Hey everyone. Like most here I am a new NHL fan and I've been following the Stanley Cup Qualifiers very closely. I even subscribed to NHLtv and have watched parts of every game, and plenty of full games as well. It's been exciting, but something is bothering me.
As a Kraken fan I care about how good the competition is within our division (Pacific for those that are new) and, to a lesser extent, our conference (Western). Just a quick recap of the basics for those that haven't looked into it too much.

Pacific Division
There are two divisions in the Western Conference. The Central and the Pacific (where the Kraken will play). Within the Pacific we will play each team 4 or 5 times, and where we place among them is what determines if we will go to the Stanley Cup playoffs in a normal season.
The teams in our division are:

Vegas Golden Knights (Currently competing to be the #1 seed in the Western Conference for 2019-2020 Stanley Cup tournament). The game that will determine this is on right now as of this writing.
Edmonton Oilers (we will get back to them, but they were a #5 seed and were knocked out by the #12 Chicago Blackhawks)
Calgary Flames (#8 seed who beat Winnepeg in 4 games and will proceed to the tournament)
Vancouver Canucks (F*** these stupid whales who were #7 and beat Minnesota in 4 to proceed to the tournament)
Arizona Coyotes (Who are moving out of our division to the Central to make room for the Kraken but beat Nashville in 4 to proceed to the tournament as an #11 seed).
Anaheim Ducks (who are rebuilding and were not invited to the qualifiers)
L.A. Kings (also rebuilding, also were not invited)
San Jose Sharks (who some think underperformed and will be better next season)

The Kraken, as noted above, will replace Arizona in this division starting in 2021.

The Normal Draft Lottery
In the NHL there is a draft lottery. In a normal season 16 teams will make it to the playoffs and the 15 that do not (16 once we enter the league) will be in the lottery. The lottery is only to determine the first 3 picks of the draft. It works like this normally:
The worst team in the league based on record (Detroit this year) has the highest odds of drawing the #1 pick. Because if there wasn't a lottery they would normally get the #1 pick. The odds are exceptionally-low, but they could be moved BACK as far as #4 with the lottery. Because any of the bottom 15 teams can draw into spots 1-3. Here are the normal odds of getting the #1 overall pick for each of the bottom 15 teams from 2019. This is based on their pre-lottery position.

18.5 percent
13.5 percent
11.5 percent
9.5 percent
8.5 percent
7.5 percent
6.5 percent
6.0 percent
5.0 percent
3.5 percent
3.0 percent
2.5 percent
2.0 percent
1.5 percent
1.0 percent

The 2020 COVID-edition Lottery
This year the 2019-2020 season got cut short because of the pandemic. But the NHL season "restarted" this past week with the new "Stanley Cup Qualifiers." It's essentially a playoff to get into the playoffs. All but the bottom 3 teams (all from California) were invited from our conference. Each team was seeded based on their season record when play stopped in March.
As mentioned earlier, normally only 16 teams make the playoffs but 24 teams were in this new tournament starting with an elimination round best-of-5 series between a bunch of teams (again, see above).
Because there wasn't a normal "bottom 15" for the lottery, the NHL did something out-of-the-ordinary this year.
They did a draft lotto before this tournament started. 7 total teams were not in this playoff and made up the bottom 7 teams (with Detroit having the best odds of #1 overall). The other 8 teams would come from the 8 teams knocked out of this Qualifier tournament that has been played this week.
To simulate this, the NHL had placeholder spots for Qualifier teams at lotto odds numbers 8-15 from above). Let's tune in and see how that went, shall we?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh4o-HddIj8
As you can see, one of those 8 teams ended up with the #1 overall pick. Much love to the Senators who had the absolutely stacked odds to get #1 overall and got 3 and 5.
So now the NHL has to have a SECOND lottery (scheduled for this Monday 8/10) of just the 8 teams that were knocked out of the Qualifiers to see who gets #1 overall and how the other 7 will fill in 9-15.

Why is that a problem?
Well, the short answer is it might not be. But given we don't have a team yet it's something fun to talk about while we wait to start. First, let's look at who got knocked out.

Oilers (the topic of this thread and I promise we'll get to them) [Western #5 Seed]. Regular season record of 37-25-9.
Penguins [Eastern #5 Seed]. 40-23-6
Predators [Western #6 Seed]. 35-26-8
Rangers [Eastern #11 Seed]. 37-28-5
Wild [Western #10 Seed]. 35-27-7
Panthers [Eastern #10 Seed]. 35-26-8
Jets [Western #9 Seed]. 37-28-6
The loser of Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets [Eastern #8 vs #9]

Some of these teams have very good records, very good teams, and normally wouldn't have a shot at the #1 overall pick. See Edmonton and Pittsburgh as prime examples. We were most of the way through the season before the pause, and these would have been playoff teams. They would not have been in the bottom 15. But due to this odd tournament format they couldn't put it together for a series and now have lower draft placement than would normally be possible.
What's more, all 8 of these teams have an EVEN chance to get the #1 overall pick. The second lottery doesn't have stacked odds like the first. All 8 teams have a 12.5% chance of the #1 overall pick (which, as stated above, was already designated for a TBD team from this pool).
Here's a deeper dive into the 12.5% problem: https://thehockeywriters.com/2020-nhl-draft-lottery-round-2-explained/

Ok, so who cares? What does it mean for the Kraken?
The right question is to ask what it means for the Kraken's division. If you look back at the first section you can see that the only team in our division that got knocked out of the first round was Edmonton. LA is getting #2 overall and Anaheim is getting #6 overall. San Jose had already traded their pick to Ottawa, so they don't pick in the top 8 this year despite their record.
That means Edmonton has a 12.5% chance at the #1 overall pick. As a reminder, we play them 4-5 times a year and they matter more than a non-divisional opponent when it comes to determining playoff eligibility going forward.
Why am I picking on Edmonton? Because they already have the hockey equivalent of Mike Trout who is only 23 years old and some say is the most realistic player to someday challenge Gretzky as The Great One. His name is Connor McDavid. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/m/mcdavco01.html
So the issue is that Edmonton already has a great team overall, the absolute best player in the world, and a shot at picking up the best player in this draft, who many say is this guy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Lafreni%C3%A8re
The Kraken will play these guys a lot for the forseeable future, their team is young, good, and could get really stacked.

Discuss.

Edit: Since writing this Vegas did beat Colorado and got the #1 overall seed in the West. They will take on Chicago in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting next week.

Edit 2: Here's the information about Lottery 2, which will take place Monday 8/10 at 3pm PDT. https://www.nhl.com/news/2020-nhl-draft-no-1-pick-to-be-awarded-in-second-phase/c-318343480

Edit 3: Crisis averted. The lottery just took place and the New York Rangers got the #1 overall pick.

Is drafting a goalie in the first round risky, worth it, or somewhere in-between? An in-depth analysis.

How often do first-round goalies actually work out? Are they good, or is it risky to take one?
After some discussion in a hockey discord I’m in regarding Ilya Samsonov in relation to other first-round netminders, I decided to find out the result for myself. Hence, this chart of all first-round goalies from the 2000 draft onwards, with their draft team and pick, a short career breakdown, and a verdict on whether they were a good or bad pick for said team.

