Disparity

With the disparity between games played, even a quarter way into the NHL season, the regular standings are pretty indiscernible. Unlike baseball, standard standings do not make use of the Games Behind statistic, which, when comparing a team like the Bruins who have played 17 games to the Penguins who have played 21, can be quite useful.

And so here we have it. A current (set to be out of date by nightfall) chart of the pertinent statistics in terms of games played.

[click to make it eat its vegetables and grow big and strong]

My Thoughts:

- Biggest drop from ranking by points to points per game? My Pittsburgh Penguins who go from 6th to 16th. Eventually GP is going to even out and the Pens are going to have to keep with their current pace, 9 pts in the last 5 games, to stay ahead of the pack.

- Where are these goals coming from in Boston? They're averaging 3 goals/game, on pace for 40 more goals than last season. Who would have thought free agent acquisition Nathan Horton would bring this much?

- The Panthers have to improve, right? The only difference between Florida and the San Jose is a single win and 4 overtime losses. All of the Panthers 9 losses have come in regulation, which is why they are so low in Pts/GP, but they've got a positive goal differential.

- The Blues have an even goal differential, but are currently the 5th best team in Pts/GP. Why? Because Halak has fallen apart. Factor out his last 4 losses and the Blues are +14 in 14 GP.

- The West is tight. 10 teams between 20-23 pts. Seriously.

- Look at the huge gap between the top 4 playoff teams in the East and the bottom 4. Washington, Boston, Montreal, and Philadelphia are in the top 6. Tampa, Pittsburgh, New York, and Carolina are 17th-23rd.

- Holding current pace, it's going to take 96 pts to make the playoffs in the West, and only 82 in the East. So basically, yeah, the West is probably going to have multiple teams miss the playoffs when they have better records than East playoff teams. Again.

Snitches

You might want to take a seat. I have news.

I don't know if you have heard or not, but in some emails from within NHL headquarters three years ago someone had the audacity to claim that a certain player, Marc Savard, has a proclivity towards accentuating penalties in an effort to buy calls.

Yes. Diving. Or being "a fake artist" as Colin Campbell so eloquently worded it.

I am shocked ... let me repeat ... SHOCKED that such accusations would be vocalized.

No one, especially Bruins fans, have ever accused Savard of diving. Don't even try Googling it, it's a fact.

In all my years as a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, (particularly the last five) I have never heard even the slightest hint of such impropriety in our fair sport.

Have You no respect for the sanctity of the game, sir?

Exactly what do you even know about this young man? On what authority can you make such incendiary statements?

Colin Campbell, coach of NY Rangers when they drafting Marc Savard in 1995

And even if, dare I say it, atrocities such as diving had infiltrated the game of ice hockey, have you not heard a little phrase that goes something along the lines of "snitches get stitches"?

Why would you rat out a guy like that Colie? Do we really need that kind of interoffice gossip flying around the NHL. Don't be a Chatty Cathy.

I mean, what business of this Stephen character is it what Savard does?

 Stephen Walkom, Director of Officiating. 

Keep that kind of garbage to yourself Mr. Campbell. We don't need those foul accusations sullying our great game.


But hold on. I'd hate to leave it like that.

As any great disciplinarian would, I, like Mr. Campbell, know that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

That's why I'd like to congratulate Campbell. Why might you ask? For being a good father.

In those same e-mails Colin did something else. Something any loving dad would do, use his powerful position to lean on the governing body that oversees an official that, according to the hometown radio broadcast, made a questionable call against his son.

It's touching really. Just makes me want to give my own dad a call and thank him for the behind the scenes bureaucratic pressure he applied to help me get to where I am today. Thanks pops.

And so, in closing, I say this to you Mr. Campbell: A little less meddling in other peoples business and a little more being a super dad.