State of the Loons; 2022 Wrap up

 It was fun while it lasted. To kick of the 2022-23 CCHL season the Loons came roaring or swimming out of the gate. Up til the midway point of the season the Loons were leading the Adams Division and in the top 3 of the Corfield Division. Going into the season the Loons had a modest goal of just making the playoffs. Our top players were coming off of injuries or were still early into their careers and their ratings were still average. This was to be a bridge year and with another full year under the belts of Eichel, Zegras, Boldy, Hanifin and Oettinger - 2023 was going to be the year we thought we could have a legitimate shot at the Kehler Cup. However, here we were on top of the CCHL and maybe our core was ready now. Czepiel went to the phones and quickly picks and prospects were headed out and Fleury, Giroux and EJ were brought in to hopefully take us to the next level. 

How quickly things in the CCHL can change. On 12/17/22 with just 47 seconds left to go in the first period Captain Chris Kreider fell to the ice with a lower body injury that is expected to keep him out til mid way through the Kehler Cup playoffs. Kreider is coming off of a career best NHL season where Chris only missed a single game, and just 6 games in the 2020-21 NHL season. But the Loons are left to be without their highest rated forward for better then half the schedule. 

Well it is just one player right? Surely the addition of Evander Kane will ease the loss and keep the Loons atop of the Adams. Wrong! The Loons are winless since Captain Kreider went down.

Maybe the Loons can pull it together and start winning again. We have a 20 point cushion of the 9th place Ibex. But we have to face the facts that the Loons are not a true contender,...yet. If a single player can cripple the team then we are not contenders. The real issue is that Czepiel has a real issue with sticking to the plan. The plan was to make the playoffs, that was it, it was simple and attainable. So back to the phones he went trying to restock the prospects and draft picks. Kane was sent out of town to Portland, and Fleury, Schenn and Erik Johnson are seeing their names on the trade blocks.

We hope that as the deadline approaches and the real contenders start to pull away from the pack, trade activity will pick up and these veterans will bring back a fair return and maybe the Loons will have at least one pick in the 2023 draft to look forward to!

T'was the Night Before Christmas in the CCHL

T'was the night before Chrsitmas, when all thro' the CCHL House,

Not a creature was stirring, not even Amos (with a trade);

The rumours were stoked by the hot-stove with care,

In hopes that a Kehler Cup soon would be there;

The GM were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of Bedard danc'd in their heads,

And Springfield in their rebuild, the Thunder looking to scrap,

Had just settled in Capeside’s brains for Kreider’s long winter's nap-

When out on the ice there arose such a clatter,

They sprang from the desks to see what was the matter.

Away to the Slack they flew like an IceCats’ McDavid dash,

Tore open the chat window, readied for the clash.

The Norsemen had fallen on hard times in the 22-23 show,

Gave the lustre of selling all players, they didn’t want to blow;

When, what to our wondering eyes should became available,

But a Crackerjacks GM, and the Miners wanted what was saleable,

Was Geno Malkin, going to Moscow or was it the Donuts

I knew in a moment it wasn’t the Reign.

More rapid than the Chinook, his suiters they came,

His agent whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:

"Now! Bismarck, now! Las Vegas, now! Tampa, and Parry Sound,

"On! Fort Erie, on! Victoria, on! Val-d’Or to the top of the first round;

"To the best of the offers! to the top of the picks and prospects!

"Now pony up! Pony up! Pony up all!"

 No the Owls offer for Geno won’t be that high,

 Ask for Tage Thompson, the Scorpions will begin to cry;

So up to the offices of the Spurs the Campers flew,

With the legend Malkin- and his equipment too:

And then in a twinkling, I heard from the Millers,

They were looking for some stop-gap fillers.

