Armchair News Issue 5

ARMCHAIR NEWS ISSUE 5
Table Of Contents
1-Free Agent Frenzy
2-All Trades Profiled
3-Top Storylines Of The Season
4-Stats and Standings




FREE AGENT FRENZY
The free agent class of 2016 was a deep one that saw multiple offer sheets and a few shockers. The biggest story of free agency was Daniel Sedin being separated from his twin Henrik for the first time his his career. Henrik and Daniel were traded in a package deal from the rebuilding Canucks to the Sabres at the beginning of  the 15-16 season. Did the twins have a fight? Could Buffalo not afford them both? Regardless, the end result is that Daniel Sedin became a free agent for the first time in his career and signed with the Florida Panthers who at one point had over 30 million worth of cap space to work with.

Florida also signed Brayden Cobourn who is a solid physical top 4 defender. The biggest of their moves was taking a huge risk by sending both their 2017 1st and 3rd round picks to the Dallas Stars as compensation for signing 2nd line centre Cody Eakin to an offer sheet. Keep in mind, last year Florida finished bottom 5 and won the lottery which resulted in them drafting Jacob Chychrun. For the cap crunched Dallas Stars who lost multiple players to free agency, the Eakins situation probably couldn't have worked out any better. Florida is clearly making a push to improve, but if you're Dallas you have to be thrilled to get the 1st round pick of a team who finished in the bottom 5 the previous season for a player you don't have the cap space to re-sign.

Speaking of Dallas, they were the team who was hit perhaps the hardest by the salary cap. Despite bundling their 1st round pick and Brett Ritchie with Anti Niemi in order to dump his multi-year contract to VAN they still couldn't find the cap space to sign Jason Demers who was their #2 defender behind John Klingberg. Demers was scooped up by the rebuilding Vancouver Canucks who also picked up Kris Russel and made a big trade to acquire Dion Phaneuf and Jonathan Bernier in order to rebuild their backend.

The MTL Canadiens GM is not known to historically be a big free agent spender during his past in ASL1, but here in ASL2 he seems to be turning a new leaf as he scooped up perhaps the most talented forward of this free agent class, Jiri Hudler.

EDM who finished bottom 10 last year made a push to significantly improve their team. Not only did they acquire one of last year's best goaltenders Ryan Miller via trade, but they also were successful in signing veterans Tomas Plekanec and Christian Ehrhoff. Neither will be long term pieces for Edmonton due to their age, but they are both still high level players who'll eat up big minutes and help insulate the Oilers young guns.

The free agent who attracted the most attention was Jared Spurgeon. The 5'9" ROFD released by Minnesota had 40 points last season and at the time of free agency was only 26 years old. The rebuilding Winnipeg Jets scooped up Spurgeon on a massive 1 year 14.58M contract. The ball will now be in their court to negotiate a long term extension with Spurgeon who will help fill out their top 4 defense which is already populated with names like Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Tyler Myers, and Ryan Ellis.

Without their 3rd round pick, the Capitals were unable to tender an offer sheet to Patrick Wiercioch. The Senators held out until the closing minutes of July 1st, but ultimately WSH was the only team who showed significant interest so after a career year that saw him put up 43 points in only 68 games, Wiercioch was sent to Washington for Washington's 1st and a future 3rd. Ultimately Wiercioch and the Capitals agreed on a 5 year 4.75M dollar contract that will make the 26 year old LD an integral part of Patrick Kane's contending Capitals.
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 SIGNIFICANT FREE AGENT SIGNINGS
Jiri Hudler 88oa signed by MTL (From CGY)
Daniel Sedin 87oa signed by FLA (From BUF)
Tomas Plekanec 86oa signed by EDM (From NYI)
Kris Russel 85oa signed by VAN (From CGY)
Bayden Coburn 85oa signed by FLA (From TB)
Patrick Wiercioch 85oa signed by WSH (RFA via trade from OTT)
Christian Ehrhoff 85oa signed by EDM
Cody Eakin 85oa signed by FLA (Completed Offer Sheet 1st+3rd to DAL)
Jared Spurgeon 85oa signed by WPG (From MIN)
Jason Demers 85oa signed by VAN (From DAL)
Alexander Semin 83oa signed by CGY (From MTL)
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TRADES
With the trip that is free agency finally over, trades have started to pick up. Teams who missed out in free agency are now comfortable with the idea of giving up picks and prospects to get better, and with nearly 30 games played in the season GMs are quickly figuring out whether or not their team is destined for the post season.

