Tag Archives: Western Conference

May 14

NHL Playoffs: Second Round Predictions That Will No Doubt Be Proven Wrong

Posted on by

No rest for the wicked, eh? A scant 24 hours after two very intriguing Game 7 implosions, we’re back at it with two first round series starting up tonight! Back to offer their thoughts are Glen, Troy and a Coin who all did surprisingly well last round!

In third place is a man who correctly predicted the Penguins, Senators, Bruins, Blackhawks, and Kings advancing, and earns an extra point for correctly calling the Hawks winning in 5, for a total of 6 points is Troy!

Troy Says: That first round was crazy! It was heartbreaking to see my Canadiens lose to an incredibly scrappy and determined Ottawa team….especially since their first goal in game 4 was EXTREMELY obviously kicked in and it completely boggles my mind as to how in the world that was actually allowed to count…..but I digress. It was a mix of fun and sad to watch the Canucks implode once again. Watching the magic that follows the Red Wings continues to amaze. They had an incredible stretch just to make the playoffs and then they defeated a loaded Anaheim team.

Back in the East watching Marc-Andre Fleury pretend to play for the Penguins while obviously being paid off by the Islanders was interesting to say the least. If the Islanders had gotten absolutely any goaltending from Nabokov they could easily be in the second round right now.

In the Boston/Toronto series my heart truly breaks for the Leafs. That was an epic and unmatched collapse. It’s all part of the learning process though. Next year will be different for the Leafs. Same with Montreal and the Islanders. They are young teams trying to get their feet wet and as they say you have to learn to lose before you can learn to win.

In second place is a man who perfectly predicted all four series in the East and called both the Blackhawks and Red Wings advancing. In addition he called the Rangers 7 game win, giving him 7 total points is Glen!

Glen Says: What an unbelievable First Round we saw! For the first time in recent memory, the Eastern Conference was more compelling and entertaining than the West.

We had the Penguins look very beatable, only to resolve things with a goalie switch. Then the Senators and Canadiens had an all-out blood war that featured some of the best quotes of the post-season. The Capitals and Leafs both gave their teams reasons to hope only to completely fall apart in different yet spectacular ways in Game 7.

The second round as a whole looks incredibly promising as we get two Original Six showdowns, a geographic battle, and of course Matt Cooke in Ottawa. Even if  most of the series end quickly like they did last year, this still should be a ton of fun.

Last year in the West, everyone was amazed that perennial contenders in Chicago, Detroit, Vancouver, and San Jose all fell in the first round and everyone called it a changing of the guard. Well guess what? A year later and three of those four teams are back in the second round and they are joined by the Stanley Cup Champion  – who coincidentally join the ’08 Red Wings and ’09 Penguins as the only champs since 2002 to win a series the next year – needless to say, what’s old is new again out West, and it’s pretty damn exciting!

And somehow or another the Coin was able to predict the Pens, Sens, Rangers, Bruins, Blackhawks, and Sharks to advance and even more astonishing – it called the Sens and Hawks in 5 and the Rangers in 7. Yeah they coin has 9 total points…kill us all.

WESTERN CONFERENCE
 
#1 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS vs #7 DETROIT RED WINGS

One more time for the last time

Troy: If you aren’t following @Eklund on Twitter…you should be. He made a point about the Red Wings that is absolutely bang on. They are by far the best coached team in the playoffs. Combine that with the fact that Chicago was not on their game in the first round and this could be a very entertaining series. I think the Wings will be a good test for the Blackhawks and I think it will be the push they need to start firing on all cylinders again. The unknown here is Howard. These teams are close enough that Howard could absolutely steal a game or two so Chicago will be able to take absolutely no short cuts. Even though Chicago wasn’t completely in their game in the first round they still took out Minny in 5 games and their captain, Jonathan Toews did not play anywhere near his capabilities. Toews won’t let that happen two series in a row.

Blackhawks in 6

Glen Says: If anyone is going to beat the Hawks this year, it won’t be the Red Wings. The Wings were lucky enough to matchup against the weakest non-Southeast Division leader in recent memory. As Troy said, the Wings are very well coached, but Babcock simply doesn’t have the horses for this race. The Hawks are just too deep and the Red Wings don’t have Lidstrom anymore. There is a reason that Ryan Sutter played a million minutes in the last round, they wanted him out there against both Kane and Toews. The Red Wings just don’t have a minute muncher anymore to do that. Thankfully there is the Original Six Factor here, because this series will be a ugly.

Blackhawks in 5.

Coin Says: Blackhawks in 5

Expect to Hear: ”How do you feel like playing a few more games?” – Ken Holland talking to his cell phone as he makes a mysterious call to Sweden.
#5 LOS ANGELES KINGS vs #6 SAN JOSE SHARKS

Gamers vs. Chokers

Troy Says: This is a series that pits two teams each having won four straight games. The Kings had a very tough start to their series but then rattled off four wins in a row against a damn good St. Louis team. San Jose however swept a disorganized and pitiful Vancouver team that completely lost themselves. That being said I think this is LA’s series to lose.

Kings in 5

Glen Says: I want to like the Sharks, really I do. I started blogging about sport in 2007, and sending e-mails to Troy for many years before that, and I picked Teal and Black to win or at least make the finals nearly every time. However, after too many disappointments, I just can’t do it. Last round I said that the winner of LA-St. Louis would make the finals, so I better stick with it. Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, and Anti Niemi will do their best to make a series of it, but the Kings have the experience. Oddly, this is the first time the Kings have had home ice in a playoff series since the first round of the 1992 playoffs. They were undefeated at home against the Blues…

Kings in 6

Coin Says: Kings in 6

Expect to Hear: “We’re part of the Battle of California too” – All 12 Ducks Fans

EASTERN CONFERENCE
#1 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs. #7 OTTAWA SENATORS

CSI Ottawa: Staring Eugene Caruso 

Troy Says: This is easily the series I am most looking forward to in the second round. I think Ottawa is going to be a really tough opponent for the Pens. Pittsburgh’s goaltending in the first round was horrible. They had to use Vokoun because Fleury couldn’t stop a beach ball. Now look at the other end of the rink and you’ll see Anderson. He played incredibly well against Montreal and was a huge reason why they took out my Habs in 5. Pittsburgh beat the Islanders in 6. But they did it in spite of their goaltending. Ottawa will not be that easy to overcome. Daniel Alfredsson has given his team everything and he’s proven that he still has a lot left in the tank. As Karl Eriksson gets his game back this team is only going to get better. This Ottawa team seems to have a cinderella feel to them and I think the Pens are vulnerable.

 

Senators in 6

 

Glen Says: Let’s see, one team rolled over their opponents in 5 games which included two 6-1 curb-stompings. The other had a goaltending controversy despite winning two shutouts, and survived two other overtime scares to win an incredibly close series in 6 games.

If I wrote that as a “future preview” two weeks ago you’d be expect the first sentence to be about the Pens route and the second one to be about the Sens route. Yet somehow or another, things changed and the Senators come in looking like world beaters and the Penguins come in a little shaky.

