PMB Week 7 NFL Picks
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7
This is just an opinion so please…Pardon My Bias
Two more undefeated teams have fallen and can literally kiss their shot at a National Championship goodbye. Michigan State and Mizzou both surprised many across the country with their stellar play, but both were beaten pretty badly by their ranked opponents this week. Michigan State was thoroughly dominated by #18 Iowa and found themselves down 37-0 heading into the 4th quarter. MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins threw 3 INTs, one of which was returned for a TD, and the Spartan offense never looked quite able to recover from the set-backs. Mizzou also fell behind early and found themselves down 24-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Mizzou running game was ineffective while #14 Nebraska rushed for over 300 yards as they were able to hold of Mizzou and hold on for a 31-17 victory.
Mizzou couldnt stop Nebraska's ground game. Picture courtesy of SBNation.
With these two unbeaten teams losing, the number of unbeatens in college football drops to 5: #1 Auburn, #2 Oregon, #3 Boise State, #4 TCU, and #8 Utah. Expect that number to drop again next week as TCU travels to Utah to take on the Utes. The winner of this game will most likely finish as one of the top 3 teams and have a legitimate chance at the national championship. While I do not feel that either team deserves a spot in the National Title Game, they both can make a case for themselves. Auburn will travel to #7 Alabama in 3 weeks for the final game of the regular season. The winner of this game would also have a legitimate chance at the National title game,but that will only happen if they win the SEC championship as well. If either of these teams loses in the SEC Championship game, they can kiss their shot of a national title good-bye as well. The next month of college football will be exciting to see and time will only tell who will emerge victorious.
This is just an opinion…so please Pardon My Bias.
The Kings are 4-0 at home, and are off to one of their best starts in franchise history
Since the Pacific division in the NHL was trimmed to five teams it has experienced only three different division winners, and of the 11 seasons played two teams won the division ten times of the five. The San Jose Sharks have long been the dominators of the division, with the Dallas Stars before them. It is now beginning to look like there is going to be another transition taking place. Perhaps. The season is still young, but the oft floundering Los Angeles Kings seem to be finding footholds and playing like the team to beat.
The Kings have not been a model success, despite being the longest existing team in the Pacific (inaugural season in 1967 and didn’t relocate. Sorry North Stars, Jets, and Seals). Yet, the team only won a division once and has had more losing records (25) than playoff appearances (24, which included the format where nearly every team qualified for the playoffs). The 2000’s has been a decade of trials for the Kings consisting of several years of no post season play, but it appears the waiting in Los Angeles has paid off.
The Kings now have the highest winning percentage and the most points in the league, and most of all they sit atop the Pacific division. There is a lot of hockey to be played this season still but the Kings are proving they are the real deal, no longer sneaking up on teams and battling on with Norris finalist Drew Doughty missing time due to a concussion. Given that the Kings still are the youngest team in the league and actually look to get even younger with one of the deepest pipelines of talent on the blue line and a decent pool of forwards to draw from. What’s more is the amount of cap space the Kings have, though most of that is figured to go and re-sign Doughty, Jack Johnson, Brad Richardson, and Wayne Simmonds.
The Kings 5-on-5 play has largely been bolstered by more secondary scoring, like from Justin Williams (14) and Jaret Stoll (28)
As for the Sharks and Stars, both are experiencing their own transition phases. The Stars are handing more responsibility to their younger defensemen like Matt Niskanen and Mark Fistric, and trying to get more forwards to play alongside young studs Jamie Benn, James Neal, and Loui Eriksson. The Sharks are still relying on their prospect squad to keep supporting their top feeders though years of the top finishes has meant lower picks in the drafts.
This has opened the door for the Kings to take command of the Pacific and it looks like they have a real chance to do so. With two big wins in their past two games the Kings have momentum, taking control of the division from Dallas and getting a tad of revenge on Ilya Kovalchuk and the Devils (who are off to their worst start in franchise history). The Kings now go on a four game home stand and so far are unbeaten at home, with a huge road match versus the Sharks following that. But with Matt Greene getting back into the swing of the season, and Drew Doughty likely to return soon the Kings seem poised for a challenge. Including taking the Pacific division.
Five years ago, the San Francisco 49ers, passed on Berkeley QB Aaron Rodgers and decided to pick Utah’s Alex Smith. It was expected that they would go with the player who was located so close to them but they went in a different direction. This pick has changed everything for the Niners. Aaron Rodgers is one of the top QBs in the league while Smith has been struggling and just does not seem to be a legit #1 quarterback.
