Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

November 2019: Getting Back On Track


Paul Stastny puts the finishing touch on a three-goal comeback against the defending Pacific champs.

11/1 vs Ottawa (7-1-1) – 5-2 W
Good start to the month for once. Seattle rolls out to a 2-0 lead but Ottawa gets them both back by the end of the first period. But it’s all Seattle from there – Jacob de la Rose gets the game-winner and Blake Wheeler and David Perron provide insurance.
GOALS: SEA – Nash 1, Wheeler 3, de la Rose 1, Wheeler 4, Perron 1. OTT – Pageau 1, Karlsson 3.

11/4 vs Buffalo (5-2-3) – 2-1 L
Despite out-shooting the Sabres 36-26, Seattle loses their grip on a 1-1 tie with 1:40 left in regulation. Richard Panik scores the game-winner.
GOALS: SEA – Stephenson 1. BUF – O’Reilly 5, Panik 2.

11/6 at Anaheim (5-6-1) – 4-2 W
This time it’s the Dragons who come storming back in the third period. Mike Green scores twice in the span of a minute to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, and then Riley Nash provides the cherry on top.
GOALS: SEA – Stastny 6, Green 1, Green 2, Nash 2. ANA – Lindholm 1, Getzlaf 4.

11/7 vs Los Angeles (3-8-2) – 4-3 W
At the end of two periods, the visiting Kings hold a 2-0 lead and it’s starting to feel like it’s not the home team’s night – a feeling that’s only reinforced when Anze Kopitar scores his second goal 33 seconds after Andrei Svechnikov finally gets the Dragons on the board at the start of the 3rd. But Seattle gets three goals late to sneak past the defending divisional champs, with Paul Stastny using a screen on a 1-on-2 wrister to win the game with 28 seconds to play.
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 1, Athanasiou 2, Kapanen 5, Stastny 7. LA – Kopitar 3, Kempe 2, Kopitar 4.

11/10 vs Toronto (4-9-1) – 3-2 W (OT)
And Seattle is back at .500 (7-7-0), though it takes overtime to decide it. Toronto erases a 2-0 Seattle lead on goals by Zach Hyman and Auston Matthews, but in extra time, it’s Tyler Myers coming up big. After being held without a goal all year, Svechnikov tallies in back-to-back games. The only bad news: Andreas Athanasiou out with an injury.
GOALS: SEA – Perron 2, Svechnikov 2, Myers 3. TOR – Hyman 2, Matthews 2.

11/11 vs Winnipeg (9-5-1) – 3-2 W
Svechnikov continues his hot streak with a pair of goals, and the Dragons hold off a late charge by the Jets. Identical 32-shot totals for both teams.
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 3, Stastny 8, Svechnikov 4. WPG – Laine 5, Appleton 2.

It's good to see Stretch finding that next gear and finding the net. And that's not to blame him for where we are in the standings, but the fact that he hadn't had a goal until this week... it's certainly a symptom of how we're playing as a whole. To see him start to roll is a good sign for all of us.

Between games, Montreal places D Karl Alzner on waivers (80 OVR, 31 years old). He’d probably be an upgrade to the third pair (maybe even slot second and push Oleksiak down) but with three years left at $4.625M, don’t think I want to assume the contract.

11/14 at Washington (9-5-2) – 3-0 W
After a one-year slump, looks like the Caps are good again. Washington scores three first-period goals and that’s it for scoring for both teams. Braden Holtby stops 25 shots for the shutout.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. WSH – Kuznetsov 2, Smith-Pelly 2, Ovechkin 11.

11/16 at Edmonton (1-13-2) – 3-0 W
It’s the Bob and Svech Show. Sergie Bobrovsky stops 36 shots, Andrei Svechnikov scores a pair, and Andrej Sustr adds an empty-netter in the final minute. The only down note is that Tyler Bozak left the game with an injury.
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 5, Svechnikov 6, Sustr 1. EDM – NONE.

We’re in a bit of a bind on injuries. Bozak is down for about a week, Athanasiou is out until December 10th, and Yanni Gourde is out for a few days. I could call someone up from the minors, but for now, it’s just one game, so I guess Joe Morrow is going to play wing for one game.

Nah, it's not scary. If anything all of us defensemen want to sneak up and join the play, now I get to do it for real for a game. It'll be fun, and then I'll go back to my day job when some guys get healthy.

11/18 at Tampa Bay (14-3-1) – 6-3 L
From one extreme to the other: 1-13-2, followed by 14-3-1. It was actually a fairly close game most of the way, but Tampa scores two goals six seconds apart with about three minutes left to pull away.
GOALS: SEA – Grabner 2, Stephenson 2, Nash 3. TB – Palat 7, Killorn 3, Killorn 4, Point 4, Stamkos 8, Sergachev 6.

Gourde will be playable for the next game, so the immediate roster crisis is past.

11/20 at Montreal (9-6-3) – 4-2 W
Montreal strikes first against Chad Johnson, but Blake Wheeler scores twice and David Perron once in a 3-goal second to take the lead they’d hold the rest of the game.
GOALS: SEA – Wheeler 5, Perron 3, Wheeler 6, Nash 4. MTL – Pominville 4, Spezza 8.

Gourde is at full health, Bozak is playable, but now Chandler Stephenson joins Athanasiou on the shelf. Annoying, but Mike Cammalleri can step right in.

11/23 vs Carolina (8-8-4) – 5-3 L
Seattle strikes first and builds up a 2-1 lead after one period, but Carolina comes roaring back with three straight goals in the second period. Each team adds one more, and that’s your final score.
GOALS: SEA – Grant 1, Wheeler 7, Svechnikov 7. CAR – Wallmark 3, Hagelin 4, Rask 10, Aho 5, Foegele 1.

11/25 vs Vancouver (11-8-2) – 1-0 L
It’s the Battle of the Border! Colin Wilson beats Bobrovsky with 5:09 left in the first period, and that’s all either team will get. Thatcher Demko registers the shutout.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. VAN – Wilson 1.

11/27 at Nashville (9-11-1) – 2-0 L
Ugh. Shut out in back to back games. It’s scoreless through two, but then Filip Forsberg and Kyle Turris score in the third to hand Nashville the win. Jusse Saros only has to face 20 shots, but leaves with an injury, and backup Oscar Alsenfelt stops three more pucks to finish the shutout.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. NSH – Forsberg 8, Turris 5.

It's frustrating. I think things have improved overall, so it's not maybe the big cause for concern it might have been if we were playing like we were at the start of the season, but two whole games without lighting the lamp... it's a little tough to swallow at any point in the season.

Everyone is healthy except Athanasiou at this point. Yay!

11/29 vs Detroit (10-9-3) – 3-2 W
It’s a quiet game through two, with an Andrej Sustr goal standing as the only scoring. Early in the third, Blake Wheeler and Jacob de la Rose score to widen the lead to three, but Detroit scores twice in the final six minutes to make it close again.
GOALS: SEA – Sustr 2, Wheeler 8, de la Rose 2. DET – Zetterberg 8, Kerdiles 3.

MONTHLY SUMMARY

STANDINGS REPORT

• MONTH: 8-6-0.
• YEAR-TO-DATE: 11-12-0, 22 points
• DIVISION: 6th place with 22 points. Full standings: Calgary 31, San Jose 30, Vegas 28, Vancouver 27, Anaheim 24, Seattle 22, Los Angeles 21, Edmonton 4. Yes, FOUR. That’s 1-20-2.
• CONFERENCE: 13th, but things are still fairly close. Top 8: CGY 31, SJ 30, STL 29, VGK 28, WPG 27, VAN 27, COL 26, CHI 26.
  

TEAM LEADERS

• POINTS: Stastny 18, Svechnikov 16, Wheeler 14, Gourde 11, Bozak 10
• GOALS: Stastny 8, Wheeler 8, Svechnikov 7, Kapanen 5, Nash 4
• ASSISTS: Stastny 10, Svechnikov 9, Gourde 8, Green 7, Bozak 7
• PLUS-MINUS: Grabner 7, Bozak 5, Stephenson 2, Morrow 1, Nash 1, Beaulieu 1, Cammalleri 1

ON THE FARM
Tacoma is off to another hot start at 16-3-4. They’re leading their division, and tied with Springfield for the best record in hockey. Beau Bennett continues to lead the team with 26 points, but he’s backed up by nine double digit scorers. (Seven goals from defenseman Jordan Subban probably stands out as the big surprise of the bunch.) In net, Elvis Merzlikins has reestablished himself as the starter (10-2-2, 3 shutouts, 2.12 GAA, .917 save percentage, though he and Driedger are both playing well.

In terms of our prospect development, the biggest news is we now have a fifth elite talent from this year’s draft class (Krebs, Kakko, Honka and the enforcer Marsh already showing Elite) – C Jesper Blomstrand (4th, 2019) is now showing fully scouted and Low Elite. In another bit of good news, goalie Mika Kerman (5th, 2019) has gone up from Fringe Starter to Starter potential after full scouting. D Ian Van Riemsdyk (3rd, 2018) has hit 65 OVR, so he’ll probably get a contract next year, but his potential is showing as 7th defenseman.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

November 2019: Around The League


STANDINGS


Still taking shape. The Atlantic is starting to separate into a "top 3" and "everyone else" division, but the rest of the races are still fairly tight. Specifically, nice to see the Caps back after a year of mediocrity. On the other hand, Edmonton. Poor Edmonton. (It seems to mostly be the goaltending -- I believe they've got two rookies carrying the load, and mostly failing.)

