DHL Week In Review - Week 9
Mar 22, 2021 11:04:47 GMT -5
St. Roch Hawks, Simi Valley Kings, and 1 more like this
Post by Morweena Reimnoceri on Mar 22, 2021 11:04:47 GMT -5
DHL Weekly Review - Week 9
Matchups:
Morweena (2-6-0) v. Vegas (4-4-0) - Vegas wins 10 - 2
Moscow (6-2-0) v. St. Roch (4-3-1) - St Roch wins 8 - 4
Oslo (4-3-1) v. Melbourne (6-2-0) - Melbourne wins 6.5 - 5.5
Portland (0-8-0) v. Minnesota (0-8-0) - Minnesota wins 8 - 4
Simi Valley (8-0-0) v. Haukiputaan (2-6-0) - Simi Valley wins 12 - 0
Tampa Bay (5-3-0) v. Nebraska (6-2-0) - Tampa Bay wins 7 - 5
Matchup of the Week: Portland v. Minnesota
Hear me out here gang! Just because it was the battle of the two winless teams doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good matchup. Even with the 5 Holes pulling this one out to finally get a taste of that sweet, sweet winning nectar, Portland was very close to that same feeling. Minnesota won goals and blocks by just one of each - meaning a swing there would have ended with a tie - leaving both teams winless and adding just a touch of cruel comedy to a weird season. However, if the Bucks really wanted to dwell, they were but .008 of a SV% away from winning that as well, securing what could have been THEIR first taste of victory nectar. But alas, our scurvy sea friends remain adrift still.
Performance of the Week: Simi Valley Kings (25 goals, 36 assists, +13, 168 shots, 17 STP, 80 hits, 49 blocks, 19:54 TOI, 5 wins, 0.64 GAA, 125 saves, .977 SV%)
I was fully ready to have to search for a goaltending performance of the week. I didn’t even bother looking at those stats when initially determining who would take it for the skaters. Then I glanced over and said aloud to nobody in particular (though my son and dog both hear) “oh my god”. What a bloody week from the Kings. The only categories they weren’t in the top 3 teams in was hits, blocks and saves. This is just unbelievable. I haven’t seen such dominance since the Vegas Aces Wild nearly had a perfect season, and folks, we might just be in that territory again. I mean my goodness. I’m going to go ahead and just say that in week 10 Simi Valley will steamroll the floundering Reimnoceri leaving the final week vs THE VEGAS ACES WILD between them and perfection. What sweet poetry.
Player of the Week: Philipp Grubauer (3 GP, 3 wins, 0.38 GAA, 65 saves, .985 SV%)
With all due respect to the 3 stars below (who all had ridiculous weeks) I’m giving it to Grubauer who sandwiched a pair of shutouts around allowing 1 goal versus a Wild team who I think is a lot better than I thought they would be this season. Also, big surprise here, but Grubauer flys the Simi Valley flag in the DHL. Good luck to those teams who will be playing for the trophy this season because I don’t think that Paul is going to be handing it over.
3 Stars:
1) Mika Zibanejad (4 GP, 4 goals, 4 assists, +4, 13 shots, 2 STP, 7 hits, 5 blocks, 21:36 TOI)
1A) Connor McDavid (4 GP, 4 goals, 4 assists, +5, 17 shots, 1 STP, 6 hits, 3 blocks, 22:01 TOI)
3) Thatcher Demko (3GP, 3 wins, 1.91 GAA, 103 saves, .945 SV%)
Other Notes:
TRADES! - Two trades this week, both of which involved the Morweena Reimnoceri. I will break them down in a trade deadline section below.
Morweena GM fucked up - My bad you guys. I really try not to make dumb mistakes but I made two this week. One with the roster moves and one with forgetting to set my lines after a trade. I don’t think either affected the eventual outcome of my week against Vegas, but I don’t want to make the impression that I am just rolling over and letting people trample me. I will set my lines each week and roll the best team I have available to me. So watch out Paul. I’m coming for ya!
Morweena’s Mailbag:
Mailbag was dry this week - but that’s fine. I’m moving on to other things:
Trade Deadline Primer:
As the trades start to roll I will do my best to write them up and offer my analysis that absolutely nobody asked for. Why? Why not!
Trade 1:
Morweena Sent:
Frederik Andersen (G)
John Carlson (D)
Jan Jenik (RW)
Nebraska Sent:
Ryan Getzlaf (C )
Martin Jones (G)
Alex Nedeljkovic (G)
Nebraska 1st 2022
St. Roch 4th 2021
Portland 5th 2021
My take:
I think that after a few weeks of having it talked about, the Buffalo are after a goaltending upgrade. Can Anderson offer them that? Time will tell, but really, it can’t get much worse. Carlson is also a desirable asset to any team making a run and at a very modest $12 for the rest of the season, no wonder he was added here. The return here is really Nedeljkovic and the draft picks. Jones and Carlson offer very little other than the cash and goaltender tag necessary to make this a legal trade. Now Morweena has all three Hurricanes goalies on their roster, two of which extend past this season. Will that combo lead to great things in the future? Time will tell.
I give this trade 7 out of 10 on my completely made up and arbitrary scale.
Trade 2:
Morweena Sent:
Steven Stamkos (C, LW, RW)
Pavel Buchnevich (RW)
Minnesota 2nd 2021
Vegas Sent:
Evgeni Malkin (C)
Sam Reinhart (C, RW)
Liam Foudy (C)
Vegas 1st 2021
Tampa 5th 2021
**Morweena also released David Krejci as a part of this transaction**
My Take:
A great add here for Vegas who has had their ups and downs this season. Stamkos and Buchnevich are definitely upgrades to Malkin and Reinhart, but will it be enough? Clearly the Aces Wild are hoping to be the wildcard in the mix for one of the last playoff spots and with two weeks to go they have made a move to do that. Will this be their last? Doubt it. The return here for Morweena is again, less to do with Malkin and Reinhart and more to do with the draft pick and prospect. Will this pan out? Who knows.
I give this trade 7 out of 10 as well.
Playoff Race:
This is actually going to be an incredible race. Due to time I’m not going to actually dive into who plays who the last two weeks which could actually impact the statement I’m about to make, but aside from Simi Valley, the last 5 spots in the DHL playoffs are up for grabs. If Melbourne loses the next two weeks, their record would drop to 7-4-0 and if every team from 3rd to 7th wins the next two weeks, the worst record out of that bunch would be 7-4-0 leaving Vegas and Melbourne tied for 6th and a tie-breaker needed. Now, I have no idea who would win that tie-breaker (could be Melboune and all this is then a moo point) but, just saying, it’s going to be a wild last two weeks. Buckle up.