Historical Challange continued 90's onwards

[lawrence97]

As Gretzky is approaching 40, thouigh i'd have a comparison with how he's getting on. Lemieux still has several more seasons in him, so can catch up and take a few of Gretzky's records away.

Gretzky before Lemieux arrival was up against the Minnesota North stars, who they failed several times in the conference final. Lemieux arrival at Edmonton knocked Detroit out of thier run of conference final appearance. Edmonton had a young line of Robitaille-Hull-Lemieux, but they too couldn't get past the North Stars. In 1986 though Detroit won back the power struggle by taking Hasek as a free agent through iron curtain ending, and sensationally offer sheeting Brett Hull away from the Oilers. Detroit was then the major force in the west for the next decade winning 3 cups. Edmonton were knocked out 4 out of 5 time against them. They did make 2 stanley cup appearances though and lost both times. It looked like Lemieux would have to find another team to compete. But Lindros arrived in a blockbuster trade for Robitaille, and they managed to beat Detroit twice in the playoffs, and get to another SC final agaisnt the heavy favourite Rangers. Lindros and Lemeiux were on fine form and were unstoppable to get Lemieux his trophy. The following year, The same teams gave the opposite result.

Here are stats below, in white are nhl records.

Records they don't have, Most goals in a season Bondra-106, and most Conn Smythe- Brad Park 10. Most assists is shared between them and Mikita who did it first.

[lawrence97]

1998/1999 Season Preview

1-Rangers
2-Calgary- They have best team on paper bar us 5* playes: Brodeur Bure Zubov Carlson Turgeon's, 4*- Lehtinen Straka Peva and Chelios
3-Montreal- Neely 33 started to slow down, they'll likely be top p10 not top5
4-Detroit-Gretzky will keep them up there but he's 37 now
5-Islanders- Stong team , but all approaching 30's now. No major additions either
6-Edmonton-Again Lindros/lemieux combo is good,but little depth or prospects. I'll be trading for their picks in the next 3/4 years.

Last season of the 90's, we've won 5 cups so far, can we add another. We've won 6 presidents throphies, only Calgary really is a threat this year, Detroit the only other team to match our numbers this decade with 2 Cups and 3 presidents. Edmonton bar 1990 avg 115 pts in the regular season for 3rd place.

[lawrence97]

1998/1999 Season

First Quarter
Start off with a trade to the Red Wings for their 99 and 01 1st round picks. They get Afinogen, and my 1st rnd pick. First two games agaisnt Chicago are low scoring for us. After last years fireworks, will be hard to repoduce. Kovalev relegated to 4th line with Sanderson, Elias and Satan replace them.Also Pronger and Ozolinsh get more power play time as woudl like to try and get them close to the 100 point mark if at all possible, but may reduce in less goals! Bondra and Modano aren't at the production levels of last year either but still on course for around 150, Palffy is the man in form with 43 in the first 21 games. Palffy Gretzky Lemeiux all averaging around 2 pts a game, Hull leads with 21, Palffy and Bondra with 17. Calgary have gone a dissapointing 11-7-1. Edmoton 18-5, having split the games with us, 6-5 and 4-5. That was the only game we've lost. Detroit are close but no on else is. We are already 16 clear in our division(3 divisions per conference now). We an on pace for 550 goals.

Midway
Gretzky only player on course for 200, Lemieux 171, but Edmonton with the better record 67/44-56/41. We are over the hills on 79, but lost to Detroit in our last game. We are 39-2-1. Hull 3 clear of Bondra. Palffy on 86 pointds for us, on course for 578 goals.

3rd Quarter.

We win every game in this quarter, and now on coursed for 619 goals. One of the bet runs we've been on. Bondra and Hull on 66 and 67 goals. Gretzky 151 Lemieux 140, Palffy Bondra and Modano all in the 120's.
Our draft picks, Dallas and Detroit winning their Division easily. Colorado however are battling for a bottom 4 pick, but 1st and 2nd will be NJ and TB.

End of Season,

Not quite as good, as previous quarter, but still 159 points finish, and 594 goals. Pronger finished on 101 points, whilst Modano Bondra and Palffy finish edon 162, 161, 161! No 200 point season, Gretzky however a new record for Assists, which feels right at 149. Bondra second to Hull(90-88). 39 get 100 19 get 50. Ozolnish despite pp time didn't do great he'll have to be unprotected int he expansion drafts.
Unsuprisingly best teams were Edmonton Detroit, Calgary and NY Islanders. Anyone onr of the 118 points plus teams could knock us out, but we are very heavy favourites. Our goal diff of 405 is 38 worse then the next best 3 combined.

Colorado ended up 4th from last, but Detroit were 3rd and Dallas 6th(but 8th overall, not sure how it works in this situation) Onto the playoffs

[lawrence97]

1998/1999 Playoffs

Rnd1: We get Toronto, a nice fresh opponent, after years of Phil/Hart/NYI. They have Nedved,Nolan and Whitney, and an old LaFontaine. Islanders Montreal tie of the round. We put nearly 40 goals past Toronto. Islanders win in 4.