LEAGUE LEADERS


Mostly the guys you expect to see. The backup goalies that dominated the October stats have mostly given way to real starters. Kinda thought Bobrovsky would be doing better at this point, but still lots of season to go.

CALDER WATCH


OK, it would be kinda neat to have brothers win back-to-back Calders, so I'm in Evgeni Svechnikov's corner until further notice. (Heck, maybe try to trade for him at some point down the line...) Leonardo Little still the only representative of the Class of 2019. Amongst the goalies, you can see Edmonton's dilemma in vivid detail -- Skinner has been the primary goalie and is getting SHELLED. Wells is slightly more tolerable, but still not exactly dominating things.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

December 2019: Tailspin


Nikolay Kulemin does some nifty stick-handling to put the puck past Seattle goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was that kind of month.

12/2 vs Minnesota (11-11-1) – 2-1 L
All the scoring takes place in the first five minutes of the game: Eric Staal and Zach Parise book-end a Mike Green goal and the goal-scoring is done with 54:35 left to play.
GOALS: SEA – Green 3. MIN – Staal 8, Parise 17.

12/3 at Chicago (13-12-0) – 5-4 L (SO)
All the goals that didn’t get scored last game get scored in a wild second period that leaves Seattle in front, 4-3. But Alex DeBrincat gets the equalizer at the start of the third, and Jonathan Toews wins it in the shootout.
GOALS: SEA – Kapanen 6, Wheeler 9, Wheeler 10, Grabner 3. CHI – Dahlstrom 1, Jurco 4, Saad 11, DeBrincat 6, Towes SOW.

Of course you want to get two points in a situation like that, but the way we've been playing recently, it's good just to find some rhythm on offense. So we'll take one point, and hope that kinda lights the fire that leads to better results going forward.

12/5 vs St. Louis (15-9-2) – 2-0 L
St. Louis gets a pair of goals in the 2nd period while Seattle has nothing to show for 33 shots. Jake Allen registers the shutout.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. STL – Schwartz 9, Steen 7.

12/7 at Colorado (13-10-3) – 1-0 L
If you dip back into November, we’re on a 1-5-1 slide, so we need to get things going here. But the offense sleepwalks through another 60 minutes and wastes a pretty good performance by Sergei Bobrovsky. Nail Yakupov scores the lone goal 5 minutes into the game, and Philipp Grubauer gets credit for the shutout.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. COL – Yakupov 2.

Back to back shutouts is rough, man. It's frustrating because on paper, this is a much better team than last year, but we're just not putting the puck in the net with consistency, even like we were capable of last season.

A bit of good news between games, as Andreas Athanasiou returns to the lineup. Maybe that’ll spark something.


12/10 at Boston (18-9-1) – 6-3 L
Ouch. The reigning Eastern Conference champions jump all over the Dragons. If there’s any glimmer of a silver lining, it’s that Andrei Svechnikov scored twice once the game was already out of reach.
GOALS: SEA – Oleksiak 1, Svechnikov 8, Svechnikov 9. BOS – Pastrnak 7, Debrusk 7, MacKenzie 1, Bjork 6, Bjork 7, Donato 3.

12/12 at Las Vegas (15-10-3) – 4-2 L
Bleah. Vegas builds a 3-0 lead before Seattle even gets out of the blocks. It was only 1-0 through one period, but Vegas scores twice in quick succession in the middle of the second to pull away. The score makes it look closer than it was – Vegas was pretty much in control the whole way. (33-17 shots advantage).
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 10, Perron 4. VGK – Karlsson 4, Kulemin 6, Karlsson 5, Carrier 4.

12/14 at Philadelphia (18-11-1) – 6-4 W
Things have got to turn around eventually, right? At least for one night, it does as the Dragons win a wild one (41-35 in Philly’s favor). Seattle builds a 3-1 lead, and then extends it to 5-2 after Jakub Voracek narrows it to 3-2 to start the 2nd.
GOALS: SEA – Gourde 4, Green 4, Wheeler 11, Bozak 4, Grabner 4, Perron 5. PHI – Couturier 10, Voracek 9, Lee 7, Brown 6.

12/15 vs Arizona (13-14-3) – 6-0 L
Turnaround canceled. Arizona puts up three in the first and runs away with it. Antti Raanta stops 32 pucks for the shutout.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. ARI – Galchenyuk 8, Stepan 4, Stepan 5, Fischer 7, Ekman-Larsson 7, Keller 7.

12/19 at Dallas (17-12-2) – 1-0 W
This time we’re finally on the right end of a shutout, but still a meek offensive performance. Svechnikov scores a minute into the game, and… basically that’s it. Bobrovsky only has to face 27 pucks, but stops them all on a night when he basically had to.
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 11. DAL – NONE.

12/20 at Pittsburgh (23-8-2) – 3-0 L
Another (expletive) shutout (even with backup Tristan Jarry between the pipes), and only 25 shots on net. Seattle keeps it close for two periods, but Justin Schultz and Phil Kessel put the game away in the third.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. PIT – Letang 6, Schultz 4, Kessel 19.

12/22 at New York Islanders (17-14-3) – 7-2 L
Dear Santa: we said we wanted GOALS for Christmas, not COAL. Unfortunately, Santa’s hard of hearing, or he gave them to the wrong team, including a hat trick for John Tavares.
GOALS: SEA – Kapanen 7, Wheeler 12. NYI – Tavares 25, Tavares 26, Beauvillier 8, Tavares 27, Nelson 11, Ho-Sang 6, Beauvillier 9.

We've got a couple days off for the holidays, but it's gonna be a little tough to enjoy given where we are in the standings compared to where we thought we'd be. Hopefully guys take this time to clear their heads and focus on playing to the level we're capable of. And that's all of us... I include myself in that.

12/28 at New York Rangers (21-12-2) – 3-0 L
Taking some time off for Christmas didn’t seem to help as the Dragons get blanked again, while the Rangers pepper Bob with 40 shots.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. NYR – Kreider 12, Hayes 3, Namestnikov 6.

I don’t know how serious I am about tearing things down, but I put Wheeler, Bobrovsky, and Tyler Bozak on the block (all expiring contracts) just to see what sorts of offers I get. For the moment, it's just kicking the tires, but it may get more serious as we go.


12/30 vs Calgary (23-10-3) – 3-0 W
Oh hey. A win. How exciting. It was a 1-0 game through two periods, but Wheeler and Chandler Stephenson score late to pad the margin. It’s actually Chad Johnson in net for the shutout this time.
GOALS: SEA – Wheeler 13, Wheeler 14, Stephenson 3. CGY – NONE.

12/31 at New Jersey (22-12-2) – 3-2 L
So close. When Seattle got a 2-2 equalizer with 6 minutes to play and then drew a penalty on Marcus Johansson, it looked like the year might close on a high note. But the Devils killed the penalty, and then to add insult to injury, Johansson took a feed off the faceoff and buried the game-winning goal with 1:02 remaining.
GOALS: SEA – Kapanen 8, Grabner 5. NJ – Hall 14, Vatanen 4, Johansson 14.

MONTHLY SUMMARY

STANDINGS REPORT

• MONTH: 3-10-1.
• YEAR-TO-DATE: 14-22-1, 29 points
• DIVISION: 7th place and starting to fall pretty far behind – the top three are Calgary (49), San Jose (49) and Las Vegas (43). Only Edmonton's collapse is keeping us out of the basement.
• CONFERENCE: Same basic story. 15th in the conference, 11 points behind wild card status. Maybe this just isn’t our year.
  

TEAM LEADERS

• POINTS: Stastny 23, Wheeler 22, Svechnikov 22, Perron 16, Gourde 16
• GOALS: Wheeler 14, Svechnikov 11, Stastny 8, Kapanen 8, Grabner 5, Perron 5
• ASSISTS: Stastny 15, Gourde 12, Perron 11, Svechnikov 11, Myers 10, Green 10, Bozak 10
• PLUS-MINUS: Stephenson 2, Grant 0, Cammalleri 0, Myers -1, Nash -1, Grabner -1

ON THE FARM
Tacoma continues to lead all of the AHL with 57 points (25-5-7), so at least SOMETHING is going right. Beau Bennett continues to be our leading scorer (11-24-35) and even makes the Top 10 in points and assists. The offense continues to be more about spreading it around than star performances – eight different players with 7 or more goals, including two defensemen. Elvis Merzlikins now has a GAA under 2.00 and a 926 save percentage.

In terms of player development, Peyton Krebs has already progressed to 67 OVR, so he should be good to get an entry-level contract next year. The other elites – Kakko, Honka, and Blomstrand – are at 58, 57 and 53 respectively. Mika Kerman claims to be a Starter goaltender, but he’s still at 48 OVR.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

December 2019: Around The League


STANDINGS


The Atlantic has tightened up a little, but the Metro and Pacific are both starting to separate into haves and have-nots.

LEAGUE LEADERS


If you're wondering, Bobrovsky has a .911 save percentage (not leaderboard worthy, but also not SO terrible) but a 3.00 goals against. So that sounds like we're giving up too many shots and Bob's doing the best he can.

CALDER WATCH


About the same as last month. A little bit of churn and some new faces at the bottom of the Top 10, but Svechnikov still in the lead. Edmonton's goalies are still plugging away, but neither's really lighting it up.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

January 2020: Stick A Fork In 'Em


[SIZE="2"][B]In what felt like the door closing on the 2019-20 season, Anaheim overcame a lackluster first period to put five unanswered goals on the Dragons, including three power play tallies.

As we start the new year, we have a bit of a roster problem – Nathan Beaulieu and Andrej Sustr are both down with injuries (evaluation pending), so we’re short two defensemen. We’ll give Matt Bartkowski the call from the minors for a few days, even recognizing we’d have to run him through waivers on the way back down.

