General

CLS NHL Re-Draft: The Results

by Cassie McClellan on Oct 10, 2009 3:29 PM EDT in General Comment 0 comments

So here's what I got. The lines are just preliminary - I just threw them together without thinking about that much. Once the season started, people were pretty much done doing the re-draft. And it was the middle of the 20th round, too. Things sort of ground to a halt at that point.

I suggested a free-for-all format, which was accepted, and so I hurried up and got mine all done. I'm hoping I didn't pick a player that someone else already has**. I don't think so, but we'll see if anyone says anything. I'll probably post something more on this, but here's my team:

Total cap hit is $52.209m (out of the $57m allowed).

Forwards:

Ryan Malone | Mike Cammalleri | Milan Hejduk

Dustin Penner | Matt Stajan | Guillaume Latendresse

Kyle Calder | Maxime Talbot | Blake Comeau

Eric Nystrom | Jamie Lundmark | Jannik Hansen

Patric Hornqvist

Ashton Carter

Defensemen:

Mark Streit | Brent Burns

Andrej Meszaros | Michael Del Zotto

Brad Lukowich | Matt Smaby

Jay Harrison **

Goaltenders:

Henrik Lundqvist | Antero Niittymaki

Once the draft has been completed, I'll put up the list of where the Lightning players ended up.

**Jan Hejda had been previously picked by someone else, so I had to choose again.

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Missing the Lightning home opener - an explanation

by Cassie McClellan on Oct 8, 2009 9:55 AM EDT in General Comment 1 comment

I’ll be heading up to DC (I’m located in Virginia) to the Washington Capitals-New York Rangers game, so I’ll be missing the Lightning’s home opener. Now, before people get all up in arms over this, let me explain why. And yes, I have a very good reason.

I’ve been meaning to go watch the Rangers play for a while, but just haven’t managed to do it for one reason or another. I was very upset when Markus Naslund retired at the end of last season, because he was one of the reasons why I wanted to see them play. I want to see them now because of John Tortorella and Vinny Prospal.

The NHL schedule is set up so that the Rangers come to DC twice this season – tonight, and again in March. In March, the Lightning play the Caps twice at the beginning of the month, both games happening within the space of a little over a week. And of course the Rangers play right in between those two Bolts games. So instead of having to choose between attending a Lightning or a Ranger game then - or missing the Rangers yet again since I won’t be able to do all three - I’m going to see the Rangers play now and miss the Lightning game on tv tonight.

I wouldn’t bother writing about this except that there are people that are a bit upset that I’m missing the home opener. Frankly, I don’t think it’s a big deal. I’m not abandoning the team, just making sure I can see them in person later on. If I were living in the Tamp area still, I’d be doing my best to go to the game. But I’m not, so I’m not going to worry about it.

There will still be a game thread up on the site tonight, so please stop by and say hi to your fellow Lightning fans. And keep it civil. Don’t say anything on there that you wouldn’t say in front of children. Thank you.

A game preview will be up later today.

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Five Reasons Why I love Hockey

by Cassie McClellan on Aug 27, 2009 5:40 PM EDT in General Comment 4 comments

Over at Puck Daddy, they're doing a series on why various people love hockey. So I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth. Which, with the prices of copper these days, is probably closer to being worth a dime or so, but I digress. I figured, why not join in on the fun?

So, here you go - five reasons why I love hockey.

1. Tacoma, Washington, and the WHL

I'd always known that I'd like hockey. Even as a kid. It wasn't something I grew up with, but I knew that if I took the time to sit down and watch it, I'd probably love it. Well, it wasn't until the WHL came to Tacoma that I got a chance to sit down and watch it. Sure, the Seattle Thunderbirds have been around for decades, but I was rarely in Seattle - it was an hour and a half away. My family is from Tacoma, tho, and I was always there for one reason or another.

At 19 years old, I went to my first hockey game. It was in the Tacoma Dome, and it was a playoff game between the Tacoma Rockets and the Spokane Chiefs. My friend and I ended up sitting behind the Tacoma bench - which became our regular seats for the following two seasons. Not season tickets, but just as a preference. I don't remember who won that first game I went to, but it didn't matter - I was hooked.

So hooked, in fact, that a group of girls I'd met while watching hockey and I got together and started up our own team. We figured that since it was so fun to watch, it must be fun to play. At the time we were told, in the early 1990s, that it was the largest women's ice hockey group on the west coast of North America. And we were right - there is no better sport to play. I've been a diehard fan of the game ever since.

2. Hipchecks

Weird, I know, but true. A well-thrown hipcheck is a thing of beauty. Unfortunately, it's a dying art. No one does open ice hits anymore. Which may not be a bad thing since most guys probably don't know how to take an open ice hit and not get hurt. You've got to know how to land after receiving a hip check, after all.

I saw only one all last season. Anton Stralman of the Toronto Maple Leafs threw a hip check on Tampa Bay Lightning captain, Vincent Lecavalier. It was a clean open-ice hit (see video HERE), but Vinny came up spitting nails - I guess he didn't care for it. Maybe that's why nobody does them anymore.

More after the break.

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CLS NHL Re-draft - Seventh Round Update

by Cassie McClellan on Aug 11, 2009 7:06 PM EDT in General Comment 3 comments

I know, I know. I've been slacking. In my defense, however, it is the offseason. And many of the blogs John posts tend to be collaborations.

Enough of this tedious self-justification. Here's your update on where we're at with the Cycle like the Sedins NHL Re-Draft. First, let's go over where current Lightning players have gone.

