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ALL STAR EDITION

Jaromir Jagr the Legend By: Matthew Visser

Jagr Participates in 11th Straight All-Star Game Jaromir Jagr is the first and only player to have played in all the all-star competitions in the DWSHL. His success over the years has been tremendous, winning numerous awards in the regular season and the playoffs. For the duration of 11 seasons, Jaromir Jagr has simply carried the Seattle Spartans on his back and he has been a huge asset in recruiting free agents to the city. That will all change this offseason though, when Jaromir Jagr decides to hang up his skates. In a meeting with Jagr to discuss his future with Seattle, Jagr dropped the bomb on yours truly and the outlook for the season has drastically changed. Although we can only hope that he changes his mind in the long run, it appears that his legendary run is over. Jagr, in 805 career games with Seattle, has put up 571 goals, 842 assists and 1,413 points. He his the highest scorer in each category and with the eventual retiring of Forsberg, should remain so for a couple more seasons. The whole that he will leave in Seattle will not easily be replaced and difficult decisions will be forthcoming. In honour of Jaromir's great career though, Seattle will not trade him for help in future seasons. Instead, I'm actively pursuing players that will come in right away and help us win a championship. The Seattle Spartans will have a lot of cap space next year and they hope to find some players to help ease the pain. For all those GM's who think we will fall without him, we have news for you all. We'll be just as strong next year. Long Live the Spartans.

Expect Trades to Rain After All-Star Break by Alroy Smith

The Race Is On!! by Ryley Weir

After the new CBA was passed during the past offseason, many GMs were amped up after it was officially finalized. However, the excitement is about to reach a crescendo in the next couple weeks, once the All-Star game is played. Why? Well this is when every single player in the league can be moved. Big names and several rentals will be place on the block, as teams gauge whether they will be sellers or buyers. Expect a rejuvenated trade board as GMs take advantage of this. Another reason why trades will go up (or should), is that teams will start back hearing from Joho in regards to presignings right around the time the final score is put in the books for this year’s all-star game.

As the DWSHL All-Star break in Antwerp is set to begin, teams are already drawing up trade inquiries for their playoff push. With the league as competitive as ever, there isn?t one single run-away team, which wasn?t the case in years previous. In the Jim Beam, 12 teams are realistically fighting for 8 spots, with 3 others teams needing to go on winning streaks just to catch up. In the Jack Daniels Conference, the Nashville Battalion have slowly risen back to the top, but no longer are they a clear cut favorite. The Jack Daniels is an extremely tight race. Copenhagen, Hanover, Jacksonville, Michigan and Nashville are all battling it out to get the top spot, while 10 others are still in the battle. Only the Zurich Piranhas and Reno Riptide are too far behind, and should look into developing their youth more, building finances and looking for picks.

