Eleven Rounds Down! Just Nineteen More Remain!

Some observations while wondering if there shouldn't have been a minimum amount each team must spend per season ... Numbers in parentheses are the amount of money spent so far with 60.0 being the limit and each team needing to carry 25-30 players.

EASTERN CONFERENCE - ATLANTIC DIVISION
New Jersey Knights (22.3) : Tuomo Ruutu, Thomas Vanek, Sean Avery, Zdeno Chara, Mike Commodore, Brent Seabrook, Petr Sykora, Travis Zajac, Shawn Horcoff, Jamal Mayers, Dominik Hasek.
New York Maulers (22.0) : Alexander Ovechkin, Michael Cammalleri, Jason Pominville, Brian Campbell, John-Michael Liles, Michael Ryder, Jason Arnott, J.P. Dumont, Mark Streit, Ron Hainsey, Marty Turco.
Philadelphia Federals (20.0) : Olli Jokinen, Kristian Huselius, Daymond Langkow, Chris Kunitz, Sami Salo, Guillaume Latendresse, Drew Stafford, Anton Volchenkov, Jussi Jokinen, Henrik Tallinder, Miikka Kiprusoff.
Pittsburgh Pythons (31.4) : Alex Tanguay, Paul Stastny, Ryan Smyth, Derek Roy, Dion Phaneuf, Scott Gomez, Pavol Demitra, Joni Pitkanen, Bryan McCabe, Joffrey Lupul, Cam Ward.

Pittsburgh has spent about 50% more than the other division members but has by far the worst goaltending of the bunch so far. Cam Ward ain't gonna cut it against Kipper (Philly), Turco (NY) and The Dominatrix (Joisey). New York Maulers are certainly the offensive class of the division so far and especially so on the power play with Ovechkin, Cammalleri (16 PPGs each), Ryder (17 PPGs) and Arnott (12 PPGs). The Federals look to be nicely balanced offensively and defensively, while Jersey looks good defensively but will depend heavily on Thomas Vanek to score all their goals. New York Maulers should win the division, Philly and Jersey will battle for second, and Pittsbugh ... will get a nice draft pick.

EASTERN CONFERENCE - NORTHEAST DIVISION
Boston Beacons (21.3) : Evgeni Malkin, Andrew Brunette, Paul Kariya, Lubomir Visnovsky, Michal Rozsival, Christopher Higgins, Rostislav Olesz, Mike Ribeiro, Danny Markov, Dwayne Roloson, Johan Holmqvist.
Buffalo Xpress (26.4) : Saku Koivu, Zach Parise, Maxim Afinogenov, Tomas Kaberle, Eric Brewer, Steve Sullivan, Dainius Zubrus, Patrick Eaves, Brendan Morrison, Martin Erat, Henrik Lundqvist.
Montreal Bulldogs (28.6) : Daniel Briere, Ilya Kovalchuk, Scott Niedermayer, Nathan Horton, Duncan Keith, Alexander Steen, Keith Ballard, Roman Hamrlik, Brad Boyes, Cristobal Huet, Josh Harding.
Toronto Dragons (30.1) : Patrick Marleau, Nicklas Lidstrom, Markus Naslund, Alexander Radulov, Ryan Suter, Samuel Pahlsson, Mike Sillinger, Mark Recchi, Maxime Talbot, Rick DiPietro, Mike Smith.

Buffalo and Toronto both have solid goaltending, Montreal looks good so far though they'll need to cover another 30 games or so yet, and Boston's goaltending is decent enough. Netminders will not hold any team in the Northeast Division back. What the Xpress lack in spelling they so far make up for as the best-balanced team of the four though they lack a true gunner. Kovalchuk, Breier and Horton make for a killer scoring trio for Montreal but no one else can score and depending on who else they grab to mind the twines it may be a tough year for the Bulldogs. Boston will be lead by Malkin but doesn't look good defensively. Toronto has good balance but no big gun. So far Buffalo tops the division, followed by the Dragons, Bulldogs then Beacons.