Year	Team	Pick	Goalie	Breakdown	Verdict (Good/Meh/Bad/Strange Case/Too early to call)
2000	New York Islanders	1st	Rick DiPietro	Honestly a good goalie when he wasn’t hurt; made the All-Star Game once, and put up solid numbers. However, he was picked way too high, made of glass, signed to an albatross of a contract and caused the Isles to trade away an eventual near-HOFer in Roberto Luongo. Bad pick.	Bad
2000	Calgary Flames	7th	Brent Krahn	Career AHLer, dealt with knee injuries and played in a total of 1 NHL game (for Dallas in 2008-09, in which he played 1 period and gave up 3 goals on 9 shots). Bad pick.	Bad
2001	Columbus Blue Jackets	8th	Pascal Leclaire	Mainly played as a backup in Columbus and Ottawa outside one season where he played 54 games and honestly put up decent numbers. Still a bad pick though, considering outside that year he never started more than 34 games and never developed into a full-time starter.	Bad
2001	New York Rangers	10th	Dan Blackburn	Played 63 regular season games for the Rangers with rather poor stats (<.900 SV% and >3 GAA) before being forced into early retirement in 2005 due to a nerve injury in his shoulder and a strained MCL. Bad pick.	Bad
2001	Dallas Stars	26th	Jason Bacashihua	Bounced around the AHL for most of his career outside of 38 rather poor starts for St. Louis over two seasons (<.900 SV% and >3 GAA), currently playing in Europe. Bad pick, though impressive longevity.	Bad
2001	Chicago Blackhawks	29th	Adam Munro	Bounced around the AHL for a while, played 17 games for the Blackhawks over two years (once again, poor stats). Played in the KHL and Europe for a few years, now playing senior hockey in the ACH. Bad pick.	Bad
2002	Atlanta Thrashers	2nd	Kari Lehtonen	Had a decent-but-unspectacular career as a long-term starter in Atlanta and Dallas, stats were serviceable. Did go to the playoffs a few times. Drafted too high, but not a bad pick all things considered, although he did only play for Atlanta for four years. Started 60+ games 4 times.	Meh
2002	Carolina Hurricanes	25th	Cam Ward	Had a 14-year career with Carolina, providing them solid-but-not-great goaltending but also winning them a cup in his rookie year. Did miss the playoffs most of his career, and rather inconsistent, but a cup’s a cup. Good pick.	Good
2002	Boston Bruins	29th	Hannu Toivonen	Bounced between the AHL and NHL, playing 61 games for Boston and St. Louis with mediocre-to-bad stats. Suffered a high ankle sprain in January 2006 that he never seemed to recover from, spent the remainder of his career jumping between Europe, the ECHL, and the AHL. Currently a free agent after playing in the ECHL last year. Bad pick.	Bad
2003	Pittsburgh Penguins	1st	Marc-Andre Fleury	Longtime starter and then backup for Pittsburgh and incumbent starter in Vegas. Led Pittsburgh to two Finals and one Cup as starter, then played a large role in Pittsburgh’s 2017 cup run splitting time with Matt Murray. Led Vegas to the Finals in their first year, has started at least one playoff game for 13 consecutive seasons. Overall a long-term quality starter. Very good pick.	Good
2004	New York Rangers	6th	Al Montoya	Spent a lot of time in the AHL and played 5 games for the Coyotes before finally getting a consistent backup role with the Islanders. Served as a backup for the Isles, Jets, Panthers, Canadiens, and briefly they Oilers, never playing more than 31 games in a season. Last played for the Oilers’ AHL team last year. Not an awful career, but a bust for how high he was drafted, and he started a grand total of zero games for the Rangers. Bad pick.	Bad
2004	Edmonton Oilers	14th	Devan Dubnyk	Has has a weird career. Was a solid backup and starter for Edmonton for a little while, before bouncing between Nashville, Montreal, and Arizona. Traded to the Wild in 2015 and has seemingly broken out since, entrenching himself as Minnesota’s starter and finishing as a 2015 Vezina Trophy finalist while making the All-Star Game three times in four seasons. Has started 60+ games in all four full seasons in Minnesota. Talent-wise a very good pick, but considering he didn’t blossom until long after he left Edmonton it’s an odd example.	Strange Case
2004	St. Louis Blues	17th	Marek Schwarz	Had a few unspectacular years in the AHL and Czech league, only played 4 games for St. Louis and was mediocre at best. Currently playing in the Czech league. Bad pick.	Bad
2004	Vancouver Canucks	26th	Cory Schneider	Broke into the league a bit late due to spending some extra years in college. Was a high-quality backup for Roberto Luongo for several years before being traded to New Jersey for a first-round pick. Was a good starter for the Devils for a few more years before seemingly falling off a cliff in 2018-19, and now playing in the AHL. Good pick, as he was very good for Vancouver and also netted them the pick that became incumbent Nucks captain Bo Horvat.	Good
2005	Montreal Canadiens	5th	Carey Price	Longtime starter for the Canadiens, good-to-great stats almost his entire career, seven-time All-Star, has won the Vezina, Jennings, Hart, and Lindsay trophies, Olympic gold, World Cup of Hockey gold, etc etc. Carey Price is one of the best first-round goalies arguably of all time. Fantastic pick.	Good
2005	Toronto Maple Leafs	21st	Tuukka Rask	Almost immediately traded to Boston for Andrew Raycroft. Rask has since won a cup (as a backup), a Vezina, led the Bruins to two Stanley Cup Finals as the starter, made the All-Star Game, and become arguably the best goalie in Bruins history. Similar to Dubnyk, great pick talent-wise, but considering the immediate trade and aftermath it’s in a weird middle position.	Strange Case
2006	Los Angeles Kings	11th	Jonathan Bernier	Didn’t do much for the Kings, never playing more than 25 games in a season for them over seven seasons under contract, although winning a ring with the 2012 team. Put up solid numbers in his limited action and was traded to Toronto in 2013, where he was the starter for the next two years including a good 2013-14 season. Has since been the backup in Anaheim, Colorado, and currently Detroit. Similar situation to Lehtonen, not a great pick for his original team but he’s turned out a solid career.	Meh
2006	Tampa Bay Lightning	15th	Riku Helenius	Spent almost his entire career in the ECHL, AHL, and Europe with the exception of seeing 7 minutes of ice time for Tampa in 2009. Never made it in the bigs and currently plays in the Finnish league. Bad pick.	Bad
2006	Washington Capitals	23rd	Semyon Varlamov	Quality backup for the Capitals for several years, albeit with injury problems. Traded to Colorado in 2011 and became their long-time starter, playing at least 49 games for them every year except for the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season and an injury-riddled 2016-17. Signed with the Islanders this past offseason and has been a solid goalie there, splitting time with Thomas Greiss. Good pick, especially considering the Caps got a first-round pick for him.	Good
2006	Calgary Flames	26th	Leland Irving	Spent almost his entire time with Calgary in the AHL and ECHL, only playing 13 total games for the Flames. Has since bounced between European leagues, the KHL, and the AHL, currently playing in Austria. Bad pick.	Bad
2008	Nashville Predators	18th	Chet Pickard	Played a total of zero career NHL games, bouncing between the AHL and ECHL until going to Europe in 2014. Has spent five years as a backup/half-time starter in the DEL. Massive bust, and very bad pick. *The only goalie on this list to never even appear* in an NHL game** excluding two “too early to call” goalies.	Bad
2008	Detroit Red Wings	30th	Tom McCollum	Only played 3 games for the Red Wings; otherwise, he’s spent his entire career in the AHL (with a few ECHL stints). Currently playing in the ECHL under contract to the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. Bad pick.	Bad
2010	Dallas Stars	11th	Jack Campbell	Only played in a single game for Dallas, which ended in a 6-3 loss. Spent the rest of his time with Dallas in the AHL and ECHL before being traded to the Kings in 2016. Spent the next two seasons mostly on the Kings’ AHL affiliate, seeing action in 6 NHL games, before posting impressive stats over 31 starts for the Kings in 2018-19. Currently the backup to Jonathan Quick; has posted rather poor stats this year. Bad pick for Dallas. Remains to be seen how he truly turns out with LA.	Bad
2010	Phoenix Coyotes	27th	Mark Visentin	Had an incredibly short career. Spent five seasons alternating between the AHL and ECHL, only playing one game for Phoenix, before signing with an Austrian team in 2017. However, his contract was terminated via injury after only one game, and he announced his retirement about a year later. Bad pick.	Bad
2012	Tampa Bay Lightning	19th	Andrei Vasilevsky	Barely spent any time in the AHL before getting shot into the pros, playing in four playoff games in his rookie season. Entrenched himself as Tampa’s starter in 2016 and has continuously improved since then, leading the Bolts to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2018, then winning the Vezina Trophy and helping the Lightning to a historic 62-win season the next year. Very good pick.	Good
2012	Boston Bruins	24th	Malcolm Subban	Spent almost his entire early career in the AHL, only playing two games for the Bruins while under contract. Waived at the start of the 2017-18 season and claimed by the then-brand-new Golden Knights, where he’s evolved into a somewhat-solid backup to fellow first-rounder Marc-Andre Fleury. Bad pick for the Bruins, but not terrible talent-wise provided his current Vegas numbers hold up.	Bad
2015	Washington Capitals	22nd	Ilya Samsonov	Made his NHL debut as Braden Holtby’s backup this season, and figures to be the starter in the future if/when Holtby leaves. Quite early into his career, but he’s putting up solid numbers this season against quality opponents. Too early to judge, but leaning good pick.	Too early to call
2017	Dallas Stars	26th	Jake Oettinger	Only turned pro late last season, currently in the AHL. Too early to call.	Too early to call
2019	Florida Panthers	13th	Spencer Knight	Currently playing his first college season. Too early to call.	Too early to call

And some stats…

Stat number	Stat breakdown
29	First-round goalies since 2000
7	First round goalies since 2010, therefore...
22	First round goalies picked between 2000 and 2010. GMs seem to have gotten scared in the last decade, and with justified reason, becuase...
16	Bad picks, of the 29 goalies analyzed.
2	"Meh" picks, those being Lehtonen and Bernier. Not good for their draft position, but not bad enough to call them a truly bad pick.
6	Good picks, those being Ward, Fleury, Schneider, Price, Varlamov, and Vasilevsky.
3	Too early to call, with Samsonov only debuting this year, Oettinger having barely turned pro, and Knight still in college.
2	Strange Case picks; Dubnyk and Rask can’t be called bad picks as they’re respectively great goalies, and purely talent-wise are great picks, but their success came with a team other than the drafting one, which clouds what they can truly be called.
3	Vezina winners, those being Price, Rask, and Vasilevsky.
8	Quality drafted goalies overall, those being the six good picks plus Rask and Dubnyk.
7	Drafts with no first-round goalies (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018), five of which have happened since 2010. Once again, GMs are scared.
8	Goalies who played less than 20 NHL games (Krahn, Munro, Schwarz, Helenius, Irving, Pickard, McCollum, Visentin)
13	Goalies who played less than 20 games with the team that drafted them (the prior eight plus Bacashihua, Montoya, Rask, Campbell, and Subban). Note: This and the prior category do not count Samsonov, who will likely hit 20 this year, as well as Oettinger and Knight, who are too early to call.
1	Draft with zero goalie busts (2005, with Vezina winners Carey Price and Tuukka Rask). No years with no bad picks, although 2015 may be the first.
4	Drafts with all bad picks and/or busts (2000, 2001 (an incredible four busts), 2008, 2010)
5	Teams who drafted two first-round goalies in this time period, ...
3	Of which drafted two bad picks (NY Rangers, Calgary, Boston).
1	Of which whiffed on one pick and hit on the other (Tampa Bay).
1	Of which hit on both picks, or at least it seems that way so far (Washington).
Dallas Stars	Drafted three first-round goalies, two of which busted badly and one of which is too early to call.

Conclusion

More often than not, first-round goalies don’t turn out too well, with only eight of 26 goalies drafted (excluding the three “too early” picks) being “good,” and only six turning out well for the team that actually drafted them. That’s 77% of drafted first-round goalies doing poorly for their original team, and 69% busting entirely. It seems to make sense that the number of first-round goalies has steadily decreased over our time period.
In total,

It is very risky to draft a goalie in the first round and GMs have the right to be wary of it.

Thanks for reading!
Edit: To placate some specific anger I’ve updated the chart. New category added.

r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 11: Make Oskar an All-Star Edition

/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Dec 9, 2019 - Dec 15, 2019

Thank You

Thank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.

Rankers

Spoiler

Organizers

Spoiler

Visualization

The visualization contains historical data, so you can see how your team has done over time. Hopefully, we can run this for many years in hopes that we can see the rise and fall of teams by /hockey opinion.
It automatically updates so feel free to bookmark. You can find it here

Process

How does this work? Throughout the course of the week rankers are able to access an app that will allow them to rank teams. At the end of the period we calculate the average ranking for every team and collate all of the analysis provided by rankers.
The app then generates a post that is first proofread and then posted to /hockey!

Rankings (28/31 Rankers Reporting)