Rnd2: Boston, i'm enjoying these fresh matchups, are lead by Reichel 127 pts and Glen Murray 108 pts. My odl player Craig Hartsburg at 39 still put up 53 points from d. he's had a heck of a career. Dallas were knocked out by Anaheim, so Detroit get Calgary in the blockbuster tie of the round, Islanders get Florida, who are pretty strong, and Edmonton Anaheim. Anaheim-Iginla and Bertuzzi are a nasty top pair for them. Florida-Thornton-Datysuk-Chara is just as nasty. Second straight sweep for us.

Rnd3:Edmonton beat Ana in 4, Calgary beat Detroit in 7, Islanders also need 7 for Florida. We get Islanders for what feels like the 10th time ina row for the Conference Finals, they have the Sundin-Mogilny-Selanne line. Edmonton too strong forthe Bure led Flames, for another SC appearance

Stnaley Cup Final: Third year in a row its Edmonton-Rangers. Will Lindros and Lemieux be able to overpower us like they did 2 years ago. Its the best chance they have. They inflicted 2 of our 4 loses this year, and won the season match up 2-1, so this could be closer than i think. Modano leads all players with 33, Lemieux 31.

Game1: Rangers 4-2 Oilers. We go 3-0 by end of second, Sanderson, Brind'Amour and Lidstrom. Kaberle and White score for them in the 3rd, before Palffy EN ices it. Modano and Lemieux pointless. We dominated the game, 40 shots to 25, Kolzig kept it close.
Rangers 1-0 Oilers

Game2: Rangers 5-7. We do have a series. 2-2 after 1, and 2-2 after 4, Lemieux and Modano a point apiece, in the third, Lemieux gets an assist on Kaberle goal to give them the lead, then Kozloz makes it 6-4, we make is 6-5, but Arvedson ends the game with the 7-5 goal with a minute to go!
Rangers 1-1 Oilers

Game3: Oilers3-2 Rangers, Lemieux and Modano have a goal and an assist, but its Lemieux's 3rd perido goal which breaks the 2-2 tie! GAME is on

Rangers 1-2 Oilers

Game4: Its time for a Linden-Modano-Brind'Amour top line to combat the power of Lindros/Lemieux, Oilers 3-5 Rangers. It works, Lemieux 1 point, Modanos line 2 goals, and Bondra 2nd line gets 3 points, to out shoot the oilers 39-30
Rangers 2-2 Oilers

Game5: Top lines canx each other out, Lemieux gets a goal, but its Elias who wins it for us with 2 goals, the last of which in the lasty minute of the game for a 3-2 win, 5 mins after Lemieux had tied it!
Rangers 3-2 Oilers

Game6: We outshoot the Oilers 60-26! Lemieux with 4 points beats Modano 0 points to the playoff scoring title 41-39, BUT we go back to original lines, and win the SC in a stunner of a game. Bondra & Elias make it 2-0 after 3 minutes. Stillman and Palffy trade goals in the last 5 minutes to make it 3-1 Rangers. Shouldn't be that close they've had 3 shots we have 21. 2nd period shots are almost as badf, we go 24-8, however its Kozlov with the goal. But then our superiority shows. Kolzig who played so well all series, gets lit up 4 times, Brind'Amour, Pronger Niedermayer and Bondra make is 7-2. Claude Lemieux makes it 7-3.
3rd period is even in shots, but its all over. Linden makes it 8-3, before Lindros and Lemeiux combine twice to make it 8-5. Demitra 9-5, then another lindros and lemieux comb, for Stillman to score end the scoring at 9-6. Stilll 6 mins to go, but they can't score anymore!

Rangers win! 4-2


Hart:Gretzky(Lemeiux more deserving though)
Conn Smythe:Modano(thoroughly earned)
Calder:Bryan Berard(Nsh)
Norris:Lidstrom
Vezina:Brodeur Calgary

[lawrence97]

*Last Decade Recap*

-SC-Rangers 6, Red Wings 2, Flame, and Oilers 1.
-Presidents Trophies: Rangers 7, Red Wings 3
-Hart/Art Ross- Gretzky 6-Lemiuex 4
-Top Goalscorer-Gretzky 5
-Norris:Lidstrom 4
-Vezina- 9 different winners. Richter only one with 2.
-Conn Smythe-Lemieux and Ruotsalainen have 2. Gretzky 1.


Gretzky over 4000 career points has season record point(242), assists(149). Bondra has goals(110). Gretzky only palyer with 10 pts in a game

The 1980's have been the hardest decade, the salaray cap era is upon us, and that may well make things harder. I'm most scared of the Connor McDavid years, but i think the next 15 should be fairly easy for us, as there weren't that many players who hit 100, so we should be able to build winning teams fairly easily

[lawrence97]

1999/2000 Expansion, Draft& Pre Season


Expansion Draft

We have the 2nd expansion draft of 3 i believe this year, with this one being Atlanta, then Columbus and Minnesota join next year. my staff need refreshing as getting old.