1/3 vs San Jose (23-11-3) – 2-1 L
Seattle was only about 30 seconds away from forcing overtime when a botched clearance attempt by Mike Green went right to the stick of Tomas Hertl in the faceoff circle. Hertl buried a wrister to seal an otherwise solid effort by the Dragons.
GOALS: SEA – Myers 4. SJ – Thornton 6, Hertl 18.

Injury update: both Sustr and Beaulieu will miss about a week. Bartkowski will stick around for a few games.

1/5 vs Florida (14-16-8) – 4-2 W
THERE’S the offense. Seattle jumps out on top with three first-period goals and then holds Florida off the rest of the way. The better news is who’s scoring – guys who have been uncomfortably dry so far this season.
GOALS: SEA – Perron 6, Nash 5, Gourde 5, Oleksiak 2. FLA – Ekblad 6, Trocheck 11.

Beaulieu is playable; Sustr still out. And now Christian Folin is playable with a groin injury as well.

1/7 at Columbus (16-18-5) – 4-2 L
Bob finally gets to play against his former team, but the Blue Jackets come away with the win. After a 2-1 first, Pierre-Luc Dubois widens the lead in the 2nd. It stays like that until 5:34 remaining in the third when a Michael Grabner threatens to spark a comeback. But former Dragon Jannik Hansen snuffs out the rally with a goal with 4:38 left.
GOALS: SEA – Stastny 9, Grabner 6. CBJ – Acciari 3, Foligno 10, Dubois 7, Hansen 2.

Oddly, Beaulieu is still day-to-day, but Sustr and Folin both lapped him on the road back to health. Still, a full roster is a full roster, so Bartkowski is getting sent back down.

1/9 at Ottawa (23-13-4) – 5-2 W
Early lead? 3-1 first period. Pulling away late? Two third period goals. THAT’S what we like to see. And a against a team with a winning record, too.
GOALS: SEA – Wheeler 15, Nash 6, Gourde 6, Grabner 7, Athanasiou 3. OTT – Stone 13, Stone 14.

1/12 at Buffalo (13-23-5) – 2-1 L
It’s a fairly even, low-scoring affair in Buffalo, but the Sabres strike last for the win. Ryan O’Reilly and Blake Wheeler trade goals through two, but Madison Bowey beats Bobrovsky with about 10 minutes left and the home team holds on the rest of the way. Linus Ullmark stout in net for the Sabres, stopping 29 of 30 shots.
GOALS: SEA – Wheeler 16. BUF – O’Reilly 14, Bowey 4.

1/14 vs Anaheim (16-24-3) – 5-1 L
It’s the Battle for Continued Relevance, as two Pacific teams with pretty much even records face off. Seattle comes out strong and gets the better of the first period, and eventually builds a 1-0 lead, but Anaheim comes back strong in the second and third. The Dragons play a supporting role in their own demise, handing the Ducks 3 power-play chances, all of which lead to goals.
GOALS: SEA – Perron 7. ANA – Getzlaf 8, Silfverberg 9, Montour 4, Getzlaf 9, Rakell 13.

I thought we had a really strong first period, but then we got really sloppy and undisciplined, and that'll kill you in this league. Definitely did tonight.

1/15 at Los Angeles (18-21-5) – 5-2 W
Two empty-netters make it look like more of a blow-out than it was, but Tyler Bozak breaks a 2-2 tie with 53 seconds remaining to complete a hat trick, but more importantly, to get the Dragons back in the win column.
GOALS: SEA – Bozak 5, Gourde 7, Bozak 6, Bozak 7, de la Rose 3. LA – Kempe 5, Kempe 6.

It's exciting but at the same time, I'd trade it for the team doing better. So if it's the catalyst that shakes something loose and gets us playing better, cool. Otherwise, it's just one good game out of 82.

1/18 at Toronto (17-24-4) – 5-3 L
Explosive second period with three goals for each team; unfortunately, Toronto adds solo goals in the 1st and 3rd for the margin of victory.
GOALS: SEA – Stastny 10, Bozak 8, Perron 8. TOR – Martin 5, Cogliano 6, Rielly 3, Martin 6, Kadri 20.

1/19 at Winnipeg (26-16-4) – 3-1 W
Something that’s been way too rare this season – the Dragons beat a good team on the road. Winnipeg strikes first, but Seattle takes over the rest of the way.
GOALS: SEA – Oleksiak 3, Nash 7, Stastny 11. WPG – Lowry 9.

[B]1/21 vs Washington (28-15-4) – 5-1 L
[/B]Alex Ovechkin doing Alex Ovechkin things. If there’s any consolation, it’s that he does them to everyone (goals 36 through 38). On the limited bright side, what’s in Tyler Bozak’s Wheaties? That’s like 5 goals in the last four games for him.
GOALS: SEA – Bozak 9. WSH – Oshie 14, Ovechkin 36, Ovechkin 37, Versteeg 5, Ovechkin 38.

I think what's been frustrating is we haven't been able to string wins together. We come out and have a solid game, put up two points, but then we don't build on it and sustain that over multiple games.

1/28 vs Edmonton (10-31-6) – 4-1 L
I’m thinking the universe is sending a message, as we get slapped around by the bottom-dwelling Oilers. McDavid gets the early goal, but it’s a 3-goal 2nd that resolves things for good.
GOALS: SEA – Bozak 10. EDM – McDavid 20, Klefblom 7, Strome 11, Aberg 10.

1/30 vs Tampa Bay (28-16-5) – 4-3 L
Things start out positive for the Dragons with two goals inside a minute early in the first. But Tampa matches the feat a little later in the first, and then adds two in the second. The Dragons close the gap to 4-3, but that’s all they get.
GOALS: SEA – Bozak 11, Perron 9, Svechninkov 12. TB – Stamkos 14, Miller 10, Cirelli 9, Cirelli 10.

MONTHLY SUMMARY

STANDINGS REPORT

• MONTH: 4-8-0.
• YEAR-TO-DATE: 18-30-1, 37 points
• DIVISION: A 7th that’s starting to get uncomfortably firm – LA is six points ahead for 6th, Edmonton is nine behind for last.
• CONFERENCE: 15th, and falling further out of the playoff picture. I’m now 18 points behind the lowest wildcard (Chicago at 55).
  

TEAM LEADERS

• POINTS: Svechnikov 29, Stastny 28, Wheeler 27, Gourde 24, Bozak 23, Perron 23
• GOALS: Wheeler 16, Svechnikov 12, Stastny 11, Bozak 11, Perron 9
• ASSISTS: Stastny 17, Myers 17, Gourde 17, Svechnikov 17, Green 15
• PLUS-MINUS:Myers 2, Stephenson 2, Cammalleri 1, Nash 0, Green 0

ON THE FARM
Tacoma still rolling along pretty well at 30-10-9/69 points and leading their division, but they have been caught for the Eastern Conference (Lehigh Valley Phantoms at 75 points) and league-wide lead (San Antonio Rampage at 76 and Lehigh Valley). Elvis Merzlikins took a little bit of a step backwards and has a GAA over 2.00 again, and Beau Bennett is the standout on offense.

Prospects: Looking at potential, Krebs (Elite Med), Kakko (Elite Med), Honka (Elite Low), Blomstrand (Elite Low), Marsh (Elite Low), and Nussbaumer (Top 6 Med) are the cream of the crop. In terms of 65+, it’s Marsh 74, Van Riemsdyk 68, Krebs 67, Forbes 67. Van Riemsdyk is showing 7D and Forbes Bottom 6 potential.

Since we're talking prospects, my scouts have also identified three Gems for next year's draft, two Low Elites (LW Clinton McGinn and C Cory Bradley) and a Low Top 6 (LW Amari Pageau). Pageau projects as a 2nd, Bradley maybe a 3rd, and McGinn is likely a 5th or 6th so far, unless Central moves him up.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

January 2020: Around The League


STANDINGS


The Central is still pretty open, but everything else is starting to stratify into playoff teams and others. Edmonton's been done for a while, but some of those teams in the 30s and 40s (yes, including Seattle) should probably start thinking toward next year.

LEAGUE LEADERS


I'm getting kinda depressed that my top POINT scorer would barely crack the Top 10 in goals.

CALDER WATCH


Things tightening for Svechnikov, but he still holds the lead. Skinner finally got into double digit wins and got his goals-against under 4, which doesn't EXACTLY put him in the Calder conversation, but it's an improvement.

[mzator21]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

Awesome concept! I am enjoying the read! Probably going to do the same thing soon!

[Vettz25]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

7 goals in the last 8 games for Bozak. Impressive.

Sent from my LG-H812 using Operation Sports mobile app

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

Interlude: The Fire Sale Begins

ED: This didn't quite fit as a Dragon's Lair, but it was too much information to just weave into the monthly update, so the first part of the trade-deadline moves get their own post.


Well, I think it’s time to pack it in. We’re almost 20 points behind the lowest wild-card, and things just don’t seem to be clicking. Blake Wheeler and Sergei Bobrovsky are one-year rentals, and yeah, I could try to sign them in the off-season, but I’m feeling like it’s time to move on and get what I can for both of them. (There’s also a second tier of expiring contracts like Tyler Bozak, Michael Grabner, and Mike Cammallieri that I’d be OK with moving, but let’s get the big pieces resolved first.)

One question is “soft reset” or “fire sale”? Do I do more of an incremental downgrade, while upgrading elsewhere on the roster, or do I go all-in on prospects and picks? Also I assume I’ll have to take some dead money back to make these guys fit on a contending roster – the soft reset approach would be easier in that respect.