Ranking (avg)	Team	Delta	Overall Record	Record This Week	Comments
1 (1.55)	Washington Capitals	-	24-5-5	2-1-0	Remember when we started the season 3-3-1? Yeah this run has been fun.
2 (3.08)	Colorado Avalanche	1	21-8-3	2-0-1	The Avs forwards were almost healthy this week. That didn't last the whole week, but we are close to full health. The Devils game felt disappointing but still a win. The noticeable missing pieces of Johnson and Makar made our zone exits a mess. Shout out to Nichushkin always working hard and getting rewarded for it, has really helped depth scoring. Next week has good divisional match-ups, with Carolina mixed in. Makalder Update: Makar was hurt all week and is not travelling, earliest you can see him play again is at home against Carolina.
3 (3.55)	New York Islanders	1	22-7-2	3-0-0	They got back to their brand of hockey this week, being significantly outshot but still going 3-0-0 with a GD of 11-4. Both Varlamov and Greiss are fantastic in net right now, and despite the odd line combos they are scoring. Of note specifically are Beauvillier who has finally added consistency to match his high-talent, and Brock Nelson who has shown that last year was not a one-off, but a huge improvement with Trotz. Leddy getting healthy again will be important to them trying to contend with the caps for the division, as he has been having one of his best seasons this year.
4 (4.24)	Boston Bruins	-2	21-7-6	1-3-0	Do Not Disturb: Bears Hibernating.
5 (5.03)	St. Louis Blues	-	20-8-6	2-1-0	Hawks-Blues has been one of the best rivalries of the decade, and it ends with a 3-goal third period comeback by the Blues, led by Robert Thomas who will hopefully be terrorizing the Hawks for years to come. This team isn't perfect right now but it's hard not to be hype. BACK TO BACK BABY!!!
6 (7.26)	Carolina Hurricanes	2	20-11-2	2-0-1
7 (8.74)	Dallas Stars	2	19-11-4	2-0-1	I never thought the day would come where I would see Rick Bowness become a head coach again.
8 (9.08)	Winnipeg Jets	2	20-11-2	2-1-0	You know that feeling when you expect absolutely nothing out of your team, and then the team still manages to disappoint? Yeah, that was this week. I know someone had to fall on the blade for Detroit, but we not only impaled ourselves with it, we spun the blade around in a figure 8 pattern. The greyest of silver linings to take from it? With the way the goals were scored against, I suspect Pionk's shinguards alone dropped our PDO 5 pts. We came out flying against the Flyers though, so the bounce-back game was nice. Hopefully the Jets continue that into next week.
9 (9.32)	Pittsburgh Penguins	-3	19-10-4	2-1-0	No Malkin, No Crosby, no problem. I know plus/minus is supposedly meangingless but can we all appreciate that Johnson is a plus 9 and this is only the third season he has been a plus in his 15 year career.
10 (10.97)	Arizona Coyotes	2	18-12-5	1-2-0	3 games at home this week and another weak showing for the growing crowds. While it was good to see the team bounce back against Chicago on Thursday night, they then proceeded to drop another home game against a team they have no business losing to if they plan to compete for a division title this season. I'll personally be hoping for the Hall rumors to be true as this offense needs a desperate jolt of some kind. In Chayka We Trust.
11 (12.21)	Edmonton Oilers	-1	18-13-4	0-3-0	And I'm free ... free falling. The Oilers are having an oof time right now carrying a strong 4 game ~~I'm not having a good time~~ losing streak. Fans knew the law of averages would catch up with this team, but things seem far more extreme than hoped. The unfortunate cap on all of this is a poor play from McDrai. Seems like the large amount of minutes might be catching up to both. The Oilers have to face the Stars, Penguins, Blues, and Montreal this week ~~kill me~~. This week determines the season. Even though we have fallen mightily in the standings, the Pacific is turning out to be weak enough to make things possible for the remainder of the season. The team needs to get something in order to salvage it though.
12 (12.58)	Philadelphia Flyers	-5	17-11-5	0-3-0	#OskarStrong
13 (13.68)	Vegas Golden Knights	-	18-13-5	3-1-0	The Knights are 7-2-1 their last 10 games and has quietly sneaked into 2nd place in the Pacific Division. Granted they have played the games but they are certainly in an upward tread. Max Pacioretty has been the team's most productive skater with a 4 game goal streak and a total of 8 points in those four games.
14 (14.08)	Calgary Flames	5	18-13-4	3-1-0	The Flames look good under Geoff Ward. Every line is looking competitive and putting in lots of effort. The team is finally playing like they were expected to at the beginning of the year.
15 (16.08)	Tampa Bay Lightning	-	16-12-3	2-2-0	Played the 3 top teams in the league this week and only won one of the bunch. That being said the result doesn’t always represent the full story. Both games the opposing goalie ended up being one of the three stars. It will be interesting to see how Tampa does without Kucherov but thankfully the schedule starts to lighten up. Nearly 1/3 of games played have been against a top 5 team. Their record against them? 2-6-1. Include top 7? That record becomes 2-8-2. Bottom line is this team is losing to strong teams and that needs to change.
16 (17.74)	Buffalo Sabres	8	16-11-7	2-0-1	Great week. We have shown that we haven't given up on the season like we have in the past. Dahlin effectively slotted back into the lineup, and over the last two weeks Jack Eichel and Victor Olofsson led the league in points. Jack only needs to add two more games to his streak to tie the franchise record, and given that our next game is in Toronto I imagine he will get close. One more stat I would like to mention is the number of plus players this year; we have more plus players than minus players. If this pace continues, it would put this year on par with the 2011-2012, which was the year after the last time we made the playoffs. I, for one, would thoroughly enjoy seeing Buffalo back in the playoffs, and encourage this trend.
17 (18.21)	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	16-14-4	2-1-0	West Canada road trip. 2-1-0. Can't complain too much. Freddy Andersen stopped more breakaways in the third period in Vancouver (or was it in Toronto?) than I have fingers on my hands. In Calgary, the Leafs relied on him a bit too much and he let up 3 goals on 3 shots early in the third to evaporate a 2-1 lead, and the Leafs would go on to lose. If the NHL had a Most Improved Player award, it would go to Justin Holl on the Leafs, and Saturday in Edmonton (are you sure it's not in Toronto?) showed us why. 26 minutes, a career high, playing shutdown minutes with Jake Muzzin vs. McDraisaitl after Tyson Barrie got a shot to the leg, and left the game (won't be out long). Andersen is playing too much, so that's the story Toronto media is jumping all over this week.
18 (18.66)	Vancouver Canucks	-2	16-14-4	1-3-0	The Canucks - the team everyone predicted to be a playoff bubble team - continue to behave like a playoff bubble team. This has been the inevitable shit stretch. As soon as you are satisfied with one type of scoring (in this case PP), another (5v5) dries up. The team fires on all cylinders in some instances, and other times it just sits there. The young guns continue to show instances of truly beautiful hockey here and there, but should we expect a top powerplay of toddlers to carry a tepid team to the playoffs alone? Shoutout to Markstrom for a heavenly performance for dad, and yo have you heart about this local underdog Jake Virtanen?
19 (19.11)	Florida Panthers	-5	15-12-5	0-3-0	The slump-busters are answering the call once again. Tampa, Islanders and Boston is a tough week, but a good team would win some. On a weird note, the Panthers just did a 180, they can't score but their goaltending is good.
20 (19.37)	Minnesota Wild	2	16-13-5	2-1-1	One regulation loss in over a month, scoring depth from all four lines, and new blueline studs out of AHL mainstays Carson Soucy and Brennen Menell. All this without their starting goalie (Dubnyk), shutdown center (Koivu), and top-pair defenseman (Spurgeon).The longer this stretch goes on (10-1-4 going into the Hawks game), the more it seems that the putrid 5-10-1 start was the aberration and not the norm. There's still work to be done and points to gain with a VERY long home stretch coming up (18 of 22 at the X) but the opportunity is there.
21 (19.76)	New York Rangers	-	16-12-4	1-1-1	Strange week out west, to put it lightly. Started out with a disappointing loss to the Kings in which we looked slow against a very slow team and only managed to score a single goal. Then we went up against the Sharks and dropped six goals, including an Artemi Panarin hat trick. Bread just keeps on putting up points and playing well all around. Definitely shaping up to be our best free agent acquisition in a very long time. Zibby also played very well this game, putting up two goals. We closed out the week with a shootout loss in a game we could have won much earlier. While disappointing, it wasn't the worst outcome possible. Another positive out of this week is that Chytil seems to be playing extremely well. He seems more comfortable and is more noticeable as time goes on. Georgiev has also been killing it lately. We definitely have an interesting goalie situation, but definitely not a bad one. Moving forward, I hope to see the young guys keep playing well and developing. Kakko is due for an explosive game.
22 (20.16)	Nashville Predators	-5	14-12-5	1-2-0	And now we go to a live look into the office of Nashville Predators GM David Poile
23 (20.29)	Montreal Canadiens	-	15-12-6	2-1-0	Last week was another frustrating and confusing experience for fans of Les Glorieux—a nickname that seems somewhat distant and inexplicable today. The Canadiens began the week in Pittsburgh with a relatively easy road win in a half-empty arena (or, as Pens fans describe it, “sold-out”). So far, so good. But a tough OT win against the lowly Senators revealed what many of us already know: this team struggles against the worst of the NHL. If that message was unclear, the Red Wings helped clarify in a boring and rather embarrassing home loss on Saturday night. At least a fan managed to win 50 grand during the 2nd intermission (which was by far the loudest ovation of the night). Where does all of this leave the Habs? One might argue that only the very worst teams lose to the very worst teams. Or to try a positive spin: this is a bubble team trying really, really hard to remain a bubble team. Sound familiar? Plus ca change….
24 (20.32)	San Jose Sharks	-6	16-17-2	1-2-0	Not good, but better than last week, and we got a coaching change. I don't know if DeBoer was what's wrong the team this year, but doing nothing wasn't working. I'm a lot happier that we got rid of Spott and Hedberg. Our power play needs work and Spott had been doing a bad job for a while. Nabokov might be able to get Martin Jones back to the ok goalie he was from 2015-2018. The Sharks are looking different than they did under DeBoer, but we'll have to wait and see if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
25 (23.63)	Anaheim Ducks	-	15-15-3	2-1-0	We got multiple power play goals in a game for the first time this season. This is not a drill. Looking ahead: Lukas Dostal should be the starting netminder for the Czech team. Zegras should be a key contributor for the US team and it looks like BOGroulx should make the Canadian team. PS: Groulx’s father might be on some nhl head coach watchlists by the end of the season.
26 (26.16)	Ottawa Senators	2	14-17-2	2-0-1	Another week another checks notes 5 points gained out of 6 points possible in the standings. Somehow. For a team that was supposed to be firmly deal-last in the league all season, the Sens looked excellent this week - especially when upsetting the heavily favored Boston Bruins. Nilsson might still have some consistency struggles but is an outright monster between the pipes when he's on his game. Duclair showed on Saturday afternoon that he deserves to be signed on by the club and has really made the most of his "prove it" contract for this season. However, don't jump aboard Sean Tierney's Sennes Hype Train just yet; the depth issues are starting to show as DeMelo will be out for a month, our 4th line continues to average about 5 minutes of playtime per game, and a trio of key young players (White, Paul, and L. Brown) are all still struggling to score consistently.The kids were, as it turns out, pretty alright this week but it takes far more than one good week to reach the SCF. The Sens will need to regr
27 (26.87)	Los Angeles Kings	2	14-18-3	3-0-1	Great week for the Kings picking up points in every game and winning 4/5. Jonathan Quick made some highlight saves against the Penguins like it was 2012.
28 (26.92)	Columbus Blue Jackets	-1	12-14-6	1-0-2	This team is frustrating to watch. To top this week off, we injured four players in a game vs Ottawa.
29 (27.16)	Chicago Blackhawks	-3	13-15-6	1-3-0	De Haan left Tuesday's game with a re-injured right shoulder. Per Scott Powers, he's expected to be out 4-5 months. Blackhawks' head athletic trainer, Mike Gapski, worked his 2500th NHL game Thursday night. Blackhawks 5-on-5 scoring in 24 games with Keith: 48-41; in 9 games without him (groin injury): 11-25. Blowing a 3-0 lead in the 3rd against the Blues was the lowest point of our season. Hatrick Kane led the Hawks to a bounce-back win over the Wild. J-Bone has 3 multi-point games in the last 5. Dach has a 13-game pointless drought. After playing his 10th NHL game last night, Boqvist has burned a year off his ELC.
30 (29.66)	New Jersey Devils	-	10-17-5	1-2-0	Sorry about the blank blurb last week y'all, I was a bit distracted getting married, so I hope you can forgive me. I managed to catch some of the action over the past 2 weeks though (even if MSG+ didn't want to air the games..). Honestly though, you didn't miss much.. The Good: Blackwood isn't playing awful despite the play in front of him, and having to bail Domingue out twice.... The Bad: Apparently we've forgotten that the goal of hockey is goals... in the last 2 weeks, we've been held to 2 goals or less in 5 of 7 games, and we lost the games we had more than 2 goals. #goals4MacK? The Ugly: The crying I'm going to do when Hall is gone. He's been held out in 2 games so far and a trade is imminent. Once he's gone the only reason people will be talking about us will be because of P.K., Hughes, or getting our 3rd,1st overall pick in 4 years and becoming the Oilers 2.0(not saying Hughes or Hischer are McDavid level talent though).
31 (30.55)	Detroit Red Wings	-	9-23-3	2-2-0	Alright we are BACK in business folks! I just got out of a coma that lasted about 12 NHL games or so and I am ready to talk about this team. A spirited showing from the leagues bottom team as they finally showed some JAM after a beatdown early this week in Winnipeg offering their own beatdown on the Jets two days later in Detroit. They flew up to Montreal for some hot dogs and Bernier puts a show on in MTL as he usually does for Detroit. Closing out the week against an LA team that has been HOT and streaking and there is no shame in losing to a team like that. AA and Mantha are back and slowly starting to return to form. Zadina has been doing okay with the situation he is put in trying to carry 30+ year old forwards of yesteryear. This next week will be important for establishing consistent performances and since Zadina is burning a year of ELC, to help him continue his point streak.

