AHL- Apolyton Hockey League 07/08: VI They brought their ****in' toys with 'em!

[Flubber]

The west

Detroit Red Wings* 62 42 15 5 89
2 Dallas Stars* 64 37 22 5 79
3 Minnesota Wild* 61 34 22 5 73
4 Anaheim Ducks 64 34 23 7 75
5 Nashville Predators 62 32 23 7 71
6 San Jose Sharks 60 31 21 8 70
7 Calgary Flames 61 31 22 8 70
8 Vancouver Canucks 60 30 22 8 68
9 Phoenix Coyotes 61 31 26 4 66
10 Colorado Avalanche 61 30 25 6 66
11 St Louis Blues 59 28 22 9 65
12 Columbus Blue Jackets 62 27 26 9 63
13 Chicago Blackhawks 60 28 26 6 62
14 Edmonton Oilers 61 27 29 5 59
15 Los Angeles Kings 62 25 34 3 53

It looks close still . Vancouver in 8th is on a pace for exactly 95 points and in the last two years the 8th place team in the West had 95 or 96 points. So thats likely around where the cutoff will be again.

So as a check lets see what the teams records would need to be to get to 95

LA 21-1-0
Edm 18-5-0
Chicago 16-7-1
Columbus 16-6-0
St Louis 15-10-0
Colorado 14-8-1
Phoenix 14-8-1

Vancouver 13-10-1
Calgary 12-10-1
San Jose 12-11-1
Nashville 12-10-0
Anaheim 10-10-0
Minny 11-12-0
Dallas 8-12
Detroit 3-19-0

Whe I look at things like this I find it really clarifies things for me. Pretty much every current playoff team needs to maintain a .500 record or a bit better down the stretch while it seems that the chasers neded to get hot or have someone falter even if its just a little bit--I absolutely don't see it as improbably that a Phoenix, Colorado or St Louis could get the records listed--

Its interesting to me that the playoffs today would nvolve the exact same 8 teams as last year but with none of the same first round matchups

detroit-Van
Dallas -calgary
Minny-SanJose
Anaheim-nashville

[Ben Kenobi]

I don't know about Anaheim or Nashville. Vancouver has 3 games in hand on both of them, so the standings can shift.

I'm amazed to see everyone crowing over Calgary's win over a non division foe and not one post for Vancouver's win over Minnesota (a better team).

Seems to me a club thread here.

[Kontiki]

Anaheim is a significantly better team than Vancouver, and I say that as a Vancouver fan. Besides, even if Vancouver had made up those three games and won them all, they'd still be behind Anaheim.

[Ben Kenobi]

Vancouver had at one point one defenseman with more then a years' experience due to all their injuries.

Anaheim is good, but they took a step back this year.

I don't think having lines of Ohlund, Salo, Bieksa, Mitchell, Miller, Bourdon and Edler is too shabby.

The only real question is the scoring. Do they have enough?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
I don't know about Anaheim or Nashville. Vancouver has 3 games in hand on both of them, so the standings can shift.

I'm amazed to see everyone crowing over Calgary's win over a non division foe and not one post for Vancouver's win over Minnesota (a better team).

Seems to me a club thread here.

Minnesota's a better team than Dallas? What do you base that on?

Dallas has more points.
Dallas has more goals for.
Dallas has less goals against.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
Vancouver had at one point one defenseman with more then a years' experience due to all their injuries.

Anaheim is good, but they took a step back this year.

I don't think having lines of Ohlund, Salo, Bieksa, Mitchell, Miller, Bourdon and Edler is too shabby.

The only real question is the scoring. Do they have enough?

Absolutely not. They also don't have enough grit. Vancouver's a non-starter.

[Asher]

And Vancouver just gave up 51 shots in a game, so I'm not sure where your confidence comes from.

[Ben Kenobi]

Minnesota's a better team than Dallas? What do you base that on?

Tougher Division.

Vancouver, Calgary, Colorado and Edmonton are stronger then Anaheim, San Jose, Phoenix and LA.

The games against Phoenix and LA are what makes the difference in the standings.

[Ben Kenobi]

Wins against Minnesota, Nashville and Colorado. I'll take them.

[Asher]

I think Anaheim and Dallas are both better than any team in the NW division. And this is by watching them play (Anaheim post-Niedermayer).

[Ben Kenobi]

We'll see.

I'd rank Minnesota 2nd Dallas 3rd and Anaheim 4th.

Vancouver 5th, San Jose 6th, Nashville 7th and Calgary 8th, with Colorado on the outside looking in.

[Asher]

Why on earth would you rank Vancouver above Calgary? Not just above, but way above?

They have literally identical records. Problem is Vancouver has injury problems that is clearly affecting them now -- look how terrible their D is recently. Did you even look at the shot count last game?

And of Vancouver's last 3 games (the wins), the first was against Edmonton (want a gold star?), the next was an OT squeaker, the third was a SO that they were outshot massively and Luongo stole. Hardly confidence-building.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
I
I'm amazed to see everyone crowing over Calgary's win over a non division foe and not one post for Vancouver's win over Minnesota (a better team).

Seems to me a club thread here.

Lets see

1. I had one post about the Dallas win-- I didn't see anyone else mention it
2. My post noted that calgary wasn't that good
3. I did not see the Vancouver game so had no comment

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


Tougher Division.

Vancouver, Calgary, Colorado and Edmonton are stronger then Anaheim, San Jose, Phoenix and LA.

The games against Phoenix and LA are what makes the difference in the standings.

Are you aware that

1. The Pacific division as a whole has 9 more points than the NW . Since each division will generate an identical number of points from games among itself (with variations for loser points which come to exacly 13 each in this case) this shows that the Pacific has been "stronger" this year-- OH and the NW got to play the undisputedly weak SE this year while the Pacific folks did not and got both of the "tough" eastern divisions

2. Dallas is 11-4-1 against the "tough" NW versus Minny being 11-8-3 ( Note that Minny is 9-6-1 while dallas is 13-7-3 against the Pacific) So Dallas is better against both teams own divisions. Minny is much better against the Central.

So sir, the numbers do not back up your claim.

[Asher]

Calgary won vs Detroit, 1-0. Amazingly, first shutout for Kipper of the season, and it was a gooder!

Tanguay shows why he should stay a Flame.