Unprotected-Legace-Ozolinsh-Visnovsky-Hejduk, Sanderson, Kovalev.

Lose Legace. Roster moves. Richards is ready for 1st team game time. Kovalev will be traded. Ozolinsh is being traded as to be replaced by Mark Streit. Di Pietro will be back up at 18 years old. We have 15 million to speed on contracts next year with only Yashin to sign, so no issues. 1.8 for 3 years is more than resonable to me!

Trades
-Dumb trade by Anaheim Heatey 18yo for Fl 27yo Knutsen
Florida looking scary all of a sudden With Datsyuk, Chara, Heatley Regehr Zetterberg. They just need a goalie now.

Draft
next year is the key one, with Kovalchuk and Spezza. This year is Lundqvist, Gaborik and not much else. We have 5th, 21, 26 and 28. I'm going to trade Kovalev and Ozolinsh, to try and get picks for next year.

1-Lundqvist-Atlanta
2-Cammalleri-NJ
3-Hartnell-Nashville
4-Vermette-Nashville
5-Gaborik-Rangers
And with that i trade ozolinsh and det rnd 1 to Van for 00 & 01 draft picks. Kovalev and my 2 remaining 1st rnd picks this year for their 00&01 draft picks. Rienhard Davis signed as back up goalie, as DiPietro not ready.

Florida get their GT in Fernandez from Nashville, but have to give up Chara. Not the worst trade, but they'll miss Chara. Also trade my 02 1sdt rnd and 2 4th, for Det 1st in that year. I'm really betting on Det to plummet once Gretzky goes as all their team is old and only D. Boyle in D is good under 30. He was traded for Amonte.

[lawrence97]

99/00 Season Preview


1 Rangers-Still way ahead of the pack. We have 3 top 10 c's, 3 top 5 lw's, and 1 top 5 rw. We have the 4 fo the top 5 def, Lids-Blake-Pronger, then Zubov for Calgary then niedermayer. Khabibulin 5th best GT, Richter top.
2-Calgary can they get past Edmonton this year? Still stacked but Bure, Turgeon Zubov 28 and above.
3-Montreal-Only broken 100 points once in last 10 years. with Amonte instead of boyle, should probably do that this year.(richter, reechi, neely, goncxhar, allison, markov)
4-Detroit, Gretzky 38, Hull35, Hasek 34, Gretzky still top player in the league though. They should fall off soon.
5-Edmonton. Lemieux anbd Lindros as ever. Very little else though except for Kolzig in goal.
6-NY Islanders, they'be been second best team in league, but Shanhan , Selanne Mogilny and Sundin all 29 and over, only have a few years left.
7-Buffalo, Kariya and Forsberg, with 5 4 star players supporting should make a little noise.

Teams to watch out for
Colorado, Hossa Samsonov and Savard coming through with Steve Yzerman and Richer the elder statsemn
Florida-Datysuk, Thornton, Heatley Zetterberg, Souray
Anaheim-Iginla Bertuzzi Doan . Love that top line!

Again we should romp this, maybe Edmonton Calgary or Detroit can win the sc against us, no one else should have a chance. Would be a big shock if another from the east knocks us out.

[lawrence97]

99/00 Regular Season

1st Quarter
Goals accross th league are dropping, We go 18-2-1.Montreal a sensational 19-1-1. Vancouver, Edmonton, Detroit and Islanders, all around the 17-4-1 mark. This is a lot tighter that expected. We are on pace for 508 goals. Vishovsky on top line hasn't worked out, as well, but i'll leave him there to see if he can get 100. Linden on 4th line is also where we are losing out on goals, as our third line of Yashin-Elias and Hejduk not quite gelling. Selanne is flying with 56 pts, Gretzky 55, Lemieux on course for 190. But Andrew Brunette is the suprise player. He's the reason Vancouver are flying, he has 41 in 21.

Half Way
Rangers 38-3-1. Only Edmonton are close on 33-5-3. Montreal 13-6-4 this quarter to fall off pace. Lemieux and Gretzky on pace for 217 and 215 points. Selanne dropped off. Brunbette on 78! Same 6 teams are comfortably top. Calgary really struggling, a major shock. Demitra and Linden swamp lines after game 30 and we see a few more goals go in to see us on course for 524 now.

3rd Quarter
Rangers 56-4-3 Oilers 49-9-4 Canadiens 47-12-5. Redwings and Canucks up therte still, but we beat the Islanders 5 times this period, and they have dropped, Phil is now above them. trade for Colorado 1st rnd pick, as only my San Jose pick was top half. Then trade 3 1st rnd picks for TB draft pick and Nagy. Lemieux is 10 pts and 2 games in hand lcear of Lemieux. Brunette 109 points! Rangers on course for 528 goals still.