DWSHL All-Star Goalies by Trent Karvonen

Well the ballots are out for the DWSHL All-Star game. The goaltenders on the ballots are the usual suspects and their numbers prove that they deserve to be there. JIM BEAM CONFERENCE In the Jim Beam Conference the undisputed #1 goalie will be Ryan Miller. Posting a 18-9-3 record with a 2.35 goals against average and a .908 save percentage puts him head and shoulders above the competition. Millers place has allowed the T-Rex to sit in 3rd place in the conference. Evgeni Nabakov should take the second all-star position. Nabakov is posting a 2.71 goals against average with a respectable .893 save percentage. Tomas Vokouns numbers are almost identical to Nabakov. Vokoun is posting a 2.76 goals against average with a save percentage of .890. Vokouns chances of taking the second spot are hurt by the fact he plays on a first place team which only gives up 25.6 shots per game. Jack Daniels Conference In the Jack Daniel Conference the goaltending is even stingier. Mikka Kiprusoffs numbers are out of this world, posting a 2.14 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Kipper is the undisputed #1 goaltender. Marty Turco should be the number 2 goalie for the Jack Daniels Conference. Turco has a 2.68 goals against average with an even more impressive .905 save percentage. What makes this more impressive is the fact that the Blaze give up 29 shots per game. Turco’s play is probably the main reason the Blaze find themselves in a playoff spot at the break. Nik Khabibulins numbers are also very impressive sporting a goals against average of 2.47 and a .898 save percentage. What hurts Khabibulin is the fact that he plays on a extremely defensive team which only gives up 25 shots per game. What also hurts Khabibulin is the fact that at this point we don’t even know if he is the best goalie on his team with JS Giguere there. Tough to give a possible back up goalie an all-star position. Don’t be fooled by there numbers Always in all-star games, players get snubbed. In this years all-star game, the 6 goalies with the best numbers are on the ballot. But when you take a closer look at the numbers there may be some possible snubs for deserving goaltenders. While Miller, Vokoun, Nabakov, Kiprusoff, Khabibulin and Turco statistically are the best tenders in the league, one must remember that all 6 goalies numbers are heavily bolstered by the teams that they are playing on. Other notable goalies that deserve a look at are: 1. Carey Price. Price plays on the 3rd worst team in the league, but yet his numbers are very impressive. Price is currently sporting a 3.11 goals against average with a save percentage of .894. While the goals against is not that impressive, one must remember that the Chevaliers give up 30 shots a game, which puts them amongst the worst defensive teams in the league. Without Price the Chevaliers get blown out every night. 2. Roberto Luongo. Robbie lou has a goals against average of 3.00 and a save percentage of .893. Once again solid numbers when you consider that the Wolves are giving up 29 shots per game. Luongo's play has the Wolves sitting in 4th place in the Jim Beam Conference. 3. Dan Cloutier My utter hatred for any Canuck or ex Canuck makes this hard to swallow. But Cloutier is also facing 29 shots a night, but yet posting an extremely respectable 2.94 goals against average and .892 save percentage. 4. Pascal Leclaire It is too bad Leclaire became a starting goalie later in the season. Posting a 3.07 goals against average with a .898 save percentage on a Billings team which is giving up 31 shots per game is very impressive. Even more impressive is his 6-2-1 record since joining Billings. While we know he has not played enough to be a major snub, Leclaire's numbes are outstanding.

New CBA = More Competitive League? by Alroy Smith

The league is now a lot more competitive than it has ever been, with about 2/3s of the league in a race for a playoff spot. Teams with little salary cap have been able to find teams to dump salary on (see Icebats dealing Gionta) onto teams with tons of cap, who think they have a shot at the postseason. While realistically many of these low payroll teams have little to no chance after the grueling season is played out, it’s worth the risk, and with a new salary cap floor, its mandatory that everyone has 27 million invested on the pro team.

The Crystal Ball by Ryley Weir

Less Money? Teams Going Under? by Alroy Smith

With The All-Star break looming, GM?s are preparing their pre-signings and most are looking into making big trades. These next few weeks have the potential to bring Gm?s out of their caves and get them active again with trading, as all contracts are available to be moved once the All-Star Break in Antwerp is complete. As I look into the crystal ball, I see lots of excitement for the DWSHL as a whole. The Sabercats, Wolves and Attack will join the Crunch, Icedogs, T-Rex, Skyleafs and Spartans in the playoffs in the Jim Beam conference. As for the Jack Daniels Conference, we will see the Battalion, Galaxy, Prowlers, Falcons, Blizzard. The Blaze, Hornets will also make it, giving those fans something to cheer about. The Justice will make the playoffs comfortably, with the Vipers slipping late. Rentals who will be dealt before the deadline will include Jeremy Roenick, Martin Brodeur, Kimmo Timmonen, Mike Modano, Maxim Afinogenov, Frederik Modin, Doug Weight, Rick Nash, Sami Kapanen, Simon Gagne, Marian Hossa, Markus Naslund, Mattias Ohlund and Patrick Marleau. With the trade and standings expected to shakeup daily after the All-Star break, this is slowly looking to be the best DWSHL season yet, despite much criticism to start the season.

While the finances of most teams look grim, it is important to realize that most of a team’s income is made after the season is over. This is when endorsements come to fruit, and when the farm team earns (or costs) a team potential big bucks. Also, the postseason can always help cure financial woes, although only 16 teams get to experience the potential windfall that the postseason can bring with it. However, many teams have complained that the new CBA restricts cash from exchanging hands too easily (the so called Smith Restriction after Sean Hill was traded for a whopping 6million in cash to bail out the Crunch last season)- but this rule has made teams forced to be more financially responsible, which is awesome for the long term health of the league, and all teams involved.

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