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Can we make the Playoffs this year?


Basti

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Kinda. Burns a game in hand for Vancouver. But Minnesota scares me a bit. If they keep rolling they are going to knock someone out.

Hopefully Vancouver.

Vancouver also lost another player (Bonino) tonight to injury.

Minny winning means that both them and Vancouver are behind us in the standings (after we win tonight).

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Hopefully Vancouver.

Vancouver also lost another player (Bonino) tonight to injury.

Minny winning means that both them and Vancouver are behind us in the standings (after we win tonight).

Your not wrong. I am just concerned about LA and Minnesota and would be much more relaxed if those two teams kept losing. Vancouver has games in hand, San Jose is a strong team, and Winnipeg has a bit of a lead. Leaves us potentially dangling as the fruit to be picked.

But all the Flames can do is keep winning. Good start tonight. If we take this one we are out of reach. At least for now.

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Vancouver has a tough schedule down the stretch too, and they're not playing so hot right now and they're starting to pile on with injuries.  Minny has a cupcake schedule down the stretch.  I think those two teams will swap out for sure.  Minny in, Vancouver out.

 

I don't know that Dallas or Colorado have enough to play their way back in at this stage (especially Colorado).  Too many teams to jump and too little schedule left.

 

That means we just need to beat out one of SJ, Winny, and LA.  I think that's realistic.  In fact, in spite of our tough schedule down the stretch, it wouldn't be crazy to end up with home ice in the first round.

 

Dare to dream...dare to dream...

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We don't play again until Thursday. Vancouver, San Jose, Winnipeg, and Minnesota all play once until then. Which means we could be back in 8 before playing another game with Minnesota 3 points back. Winnipeg, Minnesota, and LA all play Thursday along with us. So a win may be pretty darn important.

Love meaningful hockey. Go Chicago and Washington. And I guess Minnesota (who plays Winnipeg tonight).

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Only the Blues and Minny have better records in the last 10 than us. The Blues don't count. The Wild are banking on a hot tender in ol Dubnyk. He plays hot and cold. It's about time for him to get shelled. I'm not worried about their 2 games in hand, they will lose those.

 

Sure our schedule gets tough but we play better against tougher opponents.

 

Relax people! We got this! 

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We don't play again until Thursday. Vancouver, San Jose, Winnipeg, and Minnesota all play once until then. Which means we could be back in 8 before playing another game with Minnesota 3 points back. Winnipeg, Minnesota, and LA all play Thursday along with us. So a win may be pretty darn important.

Love meaningful hockey. Go Chicago and Washington. And I guess Minnesota (who plays Winnipeg tonight).

 

I hope that the Central Division will beat the crap out of each other.  We need to concentrate on placing 3rd or higher in the Pacific.

Don't want no stinkin' Wild Card spot, because you need to be ahead of teams in both divisions.  Besides, you end up playing the top two teams in the playoffs.

 

We just need to take care of business and let the teams below us sweat.  Read somewhere that Minny, even after their big running of the tables, has only gained 2 points on teams above them. They are 11 points back of the 3rd place in their dicision, but 3 points back of the last wild card spot.

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I can't see the jets keeping pace. I see the wild taking their spot

Heck of a game tonight that saw the Jets gain 1 point over their nearest challenger in the central.

Dubnyk had a heck of a game stopping 32 of 34. He's 8-1 since joining the Wild with 4 shutouts. SV% of 0.940 & a GGA of 1.49 in that time. If he can keep that up for the rest of the season the Wild leapfrog Canucks, Jets, Sharks & likely the Flames &/or the 4 above Calgary.

 

I don't need fancy stats to tell me that Dubnyk turning into "Supergoalie" is unlikely to last. (Unless he went down to the crossroads & substituted his goalie stick for the legendary guitar.)

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So here is my last gripe about the terrible point system. I still prefer that the teams with the most wins make the playoffs, but here is my comprimise, 3 points for a regulation or OT win, 2 points for a SO win and 1 point for a SO loss. Here is what the current standings would look like under this system:

 

Central Divison

Nashville 107

St. Louis 101

Chicago    95

 

Pacific Division

Anaheim   100

Calgary      88

San Jose    87

 

Wild Card

Vancouver    86

Winnipeg      84

Minnesota    78

Dallas           75

Los Angeles 75

Colorado      63

Arizona         61

Edmonton     44

 

 

Calgary's playoff spot looks a little more secure.

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So here is my last gripe about the terrible point system. I still prefer that the teams with the most wins make the playoffs, but here is my comprimise, 3 points for a regulation or OT win, 2 points for a SO win and 1 point for a SO loss. Here is what the current standings would look like under this system:

Central Divison

Nashville 107

St. Louis 101

Chicago 95

Pacific Division

Anaheim 100

Calgary 88

San Jose 87

Wild Card

Vancouver 86

Winnipeg 84

Minnesota 78

Dallas 75

Los Angeles 75

Colorado 63

Arizona 61

Edmonton 44

Calgary's playoff spot looks a little more secure.

Put a gun to my head and I agree that wins equal 2 points and loses equal none. Barring that I prefer the 3 point system. It's really silly that some games are worth 2 points and some are worth 3 points in the existing system. It is really silly that a team could theoretically lose every game in a season in OT and still be a 500 team.

But, it's a bit of a dead horse. And despite it being silly the standings don't shift all of that much. Plus all teams are playing by the same rules.

I would like a smarter system. But I don't see that happening any time soon and I don't lose any sleep over it.