EASTERN CONFERENCE - SOUTHEAST DIVISION
Atlanta Asps (37.7) : Marian Hossa, Rod Brind'Amour, Justin Williams, Rostislav Klesla, Sergei Zubov, Miroslav Satan, Peter Forsberg, Brendan Witt, R. J. Umberger, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Vesa Toskala.
Carolina Sand Crabs (31.3) : Vincent Lecavalier, Daniel Sedin, Dan Boyle, Jamie Langenbrunner, Tom Poti, John Madden, Jay Pandolfo, Christian Ehrhoff, Doug Weight, Colby Armstrong, Manny Legace.
Florida Hotshots (36.3) : Joe Sakic, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Sedin, Shane Doan, Chris Clark, Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Gonchar, Alexei Zhitnik, Andrei Markov, Niklas Backstrom, Manny Fernandez.
Washington Cyclones (26.4) : Sidney Crosby, Ryan Whitney, Rick Nash, Robyn Regehr, Lee Stempniak, Dustin Brown, Ed Jovanovski, Mike Knuble, Chris Kelly, Tomas Vokoun, Evgeni Nabokov.

Carolina is the weak sister of this division goaltending-wise with a so-so goalie in Legace and a lot more games to cover. Florida can score, keep shots own and stop them when they get through and are the class of the Southeast right now. Carolina offers good balance throughout their lineup of skaters but again there's the puck-stopping thing. Atlanta looks real good all around, maybe just a whisker behind the Hotshots and coaching could be the difference for the division title. The Cyclones have Sid the Kid, good goaltending .... and that's it. In order of quality right now it's the Hotshots, the Asps, Sand Crabs then Cyclones.

WESTERN CONFERENCE - CENTRAL DIVISION
Chicago Cougars (42.9) : Joe Thornton, Jaromir Jagr, Marc Savard, Michael Nylander, Chris Pronger, Ales Hemsky, Patrik Elias, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Jiri Hudler, Ed Belfour, Chris Osgood.
Detroit Winged Wheelers (22.0) : Milan Hejduk, Simon Gagne, Brian Gionta, Phil Kessel, Jack Johnson, Corey Perry, Paul Martin, Marco Sturm, Petr Prucha, Nick Schultz, Ray Emery.
Nashville Stallions (21.2) : Dany Heatley, Slava Kozlov, Anze Kopitar, Tomas Holmstrom, Philippe Boucher, Antoine Vermette, Travis Moen, Derek Morris, Joe Corvo, Patrick Sharp, Chris Mason.
St. Louis Slashers (25.0) : Jason Spezza, Martin Havlat, Bill Guerin, Kimmo Timonen, Jay Bouwmeester, Barret Jackman, Matthew Lombardi, Kris Draper, Gilbert Brule, Martin Biron, Tim Thomas.

Chicago pretty much doubled up the spending of each of its division-mates but didn't spend any of it on good goaltending. Wow this is a lame division for goaltending! Detroit and Nashville have decent 'tenders but still have to cover a lot of games with as-yet unnamed number twos. And how in the WORLD did Chicago waaaaay outspend the rest of the league yet only nab one 30-goal scorer? Yikes. As far as skaters go there's good balance on all teams except that the Winged Wheelers look suspect defensively but they balance it out with the best goalie of the division. Look for a four-way tie in this division and a special ruling by the commissioner that none deserve to make the playoffs.

WESTERN CONFERENCE - NORTHWEST DIVISION
Colorado Chaos (23.3) : Jarome Iginla, Brian Rolston, Wojtek Wolski, Jordan Staal, Scott Hartnell, Dan Hamhuis, Keith Tkachuk, Nikolai Zherdev, Steve Staios, Ilya Bryzgalov, Jaroslav Halak.
Edmonton Golden Bears (28.6) : Martin St. Louis, Henrik Zetterberg, Mike Fisher, Kevin Bieksa, Mattias Ohlund, Martin Straka, Glen Murray, Ruslan Salei, Hal Gill, Peter Schaefer, Peter Budaj.
Minnesota Wolves (15.5) : Patrice Bergeron, Milan Michalek, Matt Carle, Shea Weber, Jarret Stoll, Jeff Carter, Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin, Mike Comrie, Steve Bernier, Ryan Miller.
Vancouver Blizzard (19.0) : Ray Whitney, Eric Staal, Jason Blake, Chris Phillips, Scott Hannan, Tomas Plekanec, Taylor Pyatt, Brian Rafalski, Tom Preissing, Erik Christensen, Marc-Andre Fleury.

Welcome to the Western Conference, home of not-great not-horrible goaltenders. I pity this conference in the playoffs. Goaltending certainly doesn't separate any of the Northwest teams. Minnesota couldn't shoot the puck into a net the size of the ocean but the other three sides are pretty adept offensively. The difference in this division is that the Golden Bears are massively good defensively. If Budaj stops what little comes his way then Edmonton wins the division, Colorado and Vancouver slug it out for second place, and the Wolves position themselves well for next year's draft ... one wonders why they've spent so little. Perhaps they have a Master Plan up their sleeve ...

