Due to the media being piss-poor in the NHL and AHL so far in S37, I am just going to jump into the fray in both leagues (AHL because I have the thumbs of a 3rd line AHLer, at best) - so get fucking used to my face.... I've seen a variety of NHL-level media including the Super 16, headlines, podcasts and more. This will be a bit of a different approach, include more teams and give more wiggle room from week to week. Probably will become a weekly thing but idk.. I get bored. Introducing, 6-6-6 with Michael Scott. 6-6-6 With Michael Scott (Week 2) 6 TEAMS at the top --> Teams that shouldn't change a thing and keep grinding. 6 TEAMS on the cusp --> Teams who showed signs of life in Week 1 who are most vulnerable to join the contenders or head towards the bottom. 6 TEAMS in the hole --> Teams that are currently in the toilet and are trying to avoid a flush. 6 Teams at the top 1) Florida Panthers (7-1-1): The Florida Panthers kick off the season with a 7-1-1 record including an impressive 4-0-1 record in 1 goal games. Led by Luigi, Jared and Heroism, this team is built on familiarity and depth. The Panthers have the second best goal differential (+13) and are one of 3 teams to avoid giving up 20 or more goals. In Week 1, all three lines showed getting at least 2 wins each but I was most impressed by the line of Reiders-Herosim-Bush-Boarne-Bardown who went 3-0 with wins over division rivals Toronto and Ottawa. Can't see any reason why this roster will see changes in the near future - Should continue to roll. Impressive Wins: 4-3 W vs. Toronto, 3-2 W vs. Ottawa Players To Watch: @l Bousquet l @o Vinnny @Crow I50I 2) Detroit Red Wings (7-1-1): The Detroit Waived Mike Scotts came out of the gate firing on the back of their first line with returners Kosmic and OFs and the newly developed line of 98-Goon-Prince with Prince's s36 D-pair, the power couple (Rev Hellcat and Costinator Silva) who went 3-0. Similar to Florida, Detroit went 4-0-1 in 1 goal games. One of the more active trade teams, this third line seems to be a revolving door and might not stop being that way for the foreseeable future. In Week 2, Hatemaker, Eatchy and Baky will take a crack at it. Impressive Wins: N/A Players To Watch: @ShaunaIdinho @HNZ Prince (transition to RW) 3) Dallas Stars (6-3-0): A team that wasn't highly rated in pre-season chatter and has a roster absent of many STARS, Dallas pulled off a successful first week going 6-3. A running trend, the Stars went 4-0 in 1 goal games but have a worrisome -1 goal differential despite their impressive week. Tactic-Slime-cpenn-JOFA went 3-0 which may not become a trend but their three lines have the potential to be up and down and take turns carrying the week. Their schedule wasn't particularly dangerous in Week 1 but nonetheless, I am impressed by this teams start. Impressive Wins: 4-3 W vs. Blues (Odiee/Tendy) Players To Watch: @JOFA8087 @Slimeism 4) Ottawa Senators (7-1-1): How many fucking 1 goal games were there in Week 1??? The 7-1-1 Senators got 5 of their 7 wins in 1 goal games (5-0-1). The dynamic line of Jerdurbz-Dubz-Utaumau and Fool went 3-0 and starting goalie Justdumpit went 5-1 despite a low save percentage. This division is ridiculous and some top teams remain behind the Sens so they will need to rely on their defensive depth and top forwards to keep them in the mix for a top playoff spot. The Sens have not made a move since bidding so there are no signs of change coming. Impressive Wins: 3-2 W vs. Tampa, 3-2 W vs. Toronto, 4-3 W vs. Detroit Players To Watch: @AnacondaStud @X27xChuckyx27X 5) Edmonton Oilers (6-3-0): The boys are off to a good start under first-time owner, Twistafied, going 6-3 and leading the division after one week. Consistency is key. All 3 lines snagged two wins a piece and put up the most goals for a team in Week 1 with 36. The roster is filled with a lot of newer NHLers including some AHL mainstays and guys who were drafted in the last few drafts. Will be interesting to see if the lack of veterans affects the long term success of EDM. The Oilers also made a huge move on Saturday acquiring Malkine, ImZerik and Shxrpster while shipping out Groulx and Hullzzy. Hard to make a call on how this will turn out in the immediate future, but I like the move for Edmonton in the long run. Impressive Wins: 3-2 W vs. Kings Players To Watch: @Shxrpster @Paynist 6) Columbus Blue Jackets (5-3-1): The PSN boys came to play, despite their lack of pre-season hype and skepticism on how a PSN