Now the 49ers are 1-6 after starting the season as the favorites to win their division. It seems like they will once again have a very high pick and this year there will once again be two local QBs on the board. Two highly scouted quarterbacks that are fighting to be the number one QB picked in the 2011 draft are Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Washington’s Jake Locker. Now if San Francisco gets the opportunity to pick one of the two, they should not miss the chance to pick the PAC-10 quarterback this time around.
Niners made the wrong choice last time. Photo courtesy of www.examiner.com.
The Niner’s QB depth is somewhat impressive historically wise; they have two number 1 picks and a Heisman Trophy winner. Both Alex Smith and David Carr were picked number 1 overall and Troy Smith won the Heisman with Ohio State. Unfortunately, these cool facts do not translate into quality NFL quarterbacks and therefore the 49ers are still struggling to find a consistent quarterback. They once again may have the opportunity to pick a quarterback in the draft and hopefully this time, they go local.
This is just an opinion so please…Pardon My Bias
Remember when Marty Schottenheimer was the San Diego Charger head coach and he took his team to a 14-2 season. Oh the Chargers also had Wade Phillips as their defensive coach and Cam Cameron as the offensive, and well things were looking good. A.J. Smith seemed to be making all the correct draft choices and was putting together a truly solid team. Then all of a sudden other teams were interested in hiring Phillips and Cameron as head coaches and the Chargers seemed to be struggling with getting a playoff win. The Charger organization seemed fit in letting Schottenheimer go along with the departure of his assistants. And this ladies and gentleman, was where the fall of the Chargers began.
The Chargers chose Norv Turner as the successor, and frankly, Norv Turner sucks! Although they finally began winning playoff games, they started to lack consistency and discipline. Starting 2-3 every year with the team they have is just plain ridiculous. Along with the shoddy coaching, the front office began to also make poor decisions. They had gone from drafting players such as Philip Rivers, Igor Olshansky, Nate Kaeding, Nick Hardwick, Shaun Phillips, Michael Turner, Shawne Merriman, Luis Castillo, Vincent Jackson, Antonio Cromartie and Marcus McNeill to using high picks on players such as Craig “Buster” Davis and Larry English. From the past three drafts, the only players that I believe have made some significance are Eric Weddle, Legedu Naane and Antoine Cason. By the way, the first 10 names I dropped were also from three years worth of drafting, indicating the decline in decision making my A.J. Smith and the Chargers’ front office.
Turner and Smith need to go, Photo courtesy of www.chargingbolts.com.
Now the Chargers are 2-5 with pro bowlers McNeill and Jackson barely coming back to play after a huge contract disputes and things just looking truly dismal. The AFC West was supposed to be in the bag, even for an inconsistent team like the Chargers. I have been preaching for weeks now that they fire Norv Turner but I now have another solution. It is time to clean house and start the front office from fresh. The Chargers have a bundle of talent on their squad and they need the leadership and management that can get the best out of them. This means reloading the whole coaching staff and getting rid of front office executives including A.J. Smith and the owner’s son, Dean Spanos.
I am sick and tired of seeing an extremely talented Charger team fail to reach its potential due to poor leadership and management. Fire them all and get your team back to where it is supposed to be.
This is just an opinion so please…Pardon My Bias
Well that game sure proved all the “experts” wrong. When Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum go head-to-head you’d expect both pitchers to get seven or eight innings in a tight 2-1 or 3-2 outcome – we could not have been more wrong. Cliff Lee came into game 1 of the World Series with a 7-0 record and a 1.26 ERA. He didn’t last even five innings as he gave up six earned runs and accumulated an 11.57 ERA. With all the build up of Cliff Lee’s post-season performances, the Giants’ batters just had one question for all their critics: “Cliff who?” They refused to be intimidated, even when Tim Lincecum gave up two runs to put the Giants in a 2-0 hole, and they roughed Cliff Lee up pretty bad. Lee threw 104 pitches and gave up eight hits as the Giants hit him hard and often in 4 and 2/3 innings. Meanwhile, his counterpart Tim Lincecum wasn’t his usual freakish self; Lee was missing pitch locations and giving the Giants’ batters opportunities to capitalize. Cliff Lee’s poor performance was quite shocking and the main reason for the Rangers losing game 1. Lee’s crucial mistakes made the Giants offense look potent.
