Jibble's WeBlog
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes. - Walt Whitman
If you're like me, on many nights you look at the NHL schedule and wonder which games are worth watching. I've actually struggled this year to pick a game, because, with the reworked divisions, it's kind of difficult to really figure out which ones are important. IT's especially so to know what's going on in my team's division, and with the "Games Plated" disparities so big. IS Carolina-Nashville a big game? What about Columbus-Chicago? New Jersey-Philly? St Louis-Arizona? Arizona-St Louis? And what about the Blues-Coyotes tilt? One thing the entirely enclosed divisions have done is create some nice, tidy horse-race situations. You vs a division rival. No Wild Cards or weirdness. 4/8 (or 4/7 Canadian teams) in the playoffs. We're also far enough into the season to finally start getting an idea of what games are going to be important, and which will not matter much. So, I used Dom Luszczyszyn's playoff probabilities to try and figure out what teams we should keep an eye on from here on out (In my personal order of entertainment value) Race 1: East Division - PHI/PIT/NYI/WAS Why no, I am not an NBC Sports executive. I know 3 of these teams have been promoted to the point we're all sick of them, and the NYI style is such we never want to catch that sickness. They're done to death. But there are 5 good teams and 4 playoff spots to go around. Moreover, Have you seen Dom's playoff projections? This is going to be a dogfight with one of these teams missing out. And because there's 4 teams, there's a lot of games against each other. Pittsburgh playes the NYIx2, then WSHx2 then the Islesx2 again. A Bonus if you like train wrecks is that Buffalo went out and signed a former MVP and is dead in the water at game . Race 2: North - WPG/EDM I was tempted to put Calgary in here too, and they could still collapse, but this is looking like a 2 horse race for the last spot. I don't want to sell Winnipeg short, and all apologies to them....this is about Edmonton. A team with McDavid & Draisaitel in their primes missing the playoffs in what may be the weakest division in modern NHL history would feel cataclysmic, even for a franchise full of catastrophes. It's totally a hunch but if that happens something big would go down. I don't see how Edmonton could go through another off season with mild patches to try and sneak into the playoffs. (And watching the most sycophantic media base in the NHL try and spin it will be a side show worth watching, too) And if you're on #TeamChaos, like me, you're kind of salivating at the fallout of such an event. Race 3: West - COL/VGK/STL All three of these teams are nearly locks to make the playoffs, but here, but here getting the top seed is of huge importance, probably moreso than any other division. The top seed gets to play Minnesota or Arizona, and the 2nd/3rd seed face each other. These are probably three cup contenders and avoiding the other two in the first round is a huge step up. Last night Col-VGK played a pretty great game, and Col eked out a 3-2 win. Instead of being 6 points back, they're only 4 (with a game-in-hand). They play their next two games against each other, too. This 3-way will feel like playoff games every single time they meet, and it's going to be a fun season because of it. Race 4: North - TOR/MTL/CGY The Canadian Dollar exchange rate to the COL/VGK/STL race above. Winner gets EDM/WPG. Even though, as hilarious as Edmonton's struggles are, I'd still be extremely wary of McDavid/Draisaitel in a 7 game series. But I'd still want that over Calgary Race 5- Central: TB/CAR,\\ DAL/FLA I thought this division would be exciting, and maybe the playoffs will be, but it has , more or less, played itself out. Carolina & Tampa look likely to fight for the division title, and Dallas & Florida for the #3 & #4 seed. Carolina passing TB would be significant, but there's no first round stakes like the West or North. It's strange to say only 12 games into the season, but the most exciting part of this division may have already happened: Nashville & Columbus have nearly played themselves out of the playoffs. We'll caveat that with: 8% & 15% chances are not 0% chances. There's a real chance one of these two teams could make this division more interesting, And Chicago is surprisingly hanging around, but for now it's a "keep your eye on it" kind of thing, rather than actively watching any of this division. Race 6: MIN/ARZ This is a playoff race that would be a lot more exciting with 2 other teams. Neither team is very good, but a playoff race is a playoff race, but these are two unlikable franchises that are both kind of boring. Arizona...well they went from being plucky underdog to deeply unlikable with the publication of Katie Strang's deep dive on their chicanery nearly overnight. And Minnesota has a mediocre team with a couple players and not much else.
On second thought, Just give the VGK/COL/STL division winner a bye. Neither of these teams deserve a playoff spot.
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#38 (t) [7.25] Hangin' Around (This Desert Life - Tr. 1) |
Jibbles - Denver-ish, COI used to write about the Avalanche. Now about whatever. All opinions are ill-informed Archives
November 2020
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