Sometimes it is just a lot of fun when you break the numbers down easily. Tonight we do this for a reason as we look at the magic golfing numbers with a fantasy twist. Now please keep in mind that these numbers are as of the games before March 8th. Let’s look at the Eastern Conference first.
========================================
Eastern |
||||||||||
| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | OT | PTS | GF | GA | L10 | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NY Rangers | 65 | 42 | 16 | 7 | 91 | 180 | 137 | 5-3-2 | Lost 1 |
| 2 | Boston | 65 | 39 | 23 | 3 | 81 | 214 | 154 | 4-5-1 | Won 1 |
| 3 | Florida | 65 | 31 | 22 | 12 | 74 | 163 | 184 | 4-5-1 | Won 1 |
| 4 | Pittsburgh | 66 | 40 | 21 | 5 | 85 | 212 | 170 | 8-2-0 | Won 7 |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 65 | 37 | 21 | 7 | 81 | 213 | 193 | 6-4-0 | Won 3 |
| 6 | New Jersey | 66 | 37 | 24 | 5 | 79 | 184 | 176 | 5-4-1 | Won 1 |
| 7 | Ottawa | 68 | 35 | 25 | 8 | 78 | 209 | 201 | 7-3-0 | Won 1 |
| 8 | Winnipeg | 67 | 32 | 27 | 8 | 72 | 176 | 187 | 6-2-2 | Won 2 |
| 9 | Washington | 66 | 32 | 28 | 6 | 70 | 175 | 188 | 4-5-1 | OT 1 |
| 10 | Buffalo | 67 | 31 | 28 | 8 | 70 | 166 | 188 | 7-1-2 | Won 1 |
| 11 | Tampa Bay | 66 | 31 | 29 | 6 | 68 | 187 | 226 | 7-3-0 | Lost 1 |
| 12 | Toronto | 67 | 30 | 30 | 7 | 67 | 200 | 209 | 2-7-1 | Lost 2 |
| 13 | NY Islanders | 66 | 28 | 29 | 9 | 65 | 155 | 195 | 4-5-1 | Won 2 |
| 14 | Carolina | 67 | 25 | 27 | 15 | 65 | 177 | 203 | 4-2-4 | OT 1 |
| 15 | Montreal | 67 | 25 | 32 | 10 | 60 | 174 | 189 | 2-7-1 | Lost 2 |
It still is weird to see the mere fact that the Montreal Canadiens are dead last in the East. We throw out the goal differentials and home/away record for this reason…….just the graphic itself with the stats above is enough. At this moment ladies and gentlemen, the current projection to make the playoffs or nab the eight seed in the East should be…….
90
That is what it should take anyway. So what is the magic golfing number for some teams. Well let’s get down to those ugly numbers. Again these do not take into account tonight’s results. This is simply a snapshot for hockey and fantasy hockey purposes. And yes we add in projected records to make the playoffs as well. The elimination number reflects regulation losses.
EASTERN CONFERENCE:
- 9. Washington — 9-5-2 : 6
- 10. Buffalo — 9-4-2 : 6
- 11. Tampa Bay — 10-4-2 : 6
- 12. Toronto — 11-3-1 : 4
- 13. NY Islanders — 12-3-1 : 4
- 14. Carolina — 12-2-1 : 3
- 15. Montreal — ELIMINATED
There you have that. The key numbers is when you look at some of the awful goal differentials as you get further and further down the standings. Montreal is a -15 amazingly more because they lose more one goal games than anyone in the East. However, Florida leads the Southeast and yet has a -21 differential. The Southeast as a whole has not played all that well. Washington was a -6 going into the night while Tampa was a -39 and Carolina at a -26. Winnipeg is a -11 by the way. Now the Islanders are a whopping -40 yet right near .500 because when they lose they get blown out and usually when they win, it is razor close.
The Isles are an interesting case however and something that merits a deeper look for fantasy purposes. When you take a look at their first line and then peak into the secondary scoring, it has been like taking a long walk off a short pier all year. Matt Moulson has 56 points (lowest on first line) and after that the next forward has 33 points (Frans Nielsen). Oh by the way, the first line combined is a +1 on the season. Travis Hamonic is their most responsible defenseman and does have some scoring potential down the road but not really this year (15 pts, +7). Mark Streit is not the same player he was before the shoulder injury and though he has 35 points, the defensive acumen he once had is just not there at all.
Speaking of that secondary scoring, Michael Grabner has a measley 25 points and misses more breakaways than any player in the NHL. Nino Niederreiter is a fourth line guy who is too slow right now for the NHL and needed to play another year in the AHL to continue that development (1 point in 41 games, -18). The depth just cannot produce no matter how many combinations are trotted out there. It comes down to those who shop for the groceries so while the first line is going to thrive in the playoff push, the rest of the team is ultimately what will let this team and fantasy teams down. This is a team with so much potential and yet many will disagree but for fantasy, the New York Islanders have mostly underachieved as a group even with pretty nice goaltending.
