Quarter Season Update...Rank the Canadian Teams

[HugginThePost]

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.

Wait.....just so I'm clear, Winnipeg is a legit cup contender but Calgary is just Playoff Caliber team?

Seems strange no? Maybe a tad little biased in your assessment?

For the record I think they are both legit playoff teams.....but neither are Cup contenders.

 

[Regal]

Wait.....just so I'm clear, Winnipeg is a legit cup contender but Calgary is just Playoff Caliber team?

Seems strange no? Maybe a tad little biased in your assessment?

For the record I think they are both legit playoff teams.....but neither are Cup contenders.

View attachment 161053

I think the team that was 2nd in the league in points last year and made it to the Conference finals should probably be given the benefit of the doubt. 1/3 of a season playing as well as Winnipeg doesn't put Calgary in their tier. Winnipeg also has a much better roster

 

[HugginThePost]

I think the team that was 2nd in the league in points last year and made it to the Conference finals should probably be given the benefit of the doubt. 1/3 of a season playing as well as Winnipeg doesn't put Calgary in their tier. Winnipeg also has a much better roster

Pretty sure this is about "right now".....and right now they are nearly identical in all aspects.

Interesting that they have a "much better roster" yet aren't showing it.

You sound like Flames fans the last five years......"great team on paper".

Anyway....it's all pointless at this moment in time because neither are a Cup threat.

That could change by years end of course.

Winnipeg is beating the teams they should and losing to the teams ahead of them in the standings. Which is to be expected. But if that trend continues they will be bounced from the playoffs by a better team.

I know.....huge epiphany, right!?!

Calgary is still all over the map.....as usual they tend to play down to their opponent. Same ol' story.

 

[libertarian]

As a Jet fan with basically a 1/3 of the season done I'd go

Toronto
Winnipeg
Calgary

Montreal

Edmonton
Vancouver
Ottawa

The Jets goaltending has mostly been bad this season so far as has their team defence. They take way to many penalties and can't seem to hold onto 3 period leads yet they are still a top tier team in the league at this point even with all these problems. I guess this is a testament on how good the overall talent on this team is to keep winning as much as they have without playing very well.
If the Jets don't fix these issues they will still make the PO's but it will be a quick exit. If the fix these issue they are contending for a cup.

Toronto is a elite team in the very good Atlantic division. With the return of Matthews and Nylander they could be the President Trophy winner. I still have doubts about their D but they keep winning so can't argue with success. They still need to prove they can translate reg season success into PO success but I believe this is year they do just that. Considering how good the teams they will play in the PO's they may not go all the way to the Cup final but they are deffinitly in the conversation.

Calgary is finally playing up to expectations and would not be surprised if they win the very weak Pacific division. TBH they may be better off in the PO's if they ended 2nd or 3rd in the Pacific so they would not have to play a very good central team in the first round. As good as they have been this season so far I do not see them beating what ever team makes it out of central in the WCF.

The rest of the Canadian teams will not make the PO's.

 

[NoName]

Wait.....just so I'm clear, Winnipeg is a legit cup contender but Calgary is just Playoff Caliber team?

Seems strange no? Maybe a tad little biased in your assessment?

For the record I think they are both legit playoff teams.....but neither are Cup contenders.

View attachment 161053

Winnipeg is a legitimate contender due to making the conference finals last season as well as their solid start to this season, while Calgary missed the playoffs last year. For a team to go from missing the playoffs to winning a Stanley Cup in the space of a season is... unlikely. So despite Winnipeg having only a slightly better record than Calgary (in a much tougher division, it is worth saying), yes, I think it is completely fair to say their chances of actually winning a Cup are substantially better then the Flames.

 

[lomiller1]

Wait.....just so I'm clear, Winnipeg is a legit cup contender but Calgary is just Playoff Caliber team?

Seems strange no? Maybe a tad little biased in your assessment?

Calgary has been really good this year, IMO probably the best Canadian team thus far but they don’t have the amount of high end talent Winnipeg or Toronto have. It’s not unreasonable to limit your expectations of how far the Flames can go, while still lauding them for what they have done thus far.

 

[lomiller1]

Winnipeg is beating the teams they should and losing to the teams ahead of them in the standings. Which is to be expected. But if that trend continues they will be bounced from the playoffs by a better team.

Winnipeg has 34 points in 26 games in spite of blowing 5 3rd period leads. They could easily have another 8 points if they were closing out games like they did last year. While blowing so many leads isn’t good at all, it's something that should be fixable and fixing it puts them right back with the top cup condensers. This is what separates them from the good teams that are not quite there with the top cup contenders and why some people will put them there even if their game needs work right now.