Edmonton Oilers 2010s History Project: 2017-2018

Edmonton Oilers 2017-2018
Going into this season, there were some high expectations. After a dominant end to the regular season in 16/17 during which the Oilers won 12 of their last 14 games, our subsequent playoff run died with Kesler lying on top of Talbot’s pads in game 5 against the Ducks. Eager to move past that… controversial call, to say the least, the Oilers were expected to make the postseason once again.
Off Season
In terms of the UFA market, the Oilers did not make very many big moves during the offseason. We picked up defenseman Yohann Auvitu and forward Jussi Jokinen and signed them both to 1 year contracts. Auvitu would go on to play 33 games, recording 9 points, while Jokinen played 14 games and recorded 1 point before getting traded to LA for shootout hero Mike Cammalleri. Eric Gryba was signed to an extension, as were Kris Russell and Iiro Pakarinen.
However, the Oilers made some very important RFA signings. Zack Kassian and Jujhar Khaira were extended, first of all. And then, on July 5th, Chiarelli signed McDavid to a max term $100M contract, with McDavid reportedly having been fine with taking less money so that the team’s cap situation would remain somewhat manageable. Soon after, in what is now seen in hindsight as a stroke of sheer brilliance, but was actually dumb luck and an awful GM, Draisaitl was signed to a max term $68M contract. At the time seen as slight overpay, we are beyond lucky to have this elite player signed for so little.
The Oilers saw a few departures from the roster as well. Fan favourite Hendricks was picked up by the Jets, Ference retired, playoff overtime hero Desharnais got picked up by the Rangers, Pitlick was signed by the Stars, we bought out Pouliot, and somewhat infamously, Griffin Reinhart was claimed by Vegas during the expansion draft. Oesterle also left for the Hawks, and Lander went to the KHL.
The most major departure in the roster over the off-season was of course the now infamous 1-for-1 Eberle trade, for which we acquired superstar PPG player Ryan Strome in return. Eberle would go on to score 59 points that season with the Islanders, while Strome picked up a measly 34 over the course of the season (for the record, he currently has 43 points this season… in 48 games). Some chalk this trade up to needing cap space for McDavid and Draisaitl, others say it was a result of a somewhat disappointing postseason performance, but this started a chain reaction of trades spanning multiple seasons, with each subsequent trade getting worse and more embarrassing.
Regular Season
October
Hot off the heels of the aforementioned controversial ending to our 16/17 playoff run, with the same core cast of players now all locked up into long term contracts, and bolstered by a few minor offseason additions, the Oilers were ready to do it again. And sure enough, on October 4th, 2017, the Oilers kicked off the regular season with an absolutely dominant performance over our provincial rivals, where McDavid scored all 3 goals in this 3-0 shutout over the Flames, including this absurd goal that was replayed in highlight reels for the rest of the season. Yup, we were ready for the playoffs.
Alas, all good things must come to an end, and so did our playoff hopes over the next 4 games after losing all 4 and getting outscored 19-8, including an embarrassing 6-1 loss to the Senators on home ice. The Oilers would go on to win 2 more games in the month of October, including a 2-1 OT win over Chicago off the back of yet another highlight reel play by McDavid.
3-6-1
November
November was a mild improvement, where the Oilers played just about .500 hockey. It was a month with very high highs and very low lows, but that would become a theme throughout the season. It started off with consecutive OT road wins against the Islanders and the Devils, both featuring gorgeous Dynamic Duo plays. We proceeded to flatten the suddenly dominant Vegas in an 8-2 hammering at home the following week, only to lose 6-3 to Dallas 4 days later and 8-3 to the Blues the game after that (which we promptly followed up with a dominant 6-2 win over the Red Wings, who had previously shut us out 4-0 earlier in the month. Whiplash much?). We capped off the month of November with an almost come-from-behind win against Toronto, where the Oilers went down 3-1 and 4-3 but tied the game both times, only to lose off an own goal from Kris Russell in the dying minutes of the game
7-8-1
December
December started off with a bang, with almost a reverse of the game we played against Toronto. The Oilers went up 6-1 against the Flames, but our 2nd string goalie in Brossoit couldn’t stop a beach ball in the 3rd period, resulting in it being a 6-5 game with a minute to go. Then, in a twist of irony, T.J. Brodie knocked the puck into his own net defending against an odd man rush, securing a 7-5 win for the Oil. Remember how I mentioned high highs and low lows? The Oilers went on to win 6 of their next 9 games, including a 7-2 beatdown of the Blue Jackets at the tail end of a road trip, and finishing with a 4-game winning streak before the Christmas break. By then, we were 17-17-2 (.500 for basically the first time this season), finally on an upward trend, and although there was still plenty of work to do, we were only 4 points back from a playoff spot.
And then we came back from the Christmas break. Although the first 2 losses in a row were only 1-goal affairs, including an OT loss to Chicago, on New Years Eve the Oilers got shut out 5-0 at home by the Jets, and our season quickly turned into an utter disaster. High highs and low lows….
7-5-1
January
Including the New Years Eve game against the Jets, and over the next 5 games, the Oilers were outscored 22-5, including humiliating consecutive 5-0 shutouts on home ice. We would win one game during that 6-game stretch, a barnburner 2-1 SO win against Anaheim. The Oilers did follow that up with a 3-game winning streak, but too little, too late- the damage had been done. We had lost 7 of our last 8, and were so far back in the standings the playoffs were nothing more than a distant dream once again.
As we plummeted down the standings, there wasn’t too much excitement for the Oilers for the remainder of the season. In light of that, I will do my best to summarize the few highlights we did get over the next 3 months.
The Oilers beat Calgary 4-3 in a shootout to close out the month after a goal by McDavid was controversially called back due to a bullshit goalie interference call. This resulted in one of my all time favourite McDavid moments: telling the refs to “check upstairs” after he scored the shootout winner
5-5-0
February
In quite likely my favourite game from the entire season, February saw Connor McDavid single handedly destroyed the 36-14-3 Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2, and the Dynamic Duo continued to impress in OT. February also saw a 7-5 loss to Florida which made history for being the first ever NHL game in which each team had a player score on a penalty shot.
In light of yet another disappointing season, the Oilers were once again sellers at the trade deadline. We sold D Brandon Davidson to the Isles, traded PP specialist Letestu to the Preds (who was immediately flipped to the Preds) for Aberg (who would go on to play 16 games in an Oilers uniform), and sent the Big Rig Maroon to the Devils (for a pick who we flipped to Philly for Cooper Marody).
5-8-1
March/April
Continuing with our theme of high highs and low lows, the Oilers trounced the Canes 7-3 in Carolina, and two days later crushed Ottawa 6-2, only to lose 7-3 to Columbus the next week, in a game where we went up 3-0.
The Oilers closed out the season with a cheeky 3-2 SO win against the Canucks, in which the Sedins played their last game. Oilers players and fans alike, in a classy move, stayed late after the game ended and gave the Sedins a proper farewell in a mirror image of the Canucks and their fans who did the same for Oilers legend Ryan Smyth several years prior.
9-8-2
Closing
The Oilers finished the season with a disappointing 36-40-6 record and 78 points, good enough for 6th in the Pacific and 9th last in the league, 17 points out of a playoff spot.
Oddly enough, we went into the offseason slightly optimistic. Jesse Puljujarvi had had a very disappointing 20pts in 65 games, and Lucic fell off a figurative cliff and got 34 points, after getting 50 the season before. We weren’t too sure what happened. This was an off season, so to speak. Every team plays bad one year for no reason- this was ours. Puljujarvi would definitely crank up the heat next season and slot in to our top 6, Lucic would bounce back, and we were definitely going to make the postseason again. I mean, we were pretty bad this season. We couldn’t possibly be worse next season….
Personal note
My apologies if I missed anything big- I tried to hit most of the major events that occurred, but already rereading what I have written I realize I likely could have spent more time discussing Lucic's not-so-slow descent and the disappointment of Puljujarvi throughout the season.
Mod Note
Thanks to u/butchthedoggy for doing this submission. Sorry I didn't have time to get the posts in but I will get them in there when I get off work.
Personnel

General Manager: Peter Chiarelli
Head Coach: Todd McLellan
Captain: Connor McDavid
Assistant Captains: Adam Larsson, Milan Lucic, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Stats

Player	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
Connor McDavid	82	41	67	108
Leon Draisaitl	78	25	45	70
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	62	24	24	48
Ryan Strome	82	13	21	34
Milan Lucic	82	10	24	34

2017 Draft

Player	Position	Round	Overall
Kailer Yamamoto	C	1	22
Stuart Skinner	G	3 (from Calgary)	78
Dmitri Samorukov	D	3	84
Ostap Safin	RW	4	115
Kirill Maksimov	RW	5	146
Skyler Brind'Amour	C	6	177
Philip Kemp	D	7	208

Transaction

Date	Team	Oilers Acquire	Oilers Move
June 22nd, 2017	New York Islanders	Ryan Strome	Jordan Eberle
June 24, 2017	Arizona Coyotes	3rd round pick in 2017 (#78 Stuart Skinner)	3rd round pick in 2017 (##82 Camerson Crotty), 5th round pick in 2017 (#126 Michael Karow)
November 14th, 2017	Los Angeles Kings	Michael Cammalleri	Jussi Jokinen
December 19th, 2017	Florida Panthers	Future Considerations	Gregory Chase
January 4th, 2018	Montreal Canadiens	Al Montoya	2018 4th round pick (#102 Jasper Weatherby)
January 31st, 2018	Tampa Bay Lightning	Future Considerations	Edward Pasquale
February 24th, 2018	New York Islanders	2019 3rd round pick (#85 Ilya Konovalov)	Brandon Davidson
February 25th, 2018	Nashville Predators	Pontus Aberg	Mark Letestu
February 26th, 2018	New Jersey Devils	J.D. Dudek, 2019 3rd round pick (#65 Alexander Campbell)	Patrick Maroon
March 21st, 2018	Philadelphia Flyers	Cooper Marody	2019 3rd round pick (#65 Alexander Campbell)

Standings (Pacific Division)

Team	Wins	Losses	Overtime Losses	Points
Las Vegas	51	24	7	109
Anaheim	44	25	13	101
San Jose	45	27	10	100
Los Angeles	45	29	8	98
Calgary	37	35	10	84
Edmonton	36	40	6	78
Vancouver	31	40	11	73
Arizona	29	41	12	70

Posts

TBA

r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 8: First Blood Edition

/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Nov 18, 2019 - Nov 24, 2019

Thank You

Thank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.

