Games 21-40 are in the books, and it has been a real disappointment, with a very bad 7-12-1 record over the process. No need to search the reasons for a long time, the teams doesn't score. Only 48 goals scored in 20 games! Clearly not enough. The powerplay has been a catastrophic disaster, with just 9 goals on 123 opportunities, for a pathetic 7,3%. How can you win with such a dirty PP?
Other than that, the guys aren't playing that bad. They just don't score. We sometimes totally dominate the games, but don't score, and find ourselves trailing by one goal, pull the goalie in last minute, and finally loose by a pair once the opposition found the empty net. Very frustrating, as it costs us a lot of points. And unless we finally find the net more often, we'll miss the playoffs... again...
On the good side, Cammalleri seems to finally step up, and took the lead in the team in terms of goals. But he just has 16 goals... in 40 games... Doan is second with 13 goals, and they are the only two guys who reached the 10 goals mark after 40 games. Vrbata, Sjöström and Reinprecht get 9; Kaigorodv and Zigomanis get 8. If all of them had just 2 more goals each, it would have turned many defeats into victories.
Sjöström has been transparent in this second segment. After taking the team lead in goals, assists, points, and +/- during the first 20 games, he has been absolutely transparent. Over his last 12 games, he has zero points and a minus-6 rating. So after a hot Sjöström and a cold Cammalleri, we now have a hot Cammalleri and a cold Sjöström. If they had the good idea to both product at the same time, it could clearly not hurt...
Boynton makes me laugh. He is unhappy with the team's poor league position, but is clearly one of the reasons of that bad position! After 40 games, he has just one point (an assist), a minus-14 rating (dead last in the team), and 50 penalty minutes, mostly stupid penalties. I'm glad i let him out of my core selection for this season, even if it means keeping a naff Tjärnqvist! Boynton doesn't deserve his 2.9M$. I dropped him out of the core with the idea to maybe deal him (as he is in the final year of his contract), and it seems i made the right decision. I just hope i'll be able to get a good return for him.
My only trade so far (made in early November) turns out to be a steal! I shipped Serge Payer to Ottawa in exchange for center prospect Alexander Nikulin, who was a 4th round pick (#122) of the Sens in 2004. In 24 games so far with San Antonio, he has 15 goals, 14 assists, a plus-8 rating, and a 8.50 average rating. He will probably make the big team next year, once Tjärnqvist will be crying for a contract on the FA market.
In San Antonio, Enver Lisin rocks. Nothing surprising there, but i didn't expected that much out of him. 36 games, 27 goals, 29 assists, 56 points, +21, 8.06 AvR. He leads the AHL in goals and points, while the second in points is 10 units behind! There are great chances that he becomes my season 3 HG.
Mueller and Hanzal are looking good too, but need at least one more AHL season, maybe two or three, before being NHL ready. Same for Carcillo, who starts to be pretty impressive in AHL, but needs a few more seasonning.
](./images/smilies/wallbash.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
Hanzal is tearing it up right now in CHL in my season, will be interesting to see how he progresses. 
I know i'm about starting season 2, but firstly need to select my core. No FA signings during the summer, as i got pretty much was i want. Season 1 deadline acquisitions of Regehr, Cammalleri, Pettinger, and Bradley, plus Kaigorodov as a HG, should fill the most urgent holes. The other ones will be filled with the upcoming prospects (Hanzal/Mueller/Lisin, obviously, and maybe a few others).