The Giants' bats were ready to for Cliff Lee. Picture courtesy or SF Gate.
Besides Lee’s poor performance there wasn’t really much else to take from this game other than Vladimir Guerrero’s error in the bottom of the 8th that allowed Edgar Renteria to turn a double into an easy triple with no outs. Edgar Renteria was able to score on the next play, and the Giants went up 9-4. While that play may have seemed insignificant at the time, the Rangers came back in the 9th inning to put up three runs; but the Giants already had eleven runs by this time and the game was essentially over. If Vlad hadn’t made that error the Rangers might have salvaged a run or two. Vlad playing right field puts the Rangers at a disadvantage, and it showed. Who knows if/when it will cost them in a tight game during this series. The Giants have every right to be enthusiastic after this big win but they cannot be satisfied. This series isn’t won in game 1; every game matters so they must be ready for Game 2 tonight. I was confident the Giants could steal a win with Cliff Lee pitching, and now that they have, I might be willing to predict the Giants to win in 6…but I won’t get ahead of myself.
This is just an opinion…so please Pardon My Bias.
Now that the NBA season has started and after all the chaos over this past summer, I am going to take some guesses at who will win individual awards at the end of the season, but don’t trust my choices because at this point, everything is up for grabs.
MVP: LeBron James, SF, Miami Heat. It seems like the whole world hates LeBron and are all on this Kevin Durant bandwagon. Don’t get me wrong, Durant is amazing, and I would not be shocked if he did end up winning this award. He has acted as a true professional and achieved great things this summer with Team USA, and the boy can flat out score. Although I think he and the Thunder have a great chance getting past the Lakers this year, I still think LeBron could three-peat this award. His numbers will most likely go down from last year but he will make a huge impact with this Heat team and lead them to great heights. Even with Dwayne Wade, LeBron James is my MPV.
Can LeBron be an MVP in Miami? Photo courtesy of www.guim.co.uk
Defensive Player of the Year: Kevin Garnett, PF, Boston Celtics. I don’t know. Kind of just threw out a name on this one. It could be Dwight Howard, Ron Artest or maybe a healthy Kevin Garnett. KG is a very intense guy and that intensity and passion shows in his defense. The Celtics are a defensive minded team and KG is their leader on that end of the court and if they are going to make another run, he will be the defensive reason.
6th Man: Manu Ginobili, SG, San Antonio Spurs. Wow picking NBA awards are much tougher than the NFL. I do like Jamal Crawford, but he has been having contract issues with the Hawks. I kind of like Steve Blake coming off the bench of the Lakers but there’s more chance of Lamar Odom winning this award. This obviously only makes sense if Ginobili is healthy, but this definitely may just be the final year of the Spurs’ era. Hmm, what about Corey Maggette…eh nevermind, I will stick with Ginobili.
Most Improved: Andrea Bargnani, C, Toronto Raptors. Again, another tough choice. I was trying to decide between Bargnani, Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, Darren Collison and Kevin Garnett. KG is an old timer now but should bounce back now that he’s fully healthy but the other players could all have break out years. Jefferson is back from injury and in a new system with an exceptional point guard, Love now takes over the power forward position from Al Jefferson and even off the bench he put up crazy numbers last year, and Collison played very well in place of Chris Paul last year and should make a huge impact with the Pacers. But when it comes down to it, I have to go with Bargnani. He is going to be in charge of taking over for Chris Bosh’s impact and this may be the year that he gets closer to looking like a number 1 pick. Any of these guys could really win this award, but as the number 1 overall pick in 2006, I hope Bargnani can make this huge jump.
It's now or never. Photo courtesy of http://ambasketball.com
Rookie of the Year: DeMarcus Cousins, PF, Sacramento Kings. This was actually an easier pick to make. Although John Wall is breathtaking, I really do not think he is going to have a ROY type of season. Evan Turner looks like crap at this point and not sure what to expect of the other rookies. The only competition I can see if Blake Griffin, who will technically be a rookie. I think this award is a coin flip between Cousins and Griffin, but Cousins is a beast and I think his partnership with Tyreke Evans is going to be huge. Cousins will beast his way to the rookie of the year award.