Honestly, I think that the Islanders poked the dragon here. The Penguins looked very focused in Games 6 and 7 after being tied 2-2 and going with the goalie switch. Expect Tomas Vokun to start this series but be given a short leash. The team just seems to play better in front of him. Now Evgeni Nabokov was pretty bad in the first round, I mean, not Marc-Andre Fleury bad, but pretty terrible. Expect the Penguins to have a much harder time scoring on Craig Anderson. However, Malkin, Iginla and Crosby are 2,4,5 in playoff scoring and people haven’t noticed them, so expect all three to step it up as things keep going.

This series will be fun and the games should be very close, but the Sens just can’t hang with this team that seems to be starting to click on all cylinders.

Penguins in 5 very close games

Coin Says: Senators in 5

Expect to Hear: ”It wasn’t Matt Cooke! It was Colonel Mustard in the Observatory with the Skate Blade” – Eugen Melnyk after finding the results of his forensic investigation

#4 BOSTON BRUINS vs #6 NEW YORK RANGERS

HRR Bonanza!!

Troy Says: Another Original Six matchup! I love it! This one should be very tight. Callahan has been everything for the Rangers and with Lundqvist between the pipes they are going to be extremely tough. Boston is coming off one of the biggest Game 7 comebacks in playoff history (first team to comeback from 3 goals down in the 3rd period of a game 7) so they are certainly going to be emotionally charged. The Rangers are obviously a much different team than the Leafs and they boast much more playoff experience so they will not be a pushover. i honestly don’t have a feel for which team has the advantage in this series. In a series like this is tends to come down to goaltending and New York has the advantage there.

Rangers in 6.

Glen Says: Which team should be more excited about their Game 7 win?

The Rangers looked bad in the first two games of the series but once they got going, they never looked back. Henrik Lundqvist, the best goalie in the world is coming into this series on back-to-back shutouts and they got the win despite Rick Nash and Brad Richards not showing up much on the score sheet. If those two guys can start to play to their level, and if Chris Kreider can recapture some of the playoff magic he had last year, these guys could really make some noise.
The Bruins on the other hand are a curious story. In Games 1,3, and the last few minutes of Game 7 they looked like world beaters, but the rest of the series they looked pretty average. People are, quite rightly, praising the Leafs for hanging with the Bruins, but shouldn’t they also be asking the Bruins why they played down to the Leafs level for so long? How can a team this good be down 4-1 against a team like the Leafs? The Bruins need to figure this out or they will be in trouble. Lucky for them their Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin like finally clicked in the dying minutes of Game 7, hopefully they can keep delivering when their backs aren’t against the wall.
I took the Bruins to make the Conference final at the start of the playoffs, so I better stick with it but I think that this series will be a lot closer than I initially predicted.
Bruins in 7

Coin Says: Rangers in 4

QUICK HITS
Troy Says: 
Blackhawks over Kings in 7
Senators over Rangers in 5

Blackhawks over Senators in 6 (If it goes 7, Anderson gets the Conn Smythe no question)

Glen Says:
Kings over Blackhawks in 7
Penguins over Bruins in 6

Penguins over Kings in 6

 

Coin Says:

Kings over Blackhawks in 5
Rangers over Senators in 7

Rangers over Kings in 5

Judging by the way things went in the first round we better put our money on the Rangers here…

Apr 30

NHL Playoffs: Western Conference First Round Predictions That Will No Doubt Be Proven Wrong

Posted on by

Well it’s the most wonderful time of the year once more!!! That’s right the NHL playoffs are starting up once more! It’s hard not to get in the spirit of excitement  especially after thinking that we may not see playoff hockey until 2014. So of course it means one things: baseless predictions! Myself, my hetero-life-mate Troy, and a 2002 Two Dollar Canadian coin I found in a pile will be making predictions for the playoffs. In addition to providing fool-proof (and most certainly wrong) predictions for each series we’ll also provide a simple tag-line to help you remember this series among all the others and a primer for the refrain that you’ll be hearing about this series going forward.

In this post we’re going to look at the left half of the continent as we preview the Western Conference. This year everyone seems to be counting on the Chicago Blackhawks who dominated the regular season, but there are still last years surprise champion Kings waiting in the wings, and let’s not forget rising teams in the Ducks, Wild, and Blues. Of course the Sharks, Cancuks, and Red Wings aren’t dead yet, and could still put up a hell of a fight. The Western Conference has traditionally been very unpredictable, so expect the unexpected…which I guess means that the expected will be unexpected, which you should have been expecting all along!

…alright I gave myself a headache there, let’s get to it.

 

#1 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS vs. #8 MINNESOTA WILD

The Midwest Massacre

 

Glen Says: This will be an absolute curb-stomping. The Blackhawks have been the best team in the league from the opening puck drop. They went half the season without losing in regulation and have been in control of the President’s Trophy since then. The Wild struggled a bit at the start of the season, peaked in the middle, then struggled to close down the stretch, which made them finish in the dreaded 8th seed. Even if the top talent on the Wild play to their potential, they just can’t match the depth of the Hawks. This series should be quick and painful for the state of Minnesota. However, once the Wild’s young talent like Brodin and Granlund actualize in the next few years this could be one of the league’s next great rivalries. But next doesn’t mean today.

Blackhawks in 4

Troy Says: Let’s see….a team that went a billion games in a row without losing a game in regulation versus a team that barely beat the crappiest team in the league on the last day of the season to barely sneak into the playoffs. I don’t think there’s much to talk about with this one folks. This series should basically just be a warm up for the Hawks. Serves Minny right too because they eliminated Columbus who has a goalie with easily the coolest last name ever….Bobrovsky.

For poops and giggles I’ll say the Wild win one game.

Hawks in 5.

Coin Says: Hawks in 5

Expect to Hear: ”Just a reminder, despite not playing in several weeks the Blackhawks are still in the playoffs…”

#2 ANAHEIM DUCKS vs. #7 DETROIT RED WINGS

The Reason for Realignment

Glen Says: The Red Wings must be so thrilled that they not only avoided Chicago in the first round, but also avoided Vancouver, LA, and really any other elite team in the West. The Ducks had a very good regular season but are clearly punching above their weight class with the second seed. Even though they clearly miss the greatest defenseman of the generation they still have some weapons to through out. Expect to see Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry wearing red sweaters that vaguely resemble Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. This will be the Wings last playoff run in the Western Conference and I don’t expect it to end all that quickly. Plus we really need one more Detroit-Chicago series for old times sake

Red Wings in 6

Troy Says: How weird was it coming down the stretch and actually thinking that there was a chance Detroit might not make the playoffs? It’s just a given that they’ll be in. In the end it took a gritty effort from the Wings to pull it together and even still it was Zetterberg who put this team in his back and got the job done. There is no shortage of pure talent on this team but the same can be said of Anaheim. Perry, Getzlaf, Ryan. These guys are good. I’m really not sure which way to go with this series. Even though it’s a 2 vs 7 series it really doesn’t feel like it. Especially after Detroit picked up their socks at the end of the season and really started to play well. My gut though is telling me Anaheim is coming out of this series.

