan Staal all alone, Erikkson dekes out the goalie, passes to Staal and the Bruins tie it up!! Both teams play conservative to go into overtime. Just 10 seconds into overtime, Nashville tosses it in front of the net and Scott Walker deflects it in and the Bruins fall to Nashville 3-2 in OT. Grossman plays well in his debut with a +1 in just 12 minutes of time.

Pittsburgh is the 5th team in our 6 game homestand and they are one of the best teams in the entire league, as I noticed when I was the GM for their minor league team. Adam Foote is given the night off, after last game’s subpar performance. However, we hold our own and Tavares gets a goal just 26 seconds into the game with a great assist from Gagne, and Suter starting the play from the point. In the 2nd, young Pavel Zemen scores just 10 seconds in to tie it up after Robert Earl failed to track his man. Just a few minutes later, Kloucek gets his first of the season from the point and Chris Bower does the same after going hard to the net and getting a rebound from Letowski. In the 3rd, we keep up the good play and Dustin Brown assists two goals in the 3rd, one to Bergeron and one to Staal and we win the game 5-1.

Our last home game in this stretch is against Buffalo and the game is played at a fast pace early on. As he loves to do, Tavares gets a goal just a few minutes into the game on the PP and it is followed up by Letowski getting a goal just a few minutes later. Young Tim Brent cuts the lead in half and Danny Briere gets a shorty to tie up the game after he undresses Tavares to get a breakaway. However, Tavares gets it back just a couple minutes later after a great play from Murray to make it 3-2 after 1. Gagne does a give and go with Fitzpatrick to score a goal and Bergeron puts one off of the post just a couple minutes later and the Bruins get the victory 5-2.

What an amazing stretch of hockey at home, as we get 11 of 12 possible points, which puts us 2nd in the Eastern conference behind Tampa Bay, who is 7-0-2.

We go to play the NY Islanders, who are lead by Miroslav Satan, who has 6 goals in 5 games so far this season. Guess who gets the first goal of the game???? That’s right, John Tavares gets his 6th of the season on a breakaway. Just 5 minutes later, Bergeron undresses two Isle defensemen and beats Thibault with the backhander to make it 2-0. In the 2nd, the Bruins have a PP and Chara sneaks into the slot, has a clear shot and puts it in the corner to score. On their next PP, Tavares gets a nasty wrister by a defenseman who was blocking Thibault and he gets his 2nd of the night, putting Boston up by 4. NY gets their only goal with 8 seconds left in the game and Boston wins this game 4-1.

Our next two games are a home and home with Ottawa, who is lead by Kovalchuk and Bowmeester, along with Brian Lee, a 23 year old defenseman who is coming into his own. And it is Kovalchuk who gets a nice goal early in the 1st off of a nice pass from Bowmeester to make it 1-0. In the 2nd, Tavares gets taken down on a breakway. PENALTY SHOT!! Tavares goes to his backhand and roofs it top shelf to tie up the game! Shortly thereafter, Patrick Eaves gets a goal for Ottawa on the PP and that is the deciding goal as Boston falls to Ottawa 2-1.

We make the trip up to Ottawa and we get revenge. Bergeron, Brown and Earl get goals in the first, against a goal from Kovalchuk and we take a 3-1 lead. They narrow it with a goal from Eaves to 3-2. However, Gagne gets consecutive goals and Bergeron caps off the scoring and Boston beats Ottawa 6-2.

We finish the month 7-3-1 and with our 15 points, still trail Tampa Bay by 5 points (9-0-2). After the past few seasons, fans in Boston are starting to have some hope that this team can make the playoffs.

[TurnerONU22]

November 2010

On the first of November, we host the Devils and Alex Tanguay, after playing two seasons in the RSL, came back to the NHL and has been an excellent contributor for NJ. He scores twice against us and we end up losing the game 4-2.

3 days later, we host the Canucks and we get off to a nice start. Robert Earl scores early on, followed by Chara and Lund in the 2nd. These nice goals allow us to win the game easily 5-3.

We go on the road into Toronto, who is led by Patrick Elias and nobody else. We get an early goal from Staal, but Michael Camarelli evens up the game on a breakaway. Soon thereafter, we go on the PP and Murray tips a Chara shot from the point and it goes in for a lead. However, Toronto scores 3 in the second and we lose the game 5-3.