 

[tntkid]

Winnipeg has 34 points in 26 games in spite of blowing 5 3rd period leads. They could easily have another 8 points if they were closing out games like they did last year. While blowing so many leads isn’t good at all, it's something that should be fixable and fixing it puts them right back with the top cup condensers. This is what separates them from the good teams that are not quite there with the top cup contenders and why some people will put them there even if their game needs work right now.

Winnipeg is not a cup contender with Hellebuyck playing so poorly this year.

He is the reason we are losing many games.

 

[Reinhart]

Winnipeg
Toronto
Calgary

Montreal

Ottawa
Edmonton
Vancouver

 

[Sens With Benefits]

I think Ottawa will surpass Montreal. Montreal has lost 5/6 while Ottawa has won 3 in a row. This week will determine for now who's better, Ottawa and Montreal play each home and home.

 

[Regal]

Pretty sure this is about "right now".....and right now they are nearly identical in all aspects.

Interesting that they have a "much better roster" yet aren't showing it.

You sound like Flames fans the last five years......"great team on paper".

Anyway....it's all pointless at this moment in time because neither are a Cup threat.

That could change by years end of course.

Winnipeg is beating the teams they should and losing to the teams ahead of them in the standings. Which is to be expected. But if that trend continues they will be bounced from the playoffs by a better team.

I know.....huge epiphany, right!?!

Calgary is still all over the map.....as usual they tend to play down to their opponent. Same ol' story.

No, this thread is asking where we rank teams partway through the season, because this season gives us new data to work with. That does not mean we should ignore anything outside of this season. That would be stupid

 

[crackdown44]

As a Jet fan with basically a 1/3 of the season done I'd go

Toronto
Winnipeg
Calgary

Montreal

Edmonton
Vancouver
Ottawa

The Jets goaltending has mostly been bad this season so far as has their team defence. They take way to many penalties and can't seem to hold onto 3 period leads yet they are still a top tier team in the league at this point even with all these problems. I guess this is a testament on how good the overall talent on this team is to keep winning as much as they have without playing very well.
If the Jets don't fix these issues they will still make the PO's but it will be a quick exit. If the fix these issue they are contending for a cup.

Toronto is a elite team in the very good Atlantic division. With the return of Matthews and Nylander they could be the President Trophy winner. I still have doubts about their D but they keep winning so can't argue with success. They still need to prove they can translate reg season success into PO success but I believe this is year they do just that. Considering how good the teams they will play in the PO's they may not go all the way to the Cup final but they are deffinitly in the conversation.

Calgary is finally playing up to expectations and would not be surprised if they win the very weak Pacific division. TBH they may be better off in the PO's if they ended 2nd or 3rd in the Pacific so they would not have to play a very good central team in the first round. As good as they have been this season so far I do not see them beating what ever team makes it out of central in the WCF.

The rest of the Canadian teams will not make the PO's.

Honestly I don’t see a huge advantage in playing against one of San Jose/Vegas/Anaheim over Dallas or Minnesota.

The important thing is to avoid Winnipeg/Nashville until the conference final which will happen to any team in the pacific not claiming a wild card spot

 

[Morlu]

Calgary is an easy 3rd because they play in the worst division in the NHL. Remember that’s why the Leafs got trashed on. “Weak Atlantic...”

Now the Atlantic is easily the best division in the NHL. So Leafs 1, Jets 2, Calgary 3

 

[Samcanadian]

jets have the edge with Laine's release, so that puts Toronto in #2 (since their guy with the #2 release in the entire NHL is healthy again)

Calgary third, then the rest...who cares.

 

[member 147413]

LOL. Toronto has 4 more point and 2 games in hand on Winnipeg. Don't know how that puts them into an entirely different tier.

Winnipeg/Toronto
Calgary

Montreal

The rest.

I’ll take the 2 wins instead of 2 maybe wins. Also Leafs have added a 1st line winger.

 

[Peggy]

Wait.....just so I'm clear, Winnipeg is a legit cup contender but Calgary is just Playoff Caliber team?

Seems strange no? Maybe a tad little biased in your assessment?

For the record I think they are both legit playoff teams.....but neither are Cup contenders.

View attachment 161053

Winnipeg shouldn't be behind Colorado
That's the problem

 

[qwerty]

1. Toronto = Cup contender, envious forward depth that only got better with Nylander, goaltending has been exceptional.

2. Winnipeg = Cup contender, equally envious forward depth, goaltending has been average.

3. Calgary = Darkhorse contender, beat both the Leafs and the Jets, questions with goaltending, mainting consistently higher scoring and special teams keeps them from being a legitimate Stanley Cup contender IMO.

4. Edmonton = McDavid’s game breaking ability gives this team a chance at the playoffs anytime. New defensive structure and better goaltending has improved this team’s outlook significantly.

5. Montreal = Quick, young, skilled team playing above expectations. Team could surprise and make the playoffs or the clock could strike midnight on them.

