6 Canadian Teams
1. Vancouver Canucks (24-8-5-53)
The Canucks have improved so much since the beginning of the season and it begins with the Henrik Sedin (G - 8 A - 39 P - 47) and Daniel Sedin (G - 19 A - 26 P - 45) and Roberto Luongo has been much better recently and has helped the Canucks become the No.1 seed in the Western Conference. The Canucks have won 9 of their last 10 games and the Canucks are 13-3-2 @ home and have been unbeatable all this season while the Canucks are 11-5-3 on the road which is way better than the beginning of the season when they were unable to win on the road.
The Canucks are head and shoulders above the other 5 Canadian teams and are getting stronger as they go along and have a great chance to go deep into the playoffs and are working as a team.
This Upcoming this month
Jan. 03 at San Jose Sharks, Jan. 08 vs. Detroit Red Wings, Jan. 14 at Washington Capitals,
Jan. 20 vs. San Jose Sharks, Jan. 24 vs. Dallas Stars, Jan. 16 at Minnesota Wild
2. Montreal Canadiens (21 - 16 - 3 - 45) started very good but the lack of goals have been trouble some (100 goals for which is in the lower half of the league) and are still in the top third of the league in goals against (96) and are much better @ home (12-5-3-27) than on the road (9-11-0-18) along with fall hard in their last 10 games (3-6-1).
The Canadiens are lead by Tomas Plekanec (G- 11 A - 20 P - 31) and is helped by Michael Cammalleri (G - 12 A - 16 P - 28) while Scott Gomez leads the team in goals (13) and Carey Price (19 - 14 - 2 along with 2.32 GAA and .921 Save% has been the biggest surprised of the season so far because Price was so bad last year and I be leaved that Price was going to be the weak link.
Key Match-up's this month
Jan. 08 vs. Boston Bruins, Jan. 11 at New York Rangers, Jan. 15 vs. New York Rangers,
Jan. 18 at Buffalo Sabres, Jan. 21 at Ottawa Senators, Jan. 25 at Philadelphia Flyers
3. Calgary Flames (18 - 18 - 3 - 39) have already changed the GM and the head coach may not have a job for much longer and are in the long run much worst off than the Oilers as they do not have a lot of talent for the future and will have to probably trade a guy like Jarome Iginla who had a horrible start of the season with 8 points in 15 games and Miikka Kiprusoff has been a disappointment this season as he needed to make saves to keep the team in games but did not especially his .907 save %. The home record (11 - 7 - 0 - 22) is good but could be better and the road record (7 - 11 - 3) is why the Flames are struggling to make the playoffs this season and right now in the last 10 games (6 - 3 - 1) are doing much better and might get them self back into the playoff picture.
The Flames are lead by Jarome Iginla (G - 16 A - 19 P - 35) and Alex Tanguay (G - 10 A - 21 P - 31) and Miikka Kiprusoff (16-16-1 along with a 2.60 GAA and .907 save%) is a 50/50 goalie right now and needs to be much better to keep the team competitive and to bring the team back into the playoffs picture.
Key Matches this month
Jan. 05 at Vancouver Canucks, Jan. 19 vs. Minnesota Wild, Jan. 22 at Vancouver Canucks,
Jan. 24 vs. Nashville Predators, Jan. 26 vs. St. Louis Blues
4. Ottawa Senators (16-19-5-37) are horrible @ home (9-11-2) and not very good on the road (7-8-3) too but they are more competitive on the road and they are 4-3-3 in the last 10 games. While the Senators need to re-tool their team and try to get something for some of their older talent and keep looking for some better goaltending and it will be hard having Spezza out as the team has only 90 goals and can not keep the puck out of their own goal (121 and is one of the worst).
The Ottawa Sentors have been in trouble with goal scoring with Erik Karlsson leads with (23 points), Daniel Alfredsson leads with (11 Goals), and Sergei Gonchar leads with (13 assists). While Brian Elliott (12-12-4) is the goalie getting most of the starts and he is not having a very good season and the Senators need a goaltender to keep them in games and they are not getting solid goaltending from anyone right now.
Upcoming key games this month
Jan. 11 at Boston Bruins, Jan. 14 vs. Calgary Flames,
Jan. 21 vs. Montreal Canadiens, Jan. 25 vs. Buffalo Sabres
5. Toronto Maple Leafs (14-19-4-32) are just bad and do not have the draft picks to better their team and are right now not very good @ home (8-9-3) and are also bad on the road (6-10-1) along with 4-6 in the last 10 games. Ron Wilson may or may not be the head coach of the Leafs for much longer and if Brain Burke can get Tomas Kamble to wave his no-trade and get something for him before he leaves as a free agency.
The Leafs have only scored 89 goals for and 111 goals against in 37 games and Clarke MacArthur leads the Leafs in assists (19) and in points (28) while Phil Kessel leads with goals (14) and Phil Kessel has been uninterested at times this season and might be better off if the Leafs get better supporting cast. The goaltending have not been that good this season with Jean-Sebastien Giguere (8-7-2 with a 2.80 GAA and a .894 saving %) has have some injuries this season has had to miss long period of times and Jonas Gustavsson (5-12-2) have been not very good this season.
Upcoming key match-ups this month
Jan. 07 at Atlanta Thrashers, Jan. 15 vs. Calgary Flames
Jan. 20 vs. Anaheim Ducks, Jan. 24 at Carolina Hurricanes
6. Edmonton Oilers (12-18-7-31) have some good young talent like Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle plus their other rookies and othe younger players on the team eventhough they have 6 wins @ home and 6 wins on the road and are 2-6-2 in the last 10 games.
The Oilers are lead by Ryan Whitney in assists (25) and in points (27) and Tyler Hall leads in goals (12) after starting with no goals for the first chunk of the season and has hit his stride and in the end the Oilers has the second best future right now beacause except for the Canucks the other 4 Canadian teams would very gladly exchange teams with the Oilers so the future is looking very positive right now.
Upcoming Key games in the month
Jan. 06 vs. New York Islanders, Jan. 18 vs. Minnesota Wild
Jan. 16 at Anaheim Ducks
Hope you enjoy see u nxt month
Tom Mehegan
No comments:
Post a Comment