These trades have taken place all throughout the first 30 games.
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MONTREAL AND BUFFALO

Montreal acquires Buffalo's 2018 2nd in exchange for Montreal's 2018 2nd+3rd and a bunch of late picks

Montreal and Buffalo betting against each other with this trade. If BUF makes the playoffs in 2018, they essentially get a 3rd and some extras for almost nothing. But if BUF misses, MTL who should still be a strong team with Carey Price in net might have pre-emptively traded up as many as 20-30 spots in the second round.
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 OTTAWA AND SAN JOSE

OTTAWA ACQUIRES
Marc Eduard Vlasic (88oa 29yo LDFD 4.25Mx2y)

SAN JOSE ACQUIRES
Tobias Enstrom (84oa 32yo LOFD 5.9Mx2y)
Washington 2017 1st Round Pick

When asked to comment on this trade, Ottawa's management claimed that Enstrom is still a very solid player who can contribute, but having 3 OFDs in the top 4 between Karlsson, Enstrom, and Clendening wasn't jiving with the assistant coach who kept messing up his ideal lines every advance so he had to make a change before the season went down the toilet. This trade was made roughly 20 games into the year and the Sens turnaround has been evident. The addition of Vlasic has put them back into a playoff spot as he seems to be the an ideal partner for Karlsson while Cowen DFD and Clendening OFD have formed a formidable second pairing.

Vlasic is coming off of a very strong 2016 season where he had 50 points in 82 games but prior to this trade in the '17 season he has struggled. His production completely vanished, and at the time of this writing he sports a -20 compared to last year where he had a +6 throughout the entire season. Prior to this trade the Sharks were having a less than idea season after being a contender in the West during the 2016 campaign. This trade creates a scenario where Sekera a LTWD will play with Burns a RTWD while Enstrom a LOFD should slot in with Braun a RDFD. Similar to Ottawa, SJ's pairings should see increased chemistry with this move.

1st round picks are always in demand, so if SJs season turns around having an extra one should put them in the perfect position to add a forward at the trade deadline if they feel that is the right move.
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PITTSBURGH AND WINNIPEG

PITTSBURGH ACQUIRES
Blake Wheeler (Salary Retained: 2.8Mx3y/89oa PWF RW 30yo)
Drew Stafford (84oa RW TWF 31yo UFA)

WINNIPEG ACQUIRES
Daniel Sprong (19yo 4GR* RW SNP)
David Perron (85oa 28yo LW TWF 4.2Mx3y)
Pittsburgh 2018 2nd Round Pick
  (2 Others???)

Another egg is cracked in the Winnipeg rebuild. After acquiring JVR for multiple high draft picks and moving their most promising prospect in Daniel Sprong, Pittsburgh is clearly all in over the next few years. With that said, why wouldn't they be? They have Crosby, the best player in the game, and he isn't getting much younger.

Stafford isn't much of a downgrade on Perron in this trade, but Perron is younger meaning WPG can either hold on to him as a core piece in their rebuild, or he might be more marketable as a trade chip than Stafford if they want to acquire more future assets.

Getting Wheeler at only 2.8M for this season and two more after is a crucial element to this trade. Arguably, getting out of Perron's long term contract is another one. Despite being a good player, Perron has a few years remaining and is low on the Penguin's depth chart where as Stafford is a UFA who the Pens can walk away from in order to retain other more important players.

Acquiring Wheeler gives the Penguins the most stacked top 6 in the entire league. Behind Crosby who is a 97 overall they now have Wheeler, Turris, Kessel, Hornqvist and Van Riemsdyk. Those five players are all 88 or 89 in overall. More impressive, their average cap hit is only 4.32 each for all of those five players, and they are all signed for at least 2 seasons.

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EDMONTON AND CALGARY

EDMONTON ACQUIRES
Michael Frolik (85oa RW TWF 28yo 3.3Mx4y RETAINED SALARY)

CALGARY ACQUIRES
Trent Sexsmith (4* LDFD/taken 37th overall in 2016)
Teddy Purcell (83oa 31yo UFA)

Michael Frolik is a solid low end second liner or an elite third line guy. He had 18 goals last season. We're roughly a quarter way through the season and the Oilers have risen to the top of their conference. With Eberle out long term with an injury, Frolik should play a big role on the Oilers throughout the season.