Turns out that this was a home and home, so we get the Maple Leafs at home and we just dominate them. Simon Gagne nets a hat trick, and we get goals from Brown and Murray and we shut them out, 5-0.

We host the Columbus Blue Jackets 3 days later, who are led by a line of Fritsche-Brule-Zherdev, who are all three very dangerous offensively. We get an early goal from our 4th line, then Tavares makes a terrific pass to Gagne to take a 2-0 lead. However, they get two goals from their 4th line to tie it up. Filip Kuba gets the lead for the CBJ, but we follow it up with 4 goals in 7 minutes (Earl, Gagne, Tavares and Murray) and we win this game 6-3.

Our road trip is coming up and our first game is against Pittsburgh. We get two early goals from Tavares and Brown, but Crosby and Malkin tie it up and they get two more and we lose the game, 4-3.

The next game is at Buffalo and it was a battle back and forth. Hecht and Murray trade nice powerplay goals in the first, Brown gets a deflection in the 2nd and take a 2-1 lead. James Sheppard ties it up in the 3rd, but Murray takes the lead back for Boston. However, Danny Briere gets goals 2 minutes apart and they get an empty netter, so we lose 5-3.

We go into Calgary, and we are met with quick resistance by goals from Saku Koivu and Ben Walter to go down early 2-0. However, Dustin Brown takes the team on his shoulders and gets a natural hat trick in the 2nd to put Boston back in the lead. In the 3rd, Brown gets another, his fourth in a row. Iginla manages to cut the lead to one, but Tavares gets the empty netter and we win 5-3.

We are sitting at 11-7-1, 23 points and in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference, but we are only 3 points from falling into 9th. I send RW Cody Thorton, a bit player who has 1 point in 16 games, to Providence and we call up Ashton Rome, a RW who has 7 points in 14 games in Providence and has a sound defensive game. He will play some on the 4th line.

At this point, I’m deciding what to do about Mark Fistric, who has become our 8th defenseman and has only played 1 game this year. He is very talented as we picked him up for Hannu Toivonen, but our coaching staff has played Fitzpatrick and Grossman over him. He is eligible for waivers, so he will likely get picked up if I try to send him back down. I’ll hang on to him for a little longer, as I might move him to another team for another part to help make the playoffs.

Our next game is at Edmonton and Chris Drury makes us pay early on, scoring the first two goals of the game. Gagne is able to get the next goal, but we give up two right back and we end up losing the game 4-2.

LW Loui Erikkson has been playing poorly for the whole season, only 2 points in 20 games and he was the cause of two goals last night. I put him on waivers and send him down to Providence, and call up C Evan Brophey, who had 11 points in 16 games.

Our final away game on the road trip is at Vancouver and John Tavares gets on the board early for us, just 2 minutes into the game. Gagne adds another one just a minute later and we get a nice start. However, Naslund and Bertuzzi both score twice and we lose this game 5-3.

LW Robert Earl gets hurt in the game and he is out for a few weeks. This is not good, as we lack forward depth right now. We need to make a move ASAP, and I want to think about the future as well. We inquire about a couple players and we’ll see what we can find out.

We come back home to face Calgary and we hope to turn it around. Simon Gagne scores in the first, but Calgary ties it back up. However, we get three goals in the 3rd (Gagne, Staal and Bergeron) and win the game 4-1.

RW Dustin Brown gets hurt in the game and will be out for a couple of weeks, so we will be thin up front. We call Cody Thorton back up.

The guy that we like from Nashville, Rhett Rakhshani, is unavailable. We’re looking for a good young guy for the 3rd/4th lines that plays DEFENSE! However, we offer up a 3rd rounder for him, and it is accepted. However, he won’t be available for our next game.

The Thrashers are a terrific team and we go to Atlanta to play them. They have a solid top line of Cole-Forsberg-Alfredsson and some great defenders in McCabe, Sarich, ect.. and it is McCabe who gets them on the board on the PP. Jordan Staal ties it up and Glen Murray takes the lead on a nice goal from Gagne. Early in the 3rd, they go on the PP and Alfredsson ties up the game. The game goes into a shootout where they go 3-3 (Forsberg, Toews, and Alfredsson) and we lose the game 3-2 in a shootout.

