Division: 1st

Conference: 2nd

GF: 275

GA: 225

Record vs Buf: 5-1

Record vs Tor: 5-1

Record vs Mtl: 4-2

Record vs Bos: 3-3

Total within division: 17-7

Atlantic division records:

Pit: 2-2

Phi: 3-1

NYR: 4-0

Nyi: 3-1

NJ: 2-2

Southeast records:

Wsh:1-3

TB: 2-2

Atl: 3-1

FlA: 4-0

Car: 3-1

Total so far: 44-20

Western conference: 5-13

Total 49-33

Record: 49-25-8 106 PTS

Player stats:

Spezza: 40-60

Alfredsson: 25-50

Kovalev: 27-38

Michalek: 30-30

Regin: 25-20

Foligno: 17-20

Fisher: 20-25

Ruutu: 15-15

Kelly: 15-15

Neil: 10-10

Winchester: 1-3

Smith: 10-8

Butler: 5-5

Shannon: 5-6

Karlsson: 15-35

Gonchar: 15-40

Kuba: 5-30

Phillips: 6-20

Carkner: 5-10

Cowen: 4-10

Campoli: 11-23

Lee: 2-2

Goaltending:

Elliott: 30 wins, 920 Save % 230 GAA

Leclaire: 19 wins, 901 Save % 275 GAA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The NHL is condering making Rule changes (or at least experimenting with them.) The camp to test them will be composed of draft eligible Junior players and will give scouts a chance to see them as well as test diffrent rule changes.

Tese are the rule changes that will be tested at camp Shannahan:

1. Hybrid Icing: A "hybrid" of no touch icing and touch icing. During a potential icing, the linesman, by the time the first man reaches the face off dot, will determine which player would reach the puck first. If it is determined to be the attacking player, icing is waved off. If it is the defending player, icing is blown immediately. (Tie goes to the defender) It basically enables on-ice officials to whistle the play dead avoiding a dangerous collision at the end boards.

This is a good rule but I don't know if the linesman in todays NHL have the mental capacity to make those calls.

2. No Change after Off Side: A team that has been ruled off side, shall not be permitted to make any player substitutions prior to the ensuing face-off.

Thats dumb, why punish a team for an offense that is usually an accident, That to me is very stupid.

3.  Crease Reset Rule: If an attacking player establishes a significant presence in the goal crease or if an attacking player physically or visually prevents the goal keeper from defending his goal while standing in the goal crease, play shall be blown dead and the face off will be at the nearest Neutral Zone face off spot.

Battles in front of the net are part of the game, the NHL is a mans sport and this would cause a lot of momentum halting stoppages and take offense out of the game, I don't think the referees are smart enough to call this rule correctly, Players like "Big Buff" or Thomas Holmstrom wouldn't be as useful and this rule to me is too gray and too gay to call, It would ruin the game.

4. Face-Off Variation: After both centermen take their appropriate positions, the puck will be placed on the face off dot and the face off will commence on the official's whistle.

This makes faceoffs more fair and consistent among linesman but physics would prevent a lot of these draws from being won clean and the momentum from a puck drop is a big part of a clean faceoff.  

5. Overtime: The length of the overtime period will be increased to nine total minutes. (Three segments lasting three minutes each.) The segments will start with 4 on 4 play, go down to 3 on 3 and ultimately finishing with 2 on 2.

It makes sense but I don't wan't to see a half the value of a game in the standings decided by a 2 on 2 goal.

6. Shootout: 5 Players from each team shall participate in the Shoot Out and they shall proceed in such order as the coach selects. After each team has taken 5 shots, if the score remains tied, the shoot out will proceed to a "sudden death" format. No player may shoot twice until everyone who is eligible has shot.

I think 5 shots would make a shootout win seem more worthy of an extra point, as much as I hate the shootout this would make it more worthy of 2 points in the standings, but there are a lot of shootouts that last this long anyway and I don't feel any better about them.

7. The shallow net: Features a 40" inch deep frame compared to the 44" inch frame that we currently use.

This would help with wraparounds and doesn't ruin anything so why not.

8. The crease: The crease will be used in this session is enlarged proportionally in all directions 3" inches.

This will help protect the goalie, Pascal Leclaire will like it.

