Everything Else

Game #20 – Hawks 1, Kings 1, Kings Win Rock, Paper, Scissors: Leaves Start Falling, Comedown is Calling

By Rose Rankin 2207 0

It took a really long time, but after about 46 minutes the Hawks and Kings realized they were playing a game in front of spectators and cameras, and they stopped skating around with their dicks in their hands and attempted to play something resembling hockey. Unfortunately for the Hawks it was a lot of the type of hockey they’ve been playing lately, and they could barely squeeze out a point against some bottom-feeders and their fourth-string goalie. Are you sure you want to know more? OK then, we’ll get to the bullets, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Box Score

Corsica

Natural Stat Trick

– It’s almost hard to express how painfully dull and stupid the first two periods were. The Kings are not a good team, and we know this to be true, and yet they outplayed the Hawks and just looked, and WERE, better. Notice I didn’t say they were good, they were just better (all the more frustrating). They beat the Hawks in shots and possession (ended the first with a 60.6 CF% and the second with a 58%), and thanks to a fortunate bounce, they also had the lead after two. Tyler Toffoli banked it off Keith’s skate and it ricocheted in, more luck than anything, but in terms of how it happened that’s irrelevant. The Hawks made their typical fuck-ups on defense, such as having three guys behind the goal line chasing the puck, which left Kempe wide open in front of Crawford (who stopped the shot because of course he did). Dumb turnovers, useless power plays, these two periods had everything you’ve come to expect.

–More on those power plays, for a minute: the Hawks had three in quick succession in the second and of course converted on none. Patrick Kane was out there for the entirety of at least two of them (maybe all three, admittedly it’s a blur). And by the third try they were at least getting shots on net, but in the first two it was still a lot of passing around the perimeter—more puck movement? That’s the best we got?—but nothing of substance. They kinda sorta got better by the third one, but nonetheless the clown shoes remain firmly ensconced.

– And they got goalie’d again by a fucking nobody. The amount of times this happens has reached downright farcical levels. Calvin Petersen (huh?), who apparently the Hawks tried to draft, made 34 saves on 35 shots for a save percentage of .971. I want to be angry about it, but I’m just worn down by this situation. And for the record, Crawford was nearly as damn good. He ended with a .969 SV% (NICE) which is funnier and cooler so Petersen can go fuck off. And both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane should be embarrassed that they couldn’t score on this jamoke in the shootout.

– Guys, Brandon Saad may be good again! There’s a silver lining for ‘ya. He got moved to the top line midway through the game and scored the Hawks’ only goal off a gorgeous feed from Toews that hit his stick just at the top of the crease. In fact, the accompanying change of Schmaltz moving to a line with Anisimov and DeBrincat also worked. At first I was a little skeptical, given how slow Anisimov is, but the three of them had a CF% over 70 together, and Nick Schmaltz even shot the puck a couple times. I know I’m grabbing at any sliver of hope or positivity here, but it was sort of working, honest.

What else can one say about a game with idiotic defending, shitty power plays, and non-existent offense? Wait, I think I actually just summed it up right there…so no, there isn’t more one can say. This was their last “easy” game for a while, if you take the Wild or Capitals seriously and I can understand why you wouldn’t. But if they can’t even get an overtime or shootout win against the fucking Kings, there is every reason to dread those teams that may just be overrated, mediocre, or still hungover from last summer. Either way, it’s a long road ahead. Onward and upward.

Beer: Drumroll by Odell Brewing

Line of the Night: “They’re a very fragile team right now.” —Eddie O, but which team was he referring to?

Everything Else

Game #20 – Kings vs. Hawks Preview: A Chilling Vision

By Sam Fels 2310 0

 vs. 

RECORDS: Kings 5-11-1   Hawks 7-8-4

PUCK DROP: 7:30

TV: NBCSN Chicago

NO MORE CALIFORNIA SONGS: Jewels From The Crown

It’s ok if you mourn the end of the Hawks Era. It can be a tough watch at times, especially when the memories of what a fine, oiled machine it was still so fresh. No team ever exits the spotlight gracefully, or at least it’s pretty damn rare. The fall is always painful. Especially in the callous world of the salary capped NHL, the tumble comes quick and the tide always wins. Maybe it was an impossible task set ahead of the Hawks, even without the mistakes they’ve made.