WESTERN CONFERENCE - PACIFIC DIVISION
Dallas Otters (24.8) : Alexander Semin, Jonathan Cheechoo, David Legwand, Erik Cole, Darcy Tucker, Brett Clark, Jochen Hecht, Craig Rivet, Matt Pettinger, Johan Franzen, Olaf Kolzig.
Los Angeles 66'ers (36.0) : Mats Sundin, Brad Richards, Chris Drury, Dustin Penner, Jere Lehtinen, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Trent Hunter, Mathieu Schneider, Brad Stuart, Matt Cooke, Martin Brodeur.
Phoneix Fire Ants (30.8) : Teemu Selanne, Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Gaborik, Stephen Weiss, Zbynek Michalek, Andy McDonald, Andrej Meszaros, Brenden Morrow, Boyd Gordon, Sergei Fedorov, Kari Lehtonen.
San Jose Thunder (20.8) : Alexander Frolov, Sheldon Souray, Ryan Getzlaf, Mikko Koivu, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Joe Pavelski, Viktor Kozlov, Mike Grier, Kyle McLaren, Roberto Luongo.

So HERE is where the good western goalies are hiding. Brodeur and Luongo make LA and San Jose the top two teams in the division though Kolzig and Lehtonen aren't slouches, just not in the same class. The 66'ers are too balanced and too good in their own end to have even a remote chance of losing this division. San Jose is made good enough by Luongo to take second place. Dallas and Phoenix can both score some goals but the Otters have a bit of a defensive edge ... but who will back up Kolzig? This will be the Otters' Achilles Heel and doom them to fourth place.

Here's How Round One Unfolded

1. Washington Cyclones - Sidney Crosby
2. New York Maulers - Alexander Ovechkin
3. Atlanta Asps - Marian Hossa
4. Boston Beacons - Evgeni Malkin
5. Nashville Stallions - Dany Heatley
6. Carolina Sand Crabs - Vincent Lecavalier
7. Minnesota Wolves - Ryan Miller
8. St. Louis Slashers - Jason Spezza
9. San Jose Thunder - Roberto Luongo
10. New Jersey Knights - Thomas Vanek

Joe Thornton, rated number 5 by CSB ended up going 18th to Chicago; Martin Brodeur, Central Scouting's #7 went 19th to Los Angeles. Nicklas Lidstrom had been rated 9th but fell the furthest, slipping to the third round and 62nd overall where Toronto Dragons snatched him; no doubt his advanced age and salary played a part in the plummet. Ilya Kovalchuk slipped one spot out of the top ten and was taken 11th by Montreal. The rest of the first round went as follows:

11. Montreal Bulldogs - Ilya Kovalchuk
12. Florida Hotshots - Nicklas Backstom
13. Dallas Otters - Alexander Semin
14. Toronto Dragons - Rick DiPietro
15. Buffalo Xpress - Henrik Lundqvist
16. Detroit Winged Wheelers - Ray Emery
17. Philadelphia Federals - Miikka Kiprusoff
18. Chicago Cougars - Joe Thornton
19. Los Angeles 66'ers - Martin Brodeur
20. Vancouver Blizzard - Marc-Andre Fleury
21. Pittsburgh Pythons - Paul Stastny
22. Phoenix Fire Ants - Marian Gaborik
23. Colorado Chaos - Jarome Iginla
24. Edmonton Golden Bears - Henrik Zetterberg

Central Scouting Releases Top Ten Rankings

It's draft day. Today at 9am Pacific Standard, noon Eastern Standard Time the inaugural SPIHL draft kicks off. Today will feature the first six rounds of the draft. The CSB (Central Scouting Bureau) has released it's rankings of the top ten players available today. In order, they are:

1. Sidney Crosby, center
2. Alexander Ovechkin, left wing
3. Vincent Lecavalier, center
4. Roberto Luongo, goaltender
5. Joe Thornton, center
6. Dany Heatley, winger
7. Martin Brodeur, goaltender
8. Evgeni Malkin, center/right wing
9. Nicklas Lidstrom, left defense
10. Ilya Kovalchuk, left wing

It'll be an interesting day seeing who sneaks in to the actual top ten, and who sinks like a stone.