Surprised the NHL hasn't started claiming your videos for talking about them. Incredibly sad day for TH-cam hockey NGL. Thanks for the great constant work Shannon
@TheHockeyGuy I think it would be wise of the NHL to grant TH-camrs like yourself rights to show chips after the game ends. It's free advertising for the league.
LOL Trust me old gare bear consulted his lawyers on that a while ago. Even he knows better to mess with Shannon in this area as long as he sticks to his whiteboad and words.
@Viikeri He had a TV on outside picture during a livestream. You couldn't see anything but you could vaguely make out what they were saying, if you listened for it in between THG's words. Led to an automated copyright strike.
As a habs fan, I wish the Nordiques could make a come back. The city has grown greatly economically since the team left and a lot of businesses have come to the city. The fans are there, money doesn't seem to be a problem. The NHL calibre arena is already built. Unless Buttman doesn't want another Canadian team, I really don't see why they are not on top of an expansion...
@sonnydethier2916 Dude ! WTF . For just a second there you made me actually like something Habs related . Habs/Nords play-off hockey way back then was the BEST !
The Videotron Centre is an awesome arena! I unironically think it's one of the nicest in Canada
14 วันที่ผ่านมา +3
@@sonnydethier2916 you'd need about $500 billion worth of natural resources discovered and pulled out of the ground under Quebec in order for a team to be viable in QC. Even Gary couldn't ignore that.Would be nice. They got the arena already built though, so they are 2/3rds of the way there.
@ I remember even the media people from Quebec figthing Montreal's media people in the good old days. It was WAR! Lol. Now we have Alain Crête working for RDS and Montreal Habs. Hopefully, things would be more civilized if a team came back to Quebec city (or not). ;-)
The East is going to be an absolute bloodbath in the final week it’s gonna be one of the craziest last couple of game days we’ve seen in a while. Wouldn’t be surprised if the last wild card needs only like 86-87 points to get in with around 5 teams battling it out
It would be interesting to see some stats and analysis on the gaps between the highest and lowest ranked teams and how this has changed over the seasons.
Usually a salary cap causes disparity for teams in terms of talent. However, with so many teams now and a dearth of talent across the league (due to the Gretzky effect that inspired so many kids first in Canada and later in the US when Gretzky came to LA being fully gone now) it's like 70s talent spread across double the number of teams. In 2010 to 2016-ish, there were four powerhouse teams (2 in the East, Pittsburgh and Boston; 2 in the West, Chicago and Los Angeles) built by the salary cap and several other contenders, mostly in the West, like Vancouver. All of the elite talent of the mid 80s (Gretzky and the Oilers, Chelios, Lemieux, Roy, etc.) joining the huge burst of talent from the iron curtain coming down (the first and second top Soviet units, Jagr, etc.), the insane 1990 draft class and top talents from 1991 and 1992 draft classes, unicorns like Lindros and Sundin, etc. Plus the greatest classes of US players like Brian Leetch, Brett Hull, Roenick, etc. Nowadays you run 4 lines to have a successful playoff team but back then, most teams ran 3 lines not counting PP/PK.
The best jersey ever ! In my opinion . I have had mine for 40+ yrs , it's olde , a couple holes , a bloodstain that ain't going nowhere . I still wear it often . My first jersey , and from one of favorite teams . ( Wheat Kings also ) . Got it as a teen , will be a senior next month . Ima go cry now . Sorry .
Quebec Nordiques, right? And hey, I‘m Swiss. Had a NHL yearbook ´89 as birthday present from an uncle and loved it. Read all the statistics and histories over and over before sleep. Never dreamed that so many of us would make it there! Times flies, welcome in the Senior Hockey League!
Sens with games in hand are in the wild card spot by winning %, plus they are the only team in the race with a positive goal differential. Also, the Sens have a really good schedule for the last month of the season. Ottawa grabs the wild card spot in my opinion, but I'm loving this race. Can't wait to see how it all shakes out! Cheers
I think there are 3 spots up for grabs in the East: 3rd in the Atlantic and both wildcards. Could see a wild scenario where Ottawa, Detroit and Montreal all make it and Tampa misses.
