Midseason Analysis: The Standings

Well, it is the middle of the season, and everyone else is doing statistical analysis of the season so far.  I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon.  Here's a look at the standings after the jump.

btw, I also have this posted at my own blog, Canuck Puck Bunny.

Okay, I'll start with the East:

I don't see much of the East, so I don't really see many surprises here.  The Sabres are doing surprisingly well.  The Hurricanes sure crashed to the bottom of the league. The Flyers did already have their coach fired (the day after hosting the Canucks :P), and seem to be back into gear.  The Leafs are, well, the Leafs.

Okay, now for the West:

Now, this I can talk about.

What are the Red Wings doing in 9th???  They had a bad start, and still haven't fully recovered.  Many key players got injured, a couple are starting to come back though.  They're working their way up the standings though, so be prepared to see them make an impact soon.  In the meantime, the Blackhawks have taken a dominant lead of the league, while the Predators is impacting the lower playoff positions.  The Blues and the Blue Jackets have both crashed since their miracle playoff runs last year.  The Blues have already fired head coach Andy Murray, while Jackets head coach Ken Hitchcock is currently on the block.

The Sharks are at the top of the Pacific.  No surprise there.  The big surprise is the Phoenix Coyotes, who currently have a strong hold of 4th place.  Due to their off-ice dilemmas over the summer and previous non-success, they were dubbed as most likely to finish in last place.  However, the players and coaching staff has done an amazing job at putting their game back together.  If they pull off a playoff run, they will be the feel-good story of the year.  The Kings are also doing remarkably well, although many people were already predicting that to happen at some point soon.  The Stars are fighting for playoff contention, and really benefiting from the points for overtime losses (11 already!!), while the Ducks are rising from the cellar.

Colorado has been the big story in the Northwest.  They finished 3rd-worst in the league last year, and were expected to do similarly this year.  But at the beginning of the season, they started the strongest in the division!  Backed by goalie Craig Anderson, who they acquired from the Panthers, and helped by 2009 1st-round draft pick Matt Duchene, they have done extremely well.  It has just been in the last couple weeks that they have lost their stronghold of the division lead.  The Flames have been waiting in the wings the entire time for the Avalanche to fall, and just recently took over the lead.  Their lead has recently been cut short, though, because of the Canucks.  Vancouver started rough, like Detroit, but halfway through October lost 8 key players at once!  Injuries to Daniel Sedin, Roberto Luongo, and many others caused for much disorder in the lineups, which reflected on the scoresheets.  After these key players came back, the Canucks have been getting hot again, especially the Sedin line.  Just last night, Vancouver tied Calgary for points to share the NW lead, and now all 3 teams (Colorado is still in there too) are battling for the title.  The Wild have been struggling, and the Oilers are currently the worst team in Canada (yes, even worse than Toronto).

Well, that's what I have to say about the standings right now.  I'll likely look at other stats tomorrow.