Coach of the Year: Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat. If Miami has a great regular season, this is a piece of cake choice. Having the ability to take three big stars and getting them to work well together is a tough task. Finding pieces to help fill in and figuring out what works well is even tougher. Besides being a total bust of a team (which they will not be), only way Spoelstra does not get this award is if Pat Riley takes over as coach…watch your back Erik.
This is just an opinion so please…Pardon My Bias
The Lakers and Heat should finish atop their respective confrerences, photo courtesy of Getty Images
Western Conference
1. Los Angeles Lakers
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
4. Utah Jazz
5. San Antonio Spurs
6. Houston Rockets
7. Denver Nuggets
8. Los Angeles Clippers
The Lakers are the clear cut favorites in the Western Conference and should run away with the number one spot and there is not much debate about it. As much hype as the Thunder are getting for “challenging” the Lakers in the west, I still think they’re maybe one or two more years away. I understand they took the Lakers to 6, but they’re still a young team that was in the 8th spot last year. The Dallas Mavericks have had 50+ wins the last 10 years, and I think that continues. The Jazz will play well, but I think it will take about 20 games for Al Jefferson to get fully acclimated in Jerry Sloan’s offense. The Spurs are slowly falling in age, but I am interested to see what impact that Tiago Splitter has for the Spurs (although he is suffering an ankle injury right now). The Rockets could easily jump the Spurs if health, and that’s a big if. I hope Yao can stay healthy, because a man with that much talent deserves to be on the floor. The Nuggets are slowly flailing and with trade talks for Carmelo picking back up, the whole thing can implode at any time. You may be thinking that I’m out my mind putting the Clippers at the 8 spot over New Orleans and Portland, but I think the pieces are intact for a solid season. Blake Griffin looks like a monster already, Kaman is coming off an All-Star season, and Eric Gordon had a great showing this summer for Team USA in Turkey. This could be the year for the Clips to make it back into the glory land.
Eastern Conference
1. Miami Heat
2. Orlando Magic
3. Boston Celtics
4. Chicago Bulls
5. Milwaukee bucks
6. Atlanta Hawks
7. Charlotte Bobcats
8. Washington Wizards
Miami alone with shear talent can win the most games, and I think they will win more games than any other team in the league. A lot of people are riding the Orlando high-horse but based off what? Is it just because Dwight Howard worked out with Hakeem this summer? The Celtics will carry on with their theory of not caring too much about the regular season, one that paid dividends last year. The Carlos Boozer injury is unfortunate for the Bulls, but it makes me continue questioning Boozer and his commitment. The Bucks are a young and upcoming team with a lot of promise. Young Buck, Brandon Jennings, will continue to grow his game and improve. Having Andrew Bogut back will be great for the Bucks, as he showed great improvement last year. The Hawks have been a talented team the last few years but haven’t been able to get over the hump, I think the struggle continues this season. The Bobcats have enough talent to make it back into the playoffs again this year, but they can easily drop off to the Knicks or the Nets even. I still like the talent of Stephen Jackson, Gerald Wallace, and Boris Diaw. Tyrus Thomas will also get one more shot to prove that he is as talented as scouts made him out to be during the draft. My last pick were the Wizards because in the East, any team can make that last spot. I just like the impact that John Wall will bring to this team, and having Arenas back (if he can keep his head screwed on) will help Wall develop into a star. Brandon Jennings led his team last year, I see Wall leading the Wiz this year.
This is just an opinion, so please…Pardon My Bias.
This is definitely the season of unknowns. Who legitimately saw these two teams making the playoffs, let alone the World Series, back in April? I can almost guarantee that no one predicted a Giants-Rangers World Series come October, but that’s exactly what we have. I’ll admit that it’s not the dream match-up Bud Selig and the MLB were hoping for, but this World Series won’t be a boring one involving either the Yankees or the Phillies. The San Francisco and Texas fan bases are faithful and are deserving of this opportunity to play for the ultimate prize. The Giants are still looking to win their first World Series since moving from New York to San Francisco over 50 years ago. The Rangers haven’t fared much better since the birth of their franchise in 1961 having only made the playoffs four times and making their first trip to the World Series this year. This should be a great series featuring strong pitching and hitting. Without further adieu, here is my analysis of the World Series.
Lincecum Vs Lee..this should be a doozy...picture courtesy of ESPN.
