By the tenth week of any season in any sport, you should have a clear understanding of whether you are a contender or a pretender.
What started out with a bang has landed with a loud thud. The kind of noise that Wiley E. Coyote makes when he falls from a cliff.
MATCHUP AND SCORES
For the first time since the losing streak started in week five, this was the closest we got to a win.
In a rare oddity, we lost all four goalie categories for the first time this season. Our three points were mustered by the offence. They managed to win the assists and plus/minus categories for just the third time this season.
After a few weeks of playing soft hockey, we racked up a ton of penalty minutes to take the category by almost 40 points.
We lost goals by four, power-play points by three, and the shots on goal by six. Not a bad showing for a team who struggles as much as we do.
I mentioned we got shut out in all goalie categories but managed two ties with wins and shutouts. The other two categories were close, but our goalies struggled with inconsistent play throughout the week.
Our opponent must have been scared for the first three days of the matchup. We were sharp out of the gate and were looking to pitch a shutout at one point.
Thursday flipped the script on us and led to a tie in categories on Friday. Saturday wasn’t favourable for us, and the matchup was won after that particular slate of games.
STANDINGS & TEAM STATS
As the fire rages out of control, we plummet to the bottom of the league. It is a place we are all too familiar with, having occupied the last place the entire 2018-19 season.
We sit only six points away from that position, but the gap is only getting wider between us and sixth place.
Thankfully we play rock’em sock’em kind of game because, without the bruisers, our team would be even worse.
BENCH PLAYERS
The bench numbers affected the matchup in two categories and could have given us a 5-4-1 victory.
If you add in 16 shots on goal, we win that category 97-87. Then add in Alec Georgiev’s lone win, and we take the lead 3-2 in wins, thus altering the final score.
Those two category wins could have given us our first win in over a month.
Sadly, it didn’t play out that way.
STUDS & DUDS
Best Player – Evander Kane – San Jose Sharks – 32 points
Worse Player: Jean-Gabriel Pageau- Ottawa Senators – 9 points
TRANSACTIONS
December 9, 2019 – Nazem Kadri got injured and didn’t produce during his time with the team, so we cut him.
We updated our trading block on the same day. In a shocking twist of events, we offered up Alex Ovechkin (Washington), Evander Kane (San Jose), Tom Wilson (Washington), Tuuka Rask (Boston), and Marc-Andre Fleury (Las Vegas) to anyone interested.
No one seemed to propose a trade for those players at the time, so we waited out the rest of the week before making moves.
December 10, 2019 – The roster shakeup began that Tuesday evening. Chris Kreider (New York) was cut in favour of Arizona Coyote LW/RW Clayton Keller. We hoped that Keller would spark the offence.
Zdeno Chara (Boston) was then released because his offensive numbers were just not there anyone. In his place stepped in Tampa Bay Lightning LW/RW Alex Killorn.
Weekly Move Total: 2/4
Season Move Total: 11/40
Stay tuned for next’s week recap of the Top of the Rock 2019-20 fantasy hockey season.
Keeping the Stats 