@@alexschannel8636 I don't think the 3rd spot in the Atlantic is up for grabs unless Tampa goes on a serious losing streak or Ottawa goes on a serious winning streak.
The parity, day in and day out, is one of the many reasons I've become a bigger fan of the NHL, the last several years, even over MLB, MLS, or Premier League
One of the other things that parity seems to cause is there are not as many trades earlier in the season anymore. And fewer blockbuster ones it seems. Since some many teams are close they don't dump, and usually, the ones that aren't close don't have alot to trade for.
someone I was talking to the other day it might’ve been on your channel or it might’ve been another one, but I think it was your channel. They made an excellent point. I watch a lot of hockey. I don’t look at analytics a lot, but I’ve been doing that more lately. and I think what might be causing this is teams are really using analytics now for like shots suppression and stuff and I know that shots are down because they’re really taking care of you know the accuracy cause of betting and stuff but I think it’s more than that to my eye this season. I think you’re absolutely right just seems like so many teams seem very similar and like so many teams are like hoving around .500. It’s just very weird so I think your point is great and you know makes a lot of sense anyways keep up the great work and continued success.
I've been wondering for a while after watching all the VGK games and a decent number of Capitals games if we might not end up in a year one SCF rematch this year. Obviously a lot can happen between now and the playoffs, not to mention the playoffs themselves, but I would not be at all shocked if that happens.
2 of them top teams in nhl... 3 of them are tied with Detroit in the wildcard race. Only 2 teams in this streak were bottom feeders. Rest are in or fighting for playoffs.
Agreed, not an easy schedule for the 7 game win streak. That said, the rest of the month is pretty brutal so we'll learn a lot in the next two weeks. We have 9 games the rest of the month with FL, TB(x2), LA, DAL, and EDM on the list. The rest of the season is... not great.
The parity is wild because I want to really know if Utah is going to pull off playoffs. I think it’s probably not going to happen but they are so close and things are so tight that I still feel like they can pull this off.
Love this attire. I’m so nostalgic for Nordiques and Whalers gear. Great video as always. I enjoy how your challenge my hockey brain . Lol. And how you present all of this well researched and gathered info and stats. No one else does this better. 🎉
For all the advantages of parity, a big disadvantage is that when there are upsets, they don't mean as much anymore. If Quebec back in the day came in, Tugnutt made 50 saves and they eeked out a win, that would have been something people talked about for weeks. When San Jose shocked Detroit in the playoffs in the 90s, that was huge. Now, the fans of the team that lost are shocked, but for everyone else, the difference between a 1st place seed and a 2nd wildcard spot isn't what it used to be. I remember there was a period in the early 90s where if the Canucks played the Sharks, they'd regularly fall behind 2-0 and then come storming back for the win. Now, the fact that a bottom feeder had a 2-0 lead on a good team wouldn't be that surprising. And it's also not my problem as a Canadian hockey fan that some teams can't afford to compete and need help from the NHL.
FL beating Boston in game 7 when Boston had the most points in a regular season ever to a team that got into the playoffs because two other teams decided not to win. That's a pretty big upset.
Anaheim fans are overall happy, but every time there's a slump or a bad loss to a team that is near or below them in the standings, FIRE CRONIN is everywhere on social media. When they won 4 out of 5 games in a row against the Devils, Jets, Oilersx2, and Lightning, Everyone was celebrating. When they went 2 games of being outscored 12-2 against St Louis and Philadelphia, everyone lost hope. Then they won against Carolina and we are back! its up and down all year.
I know I’m the hard contrary to most Anaheim fans, but I am very pleased with the way this season has gone so far. I think what everyone fails to recognize is that Verbeek had to basically redo the failed Bob Murray rebuild on the fly, and still develop as a team. It was never going to happen in 1-2 years, so for them to be in a playoff conversation, albeit in the shadows of the picture, I think Cronin and Verbeek are on perfect pace.