6. Ottawa = Probably the most exciting team on and off the ice this season. High scoring games, owner suing business partner, big pending UFAs at the deadline, drama galore. Think this team ultimately sells at the deadline and goes for the tank.

7. Vancouver = Pettersen has been amazing. Apparently not enough to save them from stinking it up in the last 10+ games. They’ll end up near last place and something tells me that’s what the fanbase hopes for.

 

[Paralyzer]

Wait.....just so I'm clear, Winnipeg is a legit cup contender but Calgary is just Playoff Caliber team?

Seems strange no? Maybe a tad little biased in your assessment?

For the record I think they are both legit playoff teams.....but neither are Cup contenders.

View attachment 161053

Calgary hasn't had their annual flop yet. It'll come in January or February. Winnipeg right now has been more consistent.

 

[Samcanadian]

Calgary hasn't had their annual flop yet. It'll come in January or February. Winnipeg right now has been more consistent.

Winnipeg has been getting abysmal goaltending, their defence is banged up, and they're still winning games.

Calgary is firing on all cylinders, and like you said...the flop is coming. I'm predicting 8 losses in 10 games to knock them out of contender status.

 

[HighLifeMan]

Winnipeg has been getting abysmal goaltending, their defence is banged up, and they're still winning games.

Calgary is firing on all cylinders, and like you said...the flop is coming. I'm predicting 8 losses in 10 games to knock them out of contender status.

That's funny. Calgary has gotten significantly worse goaltending than the Jet's to start the season.

Combined SV%
0.903 SV% vs 0.915 SV%

 

[SKRusty]

Winnipeg has been getting abysmal goaltending, their defence is banged up, and they're still winning games.

Calgary is firing on all cylinders, and like you said...the flop is coming. I'm predicting 8 losses in 10 games to knock them out of contender status.

Um. What season are you watching games from?

Smith had a very rough start to the season and just recently put some wins together. Neal has yet to get it going but he is showing great signs. The Chicago game Neal was dangerous almost every shift.

Hellbuyck 0.902 20 games vs Smith 0.886 16 games

Backlund, Bennett and Chucky are cold and have not been up to par in almost 2 weeks. Hamonic and Valimaki are both injured... Valimaki is on the IR, Stone is LTIR with clots and we have an AHL d-man in the line-up... Granted Kylington is better than any 7th Winnipeg has.

Calgary has yet to hit full stride. There have been brief glimpses of how deadly Calgary's team game can be but it is still Peters work in progress.

Toronto is a great regular season team but without changes on defense they won't get through the east.

 

[Paralyzer]

Um. What season are you watching games from?

Smith had a very rough start to the season and just recently put some wins together. Neal has yet to get it going but he is showing great signs. The Chicago game Neal was dangerous almost every shift.

Hellbuyck 0.902 20 games vs Smith 0.886 16 games

Backlund, Bennett and Chucky are cold and have not been up to par in almost 2 weeks. Hamonic and Valimaki are both injured... Valimaki is on the IR, Stone is LTIR with clots and we have an AHL d-man in the line-up... Granted Kylington is better than any 7th Winnipeg has.

Calgary has yet to hit full stride. There have been brief glimpses of how deadly Calgary's team game can be but it is still Peters work in progress.

Toronto is a great regular season team but without changes on defense they won't get through the east.

Bennett has been cold since he was drafted you mean

 

[NextYear67]

Leafs

rest

 

[Flames Fanatic]

Wait.....just so I'm clear, Winnipeg is a legit cup contender but Calgary is just Playoff Caliber team?

Seems strange no? Maybe a tad little biased in your assessment?

For the record I think they are both legit playoff teams.....but neither are Cup contenders.

Flames fan here and I'm fine with it. I'd rather we not be chasing a playoff spot and comfortably aim to win a divisional spot, preferably #1 or #2 before we go touting talking about cup contenders. Jets are are a strong team.

Calgary has done pretty well since Pittsburgh shelled us 9-1. Smith has even been a bit better, Rittich has cooled off slightly, and our shooting percentages are starting to normalize a bit, but we're still earning points, so we can't complain.

While "weakest division" is probably true as a factor for the Flames, we didn't actually have that many divisional games in the first month and a bit it felt like, and we still did pretty well. That's the gauge for me. We've played well against some strong teams like Nashville and the Jets.

Edit: We've played 10 division games so far this year. 8 of which were since Nov 7, so three weeks and a bit. The other 2 were the first two games of the year.

Outside of Gio, our core is pretty young overall, we've had four defenseman 21 and under playing minutes on our D core this year and not look out of place, or even playing quite well. We're still working our way towards true cup contender, but we're arguably trending in a good direction at the moment.

 

[JPeeper]

Toronto also beat Winnipeg in back to back games.

The edge goes to Toronto.

But Calgary beat both of these teams.