Quarter Season Update...Rank the Canadian Teams

[Flair Hay]

Meh.. now that the Jets have proven to me they can grab a playoff spot without pouring their heart and soul into it? The season starts in April really.

Leafs are and will be the better team this regular season. Maybe playoffs too. We'll see.

 

[flamesforcup]

What is it like having no sense of shame whatsoever?

If there was a trade boards thread last year offering JVR, Bozak, Komarov, Martin, Carrick, and Polak for Tavares you would have been the first person in the thread going LOLEAFSFANSLOL

Of course Tavares is better thats not my point. Im jus saying JVR and Bozak were pretty important depth pieces so it wasnt like Tavares was added on top of that. Obviously the Tavares move was a good one by the Leafs but u can see their bottom 6 and defense is still lacking. Anderson has been amazing and has masked their defense. Lets see how long it goes for.

 

[Aggie204]

Toronto is top of the heap right now. But I just want to see the Jets make the Playoffs and see the damage they do.

GoJetsGo

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

lol can someone tell me how Travis Dermott has been bad? He's top of the league in CF rel, 55%+ in CF%, top 5 percentile in xGF, and top 3rd percentile in xGF relative. Dermott has been our best defenseman on a 4th place team in the league and somehow that's "bad"

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

lol can someone tell me how Travis Dermott has been bad? He's top of the league in CF rel, 55%+ in CF%, top 5 percentile in xGF, and top 3rd percentile in xGF relative. Dermott has been our best defenseman on a 4th place team in the league and somehow that's "bad"

Rielly is definitely better, but nobody who follows the leafs even slightly would think Dermott has been bad

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

Rielly is definitely better, but nobody who follows the leafs even slightly would think Dermott has been bad

Rielly is definitely better right now but Dermott has played out of his mind. He's been the best Leafs defender defensively 5v5 and one can easily argue he's been one of the best in the entire league 5v5 this year.

 

[Eyeseeing]

If we go by TV coverage
Slight edge to Toronto

 

[LeafGrief]

Of course Tavares is better thats not my point. Im jus saying JVR and Bozak were pretty important depth pieces so it wasnt like Tavares was added on top of that. Obviously the Tavares move was a good one by the Leafs but u can see their bottom 6 and defense is still lacking. Anderson has been amazing and has masked their defense. Lets see how long it goes for.

Our bottom 6 is lacking? Nazem Kadri is our third line centre, Kapanen is the third RW on the depth chart when Nylander comes back, and Andreas Johnsson got a hat trick on Saturday. I'm not going to try and sell our bottom six as being brilliant, but the Leafs offensive depth is as good as you will find anywhere in the entire NHL.

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

Toronto
Winnipeg
Calgary

Montreal

Edmonton
Vancouver
Ottawa

Calgary isn't getting .850 goal tending anymore, which cost us 2 or 3 wins... dat Montreal game though. The teams with the most depth are doing the best, which isn't really surprising.

The Hamilton trade is really paying off for Calgary. Lindholm has been great and Hanifin is starting to find the offense and looks amazing with Hammer and both locked up for like $10 mil combined.

 

[blankall]

Toronto
Winnipeg
Calgary

Montreal

Edmonton
Vancouver
Ottawa

Calgary isn't getting .850 goal tending anymore, which cost us 2 or 3 wins... dat Montreal game though. The teams with the most depth are doing the best, which isn't really surprising.

The Hamilton trade is really paying off for Calgary. Lindholm has been great and Hanifin is starting to find the offense and looks amazing with Hammer and both locked up for like $10 mil combined.

Agreed.

That Hamilton trade is really what pushed the offence over the top depth wise. Having Tkachuk up his game to the point he can drive his own line also helps.

 

[Taluss]

Ottawa


Flames
Leafs
Jets
Oilers
Nucks
Habs

Okay reality check now. Time to wake up.

Leafs

Jets

Flames
Habs

Nucks
Oilers

Ott

 

[heretik27]

Sure hope there aren't any Jets fans arguing about us in this list so far. We've yet to show up and look like a playoff team for more than a period or two in any of our games this season. Sometimes, even one good period has been enough to win games. Our Vezina candidate from last season can't stop a shot off the rush from the top of the circle lately and our backup suddenly looks a lot more human. Both of them should be shot if they ever leave the net to play the puck again because they've been that awful all season long fumbling the puck off dump-ins. Our bottom D pair gets eaten alive every game (Morrow+Myers), and we're hardly able to get our 4th line of youngins any ice time because the team takes so many f***ing penalties that the coach has to ice Scheifele and Wheeler on the PK because he's got no PK depth past Lowry/Copp/Tanev/Little and needs to keep their legs warm.

But hey, at least we look decent on paper.