Also, what are the markets for the two players? Let’s start with green interest:

• Wheeler – Boston, Colorado, Columbus, Montreal, New Jersey, San Jose, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Washington, Winnipeg.
• Bobrovsky – Arizona, Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, Philadelphia, St. Louis.

Wheeler’s market makes sense for the most part. There’s one or two where if I was the GM, I’m not sure I’d break the bank for Wheeler (cough-Columbus-cough), but the market is generally made of teams that are legitimately in the mix for at least a wild card.

The market on Bobrovsky is a little weird. There’s a few teams there (Arizona/Raanta, St. Louis/Allen) where yes, Bob would be an upgrade, but their current guy is actually playing pretty well. So I’m not sure they’d upgrade in real life. Also, I’m not sure how much the last-place teams (Buffalo, Carolina, Edmonton, Nashville) would really go in on Bob when they’re not guaranteed of re-signing him. Detroit is a legit player on paper, but would be a little immersion-breaking because we already traded them Lehner. So I feel the “fair” market should start with Calgary, Dallas, Florida, and Philly. Those teams are playoff or bubble teams, and they really could use a goalie upgrade.

Wheeler turns out to be fairly easy. I start to put a “soft reset” package together with Vegas that revolves around Alex Tuch and Erik Brannstrom (20-year-old Top 4 D that they’ve got on their block). I decide to see how much I can push for… Malcolm Subban, so I have someone who can finish the year in net if/when I get a Bobrovsky deal, and… what the heck, let’s throw their 1st-rounder in there. That SEEMS like too much, but let’s try it. And… it goes through!

TRADE: Seattle trades RW Blake Wheeler to Las Vegas for RW Alex Tuch, D Erik Brannstrom, G Malcolm Subban, and Las Vegas’ 1st-round draft pick in 2020.

That turns out to be the easy part. Bobrovsky is a little trickier.

First, the market quickly slims down to Florida and Philly – I just don’t see much on Calgary or Dallas that floats my boat. With the Panthers, Jesperi Kotkaniemi is the white whale prospect, but they have some Top 6 guys like Owen Tippett and Jared McCann that… I wouldn’t want them as the centerpiece, but they might work as additional pieces in a package. Philly has either Morgan Frost or Carter Hart to build a package around (I assume both would probably be excessive), and I also note they have some expiring contracts I can suck up (Andrew MacDonald and Radko Gudas represent about $8M of dead money).

There are wrinkles though – for one, I’m at 49 contracts, so I can only take on one extra body. The other is (this is actually out of order – I got a deal that was close enough to work, but it got rejected) that Philly’s backup is too good: they don’t want to waive Michael Neuvirth if we complete a deal. So it feels like I have to make a deal that includes Neuvirth or Mrazek, or it may actually be easier to put something together with Florida. (Then again, they may balk at waiving James Reimer, too.)

I’m struck by an idea that might at least ease the logjam a little. Now that I have Subban, I can ship Chad Johnson out for a pick since Subban is a tweener that could start OR back someone else up. Candidates are Boston, Edmonton, and Washington. Edmonton doesn’t seem realistic – if they suffered 50 games of rookies, why would they trade now? But a Cup contender might want a better backup, and Washington in particular could use the upgrade from Anders Lindback (76 OVR). I offer Johnson for Columbus’ 4th rounder, and they say yes. (In fact, they say yes in a gloating “maybe I could’ve gotten a 3rd” way.)

TRADE: Seattle trades goalie Chad Johnson to Washington for Columbus’ 4th-round pick in 2020.

So now I have another contract slot in hand. Let’s go back to that Philly package. Philly values Frost a LOT more highly than Hart (so much so that Frost plus Neuvirth/Mrazek tilts the bars too far the other direction) and if we’re being honest, I have a lot of centers in the pipeline. So other than the fact that Frost is a “name”, going for Hart seems like the better play. So… Hart, Neuvirth, Andrew MacDonald (to soak up salary)… and it looks like we could fit a little bit more in there, so let’s add a draft pick or two… I’m going to try and be sneaky – Nashville’s #2 which could be early in the round the way things are heading, and Philly’s #1 NEXT year (could be valuable if they don’t re-sign Bob and regress).

TRADE: Seattle trades G Sergei Bobrovsky to Philadelphia for G Carter Hart, G Michal Neuvirth, D Andrew MacDonald, Nashville’s 2nd-round pick in 2020 and Philadelphia’s 1st-round pick in 2021.

I feel like there’s more I could do, but for the moment, I’m going to just put my remaining expiring contracts on the trading block, and see if any offers come in. In the meantime, I have to sort out some of the tangle with the roster.

Issue 1: Throw Hart and Brannstrom to the lions or let them start to get some NHL ice time? Right now, the CPU put both on the NHL roster, but kinda feeling like I might want to send them down and start fresh next season. (Also, neither has to pass through waivers, so I can also bring them back later if things change.)

Issue 2: generally restoring roster balance. Somehow the CPU sent Mike Cammalleri and Jacob de la Rose down, and kept three defensemen as scratches. Now I’ve got Derek Grant playing LW on the 4th line and no reserve forwards. So another thing in favor of sending Brannstrom down would be to restore a little balance to the lines.

Final analysis: Hart and Brannstrom go down; Neuvirth and Cammalleri come back up. For now. Let’s get into February’s games and see how the team responds.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

February 2020: Gone In Sixty Games


Blake Wheeler and Sergei Bobrovsky sporting their new threads. How depressing.

With the biggest part of the rebuild behind us, let's get to business with the sorta "new-look" Dragons. It's actually not that different in the starting 20 -- Alex Tuch takes Blake Wheeler's spot, and Neuvirth and Subban will figure out who the starter is in net. Of course, that's replacing two All-Stars with a decent young player and replaceable talent, but it's only two bodies.

2/1 vs Montreal (22-20-7) – 5-1 L
For the first two periods, this was a fair effort from the Dragons that looked worse on the scoreboard because Montreal converted both halves of a 5-on-3. But then Malcolm Subban let in two more goals at the start of the third, and it was just a garden-variety rout. Tyler Myers spoils Carey Price’s shutout bid with 5:30 to play.
GOALS: SEA – Myers 5. MTL – Spezza 14, Mete 2, Drouin 10, Pacioretty 15, Domi 10.

2/4 at Carolina (19-23-9) – 5-2 L
Carolina outshoots Seattle 44-24 and Subban gets lit up for five goals again. Not exactly seizing his chance as a starter.
GOALS: SEA – Perron 10, Myers 6. CAR – Faulk 15, Rask 19, Wilson 13, Aho 11, Fleury 3.

2/6 at Vancouver (22-23-7) – 5-2 L
OK, I thought the younger guy with more potential would be the right play, but time to get Subban out of there. Three straight 5-goal games (though to be fair, the last goal this time was an empty-netter).
GOALS: SEA – Athanasiou 4, Kapanen 9. VAN – Horvat 18, Baertschi 19, Hutton 4, Baertschi 29, Gagner 8.

It's not intimidating. There's nothing magical about being named "the starter". It's your job to stop pucks when you get put in net. You stop them, you get more chances. You don't, eventually someone else has your job, whether you're the starter, the backup, whatever.

2/8 vs Nashville (22-23-7) – 6-4 W
We have faint signs of life! Seattle jumps out to a 3-1 lead in the first and 4-2 after two. They ALMOST blow it in the 3rd, but Andrej Sustr scores the game-winner with 6:16 left and Andrei Svechnikov adds insurance in the final minute.
GOALS: SEA – Beaulieu 2, Svechnikov 13, Green 5, Stephenson 4, Sustr 3, Svechnikov 14. NSH – Forsberg 18, Josi 11, Watson 6, Forsberg 19.

2/10 at Detroit (27-22-4) – 3-1 W
Back-to-back wins. I legitimately can’t remember the last time that happened. Seattle puts three goals on the board in the 1st and then survives the rest of the way. Henrik Zetterberg gets the lone Detroit goal, spoiling the shutout.
GOALS: SEA – Stastny 12, Perron 11, Kapanen 10. DET – Zetterberg 18.

Around the league the trades are starting. LA trades Kempe and Forbort to Calgary for their 1st and 2nd in 2021 (with LA’s 3rd in 2021 coming back).

2/12 at Minnesota (26-24-4) – 5-4 L (SO)
A wild first period settles down the rest of the way as Minnesota takes a lead in the second and Seattle forces extra time in the 3rd. But it’s the Wild in the shootout for the win.
GOALS: SEA – Bozak 12, Svechnikov 15, Kapanen 11, Perron 12. MIN – Eriksson Ek 8, Koivu 18, Ennis 8, Coyle 12, Granlund SOW.

2/14 vs Chicago (28-25-3) – 4-3 W
Alex Tuch gets the scoring going with his first goal as a Dragon, and then does it again in the second period. Anthony Duclair scores twice in the 3rd to make the final score look closer, but the Dragons mostly had control of this one.
GOALS: SEA – Tuch 12, Grabner 8, Tuch 13, Svechnikov 16. CHI – Kunitz 9, Duclair 11, Duclair 12.

The season's not over yet. I know maybe that sounds naive when we just shipped out two big guys, but we're still here, we've still got some talented players, we just need to play with confidence and consistency.

Around the league, Pitsburgh trades goalie prospect Vesa Laruikainen to Buffalo for depth pieces – D Marco Scandella and C Kyle Brodziak. Now the Sabres have two Elite goalie prospects, since they already had Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the mix.

