[Sylvanfan]

Well the season is still relatively young, but I thought I'd share my opinions of overachievers and underachievers thus far. Every year we try to construct what we feel is the best team we can get on paper and than see what that crazy SIM spits out. Over time I do think things do balance out a bit, but sometimes a crazy early hot streak or cold streak can make enough of an impact on a team to affect their final placing.

OVERACHIEVERS, don't take this personally. Doesn't mean that your teams aren't any good, just means that they are playing better than myself and what I assume to be many other GM's would have expected. You've found some good chemistry and seem to be finding that little extra to get you the wins on game day.

Carolina Hurricanes:
A 7th place team last year and top 10 team. Certainly one expected the Canes to be a playoff team, but did anyone see them as a top 4 team in the CPHL and challenging for top spot? They're the hottest team in the CPHL and are the stingiest team defensively (not that we should be surprised with Sutter coaching them). Brad Boyes has been very productive as him Heatley, and Legwand have been terrific.

Colorado Avalanche:
Had a disasterous offseason in the summer of 2005 as they first lost Rick DiPietro in the expansion draft and than gaffed on submitting a waiver list and lost Joe Thornton for absolutely nothing! All of this after top goalie Roman Turek retired to boot. Than consider that this wasn't exactly a stacked powerhouse team to begin with. The current lineup certainly looks playoff worthy in the wide open Howe, but did anyone see this team in first place? Mike Sillinger in particular is having a stand out season.

New Jersey Devils:
Well their record certainly doesn't impress off the bat. But they were a consensus pre season favorite to be the leagues bridesmaid when it came down to basement dwellers. The roster that the Devils started the season with was well...not pretty. But Jozef Stumpel has been a horse and Nikolai Khabibulin has been able to weather the onslaught that occurs every night behind that defence. Alexander Svitov has 21 points and is +8. I bet the NHL teams who've had him wish he was close to being that usefull in real life.

Quebec Nordiques:
Last year they finished where you would expect a CPHL expansion team to place. This year they're near the .500 mark and have a positive goals for to goals against ratio. Prottotype has actually found a way to move a few really solid players in and out of his organization especially when you consider what these teams were given to start with. Bob Luongo gives them a shot to win every game, and Sammy Pahlsson makes for a good early Sergei Priakhin award candidate.

Tampa Bay Lightning:
These guys were the CPHL's worst team last year. But patient GM Droopy Drew made his deals, bided his time, and when the window of oppurtunity opened a crack he pushed it wide open and made several moves to make his team instantly better. The Lightning don't score a pile of goals, but they keep them out pretty well. Jaro Spacek has probably been their most effective skater thus far, and Antero Nittymaki has been pretty good in net since coming over from Phoenix. The Greztky is a very tough confernece, but the Lightning found a way to move up the ranks in a hurry.