This week's drink: Red-Headed Slut – Splash of Cranberry juice, 1/2oz Peach Schnapps, 3/4oz Jagermeister
(You know you want it!)
Trade Recap
Swapping Legends
To Prowlers
Scott Gomez, Brendan Shanahan, Dimitri Chernykh
To Blizzard
Joe Sakic, Daniel Briere
With both the Prowler's and Blizzard's unexpectedly poor starts both teams were looking for a shake up in a big way. The Prowlers dealt one of their biggest off-season signings in Sakic after some poor performances on the ice and disagreements off the ice. The Prowlers are filled with top end talents but one of the best of them just couldn't find his way posting a -4 rating in 15 games. Along with Sakic's poor numbers Briere also struggled on the Prowlers with only 6 points and a -6 rating in 15 games. Taking the blame for the Blizzard was Gomez and Shanahan, although both were posting decent numbers the team in general wasn't playing up to expectations. You can look at this trade all day and not pick a winner or a loser. Both teams needed a shake up and moved some of the biggest names in the DWSHL. The Blizzard acquires two 4 year contracts while dealing away 1 and a 2 year contract. So the outcome of this trade may fall on who can get who resigned or in the Blizzards case will Sakic's 4 year deal at his age of 39 cripple Blizzard in the future.
Advantage: You try and call this deal, I say Even
Say it with me "Salary Dump!"
To Attack
Sergei Lesnukhin, Brian Fahey
To Blizzard
Andrew Brunette
Blizzard add another pro to continue the team's shake-up, as well as some salary but at least it is only a 1 year deal. The Attack made its first deal of one of if not the busiest mid season trade days in DWSHL history. After announcing that a handful of players were available teams acted fast and Brunette and his $4.3 Million salary were the first to go. Both teams got what they wanted and with the Blizzard only giving up a couple players that come from an already deep farm squad I'm sure they won't be missed. Even with the huge salary that Blizzard took on, as long has it doesn't hurt them later this year we have to say...
Advantage: Blizzard
Ok that first time was pretty week, once again but this time I want to hear you "SALARY DUMP!"
To Attack
Ryan Wilson, 2012 Edm 2nd, 2012 Jax 2nd
To Blizzard
Saku Koivu
Once again in their second deal of the afternoon the Attack shipped out injured vet Koivu. The Justice was in dire need of some added depth up front and Koivu when he returns will greatly help. Justice had the cap room and made a great deal to keep the team moving forward. The Attack just continued to dump salary although the picks won't hurt, but also won't help for 2 years and that is only when they are getting picked!
Advantage: Justice
Just Filling in time
To Skyleafs
Steve Ott
To Attack
Blake Comeau
In the middle of a very busy afternoon the Attack were able to find some time to acquire Comeau from the Skyleafs for Ott. The Attack continue their trend of going after youth while the Skyleafs land what they must feel is an upgrade for the 4th line. With Comeau being slightly younger we have to give the advantage to the Attack.
Advantage: Attack
Cripes Kreps
To Justice
Kamil Kreps, Brian Boucher
To Prowlers
Jeff Halpern, Krisjanis Redlihs, Richard Bachman, Antero Niittymaki
Kamil Kreps has found his 4th team in a week after spending all of last year in the Skyleafs organization; will this be where he finishes the year? One can only expect not. With Justice GM being very active in his first season and a log jam at wing this most likely isn't Kreps' last home this season. This deal looks like it is just a case of the Prowlers wanting to add some farm depth and the Justice landing a back up goalie for newly acquired Theodore. Kreps has great potential and Boucher is a very capable back up and because of that we have to lean towards the Justice on this one.
Advantage: Justice
Big Money Deal
To Skyleafs
Mike Grier, Shane Hnidy, Jim Vandermeer, $250K
To Brahmas
Marek Malik, Chris Clark, Jeff Taffe, Konstantin Koltsov, Kurt Sauer
In a deal where the total salaries off all the players involved doesn't come close to those exchanged in the Prowlers/Blizzard deal both teams here swapped some similar players. The Brahmas gain some depth here but lose the best player in the deal in Grier. The Skyleafs appear to be happy to slightly over pay to acquire an upgrade for the 4th line in Grier and a slightly cheaper version of Malik in Hnidy. But as mentioned we feel that the Skyleafs did over pay here and therefore award the advantage in this deal to the Brahmas.
Advantage: Brahmas
This and That
To Cannons
Nikita Alexeev, Ryan Johnson, 2011 Hou 3rd, 2011 Tex 3rd
To Crunch
Nick Boynton, 2012 Tex 4th, $500K
Crunch added some much needed help to their blue line in adding Boynton. They paid a high price in dealing away Alexeev and Johnson but good help on D can be hard to find. The Cannons added some more depth to a team that is really starting to change under new management. The Cannons pulled basically a 2 for 1 here and because of that they get my nod.
Advantage: Cannons
Jumping in Head First
To Cannons
Ilja Bryzgalov, Milan Hejduk, Vlad Glazachev, Jason Bailey, Trevor Daily
To Brahmas
Pavel Brendl, Roberto Loungo, Stanislav Chistov, Andrei Zyuzin. Roman Tesluik
Bryzgalov, Hejduk, Loungo, Brendl, is enough to make heads spin. Make this become your 1st deal and you aren't scared to shake things up. In his first dealing new Brahmas GM ships out star forward Milan Hejduk and starter Ilja Bryzgalov to get back star goaltender Roberto Loungo forward Pavel Brendl and others. The 2 new GM's have shown they aren't afraid and are open to all and any offers. This trade is hard to grade in one hand you have Loungo and the other you have Hejduk, and because of that we have a tie.
