Playoff Chances

There are about 16 games left in the 2011-2012 NHL regular season, and for some teams their season will be finished after those games. But no fanbase likes to admit their teams are out of the postseason, so let's take a look at the teams currently sitting outside the playoffs and their chances of making the playoffs.

Washington Capitals currently have a 42.2% chance of making the playoffs.
The Capitals currently have the best odds of making the postseason, as they sit in 9th just 1 point out. To limp into the playoffs the Capitals only need to win 8 of their next 19 games going; 8-8-3 to have a little over 50% chance. Just for the fun of it let's go deeper; if the Capitals finish 10-5-4 they will have a whopping 99% chance of being in the playoffs. The Capitals are more than likely to make the playoffs, if I was a betting person I'd bet on them making the playoffs.

Toronto Maple Leafs currently have a 19.3% chance of making the playoffs.
The Leafs are just 3 points back in 12th and behind the Sabres. The Leafs still stand a better chance of making the postseason than the Sabres. They need to go 11-4-3 to have a 58% chance of making the playoffs, if the Leafs finish with that record they stand a 49% chance of finishing in 8th.

Tampa Bay Lightning currently have a 20.2% chance of making the playoffs.
Funny how all the teams near the Sabres in the standings have better chances of making the playoffs.
The Lightning are sitting in 10th 2 points back of 8th. They would have to finish 12-5-2 (Just like the Sabres) to have a 65% chance of making the playoffs.

Buffalo Sabres currently have a 14.1% chance of making the playoffs.
The Sabres need to finish the season 12-5-2 to have just over 50% chance of making the playoffs. Where as if they go 12-4-3 their chances go up to 70%.
It's a tall task but based on the way Ryan Miller and the Sabres have been playing it is possible. The Sabres are 5-0-1 in their last 6 games, including back to back shutouts by Miller, if this continues there should be no problems sneaking into the playoffs. Right now the Sabres are just 2 points back and sitting in 10th.

Carolina Hurricanes currently have a 1% chance of making the playoffs.
Now I'm all for optimism and what not but let's be real, the Canes are not going to make the make the playoffs this year. They would have to go 13-3-2 and still have less than 50% chance! The Hurricanes are sitting in 14th 8 points back of 8th.

Montreal Canadians currently have a 0.1% chance of making the playoffs.
There is something seriously wrong with the Canadians this season, they've lost their mojo or whatever they had! They are not the same Canadians they used to be! To have a 60% chance of making it the Canadians have to go 14-1-2 anything less and it drops to a 38%. Montreal Canadians are currently 15th in the East, 10 points out and 28th in the league.

New York Islanders currently have a 0.8% chance of making the playoffs.
The Islanders are by far out of the Playoffs and may even be able to lock up a lottery pick. Having to go 14-3-1 to finish with a 62% chance. Sadly for Islanders fans that is not going to happen! Currently 13th in the East 5 points out, and 26th in the league!
All stats from Sports Club Stats....... all numbers from Monday March 5th.


Just for fun, we'll see who has the best chance of winning the Stanley Cup;

Boston Bruins have a 21.1% of winning the Stanley Cup
There is a very Strong chance the Boston Bruins will repeat as Stanley Cup champions. Bruins are currently 2nd in East.

New York Rangers have a 20.1% chance of winning the Stanley Cup
For me personally the Rangers came out of no where and have dominated the East, I don't think there's been a point in the season where the Rangers were slumping! Rangers are currently 1st in the East and 2nd in the entire league!!! Their only weakness is goal scoring and with the players on their roster that could change in a hurry. Besides with King Henrick, who needs more than a couple of goals anyway?

Vancouver Canucks have 16.4% chance of Winning the Cup
Not going to lie here, never been a fan of the Canucks, so I'd prefer them not winning the cup. They are currently in 1st place in the entire league!

These are the Stats folks take them or leave them, but the numbers don't lie! Some of the records teams need to finish with are going to be some daunting tasks, but this might be one of the most exciting playoff races the East has seen in years!

The Kid is Back!