We just started the 7th round. Interestingly enough, Vinny and Mattias ended up on the same team. And in the Southeast Division, no less.

Round	Pick	CLS Team	Player	Position	Cap Hit
1	10	Atlanta	Vincent Lecavalier	C	$7,727,273
2	40	New Jersey	Martin St. Louis	RW	$5,250,000
4	116	Chicago	Steven Stamkos	C	$3,725,000
6	171	Atlanta	Mattias Ohlund	D	$3,607,000
7	183	Tampa Bay	Ryan Malone	LW	$4,500,000

Yes, I even managed to pick up a current Lightning player in this draft. Crazy, ain't it? More after the jump.

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CLS Re-draft - First Round Overview

by Cassie McClellan on Jul 30, 2009 5:55 PM EDT in General Comment 5 comments

The first round of the Cycle like the Sedins Re-Draft has been completed. 30 bloggers have picked players for all 30 NHL teams. The second round is speeding right along, so I expect it to be completed by Saturday at the latest.

As a refresher, here are the known terms of the Re-Draft:

30 bloggers from various blogs around the internet - including a few others here on SB Nation - are team GMs.
Picks are in snake order: 1-30 for odd numbered rounds, and 30-1 for even numbered rounds. Last I'd heard that was the case, anyways. There was talk of doing a z-order, but I think that got shot down.
There is a $57 million salary cap. No cap floor has been mentioned.
Only the actual cap hit matters, not the full player salary.
Trades are allowed.
Presumably, this will be going 23 rounds. Or, at least, until we get bored or someone tells us to stop.
This is an offseason exercise only. This is not a fantasy league draft.
The winner will be determined by an NHL 10 simulation.

If you have any suggestion for the 58th (second round) and 63rd (third round) Lightning picks, please leave them in the comments. And please be respectful. Thank you.

The results are after the jump.

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CLS Re-Draft - First Round Update, Part II [Updated]

by Cassie McClellan on Jul 26, 2009 8:02 PM EDT in General Comment 0 comments

For more, please go to Cycle like the Sedins.

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The CLS Re-Draft - So Far....

by Cassie McClellan on Jul 24, 2009 6:55 PM EDT in General Comment 6 comments

There is no set schedule as of yet for when people have to pick - that's still being figured out. The Lightning's second round pick is at 58 - followed by the third round pick at 63 - which I'm sure will garner me even more grief for who I chose. But that's alright. I was pretty sure going in that most people wouldn't like my decision.

So here's what we have so far, with the rest of the order after the break.

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And the third pick in the CLS Re-Draft is....

by Cassie McClellan on Jul 23, 2009 6:15 AM EDT in General Comment 20 comments

With the third overall pick in the CLS 2009 NHL Re-Draft, the Tampa Bay Lightning will pick...Swedish goaltender Henrik Lundqvist

I have reasons for this. Lots and lots of reasons. And I'll even share a few of them with you right now.

What's the very first position people complain about on a hockey team? Goaltending. What's the very first thing people start picking apart when a team isn't doing well? Goaltending. What's the very first thing people talk about when it comes to making playoffs? Goaltending. What's the first thing a team needs but can never get because people hoard them like gold? Goaltending.

I'm sure you see my point.

If I'm going to be playing the GM role, then I'm going to be thinking like a GM. I wanted a player who's consistent and can perform well under pressure. One who's a proven veteran, but who still has plenty of years left in him. Almost all of the marquée goaltenders are over 30 years old, and I wanted to pick someone who's around 30, but preferably younger. That doesn't leave one with a lot of options.

I was down to Niklas Backstrom from Minnesota or Henrik Lundqvist from the NY Rangers. Roberto Luongo was mentioned, but he's not very consistent and tends to buckle under pressure. Regardless of what many people may think, that's how he is, and that didn't fit into my criteria.

Backstrom has a great reputation, and is a solid goaltender, but he also played in Jacques Lemaire's system. While the defense in front of him didn't have any big names, Lemaire is a stickler for overall team defense. So that weighed in against him. It's why I dismissed Jonas Hiller from Anaheim from the start - Hiller had Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger playing in front of him, so his stats aren't a true representation of how well he plays.

Lundqvist, on the other hand, has played extremely consistently and has very similar numbers to Backstrom. But, surprisingly, doesn't get the good press that Backstrom does - despite playing in New York City. He's also played under two different coaches so far which, in turn, have dictated different playing styles. And has had a notoriously inconsistent defensive corps in front of him recently as well. Still, his numbers stay about the same. I mean that in a good way, of course.

And it doesn't hurt that Hank helped Sweden win an Olympic gold medal at the last Olympics when he was only 23 years old.

Sure, I could've gone with a so-called franchise player. I could've picked someone like Vincent Lecavalier with the Lightning's first pick. But, to be honest, I'm far more interested in winning than observing the standard forms of franchise building. Goaltending was the priority. Goal scoring isn't. At least, not yet.

I think it's much more important to stop goals being scored on a team than it is scoring goals on the other team. If you score four goals but let in five, then that doesn't get you very far. It's exciting, yes, but you still lose. If you score 1 goal but let in nothing, then that's much more effective. Yeah, it may be a boring way to win - but at least you're still winning.

Oh, by the way, did I forget to mention that there's an NHL 10 simulation happening after we put our teams together? No? Well, there is. And I plan on winning it.

But trust me, this team won't be boring.

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