Then again, they could be the Kings.

It’s an interesting record. Since the Hawks last Cup win, they have three playoff wins. The Kings have one in the four seasons since their last win. They’ve missed the playoffs twice. And whereas the Hawks have tried to dance around their rebuild or collapse, the Kings have fallen face-first into theirs this year. Those days of Kobe and Kershaw wearing Kings’ jerseys are over, because this is a mess only identifiable by dental records. And given that it’s a hockey team, even that’s dicey.

They may provide a lesson in what happens when you cling too tightly to things that have past. The Kings for too long still tried to be a roving horde of barbarians that they thought won them two Cups, and watched as their team got slower and dumber while the league got faster and more skilled. Seriously, this outfit traded for Milan Lucic once. Firing the GM and coach is nice and all, but not if you’re not going to try anything new.

They also bought into fortune-stained results as reality far too much. Last year’s playoff berth was simply due to a magnificent Jonathan Quick season, which is not the norm or anything you should count on, and Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown shooting the lights out. No matter how much their fans bitched and whines that Kopitar should have been the MVP simply because no one stays up late enough to watch their dog-assed team, he was never likely to replicate that. And if he didn’t, he wasn’t taking Brown with him either. That’s what’s happened.

Jeff Carter is 33 now and looking it. Ilya Kovalchuk‘s style of impersonating waiting for a bus until a pass comes was never going to improve the team much, and it hasn’t. Beyond whatever this top-six is, and that’s clearly still very much a mystery, there’s simply nothing on the bottom-six. It’s more of the Kyle Clifford–Trevor Lewis Axis Of Yuck that it’s seemingly been forever.

The real treat is at the back of course, where Drew Doughty got his money and seemingly doesn’t care anymore. He’s playing with something called Derek Forbort, not that it matters. Alec Martinez and Jake Muzzin are starting to look like the remnants of that Big Mac you left on the coffee table at 3am last night and discovered this morning while guzzling gatorade. Dion Phaneuf is even more of a monolith than he was, which shouldn’t be possible but hey, L.A. is the land of fantasy and dreams!

Quick isn’t around to bail this out, which he’s only capable of once every four or five years. He’s out for a while. So is his backup Jack Campbell, which means they’ve brought Statler and Waldorf in to play goalie.

Robb Lake the GM seemingly has recognized all he’s built here is kindling (too soon?), and the sell-off might already be under way. This week he sent Tanner Pearson to Pittsburgh for Carl Hagelin, with Hagelin a free agent after the season. Whatever isn’t battened down should probably be sold at auction, so Muzzin, Martinez, Forbort, and Toffoli could and should be on notice. They’re the only ones whose contracts aren’t an atrocity.

For the Hawks, Marcus Kruger returns to the lineup after Brandon Davidson was informed that he’s hurt, replacing Dream Warrior on IR. SuckBag Johnson will sit. Alex Fortin remains out in favor of John Hayden. Sure. Corey Crawford will attempt to ride the momentum of Wednesday’s shutout, and against this decidedly broken squirt-gun of an offense you’d think that wouldn’t be too hard.

I don’t want to put too much on the Hawks, but there’s really no excuse to not get a regulation win tonight. The Kings are already getting the white flag out of the closet if not waving it already. They’re on their third-string goalie, maybe fourth. They’re slow and dumb, and the Hawks have done all right with the rare slow and dumb opponent you see in the NHL these days. As long as you don’t do anything too stupid, the Kings can’t really find a way to score enough to beat you. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.

 

Game #20 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #20 – Kings vs. Hawks Spotlight: Those Who Do Not Learn…Go To The Kings Front Office

By Sam Fels 2001 0

Let us take you back to the spring of 2014. It’s not a happy trip for those of us around here, but it’s necessary. The Kings and Blackhawks played perhaps the best playoff series since The Great ’05 Lockout. The Kings come out on top by a pubic hair. They go on to destroy the Rangers for their second Cup in three years.