heavy team may fair on the XBOX side (See Tubby Tits first attempt). A personal history of toxicity and unpredictability, Pier Talent has been a model citizen and a pleasure to work with. The line of Demarco-Miller-Pelley-Flemmer and Jrap had a 3-0 start with a few impressive wins. The lines I expected to step up for the Jackets went 1-2 or 1-1-1 so there is potential here for even more success moving forward. I love this teams goalie duo and depth and I don't think Pier is afraid to make a move if he has to. Impressive Wins: 3-2 W vs. Devils, 4-1 W vs. Toronto, 5-2 W vs. Carolina (PTP line) Players To Watch: @Pelley_ @DeMxrco8 @Charyzen 6 Teams on the cusp 1) Minnesota Wild (5-2-2): The exciting roster that DDW and Shockz put together in Minnesota had a solid first week. Unlike some of the teams on top, the Wild went 3-1-2 in 1 goal games - A few friendly bounces and it seems this team could easily have had 7-8 wins this week and unfortunately ended the week on a 3 game losing streak. The Wild were tied for 4th in goal differential with +9. The Shockz-CT line went 3-0 and rookie Kjinger is off to a hot start after being the #1 pick in the draft. Impressive Wins: 1-0 W vs. Chicago, 5-4 W vs. Los Angeles, 7-0 W vs. Colorado Players To Watch: @Baaacks @Kopi @Gilbzey 2) New York Islanders (4-2-3): Starting to see a very obvious trend in my little list here...The Islanders were 2-1-3 in 1 goal games leading to a 4-2-3 record. If you want to be a top team in this league, you gotta grab your ballsack and win those close ones. Despite only scooping 4 regulation wins, the Islanders remain in second behind the Blue Jackets. Some of the preseason favorites are sitting at the bottom of this division so the Islanders and Blue Jackets will have to win early in the season to stay competitive. I really like what SAK and Karmuh put together and I was especially impressed with the 2-0-1 3rd line (Conaldo, Matt, bjj, JC and Nutz). Impressive Wins: 3-1 W vs. Columbus, 5-4 W vs. Devils Players To Watch: @JC Enterprise @l Hobbs l 3) Seattle Kraken (5-4-0): I mostly put them here so I can say that Sweet Lou sucks. Needed to DDOS me to beat me. Won't happen next time, bucko. 3-3 in 1 goal games - Push a couple of those to OT and this team would be in a great spot. They are three lines deep and one of the most chemistry-driven lines in the league (Jiren-cranberry-gumba-glex-chi) went 1-2...I expect them to get 15-17 wins, so this team will be in the mix for division title all season. Sweet Louser is fickle, so roster moves will be limited - But a couple slight tweaks will put this team in the mix for a late playoff run. Impressive Wins: 3-2 W vs. Nashville, 5-2 W vs. Edmonton Players To Watch: @ASAP Jiren @Herringthefish @The Gr8 Haxby 4) Colorado Avalanche (5-4-0): One of the three or four teams who were looking for a free contract at the 25th hour prior to the season started, LeFlaur pulled an Ace out of his sleeve with John Bri to replace FrenchMoron (upgrade much) and have this team in a nice spot after Week 1. Despite being 5th in the division, the Avs have a friendly +6 goal differential with a few dominant wins out of the gate. TakeNotes97 was the most impressive member on the roster this week, bouncing around lines and going 3-0. Impressive Wins: 6-2 W vs. Chicago, 3-1 W vs. SJS Players To Watch: @TakeNotes97 @Oakua @Bushook 5) Los Angeles Kings (4-4-1): The defending champions come out of the gate a little stale including a 1-2 record for the Slim line. AYOYE! Although I love this management team, I'm not sure they have the depth that they had when the took home the Stanley last season. The line of Tbnk (wtf dude, Im Gods Jesus was a great tag), Fizzi, Ten Ply, Forbz and Big Lew carry the load in week 1 with a 2-1 record with some impressive wins and will clearly have to produce to replicate last seasons success. Thankfully, this team might have one of the best game 7 lines across the board. Impressive Wins: 3-1 W vs. Seattle Players To Watch: @I Tbnk @l Doughty l 6) Carolina Hurricanes (4-5-0): One of the strongest free contract duos put together this season, JClaus and PTP saw a bit of a down week to kick off the season including a 5 game losing stream spanning Sun-Tue. Unsurprisingly, the JClaus line went 3-0 - But there are some serious depth issues on this roster. No offense to my pal Wags but I have some serious concerns about this 3rd line. Thankfully, their top two lines should be easy 16+ win lines so no major concerns