CPHL Over/Under

[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.

[Prototype]

You spelled my name wrong.

[Sylvanfan]

UNDERACHIEVERS: Again, I'm not slagging you people as GM's. I'm likely as perplexed as you are as to why your teams aren't performing better than they have. Maybe you just need time, or maybe you need to change things up to see if different players is all you need.

Boston Bruins:
Based on their current roster you would say no. Based on the roster that started the season, it's a big yes. Despite having a lot of talent and being a team that carried the play in a majority of their games the Bruins just didn't win. Was it the SIM telling them their dynasty was over? Who knows but it seemed like every Bruin had the plague and the stats of the players as individuals were very ugly in a lot of cases. As a result KG had to reshape the roster in hopes for...Better luck next year.

Calgary Flames:
Another team who perenially show up in the top half of the CPHL's standings. The Flames looked poised to be a tough defensive team with Jacques Martin at the helm, Miikka Kiprusoff in net, and the likes of Adam Foote patrolling the blue line. But Kiprusoff is off to a very slow start and is nowhere to be found among the leagues goaltending leaders. He hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been elite as were expectations. Although looking throughout the roster and he's got plenty of company on the underachieving front. As a result GM Axemann is in the process of making moves for younger players to reshape the roster.

Edmonton Oilers:
Alberta advantage my arse. This teams already had to can it's coach and seems to have been in a scoring funk all year. Jarome who? Thats because the hometown star isn't scoring, neither is Vinny Lecavalier, or Nikolai Zherdev. If not for Brodeur they could be in trouble already. They have been better lately, and have climbed back into a playoff spot. But come on this is the Oilers, they ran away with the conference last year and should be doing the same again this year. They're still pretty much a playoff lock, but unless they actually do something in this years playoffs the season (ie not choke away a 3-0 series lead to what should be an inferior opponet) has to be considered a massive failure.

Ottawa Senators:
Coming into the season the Senators figured to fall off a bit as they had moved towards youth in bringing in Kari Lehtonen and Eric Staal. Still there is a lot of talent in Ottawa. But the Sens came out of the gates slowly. They made a blockbuster deal sending Eric Staal, Antoine Vermette, David Hale and Shane O'Brien to the Preds for Alex Kovalev, Milan Hejduk, Nick Schultz, and Bob Esche and more cash than many African countries haven't seen for decades. Many of us GM's called this a landslide win for Ottawa. They're on a 5 game losing streak and have the leagues 4th worst record and a 2-8 standing in their last 10. This team has Joe Thornton, Chris Pronger, Kovalev, Hejduk, and many other good players. No way they should be doing this poorly is there?

Toronto Maple Leafs:
Coming into the season I thought the Leafs would be the stingiest team in the league. They had a good solid deep defence, and perhaps the best goalie duo in the CPHL. Up front they were a good solid group of forwards and looked to be a team who would move back into the playoff race. They're not out of it, but they've been a very indifferent group all year. The real surprse is that their goaltending has been pretty substandard and Henrik Lundquist in particular has been brutal. The skaters haven't been excessivly bad or anything, but none of them is having a standout year either. Theres still good talent on this team and over time perhaps they'll shake the funk and go on a run. Afterall they have underachieved, in my mind, but they're still within striking distance.

There are others but the teams I listed are the ones who stand out to me.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Nice analysis Syl.

Agree with your choices. The Bruins and Sens are definitely the biggest shockers for me.

[nyrcrisfer]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

They're not out of it, but they've been a very indifferent group all year.

Yep, I'd say that's the perfect way to describe the Leafs season to this point.

Good posts Syl

[Beerfund]

Well done as always. I agree with your view on Boston, doesn't make sense that they'd start like they did. Although I'd say that the Hurricanes are not a big shock to me. I really expected them to be a contender right down to the wire. They have a well balanced team and a GM that understands what saccrifices are needed to apease to sim gods.

[Hanna Sniper]

There’s no doubt about it that the ‘Canes are playing above their heads right now. But Sutter seems to be keeping them in check and not letting the media boost their ego’s enough to make them think they an offensive team. As quick as success has come these last 12 games, things can fall just as easy in the CPHL… you can count on it.

One thing I am happy about is the play of the ‘Canes D this year. I took a lot of flack about it in the offseason, I even started to have some doubt that I made some mistakes with my assessment of my Defense as I traded away some high end forwards to get it…. “Defense: The Canes defense is good but lack immensely in terms of speed. Sutter likes a fast team so changes on Canes defense will likely come sooner than later. The Canes landed the biggest fish in the market in terms of defenseman in Derian Hatcher who will join Hall Gill, Mike Rathje, Mike Komisarek. Their lack of speed will drive the fans in Raleigh crazy. Grade: C”

The secret in Raleigh this season will be how long our core of our team (Defence) can continue to prove the critics wrong.

[Hanna Sniper]

Oh and well done Sly, always love you perceptive assessments. You have a good pulse on the inner work within others teams

[HalifaxDrunk]

Hey Syl, keep your pulse out of my inner work!

Nice analysis, good job.

[sasketoon66]

Yeah good post

[Mango]

Great post, Chad. Good analysis of all teams involved.

[Antithesis]

Well done Chad, and I'd agree 100%. My team is overachieving, and probably realy furstrating the GMs of the teams they are beating.

[Angelino]

Excellent writeup Syl, it is good to have GMs like you in the league!