You might think they would have taken a close look at how they did that. You might think they’d want to keep replicating what they actually did on the ice, not what they did in between their own ears. You’d be wrong. The Kings beat the Hawks that spring by playing the Hawks’ game better than the Hawks. They were fast. They were dynamic. They scored a ton. They simply overpowered the Hawks on most nights of that series. Corey Crawford was helpless (so was Jonathan Quick, to be fair) to do anything about it. You may not see a series of that raw power again…until the Jets-Sharks West Final this spring, obvi.

We can demonstrate it better. They averaged 2.78 xGF/60 in that playoff run of ’14. That was a boost from 2.37 from the regular season. They averaged more attempts and shots, as well. Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli, Marian Gaborik, et all were skating everywhere.

They haven’t been above that 2.37 mark in the four seasons since. First Darryl Sutter, and then John Stevens returned the Kings to their plodding, simplistic ways that their players hated. And in a league that gets faster and faster, the Kings are getting left behind.

Check out some of the acquisitions since that Cup win, both from Dean Lombardi and Rob Blake (or Robb Lake, if you prefer): Milan Lucic, Vinny Lecavalier, Kris Versteeg, Luke Schenn, bringing back Rob Scuderi, Dion Phaneuf, Nic Dowd, Jarome Iginla, Devin Setoguchi, and an aging Ilya Kovalchuk. What about any of these names suggest faster and skilled? Or even smarter? The Kings seem to be playing a game that’s from 2002.

Moreover, since the 2011 draft, here are the NHLers the Kings have produced: Andy Andreoff, Nick Shore, Colin Miller, Tanner Pearson, Paul LaDue, Adrian Kempe, and that’s it. Say what you want about where the Hawks are now, but they’ve produced actual prospects. They’ve traded most of them, but at least they exist.

The Kings mistake was falling in love with the idea of what people thought the Kings were. They won the ’12 Cup on the back of Jonathan Quick with a heavy roster. It also didn’t hurt that the entire Western Conference that year took a step back. The Hawks were still reloading, the Sharks fell off their peak, the Canucks were a paper tiger beating up on a horrid division, and the Wings were done. It was ripe for the Kings to run through, which they did.

They fell in love with this image of an atom-smashing, meat-off-the-bone, thundering herd of a team that hockey media was only too happy to play up. But they were only that once. 2013 saw them get rolled by the Hawks in the Conference Final, and realize they couldn’t be viking warriors if they were going to win. They set out to be the Hawks. And they did it. And then for some reason, forgot all about it.

And now they’re on the precipice of a great fall. Not only is their window shut, there isn’t a path to open a new one. Kyle Clague won’t by himself. By the time they can summon another good team, Kopitar and Doughty will be well into their 30s. Carter already is. How do you extricate yourself from this? Being so bad that Kopitar and Doughty ask out? Who wants those contracts? The Kings dinner for the next 10 years is going to be a lot of salary for players moved elsewhere.

But banners hang forever. It’s a trade most fanbases would make. Perhaps all. The crash doesn’t have to be so hard, though.

 

 

Game #20 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #20 – Kings vs. Hawks Q&A: Out Of The Darkness…More Darkness

By Sam Fels 1829 0

We really have to reach into the depths for our Kings Q&A. It’s best if you don’t know. Just know that he’s truly warped. 

Boy, your lot really sucks, huh?

Last Saturday, Sportsnet flashed a graphic that the five leading scorers on the Flames had more goals than the Kings have scored all season. In the two games since, the Kings have added one goal to their total of 34, which is also the season total of the quartet of Kane, DeBrincat, Toews, and Saad combined.

You mean Ilya Kovalchuk and his five goals weren’t the answer?

Where would this team be without its leading scorer, Ilya Kovalchuk? The answer is in exactly the same spot standings-wise, and possibly the same place points-wise, depending on how a theoretical Knifey Spoony against Lundqvist and three friends turned out. If you pretend the Kings have two additional Kovalchuks? Well, they would break the salary cap by over $12 million, but also finally pull into a tie for 30th in goals with Anaheim. The only unrealistic part of this scenario is imagining the Kings bringing in multiple players in one offseason.

Anze Kopitar has six points. What’s the deal there?