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I felt compelled to post a chart in commemoration of the Oilers falling of the wild card cliff. B)

2014-15PlayoffProjection2015-02-10_zps2a

 

The Central seems to be more or less set; CHI and WPG may change position, but it looks likely that WPG gets in. Minny needs to maintain a bit better than 6/10 wins over the remainder of the season.  That is not easy, even with the re-incarnated Dubie.  Much like Hiller, his numbers will even out and Minny will start dropping games.  Dallas is even more of a long-shot.  That is a big % to maintain. 

 

The Pacific is a little closer between the top 5 teams. LA has rebounded a bit, but needs to maintain better than 6/10 to have a shot.

VAN has games in hand, but at Sheri says "Ya gotta win them for them to matter".

 

Staying out of the Wildcard spot is CGY's best bet.  If we can maintain a 3 games above 500 pace over the reaminder, then we are golden.  We have been good on the road, and have killed it in the Pacific, so our chances are pretty good.  Need to start beating the East more, but otherwise we are OK.

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I would prefer a win/loss system. Maybe ties, but mostly win loss. Teams would have to play for wins and no loser or tie points.

Teams would have to score and no play it safe hockey.

If ties happen, don't even play overtime in the regular season. If a team, at the end of the season absolutely needs points, they would play for the win in regulation.

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I would prefer a win/loss system. Maybe ties, but mostly win loss. Teams would have to play for wins and no loser or tie points.

Teams would have to score and no play it safe hockey.

If ties happen, don't even play overtime in the regular season. If a team, at the end of the season absolutely needs points, they would play for the win in regulation.

Back to pre-Bettman days when a win/loss record meant something.

Saying .500 hockey meant you won @ least 1/2 your games & the standings made sense.

 

Dang I miss that! :( (Wistful sigh)

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PLAYOFFS YEAH BABY, AND THIS IS NO JINX, I FEEL IT!

Well I'm making the call now, I've looked at a few things and it really looks like we're gonna be playoff bound this spring guys. Bring on the red mile. As it stands now we have about an 85 percent chance and with forecasting the remaining games and being very frugal, I have us finishing the remaining games at 15 wins 12 loses and 2 ties wich would then give us about a 96 percent chance. Without an EPIC collapse I really feel this team will close out this year even better then that, but that's for the future to see.

Now my question is who do you guys feel will be our best match up against in the first round? Finishing with my projections would have us playing possibly St Louis (34.6 percent)or Nashville (20 percent)or Chicago(28 percent) I know I'd really like to avoid Chi. Anh is a 10 perfect chance.

GO FLAMES GO.

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Put a gun to my head and I agree that wins equal 2 points and loses equal none. Barring that I prefer the 3 point system. It's really silly that some games are worth 2 points and some are worth 3 points in the existing system. It is really silly that a team could theoretically lose every game in a season in OT and still be a 500 team.

But, it's a bit of a dead horse. And despite it being silly the standings don't shift all of that much. Plus all teams are playing by the same rules.

I would like a smarter system. But I don't see that happening any time soon and I don't lose any sleep over it.

 

At the end of the regular season, I'd be really curious to see the standing recalculated using the above method and compare the two outcomes.   

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Agreed, but hopeful.  Sadly, half of the teams below will not make the playoffs.     

 

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I think baring quite the run Colorado is out of it. Just too many teams to jump in the process and 3 points behind (without games in hand) is big hurdle, especially when all but 1 team ahead of you has played the same or fewer. They're kinda like the Flames 5 years ago. Their leading scorers are Iggy and Tanguay, they're still mathematically in the playoff race, but will have to jump multiple teams to catch up, they have a good core, but not enough supporting depth, and lastly players that have the potential to be playing better simply have regressed to more 'average' numbers. (I really feel bad for Igina. He must be having flashbacks).

 

Dallas has a shot, but I don't think they can match the other teams down the stretch. But not impossible.

 

As for the other 6? Its anyone's game for those final 4 spots.

 

The Jets could either improve, stay the same, or collapse following today's trade and only time will tell.

 

Calgary has been consistently achieving their 4/7 wins this year baring that one streak, but our poor play against the east could become a huge issue with the long road-trip coming off. That's our season make-or-break there. We come out of that .500 and I think we can breath.

 

The Sharks are unpredictable. Some nights they're dominant, some nights ts like they forgot to show up. That could hurt them down the stretch.

 

Vancouver has the injury bug and that will probably start hurting them, but other teams have survived that. And they have a few more games to play with than anyone else so can take a bit more of a hit than anyone else.

 

Minnesota is definitely riding hot goaltending currently, but that's gotten other teams into the playoffs in the past. Their fate will be determined by how long that lasts.

 

The King are probably in the worst shape of the group. Something's gone wrong and they're not playing like they have in years past. (I personally am quite enjoying that), and they're going to have a devil of a time getting things moved at the trade deadline with some of those contracts that no one wants to touch (Cough Richards) to improve that.

 

 

 

The Jets have probably made their big move of the season, but no one else has done anything yet with a litte ovver two weeks till the trade deadline, so any or all of these teams could change. What I do like about our situation is that we don't HAVE to change anything. There's no immminent need to change our forward corps, and whie the defence would benefit from an upgrade to the bottom pairing, we've survived with it so far since our top 4 can all handle big minutes with good numbers and could probably last the season as is.

 

We've got good backup at forward coming next year with Poirier and Bennett likely adding to the lineup, so there's no need to shop for rentals or send our future out the door at this point. And I think that's a gigantic advantage to us in this fight. Any trade can have a negative result simply as the players take time to adjust to one another's play style regardless of how good the trade is on paper.

 

 

 

Also worth noting is how CAL and VAN have the most ROW and fewest loser-points in OT padding their stats. That's also a better indicator of success down the stretch IMHO.

 

 

If I had to guess? Pacific will be ANH - CAL - VAN, Wild Cards - WPG, SJS

 

MIN just missing, Kings behind them.

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