NHL Standings Chat
Posted by jtbourne on March 22, 2010 · 10 Comments
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Happy Monday morning, friends! Hope you had a good weekend – it was a beauty in PHX, minus my double bogey on 18. More on that tomorrow..
*****
NHL standings talk! First, the West:
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LEGEND ›
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| DIV | GP | W | L | OT | Pts | GF | GA | DIFF | Home | Away | L10 | Streak | ||
| 1 | CEN | 71 | 45 | 19 | 7 | 97 | 234 | 179 | +55 | 26-7-3 | 19-12-4 | 4-4-2 | ||
| 2 |
* - Phoenix Coyotes
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PAC | 73 | 46 | 22 | 5 | 97 | 201 | 179 | +22 | 26-10-2 | 20-12-3 | 9-1-0 | Won 9 |
| 3 | NW | 72 | 44 | 24 | 4 | 92 | 236 | 187 | +49 | 26-8-2 | 18-16-2 | 6-2-2 | ||
| 4 | PAC | 72 | 43 | 19 | 10 | 96 | 232 | 192 | +40 | 22-6-8 | 21-13-2 | 3-6-1 | Lost 5 | |
| 5 | CEN | 73 | 42 | 26 | 5 | 89 | 206 | 203 | +3 | 21-12-2 | 21-14-3 | 7-3-0 | Won 6 | |
| 6 | PAC | 70 | 41 | 24 | 5 | 87 | 207 | 185 | +22 | 20-12-3 | 21-12-2 | 5-4-1 | Won 1 | |
| 7 | NW | 71 | 40 | 25 | 6 | 86 | 213 | 190 | +23 | 22-11-2 | 18-14-4 | 5-5-0 | Lost 2 | |
| 8 | CEN | 71 | 35 | 23 | 13 | 83 | 193 | 192 | +1 | 19-10-5 | 16-13-8 | 7-2-1 | Won 1 | |
| 9 | NW | 72 | 36 | 27 | 9 | 81 | 184 | 181 | +3 | 18-16-3 | 18-11-6 | 6-4-0 | Lost 1 | |
| 10 | CEN | 72 | 34 | 29 | 9 | 77 | 196 | 199 | -3 | 12-18-5 | 22-11-4 | 6-4-0 | Lost 1 | |
| 11 | PAC | 71 | 34 | 29 | 8 | 76 | 203 | 217 | -14 | 23-11-3 | 11-18-5 | 5-4-1 | Won 4 | |
| 12 | NW | 72 | 35 | 31 | 6 | 76 | 198 | 211 | -13 | 24-9-3 | 11-22-3 | 4-4-2 | Won 1 | |
| 13 | PAC | 72 | 31 | 27 | 14 | 76 | 208 | 230 | -22 | 20-10-7 | 11-17-7 | 3-5-2 | ||
| 14 | CEN | 72 | 29 | 31 | 12 | 70 | 187 | 229 | -42 | 18-11-7 | 11-20-5 | 4-3-3 | ||
| 15 | NW | 72 | 23 | 42 | 7 | 53 | 184 | 248 | -64 | 15-18-4 | 8-24-3 | 4-5-1 | Won 2 | |
Since none of us believe that Detroit is going to miss the playoffs – y’know, cause they aren’t going to – the real number for Calgary, St. Louis, Anaheim, Minnesota and Dallas to shoot for is the Avalanche’s 86 – ten points ahead with ten games to go. We could very well be looking at the exact same teams above the cutoff line ten games from now. In fact, I think we will be.
Because of that, this is the first year I’m thinking more about the playoff seeding of our eight qualifiers than who they actually are.
For San Jose, the best thing that could happen to their Cup chances would be to finish fourth, and play at least one of the “happy to make it this far” teams – that being Los Angeles, Nashville, and Colorado. All three of those teams were predicted to miss the playoffs at the start of the season, and when contrasted to their expectations, I think they’d be far more likely to roll over and die (or better put, be too content with their over-achieving regular seasons) than, well, any of the other four opponents in the West.
Will Phoenix finish above San Jose? It’s gonna be close – Phoenix has a tough road ahead with six of their last nine on the road (road gmes: Chicago, Nashville, Vancouver, Calgary, Los Angeles and San Jose), but I’ve finally learned my lesson on betting against them. The best part, as demonstrated in parantheses above, is that the last game of the year is San Jose versus Phoenix, and it could very well have huge who-plays-who implications.
As for the East….