Ducks in 7.
Coin Says: Ducks in 7

Expect to Hear: “Ten years ago the 7th seed Ducks swept the 2nd seed Red Wings and somehow that’s still relevant”

#3 VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs. #6 SAN JOSE SHARKS

Slackers of the World Unite!

 

Glen Says: This series has all kinds of intrigue as we see the two teams that have been unfairly cast as underachievers for the better part of the past decade. Of course back-to-back Conference final appearances by the Leafs in the 90s was considered a dynasty and fifteen playoff wins for the Oilers and Flames was considered spectacular, but I digress. These two teams both have the world to prove and both coaches are most certainly playing for their jobs here. As with all things Canucks, goaltending is the most interesting facet and should be fascinating to watch playout in this series. Of course Schneider is hurt and Luongo was hung out to dry in the last game of the season. Expect it to be a massive distraction, still though the Canucks have really found their game of late and appear to be healthy and rolling and should win a very close series.

Canucks in 7

Troy Says: This is another tough series to call. Vancouver is not the same team that made it to the cup final in 2012 but San Jose traded two of their toughest players this year at the deadline in Clowe and Murray. They’re going to miss those guys when the puck drops in the playoffs. Although a lot is still expected of the Canucks the expectations are nowhere near as high as in the years leading up to their run in 2011 and I actually think that could benefit them here. It may allow them to play more of their game. If they get the kind of goaltending they need from either Schneider or Luongo then they’ll be a serious threat.

Canucks in 6.
Coin Says: Sharks in 5

Expect to Hear: ”We lost 2-1, it’s clearly Luongo’s fault!”

#4 ST. LOUIS BLUES vs. #5 LOS ANGELES KINGS

Seriously, They Played Last Year…We Promise

 

Glen Says: I put this as one of the five most intriguing potential series the other day and I stand by it. These teams match up very well against one another. They both have incredible defensemen, a lot of depth up front, options in net, and great coaches that love a defense-first game. In short, these two teams are both made for the playoffs. In my opinion the winner of this will make it out of the Western Conference much to the shock of the Chicago Blackhawks. Since 2003, the Stanley Cup Champions have had a series record of 4-7 with three of those series wins coming from the 2009 Detroit Red Wings, so let’s go with that easy narrative here.

Blues in 7

Troy Says: Hard to count out the defending champs. They’ve already proven they can handle the pressure and that they have what it takes. St. Louis is a team that has been on the rise for a number of years and they’re finally starting to see the fruits of their labour in a strong way. Add into the mix the skills of Jay Bouwmeester who will finally never have to answer questions about never having been in the playoffs and the Blues are a team on the verge of making some noise. As much of a cliché as it is, this series is probably going to come down to goaltending. Last year the Kings shelled Elliot in their series against the Blues but on the other hand there has been a significant drop off in Jonathan Quick’s play as compared to last year so it’s a tough call.  Interesting to note that these teams have met three times in the playoffs and each time it’s been a sweep. I’m going to go with my gut again and take LA.

Kings in 7

Coin Says: Blues in 4

Expect to Hear: ”Who will be the this years version of last years Kings? This years Blues or this years Kings?”

QUICK HITS

As a bonus for fun, we’ll try and suss out the next few rounds, mostly so people can say how wrong we were…
Just a reminder that in the NHL second round teams are reseeded, the highest remaining team plays the lowest remaining team.
Glen Says:

#1 Chicago Blackhawks over Detroit Red Wings in 5

#4 St. Louis Blues over #3 Vancouver Canucks in 6

#4 St. Louis Blues over #1 Chicago Blackhawks in 6

 

Troy Says:

#1 Chicago Blackhawks over #5 Los Angeles Kings in 6

#2 Anaheim Ducks  over #3 Vancouver Canucks in 7

 

#1 Chicago Blackhawks over #2 Anaheim Ducks in 5

 

Coin Says:

#1 Chicago Blackhawks over #6 San Jose Sharks in 6

#4 St. Louis Blues over #2 Anaheim Ducks in 6

 

#1 Chicago Blackhawks over #4 St. Louis Blues in 7 (with a 3-0 comeback no less!)

 

…Troy clearly copied the coin on this one!

Come back tomorrow to see the East. Will anyone stop the Penguins? Are the Capitals finally clicking? What about the All-Canadian matchup that no one asked for. Come back to find out!
Jan 21

Western Conference Predicted Standings

Posted on by

After posting picks for the East yesterday it’s time to look to the Wild Wild West. Last year the eight seed went out and crushed the Top 3 teams en route to winning the Cup, previous stalwarts like Detroit, Vancouver, San Jose, and Chicago all bowed out in the first round, and other squads like Minnesota, Dallas and Edmonton are looking to make some noise. As usual the Western Conference will be in a complete state of flux, and with such a short season it should be even stranger.

The predicted standings are…

15. Columbus Blue Jackets: Let’s start with the closest thing that we have to a sure fire prediction. This team was terrible last year and then went out and traded away their player netting very little back in return. Hopefully they actually win the draft lottery this year and end up with Seth Jones or Nathan McKinnon to help reinvigorate this incredibly struggling franchise before they become the Markham Blue Jackets!

14. Calgary Flames: The Flames have been one of the most consistent teams since the last lockout, consistently mediocre that is. For years they have been a lock to be penciled into the amorphous 7-12 spot in the West. This year things could finally come off the rails as their core keeps getting older, their big additions of Hudler and Wiedeman have “Boumeester Part II” written all over them, and the series of back-to-backs do not favour a workhorse like Kiprusof. The most interesting thing about this squad wil be to see if they actually trade Iginla this year.

13. San Jose Sharks: Sacrilege I know! This team was remarkably good for the better part of a decade, but their time may be up. Last year they finished 7th in the West and looked terrible in the playoffs. They made no noticeable additions in the summer and like Calgary, their core has passed their prime. The short season may drag on too long for this team.

12. Anaheim Ducks: Last season it looked like SuperPerry returned to earth after being dominant the year before. While the dynamite Getzlaf-Perry-Ryan trio is too good to be as horrible as they were last year, it doesn’t seem likely that any of them will be able to will this team into the playoffs like they did in 2011. Both Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are free agents at year end, and if the Ducks give up and trade both of them, expect this team to be competing with Columbus for the Conference basement.

11. Colorado Avalanche: How on earth can this team give P.A. Parenteau $4 million and play hardball with Ryan O’Reiley? It just boggles the mind here! This team made some noise late last season and Varlamov was tearing up the KHL during the lockout, so don’t expect them to be terrible, but they won’t be able to compete with the other up and coming Western Conference teams just yet.