Some normalcy ..got really sick first of year…and tough watching my HG videos pass me by.. Thanks as always for your excellence in hockey. So appreciated! 🎯🌟🌟🌟🏒🥅✅
I think there's plenty of Parity, though I think its more prominent in the East. with so many teams within 10 points of each other, we could see some teams rise to the occasion (Montreal is my favorite for this) and we could see some teams sputter out and crash
The Easy especially this year is insane. I dont think there is a single bad team in that conference (yes even buffalo). But I can kinda see it flipping in a year or two when the Sharks and Hawks get better and there are some teams in the east that are bound to bottom out eventually.
I think that this is parity, in the sense of The Salary Cap being the biggest factor since it was started, in that any team can beat any other team, because of More Parity In The Teams' Talent/If Salary Is Correlation, other than prior, in which The Chicago Black Hawks, Rangers & Canadiens (1970s) were The Best Teams (The Philadelphia Flyers being The Exception). Let me know what you think
Definitely looks like Seattle should be in the bottom row of the power rankings. You need to fix them next week. You have a sweet spot for them for some reason and I'm not sure why.
11:15 The Wings schedule hasn’t exactly been easy… The Caps and the Jets are both very good, and the Pens, BJs, and Sens are in the same boat as Detroit. Their only real “easy” opponents were their last two wins against Seattle and Chicago… who they manhandled.
the caps beat toronto on the road less than 24 hours before that game... It was really a scheduled loss for Washington and I don't think anyone was expecting them to win it
Last I heard SJ is sitting at 2nd to last with a league leading 19 one-goal(minus EN goals) losses. Definitely a strong parity indicator. Especially considering how awful they were last season.
There is definitely a parity in the NHL. East has basically no rebuilding team currently, while west has 2. It feels like every team apart from the 2 are built that they can beat anybody, maybe not every night, but still.
A lot of parity, especially in the East. About 9 East teams with anywhere from delusional to longshot playoff chances. It's interesting that several East teams have also looked mediocre (or awful) and then gone on pretty noteworthy hot streaks: Pittsburgh, Montreal, Detroit, Ottawa
I'm not for the NHL going out of it's way for parity. The salary cap, numerous penalties per game including even up calls, and all the other stuff they do try and create parity. The sport itself lends to parity. More than any other major team sport. Hockey is played at a sprints pace with teams consisting of 20 players (including the goalies) with top players getting around 1/3rd of playing time only. That in of itself lends to parity. We don't need to go out of our way to create more of it.
If there was no parity in the league the Montreal Canadiens would be the most feared and best team every season and everyone would think it’s an honour to play for OR against them.
As a season ticket holder I wholeheartedly agree with you, last season there were games where my wife and I were the only ones in row. Now with the closeness, there’s starting to be a return to closeness in the stands. Not SRO yet but definitely back to more butts in the seats
I was with a friend of mine last night. I was listening to sports. He said you know who to bet on? I said, well I used to be really good at the NHL but this year, I can't figure bleep out. I said don't take my advice this year.
As an Anaheim fan, I am not happy or upset. I don't like how the offense cannot setup a single powerplay properly. I don't like how we get outshot and outplayed on most nights. Goaltending is the reason we are 7 points out. There's a lot of work to do.
What happens if the salary cap shrinks instead of the constantly predicted steady growth? How many teams can absorb enough salary off the full guys to let the league continue?
Based on my understanding, that is what escrow under the most recent player agreement. The players will have part of their salary pulled back or made up through reduced checks at the end of the season. The loss will be absorbed 50/50 between the teams and players.
CBJ, OTT, MTL and DET are all playing well right now. Yea, a lot will come down to scheduling, consistency and injuries..typical EOY stuffs, yeah? Don't be surprised if TBL takes the division. They move the puck effortlessly and have the scoring power. (Yeah, they just had a bad recent road trip that cost them some catch up, but they already got their game back.) Be sure that the Habs will get mostly quality starts between the pipes from hereon. Sam and Jakub are outstanding. And their PP is currently 12th. I'm expecting that to move upward along with the overall quality of play as their seems to be that "we get it" in their strides on the ice.
