Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Early Season Busts

We're almost a quarter of the way through the 2010-2011 season so stats now are no longer just short-term anomolies but can show some long term trends.  Here are, in my opinion, some of the biggest busts so far:

Beverly Hill's Ollie Jokinen:  While we knew it would be an 'off' season for him this time around, I don't htink anybody suspected he'd have 2 points in 11 games.  They key stat there being 11 games, as he's not playing every night.  $6,000,000 per season for a non-performing, part-time forward hurts.

Budapest's Todd Marchant: Considered to be the teams most well rounded centre, Marchant was supposed to be sound defensively and provide a bit of scoring push.  However, 16 games into the season he has one goal, zero assists and is the worst on the team in +/-. 

Calgary's Pavol Demitra:  What does $11.0 million in salary buy you here?  16 games, 4 points.  I would have figured he'd have been somewhere around 12 points by now but on a deep team he's a very expensive position filler.

Linz' Derrick Brassard: Former 1st rounder, with over a 100 FB rating, regularly benched in Upper Austria.  He has 2 points in 13 games and is one of the worst on the team with a -8 +/- rating.

Thunder Bay's Matt Duchene:  While things are going well with the Timberwolves, Matt Duchene is struggling.  16 games, 4 points, and one of only a handful of full time players on the team with a negative +/- rating.  Matt's stuck behind Fisher, Savard, and Tavares so plays low quality minutes and it's showing.

Victoria's Cory Stillman: While he's on the downward slide of his career, 3 points in 13 games for one of the vets on a rebuilding team doesn't set a great example for the youngsters.  He is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and he's not playing himself into any kind of decent contract.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Derrick Brassard Benched

The Black Wings have announced today that Derrick Brassard will not suit up for their next game against the Donuts tomorrow.  Brassard, the 2nd line centre for the Black Wings has zero points in 4 games and is a -3.  This means that Tyler Bozak will move up to the 2nd line and Marcel Goc will suit up in place of Brassard, most likely on the 3rd line. 

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Black Wings contract Leafitis

The Black Wings have now gone 134 minutes without scoring.  In that time we've let in 11 goals.  Let the gambling begin.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Hey, whatever happened to.....?

With a new season upon us, we collectively recover from summer BBQ hangovers and World Cup mania to look at what has become of our roster over the past few months.  There are several players who played big roles only last season and who now find themselves without a CCHL team to play for.  Here are a few of the notable examples:

Wade Redden: Most recently with the Honved in Budapest, Redden was very recently considered a top 4 defenceman and was paid as such.  And here is where the problem begins.  Currently making over $6.0 million per year, Redden's play has deteriorated to the point that he can't even crack the New York Rangers line-up, let alone regain his former glory.  In order to squeeze under the salary cap the Ranger have left Redden to wallow in the AHL with their Hartford farm team making him the highest paid player in AHL history.  He's also currently hunting for a CCHL home as well, but at that price, not likely to find one. 

Jeff Finger: Also formerly with Budapest, Jeff finds himself in almost an identical situation to Wade Redden above.  Insert Toronto instead of Hartford, and $4 million instead of $6 million, but the net result is the same.

Jiri Hudler: Jiri took a one year vacation last season in the Russian KHL with Moscow Dynamo with whom he signed while he waited for his arbitration hearing with the NHL.  However, the Dynamo couldn't hang onto him and released him after just one season.  Just a few days later the much storied Russian team ceased operations and Jiri has since returned to the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings.  He'll be back on the disc next year but judging by his play so far this season, he might not have much of a role to play with the Black Wings.

Todd White: Last CCHL season, White was the #1 centre with the Winnipeg Ferrets and managed to score at a point a game pace and lead the team in assists; oh the glory.  Now Todd can't find a CCHL job.  It seems that his point totals were directly related to his line-mate relationship with Ilya Kovalchuk and once Ilya went to New Jersey, Todd's true colours shone through and his point totals drop by two-thirds.  The Thrashers traded White to the Rangers for spare parts where he plays now and again but his usefulness in the CCHL is no longer.