Hello all, here are my power rankings for the east after week 2. Not going too in depth - just my opinion on if a team is shit, piss or good. Trigger warning - there will be glazing. Like I said in my last post, I'm not super familiar with the PSN side and even with most of the NHL in general, this is only my 2nd season but I think any media to get some people talking helps the league so I'll give it another shot here. I've got a condensed summary in a SS here and then a small write up for the top half of the teams. Any and all feedback is appreciated! Apologies if the SS comes out like garbage. 1 - Toronto Maple Leafs Might as well start the glazing early to get it out of the way, Leafs have a really solid squad here and I think top to bottom they don't have any glaring holes (that would be hard to address). They have a little bit of cap to make something work and honestly, backup G is their only spot right now that is likely an issue. They hit on most of their min (or close to min) bids, allowing them to add a few larger contracts to have the top talent to pair up with the depth. They're not elite on the PP (20%), but have been elite on the other side as the 3rd best PK team in the east (84.6%). They out-possess their opponents by almost a minute each game and are a top 5 team in shot differential as well. 2 - Buffalo Sabres Another team here that has a very solid squad - but unlike the Leafs their depth (mainly 3rd line) hasn't been up to par after the first two weeks. They do have 750k in cap space to potentially help them absorb a little bit of cap to switch up that 3rd line (or the boys just pull it together) so it's not like they are out of options by any means. If you take that line out of the equation (sui line for the playoffs most likely anyways), the Sabres are going to be a tough team to take down. I don't see their top 2 lines losing more than a combined 2 games a week as their cheap resigns allowed them to pick up some big contracts on the backend to help support each of those lines as well. Bottom 5 in both PP and PK (14.8 & 73.1 %) leaves some to be desired as well. They're being out TOAd as a whole but they are still clearly generating offence as they are one of the top goal scoring teams in the entire league. 3 - Philadelphia Flyers I'm not one to talk too much on my own team but the fact of the matter is, KnifeVeteranTwentyTwo and the boys haven't been up to expectations and the rest of the shit cans have been performing over expectations. I expect this to likely balance out over the season, but they do have some great goaltending and a solid back line to make things easier on the guys up front. They do need to learn how to take faceoffs though. 4 - Carolina Hurricanes It only took an entire week until @Winston Payne had a goal scored on him, and somehow was to probably the worst team played so far, but then he was right back on schedule with a shutout the next game, and the Canes need it. The team as a whole is far from an elite goal scoring team, but defensively they are at the top (one of 4 teams in the league to allow less than 40 GA). The Canes do have 2m in cap space if they want to give a little boost to their offence, but on paper it doesn't look like they need to just yet. Their powerplay is solid at 25%, PK is elite at 96.2%, and they are outshooting and out TOAing their opponents as well. They definitely could be higher on the list, but a mid week has them sliding down to 4. 5 - Montreal Canadiens I think the Habs on paper are one of the better teams as well, but they had a very slow start to the season with just about everyone on the roster underperforming week 1. This week was a different story however, finishing with 7 wins in the week, and both losses being close ones. They were putting the puck in the back of the net. and keeping it out of theirs with a total score of 33-16 on the week. Some great PP work at 31% but not so hot on the PK - but they've also taken the least amount of penalties in the East. Another team that out-possesses their opponents and outshoots them, I'm sure we'll see their winning ways continue going forward. 6 - IslesGT As a whole - the Isles are probably the best special teams unit in the East (with their special players making special plays). What is surprising is they're being outshot, out-possessed and terrible on the draws which leads me to believe they are truly capitalizing on their chances (or forcing a lot - which is most definitely the actual reason), but for the 2nd time in about 2 months, @DekeoIogist has had one of his goalies hit with the hammer, so we'll see what he can do. They only have a mill to work with after the ban, but thankfully they have @natesous10 to soak up 6 a week and get them through. A couple of question marks on the blue line they make shake up as well. 7 - Florida Panthers The panthers top line is really bringing them along through the first two weeks, having not dropped one game (yet). Until that happens, they're always going to be at least a bubble team, but I expect them to pick it up as a whole going forward. Lot's of talent on the back end and in net that will help them get those greasy wins - they just need to start putting the puck in the net. With no cap space - options are definitely limited in terms of making a move but I don't think they need to overreact just yet. One of the worst possession teams, and by far the worst team for getting outshot - maybe they do need to make a move actually . 8 - Devils Gaming Group For the final spot there was some options - Pens, Devils and Red Wings, but the Devils take the last spot in the top 8. With a lot of criticism in bidding - having not won a player for quite some time, the Devils find themselves above a lot of teams right now in the standings despite having multiple players missing games in the first two weeks (11 games missed from roster players already). They're also the hottest team right now at 9-1 in their last 10. I think we can attribute a lot of that success to @z Spiers as they are one of the worse teams for possession and being out shot as well, but you can't leave a team out of the top half that is the hottest team in the league right now. Thanks - if your team isn't on here you are probably garbage or psn. (same thing tbh)
Minnesota Vikings had 14 one score games and missed the playoffs last year - gotta finish em off (no pause).