And only three of those six points were at evens, where his most common wingers are Alex Iafallo, and since his return from injury, Dustin Brown. Playing around with sortable categories on Natural Stat Trick, one notices that his current numbers are still above 50% (hovering around 52-53% for Corsi and Fenwick). However, they are mostly below either his rookie 2007-2008 season or his broken wrist 2016-2017 season. He’s 31 and it has become easier and easier to concentrate on just shutting his line down. But I bet if Eastern Conference writers stayed up to watch him play more often, he would have at least eight or nine points by now.

Does Rob Blake have any idea what he’s doing?

He knows exactly what he is doing: firing everyone under him before people realize this team is going nowhere. Was it really John Stevens’ fault after just 95 games?

What does the immediate future hold? What should it hold?

The immediate future holds rooting against any hot streaks that pull them ahead of other bottom-feeding teams, or convince upper management not to make more drastic changes. Everything with a pulse should be traded, but the team’s most liquid asset is Carl Hagelin, whose best case scenario is being flipped for a fifth-rounder to a team looking for #SPEED. Their youngest defenseman, Paul LaDue, is 26. Dion Phaneuf is still signed until 2021. The immediate future does not look great, even with a big lottery win, so maybe it is time to revert to planting drugs on albatross contracts.

 

Game #20 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Game #20 – Kings vs. Hawks Douchebag Du Jour: The Road To Hell Is Paved With Kyle Clifford

By Sam Fels 2673 0

Fanbases can get attracted to fourth-line players, especially ones that stick around for a while. You see it all the time. Even though deep down, everyone knows they could be replaced by any number of halfwits from the AHL, because no one paid attention long enough to see that this particular grunt hadn’t left, he becomes celebrated.

What can’t happen is that scenario in front offices. Just because someone screwed up and forgot to tell this particular punter that he was moving on, doesn’t mean he becomes a team staple.

Kyle Clifford is going into his 9th season with the Kings. He’s scored 45 goals over that time. He’s amassed 96 points. His metrics have always sucked, consistently lagging behind the team rate. He’s big, and he’s slow, and he’s dumb. He’s the kind of player you’d want to see washed out of your team years ago. And yet here he is.

There isn’t a better symbol of how the Kings have valued the wrong things the past three or four years that they sought not to populate their bottom six with more speed. Or there’s no bigger indictment of their development system that no kids has been able to render him redundant and pick up the pace. And so Clifford remains.

Clifford isn’t the reason the Kings suck. No team is ever brought down by one bottom-six forward. But it’s a spot the Kings could have improved upon, and didn’t feel they needed to. Because Clifford can fart loudly in the corner, or something. The Kings have sat back and watched the Sharks, Ducks, Knights, and Flames in their division filter out the dim-witted for at least the dim-witted that could skate and was younger and cheaper. Clifford isn’t terribly expensive at $1.6M per year, but it’s a job you can get done for something with a “K” instead of an “M.”

We’re sure he’s “good in the room.” Or he “is a good teammate.” And all the other buzz-phrases that players and coaches alike come up with to justify a player who doesn’t actually do anything that helps you win.

But this is how the Kings want it.

 

Game #20 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

High On The Hog: Gone To Texas

By Jon Fromi 1444 0

The ‘Bago County Flying Piglets have business in Texas this weekend. Chicago’s AHL affiliate flew to the Lone Star State yesterday and are getting ready for a pair of Central Division contests.

Rockford begins the action in Cedar Park with the Texas Stars. The Hogs travel to San Antonio Saturday to face the Rampage in what will be the first of two games. That second game will be on Tuesday.

This is as good a time as any to visit the IceHogs two southern-most division opponents. Texas is siting at .500 right now and the Rampage are the worst team in the AHL right now. Still, it won’t be a cakewalk for Rockford, who have been missing some key players and are tossing a lot of players into the forward mix.

 

Morning Blues

The IceHogs had another morning game this week, losing 3-1 in Grand Rapids. Rookie Filip Zadina’s two goals were the difference; Jacob Nilsson potted his second of the campaign for Rockford. However, Zadina’s second of the night plus an empty netter by the Griffins in the third period did in the Hogs.

It has become an annual tradition that the IceHogs host a morning game and pack the BMO with school children. Hopefully, young fans are being cultivated due to this practice. It certainly isn’t producing winning hockey.

