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Post by Derrick - Senators on Oct 2, 2009 14:43:52 GMT -5
Pre-Season Power Rankings
1. Ottawa 2. Pittsburgh 3. San Jose 4. Boston 5. Columbus 6/7. Calgary 7/8. Buffalo 8/7. Atlanta 9. Vancouver 10. Winnipeg 11. Toronto 12. Montreal
*ANALYSIS TO FOLLOW*
IDLE COULD RISE COULD FALL
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Post by Derrick - Senators on Oct 2, 2009 14:44:47 GMT -5
Feel free to submit your own power rankings or comment on the one above.
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Post by Robyn - Flames on Oct 2, 2009 17:27:47 GMT -5
I really think I'll finish top 4, this is the best team I've dressed so far. Also, SJ > Pitts. Aubrey has built a good team, but in a league dependant on goalie categories, I don't see Kipper/Giguere having good enough stats. Giggy might not even start 40 games.
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Post by Nos - Sharks on Oct 2, 2009 22:32:35 GMT -5
Here's mine... 1. San Jose 2. Boston 3. Ottawa 4. Calgary 5. Columbus 6. Pittsburgh 7. Vancouver 8. Buffalo 9. Atlanta 10. Winnipeg 11. Montreal 12. Toronto Pittsburgh should have kept Hiller and Rinne and traded Giguere and Kipper instead.
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Post by Derrick - Senators on Oct 3, 2009 9:51:17 GMT -5
I really think I'll finish top 4, this is the best team I've dressed so far. Also, SJ > Pitts. Aubrey has built a good team, but in a league dependant on goalie categories, I don't see Kipper/Giguere having good enough stats. Giggy might not even start 40 games. First, let us note that these Power Rankings are to indicate where teams would place should the playoffs/season end right NOW. There is slight consideration given to farm teams and future anticipation (within reason), as well as any non-statistical variables or trends that might affect a team or players. With that said, I don't see how a case can be made against Kipper/Giguere and not against Turco/Ward/Mason. 2008/2009 Calgary Flames Goalie Stats = 2.59 GAA (6th) .907 SV% (8th) 16 SHO SIXTEEN shutouts and only a .907 SV%. This indicates that when your goalies (Mason) aren't getting shutouts, they are getting abused pretty heavily. Typically, the Columbus goaltenders struggle to repeat in their second year, and it would be unreasonable to expect the same season out of Mason this year as he had last year. And for a team who finished 8th in the league in power-play points (287) in 2008/09 exporting 150 ppp and only importing 101 ppp (in theory) should only further hinder an offense that was operating at the middle of the pack last season, although +/- (9th in 2008/09 at -10) should greatly improve this season. 8th in ppp and 9th in +/- indicates that the team simply isnt scoring. We are not arguing potential, or what-if's, these are the numbers. Zherdev- 11 Spezza- 31 Lupul- 15 Samsonov- 19 Little- 20 Kaberle- 19 Ehrhoff- 25 Lombardi- 8 150 PPP Dubinsky- 8 Perron- 15 Franzen- 19 Giroux- unknown Avery- 5 Zajac- 15 Visnovsky- 17 Spacek- 22 101 PPP The way i see it right now is, after finishing 6th in the playoffs last year, combined with an all-time playoff record of 1-5, the 6th ranking is justified. (Downgrade in ppp, upgrade in +/-, slight decline in Mason's numbers.) Not to mention the NAFHL Flames are 0-5-1 all time in the first two weeks of play to start the season. Remember, these rankings are to address how the playoffs would turn out right NOW. Should something change in the coming weeks and Calgary light up the league, the power rankings will reflect that. As far as the argument against Kipper and Giguere goes, there is only one way to go, and thats UP (as opposed to Mason). Kipper behind a revamped defense starting 70+ games, AND I still see Giguere as the starting goaltender. I don't see how this situation is any different than the Bryzgalov situation back in 07/08. Or the Varlamov playoff run this past season. Giguere isnt getting paid 5.5 million to it on the bench of be a backup, neither is Theodore. People get caught up in these magical playoff runs and take things to the extreme. Luongo/Thomas/Vokoun/Kipper/Giguere = All notoriously slow starters. With that said, I like Pittsburgh's revamped offense better than I like San Jose's. Hence the #2 ranking. Like i said before, should the season play out differently, the Power Rankings will reflect it and I will eat crow. Until then, I have done my best to try and account for every statistical category, as well as every potential scenario involved in determining how teams should finish if the league were to end today.
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Post by Robyn - Flames on Oct 3, 2009 10:32:36 GMT -5
Zherdev- 11 Spezza- 31 Lupul- 15 Samsonov- 19 Little- 20 Kaberle- 19 Ehrhoff- 25 Lombardi- 8
150 PPP
Dubinsky- 8 Perron- 15 Franzen- 19 Giroux- unknown Avery- 5 Zajac- 15 Visnovsky- 17 Spacek- 22
101 PPP
I would take the latter every single time. You're gonna have a hard time convincing me that Dubinsky, Perron, Franzen, Giroux, and even Zajac aren't going to get significantly more PP time than last season.
As for goaltending, don't forget Emery with an eastern conference power house.
Other than that, your analysis is thorough and well constructed, was a good read.
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Post by Nos - Sharks on Oct 3, 2009 15:17:28 GMT -5
Just to be clear, my offense was elite before this off-season and didn't need any heavy 'revamping' like the last place Pittsburgh did. Crosby, Lecavalier, Nash, Parise, Iginla, Backes, Selanne? Speaks for itself. Niemi with the big shutout in Helsinki, watch for him to be the next big thing.
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Jason
Third Liner
30%
Posts: 187
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Post by Jason on Oct 8, 2009 11:26:04 GMT -5
No love for the Canucks I see....not to worry. I enjoy being the underdog just like last year. Where did I finish in my first season with a shitty team.....thanks boys
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Post by Derrick - Senators on Oct 8, 2009 12:36:42 GMT -5
No love for the Canucks I see....not to worry. I enjoy being the underdog just like last year. Where did I finish in my first season with a shitty team.....thanks boys To some degree, virtually every spot from 4-10 is interchangeable. The talent level amongst teams has become so close over the past couple years that it is nearly impossible to rank teams with numbers. It is even more impossible to predict freak injuries, free agent acquisitions, trades, etc. To alleviate this, I implemented the red, green, and solid coloring system to try and show some sort of anticipated change within the rankings. So in theory, the Vancouver ranking is somewhere between 6 and 9 as of the first week of the season.
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Post by Mark - Bruins on Oct 8, 2009 20:33:03 GMT -5
I have a feeling like my team is going to choke big this year. I'm not too confident about my offense compared to some of the other teams in this league.
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