I make a couple half-hearted efforts to move Tyler Bozak – to St. Louis for C Jordan Kyrou, and to Colorado for D Connor Timmins. Neither deal is close enough to go through. I’m a little intrigued by a Bozak for Alex Kerfoot… 90 speed and playmaker profile is my sort of player, and he’s got Top 6 potential… but I feel like I could go back and try to get Kerfoot in the off-season just as easily.

2/16 at St. Louis (33-21-3) – 4-1 L
I don’t want to make a scapegoat of the kid, but there’s an emerging trend that we lose when Subban is in net. The first period features a bit of a quirk as defensemen score all three goals, leaving St. Louis with a 2-1 lead. But single goals in the 2nd and 3rd widen the gap, and Seattle can’t get any more pucks in the net.
GOALS: SEA – Sustr 4. STL – Pietrangelo 11, Pietrangelo 12, Donskoi 12, Parayko 12.

Colorado comes knocking after Grabner, and they’re offering Jesse Ylonen, a 20 year old RW with Top 6 potential. Problem is they also want me to give up a 2nd (2021) and a 4th (2020) for the kid. That seems like more trouble than it’s worth. On the other hand, they consider Ylonen to have higher trade value than Connor Timmins, so could I get Timmins for Grabner and the 4th, maybe? (And the answer to that is also no.)

On the other hand, they DON’T seem all that attached to LW Vladislav Kamenev. He’s only 23 so he still has some time to grow and he is showing Top 9 potential. He’s also a free agent, but with a more reasonable price tag down around $1M. Let’s try that. And they accept; in fact, they think they ripped me off. But whatever.

TRADE: Seattle trades LW Michael Grabner to Colorado for LW Vladislav Kamenev.


2/18 vs Colorado (35-16-6) – 5-1 L
And the new acquisitions will immediately face each other. SERENDIPITY! Unfortunately, because Malcolm Subban gets the start (and to be fair, because Colorado is a really good team) they pretty much beat us like a drum. Mike Cammalleri spoils the shutout with 4:43 to play.
GOALS: SEA – Cammalleri 1. COL – Yakupov 10, Kerfoot 8, Nyquist 15, Desharnais 8, Barrie 13.

2/21 vs Boston (34-22-3) – 6-3 L
The Subban thing has officially become some sort of bad joke, as Seattle gets out to a 2-0, only to surrender six goals by the end of the second period. Patrice Bergeron with the hatty. Just kill me.
GOALS: SEA – Myers 7, Tuch 14, Stastny 13. BOS – Bergeron 26, Bergeron 27, Pastrnak 12, Bergeron 28, Debrusk 14, Debrusk 15.

OK, this is intriguing. It’s a little weird for non-contenders to deal with each other, but LA is offering D Jake Muzzin for Derek Grant and picks (the 1st I got from Vegas in the Wheeler deal and my 2nd). That’s a bit steep when he might hit the open market in a month anyway. If I was contending for the playoffs, I’d be sorely tempted. In my current position, I’ll wait and see if Muzzin is available in a month.

2/23 vs Las Vegas (31-22-6) – 4-0 L
(Ed: I accidentally quit out and simmed this, but without seeing any of the details. Didn’t miss much, apparently.)
GOALS: (don’t know).

Meanwhile, around the league, here come the trades. The LA Kings found their match for Muzzin in the Rangers. Ryan Kesler goes from Nashville to San Jose. Edmonton sent D Matt Benning to Washington for a first-rounder, and a few other “trading spare parts” deals.

I make one more rounds of the market, and… the market for Bozak has mostly dried up. I get a Bozak deal for C Jack Roslovic (23, Top 6 potential) lined up, but Winnipeg doesn’t want to take on the salary, so I try Riley Nash instead and it goes through.

TRADE: Seattle trades C Riley Nash to Winnipeg for C Jack Roslovic.

I still want to move Bozak, but I’m not sure what I could even get at this point. Tony DeAngelo (D, Rangers) is always one of my “mascot” guys, the Rangers like Bozak, and it looks like Tony D would be available, so I try that. Salary is a problem so I take on Matt Belesky’s expiring contract, but now the issue is that I’d go over 50 bodies, so I add a defenseman from the bottom of my roster (Alex Carrier), and that goes through.

TRADE: Seattle trades C Tyler Bozak and D Alex Carrier to the New York Rangers for D Tony DeAngelo and LW Matt Belesky.

At this point, I’m mostly done with trades. I’ll keep Cammalleri, Grant, and Joe Morrow on the block just in case anyone expresses interest, but I’m not going to seek out offers. Too much work, and I’m not sure morale wouldn’t become more of a problem than an extra 4th or 5th round pick would be worth.

Also worth mentioning, I’m a little thinned out on defense for the next week or so. Jaime Oleksiak has a pulled groin and is out until early next month; Chris Folin broke his leg and his season is over.

2/25 vs Philadelphia (32-25-4) – 6-1 L
Back to back games against the dudes we traded away. ALSO SERENDIPITY. Believe it or not, there were stretches where the Dragons played well. The first period was a pretty solid effort, and they only trailed 1-0. The first half of period three featured a lot of chances on Bobrobvsky. Unfortunately, the second period was a tire fire, and the Flyers got a pair of late goals to make the final score look ridiculous.
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 17. PHI – Provorov 7, Provorov 8, Voracek 17, Lee 20, Konecny 14, Konecny 15.

Defense even thinner as Nathan Beaulieu is out for evaluation. Still have six warm bodies (Myers, Green, Morrow, Sustr, DeAngelo, Macdonald) but if I lose another guy or Beaulieu is out for any extended period, it may be time to call Tacoma and get someone on the bus.

2/26 vs Arizona (32-25-4) – 2-1 L
Arizona outshoots the Dragons 41-28, but for once Subban isn’t terrible and keeps the game close. Mike Green scores in the third to keep the game within reach, but Seattle never gets the equalizer.
GOALS: SEA – Green 6. ARI – Galchenyuk 18, Perlini 7.

Another unexpected trade offer, as Edmonton offers RW Jesse Puljujarvi for picks. There’s a lot to like about him (big kid at 6’4”, 88 speed, sniper skills, and only 21 years old). He is the sort of guy you can build around. Is he worth a 1st (that very well might be a Top 5 pick) and a 2nd? Especially with his contract – already locked in at 6 years/$5.67M.

Yeah, people are mad and frustrated. But who do you get mad at? Management? They did what they were supposed to. They went out and got guys that should've made us a better team, and it didn't click for whatever reason. So now they're retooling for next year, and yeah it sucks to see guys leave and have to start over, but we all need to look at ourselves in the mirror before we start complaining that bringing in Blake and Bob somehow wasn't enough. Maybe that's harsh, but maybe we need a little harsh right now.

MONTHLY SUMMARY

STANDINGS REPORT

• MONTH: 3-9-1.
• YEAR-TO-DATE: 21-39-2, 44 points
• DIVISION: A 7th, with 7 points to reach 6th and a nine-point cushion keeping us out of last.
• CONFERENCE: 15th. The wild-card race starts at 70, so… 26 points out of playoff relevance with 20 to play, if that was even still a thing.
  

TEAM LEADERS

• POINTS: Svechnikov 40, Stastny 36, Perron 34, Myers 31, Tuch 29, Gourde 27
• GOALS: Svechnikov 17, Tuch 14, Stastny 13, Perron 12, Kapanen 11, Roslovic 9, Myers 7, DeAngelo 7, Gourde 7
• ASSISTS: Myers 24, Stastny 23, Svecnhnikov 23, Perron 23, Gourde 20
• PLUS-MINUS:Stephenson 3, DeAngelo -1, MacDonald -1, Kamenev -1, Myers -2, Roslovic -3, Folin -3, Tuch -3, Grant -4, Green -5

ON THE FARM
(didn't really look at it)

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

February 2020: Around The League


STANDINGS


Ottawa is the big mover here, moving into a tie for first in the Atlantic. The rest is pretty much continuing on as it has. Top threes in the Central and Pacific have become Top 2s -- Colorado, St. Louis, Calgary, and San Jose are starting to open up daylight on their competition.

LEAGUE LEADERS


A little general shuffle but most of the same names we've been seeing. Ovechnkin opening up a lead in goals; points still really tight, with five guys within 2 points.

CALDER WATCH


Last month things appeared to be tightening for Svechnikov, but this month he has a mini-breakout to re-establish a cushion. Potentially interesting things happening on the goalie side as three guys -- John Gillies in Calgary, Alexandar Georgiev of the Rangers, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen of Buffalo -- are all on the move and just below the cutoff to be included.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

March 2020: Playing For Pride


Nothing left to play for this year, so let's see what the new guys can do.

Before we start March in earnest, I took one last look at trading Mike Cammalleri. Part of me doesn’t want to disrupt locker room morale (45% at the moment) any further, but I feel like Mike Cammalleri is reaching the point where he might retire, and he deserves one more chance to play for a Cup. Letting him go do that would make the Hockey Gods smile on my team. But the combination of finding a team with enough cap room, an open roster spot (more the 45-skater limit than the 50 contracts), and something good to trade for is more work than it’s worth, so we’ll just let Cam play it out.

Meanwhile, the month starts with a road trip against a bunch of likely playoff teams, so this isn't going to get any easier...

3/1 at Dallas (31-25-6) – 4-3 L (SO)
The Dragons slowly build up a 2-0 lead and all is looking well, but Dallas comes roaring back in the 3rd to tie. Alex Tuch seems to score the game-winner with 1:12 left to play, but then Denis Gurianov beats Michal Neuvirth with seven seconds left to force extra time, and the Dragons go on to lose in the shootout.
GOALS: SEA – Roslovic 10, Svechnikov 18, Tuch 15. DAL – Shore 17, Gurianov 8, Gurianov 9, Ritchie SOW.