The IceHogs don’t fare well when playing earlier in the day. Going back to the 2011-12 season, Rockford is 3-9 when playing one of these morning games, whether at home or in another team’s barn. Since the Hogs began hosting a morning game in 2013-14, Rockford is 1-5, including a 3-0 loss to Iowa November 9.

The IceHogs have been a bit better when playing on Martin Luther King Day, splitting their last six games played at 1:00 p.m. in the BMO on that day.

 

Roster Moves

Head coach Derek King confirmed Tuesday that Anton Forsberg, who has been awesome for Rockford since being assigned to the AHL, is managing an illness that necessitated the recall of Kevin Lankinen Sunday night. It will be Lankinen and Collin Delia as the goalie tandem for the road trip.

With two games with the low-scoring Rampage this trip, it might be a good plan to go with Delia Friday against the Stars. Lankinen could face San Antonio the next night, with Delia getting the net Tuesday in the return match. Of course, Delia could well start all three of these games.

Monday, the IceHogs signed forward Nick Moutrey to a PTO. Between Cleveland and Belleville last season, the 6’3” Moutrey had five goals and six assists. He’s another big body to go with the others that have been collected in recent weeks by Rockford.

Connor Moynihan was re-assigned to the ECHL’s Indy Fuel Monday. King was hopeful that this weekend would see the return of forward Jordan Schroeder, who has been out the last nine games.

 

Texas-Friday, 7:00 p.m.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams that faced off in last spring’s Western Conference Final. Rockford beat Texas 5-3 at the BMO Harris Bank Center back on October 13.

The Stars (6-6-1-1) are paced by Denis Gurianov, who has seven goals and seven helpers in 13 games. Rookie Joel L’Esperance also has seven goals for Texas. Forwards Eric Condra (5 G, 7 A), Justin Dowling (3 G, 9 A), Michael Mersch (5 G, 5 A) and Colton Hargrove (5 G, 5 A) also are double-digit point producers for Texas.

Defensemen Gavin Bayreuther and Joel Hanley are now skating for Dallas of the NHL. The Hogs will get their first look at veteran Taylor Fedun, who Dallas acquired in a trade with Buffalo last week. Fedun is a steady point-producer who has six assists so far in 11 games between Rochester and Texas. Rookie Benjamin Gleason is tops on the blueline for the Stars, with two goals and four assists for the season.

Landon Bow should get the call for the Stars Friday. The third-year goalie is coming off a loss to Manitoba in which he surrendered five goals. Bow has a 3.00 goals against average and a .893 save percentage.

 

San Antonio-Saturday, 7:00 p.m.

The Rampage are 4-12 thus far. That .250 points percentage is by far the lowest in the league. The problem for San Antonio has been getting pucks in the opposing net, though they did break a three-game skid with a 5-0 win over Manitoba Tuesday night. Jordan Nolan (3 G, 4 A) had a pair of goals in that game.

Rockford beat the Rampage 5-2 back on October 24 behind a 29-save performance by Delia. Four IceHogs poured in four goals in the second period to take control of the game.

Nolan shares the team lead in goals with Klim Kostlin (3 G, 4 A), Trevor Smith (3 G, 2 A) and Ryan Olsen (3 G, 1 A). Veterans Brian Flynn and Chris Butler each have a goal and seven assists to lead San Antonio in scoring.

Jordan Binnington (3-3-0-2, 2.13 GAA, .924 save percentage) shut out the Moose Tuesday and should get at least one start against Rockford. Ville Husso, who gave up four to the Hogs back in the October 24 contest, is scuffling with a 1-9 record, a 3.58 goals against average and an .879 save percentage.

Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for game updates and thoughts on the goings-on in Rockford all season long.

 

 

Everything Else

Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight – November 15th

By Sam Fels 1090 0

First Screen Viewing

Leafs vs. Sharks – 9:30

Pretty big week in San Jose. The Sharks and Preds played an absolute barn-burner on Tuesday that saw the Sharks blow a 3-0 lead and then score two goals in 11 seconds in the 3rd to win it. And now another of the league’s glitterati show up at the door, this time the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Sharks haven’t broken away from the pack yet in the Pacific, but after this tilt there’s a fair amount of trash on the schedule until Christmas. The Leafs have hummed along without Auston Matthews or William Nylander, but don’t want to lose touch with Tampa. Given how Martin Jones is playing, this one again should have goals. If you’ve got the day off tomorrow, stay up for this one.