I know, I know; most hockey fans (including myself) are 
 sick and tired about hearing when Crosby will make his return, but he has FINALLY made it back to the ice for a game, and that's something to blog about! I know Crosby`s return to the ice has been, over televised, over analyzed and what not, but if you don`t understand what Sidney Crosby brings to the game of hockey and the NHL, then you my friend, no nothing about hockey!
Those of you who follow me on twitter (@Hockeylife30) would know that; I don't like the Pittsburgh Penguins and I am not a huge fan of Crosby, but I was very happy to see him play Monday night. When I first awoke Monday morning I was disappointed to see Crosby's return was not on my TV schedule for that night, infact none of 7 games were available to me! So when I heard that CBC had picked up the game I was beyond excited.

When the public address announcer called out Sidney Crosby's name during the pre-game, there was a deafening cheer, as everyone at the game rose to their feet welcoming the games biggest super star back to the ice. Crosby did not disappoint, in a night that will go down in NHL history; much like Lemouix's return (the two were compared all night) Crosby netted 2 goals and added 2 assists just for the fun of it. Talk about amazing, a guy that's been out of the lineup for 10 months, comes back and has a game like he did on Monday night, is literally incredible. Now I'd be lying if I said that I was surprised by Crosby's play on Monday night. For one, he's been skating for what 2 months now? He's had all the time to sharpen his skills and hone them to perfection, it wasn't, a situation where they threw a player out there and hope they are ready, the Penguins took their sweet time in letting Crosby be "fully" healed and prepared for his first game back. Another reason I wasn't all that surprised, is because of their opponents, a team Crosby has dominated his whole career, a team that is struggling badly in the league right now, and a team that was starting a rookie goaltender; The New York Islanders. I'm not taking anything away from Sidney Crosby's triumphant return, just saying I wasn't all that surprised with how well he played. It took Crosby just 5 minutes and 24 seconds to show, that he was back and ready to play, he scored a goal, that will now be showed over and over and over again on sports highlight shows. It was a sweet goal; Crosby took a pass in the neutral zone, split two Islander defenders, then went backhand roof-daddy on the Islanders rookie goalie. It was Crosby's first goal since Dec. 28, 2010. On CBC they clocked him going 35 mph on that play, nothing is going to stop a player going that fast, except maybe a brick wall. That goal sent the crowd at Consol Energy Center into a mad frenzy and of course Crosby wasn't finished yet! Crosby then preceded to score his second goal of the night, it wasn't as "pretty" as the first goal, but it still counts. Crosby was against the boards trying to rid himself of an Islanders defenseman, he spun and turned and made the defenseman look like a total fool, then Crosby took a quick shot that went off the post and in! Crosby finished the night with 4 points in 16 minutes of ice time in a 5-0 win over the Islanders.

After the game Sid the Kid was all smiles; "I'll have a great memory of this one for a lot of different reasons," Crosby said after the game. "That was a pretty fun one to be a part of. I'm happy it went well." But some folks went a little over board after the game; a question was tweeted many times on twitter; "how long before Crosby is leading the league in points"? originally asked by Jonathan Quick. Now although Quick was kidding, Crosby now has 70 points in his last 42 games, I don't think it will be long before Kessel gets some company atop the league as Crosby is now only 25 points back."For us, watching him every day in practice, even last year when we were in the playoffs and he was skating with us, he was doing amazing things," Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. "He treated his rehab real seriously and that's what happens when you make the sacrifice. He came back and was 100 percent like he said he was going to be." Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke added, "It's Sidney Crosby. The guy loves the stage and he loves to play. He's one of the biggest competitors. Not just in hockey, but in everything he does. It's proof of that tonight." One thing is for sure, Crosby has one of the best work ethics in all of professional sports. There is no real secret to the amazing skill that Crosby possess; some people are born with, but the rest has to be worked at; Crosby is successful because he works so hard at what he does and what he loves. He is one of the most respected players around the league, and his peers were both happy and impressed by Crosby's return. Logan Coutoure took to twitter to say that; "Saying  #87 makes it look easy is an understatement," Leafs Forward Tyler Bozak added his two cents; "What a player, It was great for the game of hockey to have him back on the ice putting on a show again." "I still can't put into words how HAPPY I am for Sidney Crosby. I watched the highlights and get choked up," said former MLS star Taylor Twellman, who was forced to retire because of concussion-related problems. So Crosby is possibly the most popular Canadian athlete in all of sports.