End of Season,
Rangers 76-6-4-152 points. Oilers 136 Canadiens 121, Flyers Cnaucks and Rewings are next band. Islanders & Flames the last of the potential winners. Lemieux 210 points and 92 goals, Grewtzky 191 pts. Brunette 141, Modano 154. Bondra 80 goals Hull 83, Lemieux top with his 92. We get 533 goals. Linden get 101 points playing nearly half the season on the 4th line! 32 get 100, a lot few than the 45's we've been getting, and 15 50 goal scorers. Even though goalscorer set at 9 per game, we've seen dead puck era and the goalies set in lge gls per gmae is 7.8, slowing reduecd from 8.5 in 88/89! Playoffs here we come

[lawrence97]

99/00 Playoffs

Rnd1-Rangers play Toronto, first two home games win easily, 25 goals for the rangers, then stunned 6-3 in Toronto! before 8-2 and 8-3 completes the series. Islanders beat Philly in 5, and other tie of the round, Van Cgy goes to 7, with canucks going through. Real poor season for Zubov, Turgeon, Bure et all!

Rnd2: Det-Van and Edm-Dal. Rangers-Islanders, and Mrl-Ws. Dallas the only non top 5 seed left. We handled Selanne and Mogilny fairly well in the season, but Isanders take the first game at msg! Vishovsky, has a 100 point season, but i take him off my top lines now. 6-1 win for us. But Islander re take series lead with 4-3 ot win with Shanahan scoring the winner! NOW really up against it as they win 4-2! A resounding 10-4 home win, but now have to win at the Nasseau! 7-2 win, to force a game 7. Linden and Satan with 3 pts each. 7-3 thumping, what a scare that was! Edmonton sweep Dallas, but Detroit beaten by suprising Canucks! We face dangerous Montreal. The three top teams of the regular season all in, and the dangerous suprise package Canucks. Lemieux top of scoring charts with 27. Linden second with 23.

Rnd3:We've picked up form after going 3-1 down and thump montreal 4-0 scoring 23 goals to their 8. Vancouve is 2-1 up when we finish the sweep, they win game 4 5-3, to put them one win away from only their 2nd Stanley Cup. Edmonton win game 5, but not game 6, as Vancouver close them out 4-2, with a 4-2 win at home!

Stanley Cup Final: Canucks have a fairytale season. Oates 37 has 119 points, Ozolinsh who they got in a trade chips in with 98, whilse Alrfedsson and Smyth on second line get 75 and 68 points. LaLime is their goalie. however star is Brunette, who gets 67 goals and 74 assists from being Oates winger. In playoffs its the same aplyers with same style of point. Brunette 34 Oates 30. For us, Linden 29 leads but everyone has chipped in at least 10 points except Richard on 6.(having played 16 games) Our depth should be too much. Regular season games split with both games winning at the others arena!

Game1: Rangers 9-1 Canucks. Oh dear! Out shot 53-18. Canucks will need to improve big time.
Rangers 1-0 Canucks

Game2:Rangers 6-3 Canucks Rangers lead 3-0 before Canucks show fight and get it to 3-2 shortly after the second period starts, but Pronger Streit and Brind'Amour make it 6-2. Smyth adds a late consolation. Brunette and Oates get their first point of series.
Rangers 2-0 Canucks

Game3: Canucks 3-2 Rangers. Canucks welcome to the party! OUtplayed and outshot again, this time 37-19, Hlinka has replaced LaLime, and puts in a brilliant 35 save performance to win the game. Brunette one assist, as Ozonlish, Smyth and Lebeau get the goals. Yashin and Vishovnksy combined on our two goals, but no one else could solve Hnilicka.
Rangers2-1 Canucks

Game4: Canucks1-7 Rangers, Hnilicka is solved, 39 shots to 26, is the closest game we've had possession and shot wise. First period is close 8 shots each but Brind'Amour gives us the lead. Second period is the decider we dominate and score 4 goals, 3rd period is a non event, 2-1, with Alfredsson spoiling the shutout with 2mins left.
Rangers 3-1 Canucks

Game 5 Rangers 8-1 Canucks. Game was aslaposided as you think. yashin 3 points but everyone chips in.
Rangers 4-1 Canucks

Top scorer in the playoffs is Brunette with 37, Linden had 36, but all rangers contribute. Linden probably deserves the Conn Smythe, and deserves a sceond one for his exellent career with the Rangers so far.

Hart:Lemieux
Conn Smythe-Lidstrom(controversial!)
CAlder: Vincent Lecavalier
Norris:Lidstrom(dominating this category!)
VezinaHasek(det) His 2nd.

[lawrence97]

00/01 Pre Season, Expansion, Draft Free Agency

Nothing of note free agent wise. But 35yo Yzerman is traded to the Kings for Mike Smith a 4 star 18yo goalie.



Expansion Draft
I have a 45 Million budget, with 27 taken up next year. To sign are Streit, Niedermayer, Modano Bondra and Sanderson. Bondra is not signed as too expensive at 32, and so will be unprotected.Modano signed for 7 years at 4.2. niedermayer 3.3 for 8 years, Sanderson 1.5, Streit 1 for 3 years a piece.