Calgary are in a different situation than Edmonton. They have a solid team on paper, but things just aren't going right this year. Sitting in the bottom 5, it makes sense for them to consider selling veterans now all the way until the deadline when contenders are traditionally willing to pay more for players than they would in the off season. Sexsmith is the main piece in this trade. He was taken early in the 2nd round last season by Edmonton, has a cool name, and an intriguing skillset. He'd easily be a late 1st rounder in most later GMC drafts. Oilers fans might hope that in future Battle Of Alberta games Sexsmith would go a little easy on McDavid when he has him lined up for a big hit.

My guess would be that Purcell was thrown in the trade as a cap in/cap out asset but he is still a decent veteran bottom 6er.
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FLORIDA AND WINNIPEG

WINNIPEG ACQUIRES
Reilly Smith (25yo RW SNP 83oa 4R*)

FLORIDA ACQUIRES
Ondrej Pavelec (85oa Starting Goalie UFA)

Florida does not have their 1st round pick and does not have a goalie. With that being a recipe for disaster, Winnipeg takes advantage and acquires 25 year old 3rd line scorer Reilly Smith in exchange for sending FLA Ondrej Pavalec. Given there were no starting goalies available in free agency, and the hole FLA was in by not having one, this trade was an essential one for them to make and they ultimately got off pretty easy here by only having to give up a solid 3rd line scorer who has potential to be a top 6 guy in the future.
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OTTAWA ACQUIRES MIKE FISHER (36yo 84oa C TWF UFA @2.4M) FROM WPG FOR BRIAN CAMPBELL (CAP DUMP) AND A 2018 OTT 4th

A minor trade that saves Fisher from being regulated to the AHL on a rebuilding Predators franchise. At 84oa Fisher can still contribute in a bottom 6 role. Campbell wasn't getting many games as Ottawa's 7th defender since part of moving Methot out for Campbell was the Sens freeing up space to sign free agent Chris Phillips to play Methot's role on Ottawa's bottom pairing. Effectively if you follow both trades, the Sens have now moved Marc Methot (84oa 31yo 4.9Mx3y)+a 2018 4th for Mike Fisher (84oa C UFA)+Chris Phillips (82oa LD UFA).
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MINNESOTA AND CAROLINA

MINNESOTA ACQUIRES
Eric Staal (88oa C PLY 32yo 5.65Mx2y)

CAROLINA ACQUIRES
 Jason Pominville (87oa RW PLY 34yo 5.6Mx3y)
MIN 2019 2nd
MIN 2018 3rd
MIN 2020 1st

Minnesota has now traded away both their 2018 1st (acquiring Lehner from VAN), 2019 2nd, and their 2020 1st. Most teams would have trepidation about moving picks so far into the future when so much will be up in the air but clearly, the Wild are confident about their ability to succeed long term.

How well Pominville holds up will determine who walks away the winner in this trade here. A steep drop next season in overall or a retirement, and maybe I'd side with MIN. But if Pominville holds up throughout his contract, this trade would seem like a stiff price to pay for a minor upgrade. Don't get me wrong, Staal is an exceptional player in this game. We'll have to wait and see here.
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 MON ACQUIRES MARC HAGEL (68oa)  FROM MIN FOR A 7TH ROUND PICK

I think the two sides just made this trade to test how useless a trade has to be for me to make a write up about it. My guess would be that this is one GM scratching another's back. MTL hates 7th round picks because he doesn't like to dream about them making it on his team, and MIN probably was at 50 contracts and needed to open up a slot to make a trade or signing. Nothing wrong with helping out a fellow GM in a minor way. It builds relationships and makes it easier to trade down the road. This is our Armchair Sim News good hearted trade of the week.
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BUFFALO AND PITTSBURGH

BUFFALO ACQUIRES
Michael Hutchinson (82oa backup goalie)

PITTSBURGH ACQUIRES
Jerome Leduc
Reilly Pickard
(2 Others)

A minor trade with some smaller pieces that gets Buffalo a young backup goalie to play behind Steve Mason. The Penguins have the superior Victor Fasth as their #2 behind Fleury so they add some assets with this move at zero consequences to their own team. The Sabres get what they want as well.
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WINNIPEG AND COLORADO

COLORADO ACQUIRES
Andrew Ladd (88oa 1st line LW PWF 30yo 5.355Mx3y)

WINNIPEG ACQUIRES
Jake Bean (LOFD 4GR* selected 9th in 2016)
Francois Beauchemin  (4.5Mx2y CAP DUMP)

A massive trade that will have both short and long term implications. I can't imagine that any other teams in on Ladd could top Colorado's offer her. The Jets acquire a long term building block type player in Jake Bean who slipped a little in the 2016 draft but still was taken very high at 9th overall.

