Sorry for the delay on this guys. First was Thanksgiving, and now I am in the midst of Finals week for my University classes. I was able to put this together to get something out this week. The fourth team was supposed to be Dallas, but I didn't feel comfortable putting anything in here about them with the ANA debacle. This takes a long time to do, so it's not very easy to throw together on the spot. None the less... Enjoy! LA “H-Wood” Kings After a rocky start in the hills, Soccer and company has gone on a recent tear to remind everyone why they were pre-season favorites to win the Cup this year. This star studded team has earned their nickname of HollyWood over the last few weeks, and hope to carry this momentum through the playoffs in order to place their name on the cup for season 22. But how did they even get to where they are right now? After all, Soccer was one of the last members of the community to step up to take ownership of a team, and the majority of the people he would’ve taken in as GM had been taken. I recently went down to the LA facility to see what changed his mind. “I was actually one of the last few people to confirm I'd be taking a team this season, due to a couple of factors: The first being the known headache this season would be for management. The second being, pretty much all of the people I would consider to be my GM decided that they weren't playing this season. As I was about to tell Brodie that I wouldn't be taking a team this season, it occurred to me that FSU (Space Jam) hadn't found anyone to GM for, nor did I even know if he wanted to play this season. After no more than 2 PMs each way, we both agreed it would be a good idea. FSU was a huge component of my HWOOD team the season that VHL died (shout out to my VHL HWOOD dudes), so we thought we'd attempt to recreate that team the best we could.” It was a match destined for greatness. What better tandem than Soccer and FSU to recreate dominance in a league full of parody. The Kings entered the draft knowing they weren’t going to get everyone on their wish list, so they decided to build a team based on role players that would fit their system. Soccer told me “we all know what some of the big names on the roster can do, like Lundy, Brayden, and Mark, but it's been the inexpensive contracts who have really panned out well for us and have gotten us off to such a hot start. Guys like Ed, Armor, Solja, Clement, and Bulldog have all been outstanding for us thus far. The goaltending tandem of Mac/Vezina has been great for us as well. Despite Canucks recent struggle, he has to be one of my favorite guys on the right in the game.” Mark also echoed many sentiments about these guys saying “SilentSolja has been a pleasant surprise as he's been able to solidify the 3rd line for Los Angeles while playing with a carousel of wingers. He and Armor have teamed up as of late, and seem to be putting on a clinic nightly. Bull, and Angel/Clement have done a great job solidifying our back end, these guys are the unsung heroes that quickly turn the play around back into the offensive zone. This line is starting to gel, which means good things as we try to distance ourselves from the rest of the league.” Availability was a major issue for LA in the early parts of the season forcing management to utilize his AHL squad on more than one occasion. Without the strong team put together by Ontario’s management Tranny/Ele, FSU and Soccer would’ve been a rock in a hard place. Soccer mentioned that much of their success would not have happened if they didn’t have strong ECU’s to fill in when availability was rough. | “HWOOD has needed a good number of ecu's early on this season, and without their | management experience and ability to always put together great teams, we would in no way have the record we have right now.” – Soccer The road to the cup looks to be tumultuous for the Kings, however. The Pac is stacked, and any line can win on any given night. If HollyWood wants to end on top, divisional week will be key to writing their own destiny. One thing’s for sure, no team can be taken lightly. While the Kings keep close tabs on divisional rivals, they also keep their eyes on the recent moves made by those in the Shark Tank. “San Jose has completely revamped their roster and will prove to be a formidable opponent throughout the rest of the season. We can't be too worried about what other teams are doing though. As long as we keep playing well, there's no reason we can't put up 6-8 wins every week and maintain our lead. We have a lot of confidence in this roster which we believe can take us far into the playoffs.” LA should have many names in the discussion at the end of the year, and potentially a few Norris candidates. Mark couldn’t believe the job FSU and Soccer did putting it together. “From 1 to 6 I've never seen such a well put together group in LG. Everyone can help offensively when we're struggling, but the most impressive part is that defensively these guys seldom get beat. Ed will hear his name in the Norris talks by the end of the season if he can keep it up. The record is there, the points are there, the plus-minus is there, and above all he's doing this as the stay at home D-Man on one of the best statistical defensive lines in the league.” If the defense