moving forward. Impressive Wins: N/A Players To Watch: @Sorokin x 90 @l Volcom x 28 l 6 Teams in the hole 1) Winnipeg Jets (4-5-0): Last seasons runner-ups, Ringy and Briere have some work to do heading into Week 2. On the flip side of Edmonton, the Jets acquired Groulxz and Hullzzy in a trade many are considering heavily favorable for the Oilers. Hullzzy has incredible thumbs but quiet the bitchy temper so hopefully Ringy puts him in a winning position. Ringy is one of the more impressive players I've seen when transitioning to NHL 21 and went 1-2 this week - I have zero concerns Ringy will flirt with 20 wins to carry this team. The question lies with lines 2 and 3. Ringy may need to make some more moves to fill out this roster but there are a lot of things I like, including the goalie duo of Rask and Rally. Impressive Wins: 5-1 W vs. LA, 2-1 W vs. Nashville, 7-6 W vs. Minny Players To Watch: Goalie Duo (@x Rask x 40 and @drally20) @Hullzzyy 2) Toronto Maple Leafs (3-5-1): The duo of Rippin and Fisher have a lot of work to do if they want to compete in one of the most stacked divisions in recent memory. Although you would think a team with Rippin, Bass, Fisher, Mark and more would have no issues - Most teams in this division have a similar fleet of superstars. I like their secondary pieces such as Woody, Dezo and Don but this team will need to be more competitive in inter-division games to keep up (0-5 in divisional games). A bright spot - A team with only 3 wins is only dealing with a -3 goal differential and has been competitive in most games. Impressive Wins: N/A Players To Watch: @Dip City Don @DDezo 3) New Jersey Devils (3-6-0): Similar to the Maple Leafs, this last place team has only a -4 goal differential and just needs a few tweaks to get back on track. Also mirroring the Winnipeg Jets, this s36 frontrunner is a little less frightening then they were the previous season. HeroicDuck went heavy on the CBJ built Resignation e-sports team and will rely on chemistry to help carry some of the load and turn it around after going 0-3. My sources (im the source) tell me that HeroicDuck had the boys in club games all weekend to work on their offense - so things should be looking up in Week 2. Impressive Wins: 7-3 W vs. Ottawa Players To Watch: @ka2good @EgoKiller43 4) St. Louis Blues (3-3-3): The retirement home is coming out of the gate slower than most residents in retirement homes. PandaLeupagus and co. struggled on opening night and needed the Odie/Tendy line to go 2-1 to salvage a horrible week. The division is competitive with a slew of decent teams so the Blues will either need to make some moves or get their shit together to stay within striking distance of a playoff spot. The Blues called up Bonezy, a 2.25mil CHL goalie looking for a spark plug on the back end. Here is another team towards the bottom of the standings but with a decent goal differential despite losing 6 games (-2 GD). Impressive Wins: 6-5 W vs Seattle, 2-1 W vs. Colorado Players To Watch: @Anthvass14 @Stewkos @Bonezzzyyy 5) Washington Capitals (3-5-1): Did ahuff attach his wagon to the wrong horse? Is 2.5 weeks before a ban to close to call? The Capitals have some high-powered pieces including huff, parksy, goostav and more paired with some PSN biggies but struggled to score in Week 1 only putting up 20 goals (2nd least in the league). Im pretty worried about this D-core moving forward so we will see if Assonato can pull off a few moves to improve his stable. Impressive Wins: 2-1 W vs. Tampa Players to Watch: @lBeLiEvEJESUSl @Coreymac27 6) Vancouver Canucks (3-6-0): I'm not sure what the game plan was heading into s37 for the Canucks - Despite the change in server structure in LG, Vancouver still targeted the dominant West line that they had last season who were smacked with a 0-3 start to begin the season. Duberenko returns to forward after a tumultuous ownership in s36 that saw him struggle in net and has carried the load so far along side Gabseh, aced, daoust and DRB with their 2-1 start. They are tied for worst goal differential in the league with -11 and this is another team that has some major concerns in their backfield with question marks all over the defense. They also are the 3rd team for Shlarchey this season, let's see how that works out. Impressive Wins: 2-1 W vs. Minny Players to Watch: @RoaringViper @Shlarchey Don't yell at me, I am sensitive. -Mike Scott *I excluded the Nashville Predators but we are the cup favorites, obviously.