Unprotected:Vishnovsky, Bondra and Sanderson. Bondra and Vishnovsky picked, But i get Vishnovsky back by trading him for Sanderson.

Sanderson and Bondra are replaced by Havlat and Gaborik

Bondra is 3rd on the rangers all time with 770 goals in 1006 games. He has nhl record 110 goals in a season. Had 7 100 point seasons with us inclduing a high of 191. Sanderson 391 points in 672 games, 5 years on our 4th line, with excellent play. Career high of 102, during one of the two seasons he played more than 15 mins a game. One of the hidden gems.

Draft
We have 4th 7th and 8th picks in this draft. This is a deep draft, Spezza Keith, Giordano Kovalchuk Hemsky Jokinen, Niemi and Roy. We want Spezza Kovie and a defender.

1-Keith-Columbus
2-Whitney-Min
3-Kovalchuk-Rangers-Trade DiPietro two of my later picks to NJ,
4--Spezza-NY Rangers
5-Giordano-Atlanta(damn)
6-Wideman
7-j. Bouwmeester-Rangers(not ideal, but can trade for keith few season time)
8-K. Lehtonen-Rangers(solves my 2nd goalie soon)
9. J. Lupul-NSH.
15:Hemsky-Anaheim
16-Roy-StL
19-Jokinen-Det

Although i don't have defensive depth. i have a solid top 9 forwards with Havlat-Richards-Gaborik getting the 4th line duty. Bondra's role on 1st line will go to Demitra/Satan. No natural goalscorer till Kovalchuk is ready.

[lawrence97]

00/01 Pre Season

1)Rangers no Bondra, but still evry strong
2)Calgary- Great disappointment last year. can they challenge?
3)Montreal-Same squad as last year, got run over by us in the conference finals
4)Detroit- Think this will be their last year at the top
5)Edmonton-Lemieux still immense at 34. Lindros without the injuries is an absolute beast 170 pts last year.
6)NY Islanders, nylander if for Shanhan, a downgrade. yves Racine at 31 still looks good and adds a ton of offence.

Teams to watch

Florida-Datysuk Zetterbert, Heatley-Thornton.

[lawrence97]

01/02 Regular Season

1st Quarter,
Bondra is not being missed! 8 players on course for 40 goals, let by Satan 21 and Brind'Amour 20.10 players on course fo 100. Elias Hejduk and Satan on course for their first 100 point seasons. We go 19-1-1. Forsberg Buffalo 18-3, rest of the league the top teams are closer to their divisions than any previous seasons. Detroit 1-11-1. Getting their draft picks was a wise move! On course for 660 goals. Gretzly/Lemieux slowing down, both on paced for 160 only so far. Modano and Palffy 236 and 196 respectively. Jagr on 27 gls leads Selanne and Palffy on 21. Lge average for gls this year has shot up unexpectedly. We are at 7.21, comparaed to 7.8 last year. Trade Tb Det 2002 1st rnd for Jay bouw and my 2nd rnd pick. Probably a mistake, but worth a go. 3 1sti have this year are det van and SJ, 6 8 and 15th, so unlikely to get anything good.

Midway,
Win all our games, goalscoring slowed a little, but still on course for 600, 8 players on for 100, 3 on course for 90+. lets ese if i can get them there.Buffalo are closest, Detroit have improved, Edmonton probably the strongest team outside us. Modano 107 Lemieux 110 in the points race. Jagr still leads goals with 46, but lemieux closing in fast, Satan 3rd.


3rd Quarter, Buffalo fall off, Lemieux and modano are tight, Selanne goes on a hot streak, to take the lead. Jagr goes into a slump. We are 30 points clear of Edmonton Calgary are 3rd. Again goal scoring reduced for us though and on pace for 590. 7 on course for 100. Hejduk and Elias can't quite keep the pace. League goals per game reduce to 7.91

End of Season
Modano and Lemieux are within a point of seach other all down the stretch, Lemieux with a hattrick and a four point game in last game of season wins the scoring title by a point from Modano! 208-207. Gutted!
Palffy gets 200, 9 egt 100, Hejdku and Elias just miss out in the 90's. We get 601 goals in the end, much helped by a 13-1 spanking of the Islanders. Edmonton and Calgary only teams to get above 110 pts. Buffalo Florida only others teams above 100. Lemieux get 84 goals, same as Selanne for Maurice Richard trophy.46 player get 100 pts, 22 get 50. Time of playoffs.

[lawrence97]

2000/2001 Playoffs

Rnd1: Rangers get Ottawa, they have Lecavalir and LeClair, they'll be no competition. Or not, they actually win the first and third games, before we win. But noth the high scores i was expecting. Florida beaten by Montreal, tough luck for them to get such a strong opponent as teh third seed. Calgary knocked out by Vancouver again.

Rnd2:We get Montreal, beat them in 5, but again not as easily as the regular season went. Edmonton out to Vancouver,

Rnd3: Rangers Islanders again! and Gretzky gets another conference final, this time against the canucks, we might never see a gretzky-lemieux playoff serfies again. We didn't get spoiled with them facing off 7 times though. Detroit get through in 7!