10. Dallas Stars: If this was 2007 they would have the best team in hockey. Yet unfortunately Jagr and Whitney won’t be putting up huge numbers, sure they will help, but they won’t be enough to get this team the handful of points that will separate most teams in the West. Now if they can get Jamie Benn signed and playing soon then things could be different, but that seems like it will be a bit of a protracted battle for reasons that defy logic.

9. Minnesota Wild: On July 4 when Parise and Suter were signed it seemed like everyone was ready to plan the parade dubbing them the Miami Heat of Hockey. Now that things have calmed down a bit this team is not quite as good as the hype leads one to believe. One must remember that they were worse than the Blue Jackets after New Year’s last year and adding two player won’t turn a bad team to champions. Sure they have some very good young players coming in like Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle, but those take time. This team will be a Western Conference powerhouse soon enough but it won’t be yet. The new players may have some difficulty adjusting to the system which will give them a bit of a slow start which will cost them a few points in the very close Western Conference.

8. Edmonton Oilers: Is this finally the time for this squad to get there? They have been bad for so long and have such a strong collection of talent that it’s only natural that they take the jump soon. Sure goaltending is a big question and the defense is a little shaky but the young player should benefit from the back-to-back games and most of this team has been dominating the AHL for the past few months so chemistry should not be an issue. Of course they won’t last too long in the playoffs, but there is a lot of reason to be excited in Oil Town.

7. Detroit Red Wings: This feels dirty doesn’t it? This team is clearly trending downward especially after losing one of the greatest defensemen of all time. For the first time in memory defense is a big weakness on this squad. Howard was very good last year and Gustavson has the potential for a bounce-back season so that should lesson some of their other shortcomings, obviously their forwards are world class but they are a little light on depth which should put them in a very unfamiliar spot at the middle of the pack.

6. Nashville Predators: Sure everyone wants to write them off after losing Ryan Suter, but let’s not forget that Shea Weber is still there. This team has the best defensemen in the world, one of the best coaches, and one of the top goalies. Let’s also not forget that this team scored the eighth most goals in the league last season without any big names up front. This is a squad that bounces back year after year, expect this to be no different.

5. Chicago Blackhawks: This team is pretty much the same as it was last year, high-level top talent, average depth, and questionable goaltending. Last year they were able to finish 6th, but three points out of 4th so there’s little reason to think that they won’t be in the same place especially if Patrick Kane is able to recover from an off year.

4. Phoenix Coyotes: Let’s see, they won their division and made it to the Conference finals after everyone counted them out. This year, everyone is counting them out again and they bring back the same pieces. Mike Smith was spectacular in the playoffs last year and should solidify his position as a top level goalie this year.

3. Vancouver Canucks: This is all contingent on how the goaltending situation resolves itself. If they trade Luongo for some top level talent they could easily finish first in the West, but as it stands now their prospects are not so bright. Currently they don’t have a second line as both Booth and Kesler are out with long term injuries and Jason Garrison seems like a flash in the pan last year. Of course they are still better than the bad (but improving) teams in their division. This seems to be their last chance to win, and sadly it doesn’t look like they will be able to do it.

2. Los Angeles Kings: They bring back the same roster that dominated the NHL last spring and are incredibly well rested. Not only should they win their pretty bad division with ease, they stand a very good chance of repeating as champions.

1. St. Louis Blues: There is no reason not to believe in this team right now. They are perhaps the deepest, most complete team in the NHL and with the rash of injuries that are bound to take place this year that’s incredibly important. They had two stellar goalies and can roll line after line of talented player. Last year was no aberration, this team is going to be a force in the West for a very long time.

 

As for the playoffs, the Blues should make short work of the Oilers while the Kings can pass the Wings in a tough series, expect Nashville to surprise the Canucks and the Blackhawks to get revenge on the Coyotes on the backs of a great Marian Hossa series and story. That leaves the Blues beating the Predators in a series that sees record low goals scored and the Kings rolling through the Blackhawks. St. Louis should get revenge on LA for sweeping them last year to move onto the finals where they lose to the Penguins. That’s right, Crosby hoists the Cup again.

We can dream, can’t we?

May 09

NHL Realignment: A Balanced Approach

Posted on by

With yesterdays news that the Phoenix Coyotes will be staying put…err there is a strong possibility that they will be staying put…or they might be staying put…errrr we have no idea what is going on with them and time is running out to move them in the near future, let’s go with that.

With yesterdays news that nobody has any idea what’s going on with the Coyotes, and we are quickly running out of time, the conversation of NHL Realignment needs to happen soon. It seems clear that the NHL did not want to move a team like Columbus or Detroit East for a year and then be forced to move them back West once we get the Hamilton or Quebec Coyotes.

In previous posts way back in January, we looked at different ways to tweak the current alignment to accommodate the relocated Coyotes and to get Winnipeg out of the Southeast Division. In this post we’ll look at ways to change things around a little bit while keeping the Coyotes were they are, as surreal as that is.

We’ll start with the Western Conference were things are far less confusing. First thing is first: one of Detroit, Nashville, or Columbus needs to move East in order to get Winnipeg in the West. For reasons outlined in previous posts, Columbus is the most logical choice. They are the Easternmost team, in the right Time Zone, struggling financially, and very close to both Pittsburgh and Buffalo, so let’s get them East. Sorry sleepy Red Wings fans.

Starting with the Pacific Division, we obviously have the Phoenix Coyotes and the three California teams. The three options for the final piece of this puzzle would be the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, and Vancouver Canucks. Sure Dallas is there already, but it really doesn’t make a ton of sense. The city is a full two Time Zones away from the Pacific Division and doesn’t belong there.

The choice between the Canucks and Avalanche depends on your view of Canadian hockey teams drawing in the United States. In the Northwest Division we will clearly have the Oilers, Flames, Jets, Wild, and one of those two teams. Reports were that none of the American teams wanted to be in a division with four Canadian teams, even though Minnesota is doing just fine for attendance. Nonetheless, this request will be honoured and we can slide Colorado in the Northwest, leaving Vancouver in the Pacific, which really makes more sense as far as Time Zones go.

The Central Division is made up then of Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, and Dallas. This division clearly makes sense geographically and traditionally. Four of the five teams are in the Central Time Zone, with Detroit being only an hour behind.

To recap our Western Conference looks like this:

Pacific Division: Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks
Northwest Division: Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets
Central Division: Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues
Easy right? Well hold tight, the East is going to get very complicated in a moment.

Distances in the East are significantly less than those in the West. Vancouver and Minneapolis, two teams that are in the same division now are over 2,800km apart, while Montreal and Miami, two teams that were almost lumped together in the failed plan last January are over 2,600km apart, which represents the biggest in-Conference distance in the East. So really, if the Canucks and Wild can play together, then any two teams in the Eastern Conference can, especially since they are all in the same Time Zone.

