Quote:
Originally Posted by ricardodw
What do you have to say about the LA Kings? There is not a fancy stat where they are not significantly better than the Flames or the Jets and the are all set to draft 2nd overall.
Would the Flames be in over their heads going up against them in a best of 5?
I was going to make an argument that the teams were both better after the all star game but it seem that you were more observant than I was.
The Flames should be approaching this as big underdogs that snuck in (2004)
The standings since the allstar game have the Flames on the outside looking in. They would have had to play better to make the playoffs in a real season, like they were doing for the last 10 games.
team - games - pts - Win Pct
Colorado - 21 - 30 - 0.71
*Vegas - 19 - 26 - 0.68
Minnesota - 19 - 25 - 0.66
Winnipeg - 20 - 26 - 0.65
*St Louis - 21 - 26 - 0.62
Nashville - 22 - 27 - 0.61
Edmonton - 22 - 26 - 0.59
Los Angeles- 20 - 23 - 0.58
Calgary - 20 - 22 - 0.55
Dallas - 21 - 22 - 0.52
Anaheim - 23 - 24 - 0.52
Vancouver - 20 - 20 - 0.50
Chicago - 19 - 18 - 0.47
Arizona - 19 - 17 - 0.45
San Jose - 20 - 17 - 0.43
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Kings and Hurricanes have always been odd ducks when it comes to underlying stats ... and honestly it happens every year. The Flames made the playoffs with Hartley despite having terrible numbers and every season there's a team with good numbers that don't make it.
The overall trends are pretty tight though.
Only one team (LA) from the 7 teams already out are in the league's top 17 in xGF%. So clearly it's not hocus pocus. You get out played you generally don't do all that well.
Inversely, four of the teams out are in the bottom 7 for this stat ... joined by Winnipeg, the Blackhawks and Rangers. The latter two known well for being weak defensively.
The Jets are a poor five on five hockey team.