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LEGEND ›
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| DIV | GP | W | L | OT | Pts | GF | GA | DIFF | Home | Away | L10 | Streak | ||
| 1 | SE | 72 | 48 | 14 | 10 | 106 | 283 | 203 | +80 | 26-4-4 | 22-10-6 | 7-1-2 | Won 1 | |
| 2 | ATL | 72 | 42 | 24 | 6 | 90 | 224 | 205 | +19 | 21-10-4 | 21-14-2 | 6-2-2 | ||
| 3 |
* - Buffalo Sabres
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NE | 71 | 39 | 22 | 10 | 88 | 200 | 180 | +20 | 21-9-6 | 18-13-4 | 6-3-1 | Won 3 |
| 4 | ATL | 71 | 42 | 25 | 4 | 88 | 189 | 169 | +20 | 24-10-1 | 18-15-3 | 5-4-1 | Lost 1 | |
| 5 | NE | 72 | 37 | 30 | 5 | 79 | 194 | 212 | -18 | 23-10-4 | 14-20-1 | 2-7-1 | Lost 5 | |
| 6 | ATL | 72 | 37 | 30 | 5 | 79 | 212 | 199 | +13 | 21-13-2 | 16-17-3 | 4-4-2 | Lost 2 | |
| 7 | NE | 72 | 36 | 29 | 7 | 79 | 196 | 198 | -2 | 18-13-4 | 18-16-3 | 7-2-1 | ||
| 8 | NE | 71 | 32 | 27 | 12 | 76 | 176 | 181 | -5 | 15-14-6 | 17-13-6 | 5-4-1 | Won 1 | |
| 9 | SE | 72 | 32 | 29 | 11 | 75 | 218 | 230 | -12 | 18-13-5 | 14-16-6 | 4-5-1 | Won 4 | |
| 10 | ATL | 72 | 31 | 32 | 9 | 71 | 186 | 197 | -11 | 15-17-6 | 16-15-3 | 3-5-2 | Lost 3 | |
| 11 | SE | 71 | 29 | 31 | 11 | 69 | 186 | 209 | -23 | 15-13-8 | 14-18-3 | 5-4-1 | Won 1 | |
| 12 | SE | 72 | 30 | 34 | 8 | 68 | 201 | 226 | -25 | 19-15-3 | 11-19-5 | 5-4-1 | Lost 1 | |
| 13 | ATL | 72 | 29 | 33 | 10 | 68 | 189 | 222 | -33 | 19-13-3 | 10-20-7 | 4-4-2 | Lost 1 | |
| 14 | SE | 72 | 28 | 32 | 12 | 68 | 188 | 225 | -37 | 18-12-6 | 10-20-6 | 2-7-1 | Lost 5 | |
| 15 | NE | 72 | 26 | 34 | 12 | 64 | 192 | 238 | -46 | 16-14-5 | 10-20-7 | 7-2-1 | Won 3 | |
A few things surprise me:
1) To teams on the bubble that have been trying to crack playoffs and be taken seriously for years (Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Florida…. okay, you too, New York teams): How bad do you need the other teams to be? They’ve done everything they can this year to lose and fail. Perennial playoff teams like Boston and Philly CANNOT be any worse than they’ve been. At some point, you’re gonna have to grab the bull by the horns and win some big games. To quote Floyd Mayweather, “step ya game up”.
Ooo, almost had it.
2) As far as I know, neither Boston or Montreal has played consecutive good games this year. I’m amazed they’re in 7th and 8th. And poor Philly – better than Buffalo at every position, if you entirely ignore the fact that they have to play with AHL goalies. AGAIN.
Yep. Poor, poor Philly.
3) The crazy divide between the top four teams and the bottom four in the East is weird – it basically means the top four teams get a first round bye, which is nice in the NHL playoff marathon. The only team I’m not fully sold on that’s up there is Buffalo, simply because if Miller has a couple bad games, they can be beaten. Actually, y’know what might be fun? A Philly/Buffalo playoff series where Philly beats Buffalo like a drum for 50 of the 60 minutes every game, and loses 3-2 and 2-1 four straight times (after Biron Eche Cechmanek Boucher lets in a few soft ones).
*****
Kudos to Teemu Selanne for scoring 600 goals…. crazy that I’m old enough to remember his amazing rookie year.
*****
Even crazier? Kudos to ME for crawling from 16th out of the Bourne’s Blog Hockey League 20-team alley-fight (yes, that’s even crazier than Selanne’s 600 NHL goals, apparently), and climbing into a playoff spot the last week of the year. I chipped all the way up to seventh, and it’s a new season kiddies, look out!
Only five more days til Friday. And only a few more pounds til I go on Drew Magary’s twitter public humiliation diet. Dude is down 45 pounds so far.
I'm a hockey player turned writer. After playing for Alaska Anchorage in the WCHA (NCAA), I carried on with an NHL tryout (New York Islanders in 2007) before spending a couple seasons in the AHL/ECHL (last year was 2008-09). My father, Bob Bourne, won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders in the '80's, as did my fiancee's dad, Clark Gillies. I'm now the web editor for theScore's hockey blog "Backhand Shelf."
Your Philly picture is mean – honest, but mean!
and I *like* that humiliation diet…hmmmmm
Ottawa sitting in 6 is the best that we could wish for. Because we *might* win one game against all those other teams. Instead we could win 2 or even 3 against Buffalo.
Love that picture! Would love it more if it were Boucher… Not that Michael Leighton was going to win the Flyers a Cup, but I watched that guy have too much success at the AHL level to not cheer for someone like him – even if I’m done with the Flyers.
Oh, and I love that tag even more! I heard lots of smack talking after the Flyers beat the ‘Hawks last weekend, and all I could think to myself was “have fun in the first round of the playoffs.”
Thanks for the Monday chuckles!
After another come-from-ahead loss at home by the Blues last night, I think they are pretty much done. Especially since it was to Nashville, a team ahead of them and with six home games left and the worst home record in the NHL.
Jeff Carter has a broken foot. And the beat goes on.
Interesting point about what San Jose might want from here on out and for the 1st Round – they have slumped so hard I had to double check I wasn’t reading about the Leafs!
But, assuming they do end up 4th, I wouldn’t fancy Nashville, LA or my own Avs in Round 1! Even with the slump, people ‘expect’ the Sharks to do well every year, to finally break that curse, to get over the hump and so forth. You’re right Justin, LA, Preds and Avs will be pleased ‘just to get there’ in many ways. But defying expectations mean that Round 1 is ‘nothing to lose’ territory for them.
Pressure on the Sharks against a ‘nothing to lose’ young(ish – thank you Sullivan/Foote etc) upstart team – that’s a tricky prospect!
I reckon Hawks and Sharks are tanking it to avoid the Wings anyway! ha-ha
A deep run for the Coyotes is on my wishlist, just for the absurdity of it all.
If Phoenix win the Cup – who goes down as the owner on the famous rings?
Love the Philly pic……reminds me of Dan Cloutier *shudder*
*ahem* the beachball that is…..but we all knew that’s what I meant!