Second Screen Viewing

Canadiens vs. Flames – 8pm

When the Flames start David Rittich, they’re good. When they start Mike Smith, they’re quite entertaining. The Habs continue to do it, though they did kick off this Western Canada swing by getting a foot in their ass from the Oilers. Still, any chance you get to see Mark Giordano play good teams is worth the time. It’s all out west tonight.

Other Games

Rangers vs. Islanders – 6pm

Devils vs. Flyers – 6pm

Lightning vs. Penguins – 6pm

Panthers vs. Jackets – 6pm

Red Wings vs. Senators – 6:30

Canucks vs. Wild – 7pm

Predators vs. Coyotes – 8pm

Everything Else

The Real NHL Standings

By Sam Fels 2559 0

Most of you know that we basically abhor how the NHL standings work. We’ve never recognized shootouts from our very first incarnation at SCH, and when they went to 3-on-3 OT, we started disregarding those results as well. Because it’s basically just an extended shootout gimmick.

We all know why the NHL keeps the loser point and the sometimes two-, sometimes three-point system. It artificially bunches up teams in the standings so just about everyone (save the Kings) can claim to be “in it.” It also gives everyone what appears to be, at first glance, a record over .500 or close to it, which probably helps a little with ticket sales and interest in those markets.

But as we know, it makes it doubly hard to make up ground when you’re behind, and teams in the playoff spots around Thanksgiving (next week) tend to stay there through April. I believe the last number I saw was 75% of teams in those spots as of next week will make the playoffs. There isn’t a lot of drama, though that won’t stop the NHL from telling you there is.

So every so often, I want to post what the NHL standings would look like if the NHL had a straight Win-Loss-Tie after regulation system, and what it would look like if it had a 3-2-1-0 system–that is three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime or shootout win, one for an overtime or shootout loss, and zero for a regulation loss. Basically I just want to toss overtime and see who’s doing the best work in the 60 minutes.

Let’s get in up to the elbow. Here’s the standings if all overtimes are relegated to just ties, and regulation wins are the only wins. I’ve left the standings as they are to the right, so you can see any differences:

Atlantic Division GP REG WINS L T R PTS W L OL PTS
Tampa Bay Lightning 18 11 5 2 24 12 5 1 25
Toronto Maple Leafs 18 10 6 2 22 12 6 0 24
Boston Bruins 18 9 6 3 21 10 6 2 22
Buffalo Sabres 18 9 6 3 21 10 6 2 22
Montreal Canadiens 18 9 6 3 21 9 6 3 21
Detroit Red Wings 18 6 8 4 16 8 8 2 18
Florida Panthers 15 6 5 4 16 7 5 3 17
Ottawa Senators 18 6 8 4 16 7 8 3 17
Metropolitan Division GP REG WINS L T R PTS W L OL PTS
Columbus Blue Jackets 18 8 6 4 20 10 6 2 22
New York Islanders 17 8 6 3 19 9 6 2 20
New York Rangers 18 8 7 3 19 9 7 2 20
Philadelphia Flyers 18 8 8 2 18 9 8 1 19
Washington Capitals 18 7 7 4 18 8 7 3 19
Carolina Hurricanes 18 6 7 5 17 8 7 3 19
Pittsburgh Penguins 16 5 6 5 15 7 6 3 17
New Jersey Devils 16 7 8 1 15 7 8 1 15
Central Division GP REG WINS L T R PTS W L OL PTS
Nashville Predators 18 11 4 3 25 13 4 1 27
Minnesota Wild 18 9 5 4 22 11 5 2 24
Winnipeg Jets 17 10 5 2 22 11 5 1 23
Colorado Avalanche 18 9 6 3 21 9 6 3 21
Dallas Stars 18 8 7 3 19 9 7 2 20
Chicago Blackhawks 19 4 8 7 15 7 8 4 18
St. Louis Blues 16 6 7 3 15 6 7 3 15
Pacific Division GP REG WINS L T R PTS W L OL PTS
San Jose Sharks 19 7 6 6 20 10 6 3 23
Vancouver Canucks 20 7 8 5 19 10 8 2 22
Calgary Flames 18 8 7 3 19 10 7 1 21
Anaheim Ducks 20 7 9 4 18 8 9 3 19
Edmonton Oilers 18 6 8 4 16 9 8 1 19
Arizona Coyotes 17 7 8 2 16 8 8 1 17
Vegas Golden Knights 19 7 10 2 16 8 10 1 17
Los Angeles Kings 17 5 11 1 11 5 11 1 11

