Ranking the Canadian Teams

[Jets4Life]

Originally Posted by Goodlad

Well the NHL doesn't

Actually at the end of the season, the NHL does. Wins are the main tiebreaker. Besides, who cares? Both teams have underachieved at this point, and will climb the standings in the next month...

[TurnedTheCorner]

Jets fans are still the worst.

[neo45]

Originally Posted by Jets4Life

Actually at the end of the season, the NHL does. Wins are the main tiebreaker. Besides, who cares? Both teams have underachieved at this point, and will climb the standings in the next month...

Isn't ROW the main tie breaker now?

[Sainters7]

Calgary should be higher than Edmonton and Winnipeg

[djsFlames]

Vancouver
Ottawa
Calgary
Montreal
Edmonton
Toronto
Winnipeg

Assuming a full senators roster.*
The only reason Montreal > Edmonton is because they have a legit goalie.
Can't lie, they've done worlds better than I expected them to.
Toronto and Winnipeg kind of are on the same level to me, very unpredictable performances, bi-polar play between the pipes. But I give Toronto the edge because they have a couple more established forwards in their lineup.

[calgaryred]

Vancouver
Ottawa
Toronto
Winnipeg
Montreal
Edmonton
Calgary

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

Montreal
Ottawa
Vancouver
Toronto
Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg

[AR_Six]

^So based entirely on the standings as they are now then?

[bubbsy]

Vancouver
Toronto (carlyle has them playing a contending team's game consistently, unfortunately, i think the leafs are finally a legit team this year)
Ottawa (how they are doing so well with their injuries is a testament to depth/coaching)
Montreal (they can't keep this going though, can they.. can they??)
Edmonton (have managed to get points despite not necessary playing all that well)
Winnipeg/Calgary

[Sainters7]

I don't get why Edmonton's continually ahead of Calgary in most of these rankings. Since the Flames 1-3-2 start, they've gone 6-4-1. Since Edmonton's 4-2-0 start, they've gone 3-5-4. That's 3 wins in 12 games. Not to mention the Flames beat the Oilers in their only game this year so far. I'd say that makes them better, as of Feb 26th anyway.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

I don't get why Edmonton's continually ahead of Calgary in most of these rankings. Since the Flames 1-3-2 start, they've gone 6-4-1. Since Edmonton's 4-2-0 start, they've gone 3-5-4. That's 3 wins in 12 games. Not to mention the Flames beat the Oilers in their only game this year so far. I'd say that makes them better, as of Feb 26th anyway.

This

With all of the hype and the massive amounts of first round draft choices etc, the start of this season and heading into a 9 game road trip, Edmonton has to be looked at as a disaster of unmitigated proportions.

Calgary was expected to be terrible, and after a slow start they are a middle of the pack team.

If I was ranking teams right now

Ottawa - I don't know how they're winning but they've bought into the system.
Montreal - Another wtf team they don't have a lot of talent, they're small and they've found a way. TBH they remind me of the Flames team during the years from hell when Large was in the nets and they started on fire and then faded.
Vancouver - They're a good team, I don't think they're a great team, there's just something that smells about that team and its not just the lime cheese scent of cowardice and diving.
Toronto - Another over achieving team that's got everyone pulling in the same direction and getting great bang for its buck out of their lineup
Calgary - Terrible on some nights good to great on the others, yet to find their stride. They're had some really feel good stories this year and their is talent throughout the lineup. A lack of a true center is hurting this team as is goaltending. The team is still a work in process especially on its defensive zone coverage, but you can't argue that this team is far better offensively.

Winnipeg - A disappointment to the fans. Another team with a lot of talent, but can't seem to pull it together. Noel is the best coach in the NHL at post game press conferences.

Edmonton - If not for goal tending this team would probably still be in single digits in points. They're offensively inept as their uber kids are having some struggles, they allow a ton of shots and get pinned in their zone. They have no depth and the bottom half of their lineup is dreadful. Coaching is a problem the Oilers don't really have an identity. Is it getting close to the time when Lowe and Tambellini are shown the door and someone with vision comes in to fix this mess.

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

I don't get why Edmonton's continually ahead of Calgary in most of these rankings. Since the Flames 1-3-2 start, they've gone 6-4-1. Since Edmonton's 4-2-0 start, they've gone 3-5-4. That's 3 wins in 12 games. Not to mention the Flames beat the Oilers in their only game this year so far. I'd say that makes them better, as of Feb 26th anyway.

i'd actually rate the quality of the teams equal, as are their results thus far.

Oilers come out on top as they are a team that is trending upwards so moving from the basement to 12th or whatever is still an improvement. The flames in the same spot is essentially an epic failure considering the team is supposed to actually be competitive.

[Hells Bells]

Vancouver
Ottawa

Montreal
Toronto
Calgary

Edmonton
Winnipeg

[Da_Chief]

Jets are brutal and so are the Coilers.