I don't think there are any easy games in the league. The draft lottery teams (sounds more respectful than bottom feeder) will beat the teams above the playoff line, if they play their game better than their opponent plays theirs.
Who is saying the Wings' schedule is easy? Two of their wins in this streak were against Washington and Winnipeg, and two were wildcard competition in Columbus and Ottawa. And it's about to get much harder.
Wait so Detroit goes on a 7 game win streak. 2 of them being top 5 teams in the NHL and 3 teams that are currently fighting for a wildcard spot with Detroit.... but we had an easy 7 game streak?.... ppl love to hate lmao.
The fact that the two wild card teams in the East have less points than the wildcard teams in the West tells me that there is more parity in the East rather than meaning the East is mediocre. It seems like there is not a single tanking team in the East right now (at least no fanbase seems to want it apart from maybe PHI?) whereas there are two in the West (CHI and SJ). To further prove my point, as of today, the last place team in the East (BUF) is 4, 5 and 7 points ahead of the last place teams in the West (NSH, SJ, CHI, respectively). Having most teams fighting for wildcard spots regardless of expectations makes for a much more exciting season than we've had in the past 3-4 years, where 8-10 teams were nowhere near the playoffs by US Thanksgiving. I genuinely think the league should tweak the draft lottery odds to incentivize icing competitive teams every year, maybe go as far as reversing the odds completely from 16 to 1? I get why it is the way it is, but it seems weird how the league rewards losing instead of incentivizing GMs to take measures to stay competitive no matter what. Players and coaches certainly do not tank, so why do we accept that GMs do? As a habs fan, I am very excited for the rest of the year not only because of our recent success, but also because it had been a while since I've been invested in a season to the point of looking at the matchups around the league and wishing for certain outcomes to give my team the better chance of squeezing through. The race for a wildcard spot in the East is gonna be great! Rambling over 💩
Yes a buddy of mine is getting excited about Montreal being in te playoffs. Fair enough be excited. BUUUUTTTT Montreal is tied with Ottawa and a point behind Tampa Bay. There are 15 NHL teams from Tampa Bay 53 to Seattle 45. That's 15 teams within 8 points of each other. You are a four game streak away from being safely into the playoffs to falling behind four teams to get in to the playoffs.
I need to be fact checked, but I think Buffalo may be the only Eastern team who swept their Cali trip back in November, right before the wheels fell off. They are strangely "close" to the playoff line considering they managed to lose 13 straight. Interestingly, they haven't had a winning streak greater than 3 games since Jan 2023 when they won 5 in a row. It's difficult to watch someone self-sabotage their opportunities to succeed, but watching an entire team do so is bewildering.
New to your show bud and a new fan of it. You goofed up at the beginning. Vegas is not in first overall they are tied with Winnipeg and Washington. Vegas and Washington have a game in hand in Winnipeg but they are all at 61 points. Keep up the good work eh!!! You make the so called TV experts look foolish. If I were a gambling man I would make my picks the completely opposite to the "experts" and "insiders" and get rich quick.;)))
@@TheHockeyGuy OK;)))) must be an alphabetical order thing,,,,I'm looking forward to the 'Nucks here in Wiinipeg tomorrow. Will have a beer and a cheer for you! 😁
Columbus is the only team in that East playoff picture that has 0 pressure on them. Every other team will likely have major changes occur in the offseason if playoffs aren’t achieved. Will be fun to watch.
i hope the jackets make it in. if they do they will for sure be a dark horse and lets just say they happened to face the leafs in the 1st.... well I know who I put my money on.
It's funny how all season there have been many teams tied for 1st place... Washington, Winnipeg, I think Minnesota, maybe even Jersey for a minute and now Vegas is in the mix... but there's only been 1 team consistently tied for 1st place all season!!! WINNIPEG!! never once below third outside of "power rankings"
I expected the Atlantic to be competitive, there's no team that was expected to tank. Buffalo I think could still make it, we've seen the competition get to teams near the end of the season where "nobody wants to make the playoffs" and they just collapse
7:22 The irony with all this As of today (Monday Jan 13) The Oilers would STILL PLAY THE KINGS AND THE LEAFS WOULD STILL PLAY BOSTON DESPITE BEING 1ST. GO THE F AWAY BOSTON!