The first thing to take a look at is the pitching. Baseball fans across America were salivating in anticipation of the great pitching match-ups in the NLCS. Well, the World Series pitching match-ups won’t be too shabby; the Giants have four solid starters in Lincecum (1.93 ERA in playoffs), Cain (0.00 ERA), Sanchez (2.93 ERA), and Bumgarner (3.55 ERA). And they have a deep bullpen more than capable of shutting down the opposition if necessary. Affeldt (3.38 ERA in the playoffs), Casilla (2.70 ERA), Lopez (1.80 ERA), and Wilson (0.00) have given both the Braves and Phillies nightmares and will continue to do so to the Rangers. The Rangers aren’t too far behind in the pitching category. Their starting pitching might be on par with the Giants mainly due to Cliff Lee, who has continued his masterful post-season play this October. While Colby Lewis has also been very solid this post season (1.45 ERA), while the Yankees hit C.J. Wilson pretty hard by the Yankees and I’m not sure if he can get it done. What worries me the most (as a Giants fan) is Cliff Lee. Cliff Lee could theoretically pitch games 1, 4, and 7 (if necessary) and he could possibly win all three. If the Giants can get to Lee in atleast game 1 or 4, then they won’t have to see him for a game 7. What gives the Giants the ultimate edge is the relief pitching. The Rangers have had inconsistent bullpen efforts outside of NeftaliFeliz. No other relief pitcher who has pitched in more than one game, has an ERA of below 3.3 in the postseason. If the Rangers starters run into some trouble, I’m not sure if they can truly rely on their bullpen. Fear the Beard, the Giants clearly have the edge here.
Fear the Beard, because when he comes in...its over. Picture courtesy of fairydreams.net
In the next aspect of this series, the Giants don’t even come close to the Rangers. The Rangers have one of the most potent offenses in the MLB and the Giants offense has been anemic to say the least. The Rangers are armed with Josh Hamilton, Bengie Molina, Ian Kinsley and Nelson Cruz; these four players have been on fire and have combined for 32 RBIs this postseason. Meanwhile, the Giants entire team has 27 RBIs this postseason. While the Giants don’t have big power hitters like the Rangers, they do have some solid hitters who can string together hits when needed. Posey, Huff, Ross, Burrel, Uribe, and Torres are capable of getting clutch hits and the Giants may have enough run support to take down the Rangers. But as of right now, the clear advantage goes to the Rangers.
Hamilton has had one helluva year. Picture courtesy of chosenforgrace.com
Now it comes down to the other variables: home field advantage, managing, and defensive play. Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Giants have the advantage in all three. With the National League winning the All-Star game, the Giants will play games 1, 2, 6, and 7 in pitcher friendly AT&T Park. With the Giant faithful cheering them on, the Giants pitching should thrive as the Rangers will not be able to hit the long ball as much as they are accustomed to doing. The Giants have the big advantage when it comes to managing as well. Bruce Bochy has made the right call game after game this post season and all of his changes have paid off. When Rowand or Sandoval were subbed in, they produced. When Schierholtz came in via a double switch, the Giants defense improved while they didn’t lose much firepower on offense. Bochy has managed near perfect playoffs up to this point. Many may criticize his use of Tim Lincecum in relief of the NLCS game 6. But Bochy managed that game as a do or die game- you don’t want to play a game 7 in Philadelphia so you pull out all the stops. If your ace says he can pitch, then you throw him out there and hope for the best. While Lincecum did give up two hits, there was no harm done due to Wilson shutting down the Phillies when they threatened to score. Here’s what ESPN analyst Rob Neyer said about the manager comparison, “I haven’t seen enough Giants or Rangers games this year to pass final judgment on the respective tactical acumen of Bruce Bochy and Ron Washington. Just in the last few weeks, though, nearly every move that Bochy made seemed to work, while Washington really hasn’t needed to make many moves and when he’s made them, they haven’t worked all that well.” And this finally brings me to my last point, defense. The Rangers are not a great defensive team and when they have to play by the NL rules in games 1, 2, 6, and 7 they will have to put Guerrero in the outfield if they want to use his bat. The Giants have made some errors in the postseason, but they have been very solid for the most part and will look to take advantage of Guerrero in the outfield.
Bruce Bochy has done a near-perfect job managing the Giants this post-season. Picture courtesy of razzball.com
While both teams have surprised many this year and have had feel-good stories, one will head home with disappointment. As a life-long Giants fan I hope that San Francisco will bring home their first World Series championship this season. The Rangers are an incredibly formidable team and their high-powered offense coupled with the mastery of Cliff Lee should be a huge challenge. However, the Giants are built around strong pitching and defense, and a wise man once said, “Pitching and defense win championships.” These Giants are special…Giants in 7.
