Mike Scott's AHL Week 1 Winners, Losers and Bums

Ya'll need to get your shit together and find a media person.

After Week 1 of S37 for the AHL, the standings look rather accurate to preseason predictions with a few outliers. Let's take a look at the WINNERS, LOSERS and BUMS of Week 1.​

WINNERS

Rockford Ice Hogs (8-1-0) - A team that was projected to be middling throughout the season is off to a hot start on the back of free contract @Josh55777 and DP @x Elton z who posted a 3-0 record. Likely the best goalie duo in the AHL, @GregxWhite and @immortalbmw have held up their end of the bargain partnering with the Ice Hog D-core to hold opponents to a staggering 8 goals thru 9 games. The next best number for GA would be the Marlies with 17. If the Ice Hogs can maintain even 75% of that type of defense/goaltending, this team will start running away with the West Central.

Henderson Silver Knights (7-1-1) - Ryan Reynolds and company came out of the gate swinging and are currently tied with the Ice Hogs for the largest goal differential in the league (+19). They also only trail the Heat (45) for goals scored at 44. The Silver Knight have two lines without a regulation loss including the top line of ryonn-reynolds-fly and the impressive line of prodigy and silentsofjacuz who is second in the league with 16 pts.

Stockton Heat (6-3-0) - As previously mentioned, this team is here to put pucks in nets. With 45 goals in Week 1, the Heat flexed their offensive muscles. ECU who I expect to quickly be called up, @cKenbo, leads the league with 17 points with linemates @Mxckie and @Cannarozzo closely behind. The concerns lie with the third line of Binxx-Jude-Fawn who were 1-2 in Week 1. If that line can start going 2-1, 1-1-1 week in and week out...this Heat team will be in contention all season long. Goalie duo KeiranGW and Scali should keep this team competitive even during down weeks.

Hartford Wolf Pack (7-2-0) - Another team that has done well with living up to projections, Berube and Clutch have these boys buzzing. Unsurprisingly, the Shotsy-Keenis-Juul-AO-Tito line is taking a run at the #1 line in Hartford. I predicted the Shotsy-Keenis connection to be strong, Juul was of interest to me in the NHL, AO is continuing his reign of terror in the AHL and Tito is living up to my dark-horse prediction for Eddie Shore. This line had two impressive wins vs. Belleville and Providence. Hartford has two certified world beaters in Line 1 and 2. Jpiss is living up to expectations, going 5-1 with a .824 sv.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms (7-2-0) - Right behind the Wolf Pack lie the Baby Flyers. A team void of superstars but filled with depth had a nice first week including a 3-0 start for gritty-nemzer-charweiner-smitty and spacelessbark. Old heads like Wiz, BigJohn, Kinns and ladooo are 2-1 which is a nice surprise and Eden is living up to his AHL reputation going 5-1 in Week 1 despite a lower sv% (.760). The Phantoms are also only one of 5 teams to put up 40+ goals in Week 1. I consider this team stronger defensively so it's nice to see some offense out of the gate. The addition of Lundie (waived from NHL) to pair with Eden will increase this teams ability to win close games.

Syracuse Crunch (6-3-0) - Here is another team where I don't consider any player or line dominate but collectively are proving to be a problem for the crowded East-North division. Every player has at least 2 wins on the roster and no player has over 10 points. Pretty consistent across the board for the Crunch. They have a razor thin +2 goal differential and will continue to rely on consistency across the board from their three lines. I'd love to see these guys to have another week like this but definitely are the most likely to fall out of the 'Winners' column in Week 2.

Toronto Marlies (8-0-1) - The only team without a regulation loss, Broomball has proven me wrong yet again (for the time being). I thought this team failed to match their s36 roster thru bidding but everything is looking good so far for the Broom Cup. Media Mogul and CHL mainstay @Schwifty7 jumped on the daunted Broomball line and helped the boys go 2-0-1. The goalie duo of Perry and Clutch look great so far and the defense has done their job - allowing only 17 goals in Week 1 (2nd least). Most of my concerns for this team have been washed away - Patmo went 3-0 but only had 5 points...meaning the two highest paid forwards (Patmo and Neemm) combined for 9 points in Week 1... Yikes. If Patmo starts scoring, this team will be tough to beat.




LOSERS

Grand Rapids Griffins (3-6-0) - The s35 champs are struggling and with a team built on toxicity, I'm worried about an explosion or trade tornado at any moment. The top line of Cubs-Metal-Night-Larry-Homie went 1-2 and the 3rd line went 0-3. Crap, retnuh went 0-3? who saw that coming. The CP1-Holtby line is currently keeping the team afloat but something needs to change for GRG. Expect a rebound from @recyclebinhero (currently 0-4) which could help in Week 2.