Stanley Cup FInal: The old team of Gretzky Hull and Hasek, all 36 and over, probably get thier one last chance of a cup. Boyle in d, got 97 points and a major reason they are in the sc finals. In the playoffs, Gretzky gets 47 points at the age of 40! Her may not retire! Modano for us is 20 points behind! We won both regular seasons game, 11-7 in detroit and 8-2 at MSG.

Game1: 5-2 win for the Rangers. Detroit score 2, Gretzky goal and and assist, in first 2 minutes, But we are even before 7th minute of 1st, through Satan and MOdano. Elias and Blake score late goals to make it 4-2. Demitra adds insurance in 2nd period, and thats the end of the goals
Rangers 1-0 Red Wings

Game2: 9-2 win for the Rangers, Detroit only manage 13 shots on goal! Gretzky pointless. Almost everyone gets a point on our team, Blake only one with 3.
Rangers 2-0 Red Wings

Game3: 5-3 win for Detroit, did not see that coming! Gretzky and Hull only get an assist each, its down to the 3rd 4th lines to provide shock offence to stun us! Park, Roberts and Svehla score in the first, Modano brieflyt tieing the score. Boyle puts it out of reach in the 2nd, Palffy and Streit getting 3rd period goals, Gary Roberts scoring again for detroit!
Rangers 2-1 Red Wings

Game4: Game of the series so far! Again zero offence from Gretzky and Hullsuprinsigly. First period, Detroit win a shoot out 3-2. Nielsen, Gary Roberts(on fire!) and Traverse for detroit, Satan and Demitra for us. Period 2, we take the lead through Modano and Elias, and in the 3rd, Kotaliks equalises, Demitra puts us back in the lead, but 2 mins left Detroit tie it through Kotalik. Into OT we go, and 12 mins in its Brind'Amour with the crucial ot win to put us on the brink
Rangers3-1 Red Wings

Game5: I'm genuinely expecting a thumping here, and it is, a 7-2 win for the cup. Gretzky is held pointless for the third game in four! Shame way for his cup run to end, is that the end of his ridiculous career?

Gretzky ends with 50 points in the playoffs, Palffy and Mopdano get 37 for us.

Hart:Lemieux,
Conn Smythe-Gretzky(not sure about that!)
Norris-Lidstrom again
Calder-Justin Williams
Vezina-Roma Turek

[lawrence97]

2001/2002 Pre Season

Draft, is deep, but no superstars, bar Eric Staal, who goes 11th! to Nashville.

I get Semin with 13th pick. Rick Nash is 17th overall pick! Top pIck Ryan Kesler to Min, Joe Pavelski number 2 to Atlanta, and Parise 3rd to Columbus. With my late roud 1st, i get Ericcson and Enstrom in drafts. Will probably use them as trade pieces at some point. As Blake is so expensive, try to trade him for Dany Briere, and Demitra for Markov. However Montreal won't trade Markov for Demitra without another superstar, so i stay put and will trade Blake another time.

[lawrence97]

01/02 Season Preview

Expecting a walk in the park to be honest, Gretzky yet to retire.Modano i forget to mention broke Cournoyers points record for the Rangers and Boudrairs assist mark(he did that 98/99 tbf, i didn't realise same season Bondra set nhl record 110 goals)

1-Rangers- Richards take brind'amour place so expecting a slight drop off in goals scored and conceded. Elias and Hejduk main second line with Yashin and also second pp unit, hope they can get 100 points. Linden and Demitra are 3rd line with Richards.
2-Calgary-Added Sanderson to their team, hopefully he can compliment Bure
3-Detroit
4-Edmonton
5-Montreal
6-NY Islanders
7-Buffalo
8-Florida

All saem as before but expecting Florida to step up with thier younger players.

[lawrence97]

01/02 Regular Season

1st Quarter,
first game a 4-3 win over montreal then a 13-3 win over the Wild, and then a 14-2 win over the sabres of Forsbegr/Kariya! Lets see if we can keep it up. As its the salt city olmpyic games this year, the season starts in September. Others team not ready as we go 7-0 scoring 67 goals, ona pace for 800. Unlikely in the extreme to keep that pace up, but its enjoyable to watch! Perfect 21-0 records for us, but some low scoring games bring us back down to a 612 target. Edmont only team close with 18-3 record. Everyone else at least 15 point back of us. Lemieux at 35 is still at 200 pace, Gretzky slowing down at 130 pace, Modano and Linden who was on pp1 lead for us in the 40's. Linden replaced by Palffy.

Half Way
Missed this but DSatysuk traded from Florida to Philadelphia for Renberg in early part of pre season. Ranger 39-1-2, Buffalo beat us 6-4. EDmonton and Boston are 58 and 56 points. Lemieux 105 pts in 41 games, Modano 94 in 42.Montreal and Calgary in a fight to get into playoffs. 8 of my players on course for 100, inclduing Hejduk and Elias.Another 5 getting 80+. Rangres on course for 624 goals.