9. Verification line: The Verification Line is a yellow line parallel to the goal line, set back slightly more than 3" inches (size of the puck) from the goal line. The verification line will aide the off ice officials during goal reviews when trying to determine if the puck has crossed the goal line. In the event there is something (water bottle, glove, pad, etc) blocking the view of the goal line, this line could be used to "verify" that the puck has completely crossed the goal line. (The line is slightly further back than the size of the puck, therefore if the puck is in contact with it, a goal would be awarded)

I love this rule, it is very useful as long as the verification line is only inside the net and not on the goal line.

10. Blue lines that are twice as wide as usual: (24" rather than 12"). The inner edge, or D-zone edge, remains in the same spot.

Easier to hold the puck in, this makes for a better pressure game.

11. Line Change Zone in front of bench: This is a shaded area painted on the ice that extends 5' feet out for the length of the players benches. Fewer too many men calls, Clouston could sure use it.

12. Three Faceoff Circles: One in the middle of each zone: There are two potential benefits to the relocation of the face off circles. Generally, this may move play back to the middle of the ice & away from the periphery. It is also an effort to limit whistles. It's believed that teams may keep play moving rather than have a face off right in front of their own net.

Too much change to something that isn't broken, I like the rink dimensions as they are. Sean Ramjagsingh has worked hard to make NHL 11 and all these rules would ruin that game.

The NHLs attempt to limit whistles is stupid, I don't pay 50 dollars a night to see a game go by so fast. Appeasing to the "American Joe" is impossible and shows how ignorant the NHL is to it's Canadian fanbase. I don't see the NFL doing stuff like this. The NHl game is fine the way it is.

 

Eastern Conferemce

1. Pittsburgh Penguins 110 PTS

2. Washington Capitals 108 PTS

3. Boston Bruins 107 Pts

4. Toronto Maple Leafs 100 Pts

5. Philadelphia Flyers 99 Pts

6. New Jersey Devils 94 Pts

7.  Tampa Bay Lightning 94 Pts

8. Montreal Canadians 90 Pts

9. New York Rangers 88 Pts

10. Carolina Hurricanes 86 Pts

11. Buffalo Sabres 82 Pts

12. New York Islanders 79 Pts

13. Atlanta thrashers 75 Pts

14 Ottawa Senators 75 Pts

15 Florida Panthers 56 Pts

 

Pittsburgh will have the highest scoring team and a rebound year from fleury will push Pit to 1st place.

Washington will have a tougher division to compete with and will slighly regress.

The Boston Bruins struggled to score last year, Forget it! Back to 275 Goals and They will be a steady defensive force.

Led by Dion Phaneuf the Leafs will make a surprise run to the playoffs and they have a great defense led by tough forwards up front. JS Giguere will have a carrear year and Dion Phaneuf will return to norris trophy form. Kessel will score 50 goals if healthy (He scored 30 in an injury riddled season with a horrible powerplay and it is clear he dosent need a number one center to score goals.) Look for the Leafs to go deep into the playoffs.

The flyers are a formidible force with depth in all positions except goalie. They will give toronto a run for their money in the first round. (Dion Phaneuf will assert himself as the new Chris Pronger in this series.)

New Jersey will make the playoffs with or without kovalchuck (Can Brodeur win a round though?)

Tampa Bay is also an improved team with direction. They have skill but still have some question marks though.

The Candians are going to struggle with price in net, but it will be good enough to make the playoffs.

The Rangers have trouble scoring and have a lot of bad contracts, (Lundquvist can win many games on his own though.)

The Carolina Hurricanes will have a better year from Ward and Stall but it won't be enough.

Last year Buffalo was a fluke, if it werent for Miller the Sabres may have had Taylor Hall this year, Miller won't play that well again, Myers will have a sophmore slump and Vanek is due to have a bad year.

The New York Islanders are still very thin in all positions and hard work won't be enough.

The Atlants thrashers are going to struggle like the Islanders.

The Ottawa Senators will struggle for many diffrent reasons, Kovalev and Michalek are coming off Knee Surgery, Fisher will have a slumpy year, Alfie will really take a step back this year, Spezza dosent want to be here, Gonchar will miss games due to injury, Phillips will struggle without Volchenkov (As will the whole defense.) Pascal Leclaire and Brian Elliott will show that they can't play as starters. and Erik Karlsson will bust. Ottawa has one of the worst fanbases in the NHL and should be in the same catagory as the Thrashers or Panthers or Pheonix Coyotes Kansas deserves a team more than Ottawa.

Florida panthers: They stunk last year and gave up all there good players, Nuff said.