Upon hearing the Crosby would suit up for the game on Monday the hockey world was set a buzz; CBC went crazy to buy rights to air the game, and cancelled all their shows lined up for the typical Monday night slot, to top that they had a Sidney Crosby special airing before the game. And how about the sports journalists, so many journalists applied to get into the game, that they had to deny access to some, I believe there were 77 requests for media credentials, the journalists had to find a plane to fly them to Pittsburgh, so needless to say the hockey world was a wild mess leading up to a game, that couldn't have been written any better. I jokingly said to my dad "how long till the movie rights are sold". Like I said earlier this was a huge thing for the game of hockey and the NHL, the face of the sport was back on the ice, doing his thing, scoring highlight reel goals and making heads turn. Many young kids take to the ice, because they want to be just like Sidney Crosby, they bug and bug their parents until they get a Crosby jersey, then they want to see him play, so they buy tickets; Sidney Crosby is a money maker for the NHL, and he also draws a large crowd to watch games; heck Sportscenter had a top 10 Sidney Crosby highlight reel this morning. ESPN in the states even led off their evening Sportscenter with hockey. I didn't even know they knew how to spell hockey! Heck Sidney Crosby is hockey, he is what every young Canadian hockey playing boy wants to be. Sidney Crosby`s return was an amazing beginning to a new chapter in his story. I'm super happy for Crosby, the last 10 months of his life has been a living nightmare; dizziness, grogginess, headaches and disorientation; not knowing when or if these symptoms would pass and when he would awaken from this horror story. Not knowing if or when he would play a game again, how long it would take for him to be the SIDNEY Crosby of old again. But he's back and perhaps better than ever "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

One downer for me, is that Crosby has been back for 1 game, 16 minutes, and they are already back to using Crosby and Ovechkin in the same sentences again. These two phenomenal hockey players are completely different; Crosby has had better coaching and has been allowed to develop and become who he is today in the NHL, Ovechkin has had crappy coaching, every coach he's had has tried to change his game to what they want, instead of what makes Ovechkin, be Ovechkin. They have two different styles and two different teams; Crosby has tons of help, Ovechkin doesn't. But already people are wondering if Crosby's hot start will make Ovechkin play better. Give it a break people! Why can't Crosby have his moment without dragging Ovechkin into the question? People are actually saying, that Ovechkin stopped playing well just cause Crosby was hurt? Give it a rest people, the two parties are completely unrelated here. Crosby misses 68 games and then after 1 were right back to the rivalary of these two, they haven't even faced off against each other yet! (Anyways if Crosby's hot play sparks Ovechkin then I'm fine with it, I like Ovechkin, but in my humble opinion nothing will help Ovechkin until there is a change behind his bench.)

So Crosby is back and all is well again in the NHL and in Pittsburgh, it was great to see Sid the Kid back on the ice, scoring goals. Hopefully he stays healthy and continues to produce, I still think some bone head player will try and hit Crosby again, but I hope I'm wrong. So here's to a great year for Crosby and hopefully the last time I have to hear major talk about him for the foreseeable feature. Just Let the kid play.
So to sum it up Congrats Crosby, and I'm sorry to all the teams that have to play against him soon!

Who's hot and who's not

Well were roughly 6 games into the regular season (depending on teams) so Lets see who's producing and helping their teams and who's not.