Every team is in the same boat so this argument is irrelevant. Thats why they have reg wins as a tie breaker. You have 82 chances to not get a loser point, thats on the team.
As far as making the playoffs is concerned, I think the only thing remaining in the west is Calgary or Vancouver. The east, on the other hand, is a different animal. There are at least 8 teams contending for the last 2 spots. We can maybe exclude the Pens, as they just seem too inconsistent for my taste. Bruins are in dire straits, as almost everyone has played less games, and their margin is very thin, but I won't exclude them just yet. We are in pretty good parity this decade, and I'm guessing that Buffalo and the bottom dwellers in the west will turn it around in 2 or 3 years.
I don't think it's as close as it seems bc we KNOW teams like the Jets, Wild, Leafs, Caps, etc. will crumble in the first 2 rounds. Rangers also fell of the face of the earth.
Surprised the NHL hasn't started claiming your videos for talking about them. Incredibly sad day for TH-cam hockey NGL. Thanks for the great constant work Shannon
This is why I never use footage. I know how the league is. It took me weeks to get a strike off my channel five years back.
@TheHockeyGuy I think it would be wise of the NHL to grant TH-camrs like yourself rights to show chips after the game ends. It's free advertising for the league.
What happened?
LOL Trust me old gare bear consulted his lawyers on that a while ago. Even he knows better to mess with Shannon in this area as long as he sticks to his whiteboad and words.
@Viikeri He had a TV on outside picture during a livestream. You couldn't see anything but you could vaguely make out what they were saying, if you listened for it in between THG's words. Led to an automated copyright strike.
Don’t tell Buffalo about Parity. They might get confused.
They probably think parody was said.
The Quebec gear! Wish the Avs sported it more often
As a habs fan, I wish the Nordiques could make a come back. The city has grown greatly economically since the team left and a lot of businesses have come to the city. The fans are there, money doesn't seem to be a problem. The NHL calibre arena is already built. Unless Buttman doesn't want another Canadian team, I really don't see why they are not on top of an expansion...
@sonnydethier2916 Dude ! WTF . For just a second there you made me actually like something Habs related .
Habs/Nords play-off hockey way back then was the BEST !
The Videotron Centre is an awesome arena! I unironically think it's one of the nicest in Canada
@@sonnydethier2916 you'd need about $500 billion worth of natural resources discovered and pulled out of the ground under Quebec in order for a team to be viable in QC. Even Gary couldn't ignore that.Would be nice. They got the arena already built though, so they are 2/3rds of the way there.
@ I remember even the media people from Quebec figthing Montreal's media people in the good old days. It was WAR! Lol. Now we have Alain Crête working for RDS and Montreal Habs.
Hopefully, things would be more civilized if a team came back to Quebec city (or not). ;-)
The East is going to be an absolute bloodbath in the final week it’s gonna be one of the craziest last couple of game days we’ve seen in a while. Wouldn’t be surprised if the last wild card needs only like 86-87 points to get in with around 5 teams battling it out
Wouldn't at all be surprised if WC2 came down to last day of the regular season just like last year.
All that for the right to get swept in the first round
Honestly it might be both wildcards and even the 3rd Atlantic spot depending on if Tampa stays ahead or not
The craziest finish in any Division was one year back in the 80s , think it was the Adams division where it was 6 points between
@@nerinamak3298is that how it worked out for 2023 Florida Panthers? Last wild-card spot?
It would be interesting to see some stats and analysis on the gaps between the highest and lowest ranked teams and how this has changed over the seasons.
Usually a salary cap causes disparity for teams in terms of talent. However, with so many teams now and a dearth of talent across the league (due to the Gretzky effect that inspired so many kids first in Canada and later in the US when Gretzky came to LA being fully gone now) it's like 70s talent spread across double the number of teams. In 2010 to 2016-ish, there were four powerhouse teams (2 in the East, Pittsburgh and Boston; 2 in the West, Chicago and Los Angeles) built by the salary cap and several other contenders, mostly in the West, like Vancouver.