 

[Snakepit]

Here were my predictions in the summer

Jets
Leafs
Flames

Oilers

Canucks

Habs
Sens

Right now I guess I would say swap the Oilers with the Habs and I still like my original guess otherwise

 

[Rubi]

Flames fan here. I think the rankings should be:

1.Toronto
2.Winnipeg
3.Montreal
4.Edmonton
5.Calgary
6.Vancouver
7.Ottawa

I like it when other fans call the Flames a garbage bubble team... then the Flames smoke their team on the ice. Makes the win even more satisfying.

 

[wetcoast]

I think the rankings have shuffled a bit since the start of the season. Let's try this again. Mostly I think Edmonton has fallen below expectations and Calgary has exceeded them - but let's see what the consensus is.

1. Toronto

2. Calgary
3. Winnipeg

4. Montreal

5. Vancouver
6. Edmonton
7. Ottawa (but they are doing well considering everything).

Pretty much this but I think the jets are on the same tier as the Leafs and Calgary is close to both of them.

 

[SKRusty]

The most complete teams are likely Winnipeg and Calgary. Toronto's defense just is not good enough at this time to go deep in the playoffs. Realistically speaking TO has a #1D, a 3D, and and the rest are bottom pairing or worse d-men. It may mean little in the regular season but the playoffs are a totally different story. If TO upgrades their back end before the playoffs it will be a different story.

 

[Deegee]

I can't wait to bump the preseason ranking where everyone had the Oilers in 2nd.

 

[Mr Tadakichi]

I just realized OP's name is braaap

 

[lebdafor norris]

And Toronto's last loses were to:

Columbus, Boston, Dallas, Carolina, and Calgary, who are mostly higher standing playoff teams. Since edging out Winnipeg on Nov 27, Toronto's only win against a team that was in the playoffs were Columbus, SJ, and Montreal (in OT).

Toronto has had a very easy schedule thus far and have yet to face the top 2 teams in the East, Tampa and Buffalo, or the top 3 teams in the West, Minnesota, Nashville, and Colorado. Toronto lost both of its games against the #4 seeds in each conference, Boston and Calgary....so if you really want to break things down, Toronto hasn't really been tested yet.

News flash, it's easier to play well against worse teams.

Why start the sample from the 2nd Jets game thou? Why not look at the entire season? Leafs wins against teams in playoff position thus far is as follows MTL, DAL, WSH, WNP(x2), VGS, PIT (yet there not in a playoff position but they are still the freaking penguins), SJ, COL and BOS- 10 wins
loses- PIT, BOS, CAL, DAL, COL

So the Leafs thus far into the season has a 10-5 record against teams that are currently holding a playoff spot (+ Pittsburgh since they are still a top 5 NHL team). So if your trying to argue that the Leafs are only doing well because they are feasting on bottom teams then try again.

 

[Fishboy*]

I change Calgary to #1 - without Smith blowing it they'd have 3 more wins and their goal differential is really good considering they had a 9-1 blowout loss this year as well.

 

[mondo3]

The most complete teams are likely Winnipeg and Calgary. Toronto's defense just is not good enough at this time to go deep in the playoffs. Realistically speaking TO has a #1D, a 3D, and and the rest are bottom pairing or worse d-men. It may mean little in the regular season but the playoffs are a totally different story. If TO upgrades their back end before the playoffs it will be a different story.

If Toronto was smart, they'd trade Nylander for a top D

 

[Rubi]

31 Thoughts: Senators' Melnyk scrambling to save arena deal - Sportsnet.ca

15. The Jets have an interesting pattern. Saturday’s win made them 11-1-1 against teams below them in the standings. Against those tied or ahead, they are 2-6-1.

 

[Fishboy*]

I think at this point, CGY/TOR/WPG have cemented themselves as top 3. They have 34/38/34 pts respectively and are top 7 in the league. Jets only arent winning their division because the Central is whack.

 

[winnipegger]

31 Thoughts: Senators' Melnyk scrambling to save arena deal - Sportsnet.ca

15. The Jets have an interesting pattern. Saturday’s win made them 11-1-1 against teams below them in the standings. Against those tied or ahead, they are 2-6-1.

One way to look at that is the Jets aren't beating top teams. The other way to look at it is the Jets are a top team and beating who they are supposed to. meh

 

[NoName]

For right now:

Cup Contender tier:
-Toronto
-Winnipeg

Playoff caliber tier:
-Calgary

Bubble team:
-Montreal
-Edmonton

Non-playoff tier:
-Ottawa
-Vancouver


So it should be 3-5 teams making the playoffs with Toronto and Winnipeg having legitimate shots at going all the way. So the big-picture is pretty much still in line with what was expected before rhe season.