The one team that absolutely has to play balls to the wall is Tampa with the injury to Mathieu Garon. Garon will be out 3-4 weeks with a groin injury and he was the one goalie that the Bolts could somewhat rely on so that Tampa would not have to score 4 or 5 goals night in and night out to win. Steven Stamkos throws the numbers off a bit because he has a whopping 20 more points than Martin St. Louis which means he can generate his own offense. Anything in the +15 or more means they excel at that. The dropoff from Teddy Purcell to Vincent Lecavalier and Ryan Malone is small because Purcell was installed on the top line full-time after Steve Downie was traded to Colorado. Looking at the bottom line is that Tampa’s first line is more prolific than the Isles and has to be because of their team defense or lack thereof. Looking ahead the Bolts have to get healthy on offense sooner rather than later.
Again there are teams that have to play pedal to the metal….any team with an elimination number of five or better. The teams with less than five are pretty well finished barring a miracle so the Islanders, Hurricanes, and Maple Leafs are now destined for the golf course while the Canadiens are already there ladies and gentlemen.
It is time to look at the Western Conference records, shall we?
===========================================
Western |
||||||||||
| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | OT | PTS | GF | GA | L10 | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Louis | 67 | 42 | 18 | 7 | 91 | 174 | 132 | 7-3-0 | Won 2 |
| 2 | Vancouver | 67 | 41 | 18 | 8 | 90 | 211 | 166 | 5-3-2 | Lost 2 |
| 3 | Dallas | 67 | 36 | 26 | 5 | 77 | 179 | 180 | 7-1-2 | Won 3 |
| 4 | Detroit | 67 | 43 | 21 | 3 | 89 | 211 | 156 | 5-4-1 | Lost 2 |
| 5 | Nashville | 66 | 38 | 21 | 7 | 83 | 188 | 171 | 6-3-1 | Lost 1 |
| 6 | Chicago | 68 | 36 | 25 | 7 | 79 | 203 | 200 | 6-4-0 | Lost 1 |
| 7 | Phoenix | 67 | 33 | 25 | 9 | 75 | 173 | 170 | 6-4-0 | Lost 4 |
| 8 | San Jose | 65 | 33 | 24 | 8 | 74 | 181 | 166 | 2-7-1 | OT 1 |
| 9 | Los Angeles | 66 | 31 | 23 | 12 | 74 | 147 | 143 | 5-4-1 | Won 3 |
| 10 | Colorado | 68 | 35 | 29 | 4 | 74 | 178 | 181 | 7-3-0 | Won 2 |
| 11 | Calgary | 67 | 30 | 25 | 12 | 72 | 164 | 185 | 3-3-4 | Won 1 |
| 12 | Anaheim | 67 | 29 | 28 | 10 | 68 | 170 | 188 | 5-4-1 | Won 1 |
| 13 | Minnesota | 67 | 28 | 29 | 10 | 66 | 144 | 187 | 3-6-1 | Lost 3 |
| 14 | Edmonton | 66 | 26 | 34 | 6 | 58 | 175 | 198 | 4-6-0 | Won 1 |
| 15 | Columbus | 66 | 21 | 38 | 7 | 49 | 156 | 216 | 5-4-1 | Won 3 |
The numbers are fun to look at here even more. We left the goal differentials for the West because of the eyepoppers in here including a -60 by Columbus! Minnesota has the next worst at -43 while Edmonton has a -23. The two previous teams had very good Octobers if I remember then went South. Injuries have derailed the current 13th and 14th seeds quite a bit yet some teams like Dallas have risen above adversity to gain the Pacific lead for now.
We have decided to project out the 8th seed cutoff for the Western Conference and this may be a bit more controversial than the East to a point but this will be interesting. Here is the number:
93
Now let the fun begin! Some will ask why we adjusted the numbers a bit. The answer was simple. It is clear that at some point San Jose is going to turn this around just enough. They almost have to. Do you think its time to play the elimination number?
Well we do and sure enough here are the ugly facts from the West.
WESTERN CONFERENCE:
- 9. Los Angeles — 9-6-1 : 7
- 10. Colorado — 9-4-1 : 5
- 11. Calgary — 10-4-1 : 5
- 12. Anaheim — 12-2-1 : 3
- 13. Minnesota — 13-1-1 : 2
- 14. Edmonton — ELIMINATED
- 15. Columbus — ELIMINATED
Well Columbus has been eliminated and now Edmonton has too. Honestly the two teams are playing out the string and have been mostly for jobs next year. Fantasy wise this has an important role for some teams headed to their playoffs because even bottom feeder NHL teams can have gems for fantasy owners. This happens every year where one or two players come off a bad team catch fire and it sets the wheels in motion.
Our questions from the West for next week will be the following:
- Did we jump too soon in increasing the point total?
- Who will get hot from the 9-11 seeds?
- Can LA get consistent offensive production?
That is it for now. Come back next week when we add a few more wrinkles to this column……