Phil Kessel
I know for myself I did not see this super start to the season for Leafs superstar Phil Kessel, I was just hoping for an ordinary season out of him, but right now he is on pace to reach the 40 goal plateau. Kessel has 7 goals in 5 games, and 12 points to go with it. Now Kessel will likely not be able to keep this pace up for the whole season, but he's helping the Leafs win right now, and thats what counts. With this amazing start to the season Kessel has been dubbed Phil the Thrill Kessel. I am very impressed with his start, and what makes this fast season start different that other seasons, is that he is more mature; He is now playing a full 200ft game, and he thinks about passing almost as much as shooting now.


Luke Schenn
Schenn has not gotten off to the start the he and everyone else would have liked him to have. Last season Schenn averaged 22 minutes a game, but so far this season Schenn has yet to see any ice time close to that. Worse than the diminished ice time, is he looks horrible when goals are scored against the Leafs, he losing coverage and cant seem to clear the puck out of his own defensive end. The early season struggles has many saying Schenn has caught the Komisarek virus. One possible reason to the slow start, his the massive contract Luke Schenn and The Leafs agreed to right before camp, a 5 year extension that will see Schenn earn 3.5 million per year. i think its just a matter of time before Schenn steps up his game, but until than Leafs fans can expect to see Schenn's minutes stay low. For him to snap out of this funk he needs to keep his game simple; 1 pass out of the zone.

James Neal

Not going to lie here, when I heard that Pittsburgh penguins forward James Neal was scoring all these goals, I had to think to myself; Pittsburgh has a James Neal? Low and behold they do, and he is a Canadian to boot. In 8 games with the penguins he has 6 goals (2nd) and 7 points. He is helping fill the void of not having Crosby, Malkin and Letang. Making life for the Penguins a little bit easier. But I have never heard of this kid? so where did he come too. The Penguins required Neal at the trade deadline from the Stars last season. Right now Neal is on pace to score 30 goals, and its not seeming so far fetched anymore.


Thomas Vanek

Now you had to know there would be a Sabres player in the mix somewhere in this blog, so its a good thing Vanek is playing well right, or else I would have to stretch the truth a little, (jokes). In the 5 games the Sabres have played thus far Vanek has been producing; 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points. Now that may not be as many goals as Phil Kessel. but its when Vanek is scoring his goals, they are coming at crucial times. Vanek scored the second goal of the win against the Canadians, with 2.8 seconds left in 2nd to put the Sabres up 2-1 heading into intermission. Vanek a little upset that he was an assistant captain instead of the captain is showing the Sabres organization that maybe they should have given a little more thought to him wearing the C. Regardless he is playing like a leader on this reformed Sabres team, that has new faces from right to left. Im  hoping Vanek will be able to keep this pace up and help this Sabres team make a deep run into the playoffs.

Matt Read
A Philadelphia Flyers rookie, who no one knew, until Tuesday when he put up 4 points in a 7-2 win over the Senators. The young kid has 6 points in 5 games this season. This is Reads first time playing in the NHL, and he`s making a case, to play a whole season with the Flyers. with 2 goals and 4 helpers, he`s making a name for himself in Philly.

Roberto Luongo
I hate to say it, well actually I dont since I`m not a fan of Luongo, but he is playing horrible to start the season. Remember Luongo`s less than Stellar play in the cup finals last spring? yeah well he`s decided thats how he will start this year! with less than stellar goaltending. Luongo is ranked 37th out of goaltenders with his GAA of 3.70 goals a game and a very sad Save Percentage of .856% Luongo can be quite a spectacular goalie, when he decides to actually play like an elite goaltender. Until Luongo steps his game up, he will remain the ire of Canuck fans. Right now Luongo has forgetton the basics of goaltending and his flopping around like a fish out of water. As much as everyone loves to blame Luongo, unless his teammates score, their not going to win no matter how well he plays.