All of the elite talent of the mid 80s (Gretzky and the Oilers, Chelios, Lemieux, Roy, etc.) joining the huge burst of talent from the iron curtain coming down (the first and second top Soviet units, Jagr, etc.), the insane 1990 draft class and top talents from 1991 and 1992 draft classes, unicorns like Lindros and Sundin, etc. Plus the greatest classes of US players like Brian Leetch, Brett Hull, Roenick, etc. Nowadays you run 4 lines to have a successful playoff team but back then, most teams ran 3 lines not counting PP/PK.
Not p-a-r-o-D-y, which is of course…..life.
Starting off with some light philosophy, sir. Outstanding
Just discovered this channel and I'm in awe. Thanks for using your ocd to make the world a better place 😂
The best jersey ever ! In my opinion .
I have had mine for 40+ yrs , it's olde , a couple holes , a bloodstain that ain't going nowhere . I still wear it often .
My first jersey , and from one of favorite teams . ( Wheat Kings also ) . Got it as a teen , will be a senior next month .
Ima go cry now . Sorry .
Quebec Nordiques, right? And hey, I‘m Swiss. Had a NHL yearbook ´89 as birthday present from an uncle and loved it. Read all the statistics and histories over and over before sleep. Never dreamed that so many of us would make it there! Times flies, welcome in the Senior Hockey League!
Sens with games in hand are in the wild card spot by winning %, plus they are the only team in the race with a positive goal differential. Also, the Sens have a really good schedule for the last month of the season. Ottawa grabs the wild card spot in my opinion, but I'm loving this race. Can't wait to see how it all shakes out! Cheers
I think there are 3 spots up for grabs in the East: 3rd in the Atlantic and both wildcards. Could see a wild scenario where Ottawa, Detroit and Montreal all make it and Tampa misses.
I think the Rangers have a better chance than people realize.
@@alexschannel8636 I don't think the 3rd spot in the Atlantic is up for grabs unless Tampa goes on a serious losing streak or Ottawa goes on a serious winning streak.
Habs are hottest team in the league and have leg up on Ottawa with the tie breaker on head to head. Ottawa reeling and won’t match the Habs pace.
@@alexschannel8636 Absolutely right. Still have half the season left and teams can win and lose their positions quickly.
thanks for sharing your hockey sense....I played until I was 44 yo and I am still learning....mostly from you.......wish i could see more games..!!
Great Video, as usual, Shannon - it's a Great Topic
The parity, day in and day out, is one of the many reasons I've become a bigger fan of the NHL, the last several years, even over MLB, MLS, or Premier League
One of the other things that parity seems to cause is there are not as many trades earlier in the season anymore. And fewer blockbuster ones it seems. Since some many teams are close they don't dump, and usually, the ones that aren't close don't have alot to trade for.
someone I was talking to the other day it might’ve been on your channel or it might’ve been another one, but I think it was your channel. They made an excellent point. I watch a lot of hockey. I don’t look at analytics a lot, but I’ve been doing that more lately.
and I think what might be causing this is teams are really using analytics now for like shots suppression and stuff and I know that shots are down because they’re really taking care of you know the accuracy cause of betting and stuff but I think it’s more than that to my eye this season. I think you’re absolutely right just seems like so many teams seem very similar and like so many teams are like hoving around .500. It’s just very weird so I think your point is great and you know makes a lot of sense anyways keep up the great work and continued success.
I've been wondering for a while after watching all the VGK games and a decent number of Capitals games if we might not end up in a year one SCF rematch this year. Obviously a lot can happen between now and the playoffs, not to mention the playoffs themselves, but I would not be at all shocked if that happens.
Thanks for the video! Yup, outliers are fewer now than ever.
I just enjoy the fact even a top row team has to try against a San Jose or Nashville or else get humiliated.
1:52 FYI - the otl was to Montreal, not Ottawa. Also love ur vids! Keep it up
people saying detroit had an easy 7 game winning streak taking into account we beat the caps and the jets with hellybuk? :)
Dont worry thats what they daid avout the oilers last year on a 16 game heater. Just haters talking smack
2 top 5 NHL teams in that win streak, wished Shannon mentioned that.
