Righting the (Expert Roto-League) Ship

[Dobber]

In the Expert League I am trying to right the ship that has been badly damaged by horrible goaltending decisions (Mason and early Turco) and injuries (Williams and Carcillo) and stars slumping (Staal and Nash). I traded Tom Poti to the Comish for Ray Emery. It\'s a gamble, but with Volchenkov back I think the Ottawa goaltenders are in a position to put up strong numbers. Emery stopped 36 of 39 shots and could always steal back that No.1 job. If so, my last-place goaltending cats could slowly move back up to the pack. Also, in keeping with my view that San Jose scores a lot of goals in the second half, I picked up Matt Carle from the FA market and dropped Mueller, benching Letang (who had moved up to replace Poti). I just activated Mikko Koivu, because he\'ll be back in a week or so...and I don\'t want to waste games on a weak center. I can make up games later in the season via the wire if need by. On paper, my (11th place) team looks decent: Crosby, Staal, Backstrom, M.Koivu at center. Ruutu, Kariya, Nash, michalek at left wing. Hudler, Afinogenov, Stumpel, Recchi on RW. Whitney, Meszaros, Enstrom, Byfuglien, Ballard, Carle on D. Turco, Emery in net. Bench is Letang, Miettinen, Mason and Ramo. IR is Justin Williams and Daniel Carcillo. I have a lot of ground to make up, but lots of games in hand.

Progress (net): In the last two weeks I have chipped my GAA down from 2.93 to 2.87 and my SV% from .892 up to .894. Wins are starting to come, but I was far behind the pack! Still a ways to go for the goalies. Need 2.77 and .900 and need to gain about five wins on the pack to get back in this thing.

Progress (skaters): Crosby needs to go on a run. He hasn\'t done it yet. When he does, Whitney will too. Koivu coming back and getting back to his pace will help. Afinogenov (recent waiver pickup, but needs to get healthy now) and Michalek (waiver pickup) turnarounds will also help narrow the gap. My goals are now caught right up to the bottom of the pack. One hot run could easily move me up four spots in goals, assists and points (12 spots in all).

Overall: with three above average weeks, this is a team that can pull back up to eighth. With my games in hand, I can get up to fifth. To turn this thing around would be a monster acheivement.

B)

[repenttokyo]

Here\'s my first place team in the pro league:

C: Datsyuk, S. Koivu, Cullen, Comrie, Nylander
LW: Cole, Semin, Huselius, Kunitz, Kozlov
RW: Walker, Kotalik, Cleary, Pominville, Havlat, Lehtinen
D: Phaneuf, Whitney, Corvo, Erhoff, Markov, Campoli, Johnson
G: DiPietro, Luongo, Labarbera

My only trade so far this year was Osgood for Semin.

If you want any advice, Dobber, let me know

[Dobber]

hahaha (you bastard)

Hey RT - did you draft Cullen late, or were you quick on the wire?

[repenttokyo]

lol.

For Cullen, I was quick on the wire.

cole, cleary, kotalik johnson, and campoli were also wire pickups, if you can believe that. The driftwood that I ditched from my drafted players: Hecht, Marcel Hossa, Allen, Svatos, Handzus and Schubert.

[The Comish]

Hey Boss, I\'m working on a proper monthly update on the Experts Pool as of the end of December. It\'s going to be an interesting finish for sure!

[Shoeless]

Boggles my mind that in an experts league that Michalek would ever find his way to FA.