isn’t enough, you have to be careful for one of the most winning lines in LG today. With Jake and FSU running point, this line has set LG on fire tearing through the schedule. But without Pens, this line would be incomplete. Mark told me “Pens is a big piece of the puzzle on this line as he's able to draw multiple guys with his skill which gives Space Jam more room to do his thing. Space looks to add big to his regular season trophy case this year. Early favourite for the Hart as he plays the top lines every week, and always seems to come out on top. He's the best player in the game, and he's proving why this season.” If there is one thing more than anything that impresses me most about this organization, is the ability to stand behind their roster when things aren’t going well. Soccer told me that “some teams who trade nearly their entire roster every week need to realize they aren't going to win every game and there's no reason to panic after a couple of losses.” If LA wins the cup, this will definitely be a testament to FSU and Soccer’s virtue! Eastern Conference *** Power Rankings include games up to 12/7 *** 1. Tampa Bay Lightning +2 2. Buffalo Sabres +6 3. New York Islanders -2 4. Pittsburgh Penguins -2 5. Montreal Canadiens +6 6. New Jersey Devils +3 7. Detroit Red Wings +3 8. Ottawa Senators -4 9. Columbus Blue Jackets -4 10. Boston Bruins -2 11. Washington Capitals -5 12. Carolina Hurricanes +2 13. Florida Panthers NC 14. Philadelphia Flyers -2 15. New York Rangers NC *** Toronto Maple Leafs are excluded as I am on that roster Detroit Red Wings If you had told me that a team headed by Jay and CJ would be fighting for a playoff seed as the last few weeks of the season come around, I probably would have called you crazy. This original 6 team from the motor city has definitely had its ups and downs this season, and I called up Jay to see what exactly happened to make this season more difficult than normal. Jay said in his morning shoot around that “availability has sucked in general by no fault of the guys on the roster. He have had a ton of guys that play with us need extended time off for personal issues in life, and I wanted to stick it out with them. I didn’t want to trade them off like some of the other teams had done with their roster, so instead of moving them, I kept them around.” The 1 and Only also echoed that sentiment adding “things are definitely going to get better. Availability is starting to pick up, and as we get a chance to play with our actual drafted roster, we should rise up in the standings right where we should be.” But it hasn’t just been availability. CJ mentioned that “it’s hard to get anything moving when you are constantly juggling lines. We need to build strong connections both on and off the ice in order to start pulling out more W’s.” With all of the internal issues on the team, Jay and Connor pointed towards CJ’s ability to win games through the rough patches to keep Detroit in the hunt. “CJ has really been the only one to win consistently no matter who he is playing with. He just wins no matter if it is with ecu’s, people he rarely plays with, or against tough opponents.” Things definitely haven’t come easy. I asked Jay if any moves had been in the works to help fix some of the issues he did want to address. He was very frustrated saying many deals fell through because “we have gathered the rep that no one feels happy about trading with us due to thinking we are "traping" them. So they turn around and send those players for half of what I offer.” As the season gets closer to an end, Detroit has found themselves in a position that makes them a team that no one wants to play in a 7 game series. With availability turning around, and recent moves to address problem areas, the Detroit team you may come across may be drastically different than the one you faced earlier this year! Jay has happy to say that outside of the “odd tweaks here and there, nothing much needs to change. We are starting to get more bounces in the games we play, and are dominating more games recently. I think we’ll be fine for a run.” The 1 and Only and CJ also agreed adding they need to “keep showing up and play because we already have what it takes to make a cup run”, and “just being more consistent. The skill is all there… maybe switch to tucking in our jerseys or applying more stick tape, who knows” respectively. One thing’s for sure, Detroit is a team that many shouldn’t take lightly coming into playoffs. I’m sure that Jay, Connor, and CJ will be making a splash in the playoffs as things continue to look up in MoTown. Western Conference 1. Los Angeles Kings NC 2. Calgary Flames +3 3. Minnesota Wild -1 4. Arizona Coyotes -1 5. Dallas Stars +1 6. Chicago Blackhawks +2 7. Edmonton Oilers -3 8. Anaheim Ducks -1 9. San Jose Sharks +3 10. Winnipeg Jets +1 11. Colorado Avalanche -2 12. St. Louis Blues -2 13. Nashville Predators NC 14. Vancouver Canucks NC Tampa Bay Lightning After weeks of lurking in the shadows, Tampa Bay has seemingly come out of nowhere to steal the reigns as the Beast of the East from the New York Islanders. Now sitting atop the Eastern Conference, the Lightning look to close out the season looking down at them all. They say Lightning doesn’t strike twice, but I would beg to differ. So