3/3 at Pittsburgh (40-19-5) – 6-4 L
Buckle up, it’s one of the best teams in hockey. A 2-2 tie game explodes in the early stages of the third period, as Pittsburgh strikes three times in the first six minutes of period three, chasing Malcolm Subban from the net. Seattle closes to within 5-4 late, but then Brian Rust provides the insurance tally with 57 seconds left. That’s Loss #40 on the season.
GOALS: SEA – de la Rose 4, Kamenev 1, Perron 13, Kapanen 12. PIT – Paajarvi 8, Kessel 32, Schultz 10, Crosby 24, Malkin 26, Rust 5.

3/5 at New York Islanders (35-23-7) – 5-3 L
Frustrating game, as the Isles get an early 2-0 lead, and every time Seattle scores, the Isles answer right back.
GOALS: SEA – de la Rose 5, Svechnikov 19, Gourde 8. NYI –Ward 10, Tavares 44, Czikas 4, Bailey 16, Nash 16.

3/8 at New York Rangers (40-23-3) – 7-2 L
Our tour of the elite teams in the Metro concludes with a thorough butt-whipping at the hands of the Rangers. And of course the seventh and final goal was a middle finger from Tyler Bozak. I Can’t Even, as the Young People say.
GOALS: SEA – Roslovic 11, Gourde 9. NYR – Skeji 4, Heed 2, Fast 15, Griffith 2, Zibanejad 18, Spooner 16, Bozak 13.

We're losing, and that can be a tough thing to deal with, but this is also a chance for everyone in this room to step up and make a statement about who they are. OK, we're not going to the playoffs, but how you play when there's nothing left to play for but your own pride and the other guys in the room... that matters too.

3/10 vs Calgary (41-22-4) – 4-2 L
Improbable flight back to Seattle before flying to New Jersey the next day. (Huh? Just roll with it.) Seattle opens up a 2-0 lead, but Calgary gets both back in the 3rd. Headed toward overtime, the Dragons get caught with tired guys on the ice and Calgary converts it on a T.J. Brodie breakaway. An empty-netter provides a little more cushion, and the losing streak continues.
GOALS: SEA – Myers 8, Kamenev 2. CGY – Kempe 15, Frolik 12, Brodie 3, Monahan 16.

3/11 at New Jersey Devils (39-22-6) – 6-3 L
Oddly, it’s Michal Neuvirth in net for back-to-back starts, but given how Subban has played, that’s fine. The Dragons keep things close for two periods, but Sami Vatanen scores a pair of goals in the third period to allow the Devils to win their 40th of the season.
GOALS: SEA – Green 7, Gourde 10, Kamenev 3. NJ – Palmeiri 18, Zajac 15, Noesen 14, Butcher 12, Vatanen 7, Vatanen 8.

I don’t know why I thought to look, but either that loss or the loss before officially eliminated the Dragons from the playoffs. The lowest wildcard is at 76 points, and we have 45 points. Can’t do 32 points in 14 games. If there’s ANY dignity to be salvaged, it’s that Edmonton is still ten points behind us.

3/14 vs San Jose (41-21-6) – 2-1 W
Mired in a losing streak, it doesn’t help to keep playing the top teams in the league, but next up is the Sharks. But Seattle FINALLY snaps their losing streak at 12 (0-11-1), with Andrei Svechnikov’s 20th of the season serving as the game winner.
GOALS: SEA – Stastny 14, Svechnikov 20. SJ – Boyle 5.

It's kind of hard to call something a "big win" when you look at where we are in the standings, but just in terms of getting back to normal and finding some measure of success with this slump we've been in...we needed it. There's been a cloud over the dressing room, and to get that lifted, even if it's just for today... it feels good.

3/16 vs Florida (29-29-11) – 4-3 L
Damn. It looked like Seattle might follow up their first win in ages with a second, but Florida rallied with three goals in the third to salvage their victory.
GOALS: SEA – Stastny 15, Athanasiou 5, Svecnhnikov 21. FLA – Matheson 4, Hoffman 26, Barkov 29, Yandle 5.

3/17 vs Columbus – 1-0 L
Despite putting 40 shots on Brian Elliott, Seattle can’t put a puck in the net, meaning Jannik Hansen’s second-period goals stands up as the margin of victory. Michal Neuvirth stopped 28 of 29, which would’ve been good enough in a lot of games, but not today.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. CBJ – Hansen 6.

3/20 at Ottawa (45-21-5) – 3-0 W
For one day, Seattle puts it all together against a playoff-bound Ottawa team. Three goals in fairly quick succession get the Dragons out to a 3-0 lead and that’s all they’ll need for the day. Even Malcolm Subban finally shows up, stopping 25 shots for the shutout.
GOALS: SEA – Perron 14, Myers 9, Roslovic 12. OTT – NONE.

I think that's been the frustration we've had all year. I feel like we're a better team than our record shows, but we never get all the pieces working at the same time. If we play solid defense, we also don't score and we lose 1-0 or 2-0. If we start getting goals, we also give too many up, and we lose 5-2 or 6-4. This was one of the few times all year we pretty much played the way we wanted to play in all aspects of the game at the same time.

3/23 at Buffalo (27-39-6) – 5-2 L
Again, back-to-back wins are not to be. Buffalo jumps out to a 3-0 lead, and when Seattle creeps to within 3-2, the Sabres find the net twice more ot put the game away.
GOALS: SEA – Kamenev 4, Kapanen 13. BUF – Eichel 28, Reaves 8, Panik 12, Kuhnhackl 10, Eichel 29.

3/25 vs Anaheim (30-38-6) – 7-2 W
A pair of divisional games are as close as we’re getting to a playoff atmosphere this year. It’s 1-1 after 1 – Rakell and Kamenev. 2-2 after 2 – Rakell and Sustr. But then Seattle blows the game wide open in the third and chases John Gibson from the net.
GOALS: SEA – Kamenev 5, Sustr 5, Athanasiou 6, Tuch 16, Myers 10, Cammalleri 2, Svechnikov 22. ANA – Rakell 21, Rakell 22.

3/26 at Los Angeles (26-43-6) – 4-2 W
A wide-open affair decided almost completely by power-play goals. Seattle builds a 2-0 lead (both goals by Jack Roslovic), but then they give it back with a pair of Kings’ power-play tallies. Then in the third, Roslovic completes the power-play hat trick and Tony DeAngelo adds an insurance goal at even strength a few minutes later (with an assist from Roslovic, so a four-point night for him).
GOALS: SEA – Roslovic 13, Roslovic 14, Roslovic 15, DeAngelo 8. LA – Brown 14, Toffoli 21.

You don't want to be selfish, but you can't ignore that part of what's happening now is management starting to put next year's roster together in their heads. So you want to show what you can do, and tonight I got to put my best game out there for them.

3/29 at Toronto (33-38-5) – 4-2 L
Seattle jumps out to a 1-0 lead on a Kasperi Kapanen goal, but Toronto takes control in the second period and pushes through to victory. Nazem Kadri gets the game-winner with 16:08 to play and Jordan Weal adds an empty-netter.
GOALS: SEA – Kapanen 14, de la Rose 6. TOR – Matthews 19, Zaitsev 7, Kadri 28, Weal 8.

3/30 at Winnipeg (43-28-6) – 4-2 L
A similar story for the Dragons, as a 2-2 tie comes apart late. Patrik Laine with the game-winner.
GOALS: SEA – Gourde 11, Kapanen 15. WPG – Lowry 14, Morrissey 9, Laine 42, Weise 12.

MONTHLY SUMMARY

STANDINGS REPORT

• MONTH: 4-10-1.
• YEAR-TO-DATE: 25-49-3, 53 points
• DIVISION: Pretty much locked into 7th, with a very slim chance to catch LA for 6th. Edmonton at 39 can’t catch us; LA has 61 points but we have a game-in-hand.
• CONFERENCE: Basically the same as divisional, since the bottom three Pacific teams are also the bottom 3 Western Conference teams. And, for that matter, also the same bottom three for the draft lottery. Boy, that’s embarrassing.
  

TEAM LEADERS

• POINTS: Svechnikov 49, Stastny 46, Peron 42, Myers 38, Gourde 37
• GOALS: Svechnikov 22, Tuch 16, Roslovic 15, Stastny 15, Kapanen 15, Perron 14, Gourde 11
• ASSISTS: Stastny 31, Myers 28, Perron 28, Svechnikov 27, Gourde 26
• PLUS-MINUS:Stephenson 5, DeAngelo 1, MacDonald 1, Kamenev 0, Myers -2, Tuch -2, Grant -3, Folin -3, Roslovic -4, Green -7

ON THE FARM
Tacoma is still playoff bound (46-20-11) and is still winning the division, but they’ve been caught for the conference by both Bridgeport and Lehigh Valley. Beau Bennett (21-44-65) is still the top offensive player, but Alan Quine has been racking up the assists (39), and Brendan Lemieux has emerged as a surprising #2 driver for the offense (20 goals, 26 assists).

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

March 2020: Around The League


STANDINGS


We'll break this down in its own post.

LEAGUE LEADERS


Meanwhile, this one, we'll just come back in 4-5 games for the final results.

CALDER WATCH


The big thing here is #1 overall Leonardo Little (ARI) making a late push, moving past Nylander into 2nd in scoring. Can he prevent the Brothers Svechnikov from going back-to-back? (The other is Filip Chytil sneaking past the Defenseman Of The Month that's been in 10th the past few months.)