3rd Quarter
10 players now on course for 100 as Lidstrom and Yashin make ground. On course for 636. Lemieux 27 points ahead, ou course for 214. Boston now second, they acquired Cam Neely at 37, and he's on course for 112 pts. Michael Ryder going to Montreal. Boston has best defence in league bar Rangers, No standouts on the team, but their system seems to work

Salt Lake City Olympic Games

USA beten by Czech 8-6 in quarter finals of their home tournament! Hasek not at his best, Jagr(4pts) and Hejduk(5pts) knock out a very strong US team. Russia beat rivals 5-2 in the semies, to set up a final agains...the Czechs, who stun Canada again, 5-4. Robert Lang the hero, who surive a 3rd period comeback by Canada who were 5-1 down after 2.

Defending Champs Czechs can't repeat and lose 7-5 to a Zubov-Yashin onslaught. 5-5 after 2, but Yashin and Bure combine twice on the powerplay to win 7-5 for Russia! Canada who won all 5 canada cups, are 0-2 in olympic play!

End of Season
Brind;Amour to top line to see if he can get 100, 23 pts in 11 games and he gets to 105, 11 players get 100, with Pronger and Richards getting 79. Havlat adn Gaborik get in the 30 as i upped their game time.Modano 174 points. Rangers get 616 goals 163 points and 48 points clear of Boston in second place, Lemieux gets 201 points, and Selanne wins deserved first Maruice Richard with 83 goals. Gretzky on 145 points. Montreal and Calgary make the playoffs as 7th and 5th seeds. 47 players get 100 points, 26 get 50.

Playoffs should be a breeze but you never know.

[lawrence97]

01/02 Playoffs

Rnd1: We sweep Ottawa, Flames, Canadiens and Islanders all out as expected. For once we won't face the Islanders in the playoffs!

Rnd2: Can we get an 8th match up of Lemieux and Gretkzy, they are ranked 2 & 1. We sweep the Pens easily.. Boston also have swept their way to the conference final. Oilers in a game 7, detroit through! Reto von Arx( i don't know who either) scores an OT winner, for Edmonton! We have the match up! Gretzky may ahve another season in him, but this surely is their last playoff match up.

Rnd 3 Gretzky vs Lemieux, and Rangers Bruins
Detroit win first game 10-4, Gretzky 5 assists! Lemieux 2 assists, Lindros 2 goals and Brett hull 2 goals 2 assists! This game was 4-3 edmonoton with 30 mins left! Detroit wins scond game at home 4-3. Gretzky gets 2 goals! Lemieux and Lindros pointless
Game3-Edmoton 6-5 Detroit, Mario Lemieux hat trick & 2 assists! Its the Mario show, he singly handly wins this one. in a game of changing leads, Lemieux gets on the scoresheet for the first 5 of edmontons goals, gor a 5-3 Lead. Dykuis ices it, before Hull and Gretzky make it 5-6. Gretzky 2 assists.
Game4etroit7-2. Good all round game by detroit, with all team contribuiting to an easy win. Gretky 2 pts, Lemieux 2 assists.

Game5etroit3-2 winners in OT! Lemieux and Gretzky pointless, Curtis Brown from Maxim Afinogenov is the ot winner on the pp after Lindros binned for interference. Rangers beat Boston in 5! And its Gretzky last chance for a cup!

Stanely Cup Final: Detroit old timers, Hull Hasek Bellows and Gretzky are still a threat. Boyle on the D was a 100 point scorer. Afinogneov, Zhintki and Kotalis give decent if not great depth. We should be too strong.

Game1: Both games in regualr season go to rangers, 4-3 and 4-1. This one is ours as well 5-3. Gretzky's goal in 3rd period makes it 3-2, But Linden Rchards and Brind'Amour score in a 5 minute period to win the game for the Rangers
Rangers 1-0 Detroit

Game2: Hasek makes 35 saves, but not enough, Red Wings, are 3-1 half way through the game with Hasek standing on his head, but eventually the Rangers break though, with 4 goals from Linden, Niedermayer Brind'Amour and Modano through 2nd and 3rd period. Svehla scores with 6 to go, but they can't find equaliser. Rangers win 5-4 Gretzky pointless
Rangers 2-0 Detroit

Gretzky has 36 points in these playoffs, Lemieux 33. Modano and Lidstrom 22.