The problem with the Eastern Conference in its current form is the simple fact that everything is stacked. The most of the teams that get the highest attendance and TV Ratings are all in the Northeast or Atlantic Divisions. It’s no wonder that hockey did not catch on in Atlanta, they were getting the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes 3-4 times a year. One of the reasons that the Nashville Predators have been The Great Southern Success Story, has got to be the fact that they’ve shared a division with established teams like Detroit and Chicago for all of their existence. Sure, so has Columbus, so there are clearly other factors here, but it’s hard to discount the drawing power of teams like that.

According to ESPN, the six teams in our Eastern Conference with the lowest percentage attendance are the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning and our newly imported Columbus Blue Jackets. These six teams should be evenly placed in three different divisions and be supported by three stronger markets.

Clearly both Florida teams are together, same with both New York Metropolitan teams, leaving Columbus and Carolina together in the third division.

Looking at the other nine teams we can fit Toronto, Ottawa, and Buffalo as one trio. Montreal and Boston must stay together, same with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Leaving the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals to join each of those duos. As great as the Flyers-Rangers rivalry is and has been, it makes more geographic sense to put the Rangers in with the Bruins and Habs, plus this gives us a division that includes Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, and who doesn’t love that idea right now?

The Rangers-Bruins-Canadiens trio would be a logical dance partner for the Devils-Islanders duo. Despite the proximity of Columbus and Pittsburgh, it makes the most sense to have the Penguins-Flyers-Capitals trio join up with the Florida teams for geographical reasons.

This leaves Toronto, Ottawa, and Buffalo join up with Columbus and Carolina, making a “Mostly Great Lakes” Division. While Ottawa and Raleigh are not exactly neighbours, they have approximately the same distance between them that Denver and Minneapolis do.

If you’re having trouble following along, here are the past 980 words wrapped up in a nice, neat, little map.

As you can see, the “Mostly Great Lakes” Division is without a name at the moment. We could change the Central to the Midwest and use the Central Division for this one, otherwise we’re a little at a loss for a geographic name here.

So to recap for those of you that went all the way to the bottom, we get the following set up for our six divisions:

WESTERN CONFERENCE                                                    EASTERN CONFERENCE

Pacific Division                                                                   Atlantic Division
Anaheim Ducks                                                                    Florida Panthers
Los Angeles Kings                                                                Philadelphia Flyers
Phoenix Coyotes                                                                  Pittsburgh Penguins
San Jose Sharks                                                                  Tampa Bay Lightning
Vancouver Canucks                                                              Washington Capitals

Northwest Division                                                             Northeast Division
Calgary Flames                                                                    Boston Bruins
Colorado Avalanche                                                              Montreal Canadiens
Edmonton Oilers                                                                   New Jersey Devils
Minnesota Wild                                                                     New York Islanders
Winnipeg Jets                                                                       New York Rangers

Central Division                                                                 “Mostly Great Lakes” Division
Chicago Blackhawks                                                            Buffalo Sabres
Dallas Stars                                                                        Carolina Hurricanes
Detroit Red Wings                                                                Columbus Blue Jackets
Nashville Predators                                                              Ottawa Senators
St. Louis Blues                                                                    Toronto Maple Leafs

 

Sure it’s not 100% Ideal, but it’s better than calling Winnipeg Southeast, or Tampa Northeast, isn’t it?

May 07

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Start Loving Sunbelt Hockey

Posted on by

You can practically see the torches and pitchforks at the NHL head offices. For the first time in 16 years, and only the third time since the 1967 Expansion we do not have any Canadian teams playing past the first round. What’s worse the Final Four of the Western Conference features four of the worst kinds of teams, Southern teams.

You can feel the rage coming from North of the border, how can places that don’t get any snow appreciate *our* game? Add in to the fact that a team in DC is still playing, a team from Miami was one goal away from the second round, and Tampa Bay and San Jose both made deep playoff runs a year ago, and the game all Canadians love is under attack from some Great Southern Menace.

At the start of the season everything was looking great for Canadian teams. The Canucks were still considered Stanley Cup contenders, the Maple Leafs, Flames, and Canadiens were considered potential playoff teams, and the Oilers and Senators had a wealth of young talent that could break through in a few years time. But best a team was saved from the apathetic clutches of a failed Southern market and brought back to the True North Strong and Free to become, at the very least, the second favourite team of 35 million people in the Northern half of the continent.

Even better, the prospects going forward looked great. The team in Phoenix was still without an owner, with rumblings that teams in Miami, Columbus, and Long Island may need to look elsewhere, while they were building new NHL ready arenas in Quebec City and the Great Toronto Area. Maybe we could end up Making it Nine!

Well since then things have changed, dramatically. The Coyotes and Panthers won their division and improved their attendance, the Blue Jackets signed a new lease with the city of Columbus for roughly the next millenium, and the Islanders are almost certainly going to stay on Long Island, even if  they end up in Brooklyn.

Worst still the Oilers, the Leafs, and the Canadiens all finished in the bottom five in NHL Standings, the Calgary Flames predictably finished 9th, and after a late season collapse the Winnipeg Jets were unable to make the playoffs. Only the Canucks and Senators made the playoffs, with both bowing out in the first round.

Clearly this is not a good time for hockey north of the border. The Sunbelt is the new king of the NHL!

The truth is, this rage is misguided, misinformed, and fits an overly simplistic narrative.

For starters, this years playoffs have been wildly unpredictable. Who on earth would have imagined Vancouver, Pittsburgh and Boston all bowing out so early? These playoffs have been very flukey so far, and it’s foolish to react like this, especially when the last eight Cup finalists play in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, British Columbia, and Massachusetts. With the warmest place among them being Vancouver, which only gets 3 cm more snow a year than St. Louis for the record. So to say that we are in an era of “Sunbelt Hockey” is looking at the trees and neglecting the forest.
Secondly, and most importantly: bemoaning Southern markets really should be passe. Despite failures in Atlanta, and hiccups in Phoenix, the Great Southern Migration of the 90s has mostly been successful. Nashville and San Jose consistently have very high attendance, and LA, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, and Florida have had their off-ice success tied to on-ice success, which is exactly what has happened in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Boston in the past decade. But more importantly, the NHL has increased their media footprint – do you really think that NBC would have signed such a lucrative deal for 30 teams North of the Mason-Dixie line?
Many Canadians don’t remember ever becoming hockey fans, they just sort of were. Children cheer for the same team that their parents love. But what if their parents aren’t hockey fans? How can they find an entry point into this wonderful game?
My parents are not sports fans at all, so I entered the game a little late. My older half-sister was a big Montreal fan and the spring of ’93 got her more excited than words can describe. Between her joy over Montreal’s miracle run and the ’92 expansion into Ottawa, I was hooked. It certainly didn’t hurt that the playoffs the next year in ’94 were among the best in history, clearly those two years had a tremendous effect on an impressionable 10 and 11 year old.
Who knows, maybe this miracle run by the LA Kings, or the probably news that the Coyotes will stay in Phoenix could help some other kid get hooked, and what’s not to love about that? Sure they may never be able to hold a Winter Classic there, or they may not have the steep tradition related to the game, but it’s time that we share it with someone else.
May 04

Weekly Plus/Minus: WWE Extreme Rules, Second Round Showdowns, Brock Lesnar, Partying Russians, and More!