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

Around The League EXTRA: Playoff Picture


Reminder: if they can cross the green line, they can take a wild card; if they can cross the peach line, they still have Top 3 possibilities. One mild correction: Detroit should actually still be showing alive -- they could get to 90 points and pass Boston if they won out and Boston (and multiple other teams) went mostly pointless.

CLINCHED-GENERAL (9): PIT 107, WSH 104, NJ 102, COL 102, OTT 101, CGY 99, TB 98, NYR 98, SJ 94. Rangers are the oddity here -- the Metro has such an advantage over the Atlantic that they've already clinched at least one wild-card slot.

ELIMINATED (8): Wild card is 91 in the East and 85 in the West. Third in the Atlantic is a few points below that at 88. Detroit is still alive for a Top 3, but not a wild card -- they could reach 90 points and pass Boston. That leaves eight teams that can’t reach the playoffs in any form at this point: TOR 73, CAR 72, ANA 70, BUF 68, NSH 67, LA 61, SEA 53, EDM 39.

ATLANTIC:
LEAD: OTT 101, TB 98. In fact, that’s your top two in some order, since Boston in third can’t catch them.
TOP 3: OTT 101, TB 98, BOS 88, FLA 83, MTL 82, DET 80. Two tiers: Ottawa and Tampa 1 and 2; four teams battling for third. (And the way the wild card race is shaping up, that’s probably going to be the only way they can get in).

METRO:
LEAD: PIT 107, WSH 104, NJ 102.
TOP 3: PIT 107, WSH 104, NJ 102, NYR 98. All four teams have clinched some sort of playoff spot. The Rangers can’t catch Pittsburgh for the lead, but they can finish 2nd 3rd, or as a wild-card.

EAST WILD CARDS: NYR 98, NYI 91, PHI 87, FLA 83, MTL 82, CBJ 81. This is basically a race for one spot, since New York has SOMETHING wrapped up (or they’d win a Top 3 in the Metro and either the Caps or Devils would replace them).

EAST #1 SEED: PIT 107, WSH 104, NJ 102, OTT 101. It’ll probably be the Metro winner, but Ottawa still has an outside chance.

CENTRAL:
LEAD: COL 102, STL 95, WPG 94. Colorado pretty much just needs to win a game to lock it up.
TOP 3: COL 102, STL 95, WPG 94, CHI 89, ARI 85, DAL 85. This feels like it’s going to lock in fairly quickly since the bottom 3 can barely catch Winnipeg and St. Louis.

PACIFIC:
LEAD: CGY 99, SJ 84
TOP 3: CGY 99, SJ 94, VGK 87, VAN 83. It’s mostly down to the race for 3rd. Vegas could still theoretically sneak past San Jose into second, but San Jose can’t fall further than 3rd.

WEST WILD CARDS: CHI 89, ARI 85, DAL 85, VAN 83, MIN 79. Chicago has some daylight, but their tiebreakers are iffy and most of the other contenders have a game in hand.

WEST #1 SEED: COL 102, CGY 99, STL 95, SJ 94, WPG 94.

PRESIDENTS' TROPHY: PIT 107, WSH 104, NJ 102, COL 102, OTT 101. Again, the eventual Metro winner is likely to prevail here, but you never know.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

April 2020: No Spoilers!


Andrei Svechnikov bats a rebound out of midair to cement the Dragons' victory over the Canadiens.


EASTERN CONFERENCE

• IN (6): Pittsburgh 107, Washington 104, New Jersey 102, Ottawa 101, New York Rangers 98, Tampa Bay 98
• BUBBLE - WC or Top 3 possible (3): Boston 88, Florida 83, Montreal 82
• WILD-CARD ONLY (3): New York Islanders 91, Philadelphia 87, Columbus 81
• DIVISION ONLY (1): Detroit 80
• ELIMINATED (3): Toronto 73, Carolina 72, Buffalo 68

WESTERN CONFERENCE

• IN (3): Colorado 102, Calgary 99, San Jose 94
• BUBBLE - WC or Top 3 possible (8):St. Louis 95, Winnipeg 94, Chicago 89, Las Vegas 87, Arizona 85, Dallas 85, Vancouver 83, Minnesota 79
• ELIMINATED (5): Anaheim 70, Nashville 67, Los Angeles 61, Seattle 53, Edmonton 39

APRIL 1 – 9 CLINCHED, 8 ELIMINATED, 15 STILL IN PLAY

SEATTLE – vs Washington (48-22-8) – 4-1 L
Seattle’s first attempt at playing spoiler comes up empty as Alex Ovechkin and the Caps methodically grind the Dragons down. Ovechkin scores goals #59 and #60 to lead his team to the win. It’s also an even 50 losses on the year.
GOALS: SEA – Cammalleri 3. WSH – Ovechkin 59, Carlson 10, Vrana 22, Ovechkin 60.

• ATLANTIC (OTT 101x, TB 100x, BOS 88, MTL 84, FLA 83): Tampa wins to move within a point, but Ottawa has two games in hand. Boston holds third, and is going to have ROW tiebreak on any team that tries to catch them, which basically eliminates Detroit..
  
• METRO (PIT 107x, WSH 106x, NJ 102x, NYR 98x): Caps close to within a point of Pittsburgh, but the Pens have a game in hand. New Jersey has five games to play, so they’ve got an extra game on the Pens and TWO on the Caps.
  
• EAST WILD CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 91, PHI 89, MTL 84, FLA 83, CBJ 81): Columbus is ONLY alive because they have ROW on the Isles; otherwise, they’re done.
• CENTRAL (COL 102x, STL 97x, WPG 94, CHI 90, ARI 85, DAL 85): Technically, that’s a clinch for St. Louis. Chicago could get as high as second, the rest are battling for third.
  
• PACIFIC (CGY 99x, SJ 94x, VGK 89, VAN 85): Vancouver loses, which doesn’t do their playoff hopes any favors, but they’re still technically alive in the race for third.
  
• WEST WILD CARDS (CHI 90, ARI 85, DAL 85, VAN 85, MIN 80): Minnesota loses, locking them out of a divisional path and the higher-wild card, but still in the lower wild-card race for now.

NEW CLINCHED: St. Louis
NEW ELIMINATED: Detroit

APRIL 2 – 10 CLINCHED, 9 ELIMINATED, 13 STILL IN PLAY


SEATTLE – NOT IN ACTION

• ATLANTIC (OTT 103x, TB 100x, BOS 88, MTL 84, FLA 83): Boston loses, keeping third place in play for a little longer. Ottawa wins, but can’t call it a clinch yet.
  
• METRO (PIT 109x, WSH 106x, NJ 104x, NYR 98x): If the Rangers can catch the Devils, they would have ROW and pass them into 3rd. Other than that, that’s going to be your top three and your upper wild card.
  
• EAST WILD-CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 93, PHI 89): The Islanders’ win simplifies things as Columbus and the Atlantic leftovers are out of the wild card hunt. Which also eliminates Columbus entirely.
  
• CENTRAL (COL 102x, STL 97x, WPG 96x, CHI 90): The big story here is Winnipeg clinching, as their win means Chicago could do no better than tying them and pushing them to a wild-card. (What’s the tiebreak after ROW, because if Chicago did that, they’d be tied on ROW too.)
  
• PACIFIC (CGY 101x, SJ 96x, VGK 89, VAN 85): Things still pretty tight, though a Vancouver loss or Vegas win would pretty much wrap it up via ROW.
  
• WEST WILD-CARD (CHI 90, DAL 87, ARI 85, VAN 85). Dallas wins to sneak ahead in the race for the lower wild card, and moving the bar to 87 finishes Minnesota's season. Dallas and Arizona are even on games and ROW; Vancouver lags in both so they’d have to pass both teams outright.

NEW CLINCHED: Winnipeg
NEW ELIMINATED: Columbus, Minnesota

APRIL 3 – 11 CLINCHED, 11 ELIMINATED, 10 STILL IN PLAY

SEATTLE – vs Edmonton (16-55-7) – 9-1 L
What. The. Hell. Edmonton takes out a whole season worth of frustration on the Dragons – nine goals on 41 shots. Connor McDavid had a hat trick in the second period alone, and four goals on the day. Andrej Sekera also had the rare Defenseman Hat Trick.
GOALS: SEA – Cammalleri 4. EDM– Sekera 3, Puljujarvi 15, McDavid 37, Sekera 4, McDavid 38, McDavid 39, McDavid 40, Khaira 8, Sekera 5.

• ATLANTIC (OTT 103x, TB 102x, BOS 90, FLA 83): The only reason Florida is still alive is that they have two games in hand on Boston. Montreal is formally eliminated – they could max out at 90 points, but they’d be eliminated on tiebreak anyway.
  
• METRO (PIT 109x, WSH 106x, NJ 104x, NYR 98x): Status quo maintained for another day.
  
• EAST WILD-CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 93, PHI 89): Philly is hanging on by ROW advantage in a hypothetical tie, but if they lose or the Isles pick up a point, they’re done.
  
• CENTRAL (COL 104y, STL 98x, WPG 96x): Colorado clinches the division, and Chicago is eliminated on tiebreak, so we have a top 3. The remaining suspense is who finishes second and gets home-ice in round 1.
  
• PACIFIC (CGY 101x, SJ 96x, VGK 91x): Vegas puts the third slot out of reach of Vancouver, so there’s the Top 3, just playing for seeding. Calgary is pretty close to wrapping up the division, but San Jose does have game-in-hand.
  
• WEST WILD-CARDS (CHI 92, DAL 87, ARI 85, VAN 85): The only reason Chicago hasn’t clinched is they have fewer games remaining than the other wild-card teams.