On the flipside, the Avalanche dump Francois Beauchemin's terrible contract and in return acquire a unique 1st line player in Andrew Lad. Ladd is one of the more physical players in the game and with 90 poise should be a beast in the playoffs. He's having a MONSTER season with 28 points in 26 games as of the time of this writing, so if he takes Colorado deep in the playoffs over the next few years, they might not care if Bean pans out as a top 2 LD.
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DET AND FLA SWAP GUSTAV NYQUIST (27yo 87oa 1st line RW SNP/4.75Mx3y) AND NICK BJUGSTAD (24yo 87oa 2nd line C TWF/4.1Mx5y)

A trade that is bound to split the opinion on who got the more useful player. From Detroit's perspective, Henrik Zetterberg is a 36 year old 1st line center, and without this trade if he retires at the end of the season they'd be rocking Darren Helm as their 1C.....that is probably not a road they want to go down. Even if Bjugstad doesn't get any better, and remains a 2nd liner while Nyquist is a 1st liner, this is the type of move the Red Wings HAD to make to prepare for a future without Zetterberg. Center is a very important position.

From Florida's perspective, they already have a budding superstar in Sasha Barkov as their 1st line center for the next 15 years. Their best right winger was Grabner at 83 overall. They also don't have their 1st as a result of offer sheeting Cody Eakin who should replace Bjugstad as their 2C. Even if Bjugstad improves and becomes slightly better than Nyquist down the line, this trade makes their team better long term as it gives Barkov a lethal sniper to play with.

 Seems like a win-win move to me but others might feel differently one way or another.

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 SEASON REVIEW SO FAR (25-28GP)


TOP STORYLINES



CAN THE DEFENDING ASL2 CUP CHAMPION FLYERS CLINCH A PLAYOFF SPOT?
The defending ASL2 Cup Champion Philadelphia Flyers are currently in a playoff spot, but things in the East are very tight. They play in what might be the toughest division in the league the Metropolitan division. Currently, they sit outside of the top 3 seeds in their division, but hold the first of two Wild Card spots in the East. Teams 4 through 7 in the Metro are fighting for 2 wild card spots as they are all within 2 points of one another. Detroit and Tampa in the Atlantic also could possibly contend for those Wild Card spots. If you're gonna bet money, you go with the proven winner and say PHI will be back in the playoffs this April, but with things so tight in the East it is very possibly that some good teams like the Flyers could end up on the outside looking in.
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ARE THE EDMONTON OILERS FOR REAL?
The Oilers currently sit first in the entire league with 42 points. They have an astronomical 10 point lead on the next team behind them in the Western Conference. Although, both the Capitals and Penguins who are powerhouses in the East are catching up with roughly 37 points each.
One observer claimed that while he think the Oilers are good, he doesn't think they are better than the Capitals or Penguins yet. He wishes to go unnamed but what he said was "Look they play CGY and VAN 6 times a year each. Both those teams are in the bottom of the league. That's 24 really easy points within the division. They are dining on the Pacific division, the weakest division in the league."
A fair point, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that the Oilers were nearly a bottom 5 team last year, and this season they sit firmly atop the West. The Oilers GM has brought in a top level veteran starting goalie in Ryan Miller. It cannot be stressed how big of a part of this turn around can be attributed to that move. I think it is fair to say the Oilers could win it all in the West but the true test of a great team and whether or not they are for real will be seeing if they can do it again....and again....and again after this season.
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RACE TO THE BOTTOM....WHO WILL DRAFT FIRST OVERALL?
It isn't a big surprise that rebuilding squads Winnipeg and Nashville are both in the bottom 5 of the league standings. Both teams are firm that they are rebuilding and intentionally bottoming out. The Canucks likely would have expected their team to take a step forward this season as they had a very productive free agency by signing two top 4 defenders and some decent depth guys along with acquiring Dion Phaneuf as their new captain. Still it isn't exactly surprising to see last year's 6th worst team sit second last in the league. The most surprising bottom feeder would be San Jose who contended for the cup last season but now sits 6th last in the league. Losing Thornton must have had a huge effect on their team.
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MEET THE TOP PROSPECT OF THE 2017 ASL2 DRAFT STEFFEN GREFFE
How good would Erik Karlsson be if he were bigger and stronger? Some scouts think 2017s top ranked prospect Steffen Greffe is the player who'll answer that question for us.