Posted on by

Has it been seven days already? With the second round of the playoffs in full-swing and a dynamite event from the WWE time just keeps flying by! What was good? What was bad? Well let’s just see here…

Extreme Rules – The Matches: Wow! What an event the WWE put on this past week. The company put on arguably their best event since last years Money in the Bank, coincidently in the same city.

In many ways, this event was what Wrestlemania could have been. Cena-Brock had a feeling of hatred that Cena-Rock didn’t, while Daniel Bryan and Sheamus showed what happens if they are given more than 18 seconds to do their thing. While Punk and Jericho really showed how to blow off a blood feud.

Add in the fact that we had a very good Orton-Kane match to start things out, and we had ourselves a damn fine PPV that sets the bar very high for the rest of the year.

Extreme Rules – The Decisions: Why on earth would they have Brock Lesnar lose his first match in eight years? Why on earth would they have John Cena cut that very bizarre (and wildly ignored) promo at the end?

Apparently after the match Brock Lesnar went crazy backstage, flipping out over the loss and Cena no-selling the beating he took. Or did he? Later reports were that this was exaggerated to “work the boys”. The reasons for this really aren’t clear. Of course, we all must keep an open mind as for what happens next, but at this moment it feels like things are not going in the direction that they should be.

Kneel Before the King: Sure the LA Kings are not your typical 8th seed. They could have finished as high as 3rd up until the last day of the season, so to label them as a Cinderella team is misleading.

Having said that, who on earth saw this coming? After their 4-2 win in Game 3, they have a record of 7-1 in the playoffs, which is easily the best out of any team. What’s more impressive, is the fact that they have been playing against the top two regular season teams in the league, so victories are very tough to come by.

This team looks damn scary, and after those first three games against St. Louis, should be a favourite to come out of the West. Who the hell saw this coming?!?!?

Phoenix Rising: The Phoenix Coyotes shocked many by defeating the Blackhawks in round one, and shocked many more by jumping out to a 2-0 lead against the Predators.

But the most shocking thing of all is clearly the fact that the games are selling out. Even more shocking, news came out today the Coyotes are once again one step closer to staying in the desert.

The fans at Coyotes games seem knowledgable. They are all decked out in ‘Yotes gear and/or white, they are cheering at the right time and booing at the right time. So the most obvious question comes out: where the hell have they been for the past three years? Sure it makes sense to not go see a bad team, but this is their third year in a row in the playoffs and only now these people are showing up. If, and this remains a huge if, the Coyotes stay in Phoenix next year, it will be incredibly interesting, and probably frustrating, to see how many of them are showing up to Tuesday night games in November…

Punk vs. Bryan, YES! YES! YES!: Daniel Bryan defeated Jerry Lawler at the end of RAW this past week to win the Beat the Clock Challenge and earn a chance to challenge CM Punk for the WWE Title at Over the Limit.

With all due respect to Mr. Jericho, this truly is a match between the two best in the world, and it’s hard not to get excited at the thought of it. When these two were tearing it up in Ring of Honor, could anyone have imagined that they would one day be fighting for the WWE Title on a Pay-Per-View? The thought of this is beyond surreal.

The outcome of the match is really intriguing. Daniel Bryan is very hot right now and Punk’s six-month reign is the longest the company has had in a while, so logic may dictate that veganism defeats straight edge. Yet, things are rarely that simple. Could this just be a chance to get people to boo Bryan? Could this just be a chance to have Jericho interfere in one of Punk’s matches? Or could this be the start of a long feud that would destroy the internet by making all of our dreams come true?


Blame it on the Russians: You gotta hand it to David Poile. The GM of the Predators chose to bench two of their most dynamic forwards for violating team curfews prior to Game 2. Sure Andrei Kostitsyn had been pretty average these playoffs, and Radulov certainly looked hungover that game, but this was a gamble. The Preds were having trouble scoring, and you would think that these dynamic players would be part of the solution, and not the problem. Yet the classiest organization that doesn’t play in Detroit stuck to their guns and went on and won a must win game without two of their Top Six forwards.

But this is in the minus camp for a reason. The narrative in several places on the media has been overly simplistic: these guys are Russians, and therefore care more about drinking in Scottsdale than drinking from Stanley.

Let’s count the reasons that it’s a flawed idea:

- The Kostitsyns are from Belarus not Russia, let’s get that out of the way right now.
- Do you really think that Evgeni Malkin or Pavel Datsyuk would break these rules?
- Why was nobody saying “Typical American hockey player” when Patrick Kane got drunk and punched a cab driver? Or “Typical Canadian” whenever Sean Avery did anything?

It’s 2012 this type of xenophobia is completely unfounded. The vast majority of players in the NHL want to win. Sure some make dumb life decisions, and some of these dumb ones may be from Russia, but there are plenty of Canadian, American, Swedish, Finish, Swiss, Belarusian, Korean, Slovenian, Moroccan, Brazilian, and Martian hockey players that do stupid things off the ice. Keep with the time, ladies and gents, the Cold War is long over.

 

Prediction for this Week: The Phoenix Coyotes don’t win another playoff game.

Apr 25

The Reshaping Western Conference

Posted on by

Well who the hell saw this coming?

 The Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks, and Chicago Blackhawks represent every Western Conference finalist since 2009, and all but two since 2007, and now they are all golfing. Three of those four teams bowing out in a paltry five games, while Chicago needed approximately 600 Overtime Periods to last one longer than their former Main Event competitors.
None of the Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes, or St. Louis Blues have won the Stanley Cup and we are already guaranteed that one of them will have a shot at their first title. If that isn’t shocking enough, remember that the Coyotes and Predators have never been to the Cup Finals, or even past the second round before. The Blues made the Cup finals in their first three years of existence, going 0-12 in the process, the NHL got so tired of those lopsided series that they moved the Blackhawks into the Western Division right after in order to have a not terrible team in the finals. The Kings are the most recent franchise to end up getting a shot at the Cup, and their one and only chance came 19 years ago when a certain Mr. Gretzky was their captain, and this was only their second series win since losing out to the Canadiens in ’93.
What’s more interesting than the changes in the West, is how all four teams have taken very different paths to get here. The Coyotes have one team comprised almost entirely of castoffs and beating the entire world. The Predators have slowly and patiently been building to this moment for most of the decade. The Kings underachieved for most of the season before making an incredibly bold move in February and peaking at the right time. The Blues have been a team poised to break-through “someday” only to show everyone that someday is in fact, today.
If there’s one thing we can learn from this, is that there is no one way to build a team in today’s NHL, no matter how often GMs look to copy one another. All you need is vision, commitment and hard-work. Oh, all world goaltending doesn’t hurt, does it? Did you catch that one Burkie?
Mar 17

Are the St. Louis Blues a Legit Cup Contender?