We come back home (still without Rakhshani) to face Tampa Bay, who are sitting nicely at 21-2-2. They don’t waste any time, with St Louis getting on the board just 18 seconds into the game. We go on the PP, but Dan Boyle nets a wrister off of the faceoff to give Tampa a 2-0 lead after one. Steve Downie gets his first of the season just 19 seconds into the 2nd and it looks like the game is over. Just shortly after that, Cody Thorton gets his first of the season, which is followed by two straight John Tavares goals to tie the game. Early in the 3rd, Bergeron takes the lead and is followed by a Murray goal on the PP, as we complete the comeback, winning the game 5-3.

We make a 2nd move, as we trade with Pittsburgh to pick up LW/C Mike Neal, a 7th round pick in 2011 and a 4th round pick in 2012 for D Nicolas Sigouin and a 5th round pick in 2011. Neal, 21, was drafted in the 4th round in 2007 and has a deadly wrister. He has 21 points in 20 games for Scranton and will be called up to Boston. Sigouin was just falling out of our future plans, as we have a couple young guys coming over to play defense next year in Providence.

Both Rakhshani and Neal are aboard and playing for Boston, and we send down Ashton Rome to Providence.

We have another home game against the Capitals, who are led by Ovechkin. There is a slow start to this game, but Glen Murray gets on the board to make it 1-0. The 2nd period was a wild one, Gagne gets a two on one with Murray and does a give and go and scores. Just a minute later, Gagne nets another one, making it 3-0. Stephan Ruzicka and Joeffrey Lupul cut the lead to 1, but Murray gets a deflection from Suter on the PP to make it 4-2. In the 3rd, Gagne scores on the PP, followed by Chara scoring on a nasty wrister while shorthanded. Cody Thorton scores again and Murray gets his hat trick as the Bruins win 8-2. Murray ends up with 6 points in the game, which is incredible.

At the end of November, we are 14-9-2 and are still in 3rd, but only 2 points out of 8th. John Tavares has taken over the first line duties from Bergeron and has an excellent sophomore season (16-18-34). Gagne leads the team with 40 points and Murray has 34 points as well. We have had pleasant surprises in Fitzpatrick (0-9-9 +8) and Grossman (0-8-8 +8). We just lack depth on the 3rd and 4th lines and that has really killed us.

[TurnerONU22]

December 2010

We go to Florida to face the Panthers, and Chris Bower gets us on the board in the first on a nice wrister past Luongo. Early in the 2nd, Tavares sets up Chara, who sneaks in front of the net and puts it in. They tie it up with 2 consecutive PP goals from Huselius and Bouillon and we go into the 3rd tied. In the 3rd, Glen Murray gets a garbage goal in front of the net to give us the lead. Late in the period, Suter nets a PP goal from the point and we win the game 4-2.

It’s a home and home series, so we host Florida 2 days later and it was a very tight game. Scorless after one, we get a PP goal from Gagne, but they follow it right up with their own PP goal from Ryan Callahan. This game remains deadlocked through the 2nd and the 3rd, and OT. Its time for the shootout, but we fall after Florida scores twice and we can’t get one past Luongo, so we lose 2-1 in a shootout.

Two coaches have got fired over the past week as Dallas axed Larry Robinson and brought in Mike Babcock, who was fired from DET in ’08 and the Canadians fired Jacques Martin.

Dustin Brown is activated and starts practicing and he should be back into the games in a few days. We send Evan Brophey back to Providence to get the roster to 23. He played in 5 games for us with 1 assist and a 6.20 rating.

We host the Islanders, who are below .500 but are a dangerous team with Miroslav Satan, who is still playing well. We get Brown back for the game and stick him in the lineup. We go on the PP a few minutes in the game and Tavares makes a cross ice pass to Chara in the slot and he hammers home a goal. Early in the 2nd, Dustin Brown gets on the board with a nice goal. They get a quick equalizer from Jeremy Colliton, to make it a 2-1 game. A few minutes later, Adam Foote grabs a rebound from beside the net and puts it home, which is followed up by a John Tavares goal just a minute later to give us a nice lead, which we end up hanging on to as we win the game 5-2. Our recent pickup, Mike Neal, got the 5th goal of this game, his first ever NHL goal.