Rankers

Spoiler

Organizers

Spoiler

Visualization

Process

Rankings (27/31 Rankers Reporting)

Ranking (avg)	Team	Delta	Overall Record	Record This Week	Comments
1 (1.9)	New York Islanders	1	16-3-2	2-0-1	To use the words of another commentator. "Best team in the league, full stop." Brocktober carried into November as Nelson potted two OT winners, and his line is on absolute fire as Beauvillier is scoring and Brassard is dishing. They've started to get Powerplays after being on pace to have less PP's than some teams did in the 48 game season. Franchise has a new point-streak record, and it's still alive.
2 (2.34)	Washington Capitals	-1	16-4-5	1-1-1	A win and two losses, but only one stinker for the banged up Caps. Backstrom's absence makes you realize how thin the center depth really is, perhaps extra starkly given how remarkably healthy he's been since Rene Bourque* concussed him way back in 2012. All told I'm zero worried, and to any Caps fan who is I recommend hugging your Vrana waifu and doing some light reading. The boys are back in action on Thanksgiving Eve against the Cats, who always seem to give us trouble. That'd be a great time to end the skid with a statement game, and maybe a couple Orlov shots behind his bff Bob.
3 (2.59)	Boston Bruins	-	15-3-5	3-0-0	The Bruins have a 3-game win streak. They also have a 7-game point streak and continue to show why they are the best team in the Atlantic. The Bruins also the only team left in the NHL not to lose in regulation at home. Depth started to show up in the win over the Devils with Grzelcyk potting 2 biscuits. The Pasta Rocket continues to lead the League in goals. Minnesota kept that game Wild with Krejci scoring 2 goals in 43 seconds with Rask pulled. Then Scorey Krug goes coast-to-coast in OT and walks it off.
4 (5.55)	Edmonton Oilers	1	16-7-3	3-1-0	The Oilers are still weird. We got some revenge against the Sharks, then played our worst game of the season against the Kings. The Knights and Coyotes were closer games with us as the victor. That's 4 divisional games this season where we've collected 6 points while given up 3. Strong results. This team is very strong on the special teams, but their 5-on-5 play had taken some solid improvements thanks to some contributions from Granlund, Gagner, Khairan, etc. Key injury going into next week is Nuge missing at least 1 more game. This team is starting to round out. This next week is again very important with a game against the Avs then a back-to-back against the Canucks
5 (5.59)	St. Louis Blues	-1	14-5-5	2-1-0	the Blues have been winning a lot despite relatively poor play for a while now, and this week they finally had some down games. Just from the eye test, they look good but not good enough. If they don't rebound in the next week expect them to severely drop
6 (7.76)	Carolina Hurricanes	1	15-8-1	3-1-0	Carolina had a loaded schedule this week pulling out a couple wins against some struggling teams. Doing what dominant teams do the Canes were able to push out their patented high volume high quality possession hockey. Brett Pesce is logging big minutes and holding down a very active D group. Martin Necas is slowly entering the Calder debate as he currently sits third in rookie scoring behind Makar and Quinn Hughes and Necas does the bulk of his work 5v5. Dougie Hamilton continues his tear on opposing goalies racking up his consistent shot counter. Leading NHL defensmen in goals and taking care of his own end leading the league in High Danger Chances%. Svechnikov extended his point streak to 8 games. Edmunson's 6-game point streak ended last night. Reimer earned his first shutout with the Canes, stopping all 19 shots he faced last night. The Canes are 14-1-0 when their starter has a SV% over .875, and 1-7-1 otherwise. Maintaining the consistency from this point will be key as the Canes have had an issue staying at the top of their game from week to week.
7 (7.83)	Colorado Avalanche	-1	13-8-2	1-2-0	As good a week as could be had for a team that lost twice in regulation. Did not play the whole game in the losses. The good news: Grubauer and Francouz are back, and only at 4 or 5 injuries now. Rantanen is practicing. The bad news: The defense has not been getting better it has been a rough 10 or so games. Everyone beside Makar has not been great, Zadorov has been the second best. Bit of an odd week coming up probably thanks to the holiday. A Game Wednesday vs the Oilers and then a home and home with the Hawks Friday-Saturday. Makalder Watch: Cale had a quiet week with just 3 points in 3 games. Capped with two goals vs the Wild. He also hit a few posts. He is shooting more and playing more, his defensive play was great this week. He logged nearly 28 minutes vs the Leafs.
8 (8.24)	Arizona Coyotes	-	14-8-3	2-1-1	The Coyotes attained 4 of 6 possible points this week, going 2 for 2 against the Kings, and 0 for 1 against Toronto. They started the week off strong, posting a 31-save shutout against the Kings, thanks in part to fantastic goaltending from Raanta, who appears to have the King's number, based on his previous 6 games versus the LA kings, in which he has 3 shutouts. He would go on to save 43 of 45 from the Kings on Saturday afternoon. It wasn't all Raanta though; while LA has some of the highest shot totals in the league, their shot quality is near the bottom, and the Coyotes rock-hard defense did not make quality shots any easier for them. During the matchup against Toronto in the middle of the week, the Coyotes seemed to have no answers. Toronto, playing their first game since the firing of their coach, came out hard and fast, and maintained that throughout the game. As has been the case all season, the real crux of the Coyotes came in the form of offense, or rather, lack thereof.
9 (8.38)	Dallas Stars	2	14-8-2	3-0-0	Dallas in their current 13-1-1 streak has been nearly unbeatable. Strong goaltending has been critical but after many maligned seasons with only the top line producing dependably we have something that we haven’t experienced in a while. Depth.
10 (10.9)	Pittsburgh Penguins	-1	12-7-4	1-0-2	I’m still in shock that the 6-1 game against Toronto did not lead to Babcocks demise. He should have never made it out of the city but I guess they needed to have a losing record in order to justify the move. Loses this week came from playing the best team in the league so all in all not too much to complain or be worried about.
11 (12.38)	Winnipeg Jets	2	14-9-1	2-1-0
12 (14.31)	Montreal Canadiens	-2	11-7-5	0-2-1	Last week, the Canadiens honoured their great captain (and freshly minted Hall-of-Famer) Guy Carbonneau with a touching tribute at the Bell Centre. For those 20 minutes, it felt great to be a Habs fan. You could probably say the same for the first period against the Rangers, too. That was nice. But otherwise it was a painful, humbling week in what is becoming a wild season for Montreal. Since that big win in D.C., the Habs have lost 4 in a row and the Bruins are up next. Let's go, les boys! In the words of the medieval French philosopher Comte Drou, Abbé de la Rossrhea: "Grosse game à soir."
13 (14.41)	Tampa Bay Lightning	1	11-7-2	2-1-0	Great week for Tampa. Starting to get that even strength scoring back, scoring 3 at 5v5 against both Chicago and Anaheim. Pat Maroon is becoming an amazing asset on the PP, taking up space in front of the net, effecting the play even when he isn't listed on the score sheet. Our lord and savior Brayden Fucking Point has looked awesome, scoring 3 goals in the last 2 games. Curtis McElhinney has also been very good (outside of the NJD game). If you take out the NJD game, he's posted a .922SV%. Still hate the new jerseys, should've been these.
14 (15)	Vancouver Canucks	1	12-8-4	2-1-0	With a tight win against Washington, a brutal loss against Dallas, and a PP-led win against Nashville, the Canucks managed to play arguably their best, their worst, and ugliest games of the year this week. The win over the top-dog Capitals was important for a team that has feasted on basement competition early in the season, and Jacob Markstrom playing his heart out on the Hockey Fights Cancer game made it even more special. Losing against Dallas exposed how rough this team can be. The win against the Predators was ugly; the prospect of this team relying purely on a wildly inconsistent powerplay while otherwise getting blown out 5v5 is concerning. Three very different outings for this young squad. Variety is the spice of life, I suppose.
15 (16.21)	Vegas Golden Knights	2	11-10-4	1-1-1	Even Marc-Andre Fleury's stellar play can't save this team from their really long slump. Vegas has not won more than two games in a row this season. Vegas has all the talent to be a top contending team but the results are not showing up. The team are currently paper tigers until they figure out how to finish most of the high danger chances they're getting and not make crucial defensive mistakes at the worst times.
16 (16.38)	Florida Panthers	4	12-7-5	2-2-0	The slumpbusters are back! It is definitely a bad way to end the week, but it started well at least. It feels like this team never plays a full game and that is not something I would have expected from a team playing under Q.
17 (17.21)	Nashville Predators	-1	10-9-3	1-2-0	The Preds finally won a game! :D ... Arvidsson is out for 4-6 weeks :'( ... Bortuzzo got 4 games >:(
18 (17.28)	Buffalo Sabres	-6	11-9-3	1-2-0	This team needs some center depth in the worst way possible. A veteran behind Eichel or even on the third line would make a world of difference on this lineup.
19 (17.34)	San Jose Sharks	3	12-11-1	2-1-0	The Sharks finally completed their long climb back to .500 this week with two nice OT wins over division rivals Vegas and the league best Islanders. The team is finally back to what everyone expected before the season started. The D has stopped making multiple bad turnovers every game, and the offence is looking coordinated. Really happy with the D pairings and lines right now, I hope PDB doesn't blend them, and gives the lines time to develop more chemistry. I hope to see Gregor back in the lineup soon, but the team is playing well and that's good enough for me.
20 (17.86)	Philadelphia Flyers	-2	11-7-5	1-1-1	So like I'm really conflicted cause we have taken a lot of points from our games but by the same token we lost to the Flames who we probably should have beaten. Lost to the panthers, which was a game we needed to win imo. But we did beat the hurricanes which was nice. Frost has been popping off since coming up from the AHL, and with the juggled lines we are seeing different potentials. The best news that we got was that our murder man Scott Laughton is back which helps add to our center depth. Its a shame I worked on most days that there was a game on so I didn’t get to see too much of the performance of the team, but the highlights were...certainly something. Let us all pray to Gritty, that we may have success and our playoff dreams may be realized. Praise Gritty.
21 (19.28)	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	11-10-4	2-1-0	So ya. It happened. You know what I'm talking about, unless you've been living under a rock this week. It was Andreas Johnsson's birthday. Happy Birthday Mango! Jokes aside, the happiest man regarding Babcock's firing has to be Tyson Barrie, who's contract season is now back on track to make him a ton of dough. Sheldon Keefe (the best coach in NHL history, obviously) is playing him on PP1 and is also putting him in a couple extra shifts with Morgan Rielly to fully utilize his offensive capabilities, and he's now on a 4-game point streak. Pierre Engvall made his NHL debut this week and scored his first goal shorthanded against the Coyotes on Thursday, but the team choked Andersen's chance at his first shutout of the season by letting one up with 15 seconds to go. On Saturday night, the Leafs fell behind 1-0 thirty seconds in against Kadri's Avalanche, but answered back by scoring 4 consecutive goals in the first to knock Grubauer out of the game, and in the end won 5-3. All is well in Leafs land.
22 (21.72)	Calgary Flames	-1	11-12-3	1-2-0	The Flames continue to heavily struggle. The team can’t seem to score like they once did and are on pace for a full 100 goals (over a goal per game) less than last year. A shootout win against Philadelphia was helpful, but the team still technically hasn’t had a lead during a game in over 400 minutes now. Hopefully the bounce back happens soon, but right now this team probably isn’t ranked low enough.
23 (22.24)	Anaheim Ducks	-4	10-11-3	0-2-1	This team is almost ready to call it a season. Will most likely finish near the second wildcard spot. It’s a learning experience and we knew the younger players would struggle. RIP Sam Steel Calder hype. September-October.
24 (24.03)	Ottawa Senators	5	11-11-1	3-0-0	Another rough week for all of us with our hearts set on seeing Alexis Lafrenière in a Sens sweater next year. Led on by Pageau going ultra-beastmode through the month of November, Nilly Nilly looking like a legitimate starting goaltender between the pipes, Craig Anderson standing on his head as he always does versus the Habs, and some desperate depth call-ups suiting up well versus the Rangers this team is taking their unpredictability to strange new heights. Things are getting weird as they've reached the 0.500 mark on the season, somehow, in a year where they were predicted to firmly stay 31st overall. Will this magic (or voodoo sorcery on the part of DJ Smith) continue through December? Only the hockey gods know...
25 (24.41)	New York Rangers	-	10-9-2	2-1-0
26 (25.07)	Chicago Blackhawks	-2	9-9-5	0-2-1	Duncan Keith joined Stan Mikita (1396) and Brent Seabrook (1103) as the only players to play 1100 games with the Blackhawks. Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 12. The Hawks' PP has gone 1 for the last 17. The Hawks are getting elite goaltending from Lehner and Crawford. Per Corsica, they are 1st and t-2nd in SV% above expected (min 7 GS). And have 8 goals from defensemen in their last 6 games.
27 (25.17)	Columbus Blue Jackets	-1	9-9-4	2-1-0	The Jackets score 6 PPG in 3 games this week. They were 9/62 (14.5%) and end the week 15/74 (20.3%) -- good enough to jump from 25th to 12th. Paul MacLean mustache must have had the missing talent to fix the PP. Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson finally potted some goals this week, too. The Jackets currently sit 5 points outside of a playoff spot with 1 game in hand. This week is the biggest test of the season so far -- all four teams are teams above them in standings.
28 (27.14)	Minnesota Wild	2	9-11-3	2-0-1	Minnesota has played better of late and a 2-0-1 stretch could have been 3-0-0 but, you know, overtime. There's flashes of brilliance from Kevin Fiala, the GEEK Squad (Greenway, Eriksson Ek, Kunin), but collectively the Minnesota roster just doesn't seem to 100% click on any given night. Some nights the age on Staal, Koivu, Suter, and Parise really shows. Iowa is looking pretty good this year but the Parise/Suter contracts make it impossible to go for a total youth movement, and there's the upcoming expansion draft to think about. GM Bill Guerin will have to do some creative juggling to prevent another draft fiasco after Vegas got Erik Haula and Alex Tuch. Speaking of Iowa, it sounds like goalie Kappo "Big Kahk" Kahkonen will make his NHL debut in the coming days. With Kahkonen, Matt Robson, and Hunter Jones all in the pipeline, you have to think one of those three will take up Dubnyk's mantle when his time with the Wild is over.
29 (28.07)	Los Angeles Kings	-2	9-13-1	1-2-0	Another lackluster week for the Kings. One highlight was Jeff Carter playing his 1000th game. The other teams in the Pacific did relatively well overall which puts the Kings in an even deeper hole.
30 (28.86)	New Jersey Devils	-2	8-10-4	1-2-0	This team just isn't playing up to our expectations and their talent level, it's really as simple as that. The Good: Hall has figured out how to score again, thank all that is holy and good in this world. Coleman may have gotten the scoring monkey off his back last game as well. Despite only really getting time vs the Red Wings, Domingue looked decent in net. The Bad: Blackwood faltered in his 2 starts against the Bruins and Pens, and got pulled vs the Pens. Despite finally racking up some shots, Boqvist can't find the net or any points for that matter. The Ugly: J E S U S C H R I S T our entire special teams just sucks ass. We might as well just politely decline powerplays if we are never going to score on them. Our PK is figuring things out and starting to buildup our abysmal %, but 10% on the week and 14% overall? No bueno captain.
31 (30.48)	Detroit Red Wings	-	7-16-3	0-4-0	Another week of losses, another week at the bottom. Lets try and take something positive out of the week eh? The Wings are going through some major injuries as per usual with Mantha getting his typical routine injury right on schedule allowing for Zadina to come up and get some playtime which is nice. Seider is scoring in the AHL and the Griffins are buzzing as they usually do. The Wings played four games this week and honestly they were pretty close games. Losing by one or two due to an empty net is not a bad place to be while trying to tank for great lottery odds. Everyday we get closer to the Wings getting mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, we get closer to seeing their best hockey as the last few years have shown that's when it decides to come out. Only a few months to go!