Posted on by

The St. Louis Blues are somehow, someway tied for the points lead this year. Back in October, had anyone said that the Blues would be in contention for the President’s Trophy, they would have been mocked. The Blues were considered one of those teams that would be able to be slotted in somewhere in the 6-12 slot in the West, but this is nothing short of remarkable.

Now that they are the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot, the important questions remains. How will they do when they get there?

The favourites this year seem to be the Vancouver Canucks, the Detroit Red Wings, the New York Rangers, , the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins. So why not the Blues?

Their goaltending is clearly up to snuff. They are the first time in NHL history to have two goalies with six shutouts in the same season. Brian Elliott has some obvious questions about his ability to do well in the playoffs, but if you have questions about Jaroslav Halak, ask Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby what 2010 was like for them.

Their defense has been very stellar, as they currently have the fewest goals against of any team in the league. Sure the aforementioned goaltending has an impact on that, but it is foolish to give none of the credit to the likes of Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk.

The biggest knock on them seems to be their lack of experience. The Blues are one of the younger teams in the league, and young teams rarely win the Cup, especially if they don’t have someone like Crosby or Toews in that young mix. But they do have a few Cup rings from the likes of Andy MacDonald, Jason Arnott, and Jamie Langenbrunner, all of which played very significant roles on their Cup winning teams. Let’s not forget Ken Hitchcock’s ring from 1999.

Recent history seems to show that teams need at least one deep run under their belts to win it all. Four of the past five Cup winners have made it to at least the Conference Finals the year before they win. The one exception was last years Bruins who had two previous second round loses, including the biggest collapse ever against the Flyers in 2010. This core of Blues players has made it to the playoffs once, and were swept in 2009 to the Canucks.

This team seems like they haven’t been tested enough in the playoffs to pull through this year. They do seem like a very good bet to win one and maybe two rounds this time. After the first round they would probably get Detroit or Nashville in the second round, which would be a struggle for them. They could luck out with an early upset and get a soft second round opponent, but no matter how bad the Canucks are playing right now, they could still out-do the Blues in seven games.

The Blues have been a great Cinderella story this year, but we are getting closer to midnight every day.

Mar 14

Analyzing the Strength of NHL Divisions in the Western Conference

Posted on by

Yesterday we looked at the historical strength of the Eastern Conference under the current alignment, today we’ll look at the Wild Wild West.

Unlike the Eastern Conference with the Southleast Division, no one division is seen as historically weak, instead things seem more cyclical. The Central was weak in the early years of the current alignment because they had two expansion teams, then in the first few years after the lockout Chicago and St. Louis were very bad, but both have certainly turned things around making that division arguably the best in the league. The Pacific Division currently has the default third place time in it, but it certainly isn’t the norm as Dallas, Anaheim, and San Jose have all had very strong teams in the past.

We will look at the data of the twelve seasons that the NHL’s current alignment has been in effect. We’ll look at the Stanley Cup winners and finalists, the number of playoff teams in total over the past 12 years, look at that number as a percentage of the total playoff teams that there have been over the past dozen years (a total of 192 teams have been in the playoffs), and a frequency distribution comparing the number of times each division has different numbers of teams in the playoffs.

CENTRAL DIVISION

Stanley Cup Winners: 2002 and 2008 Detroit Red Wings, 2010 Chicago Blackhawks
Stanley Cup Runners Up: 2009 Detroit Red Wings
Presidents Trophy Winners: 2000 St. Louis Blues; 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008 Detroit Red Wings
Total Playoff Teams: 30
Percentage: 15.6%

Frequency Distribution for the Central Division

Five: 0
Four: 1
Three: 4
Two: 7
One: 0

  • The majority of the perceived strength of this division seems to come from the Detroit Red Wings, they have seven of the nine accolades listed above
  • The seven times this division has sent two teams to the playoffs is the most of any of the six divisions
  • The four pre-lockout times that only two teams made the playoffs, they were Detroit and St. Louis, the three post-lockout times they were Detroit and Nashville
  • Their three Stanley Cups is tied with the Atlantic Division for the most of any division
  • Their 0.750 Finals winning percentage is the best in the NHL
  • The Central Division always seems to have a few powerhouse teams and a few bottom feeders, with this year being an obvious exception. What’s unlcear is which causes which e.g. Is Detroit’s record helped by all the games against Columbus, or is Columbus’s hurt by all the games against Detroit?
NORTHWEST DIVISION

Stanley Cup Winners: 2001 Colorado Avalanche
Stanley Cup Runners Up: 2004 Calgary Flames, 2006 Edmonton Oilers, 2011 Vancouver Canucks
Presidents Trophy Winners: 2001 Colorado Avalanche, 2011 Vancouver Canucks
Total Playoff Teams: 30
Percentage: 15.6%

Frequency Distribution for the Northwest Division

Five: 0
Four: 1
Three: 5
Two: 5
One: 1
  • If a Northwest Division team wins the President’s Trophy, they will go to the Stanley Cup Finals
  • Four different teams have made the Finals from this division — tops in the NHL
  • Four different teams have won the division titles, making them second to the Northeast, coincidentally where the other Canadian teams play
  • The 2011 Northwest Division is the only time a division that is not the Southeast has sent only one team to the playoffs
  • Much to the chagrin of Canadian hockey fans, this divisions 0.250 Finals winning percentage is the lowest of any division in the league
PACIFIC DIVISION

Stanley Cup Winners: 1999 Dallas Stars, 2007 Anaheim Ducks
Stanley Cup Runners Up: 2000 Dallas Stars, 2003 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Presidents Trophy Winners: 1999 Dallas Stars, 2009 San Jose Sharks
Total Playoff Teams: 36
Percentage: 18.8%

Frequency Distribution for the Pacific Division

Five: 0
Four: 3
Three: 6
Two: 3
One: 0
  • The Pacific Division is the only one to have more than one Cup Winner, Runner Up, and Presidents Trophy Winner
  • Five of those six accolades have been achieved by either the Stars or the formerly mighty Ducks
  • Their 36 playoff appearances are tops in the Western Conference
  • Their 3 occasions of sending two or fewer teams is the lowest in the Western Conference by a wide margin
  • We were one Dallas Stars win away from having the 2011 Pacific Division be the first one to send all five teams to the playoffs

The most surprising thing for me here is the fact that three divisions in the Western Conference have evenly split the Conference Championship on the past twelve years, I would have intuitively thought that the Central would have an advantage but that is not the case. Of course, the Central Division has more President’s Trophies than the Northwest and Pacific combined though.

