Big LHL Season preview 3

The quest for the Lanny McDonald Cup.

This is the last Big LHL season preview. I have included the last two groupings; Mike Bullard's Mustache and Lanny McDonald’s Mustache. These groups are close in ability and contain most of the traditional LHL powerhouses like the Tokers and the Tundra. All of these teams should all be in the playoff hunt all year long.

Group 3: Mike Bullard's Mustache

This group includes teams 5-7 in no particular order.Any of these teams could take the cup and any of these teams may not make the playoffs.

Fulong Flames

• Staches: The Fulong Flames are not as close to Lanny as the Sutter's team in Calgary. Fulong has plenty of exciting players but may not have enough horses to win the cup. The Flames have brought together a young group of potential super stars with Nash, Spezza, Marleau and Briere. The real strength of the Flames may be Nabokov and Giguere in goal. The Flames will compete if the Sharks and Ducks win.
  
• Mullets: Modry, Daze and Gionta hardly scare anybody. The Flames also have an average blue liner with Zdlicky Johnsson and Jovanovski. The Flames may not have enough depth to make a run.
  
• Question: How will the senior Quattro turn out? Roberts, Robitaille, Kovalev and Hull were Fantasy superstars in the 90s but it isn't the 90s. Fulong will be heading to the playoffs if any two of these players have decent years.

Bo Ho Blackouts

• Staches: The Blackouts may have the best goaltending in the LHL. Luongo and Vokoun are studs who play for average teams. Bo Ho is in the playoffs if the Panthers and Predators improve. The Blackouts also have some strength up front with Weight, Gagne, Nedved and Jagr . Bo Ho will contend if Jagr plays to his enormous ability and stops chugging cock.
• Mullets: Primeau, Friesen and Mogilny have been killing fantasy teams for years. The Blackouts defense is young and without any proven point getter. Hamrlik is the key on defense.
• Question: How good are Bocheski and Daniels? They both appear to be the real deals but they are both rookies. The Blackouts could be set for years but having two rookies as your key players is a recipe for disaster this year. The more I analyze the Blackouts the more I realize I may have made mistake in my rankings. They are much closer to Theo’s bottle than Lanny’s stache.

Pekka Rautakalios

• Staches: Team Czech must be confused as Pekka has bolstered his squad with 9, count em 9 Czechs. Any team with Iginla and Hejduk has to be a contender. Lang and Bergeron should also be able to contribute. This team should be able to score if yashin has a good year.
  
• Mullets: The Rautakalios took some gambles in the draft with Yashin, Straka and Tvederdosky. Too his credit, owner Brent Morrison didn’t overpay for them, but damn they are risky. The Pekka also have what looks like a terrible defense with Kaberle and Markov leading the way.
• Question: How well will the goalies play this year? It may be feast or famine in the Pekka net. Esche, Biron and Legace are all quality net minders. Pekka will be set if they all remain starters. I am not sure if they all will (Osgoode will be back) with Esche and Biron having younger highly regarded backups. Peeka is done if any 2 of these goalies are backing up in March.
  

Group 4: Lanny McDonald’s Mustache

This group includes teams 1-4 in no particular order. These teams should all make the playoffs and be solid LHL teams for years to come.

CCCP

• Staches: The defending regular season champ CCCP had a surprisingly strong draft. They look strong up front with fantasy star Sundin and St. Louis leading the way. CCCP needs Gomez and Ryder to step it up and have nig years. CCCP also have one of the best defenses in The LHL led by Niedermeyer, Blake Sopel and Van Ryn.
• Mullets: Goaltending could kill CCCP in 2005. Belfour will celebrate his 40th birthday this season and Roloson is turning 36. Can these two seniors pull together a decent year? CCCp also drafted questionable players like Bad back LeClair and that cock sucker Czerkawski.
  
• Question: Will Stillman play as well in Carolina as he did in Tampa Bay? He was huge two years ago but I doubt he can repeat on the terrible Hurricanes. He needs to repeat for CCCP to have a chance.
  

Frozen Tundra

• Staches: The defending champ Frozen Tundra look capable of defending their cup. Frozen has possibly the strongest set of forwards in the LHL. The Tundra will be tough with centers Federov and Morrison joining Naslund, Heatley, and Guerin on the wings. he should be able to pile up the points on offense.
  
• Mullets: While the Tundra does have good offense talent there is a large drop off in skill. Hect, Vyborny and Sedin don’t scare anybody but their owner. There defense is also only average with a big drop off after Tarnstrom and Chara.
• Question: How will the Tundra be able to win with shaky goaltending? Like so many LHL teams the Tundra have questions in net. Aebischer, Lalime and Fernandez usually put up good nembers but how will Lalime and Fernandez do on weak teams.

Swift Current Spazz

• Staches: Goaltending has always been a strength in Swift Current. It has allowed the Spazz to squeak into the playoffs for years on end. For the first time ever, super stud Brodeur is not playing with a proven guy for the Spazz. Can the LA duo of garon and that other guy play well enough to win? The Spazz do have a ton of players to fill the net with Richards, Datsyuk, and Doan leading the way. Ruutu may also just be coming into his own. The Spazz also have very good 2nd tier guys like Morrow, Knuble, Smyth and Parrish.
  
• Mullets: The defense is weak but has potential with Bouwmeester joining solid players Hannan and Timonen. Outside fo Brodeur, the Spazz have very little experience in net.
  
• Question: Selanne, Bondra and Parise? The Spazz can win the title if any of these guys has a big year. I am sure the Spazz are hoping for Parise to lead the way but will take any thing Selanne or Bondra can give. They are both old men but maybe they have another year in them. The Spazz have all the talent to make a run to raise Lanny’s stache in 2006.

Tijuana Tokers

• Staches:Tokers owner Ryan Robinson missed the draft and may find it difficult to make it back to the title game. With out a doubt the best manager in LHL, mismanagement may come back to haunt him this year. He just doesn't seem like he's on his game like in past years. The Tokers are set with Thornton and Kipprusoff. Thornton is joined up front by Elias, Jokkinen, Sullivan, Walker, Dvorak and Recchi. Obviously the strength of this team is on offense.
• Mullets: Tijuana is looking weak on defense and doesn’t have a lot of depth up front. Schneider and Hill are solid but Niinima, Zyuzin and Boynton look dodgy at best. The Tokers are gambling that Weekes will play well for the Rangers, which is a big gamble.
• Question: How will hepatitis therapy impact Patrick Elias? Elias spent the off-season in all the best Czech whorehouses and contracted hepatitis a. The Tokers will need him to have a good season if they want to return to the title game.