As interest in Geno grew in my head, the return would likely astound,

When back came Chippawa looking to hound:

Charlie was dressed like a realtor from his head to his foot,

And his assets were all tarnish'd because of Risto’s slow foot;

A bundle of late round picks were flung on his board,

And he look'd like a peddler just looking to hoard:

His eyes - how they twinkled! his dimples how merry,

His cheeks were like roses, he disliked Don Cherry;

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

He was determined to be better than Garth Snow;

But then in an instant, Amos swept-in,

Stole ol’ Geno out from underneath Chippawa’s chin

Max had a broad face, and a laugh in his belly

The heist he just made, deserved an on-ice celly:

He was pleased with himself and feeling quite clever,

And when the trade was sent in, it also involved Trevor;

It was a three-way deal, the league offices had come to dread,

It would be up to Bobby to allocate the financial bread!

The commish spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And moved all the players; he didn’t want to be a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose

While processing the trade he suddenly froze.

He sprung to his email, to the GMs he did give a chat,

I can’t process the trade, it’s the incorrect format:

But I heard him exclaim, as he called out the plight-

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Denver - Halifax Thanksgiving Day Trade

Denver (AP)

The Denver Spurs have been playing well of late moving them into playoff
contention.
This prompted GM Poelker to meet with Coach Boudreau on Monday and to
consider the press release of Halifax GM Wendt putting a number of
players on the trading block.
An inquiry and offer was made with talks with GM Wendt continuing for
the next several days.

Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. had GM Poelker of Denver and GM Wendt of
Halifax working out a deal.
Coming to the Denver Spurs is center pivot Mathew Barzal and Halifax's
4th rounder in the 2023  entry draft.
Going to the Norsemen are  blueliner blue chip prospect Cal Foote,
winger prospect Luke Evangelista who is scoring at a point per game clip
in the AHL and Denver's 1st rounder in the 2023 entry draft.
On paper it looks like a good trade for both clubs but time will tell.

At press time Coach Boudreau of the Spurs was unsure what the line
shakeup will look like with the addition of Barzal.
Although Coach Boudreau said his playmaking ability gives him a lot of
options on where to insert him in the lineup.
The question is which centerman will see himself relegated to the pressbox?

CCHL Commissioner Update

 Some notes from your friendly neighborhood league commissioner!

Our first goalie usage update is due out this weekend thanks to Mr. Kash.  A lot of goaltenders on pace to play over 70 games this season for their teams and we wanted to ensure people had ample warning that usage could max out earlier than normal given the extreme dependence on the true starting goaltender.  I’ve got a few minor tweaks to potentially look at for next season to improve realism with respect to goaltending, but we’ll worry about that at a later date. 

With respect to overall participation, it appears that the implementation of the website lineup editor has done wonders with respect to submissions.  While I think the number is inflated from people hitting save, then making a minor adjustment, overall, it’s substantially up and I don’t think that’s a fluke whatsoever. 

We are on pace to double last year’s participation and almost double the league record from the 2017-18 season – which is pretty darn good.  Having said that you could argue that expansion teams are inflating the numbers, but the reality is that it’s only bumped it up 32 on the season so it’s our existing membership still driving the bus and participating. 

We are still searching for somebody to take over Crystal Lake.  I’ve reached out to two people today but again if anyone knows anyone, please let’s talk to them.  Don’t forget, as of this season, it’s a bonus to your team and who wants to let Max get all the referral bonus money this season for bringing us his brother (LOL!). 

I’m happy with parity in the league this year as well.  We’ve been, as a league, one for years where a few dominant teams emerge, and the selling starts across the league.  Apart from a few teams this year who have started to sell, most are in the hunt, and Simon has shown us that upsets are very possible in the playoffs every year!  He usually loves showing it with Fort Erie as an example too for some reason, but I digress!

The top 12 teams are separated by just 12 points and the bottom 12 are separated by just 13 points so a five-game losing streak at any point could really swing things across the league.  It’s what you love to see at this point in the year and I think everyone has a good handle on their teams making the CCHL as competitive as it has ever been. 

In any event, I just wanted to provide a few updates for everyone and provide a few thoughts about the league as well this season.  Hope everyone is having fun and let’s hope we can find somebody for Crystal Lake sooner than later! 

-The Commish 

CCHL Commissioner Update!

 Good day everyone,

A few things to note today.