This is just an opinion…so please Pardon My Bias.
Ok so everyone does power rankings. Even hockey writers. Unfortunately I missed the preseason and first week of full coverage. So here’s week two:
Datsyuk, Modano, Zetterberg, and Lidstrom of the Red Wings are still the force to be reckoned with
1. Detroit Red Wings (5-1-1) Preseason Rank – 4: Gold standard of the week is Red. After saying they weren’t pleased with a 3-1-1 start they win two more this week, for three in a row. Standout – Hank Zetterberg with three goals and three assists in two games this week. Scorchin.
2. Nashville Predators (5-0-3) Preseason Rank – 15: Still no regulation losses, which means first place in points overall. After three overtime losses, the Preds rebound with two wins over hot starting Dallas and Tampa Bay. Standout – Pekka Rinne’s past three games has consisted of 103 shots and only five goals. Unfortunately he lost two of those, all of those games were one goal margins, and the Preds have scored a total of four goals over those three.
3. Boston Bruins (4-2-0) Preseason Rank – 3: Two wins over the Washington Capitals highlights the week, and the Bruins are undefeated on the road. Standout – Tim Thomas, in case you missed it, is a Cap killer, allowing a goal a game in the back to back games with Washington. Given that Rask lost his start this week, those Thomas trade rumors are quickly being quashed.
4. Los Angeles Kings (5-2-0) Preseason Rank – 7: Sure they lost Drew Doughty for a bit, but an undefeated home-stand is nice. The Kings may also have finally figured out what was wrong with the powerplay seeing how they were on the minus side for a while. Standout – Brad Richardson potted a hat trick in a 6-4 win over his old team, Colorado. Honorable mention to Wayne Simmonds for finally lighting things up with two goals, two assists in two and a half games before being ejected for butt ending T.J. Galiardi in the nads.
5. Calgary Flames (5-3-0) Preseason Rank – 14: Three for four this week. Maybe Darryl Sutter does know what he’s doing. Or maybe it was just Kiprusoff getting two shutouts in a week. Standout – Well besides Kipper, Rene Bourque is showing Jarome Iginla how to be a goal scorer. Six goals in four games, including a hat trick. Shout out to the Flames’ penalty kill for having almost as many goals on their penalty kill as on their power play.
6. Tampa Bay Lightning (5-2-1) Preseason Rank – 13: The Lightning split for the week going 2-2, one loss coming in overtime. Their goaltending is still not doing them any favors, as neither Mike Smith nor Dan Ellis has a save percentage over 89%. Standout – Wanna talk about a hot start? Steven Stamkos has 15 points and eight goals in eight games. Patrick Sharp of Chicago is tied in goals, but he also has 10 games to his credit. He’s also the next closest and four behind Stamkos in points.
7. Dallas Stars (5-2-0) Preseason Rank – 29: After a very impressive start beating the likes of New Jersey and Detroit, and going 4-0, the Stars drop two. One of them includes getting shutout by Nashville. Kari Lehtonen is still playing like a hall of famer. Standout – Lehtonen. He hasn’t been a stud in every game, but when he’s on, he is one of the top keepers. The top six forwards have been lighting it up still, and Brad Richards’ +9 is tops in the league (for whatever that’s worth).
8. Washington Capitals (5-3-0) Preseason Rank – 2: 4-1 to start until Boston showed up. Two losses later, and Washington was happy to sneak away with a overtime win over Atlanta, even after Washington fought back to tie, then lead, then blow aforementioned lead. Standout – Would have to be Alex Semin, since he essentially kept Washington in the game against Atlanta scoring a hat trick. In the meantime, where’s AO and Mike Green?
9. New York Rangers (4-2-1) Preseason Rank – 16: Initially keeping things problematic with a week-opening loss to Colorado, the Blue Shirts then prattle off three wins in row over Toronto, Boston, and New Jersey (with Ilya Kovalchuk might I add). Maybe the 15 centers on the team all found a way into the game. Standout – Sean Avery was doing so well for while…But now the hot shot mantle belongs to Michal Rozsival. A point in each of his last three, and he’s tied for second on the team in points. Who needs Wade Redden?