To summarize some of the data from the last two posts:

PLAYOFF TEAMS RANKINGS

1. Atlantic  — 39
2. Northeast — 38
3. Pacific — 36
4. Central — 30
4. Northwest — 30
6. Southeast — 19

TOTAL NUMBER OF ACCOLADES
Stanley Cup Winners, Runners Up, Presidents Trophy

1. Central — 9
2. Atlantic — 6
2. Northwest — 6
3. Pacific — 6
5. Northeast — 5
6. Southeast — 4

STANLEY CUP WINNING PERCENTAGES

1. Central — 0.750
2. Southeast — 0.667
3. Atlantic — 0.500
3. Pacific — 0.500
5. Northeast — 0.333
6. Northwest — 0.250

So looking at this data and we can probably conclude that the Southeast Division is in fact the weakest in the league as a whole. However, on a few separate occasions they have had one very good team to win them the Stanley Cup or a President’s Trophy. We can also probably conclude that the Atlantic and the Central divisions are strongest. That being said, both of those divisions owe their success to a few teams, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and Detroit. Lastly, even though the Northwest has not had luck in the finals, they are probably the most even with four unique division champions, and four unique Stanley Cup finalists.

But does this data tell the whole story? Almost certainly not, but it is fun to consider and examine. This does not tell anything about the head-to-head records of the teams in the divisions which may be a better, more direct method of comparison, and will be considered in a future post.

Feb 24

Weekly Plus/Minus: Santino Marella, NHL Playoff Seedings, Carter and Johnson, John Cena, and Heat on Everyone!

Posted on by

What a week this has been in our strange little world! We had a surprisingly good WWE Elimination Chamber where a comedy act had the performance of a lifetime, a monster trade taking place, a team went from 9th to 3rd and another may jump four spots this week, and John Cena cut a truly legendary promo.

Santino Marella: Out of everyone in both the hockey and wrestling world, the Milan Miracle has had the most upward mobility of anyone this week. Since last weeks post, he won a Battle Royal to get into the Elimination Chamber, then went out and pinned both Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett, two quickly rising superstars.

The best moment came when Santino was shockingly in the final two with World Champion Daniel Bryan and he hit his trademark Cobra and covered the Champ. He had a very long two count and near fall. The building was electric as the Milwaukee crowd thought they had witnessed the impossible. Of course, Santino was unable to pull it off and lost to Daniel Bryan shortly thereafter. While Santino didn’t leave the building with the gold, he most certainly made huge strides to become a star. Hopefully he’ll get a good spot on the Wrestlemania card to continue his Rockyesque run.

Cursed Battle Royal: This past Monday we had a 10 man Battle Royale to determine CM Punk’s challenger for Wrestelmania. The biggest story from the match wasn’t Chris Jericho’s predictable victory, but the injuries that came out from it.

Both Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett sustained injuries in this match, and things just seemed messy. Luckily Ziggler was fine, but Wade Barrett suffered an arm injury when he was eliminated, which was worsened by Santino Marella falling on him as he was thrown out.

The loss of Barrett is a pretty big one as he had to be considered a favourite to win the Money in the Bank Match at Wrestlemania, and now it looks like he won’t be on the card.

While accidents most certainly happen, to have Truth, Kingston, and Marella all wrestle two matches a mere 24 hours after participating in Elimination Chamber matches is just poor decision making and we are lucky that things weren’t worse.

Scott Howson and Dean Lombardi: Well this sure made things interesting didn’t it? The big swap of Jeff Carter for Jack Johnson and a first round pick is sure to send some shock waves through the NHL. The plug has clearly been pulled on this current Columbus squad and the LA Kings are not satisfied with having the 30th ranked offense going into the playoff push.

Howson and Lombardi have been walking on thin ice for a while now and this move may have saved both of their jobs this offseason. Columbus shed salary and kicked off their rebuild, while LA got a scoring winger to play with either Kopitar or Richards — I know Carter is a natural centre, but he makes a great winger, and there is no way you want him third on your depth chart.

As much as Howson has been critized this year, the fact is that he turned impending RFA Jakob Voracek and a high 1st round pick into signed for several years Jack Johnson and  mid-1st rounder. Which really isn’t that bad. Of course you may have to convince people that this entire season has been some sort of a bad dream, which may be easier said that done.

Heat on Everyone: I don’t know what’s going on with the WWE right now. It seems like nobody is well liked backstage.

Several different reports this week came out that there was Alberto Del Rio was too arrogant, that The Miz was too lazy, Brodus Clay is too reckless, and that Rey Mysterio is taking too long to come back from injury.

I don’t know what’s going on right now, but they need to shut people up about this, especially at Wrestlemania time. The company does not want bad publicity their way at this time. The backstage tensions need to be kept to a minimum and nobody needs to do anything stupid. A backstage fight or public drunkenness could most certainly cost someone their job.

What’s more troubling is the reports that people are upset with the Rock, which brings us to…

John Cena: Mr. Cena really kicked the generational showdown kicks into high gear with a truly unreal promo this past week. He, quite rightly, called out The Rock for leaving even after he said that he never would. He said this week that Dwayne will “bury him”, and he probably will.

The fact that Cena stands up for the business, continues to be a company man, and gets shat on for it is an absolute crime. The man works his ass off week in, week out, and does more to promote the product than anyone else since probably Hulk Hogan in the 80s. I can’t wait to see him beat The Rock on April 1.

NHL Standings: Thursday night, the Winnipeg Jets jumped from 9th in the East to 3rd, while the Panthers fell from 3rd to 8th, the Capitals, currently in 9th have the potential to jump up to 3rd with a few wins. Meanwhile in the West, the Coyotes and Sharks are tied for 3rd and 7th, but a full 10 points behind the 4th place St. Louis Blues

Division leaders are guaranteed the top 3 seeds in the Conference in the NHL, and this has often been some point of contention, but this is getting ridiculous. The NBA had a similar problem to this after the Spurs and Mavericks were consistently two of the best teams in the league but were forced to split the first and fourth seeds in the West. This problem seems to be there for the Central Division, and potentially the Atlantic as well. The Southeast division has been perennially weak, and last years toughest division  — the Pacific — seems to have been somehow neutered.

If you are the Nashville Predators, currently sitting in fifth in the West with 77 points, do you try to win the rest of your games and face a very tough St. Louis team, or do you try to slide down and play San Jose, who currently has six fewer points? If it’s in your teams best interests to not win, then something is deeply flawed.

If the playoffs started today we would get Vancouver-Dallas, Detroit-Phoenix (again!), San Jose-Chicago, St. Louis-Nashville in the West, with New York-Florida, Boston-Ottawa, Winnipeg-Pittsburgh, and New Jersey-Philadelphia in the East. This makes me feel really bad for St. Louis and Nashville, two fun, tough, teams poised for deep runs, who through the luck of the draw are forced to play each other while San Jose and Chicago, two teams that are limping at the moment, get a much more favourable matchup.

A few years ago, the NBA changed it so that the division leader was guarenteed a top four seed, and it seems to have worked out nicely. If the NHL followed suit we would get: Vancouver-Dallas, Detroit-Phoenix, St. Louis-Chicago, San Jose-Nashville, New York-Florida, Boston-Ottawa, New Jersey-Pittsburgh, Winnipeg-Philadelphia. Tell me that isn’t more equitable?

 

Prediction for Next Week: Rick Nash remains a Columbus Blue Jacket.