what has been the difference? “Since acquiring SMP and Raynor, it has really given us that top 2 line depth all teams are looking for. It has forced me to slide over to RW, which I haven't played since S17 in Buffalo. I need to readjust my game because I literally always play Center. The last few seasons I have been playing with anyone and everyone, but mostly with people who are much more offensive minded than I. It’s been a task trying to adapt to my new role, but I’m still incorporating my defensive style in game. The line combo of Raynor SMP and myself is 6-0 and we haven't allowed more than 2 goals in a game against while playing mainly top lines, or playoff teams. Scoring 15 goals scored, and only allowing 6 goals against in the last 6 games is a testament to how we play together on both sides of the rink.” – Lou Most of the losses Tampa has seen this season have come from an influx of line combinations. If availability can line up, the Lightning have a real shot at making a run for the money. But just as every other team in the bigs, the Lightning have continued to tinker with their 3rd line. Lou told me “our 3rd line is very good together, but we’ve had a revolving door at RW with stizzy going out of town for work. It was tough to lose a guy in a compensation deal that had gone 4-0 as an ecu, but Stizzy is back and went 3-1 in his last 4. We just need to continue to keep lines together, and we should be very successful. Our one issue that could hurt us besides availability is our plethora of LD. We have 5 right handed LD, and I think almost all of them have played a game or 2 out of position despite doing ok.” So why not make additional moves to correct the issue? Lou was very keen on chemistry saying “I do not see why people give up on players because of one or two bad weeks, I believe chemistry works better compared to continually brining in new talent to try and be successful, or swapping bad pieces out for other bad pieces hoping it works. We have a philosophy of playing guys together who want to play together or when bringing in a new line, we try to get guys they want and let them get better together by playing as the season goes on, not just giving up on them or moving them as soon as an issue arises.” He also mentioned to me gathering a team without ego’s was a major factor during bidding. Lou wanted to make sure that his group of guys were fun to be around, but wouldn’t lose their heads if they lost a game or two. With the right talent and players, however, many of those issues can be kept at bay. The Lightning have kept an open line of communication all season as well. Keeping in touch all season has allowed Tampa to bond both on and off the ice. Lou was pleased to tell me that this is “a good group of guys around here, and everyone gets long fairly well. Our GroupMe is pretty active and is one of the keys to success to all of the teams we run. It allows us to get in contact with each other quickly as well as hit each other up for club and to bullshit/talk about things we need to or can improve on. I don't know how every team doesn't use GroupMe, or some form of communication outside of the Lockeroom Chat, which is miserable. GroupMe is great it can blow up and get annoying at times, but that’s why they put the Silent/turn off notification feature on it. If you are really needed someone can just @ you and it will alert you even if you have the setting off. It is one of the big keys to our success in my opinion, and is something everyone who use to play for a team I ran says they miss on their new teams. Basically the fun, joking, laid back style we have on all of our teams has been well recepted.” Tampa looks forward to the incoming challenges of making a run for the Cup. The East is a really tough conference from top to bottom, and the Lightning don’t seem to be backing down any time soon. Lou intends on staying on top moving forward with the recent moves his team has made. That and continued production from their top line of ”Batman, Nick, and DontEvenMaatta line. KingNatzu stepping up in net since Scary Jews availability went from 9/9 to 4/9 has been huge as well. The Batman Nick Maatta line has been one of the best lines in the league stat wise the last 2 seasons for me racking up a ton of wins and a ton of points. Nick at 500K is easily the biggest steal of bidding, and being able to bring Batman as my free GM after finishing 1/2 in the Art Ross last two seasons was big as well. Matta having a slightly down season last season due to playing with mixed lines for a few weeks caused us to be able to get him in bidding for cheaper than I expected, and he is producing at an impressive rate. They are probably the best line I’ve played with, or against so far this season. Their chemistry, and the way they play the game, is much more suited to this style of NHL than previous year’s iterations. It’s paying dividends as you can tell by the stats and wins they are putting up this season. I expect it to continue throughout the season, and hopefully for seasons to come.” Time will tell if this group can close out what looks to be a great season.
Awesome job on the article frost. Definitely a good read and after playing Tampa last night, I would not be surprised to see them make a deep run in the playoffs.