Heading to face the Devils, we hope to have a better shot at them as Jovanovski is injured, but our own big D-man, Chara, is suspended after a cheap hit in the previous game. 10 minutes into the game, John Tavares gets into the slot and his wrister beats Broudeur on the short side, very impressive. In the 2nd, Kyle Okposo evens the score, but Mike Neal gets his 2nd in consecutive nights to put us up 2-1. Gagne gets a breakaway in the 3rd and scores to give us a two goal lead. John Madden makes it a one goal game, but we end up winning this one 3-2.

More changes in Dallas as Doug Armstrong resigns from his job as GM.

We continue down to Tampa Bay, who are currently 24-3-2, and are running away with the East. We get on the board first as Dustin Brown scores right in front of the net. In the 2nd, Kevyn Adams makes a nice feed to Jordan Staal to make it 2-0. We play the best hockey for the first 50 minutes, but it all falls apart. Fitzpatrick leaves LeClair alone in the slot and he hammers it home. O’Neill gets in front of the net and scores on the PP to tie it up with 2 minutes to go. With 1 minute to go, St. Louis wrists one right past Lehtonen to give TB a 3-2 lead and they get an EN goal, so we lose 4-2.

We play the next night at Washington, and we start off nice. Tavares makes a great pass on the PP to Gagne in the slot, which he buries to give us a 1-0 lead. In the 2nd, Joeffrey Lupul gets the equalizer, but a slapshot from Foote and a wrister from Gagne give us a 2 goal lead. They tie the game up in the 3rd from goals by Brendan Morrison and Nils Ekman to send the game into OT, where Jeff Woywitka scores from a great pass from Ovechkin, so we lose this game 3-2 in OT.

Our next game is home against Ottawa, and it’s a similar game to the Tampa one. Gagne scores twice in this one, we get a 3-1 lead and we blow it in the 3rd, to lose the game 4-3.

Even worse is that Zdeno Chara gets hurt in the next day’s practice, straining his rotator cuff and will be out 3-4 weeks. Thank goodness for our depth on the blueline. We put him on the IR and we bring Robert Earl off of the IR as he’s ready to go

We follow up that disaster with a game against the Blues, who are lead by Brad Richards and Jordan Leopold. We are scoreless through 1 and traded PP goals through the 2nd (Leopold and Gagne). In the 3rd, they get a PP goal from Travis Zajac, who beat Adam Foote for the goal. A few minutes later, Bergeron wins the faceoff and Stephen Lund gets the goal to tie the game. Leopold gets his second of the night, but Murray ties up the game at 3 to go to OT, where we don’t do much, go into a SO and lose 4-3 in a SO.

NY Islanders fire coach Steve Stirling, who had been with the team for a few years now.

We are at Montreal, where we hang around the game 2-1 with a Murray goal, but they score 3 goals in the last two periods and we get beat 5-1. Because Chara is on the IR, Mark Fistric played in his first game in 2 months, and played 10 minutes of good hockey. With Chara becoming a FA, I will try to resign him after the new year and if I can’t, I will move him for a nice ransom.

2 days later, we host the Rangers and there is one crazy first period. 2 minutes in, Gagne beats the defense and puts it right past the goalie. 3 minutes later, we inexplicably get a 3-0 and Kevyn Adams beats the helpless Jamie Storr to make it 2-0. Just a minute later, we go on the PP and Stephen Lund scores from the point. They get 2 goals from Eric Belanger and Paul Kariya, but we get a goal from Dustin Brown to make it 4-2. We get one more and win the game 5-2. Fistric was the 2nd star, 8 minutes and 2 assists.

Larry Robinson becomes the new Islanders coach and Peter Charielli is the new Dallas GM.

On to Atlanta, where we get ran out of town by Forsberg (2g 1a), Cole (1g 2a) and Alfredsson (1g 1a) and we lose the game 4-0.

Another coaching move occurred, as the LA Kings fire Andy Murray, who had been with the team for a while. The Kings sit at 11th, but are only 3 points out of the playoff race.

We head to Florida and it’s a scoreless first. We trade goals in the 2nd (Patrick Jarrett and Murray). However, they break it open with another Jarrett goal and two more and we lose the game 4-1.