1.  Make sure you are setting your lineup.  If you are not uploading an actual file to the website, you should really check it at least every other day to set your lines.  While our lineup receipts are still really high overall (thank you to those doing them and participating regularly) we have teams right now that are already 60-70% of the way to the violations in which they lose all bonus money for lineup maintenance.  That's not good given it's 7 weeks into the season.  

2.  I happen to look around the league to ensure teams are complying with section 5 of rule B listed under conduct.  I want to take the time to remind everyone of the rule below.  I'm bird dogging this and right now I see one or two teams where I question if the intent is to ice a competitive team given what's scratched and games played on the season.  I look at their GP and I see they can play at least some minutes but they are scratched which makes little sense.  Remember a coach will always coach to win because that's how they are wired; and we expect the same in the CCHL since you never truly know.  Afterall who had Crystal Lake in a playoff position as an expansion team 25+ percent of the way through the season.

This is a reminder to please ensure you are icing a competitive team and managing fatigue (see note below).  I know I've sent this out before but sending it again as a reminder.

5. Competition Requirement:

All teams must actively compete to win games in the league. Intentionally losing games will not be permitted. It is NOT the league office's intention or desire to micro-manage the member teams of the CCHL. The lines received by the league office must reflect the goal of winning. This leaves a great deal of flexibility for all GM's to decide how most effectively to deploy their lines. "Red flags" will be waved when we see higher rated players benched or used minimally by limited shifts in favor of lower rated ones on regular or re-occurring basis.

It's simple:  For every minute a forward plays over 20 minutes a game, they lose levels of fatigue.  

anything over 20 minutes = 1 point lost off of condition

anything over 21 minutes = 2 points lost off of condition

anything over 22 minutes = 3 points lost off of condition

If you play a forward 24 minutes a game and they started with a fatigue of 97, they'll be down to 94.  If you play back to back days, you won't be able to use that player as players must play at 95 condition.  Anything below means they cannot play.  Each day off gets 1 point back for condition or subsequently, if you play the forward under 20 minutes a game, they will also gain back 1 condition point as well since you get one back per day provided usage is under 20 minutes.

For defencemen you can add 5 minutes to those totals meaning:

anything over 25 minutes = 1 point lost off of condition

anything over 26 minutes = 2 points lost off of condition

anything over 27 minutes = 3 points lost off of condition

3.  I've got an owner of experience looking at Crystal Lake and hoping to have it resolved very soon.  If not, we'll have to do a bit of hunting.  Again if anyone knows somebody, please don't forget the referral also means cash for your team!  

Fort Erie deals Tavares to Halifax

 Fort Erie, ON 

In what may seem like a stunning turn of events this offseason, Fort Erie has dealt John Tavares to Halifax in exchange for Claude Giroux, in an exchange of high-priced star players.  

Many assumed that Tavares was set to wear the captain's "C" on his jersey this upcoming season with his outstanding leadership qualities, but if he is to wear a letter, it would be with the Halifax Norsemen.  

Meanwhile, Giroux returns to the Falcons after a few seasons away from the team and was quite pleased to be returning to Fort Erie. 

"It's very exciting.  I played some of my best hockey wearing Falcons' colours and if you look at this lineup, I'm very confident I can put up big numbers given the depth of our top nine forwards," said Giroux upon landing at Buffalo's airport, which is just 15 minutes away from his new home.  

For his part, Falcons GM Matt Young was quite pleased to welcome Giroux back to the organization and explained the team reacquiring him in a rather simple fashion.  

"Look, when we dealt Claude before we were looking to move in a bit of a younger direction and wanted to get a ton of young assets in the door.  He was part of that process, absolutely.  The thing is we have hit a stage where we have all of our young guys ready to compete for titles, but needed a veteran that could also play the wing while winning a big draw.  JT just wasn't willing to move to the wing, where now Claude and Pavs (Joe Pavelski) give us that option."  

It is also worth noting that GM Young wanted Giroux back for a while, previously discussing a deal with Bismarck before the sign-and-trade to Halifax this offseason.  