Game3: An absoulte must win for Detroit, and Gretzky with a goal and 2 assists leads them to the victory! Brind'Amour andHejkduk give the rangers a 2-1 1st period lead. But Kotalik, Svehla and Hull make it 4-2 detroit, before Brad Richards makes it 4-3 detroit after 2. 48 shots to 26 is the final tally for the Rangers, but they share a goal each in the third as Hasek gets the win with 44 saves!
Rangers 2-1 Detroit

Game4: Detroit needfs this to have a real chance, and are out shot 37-22 again. Hasek makes 32 saves as Lidstrom in the first scores the only goal of the period. Richards makes it 2-0 after 11 min in the 2nd, before Svehla scores after 13, to leave the final period in the balance. Rangers superioty shows as depite Bellow equalising, Satan and Linden score to make it 4-2 with eng for niedermayer. Gretzky had an assist

Rangers 3-1 Detroit

Game5: Expecting a dominat performance here from the rangers, and don't get it! Gretzky hat trick and an assist! All about Gretzky here, 3-1 for the rangres after 1, and 4-2 after 2. Rangers outshoot Detroit 47-22, but Detroit own this period and out shoot the Rangers! Gretzky gets his two goals to tie it at 4. Brind'Amour think he's won it fro the Rangers at 10.03 in the third, But Zhitnik and Kotalik score in 2 minutes to win this 6-5 for the Red Wings! Shock at the MSG!

Rangers 3-2

Game6: Rangers are dominating play in this series, but aren't finding the net, all change in lines as Yashin-Modano-Palffy gets top line. Again Rangers dominate the play, 44 shots to 25, and again we go 3-1 up in the first, but before the period ends, Brown and Nash score in the last two mins to stun the Rangers and send the Red Win faithful crazy to tie the score at 3. Gretzky scores to go along with his first period assist to give them the lead 5 min into the 2nd. Elias with his second point ties it, and we go into the third. Rangers outshoot Detroit 15-6 and this time capitalise, Gaborik with his 5th of the playoffs givers us the leadf, and Elias with his 2nd, adds insurance, which is neede and Zhitnik scores with 8 1/2 to go. 6-5. However Detroit can barely manage a shot as Rangers control play to win the Cup!

Rangers 4-2 Red Wings

presume Gretzky will win Conn Smythe, btui Lidstrom lead Rnagres with 32 points and he was top scorer i believe in the final with 15 points! 13 assists! Gretzky gets 47!

Hart-Lemieux
Conn Smythe-Lidstrom(fair decision)
Calder-Tim Connolly(FLA)
Norris:Lidstrom(7/8 ina row)
Vezina-Conkiln(Bos)

[lawrence97]

GRETZKY RETIRES


He plays entire career with Red Wings, had several excellent battles with the Lemieux Oilers and the NY Rangers who played each other 5 times in the SC Final. Best season was a 96 goal 146 assist season for 242 points. He gets 100 goals 3 times and 100 assists 20 times! Lethal on power play, 35% of his points come from there. Also never misses a game!

NHL Records

Regular Season

Career Pts-4764
Career Gls-1882
Career Ast-2879

Season Pts-242
Seasons Ast-149

Most points in a game-10

Playoffs

Career Pts-790
Career Gls-283
Career Asts-477


Playoff Pts-50
Playoff gls-22
Playoff Asts-34

16-Hart
14-Art Ross
12-Top Goalscorer awards


Other Achievements Achievements
3 Stanley Cup 7 3 Conn Smythe
8 Stanley Cup Finals
15 Conference Finals
3 Presidents Trophies

[lawrence97]

02/03 Pre Season and Draft

Red Wings after lsoing Gretzky, trade 37 year old Hasek to get 30yo Keith Tkachuk.

This is the Alex Ovechkin draft year, as he is 17 this year. I have 5th pick and 28th pick. The Dallas hunch correct, the detroit one incorrect. I have to trade Blake and Demitra for Markov as can't afford the value. Kovalchuk takes Demitra's place.. Spezza will have to wait a year.A stacked draft

1. A. Ovechkin-Minnesota
2 S. Weber- Atlanta(Will trade for him when i can)
3 R. Suter-Columbus
4. D, Byfuglien-Chicago
5 B. Burns-NY Rangers(finally some def cover)
6 R. Getzalf-Devils
7 P. Bergeron-Capitals
8 C. Perry-Buffalo
9 M. RIchards-Tor
11 J. Carter-LA Kings
13 N. Horton-Carolina
17 D.Phaneuf- Mon
19 A. Ladd-San Jose
21 Halak-Cgy
22 R. Callahan-Phx
Trade one of my 2.5 star def right to DEtroit for their 04 1st Rnd anbd they get this years back.

[lawrence97]

02/03 Season Preview

Very few free agents since the rule intorduced in 1995. The first year was only year 4*+ players available.

1)-Rangers- Dominant season
2)Montreal-They have Blake, Demitra Richter, Zetterberg, Allison & Reechi
3)Edmonton-Lemieux and Lindros
4)Calgary-uinderachievers, Bure Carson, Turgeon, Straka, Zubov & Brodeur.
5)Pittsburgh-Hasek, thionk they are overated

Others
Detroit now in 10th- i will continue to get as many of their 1st rnd picks as i can.
Florida now 16th after they traded datysuk for 30 yo Renberg. Thornton Gonchar Heatley and Tim Connolly alos. Young C. anderson in net. They should be better than this


Will do less updates now we are wining easliy, will combine League and playoff posts