The /r/hockey Trade Deadline Game - Day 1 Thread

[OC] Is It Hot In Here, Or Is It Just Me? a 30-team examination of which coaches are on the “hot seat”

The NBA season hasn't started yet, but that doesn't mean that coaches should feel entirely comfortable in their offices quite yet. Circumstances change quickly, and coaching positions can change quickly along with them.
Through this (super long) post, I wanted to assess each coach's job security for this 2019-20 season. There's no simple or accurate metric for measuring this, so I'm going to give an estimated and subjective appraisal of their chances of getting fired, either in mid-season or at the end of the season.

I LOVE YOU, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME (listed alphabetically by team)

Golden State: Steve Kerr
After 5 years on the job, Steve Kerr has a winning percentage of .785 in the regular season, and 3 NBA titles in the postseason. In fact, the team's 57-25 record last year was the worst of his tenure so far. So yes, his job is safe. Kerr could coach the next 10 years there if he wanted. For Kerr, it's not a matter of job security; it's a matter of health. He's been able to endure his constant back pain in pursuit of titles, but will he have the same resolve if the team sags into "good but not great" status? TBD. chance of firing: 0%. chance of retirement: 10%.
L.A. Clippers: Doc Rivers
A few years ago, Doc Rivers was almost the victim of his own success. His gaudy resume had allowed him to take charge of the L.A. Clippers front office, and he simply didn't do a great job in that role. However, he wisely took more of a backseat there, and embraced the job (head coach) that he's quite good at. The 48-34 record last year re-established his coaching cred, and the new superstars should energize him for a few more seasons at least. chance of firing / retirement: 2%
San Antonio: Gregg Popovich
Along with Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich is firmly in the "you can stay as long as you want" camp. And he nearly has. He's been at the helm for 23 years. Amazing, the last two seasons (47-35, 48-34) have amounted to Pop's worst percentages over the course of a full season. He's one of the greatest ever, and unlike some old veteran coaches, hasn't lost his fastball whatsoever. He's constantly adapted, evolved, and thrived. But as with Kerr, the question is whether Popovich is nearing the end of the road, for personal reasons. He's 70 now, and in control of Team USA. He may hand the baton off and focus on that job going forward. I suspect he'll give it a go in both roles until the Olympics at least, but it's no longer a guarantee. chances of firing: 0%. chances of retiring: 20%.

I STILL LOVE YOU, BUT WE MAY NEED COUPLES COUNSELING (listed alphabetically)

Boston: Brad Stevens
A season or two ago, Brad Stevens was the golden boy coach in the NBA. After a slightly underwhelming 49-33 season, we're starting to see some grumbles about his offense (which isn't as free-flowing and ball-moving as his age may suggest.) The Celtics will replace Kyrie Irving with Kemba Walker, but expectations aren't much lower. If the team can't grab a top 4 seed, those grumbles may grow. And if the Boston-Stevens love affair ends, would he start to eye a move back to the NCAA? Probably not, but we can't promise the marriage lasts forever. chances of firing: 2%, chances of leaving: 5%.
Miami: Erik Spoelstra
Although the Miami Heat have been mediocre lately (124-122 over the last three years), I'm still be inclined to group in Erik Spoelstra in with the "untouchables." After all, this is a 2-time champion coach with 500+ career wins prior to the age of 50 (48 years old right now.) Even if the Miami Heat underachieve and miss the playoffs again, I don't think Pat Riley would want to rock the boat on this culture. Still, Jimmy Butler is a handful, and potential addition Chris Paul isn't a bed of roses either. If Spoelstra can't get "buy in" from his new stars, then there may be more trouble in paradise than we expect. Again, it's a very small chance a divorce happens, but we can't give it a 0 either. chance of firing: 4%.