10. St. Louis Blues (4-1-2) Preseason Rank – 12: With a so-so start the Blues brought some better game this week, falling initially to Chicago in overtime before beating the past two defending Cup champions in dramatic fashion. With only one regular season loss the Blues need to carry this momentum forward for the remaining home-stand before facing a tough road trip. Standout – David Perron was scoreless until the week where he then notched two goals in two straight contests. Then Jaroslav Halak stole the show, shutting out the Pens in a 1-0 OT win to go along with a pretty solid performance for the rest of his week.
11. Pittsburgh Penguins (5-3-1) Preseason Rank – 10: Pittsburgh has been just about good enough to where they aren’t alarmingly bad (New Jersey) but also aren’t good enough to be blowing people away so far (Detroit). Everything seems routine outside of the fact of Marc-Andre Fleury just being awful and handing over duties to backup Brent Johnson who finally lost to Nashville after being out dueled 0-1. Standout – Three multi point games before Nashville shut the door on the Penguins, Sidney Crosby has been routinely lighting things up. No surprise. Brent Johnson has been however (4-0-1).
12. New York Islanders (4-2-2) Preseason Rank – 22: Two dramatic overtime wins to start the week until Florida played spoiler and stopped the streak at three games for the Isles. More hat tricks across the league as John Tavares made history also, though when the rest of the team doesn’t perform it doesn’t equate to much. Standout – Four goals, and six points for three games is pretty respectable for a guy who can’t buy a beer in the States. Such is the case of Tavares.
13. Montreal Canadians (4-2-1) Preseason Rank – 17: Montreal looks bad and gets shutout, then looks great and does the shutting out. Carey Price will be blamed. Standout – The Habs’ defense. Past three games they have only allowed an average of about 20 shots. Price has been getting beat however, so maybe now it is the quality of opportunities and not quantity. Or it’s Price.
14. Toronto Maple Leafs (4-2-1) Preseason Rank – 23: 4-0! 4-0! 4-uh oh. Yep, that’s right, the Leafs’ doomsday counter has started back up again. Three straight losses and all of a sudden Toronto looks like how most people thought Toronto would look. Standout – Let’s just say Phil Kessel. He had two goals. That has been about it.
15. Carolina Hurricanes (4-3-0) Preseason Rank – 28: The road trip from Hell comes to a close for the Canes and really they got by alright. Seeing how they could have easily won all three games this past week, had it not been for a bad error by backup goalie Justin Peters, Carolina would really be in business. Now, it is time to see if they recover and can win at home. Standout – The Hurricanes’ conditioning coach gets a kudos. Plain and simple.
16. Chicago Blackhawks (5-4-1) Preseason Rank – 8: This looks to be a very up and down season for the Hawks unless they can gain some consistency. Two overtime wins, followed by two regulation losses to division rivals. Maybe when the Hawks’ defense starts helping out, things can get straightened out. Though in all fairness when the team allows fewer than 30 shots Turco plays like garbage. Standout – Patrick Sharp has been the biggest contributor lately, but Marian Hossa has been steady. Toews has been the playmaker as usual. Now about that defense…
17. San Jose Sharks (3-3-1) Preseason Rank – 6: Mediocrity seems to be hitting the Sharks early this year. Maybe they can get it out of their system now, or maybe Antti Niemi isn’t Evengi Nabokov (though perhaps Antero Nittymaki is). Standout – Joe Pavelski, yet for some reason Joe Thornton got a contract extension. Must be since he drastically inflates those around him’s goal total.
18. Columbus Blue Jackets (4-3-0) Preseason Rank – 25: Not quite out of it yet, in fact Columbus is very much delaying that. For how long will be interesting given how incredibly inconsistent goalie Steve Mason is. Rookie phenom to sophomore slump to third year headache? Standout – Marc Methot had a pretty good week notching a point a game (all assists though), along with seeing a big bump in ice time.
19. Florida Panthers (3-3-0) Preseason Rank – 30: Florida is like the slow sounding kid in class that suddenly surprises you by having moments of genius. A sluggish 4-1 loss to Dallas followed by a 4-3 win over the Islanders to make John Tavares feel bad. They are at .500 and will probably be there until the trade deadline where they will need to decide whether to trade Tomas Vokoun or go for the playoffs. Standout – The Florida blueliners. At least on offense. In two games, six points out of the 12 generated. Not bad. Too bad that the forwards aren’t creating more and the goals against were 3.5 for the week.
