Preds: KW's 1/4 Season Report

Here we are, 20 games into the first season of "The New NHL,"...it's time to see where our beloved hockey team ranks among the league's best. I decided to spend a few hours deciphering the data and tell you how I feel we're doing. All the stats I list come from Yahoo, and do not contain any of this evening's games (11/25/05). If you don't care about hockey...you should probably stop reading now...because I get pretty in-depth.

So... how have the Preds done?

Pretty darn well.

They sit as a team at 14-3-3, and have 31 points. It's been somewhat frustrating to check the standings and consistently see them in fourth or fifth in the West, with teams ahead of them such as Vancouver and Detroit. But that's all because of games-in-hand...so let's break that down a second.

There are exactly three teams in the West listed above the Preds in the standings, Vancouver, Detroit, and Los Angeles. The standings are based on division position and points. Let's look at points. Detroit has 34, so they're listed in first. But they've already played 4 more games than we have (total of 24). They have three points on us but also four games.

Vancouver is leading the Northwest Division, and has 32 points, one more than Nashville. How many games have they played? 23.

Los Angeles? Tied with us at 31 points, but they've played three more games (23).

So, I think it's safe to say that we're one of the best (if not THE best) teams in the Western Conference.

How about the East? Well, they have two teams with more points than us. The Rangers have 33 points, but have played 25 games.

Ottawa, though, has 34 points in only 20 games--same number of games as the Preds.

All this means that...in my view, the Senators are the best team in the NHL. The Preds? At least in the next three positions in the whole league, and arguably the second-best team.

The Preds have four more straight home games, and we do very well at home. It's reasonable to assume we'll have more than 35 points after the next four games (of course, those games are against Dallas, Calgary, Minnesota, and Philly...thank God we're at home!).

-How about scoring? Well, we're 24th overall in scoring, with 59 goals (first place Ottawa has 88 goals). However, we're third in Goals Against, with 53 (again, though, Ottawa is in first, having allowed only 41 goals...Ottawa is GOOD).

-How about our goaltending? We're second in Goals Against Average (at 2.60, meaning we allow 2.6 goals a game). Who's in first? You guessed it...Ottawa...with Hasek giving them a whopping 2.13 GAA.

In Save Percentage: We're third. Vokoun is awesome folks, simply no debate about it. He's given us a 91.9% Save Percentage. Who's first? I sound like a broken record, I know, but it's: Ottawa, at 92.7%. OTTAWA IS GOOD! The Sens are clearly setting the standard for the entire league.

-How about offense? Shots on goal? You don't want to know...we're in next-to-last place (only Minnesota is behind us) with 555 shots on goal. The Rangers are in first with 760 shots. Ottawa is in 13th place, with 680 shots. Now, this means we at least have a great shooting percentage (that means we have more goals per shots than average). But it also means we need to shoot more! I hate when the fans yell "shoot" at the home games, because usually they yell it at stupid times, like when we're setting up the power play. I've heard fans yell "shoot" as soon as we get possession of the puck. But in an overall sense? "Shoot!"

-Individuals on our team who are doing well? Well, as the picture at the start of this post indicates...the biggest impact comes from Mr. Paul Kariya (He's single...ladies...what are you waiting for?). He is a stud. As the recent radio commercials say, he's ATM ("When he has the puck...he's automatic money"). He's been instrumental in the shootout. He's our highest scorer, with 20 points (8 goals and 12 assists). More than that, thought, he's an offensive spark for us. Have you been to a game or watched one? In KW's opinion, Kariya is the Fastest Man Alive. Breakaways and creating offense are what he's brought. You cannot overestimate the imporance he's brought to our club. He's our leader. He's our spark. Thank God (and Poile) for the signing of Kariya. He looks like he has turbo out there. Good grief...go see the Preds play and try and keep track of him...I guarantee you he will lose you a couple times.

How about Erat? There was a lot of talk after 8 games about how he hadn't been performing. He was moved to line 2 (and later back to line 1) and has since been on a tear (10 points in the last 12 games).

Sullivan? Oh yeah, let's not forget the guy who sparked us last year. He's a stud too (though, ladies...he's taken). 19 points. 9 goals, 10 assists. Try and keep your eye on him too...he's FAST.

Leggy? Well, he's got ten points. Playing with Kariya and Erat has only accentuated Leggy's skills to me. He's not quite burying as many goals as I think he can...but he's a stud. Again...watch a game. He steals the puck. He creates offense. He's everywhere. He's also quick as lightning. Preds Nation: get off Legwand's back. He's a GREAT player.

Scott Hartnell is really growing up nicely. He's fourth on our team with 14 points, and the dude is still only 22-years-old.

Did you know that our third-highest scorer is a defenseman? Kimo, baby. Kimo Timonen. Coach Trotz recently had a talk with Kimo about becoming more offensive, and it's helped. It's also helped that they recently split up Kimo and Zidlicky (both offensively-minded...Zids has 13 points and is fifth on the team for scoring).

-Special Teams? Well, our power play is 12th, at 19.2%. Not too shabby. But our Penalty Kill is SECOND, at 86.3%!! That's amazing. In this New NHL, the special teams are crucial...and while it's great to see our kill doing so well...I would like to see our conversion rate on the Power Play improve a bit. That might happen with the above-mentioned "shoot the puck more" strategy.

-Face Offs? How about 3rd in the league at 53.3%? Good enough for me. And we have Leggy (doing better on the face-off than ever) and Yanic Perrault. Yanic is slower than the rest of our team, for sure, but he is a face-off god. And it doesn't hurt that he's contributing more than expected to the scoring: 5 goals, 6 assists.

-Spread It Around. Our team doesn't really have anyone who is running away with the scoring, and I like it that way. We have 9 players with 10 or more points, which means we spread it around. We're dangerous from a lot of areas. If teams could just key in on Kariya to shut us down, then we'd be easy to beat. But instead, we have lots of guys who can score. Sure, teams start out keying in on Paul, but that leaves guys like Adam Hall or Scott Hartnell open, and soon teams are shifting to cover them...which, of course, means Kariya becomes more open.

-Offseason Additions? Well, Danny Markhov has been great. He "stays at home," plays physical, and just brings a great veteran presence. Darcy Hordichuck...he's awesome. I was so happy to see him go after Sean "I'm a Chicken" Avery last game after Avery's cheap shot on Kariya. (seriously, NHL, is there any player more shady than Avery?). Darcy's an enforcer...and he's got solid hockey skills to back it up. He brings the pain without costing us goals. Kariya...well, we've already talked about his impact. Our offseason additions were perfect. I don't think I could have asked for the team to do more in acquisition than they did.

-All-In-All: our team is good...maybe even great. We've won 14 of 20 games. We've only had three out-right losses, and the other three were in overtime. We could stand to shoot more, and be a slight-bit less fancy. But our Penalty Kill is great. Our goaltending is World Class. All the teams ahead of us in the standings (minus Ottawa The Great) have several games in hand.

The Preds are positioned to be one of the top five teams in the league...just as Sports Illustrated predicted. We have 31 points with 62 games remaining. That means that we could lose every remaining game in overtime (one point) and still make the playoffs. We could win half our games and lose the rest outright...and still make the playoffs. Face it, Canada (and all the other doubters)...the Preds are good. Real good. I for one, as a fan, could not be more impressed by what we've done and excited about where we're headed.

Go Preds!!