Advantage: Even
Sedin Twins Reunite
To Skyleafs
Daniel Sedin, Daymond Langkow, $2 Million
To Hornets
Rod Brind'Amour, Jordan Staal, Greg deVries, Yanick Lehoux, 2012 Tor 1st
The Sedin twins have been reunited and this time in Toronto. In order for the deal to happen the Skyleafs moved Jordan Staal, who is expected to be a star in a few years time but the Skyleafs appear to be a now team and couldn't wait for Staal to develop. Brind'Amour appeared to be expendable from the Skyleafs with his expiring contract as well as the Skyleafs needing a player to offset some Salary. The Hornets get an upgrade up the middle and some added D help in deVries but may find it hard to replace both Sedin and Langkow this season as they were both in the top 3 in their teams scoring.
Advantage: Skyleafs
Prowlers address weak spot, kind of
To Prowlers
Mathieu Dandenault
To Blizzard
Ondrej Otcenas, $500K
The Prowlers added some depth to their blue line with the addition of Dandenault. The Prowlers were aware that their one weak spot was on the point and acquiring Dandenault can't hurt. The Blizzard was able to unload a player that wasn't in the team's current plans and pick up a few dollars and some youth for the farm.
Advantage: Prowlers
What Did I Miss While I Was Passed Out Drunk
Waivers
We are now in the time of year where someone will get caught sending down the wrong person, who will be the first one? From the rule book: Players over 24 who have played 15 or more games in the current season, must clear waivers before they will reach the farm team if sent down.
Fast Ottawa
Ottawa informs others that a handful of players are available and sparks a flurry of activity along with big deals made by the Blizzard
Big Stars Available in Washington
We chose to leave this here, just case the Justice decide to give zero warning again, just so we can say we reported it first!
DLGC Offers Free Cash! AGAIN
In a quick test of GM's the DLGC offered to add to your bet 2.5 times your wager for free, not one GM took advantage of this offer
The GM Train stops again, this time with a full load.
In continuing to get the best GM's out there Brahmas lands a new GM, Mike Forgette, and don't forgette (sorry Mike, bad joke) that you can find Mike on ICQ #128246456. Andrew Smith has joined the Piranhas front office and he can be reached on ICQ as well #449849401. Good Luck to both.
Nighthawks GM Fed Up?
Nighthawks GM, yes there is one, has apparently woken up and is now fed up with his teams performance which has found themselves near or at the bottom of the standings for most of the year so far.
Busy Day? Try the Weekly Drink
After only one installment the weekly drink received great reviews which can only be hoped to be topped by the 2nd! On its debut it also seemed to spark a flurry of action among the GM's of the DWSHL with an amazing 5 deals in less than 2 hours! Make sure you check out the weekly drink often has it hopes to be updated weekly (hence the name). Feel free to try the recommend drinks in which the Weekly drink will always start off with!
Another Drunk?
In classic DWSHL tradition, another drunk has worked his way into the league. Rumors out of Texas is that new GM Chris Barker decided to have himself a couple pops in the middle of some trade talks and finalization and due to his state had spilled some beer on the trade reports he left for his right hand man Steve Cook. Steve was unable to make out all of the names on the sheet and started to guess. As for the fax machine issues we have heard that they have been all cleared up, once all the electronics dried up from the spilt beer the fax machine corrected itself. We would just like to let GM Baker now that we are all waiting for him to come back out of the local Ford Clinic and have a drink with us and get over his early season issues.
Who's Hot – Beer Goggles NOT Needed
Falcons – 16-2-1 overall and 9-1-0 in last 10, you can't win them all, but they are sure trying.
Kings – 15-4-1 overall and 9-1-0 in last 10, 9-0 at home is very impressive.
Spartans – 12-4-3 overall and 6-1-3 in last 10, a few ties recently but still seem to be hot.
Skyleafs – 15-4-0 overall and 8-2-0 in last 10, Team continues to grow, now the have BOTH Sedin's.
Who's Not – Beer Goggles WON'T HELP
Nighthawks – 5-14-0 overall and 1-9-0 in last 10, Losers of 8 straight, but the GM recently showed up!
Phantoms – 10-8-1 overall and 3-6-1 in last 10, from who's hot to who's not!
Attack – 4-13-3 overall and 1-8-1 in last 10, Still struggling even with a new GM.
Riptide – 5-12-3 overall and 2-7-1 in last 10, Injury bug hurting, big time, 2 wins in 10 games!
Scoring Leaders
Kariya (JAX) and Thornton (NSH) share the lead with Kariya playing one less game.
Vokoun (TOR) Back to Back weeks at top and still leading SV% as well.
DWSDL Recap
The Wranglers (TOR) lead the JB and the Scarecrows (NSH) are leading the JD with and in an amazing stat the Wranglers (204) have scored 100 more goals than the Scarecrows (104) with the same number of GA (39).
E. Pirnes (37) of the Wranglers last years DWSJL leading scorer is back on top in front of teammates D. Tkaczuk (36) and J. Lundmark (35).