San Diego Gulls (4-3-2) - A team with a top 5 free contract duo (Pigs and Boogie), the Gulls are off to a sluggish start but managed to snag 10 points thanks to pushing 3 games to OT. Their top line of Pigs-Boogie-ferocious and baskutkayz had a rough night on Tuesday getting shut out by MY Milwaukee Admirals and their DP line and didn't get a win until the last game of the night in OT. The GreenMonster-Edgar-Cross line helped push the Gulls to a decent week but had a concerning 9-1 loss to the Heat which gives me pause on how this line will fare against top lines. I am not super worried about the Pigs and Boogie line so this team should be okay moving forward.

Belleville Senators (5-3-1) - Kind of weird to put a team with 5 wins, 11 points and a +11 goal differential in the 'Losers' column but was definitely an unimpressive week for one of the Calder Cup favorites. Most surprising would be the Sharp line going 1-2 this week. Shoutout @Magundis. Sharp didn't load up his line like he has in past seasons but I still expect a top-5 player in the league to be able to carry this line. It's nice to see the brother-tandem of Czikas and Bossy return to the win column going 3-0 with the help of @KnifeVet22 and the uber consistent @cabcavlax1. I'm not concerned about this team at all but definitely not the start they were looking for.

Hershey Bears (3-4-2) - This team appears to have been hampered by some bad beats in Week 1 going 0-1-2 in 1 goal games and remain as the only non-playoff team with a positive goal differential (+3). The 'top line' of Gerbe-Chunx-Showtime-Chisouth-Blisdon did their job grabbing 5 points on the week although I will never legally say it's a top line if Chisouth is in the mix. The other free contract, Skrodem, went 0-2-1. SUPER disappointing start for a line that includes ballsack, jlucas, dangelson and costy. Can't expect that to hold up - I don't expect to see the Bears remain a loser in Week 2 but get it the fuck together Hershey.


BUMS

Bakersfield Condors (1-5-3) - This team struggled in OT this week going 1-3 in games that went past 3 periods. In general, a pace like that can be altered by a few friendly bounces and surely this team could easily be 4-5 if they turned up the clutch factor. The more concerning statistic is $8mil forward @NEEMMM putting up only 4 points in 3 games going 0-1-2 vs. three mediocre/average teams. It looks like free contract @Jordo x 14 missed this week? Not sure the situation there but adding him back next week should help this line although I expect Nemm and NHL send down JuniorHawk to still be able to get at least a win or two without a third piece. Their -16 goal differential is 2nd worse in the league. This team has a ton of work to do.

Binghamton Devils (3-6-0) - What the fuck was that boys. Another frontrunner, the Devils looked ruff in Week 1 only scoring 21 goals for a -12 goal differential and currently sit second to last in their division. GM Scooby Doo went 0-3 with a line I expected more out of (Pasta, Nezzy, pats, roubi, horty) and their third line of Dubligaa, Herndy, karls didn't help the cause (1-2). Tree-Nash-Donn and rookie Provy put up a 2-1 week to salvage a disastrous start. This team has to start clicking before they lose traction in a division with some tough teams ahead of them.

Ontario Reign (0-8-1) - Can't say I'm incredibly shocked by this one. A team that I projected as one of the worst in the preseason is living up to expectations. Most concerning would be the 0-2-1 performance by the top line of @jackD00P @Pryme 19 and company. Outside of that, I don't see any help coming from the two other lines. This team is old and washed and needs a strong overhaul thru trades, waivers, miracles to not be run out of town early in the season. Their 51 goals allowed are by far the most in the AHL thru week 1 (next worse team gave up 40) and their 19 goals for are also worst in the league equaling an abysmal -32 goal differential, getting beat by 3.5 goals per game. Good luck boys.....

Actually, fuck off... you were super rude to me in the chatbox.

 

@The Treestone @INash 61I @Provy I9I here we go bailing out Roubidoughnut wins

 

Damn. Worthy of a mention, but not worthy of being tagged @Cizikas x 53. He couldn't even spell your name right after listing you as the top C in bidding last season... Can confirm that we're in @KnifeVet22 backpack though

uzz

 

Cup season boys @FerDaHD @GK KING207 @Jelly x 35

 

@Keenis VI IX the duos is being shouted out!! they love us!

 

I love my Phantoms. Thanks for the read Mike.

PS. @GRITTY 16 gets carried.

 

Knights buzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Ryan Reynolds is a low key stud

 

ATTA BE @MiikeScott
Lovin this content man. Fuck all haters keep doing the MacKinnon thingz

 

Uber consistent here... he's not wrong

 

Thanks for all the media. Greatly appreciated

 

Wow such an amazing write up, keep up the astonishing work Mike! You are doing very well for yourself

 

someone is mad I called them a ballsac

 

Who’s mad? I’m just being super supportive and it’s week 1, lots of hockey left to play

 

sorry i got arrested for having a panda bear in my back seat ill be back strong for week 2

 

Losers in buzzville