A 19 year old currently playing in Germany for Geneve-Servette of the Swiss A-League, Greffe is described as a high level offensive mind. Perhaps the best defender to come out of the draft since Pronger. A guy who should put up 70 or 80 points in he NHL.

"I'd trade every one of my picks in the draft to move up and take this guy....." Said one anonymous ASL2 scout.

"He's going to make someone's team really good really soon....He's PK Subban but better offensively". The scout later added.
 Greffe was born in Canada where he made a name for himself starting at the age of 6 when he scored 34 points in a single game against a travel team of elite 10 year olds. After opting to pass on the CHL in order to keep his College eligibility open, Greffe who only missed the 2016 draft cutoff by a few days changed his mind regarding College Hockey and decided to take the Auston Matthews route by signing in Germany where he is dominating the Swiss A-League as a first year pro. Despite being a defenseman, Greffe is on pace to lead the A-League in points. An astounding feat given he is only 19.

Which franchise will Greffe save? The Jets? Sharks? Canucks? Flames? Bluejackets? Someone's going to get a real good player and cause a lot of teams around the league a ton of Greffe.

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CROSBY VS OVECHKIN KANE! WHO IS BETTER?
With the Capitals firmly accepting that Ovechkin was cursed when it came to battling Crosby in the playoffs, they did the guy a favor by sending him to the West where he is tearing it up and doesn't have to worry about the ghosts of Sidney's past haunting him every post season. In return? They got Patrick Kane as their franchise star. Both Pittsburgh and Washington sit nearly tied atop the East. Although the Bruins and Canadiens are right behind them, the big question most fans have would be 'Who is better? Washington or Pittsburgh?'. Washington clearly has more to prove here as they lost last year in round 1 while the Penguins were one win away from beating the Cup Champion Flyers and making it to the conference final.

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 SCORING LEADERS


POINT LEADERS
1-Tavares NYI 40
2-Ovechkin CHI 38
3-Crosby PIT 37
4-Toews CHI 34
5-Landeskog COL 33
6-Malkin COL 33
7-Nash NYR 32
8-Getzlaf ANA 32
9-Benn DAL 32
10-Nugent-Hopkins EDM 29
11-MacKinnon COL 29
12-Perry ANA 29
13-Johnson TB 29
14-Krejci BOS 29
15-Keith CHI 29




GOAL LEADERS
1-Ovechkin CHI 23
2-Nash NYR 18
3-Tavares NYI 17
4-Crosby PIT 17
5-Carter LA 17
6-Perry ANA 16
7-Ryan OTT 15
8-Tarasenko STL 14
9-MacKinnon COL 14
10-Benn DAL 14
11-Vanek MIN 13
12-Stepan NYR 13
13-Ladd COL 13
14-Couture SJ 12
15-Bergeron BOS 12



SVP LEADERS
1-Price MTL 931
2-Schneider NJ 926
3-Lundqvist NYR 926
4-Ward CAR 925
5-Halak NYI 921
6-Fleury PIT 921
7-Miller EDM 921
8-Scrivens ARZ 919
9-Rask BOS 918
10-Holtby WSH 918
11-Smith TOR 917
12-Rinne PHI 915
13-Allen STL 915
14-Andersen OTT 914
15-Dubnyk MIN 913




There's a three way battle at the top of the scoring race with Tavares, Ovechkin, and Crosby all within a few points of each other. All 3 are on pace for nearly 115 points.

The two biggest surprises of the scoring race are Gabriel Landeskog who sits 5th with 33 and Duncan Keith who has passed Karlsson atop the defensive scoring charts and now has 29 points which is good enough for top 15 in the entire league.

The goal scoring race is more cut and dry. Chicago's Alexander Ovechkin has a significant 5 goal lead on the next man up Rick Nash. Bobby Ryan of the Ottawa Senators would be the biggest surprise goal scoring wise. Last season Bobby Ryan only managed 25 goals and 55 points over the course of a full season. So far this season with Malkin as his centre Ryan's production has sky rocketed. In only 25 games he has 15 goals and 26 points. Malkin himself is also having a big bounce back year as he is nearly top 5 in scoring despite only putting up 60 points last season.