JUST DON'T EMBARRASS ME IN PUBLIC (listed alphabetically)

Cleveland: John Beilein
It's hard to under-estimate the leverage rookie coach John Beilein has with the organization right now. They lured him from Michigan with a 5 year contract, where he'll be "working for" a front office that features assistant GM Mike Gansey (Beilein's former player.) Simply put: they're going to hand him this team and allow him to build a program in his image. Despite that, it doesn't mean the transition will work like a charm (just ask Billy Donovan.) Beilein is 66 years old, and has never coached in the pros before. He may simply decide that he hates the NBA and walk away prematurely. Still, it's hard to imagine that happening this early barring any unforeseen health issues. chances of firing: 1%. chances of leaving: 5%.
Memphis: Taylor Jenkins
Although they have wildly different resumes and backgrounds, Taylor Jenkins will be in a similar boat to John Beilein. He's inheriting a team that's in a rebuilding situation, and should afford him a lot of patience going forward. The Wharton-grad Jenkins projects as a smart, modern coach who should have long-term success. Still, we can't absolutely guarantee Memphis doesn't fire him after 1 season, because they have done that before. chances of firing: 3%
Milwaukee: Mike Budenholzer
Based on pure coaching talent and resume, Coach Bud has nothing to worry about - particularly after a 60-22 record last season. The only reason that I'm even putting him in this category at all is the potential for off-the-court issues. He had been arrested before on a suspicion of DUI back in 2014, although he was later found not guilty. If something worse happens in that ilk, then he may be in trouble. But barring that, he's obviously safe. chances of firing: 2%.
Minnesota: Ryan Saunders
While interim coach Ryan Saunders (Flip's son) had been a popular pick in the locker room, he still represents a sizable risk by this new front office. After all, he's only 33 years old and hasn't been a head coach at any level prior to that short stint last season. He may be a home run; he may be a strike out. Of course, he'd have to be a wild strike out (with a bat thrown into the stands) for it to amount to a firing in year one. chances of firing: 5%
Orlando: Steve Clifford
Veteran Steve Clifford did a tremendous job in his first year in Orlando, helping the team improve from 25-57 to 42-40 and a playoff trip. There's a chance the Magic may stagnate in R1 unless one of their young players (Jon Isaac, Mo Bamba, Markelle Fultz) takes a "leap," but they should have patience with Clifford for at least another year or two. Barring health issues, his job is safe. chances of firing: 2%.
Phoenix: Monty Williams
One of the reasons we can't claim rookie coaches are entirely safe is because teams like Phoenix have fired them in the past -- including Igor Kokoskov last season. However, it'd be very difficult for any owner (even Robert Sarver) to justify doing it two times in a row. In fact, Monty Williams secured a 5-year deal to help prevent that nonsense. chances of firing: 2%.
Sacramento: Luke Walton
Despite mixed results in L.A., Luke Walton was a hot commodity with the Sacramento Kings franchise, who gave him a nice 4-year contract. Of course, that happened before the sexual misconduct allegations that surfaced since. While that appears to have quieted down, any new rumor or accusation may turn up the heat on Walton. Barring that, the team should stand by their man. chances of firing: 5%.
Toronto: Nick Nurse
Nick Nurse is about as close to "untouchable" as you can get for a coach with 1 year of experience. But hey, that was a heck of a year. Nurse won the title, and outfoxed several great coaches along the way. The Raptors could probably sink down as low as 30 wins (unlikely) and still keep Nurse for the long haul. chances of firing: 1%.
Utah: Quin Snyder
While Quin Snyder hasn't had a huge amount of playoff success yet himself, he's also quickly established himself as one of the better NBA coaches. Over the last three years, the Jazz have played lockdown defense and averaged 49.7 wins. This offseason has raised expectations, but Snyder should be safe for another season or two even if they slightly underachieve. The bigger issue would be if Snyder gets in trouble off the court; he had a wilder history in college prior to straightening out in the pros. chances of firing: 4%.

YOU'RE SAFE (FOR NOW) (again, alphabetically)

Atlanta: Lloyd Pierce
In theory, Lloyd Pierce should be in great shape here in Atlanta. The young team had a solid 29-53 season in his first year, and their young core projects well for the future. That said, expectations will rise over time. Pierce was partly hired for his defensive reputation, but the team only ranked 27th last season. With Trae Young (who graded dead last in ESPN RPM on defense), that may be hard to change. Hopefully rookies De'Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish will solve that issue, but if not, Pierce may start feeling some heat in 2020. When he was hired, the team only gave him a 3 year contract, which indicates that he didn't have much leverage coming in. chances of firing: 7.5%
Charlotte: James Borrego
Like Lloyd Pierce, James Borrego will be entering Year 2 in a rebuilding situation that should lend itself to patience. On the other hand, logic tends to go out the window when it comes to the Charlotte Hornets. Borrego will have to deal with a weak roster, and a shaky front office that just gave $19M a season to Terry Rozier. I expect Borrego will survive for a while, but we can't rule out a house cleaning. chances of firing: 10%.
Brooklyn: Kenny Atkinson
Kenny Atkinson has done a great job bringing the Nets out of a deep black hole rebuild, but now the expectations will vault up with the arrival of Kyrie Irving (and soon Kevin Durant.) Presumably, those stars wouldn't have signed up in the first place if they didn't like Atkinson. That said, their opinions can change at the drop of a hat. A disappointment in 2019-20? Okay fine. Another in 2020-21? Then Atkinson will start feeling that seat warm. chances of firing: 4%
Dallas: Rick Carlisle
As one of the most respected coaches (and a title winner to boot), Rick Carlisle should have job security for life. Still, the NBA will always be a stars league, and Carlisle's star isn't Dirk Nowitzki anymore. It's going to be Luka Doncic (and Kristaps Porzingis' team), and Carlisle will need to appease them to some degree. Missing the playoffs this year may be fine, but whiffing again in 2020-21 would be problematic; it would be the 5th season in a row without a playoff berth. chances of firing/retiring: 5%
Denver: Mike Malone
After a premature exit in Sacramento, Mike Malone has rebuilt his stock by lifting Denver to contender status. He's improved every year, from 30-52 to 33-49 to 40-42 to 46-36 to the breakout 54-28 record last season. Of course, that also comes with rising expectations. Like the others in this section, Malone could survive one regression year, but two disappointing years in a row would be a problem. chances of firing: 5%.
Detroit: Dwane Casey
Of all our coaches, Dwane Casey knows that one should never get too comfortable. After all, he was fired after a 59-win season (and a Coach of the Year trophy) in Toronto. After that, he still had enough leverage to earn a 5-year deal in Detroit, which should buy him quite a bit of time. Still, a 41-41 start was "meh." To make matters worse, Nick Nurse and the Raptors won the title without him (albeit with Kawhi Leonard.) Given Casey's big contract, he should be safe in Year 2 and Year 3, but there's hardly a guarantee he'll survive all 5 years of the deal. chances of firing: 5%.

