1. Vancouver Canucks (31-10-9-71)
Strengths:
The Canucks are on top of the Western Conference and the Sedin twins are having a great season with Daniel (G - 27 A - 37 P - 64) and Henrik (G - 11 A - 50 P - 61) and Ryan Kesler (G - 27 A - 20 P - 47) has come on strong to be a good other scorer. While Roberto Luongo has had a good season (23-8-7 and GAA 2.27 and saving % 924) especially after the beginning of the season when he did not start the season well and have been very good all season at home (17 - 3 - 5 - 39 P) and has been better on the road after a slow start (14 - 7 - 4 - 32 P) with a lot of goals (165) and one of the lowest goals against (121).
Weaknesses:
There are not very many right now but 4-2-4 in the last 10 games is a slow part of the season and the only other part that is scary is that beyond the first line the scoring drops off big time.
Key match-ups for February
Feb. 01 at Dallas Stars Feb. 02 at Phoenix Coyotes Feb. 04 vs. Chicago Blackhawks
Feb. 12 vs. Calgary Flames Feb. 17 at Nashville Predators
2. Montreal Canadiens (27 - 18 - 5 - 59)
Strengths:
The Canadiens have a good goals against (123) and it is lead by Carey Price (24 - 16 - 5 GAA 2.36 saving % 920 and 4 shut outs) and the Canadiens are very good at home (16 - 6 - 4 - 36 P) and almost 50/50 of the road (11 - 12 - 1 - 23 P) and 6-2-2 in their last 10 games which makes them stronger into the playoff picture.
Weaknesses:
The Canadiens are poor in goal scoring with Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gionta leads with 16 goals while James Wisniewski leads with 28 assists and he started with the Islanders and Tomas Plekanec leads with 40 points. The Canadiens are only +7 goals difference which is quite low for a team 4 more wins than total loses and it means that if they win games they have to win them very low scoring.
Key Match-up for February
Feb. 02 vs. Florida Panthers Feb. 05 vs. New York Rangers Feb. 09 at Boston Bruins
Feb. 15 vs. Buffalo Sabres Feb. 26 vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Calgary Flames (24-21-6-54)
Strengths:
Jerome Iginla has 38 points in his last 35 games and Miikka Kiprusoff (20-18-2) started the season slow like every other Flames players and is helping the Flames turn it somewhat since the Flames GM Darryl Sutter quit to save his brothers job for now. They are 6-1-3 in the last 10 games and are 14-9-1 at home this year which is OK but can do it better and scoring well enough with 144 goals.
Weakness:
They have a lot of older players and are hoping to sneak into the playoffs and need to get younger sooner than later and have given up a lot of goals (152) and the Flames have not farewell on the road (10-12-5) this season. There is a huge drop from Iginla (G - 21 A - 25 P - 46) and next top scorer Alex Tanguay (G - 12 A - 25 P - 37) which is a 9 point difference and another 9 points between Alex Tanguay and the next top scorer Olli Jokinen.
Key Match-ups for February
Feb. 01 at Nashville Predators Feb. 14 at Colorado Avalanche Feb. 09 vs. Ottawa Senators
Feb. 20 vs. Montreal Canadiens
4. Toronto Maple Leafs (19 - 25 - 5 - 43)
Strengths:
James Reimer is a shining light going 4-3 and a GAA of 2.24 along with save % 933 and the defense has given him more support than the goalies have this season and Clarke MacArthur leads in points with 40 and assists with 25 and he is making just a little over a mil this season and Mikhail Grabovski has settled down his life-style and has been more focused on the ice and leads the Leafs in goals with 20 and will have a first round draft pick next season.
Weaknesses:
The Leafs have not been able to score (124) and not been able to keep the puck out of their net (153) while not able to win at home (10-11-4) or on the road (9-14-1) and if Tomas Kaberle walks away from the team at the end of the season for nothing. Dion Phaneuf has only 1 goal this season and 11 points in 33 games and he has a huge salary for a few more years and he is not playing even like a tenth of his effort in his great one season which got him the big salary and then NHLPA voted Ron Wilson the coach players would not want to be coach by while Phil Kessel was the last all-star chosen during the fantasy draft which says something like he may not be playing up to his talent right now.
5. Ottawa Senators (17-25-8-42)
Strengths:
The Senators have their first round draft pick this season which will be a top 5 pick and can get something for Daniel Alfredsson and maybe Mike Fisher and will give them a chance to rebuild the team before the draft at least a little.
Weaknesses:
The Senators are one of the worst goal scoring team (108) and one of the worst teams trying to keep it out of their own net (160) and have a bad home record (9-14-4) and just a little bit better on the road (8-11-4) and Daniel Alfredsson (leads in goals with 14) and Erik Karlsson (leads in assists with 20) both have 28 points to lead the team. Have high priced veteran talent like Sergei Gonchar and Alex Kovalev who are playing horribly this season and they still have no clue on how to find a good goalie as they have always had goalie problems except a single season effort by Ray Emery who lead them to a Stanley cup final.
6. Edmonton Oilers (15-26-8-38)
Strengths:
Youth is alive in Edmonton as Taylor Hall (15 G 16 A 31 P) and Jordan Eberle (9 G 14 A 23 P) ans will have a good drat pick probably top 5 and another good player for the future and the future looks good and might make a charge for the playoffs in a couple of seasons and most teams would trade teams with the Oilers.
Weaknesses:
Nikolai Khabibulin is having a terrible season (8-22-2 and save % 891 and GAA 345) and the team has trouble scoring (122) and keeping it out of their own net and given up the most goals (168) and need some seasoning as they still need to learn how to win at home (7-13-4) and closer to 50/50 on the road (8-14-4). Devan Dubnyk has been a breath of fresh air in goal for the Oilers (5-4-6 with a GAA of 2.76 and saving % 916).
Hope you enjoy
Tom Mehegan
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