We’re reeling as we head into Carolina and we take the lead early off of a Robert Earl goal. They tie it up with a goal from Blair Jones and in the 2nd, they take the lead with a goal from Bates Battaglia. Going into the 3rd, we toughen up and get an early goal from Brown to tie it up. With 4 minutes to go, Rhett Rakhshani gets his first goal of the season and we win the game 3-2.

Its December 31st and we head out to LA, where Dave Taylor, the GM, is the interim head coach, and the team seemed to wake up to it, as they came out and shut us out 4-0, behind two goals from Dmitri Kalinin and a goal from Thomas Vanek.

Before the new year, we offer out new contracts to some of our players and Mike Neal has accepted our offer (550,000 in 10/11 and 600,000 in 11/12, both years two way).

At the new year, here is how we currently sit:

Eastern Conference

Pos     Team                    GP     W      L      O-SL   Pct     GF   GA   Pts  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st     Lightning               39     34     3      2      0.897   201  112  70   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd     Flyers                  35     22     7      6      0.714   128  101  50   
3rd     Sabres                  36     24     11     1      0.681   131  100  49   
4th     Thrashers               38     28     10     0      0.737   145  97   56   
5th     Hurricanes              40     24     13     3      0.637   145  119  51   
6th     Penguins                37     20     13     4      0.595   133  127  44   
7th     Bruins                  39     19     15     5      0.551   133  115  43   
8th     Panthers                37     19     14     4      0.568   99   95   42   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9th     Senators                38     17     17     4      0.500   135  146  38   
10th    Canadiens               38     16     18     4      0.474   119  139  36   
11th    Devils                  36     15     16     5      0.486   99   110  35   
12th    NY Rangers              37     15     18     4      0.459   101  139  34   
13th    Capitals                35     16     18     1      0.471   98   129  33   
14th    Maple Leafs             38     15     22     1      0.408   98   132  31   
15th    NY Islanders            38     13     22     3      0.382   104  146  29   


Western Conference

Pos     Team                    GP     W      L      O-SL   Pct     GF   GA   Pts  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st     Coyotes                 38     24     11     3      0.671   140  111  51   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd     Flames                  38     21     13     4      0.605   117  113  46   
3rd     Blue Jackets            37     20     12     5      0.608   132  112  45   
4th     Mighty Ducks            38     23     14     1      0.618   141  129  47   
5th     Oilers                  36     19     10     7      0.625   117  115  45   
6th     Canucks                 37     22     15     0      0.595   133  108  44   
7th     Predators               40     19     17     4      0.525   123  135  42   
8th     Wild                    36     16     13     7      0.542   99   104  39   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9th     Blues                   36     16     14     6      0.528   117  123  38   
10th    Sharks                  37     15     17     5      0.473   109  124  35   
11th    Avalanche               38     16     19     3      0.461   121  141  35   
12th    Red Wings               39     14     19     6      0.436   123  140  34   
13th    Kings                   39     15     20     4      0.436   115  134  34   
14th    Blackhawks              35     14     18     3      0.443   106  118  31   
15th    Stars                   37     10     25     2      0.297   102  150  22   

Here are the player stats:

No   Name                     GP  G   A   P   +--  PIM  SOG  ShAv R 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
41   Adams, Kevyn             39  3   6   9   -8   32   47   6.4  6.87 
37   Bergeron, Patrice        39  10  18  28  1    24   90   11.1 7.33 
82   Bower, Chris             30  3   0   3   -5   18   32   9.4  6.43 
18   Brown, Dustin            34  14  9   23  2    12   105  13.3 7.41 
38   Chara, Zdeno             31  6   19  25  5    63   74   8.1  7.52 
42   Earl, Robert             28  6   2   8   2    4    49   12.2 6.86 
1    Emery, Ray               5   0   0   0   0    0    0    -    6.80 
32   Fistric, Mark            3   0   2   2   0    6    5    0.0  7.33 
23   Fitzpatrick, Rory        34  0   10  10  5    32   11   0.0  7.09 
52   Foote, Adam              29  3   4   7   -9   24   25   12.0 7.14 
13   Gagne, Simon             39  27  30  57  14   8    148  18.2 7.97 
44   Grossman, Nicklas        30  0   7   7   10   14   15   0.0  7.17 
53   Kennedy, Tyler           14  0   1   1   1    6    6    0.0  6.50 
6    Kloucek, Tomas           37  1   10  11  0    52   43   2.3  7.11 
31   Lehtonen, Kari           34  0   1   1   0    0    0    -    7.24 
87   Letowski, Trevor         37  2   4   6   2    6    52   3.8  6.62 
29   Lund, Stephen            31  4   9   13  4    22   38   10.5 7.32 
61   Murray, Glen             39  20  28  48  14   30   143  14.0 7.64 
10   Neal, Mike               15  2   4   6   0    2    19   10.5 7.07 
14   Rakhshani, Rhett         15  1   1   2   -6   17   31   3.2  7.07 
26   Staal, Jordan            36  7   15  22  3    27   72   9.7  7.25 
20   Suter, Ryan              39  2   22  24  4    30   68   2.9  7.51 
91   Tavares, John            39  18  27  45  14   16   115  15.7 7.69 
48   Thornton, Cody           32  3   3   6   2    14   49   6.1  6.56 

