With only 15-20 games remaining for each NHL team, the Experts Pool is racing to a close.  Many teams have cut down their projected games played.  The Comish has had his lead chopped to 10.5 points with three sharks nipping at his heels.

 The biggest mover of the month was Lanky, who gained 12 overall points for the second time in two months and rose from fourth to second place in the standings.  The Ultimate SC gained eleven points overall in the month of February.  

Who had the best month in the offensive categories?
Goals:  63 (Lanky), 62 (Angus), 57 (Duke), 56 (Comish)
Assists:  107 (Lanky), 101 (Comish), 97 (Ultimate SC)
Points:  170 (Lanky), 157 (Comish), 150 (Angus & Ultimate SC)
Plus/Minus:  Plus-33 (Lanky & Notch), Plus-20 (Angus)
Penalty Minutes:  256 (Lanky), 213 (McKeen’s M*A*S*H), 197 (Duke), 196 (Dobber)
Shots on Goal:  632 (Lanky), 617 (Comish), 544 (Ultimate SC)

In the goaltending categories; Lanky led the month with 18 wins, Dobber had 15, Notch 13 and Angus, Comish and Duke each posted 11 wins.  Lanky lowered his goals against average from 2.76 to 2.70.  The Ultimate SC, McKeen’s M*A*S*H and Bugg lowered their goals against by 0.05.  Third Degree Burns was torched and saw his average rise from 2.79 to 2.88.  Both The Comish and JP saw their goals against average increase by 0.06.  The Ultimate SC recorded four shutouts. Notch had three and Lanky, Dobber and The Comish each had two apiece in the month.

Dobber added the Dick (Tarnstrom), Sami Salo and Sam Gagner in February.  The Ultimate SC picked up Carey Price and then scooped Mike Richards via waivers.  Notch grabbed Brandon Dubinsky and Johnny Oduya, while Angus added Patrick O’Sullivan and Toni Lydman.

Angus dropped C/LW-Chris Higgins and Lanky added Higgins to his roster three days later!  On February 10, Dobber tried to pick up Darcy Tucker as a free agent.  Everything seemed fine until he pressed “submit”, that’s when Yahoo said he belonged to another team.  The Comish apparently scooped Dobber by mere seconds, proving that I can type at least one word per minute faster than Dobber!     

There have been six trades made since February 2nd.  Apparently The Comish picked a bad time to go on holidays.  McKeen’s Magic sustained yet another injury and changed their name to McKeen’s M*A*S*H.  He then proceeded to advertise a “fire sale” and liquidated most of his roster in trades with the second and third place teams (at the time).  The NHL’s trading deadline day was boring in comparison to the trades that transpired in the Experts pool over the last month:

Feb. 8
To Lanky522’s Hitmen:  RW-Jaromir Jagr NYR/LW-RW-Tomas Holmstrom Det/D-Duncan Keith Chi/G-Rick DiPietro NYI
To Sticks&Stones:  C-Mike Comrie NYI/C-RW-Phil Kessel Bos/D-Ron Hainsey Cls/G-Nikolai Khabibulin Chi

Feb. 27
To Notch:  C-Joe Thornton SJ/D-Dan Boyle TB/D-Brent Burns Min
To McKeen’s M*A*S*H:  LW-Kristian Huselius Cgy/D-Mathieu Schneider Ana/RW-Marek Svatos Col (Note: Svatos was injured after this trade!)

Feb. 27
To Angus:  RW-Marian Gaborik Min/D-Shea Weber Nas/D-Michal Rozsival NYR
To McKeen’s M*A*S*H:  RW-Corey Perry Ana/C-Valtteri Filppula Det/RW-Ales Kotalik Buf/D-Jaroslav Spacek Buf

Feb. 27
To Notch:  C-Mats Sundin Tor/RW-Chris Neil Ott
To McKeen’s M*A*S*H:  C-Chris Drury NYR/C-RW-Jiri Hudler Det

Feb. 28
To Angus:  LW-Ray Whitney Car/RW-Radim Vrbata Pho
To McKeen’s M*A*S*H:  LW-Sergei Samsonov Car/LW-Wojtek Wolski Col

Mar. 3
To Notch:  RW-Ryan Smyth Col/RW-Corey Perry Ana
To McKeen’s M*A*S*H:  D-Johnny Oduya NJ/G-Manny Legace Stl

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