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Originally Posted by tkflames
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Full Disclaimer: I was heavily on the anti-GG Bandwagon and I have to admit that I have not fully come around on him yet.
While I do see improvements in the way the team is executing both on special teams and 5 vs 5, I believe that the level of competition has also come down substantially. As you can see from the graph (rolling 3 game average and 10 game average) of competitors points as of December 10th, we faced a much higher level of competition early in the season and have had a pretty good run of playing teams that are performing below league average.
As many have noted, what this shows is that the level of competition will continue to dip (after a quick spike this week) until the midway point of the season. After that, it will be interesting to see if this latest surge is short lived (similar to last year) and a result of an anomoly in the schedule or if this system can be sustained against tougher competition.
Summary: I am still in the wait and see boat until at least game 45. |
If I'm interpreting this correctly (and I may not be) isn't it a little difficult to determine level of competition that early in the season? I mean the Oilers according to their record look like a decent team on paper, but they have been terrible lately.
A team like the stars looks terrible on paper, but they can turn it on any given night. In short, I think there are no easy nights in the NHL and therefore the quality of competition isn't all that important. It depends on streaks, styles, etc.
I think we've seen lately that the flames can win in a multitude of different ways.