"Our reality is we've never been the same team since dealing Claude, so we're hoping with him back in the fold we'll get back to where we were.  He's an important piece for us and even though he's a bit older, we feel like he'll contribute for all four years of his deal, even if it's down in the lineup in the coming years."  

In other news, Young was pleased to say that Shane Wright has agreed to terms with the team.  Wright, taken first overall in the 2022 CCHL draft looks to play a year back in the OHL before getting ready to join the Falcons for the 2022-23 season.  

GM Young did note that the team is having a bit of trouble with Juraj Slafkovsky's contract though as the young star doesn't see where the ice time is coming with so many young forwards already present in the Fort Erie system.  

For his part, Young acknowledged that it's a bit of a battle going forward for ice time in Fort Erie and that he's open to options to get a good defenceman of a similar level back in return for the winger should a team be interested.  

"We're listening and happy to talk, anytime," said the extraordinarily good-looking GM.  

With that, you are up to date with the happenings in Fort Erie. 

Millers prospect pool pre 2022 draft

Millers prospect pool pre 2022 draft

 

A ranking of prospects, including by position

(Does not include disk rookies such as Jarvis, Newhook, Kaliyev, Fahervary or Skinner)

 

 

 

 

TOP 10

 

1. Dylan Guenther, RW - 58 goals and 112 points between regular season and playoffs. Practically a stone-cold lock to be in the Coyote’s lineup next year. Upside: Top line RW and 40 goal scorer.
2. Lukas Reichel, LW - Point per game as an AHL rookie but struggles in 11 games with the Blackhawks. Probably has a regular lineup spot for next season sewn up. Upside: Top 6 winger with 60-70 point potential.
3. William Eklund, C/LW - Looked decent in early games with San Jose, but did not tear up the SHL and numbers were down from previous year. Still a good chance to play regularly for Sharks in 2022-23. Upside: 2nd Line forward and 65 point producer.
4. Lukas Dostal, G - Held his own in brief NHL look, and could be the backup or in a time-share depending on what Ducks do with Gibson. Upside: Starting Goaltender.
5. Helge Grans, D - Impressed as an AHL rookie, probably needs one more year to work out the rough edges and refine his game. Upside: Top 4 Defenseman and 40 point producer.
6. Justin Sourdif, C - 85 points in 71 games between regular and playoffs. May need an AHL season to adjust to the pro game but wouldn’t be shocked if he could handle a bottom 6 role right now. Upside: Middle 6 Center, 60 point scorer, all situations player.
7. Ronan Seeley, D - Offensive game came alive and was on the first D pairing in abbreviated WJC. Nothing left to prove in the WHL. Upside: 2nd line pairing, 30 point producer and all situations performer.
8. Elliott Desnoyers, LW - 97 points in 66 regular season and playoff games; once looked at as a bottom 6 energy type, if he can sustain the offense from this season as a pro he has middle 6 potential. Upside: Middle 6 winger, penalty-killing ace and 40 to 50 point scorer.
9. Tyler Madden, C - Injuries have hampered development in the AHL and he seems to be more of a bottom 6 guy who can move up and compliment the skilled players when needed. Probably not the defensive player his dad was. Upside: Bottom 6 forward, 30 to 40 point production.
10. Keean Washkurak, C - Impressive AHL debut; could push for a bottom 6 role in a year or 2. Upside: Bottom 6, penalty-killer, 30 point production.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 10 Forwards:

1. Guenther
2. Reichel
3. Eklund
4. Sourdif
5. Desnoyers
6. Madden
7. Washkurak
8. Mikael Pyyhtia
9. Theodore Niederbach
10. Colton Dach

 

 

Top 10 Defensemen:

1. Grans
2. Seeley
3. Jared McIssac
4. Antonni Honka
5. Dominick Fensore
6. Emil Viro
7. Filip Kral
8. Oscar Plandowski
9. Joseph Cicconi
10. Markus Phillips

 

 

Top 3 Goaltenders:

1. Dostal
2. Mitchell Gibson
3. Dereck Baribeau