10 HOTTEST SEATS (in order)

(10) Portland: Terry Stotts
Remember, this isn't a ranking of the best and worst coaches but merely their situations. In fact, everyone would agree that Terry Stotts is a very good basketball coach. In fact, if you asked the other NBA coaches to rank their peers, I suspect Stotts may even crack the top 5. That skill has manifested on the court as well. His Blazers have made the playoffs for 6 seasons in a row, and had a mini-breakout with a Conference Finals trip this year.
Still, making the playoffs doesn't lock in job security in the NBA; winning a title does. And until that happens, the franchise will always wonder in the back of their minds on whether or not they should pull a "Masai Ujiri" and squeeze Stotts out for a younger assistant on his staff like Nate Tibbetts, a rising star in the ranks.
After tasting the WCF last year, can Stotts afford to take a step back? Probably. Losing in R2 seems about right for this team as presently constructed. But what if they lose in R1? Then it becomes more of a debate. I'd still recommend keeping Stotts and tweaking the roster instead (ya'll got any more of them stretch PFs?) but I'm not in charge of the team and I'm not ruling any shake-ups out. chances of firing: 15%
(9) Indiana: Nate McMillan
As with Terry Stotts, it may feel strange to see Nate McMillan on this list. At first glance, neither should be on the hot seat at all. In McMillan's three years on the job, he's guided the team to winning records and playoff trips in each season. The Pacers just finished 48-34 despite Victor Oladipo's injury, and may be better than that this season with new additions like Malcolm Brogdon.
Still, we have to go deeper than the first glance here. Indiana thrives on the basis of their defense (ranked 3rd last season), which is heavily influenced by assistant Dan Burke and DPOY candidate Myles Turner. Offensively, the team tends to look a little scattered and uncreative, which has Pacers fans quietly murmuring about McMillan. They added some new scorers in Brogdon and T.J. Warren, but both are players coming off career years from 3. If they regress at all -- and this team regresses at all -- then McMillan may be in more trouble than we realize.
Am I expected that? Not really. If I had to bet, I would bank on the Pacers winning 45-50 games and McMillan lasting at least another season. But if we're looking for potential hot seat situations, we can't ignore the potential downside here. If they underachieve, McMillan may be the fall guy. chances of firing: 20%
(8) N.Y. Knicks: David Fizdale
We can't judge David Fizdale too harshly based on his 17-65 record in year one. After all, tanking and landing a top 3 pick was all part of the plan. But what's the plan going forward? After striking out with the superstars in free agency, the Knicks signed a bunch of B+ and C+ players to big money. With it, they've attempted to re-set expectations. Instead of landing superstars in 2019, they're going to land them in 2021! Hopefully?
In the meantime, David Fizdale should be able to survive until then. His team is still young, and features first and second year players like R.J. Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, Kevin Knox, and Dennis Smith. Practically speaking, the veterans like Julius Randle and Bobby Portis are meant to supplement that rebuilding movement. Fizdale should be allowed to develop this group, and be afforded some growing pains in 2019-20 and again in 2020-21.
However, there are a few factors working against him. The front office may fancy themselves a playoff contender out East, which may go sour by the end of the year. Moreover, that front office isn't exactly on solid ground themselves after getting pounded by the press this summer. Dolan may want a complete fresh start after this year. More than that, there's a non-zero chance James Dolan leaves town himself, and some super-billionaire like Jeff Bezos uses his change jar to buy the team and mold it into his image. At the end of the day, there's more uncertainty with this situation than a second-year coach would like to see. chances of firing: 20%
(7) Chicago: Jim Boylen
As a well-respected defensive coordinator, Jim Boylen's name has always been bandied about for head coaching jobs in the past. He finally got his opportunity last season after taking over for apple pie Fred Hoiberg in mid-season.
At first, it did not go well. Jim Boylen had about as rocky of a start as you can imagine, earning negative reports in the press about his drill sergeant attitude clashing with the locker room. Still, he turned that perception around and had a decent finish to the year and earned some "buy in" from the players. Better yet, his Chicago Bulls may be a darkhorse contender for the # 8 seed. They have offensive stars in Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen already, so an improved defense may vault them closer to .500. Even if that doesn't happen (yet), Boylen should feel safe knowing he has the backing of the front office.
Of course, that also ties Boylen's fate to that front office. Ownership has tended to leave Gar Forman and John Paxson alone, but it's not a lifetime appointment. If this team doesn't improve enough (and wins say, 25 or 30 games), then there may be a total housecleaning here. I'm a little more optimistic on the Bulls' chances of winning 35-40 games than others, but we can't rule a potential disaster out. chances of firing: 25%
(6) Philadelphia: Brett Brown
After a long dark winter, Brett Brown and the Philadelphia 76ers have emerged from the "Process" intact. In fact, Brown has won more games in each of the last two seasons (52 and 50) then he did over his first three seasons combined (47). But with that comes raised expectations, which may be higher than ever. With Kawhi Leonard out of the Conference and the sheen off the Boston Celtics, the Sixers are the co-favorites with Milwaukee to make the Finals. Losing in the Conference Finals would be acceptable, but a R1 or R2 loss may be stinging.
Would that disappointment be enough to cost Brown his job? It's debatable. His contract extension runs through 2021-22, but that's never stopped a coach from being fired before. Fans may grow frustrated if Ben Simmons still can't shoot, or if Joel Embiid can't stay healthy, or if Philly's defense doesn't look as dominant as it should be on paper (despite Simmons, Embiid, and Jimmy Butler, they only ranked # 15 last season.) It's very possible that Brown becomes the scapegoat here.
Of course, we're talking "worst case scenarios" here. Chances are: the Sixers should be quite good and have a very good chance to make the ECF or the Finals. So while we can't rule out a firing, we wouldn't bet on it either. chances of firing: 30%
(5) New Orleans: Alvin Gentry
After coming over from Golden State, the exceptions for Alvin Gentry in New Orleans were sky-high. Suffice it to say, it's been an underwhelming return so far. Despite the (occasional) presence of Anthony Davis, his Pelicans have won less than 35 games in three of his four seasons on the job.
Oddly, Davis' trade demands may have helped Gentry survive another year. With the blockbuster deal, expectations get re-set and the window extends again. On paper, Gentry and assistant Chris Finch's run-and-gun style should suit this new roster well. Gentry is also someone who's earned high praise from his players and from the media in the past. If new execs David Griffin and Trajan Langdon didn't believe in him, they had the opportunity to make that change this past summer.
But alas, that doesn't mean they won't have that same opportunity again next summer. Gentry's contract will be running out, and the team may decide to go with someone younger than him (he's now age 64.) To earn a longer leash, Gentry doesn't need to make the playoffs, but he has to show reasons for optimism. The Pelicans need to find a clear role for Zion Williamson, and earn some improvement from the cast-off Lakers. There's a lot of talent on the roster, but if the team stalls or looks like a muddled mess, Griffin may likely clean up the picture and chose his own head coach the next time around. chances of firing: 35%
(4) Houston: Mike D'Antoni
Veteran Mike D'Antoni may start spitting out Rodney Dangerfield routines, because the poor guy doesn't get much respect. Despite a great run here in Houston (records of 55-27, 65-17, 53-29), he's still struggling to earn a contract extension from the franchise.
And while owner Tilman Fertitta gets the blame for that, we can't rule out Daryl Morey's influence either. Morey has stated in the past that he thinks coaches' messages tend to run stale after a few years, and that philosophy has born out in their decision making. Jeff Van Gundy lasted 4 years. After him, Rick Adelman lasted 4 years. After him, Kevin McHale lasted 4 years (+10 games). This season, Mike D'Antoni will be entering the dreaded 4th year himself. The Houston Rockets' job essentially has strict presidential term limits, and he's verging on lame duck status.
To up the degree of difficulty even further, the team added Russell Westbrook to the equation. That's not to say it's the wrong decision by any means or that it won't work out (personally I'd still peg them for a top 3 seed), but we have to admit there's a sizable chance that it won't work out. The chemistry for Harden + Westbrook is going to be harder to calculate now that they've both had considerable success (and MVP seasons). And if something doesn't click, it will certainly be easier to blame D'Antoni than the two stars, whose massive contracts run for another few seasons. chances of firing/retiring: 40%
(3) L.A. Lakers: Frank Vogel
It's rare to see a first-year coach listed this high, but this is rare circumstances indeed. Frank Vogel will be joining the Lakers on a 3-year contract, which is quite light for a veteran like him. That fact showcases his limited leverage and his reduced reputation. The Lakers didn't high the coach who guided the Indiana Pacers to the ECF; they hired the coach who led Orlando to 29-53 and 25-57 records. In some ways, Vogel is lucky to have landed any job at all.
But there's no mistaking the fact that this particular job will come with some challenges. Primary among them: the threat of assistant Jason Kidd breathing down his neck. According to some, Kidd was the first choice of the front office, and the conspiracy theory that they simply didn't want to hire him outright (due to domestic violence charges in the past) checks out logically for me. Vogel can't be too pleased to turn on the Summer League and watch his new star LeBron James sitting next to Kidd in Vegas either.
Will LeBron James, Rich Paul, and Jason Kidd conspire to stab Vogel like Caesar? The odds are high. But the question is a matter of "when?" James didn't love David Blatt, but allowed him 1.5 on the job before he got the boot. The Lakers may end up giving Vogel a full season and change to make his impact on the defensive end before considering a full-time change in midseason in 2020-21.
And hey, we can't rule out the "what if it works?" theory either. This team has LeBron James and Anthony Davis, for fuck's sake. They have a legitimate chance to be a great team, and even an NBA champion. If that happens, Vogel won't be going anywhere (at least, not for another year or two.) chances of firing: 45%
(2) Washington: Scottie Brooks
The Scottie Brooks era in Washington has been a disappointment, and it won't get much prettier from here. After the John Wall injury, the Wizards will be entering 2019-20 with one legitimate star in Bradley Beal and a wonky supporting cast. They're a motley crew of decent prospects who may be 2 years away (Troy Brown, Rui Hachimura, Thomas Bryant) and veterans who may be 2 years removed from quality play (Isaiah Thomas, Ish Smith, C.J. Miles.) Realistically speaking, Bradley Beal will have to put in a Herculean effort for this group to win 35 games.
If there's any reason to think the axe will not come for Scottie Brooks' head, it's that this Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis isn't the "off with his head!" type. He's been patience with the Washington Capitals hockey team, as well as this Wizards unit. Former GM Ernie Grunfeld lasted for years past his expiration date. And in turn, Brooks may be allowed to play out another year of his (pricy) contract. Brooks also has a reputation as a good player development coach, which bodes well for his prospects during a possible rebuild to come.
All that said, Brooks shouldn't be investing in D.C. real estate. The clock is ticking. I would fully expect new acting GM Tommy Sheppard to cut Brooks loose and choose his own coach at some point, but we can't be 100% confident it will happen after this season or after the next. chances of firing: 50%
(1) Oklahoma City: Billy Donovan
Given his new status as a /NBA punching bag, it's hard to under-sell just how much leverage Billy Donovan had when he first came to Oklahoma City. We're talking about a well-paid college coach who had won two separate NCAA titles at Florida, and had resisted the NBA calls for years. He arrived in OKC with a 5-year deal in tow, as well as a reputation as one of the best coaches in basketball.
As we now enter Year 5 of that contract, Donovan's reputation has been tarnished considerably. He's been blasted for perceived underachievement, particularly in the postseason. With Kevin Durant, the team blew a 3-1 lead to Golden State, and hasn't won a playoff series since (losing in R1 three times in a row.) In fact, they've gone 4-15 in playoff games since then. Donovan's managed to avoid getting the boot because of his reputation and big contract, but those excuses won't hold off the executioner much longer.
Personally, I'm a little bit of a "Donovan Defender." I don't think he's done as bad of a job as advertised. After all, his worst regular season record has been 47-35. He's kept the team afloat without Kevin Durant. And sure, he probably should have reined in Russell Westbrook, but it's not easy to harness an MVP. The fact that Donovan won 48 games with a guard who jacked up 20 shots a game (at 50.1% true shooting) is oddly impressive in a way. And heck, let's even defend blowing the 3-1 lead. It's not like OKC woke up one morning with a 3-1 lead under their Christmas tree; Donovan used some wily tricks and unconventional lineups to help earn those 3 wins in the first place.
But again, these rankings aren't about my perception of the coaches, but rather my perception of their situations and stocks. In theory, this OKC roster isn't half bad and could flirt with .500 if they wanted to pursue the playoffs. And in theory, if they blow it up, then a college coach like Donovan may be well suited for that rebuild. But in reality, I just don't see an extension here. The marriage has soured, resentment has built up, and a divorce may be best for both parties involved. chances of firing: 55%

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See the opening odds for round two of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, including Avalanche vs Stars, Golden Knights vs Canucks, Lightning vs Bruins, and Flyers vs Islanders, plus betting tips and over/unders. NHL 2020 playoff betting odds to win the Stanley Cup. Boston Bruins: 11/2 Las Vegas Golden Knights: 6/1 Tampa Bay Lightning: 13/2 Washington Capitals: 8/1 St. Louis Blues: 8/1 Colorado Avalanche: 17/2 NHL Playoff Odds updated many times a day. Playoff seeding, Stanley Cup, and Draft Lottery Odds too. Below are odds of each NHL team making the playoffs, winning the Stanley Cup, and other milestones. Las Vegas Sports Betting provide live daily NHL Hockey Odds located below, those lines are constantly updated throughout the day all best Hockey Odds & Betting Lines for NHL.. Need a Sportsbook to place your NHL Hockey Bet? Try one of our recommended Sportsbooks, MyBookie Free $1,000 or Bovada $500 Welcome Bonus. NHL Playoffs Hockey Odds & Parlay Predictions Vegas Golden Knights vs Dallas Stars. Thursday, September 10, ... Today's NHL Hockey Odds & Props. Sorry No Result! 2019-20 NHL Hockey Menu 2021 Stanley Cup Odds ... structured future odds that we offer at Las Vegas Sports Betting 2020 NBA Championship; 2020 World Series Odds; Odds on the 2020-21 NHL Team To Make the Playoffs according to Bovada Sportsbook. Updated on January 13, 2021. Anaheim Ducks - To make the 2021 NHL Playoffs Yes +170 No -230. Arizona Coyotes - To make the 2021 NHL Playoffs My Bookie is your home for NHL Hockey odds & lines online. If you’re ready for the rush of hockey betting online, come visit our site today! How to read Hockey Las Vegas Money Line Odds. When playing the moneyline, you pick either one team or the other. It's that easy! If you are wagering on the National Hockey League and making moneyline bets, you'll either be pulling for the favorite or the underdog to earn the win in either regulation, overtime or a shootout. NHL Playoffs Betting Odds & Stanley Cup Playoff Lines. The NHL Playoffs are a betting favorite, the pinnacle of hockey betting is the NHL Playoffs and what makes them the much more interesting for betting on, Each NHL series is played in a 2–2–1–1–1 format series price odds combined with the nature of the NHL home-ice advantage there is always value to be found. The NHL Futures market in pro hockey is a simple bet and can be defined as an “Odds to win” wager. Bettors must correctly select a team to win an event that takes place a later time in the year or season. The money placed on the future wager will be locked in with a sportsbook and bettors will receive fixed odds at the time of the wager.

Opening Series Odds for Second Round of NHL Playoffs

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Why Edmonton could get the #1 overall pick and why you should care

Is drafting a goalie in the first round risky, worth it, or somewhere in-between? An in-depth analysis.

And some stats…

Conclusion

It is very risky to draft a goalie in the first round and GMs have the right to be wary of it.

r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 11: Make Oskar an All-Star Edition

/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Dec 9, 2019 - Dec 15, 2019

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Edmonton Oilers 2010s History Project: 2017-2018

r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 8: First Blood Edition

/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Nov 18, 2019 - Nov 24, 2019

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The /r/hockey Trade Deadline Game - Day 1 Thread

NO TRADE IS OFFICIAL UNTIL POSTED IN THIS THREAD!

[OC] Is It Hot In Here, Or Is It Just Me? a 30-team examination of which coaches are on the “hot seat”

I LOVE YOU, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME (listed alphabetically by team)

I STILL LOVE YOU, BUT WE MAY NEED COUPLES COUNSELING (listed alphabetically)

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YOU'RE SAFE (FOR NOW) (again, alphabetically)

10 HOTTEST SEATS (in order)

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