Monday, April 02, 2007

 

Baseball Standings - One Week Left

Slight wrinkle in today's standings; I just added a couple of columns showing the best and worst possible Final Position for each team. A few notes:
You familiar with Paul Wells? He's a columnist and blogger for Maclean's magazine, and he has a couple of rules for Canadian Politics that I think translate pretty well to NHL hockey. Wells' First Rule is that results tend toward the least exciting outcome (yeah, this one has taken a bit of a beating in the past year or so). See the 3rd bullet above.

Wells's Second Rule of Politics holds that if everyone in Ottawa knows something, it isn't true. This one crosses my mind all the time, reading and watching the professional hockey media. Unfortunately, this one is slightly petrifying at the moment. Any idiot can see that the Top 8 teams in the West are all very good and pretty closely matched. (Last season, the difference between 1st and 8th was 21 in the EC, 29 in the WC. In '03/04, 15 and 18. '02/03, 30 and 19). Any team could beat any other team, without it being considered a huge upset. It's obvious!

...which probably means that all the higher seeds will win their 1st-round series with relative ease. We'll see! My preference is still to avoid the Wings in Rd1; it looks to me like they're the best in the West. Oh well -- you just hit the ice and see what happens. Go Flames.

Comments:

Wow. Edmonton still has a shot at 15th? That would be almost Hollywood-worthy.
 


Devils just fired Julien. No idea why.

I know they did the same to Ftorek, but this is even later and they've won 4 out of 5.
 


People who read this site don't know who Paul Wells is? That seems, in the words of Vizzini, inconceivable!

I really should have used the Battle of Wits in a post this year.

What the hell goes on in New Jersey? Insane.
 


I'd rather play the Wings than the Ducks.
 


I think the Preds still scare me more than the Wings. I mean, Hasek's groin is bound to give out any time now, right?

Raw deal for Julien in NJ.
 


There are some close battles this year. Really any team could go down early.

Is it really going to take 100 points to make the playoffs in the west this year?
 


Andy, with that Vizzini reference you may have just become my blogging-community hero, but I don't think that word means what you think it means...
 


I'd rather play the Wings than the Ducks.

I think the Preds still scare me more than the Wings. I mean, Hasek's groin is bound to give out any time now, right?

Agreed. I'd pick playing the Wings over the Preds and Ducks as well. Hasek is their goalie, they haven't done anything in the playoffs in years, and the Flames match up well with them.
 


My favourite hockey blog references my favourite blogger.

WORLDS ARE COLLIDING!
 


I would love to see the Flames play the Ducks. Two reasons: 1 - The Ducks are a pretty average team since the first 40 games of the season, so Calgary would have the best chance against them, I think. 2 - It would be sweet revenge for last year.

And remember, never get in to a land war in Asia.
 


Looking at this table again, here's what's amazing, even after tonight's Dallas game.

6 days left, and three teams are capable of being first seed OR eighth seed. It would be amazing if one team still had that range of possibility, but three of them?!

Crazy.

The Ducks are a pretty average team since the first 40 games of the season.

True, but you should also consider that the only reason we are in this standings mess is a particular 2-9-2 stretch without Giguere/Pronger/Beauchemin.

The team is weaker without Fedoruk and O'Brien, sure, but it's not that far off.
 


even after tonight's Dallas game

Oops. That is, unless Dallas beats St. Louis tonight. They were one of the three teams, but a win would get them out of 8th.
 


Dallas just got Stempniaked.
 


Ender raised a valid question the other day: if Detroit and Calgary meet in the first round, who chokes and collapses in horrific fashion?
 


If I was a Flames fan I'd be all over a matchup with Det.

Maybe this Bertuzzi/Calder possible second line combo will give them some juice and maybe Datsyuk will break his playoff slump but who's their best player outside of Lidstrom? Z-Berg and he's gonna be coming back from a back injury. That spells doom for the Wings and I don't trust any Central team with bloated point totals in the first fucking place.

I'd put huge money on Cgy in a flames/wings matchup.

As a final note, what I'd really like to see is Cgy/Ana and SJ/Van. I want both western teams out of the playoffs AQAP
 


This comment has been removed by the author.
 


This comment has been removed by the author.
 


This comment has been removed by the author.
 


If i were a flames fan. and more than likely In a week I will be

I would hope to draw the Wings. IF you guys have solved your road woes, and it looks like you have. Detroit wants no part of you either.

So for now... Go Avs

But, barring a miracle, next week is Go Flames
 

Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?