What we can conclude from this is…man, the Kings really, really suck.

So as you can see, the standings don’t really change at all. Some of the gaps open up a little more, but Tampa, Toronto, Nashville basically remain the class of the league.

As for the Hawks, they’d be seven points out of an automatic playoff spot, and four out of a wild card spot, instead of the current five and two.

Elsewhere, the Pacific Division would look even more pathetic, as it would only have two teams above .500. The Atlantic would still be brutal.

Now let’s check it out under the 3-2-1-0 points system:

Atlantic Division GP REG WINS OTW OL L R PTS W L PTS
Tampa Bay Lightning 18 11 1 1 5 36 12 5 25
Toronto Maple Leafs 18 10 2 0 6 34 12 6 24
Boston Bruins 18 9 1 2 6 31 10 6 22
Buffalo Sabres 18 9 1 2 6 31 10 6 22
Montreal Canadiens 18 9 0 3 6 30 9 6 21
Detroit Red Wings 18 6 2 2 8 24 8 8 18
Florida Panthers 15 6 1 3 5 23 7 5 17
Ottawa Senators 18 6 1 3 8 23 7 8 17
Metropolitan Division GP REG WINS OTW OL L R PTS W L PTS
Columbus Blue Jackets 18 8 2 2 6 30 10 6 22
New York Islanders 17 8 1 2 6 28 9 6 20
New York Rangers 18 8 1 2 7 28 9 7 20
Philadelphia Flyers 18 8 1 1 8 27 9 8 19
Washington Capitals 18 7 1 3 7 26 8 7 19
Carolina Hurricanes 18 6 2 3 7 25 8 7 19
Pittsburgh Penguins 16 5 2 3 6 22 7 6 17
New Jersey Devils 16 7 0 1 8 22 7 8 15
Central Division GP REG WINS OTW OL L R PTS W L PTS
Nashville Predators 18 11 2 1 4 38 13 4 27
Minnesota Wild 18 9 2 2 5 33 11 5 24
Winnipeg Jets 17 10 1 1 5 33 11 5 23
Colorado Avalanche 18 9 0 3 6 30 9 6 21
Dallas Stars 18 8 1 2 7 28 9 7 20
Chicago Blackhawks 19 4 3 4 8 22 7 8 18
St. Louis Blues 16 6 0 3 7 21 6 7 15
Pacific Division GP REG WINS OTW OL L R PTS W L PTS
San Jose Sharks 19 7 3 3 6 30 10 6 23
Vancouver Canucks 20 7 3 2 8 29 10 8 22
Calgary Flames 18 8 2 1 7 29 10 7 21
Anaheim Ducks 20 7 1 3 9 26 8 9 19
Edmonton Oilers 18 6 3 1 8 25 9 8 19
Arizona Coyotes 17 7 1 1 8 24 8 8 17
Vegas Golden Knights 19 7 1 1 10 24 8 10 17
Los Angeles Kings 17 5 0 1 11 16 5 11 11

Again, the standings don’t really change much, just the gaps do. The Preds, Lightning, and Leafs remain the aristocracy…and the Kings still overwhelmingly blow (can you tell I’m enjoying writing that?).

Locally, the Hawks would be 11 points out of a automatic playoff spot, and though that gap is large it would be make up-able. They would be six points out of a wild card spot, or two regulation wins, which is one more win than they currently are now.

We’ll revisit this somewhere around the halfway mark when teams have gone to OT more and games tighten up from the Chinese fire drill they’ve been so far.