20. Colorado Avalanche (4-4-0) Preseason Rank – 18: A rough end to the week for the Avs, dropping two in a row, though defenseman Scott Hannan is looking like he is returning soon. Craig Anderson is really going to need to improve though if he wants the Avs to make the playoffs again. Standout – Who says the league is dominated by youth? Milan Hejduk had three goals and three assists in three games to show the whippersnappers a thing or two.
21. Minnesota Wild (3-3-1) Preseason Rank – 24: 2-1 with the loss coming against the Canucks. Sadly, Cal Clutterbuck didn’t dive through the glass to hip check a Vancouver fan for…well, let’s just say being a Vancouver fan. Standout – The man with the long name and awesome beard, Guillaume Latendresse. Two goals and three assists for the week. Honorable mention to the clapping guy who got shoved by Rick Rypien and had to tough out a dinner with Gary Bettman. The horror.
22. Philadelphia Flyers (3-3-1) Preseason Rank – 9: This looks familiar…Mediocre start, sloppy goaltending, and yet high expectations. Mike Leighton is injured, Boucher isn’t a starter, and Sergei Bobrovsky might have been solved by opponents. Time to go call Ray Emery. Standout – Mike Richards has a good game and all of a sudden he has “regained form”. Eh, I’ll buy it.
23. Vancouver Canucks (3-3-2) Preseason Rank – 1: Another 1-2 week means a hefty plummet for the Canucks. Glad to see as a team they defended Rypien’s actions to go after a fan. You stay classy San Diego of the north. Maybe someone can explain to Luongo what playing goalie entails, because his play doesn’t seem correlated to his captaincy whether he has it or not. Standout – The Sedins. They may be freaky looking but even when times are bad they do the job.
24. Phoenix Coyotes (2-2-2) Preseason Rank – 21: Phoenix gathers up three points for the week despite losing Shane Doan via over enthusiastic suspension for over enthusiastic interference contact. Standout – No one was too flashy, but Ilya Bryzgalov is steady. Kyle Turris gets a nod for nearly rallying Phoenix on his own against Carolina. Too bad the Coyotes still lost.
25. Buffalo Sabres (3-5-1) Preseason Rank – 11: Well at least the five game losing streak was put to an end. Two wins now probably seems like a godsend. Seems more likely the Sabres realized the season has actually started. Standout – Americans! Get’r done, country first. Tyler Myers and Tim Connolly notably. Oh, and Ryan Miller by default.
26. Atlanta Thrashers (3-4-1) Preseason Rank – 20: Another good start evaporated. Three straight losses, mainly due to a lack of offense, has Atlanta reeling currently. Standout – Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd since they were the only ones generating much of anything talent wise for close to a week there.
27. Edmonton Oilers (2-4-0) Preseason Rank – 26: Zero points in two weeks. That’s the Oilers everyone has come to know and love. And Taylor Hall gets to spend more time in lovely Edmonton. Hopefully he can stay for the winter. Standout – The goal light guy for keeping pace. Nearly four goals against on average during the past two weeks, which didn’t improve this week with a 4-2 and 6-1 loss.
28. Anaheim Ducks (3-5-1) Preseason Rank – 27: Speaking of goals against, the Ducks rank dead last, and improvement doesn’t seem imminent. My condolences to Jonas Hiller who is facing on average 40 shots a game, which is also tops in the wrong way department. Standout – Lubomir Visnovsky is somehow finding time to generate offense for both teams by being part of the Ducks’ porous D, and getting a goal and three assists.
29. Ottawa Senators (2-5-1) Preseason Rank – 19: A not so hot start for the Sens, a team which is already experiencing the goalie carousel. Problem is, neither Pascal Leclaire nor Brian Elliot is really stealing the starting job. And that the only offense really being generated is coming from Daniel Alfredsson (again). Standout – Alfredsson, the aging captain, in fact scored four of the six goals for the Sens this past week.
30. New Jersey Devils (2-6-1) Preseason Rank – 5: What a fall from grace. With only two wins so far, both coming from Martin Brodeur shutouts, there is a lot of things going wrong in NJ. Ilya Kovalchuk gets scratched, being under a full roster due to cap constraints, and losses pilling up. The Devils are tied for last for goals for, and in the bottom three for goals against and powerplay conversion. Standout – Dainius Zubrus has been the closest thing to a bright spot this past week, averaging a point a game, though all were assists.