NEW CLINCHED: Las Vegas
ELIMINATED: Montreal

APRIL 4 – 12 CLINCHED, 12 ELIMINATED, 8 STILL IN PLAY

SEATTLE – NOT IN ACTION

• ATLANTIC (OTT 105x, TB 102x, BOS 90x): The big story is Boston winning to lock in the #3 seed and formally eliminate Florida. Ottawa also won, pushing them pretty close to a clinch, but they’re not there yet.
  
• METRO: (PIT 111z, WSH 106x, NJ 104x): Clarity. Pittsburgh wins locking up the Presidents’ Trophy, and the Rangers lose, ending their longshot bid to catch the Devils. The Devils could still sneak past Washington into 2nd, but that’s all the remaining suspense.
  
• EAST WILD-CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 95x): There’s your wild cards. Now the question is, could the Islanders get past the Rangers to get the better first-round matchup? Sorry Philly… guess Bobrovsky didn’t quite get you there.
  
• CENTRAL (COL 104y, StL 98x, WPG 97x): Winnipeg and St. Louis, still resolving seeding.
  
• PACIFIC (CGY 101x, SJ 96x, VGK 91x): Close enough it could end a couple different ways.
  
• WEST WILD-CARD (CHI 92x, DAL 89, ARI 85). Chicago clinches one of the two spots, and Vancouver is formally eliminated, but Arizona/Dallas for the last spot will continue a little while longer. (And Dallas at least could pass Chicago into the higher wild card.)

NEW CLINCHED: Boston, NY Islanders, Chicago
NEW ELIMINATED: Florida, Philadelphia, Vancouver

APRIL 5 – 15 CLINCHED, 15 ELIMINATED, 2 STILL IN PLAY

SEATTLE vs Tampa Bay (47-25-8) – 2-0 L
Tampa has a playoff spot locked up, but it’s a difference between hosting Boston or the Rangers in Round 1, so they do have something to play for. It’s scoreless through two, but Tampa finally breaks through with a pair of goals in the final period to lock down the win.
GOALS: SEA – NONE. TB – Callahan 11, Slepyshev 11.

• ATLANTIC (OTT 105x, TB 104 x, BOS 92x): Tampa closes in, but they also only have one game left, while Ottawa has three, so it’s still the Sens’ division to lose.
  
• METRO: (PIT 111z, WSH 108x, NJ 104x): Devils have two games in hand on the Caps, but the Caps dominate in ROW, so the Devils have to pass them outright.
  
• EAST WILD-CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 95x): Both teams have two games remaining, but the Rangers would win any tiebreak.
  
• CENTRAL (COL 106z, STL 98x, WPG 97x): St. Louis is up by a point, but Winnipeg has a game in hand AND tiebreak advantage.
  
• PACIFIC (CGY 101x, SJ 96x, VGK 93x): Vegas wins, pushing San Jose from below a little bit.
  
• WEST WILD-CARD (CHI 92x, DAL 89, ARI 85). The Coyotes are on the brink, one more point in either direction will do it. Dallas could still catch Chicago for the upper wild card because they have two games in hand.

NEW CLINCHED: NONE
NEW ELIMINATED: NONE

APRIL 6 – 15 CLINCHED, 15 ELIMINATED, 2 STILL IN PLAY


SEATTLE – NOT IN ACTION

• ATLANTIC (OTT 105x, TB 104x, BOS 92x): Ottawa uses one of its games in hand, but loses, keeping things open for now.
  
• METRO (PIT 113z, WSH 108x, NJ 105x): With two games left, New Jersey could still catch Washington, so stay tuned.
  
• EAST WILD-CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 95x): Both teams lose, but with only one game remaining that’s good enough to lock in position. The Isles will play Pittsburgh in Round 1; the Rangers will draw the eventual winner of the Ottawa-Tampa race in the Atlantic. SET.
  
• CENTRAL (COL 106z, WPG 99x, STL 98x): Winnipeg wins to move ahead of St. Louis for the moment. Both teams have one game to play.
  
• PACIFIC (CGY 101x, SJ 98x, VGK 93x): San Jose burns a game and loses. They can still catch Calgary; they can still BE caught by Vegas.
• WEST WILD-CARD (CHI 92x, DAL 91x): Dallas wins to clinch the final playoff spot, but they could still catch Chicago for a better first-round draw.

NEW CLINCHED: Dallas
NEW ELIMINATED: Arizona

APRIL 7 – 16 CLINCHED, 16 ELIMINATED

SEATTLE vs Montreal (38-32-10) – 4-1 W
It’s the home finale for the Dragons in what is now a meaningless game for both teams. Seattle gets things started with a shorthanded goal by Vladislav Kamenev, but Montreal scores on the same power play to negate the early advantage. But from there, it’s all Andrei Svechnikov, first converting a pretty wrister from the circle, and then batting an awkward David Perron rebound out of the air. Yanni Gourde added an empty netter to send the home fans happy on the team’s last night in town this season.
GOALS: SEA – Kamenev 6, Svechnikov 23, Svechnikov 24, Gourde 12. MTL – Petry 4.

• ATLANTIC (TB 106x, OTT 105x, BOS 92x): Tampa breaks on top of Ottawa, but that’s also game 82 for them, while the Sens have two to play.
  
• METRO (PIT 113z, WSH 108x, NJ 105x): The Caps are done at 108, the Devils have two games left, but since the Caps have tiebreak, they really need to win both of them.
  
• EAST WILD-CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 95x): SET
• CENTRAL (COL 108z, WPG 99x, StL 98x): The Blues lose game 82, so the Jets will host their Round 1 series. SET
  
• PACIFIC (CGY 101x, SJ 98x, VGK 93x): Vegas loses and will be locked into the three seed. Calgary and San Jose is going to go down to the wire.
  
• WEST WILD-CARD (CHI 94x, DAL 91x): Dallas still has a game in hand, so this will go just a bit longer.

APRIL 8 – 16 CLINCHED, 16 ELIMINATED

SEATTLE – NOT IN ACTION

• ATLANTIC (TB 106x, OTT 105z, BOS 92x): Ottawa loses one of their final two games in hand. It’ll come down to the last day to see if they can pass the Lightning and get back into first.
  
• METRO (PIT 115z, WSH 108x, NJ 107x): The Devils get two of the points they need to pass the Caps. Can they get the other two?
  
• EAST WILD-CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 97x): SET
• CENTRAL (COL 108z, WPG 101x, STL 98x) SET
  
• PACIFIC (CGY 101x, SJ 100x, VGK 93x): Calgary blows a chance to put this away, so it’ll go down to the final day.
  
• WEST WILD-CARD (CHI 94x, DAL 91). Dallas can't close the gap, so these are done. SET

APRIL 9 – LAST DAY OF THE REGULAR SEASON

SEATTLE – at Arizona (39-34-8) – 10-2 L
Six third period goals by the Coyotes blow open a 4-2 game. Alex Galchenyuk gets a natural hat trick in the span of about four minutes. Ow. Glad that was on the road so the home crowd didn’t have to watch it. This may come as a shock, but I think Malcolm Subban played his last game as a Dragon.
GOALS: SEA – Gourde 13, Roslovic 16. ARI – Little 28, Merkley 6, Perlini 19, Crouse 11, Henrique 11, Stepan 22, Galchenyuk 26, Galchenyuk 26, Galchenyuk 27, Dvorak 19.

• ATLANTIC (OTT 107y, TB 106x, BOS 92x): Ottawa wins to steal the division title back from Tampa. They’ll play the New York Rangers, while the Lightning will host the Bruins.
  
• METRO (PIT 115z, WSH 108x, NJ 108x): The Devils pick up a point to pull even with the Caps, but Washington has a healthy 46-39 lead in ROW, so they keep the #2 seed. Pittsburgh gets the Isles; Caps host the Devils.
  
• EAST WILD-CARDS (NYR 98x, NYI 97x)
  
• CENTRAL (COL 110z, WPG 101x, STL 98x): Colorado extends its lead and that’s about it. The Avs get the Dallas stars in Round 1.
  
• PACIFIC (SJ 102y, CGY 101x, VGK 95x): It’s not exactly a “collapse” since they’re still a #2 seed, but Calgary only gets 2 points down the stretch and gets passed by San Jose. The Sharks will play the Blackhawks, and Calgary will take on Las Vegas.
  
• WEST WILD-CARD (CHI 94x, DAL 91x)
  

FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF MATCHUPS

• Ottawa Senators vs. New York Rangers
• Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins
• Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Islanders
• Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey Devils
• Colorado Avalance vs. Dallas Stars
• Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues
• San Jose Sharks vs. Chicago Blackhawks
• Calgary Flames vs. Las Vegas Golden Knights

MONTHLY SUMMARY

STANDINGS REPORT
MONTH: 1-4-0
YEAR-TO-DATE: 26-53-3, 55 points
DIVISION: 7th place, 10 behind Los Angeles, 14 ahead of Edmonton

TEAM LEADERS

POINTS: Svechnikov 51, Stastny 46, Perron 44, Myers 41, Gourde 40
GOALS: Svechnikov 24, Roslovic 16, Tuch 16, Stastny 15, Kapanen 15, Perron 14, Gourde 13
ASSISTS: Stastny 31, Myers 31, Perron 30, Gourde 27, Svechnikov 27
PLUS-MINUS: Stephenson 5, DeAngelo 1, MacDonald 0, Kamenev -2, Folin -3, Grant -5, Tuch -7, Roslovic -9, Myers -9, de la Rose -10


ON THE FARM
Tacoma finishes 48-22-12 and wins the North. It looks like they’ll face the Hartford Wolf Pack in round 1 of the playoffs.