Dwayne Roloson

The grey haired veteran who helped get the Lightning into the 2nd round of last years playoffs, has not a a good start tot the season to say the least. The Lightning as a whole have given up 26 goals in their first 6 games. (4 goals a game) and a 6.73 goals-against average in his last three starts. The 42 year old will need to pick up his play if the Lightning are going to claw their way out of 12th in the east into a playoff start.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Now the first over all draft pick in this past draft may not be considered as playing "hot" so to speak, but he did record his first NHL career hat- trick in only his 3rd NHL game. Pretty impressive for such a young star. Right now in Edmonton Hopkins is being dubbed the "oilers savoiur" as with the addition of Hopkins to an already star studded team, they believe he will lead the team back to the post season. Strange that he is getting higher rating than Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, but hey cut the kid some slack and let him play his game, maybe in a year or two, we will see the oilers back in the post season. So far Nugent-Hopkins has 5 points in 5 NHL games, the hat trick helped with the points thats for sure. There is no question this kid is going to be good, the question is how good?

Alexander Ovechkin
This one breaks my heart a little bit, I love Ovie and I though he's have a better start to a year, he knows the Capitals need to go big. But through 5 games this season Ovechkin only has 1 goal! 1 goal?!?!?!? are you kidding me??? Its not like he's helping else where either, only 2 assists and a +/--2. Where is the Ovechkin we all love, or at least love to hate.  Lucky for Capitals fans the Washington Capitals are still 5-0-0 without Ovechkin doing anything at all. But this success without Ovechkin contributing can not last long and will lead to another early exit from the post season. Want to know a secret? Ovechkin is afraid to hit! He thinks if he hits someone he will suspended. When Ovechkin hits without any remorse he plays just fine and is on fire, but when he doesn't hit, he plays like crap. This new crack down on hits is making Ovechkin get off his game. Ovechkin needs to get his game back up to full speed, hit a few guys and not worry about the consequences of his hits only then will Capitals fans get to see the real great 8 at his best.

Marc-Andre Bergeron
The Lightning's best player thus far to be sure. Has already matched the numbers he put up all last season and were only 6 games in. Right now Bergeron is sitting a 2 goals and 6 assists for 8 points. Another positive is he doesn't have a negative -/+ rating quite yet. He is currently leading the league in goals scored by defenceman, pretty impressive for a guy who had 8 points all of last season. All of the drafties are kicking themselves for not taking a chance and drafting this guy thats for sure. With Bergeron riding hot and quarterbacking this Lightning power play there is no telling how many goals and points this guy will rack up, maybe even doubling his points from last season. 


John Tavares
What can I say about this kid, he signed a deal keeping him on long island for the foreseeable future and stating that he has faith in his team. This could have easily jumped ship and found another team in an instant, but he believes in the new Islanders team. Good thing he stayed because he is on fire right now! on a 3 game win streak right now Tavares has put up 5 goals and 3 assists for 8 points in 4 games to start off the season. Now it may become the same old story for the Isles, and they mall fall short of the playoffs again, but I think this is the year we will see Tavares step up and be a league leader in goals and points. This kid has a lot of maturity and has a lot of talent. I see good things for Tavares and the islanders


P.K. Subban
The young flashy Montreal Canadian is off to quite a slow start, and he's hearing about it. Whats being dubbed as the PK show is starting to really get on peoples nerves, with just 1 win int he first 5 games, the Canadians need players to step up. Montreal is relieing on Subban quite heavily as the youngster is averaging 24:55 minutes a game. But Subban has made a couple of boo boo's and has been out of position for many a goal scored against the Canadians.  But Subban is sticking to his guns and is not about to change his game anytime soon. But right now he should reconsider it, as he is off to a very slow start, something the Canadians do not need. One reason Subban is getting hung out to dry is there have been a number of injuries to Canadians defencmen, making it near impossible for them to "rest" Subban when he isn't on his game. With many errors to start off the season many are wondering if his rookie season was a bit a fluke, and if he has returned to being a diva who still needs to learn his place in the league. 


Please not this blog was made on Thursday Afternoon, right before 11 games on Thursday night, some of these stats may be slightly altered based on Thursday nights games. So for those of you who's players are not playing well right now, don't worry its still early, remember it is an 82 game season, still lots of time. For those of you, who's players are playing well, remember its still early, stuff could change, almost all NHL players go into a slump at some point during the season. Hope you enjoyed this edition of "who's hot and whos not".