Did the OP wana feel good about his team? haha, too bad they suck!

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

i'd actually rate the quality of the teams equal, as are their results thus far.

Oilers come out on top as they are a team that is trending upwards so moving from the basement to 12th or whatever is still an improvement. The flames in the same spot is essentially an epic failure considering the team is supposed to actually be competitive.

Nobody expected the Flames to be competitive except for the Flames organization. not the fans, not the media, and probably not the other teams in the NHL, so I don't know where your getting that.

If trending upwards is the thing, then sure the Oilers are trending upwards at a rate where they might become competitive in 2025. The fact that this team has had like 11 first round picks since their Stanley Cup run and the only thing that's saving them from being Washington Capital expansion team bad is goaltending is an absolute disaster.

They're not trending upwards, they're actually trending towards another rebuild.

[kyuss275]

Looks like another year where flames fans think Calgary beating Edmonton in the standings seems like a victory to the organization. It's really quite sad.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

i'd actually rate the quality of the teams equal, as are their results thus far.

Oilers come out on top as they are a team that is trending upwards so moving from the basement to 12th or whatever is still an improvement. The flames in the same spot is essentially an epic failure considering the team is supposed to actually be competitive.

Then I guess we're taking different factors into account. I'm not looking at it vs. expectations, future promise based on potential, etc. I'm looking at these basically as weekly (or bi-monthly) Power Rankings, a snapshot of who's better right now, as of the last week of February. In which case, I'd say its Calgary.

I actually feel bad for the Flames fans who still have decent, competitive expectations with this team. After 3 straight years of missing the playoffs, my expectations are firmly back to where they were during the pre-'04 non-playoff years. Not the awful late 90's, we're not that bad. More the early 00's when we were mediocre-bad. It's helping me enjoy this season a lot more anyway. No-one was actually expecting us to have a great season here were they? Didn't TSN pick us to finish dead last out west?

[timbit]

I really hope the flames can spend more than 2 days in a playoff spot ( last season). That is not too lofty a goal, is it? Baby steps.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Then I guess we're taking different factors into account. I'm not looking at it vs. expectations, future promise based on potential, etc. I'm looking at these basically as weekly (or bi-monthly) Power Rankings, a snapshot of who's better right now, as of the last week of February. In which case, I'd say its Calgary.

I actually feel bad for the Flames fans who still have decent, competitive expectations with this team. After 3 straight years of missing the playoffs, my expectations are firmly back to where they were during the pre-'04 non-playoff years. Not the awful late 90's, we're not that bad. More the early 00's when we were mediocre-bad. It's helping me enjoy this season a lot more anyway.

If your looking at future potential, and looking at other young nucleus based teams versus the Oilers then I don't see them trending upwards. They've had an easy run of number 1 picks and are still a disaster, they are collecting hockey cards not building a team with any kind of strategy.

If anything Edmonton is treading water as nothing more then a bottom feeding team, and until they actually make that move away, well they don't get that benefit of the doubt from me, they should have been competitive by now, instead they can't score, they don't defend all that well. They do have pretty shoot out goals, and they're getting surprisingly good goaltending.

But I'm not jealous of that team, in fact if I was a fan of that team I'd be cancelling my season tickets due to the con perpetrated by their management group and owner.

Is the Flames future all that bright, I don't know, but at least they're making an effort to compete, they're not lying their on their backs with their legs in the air pleading for a bullet like the Oilers organization.

Bright future my a$$, I'll believe it when I see it.

They're building something special up there, yeah short bus special.

Sorry for the outburst, but I'm sick and tired of all of the hype and promotion and self promotion of that team to the North when people should be asking serious questions about the lack of results there and who's running that fracking ship.

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Nobody expected the Flames to be competitive except for the Flames organization. not the fans, not the media, and probably not the other teams in the NHL, so I don't know where your getting that.

If trending upwards is the thing, then sure the Oilers are trending upwards at a rate where they might become competitive in 2025. The fact that this team has had like 11 first round picks since their Stanley Cup run and the only thing that's saving them from being Washington Capital expansion team bad is goaltending is an absolute disaster.

They're not trending upwards, they're actually trending towards another rebuild.

Flames are paying for and keeping personnel on the roster with the intention of being competitive. veteran lineup, granted with a few injuries, that has been assembled with the intention to "win now". Doesn't really matter what the media/fans say about it, management is clear that they aren't willing to budge from their position on this.

based on that, it's clear the season is a much bigger disappointment for the flames franchise than it is for the oilers. if the oilers really thought they wanted to be real competitors, they would have improved their D, and not put shultz on their top D pairing. it's clear, any improvement, is a measure of success for the oilers this year, and hence, hard to really judge them any different.

all i'm saying is at the end of the year, even if the flames come out in 9th, and the oilers in 10th, it's the flames franchise that has to look at the year as a failure.