NHL stats:

================================================================================================
 2010-11 Goals
================================================================================================

Pos   Player                   Nation                   GP     G      
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1st   Ilya Kovalchuk           Senators                38     37     
2nd   Martin St. Louis         Lightning               39     36     
3rd   Jarome Iginla            Flames                  38     32     
4th   Jeff O'Neill             Lightning               39     32     
5th   Marian Hossa             Coyotes                 38     31     
6th   Vincent Lecavalier       Lightning               39     29     
7th   Todd Bertuzzi            Canucks                 37     28     
8th   Simon Gagne              Bruins                  39     27     
9th   Markus Naslund           Canucks                 37     27     
10th  Bobby Ryan               Mighty Ducks            38     26  

================================================================================================
 2010-11 Assists
================================================================================================

Pos   Player                   Nation                   GP     A      
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1st   Vincent Lecavalier       Lightning               39     54     
2nd   Mike Comrie              Senators                38     39     
3rd   Martin St. Louis         Lightning               39     38     
4th   Oleg Saprykin            Coyotes                 38     36     
5th   Jeff O'Neill             Lightning               39     34     
6th   Mike Richards            Flyers                  35     34     
7th   Peter Forsberg           Thrashers               37     34     
8th   Dan Boyle                Lightning               39     33     
9th   Brad Richards            Blues                   36     33     
10th  Jay Bouwmeester          Senators                38     31     

================================================================================================
 2010-11 Points
================================================================================================

Pos   Player                   Nation                   GP     P      
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1st   Vincent Lecavalier       Lightning               39     83     
2nd   Martin St. Louis         Lightning               39     74     
3rd   Jeff O'Neill             Lightning               39     66     
4th   Ilya Kovalchuk           Senators                38     65     
5th   Oleg Saprykin            Coyotes                 38     62     
6th   Marian Hossa             Coyotes                 38     61     
7th   Simon Gagne              Bruins                  39     57     
8th   Markus Naslund           Canucks                 37     56     
9th   Jarome Iginla            Flames                  38     54     
10th  Daniel Briere            Sabres                  36     54     
11th  Mike Comrie              Senators                38     52     
12th  Danny Fritsche           Blue Jackets            36     51     
13th  Mike Richards            Flyers                  35     51     
14th  Richard Zednik           Flyers                  35     50     
15th  Gilbert Brule            Blue Jackets            37     49     
16th  Glen Murray              Bruins                  39     48     
17th  Darcy Tucker             Penguins                37     48     
18th  Todd Bertuzzi            Canucks                 37     47     
19th  Bobby Ryan               Mighty Ducks            38     47     
20th  Alexander Ovechkin       Capitals                35     47     
21st  Steve Sullivan           Kings                   39     47     
22nd  Peter Forsberg           Thrashers               37     47     
23rd  Phil Kessel              Coyotes                 34     46     
24th  Eric Staal               Hurricanes              40     46     
25th  Brad Richards            Blues                   36     46     
26th  Erik Cole                Thrashers               38     45     
27th  John Tavares             Bruins                  39     45     
28th  Mike Ribeiro             Canadiens               38     43     
29th  Sidney Crosby            Penguins                34     43     
30th  Chris Drury              Oilers                  36     43