2 of them top teams in nhl... 3 of them are tied with Detroit in the wildcard race.
Only 2 teams in this streak were bottom feeders. Rest are in or fighting for playoffs.
@@blakeeckel5056I don't think he really has liking for the beloved wing and wheel 😕
Agreed, not an easy schedule for the 7 game win streak. That said, the rest of the month is pretty brutal so we'll learn a lot in the next two weeks. We have 9 games the rest of the month with FL, TB(x2), LA, DAL, and EDM on the list. The rest of the season is... not great.
The parity is wild because I want to really know if Utah is going to pull off playoffs.
I think it’s probably not going to happen but they are so close and things are so tight that I still feel like they can pull this off.
Love this attire. I’m so nostalgic for Nordiques and Whalers gear. Great video as always. I enjoy how your challenge my hockey brain . Lol. And how you present all of this well researched and gathered info and stats. No one else does this better. 🎉
For all the advantages of parity, a big disadvantage is that when there are upsets, they don't mean as much anymore. If Quebec back in the day came in, Tugnutt made 50 saves and they eeked out a win, that would have been something people talked about for weeks. When San Jose shocked Detroit in the playoffs in the 90s, that was huge. Now, the fans of the team that lost are shocked, but for everyone else, the difference between a 1st place seed and a 2nd wildcard spot isn't what it used to be. I remember there was a period in the early 90s where if the Canucks played the Sharks, they'd regularly fall behind 2-0 and then come storming back for the win. Now, the fact that a bottom feeder had a 2-0 lead on a good team wouldn't be that surprising. And it's also not my problem as a Canadian hockey fan that some teams can't afford to compete and need help from the NHL.
Rarely any truly awful teams, also with 16/32 instead of 16/21 making it, there are always good teams missing out, instead of bad teams sneaking in
FL beating Boston in game 7 when Boston had the most points in a regular season ever to a team that got into the playoffs because two other teams decided not to win. That's a pretty big upset.
Every fan base is mad this year
not Washington!
Unless you’re a Vegas fan
As a flames fan, I'm not mad 🎉
CBJ fans are hyped. Go Jackets!
@JonesyTheFirst69 you may not be mad but youre still pissy 😘
Was looking at 1985 season this morning & the North Stars made the playoffs 18 games below 500. I think it was technically called Bubblemania #1
Anaheim fans are overall happy, but every time there's a slump or a bad loss to a team that is near or below them in the standings, FIRE CRONIN is everywhere on social media. When they won 4 out of 5 games in a row against the Devils, Jets, Oilersx2, and Lightning, Everyone was celebrating. When they went 2 games of being outscored 12-2 against St Louis and Philadelphia, everyone lost hope. Then they won against Carolina and we are back! its up and down all year.
I know I’m the hard contrary to most Anaheim fans, but I am very pleased with the way this season has gone so far.
I think what everyone fails to recognize is that Verbeek had to basically redo the failed Bob Murray rebuild on the fly, and still develop as a team. It was never going to happen in 1-2 years, so for them to be in a playoff conversation, albeit in the shadows of the picture, I think Cronin and Verbeek are on perfect pace.
Yes, 100%
I was just thinking that this morning. Now, whether this is an anomaly or the new normal remains to be seen.
@@quebon2 I hope it is. Teams that are like 7th Metro playing meaningful games in the 75 game mark is great for the sport.
Great gear, wish they were back. This is the most mid year. Should make for some great games to see who makes the playoff cut.
Nice jersey ⚜
The Caps Flex is outstanding.
Detroit lost twice to Arizona last year, i don't think any Detroit fans are counting wins before they've happened
75% of teams at a .500 or higher is probably as close as it could get to league parity
Some normalcy ..got really sick first of year…and tough watching my HG videos pass me by..
Thanks as always for your excellence in hockey. So appreciated! 🎯🌟🌟🌟🏒🥅✅
I think there's plenty of Parity, though I think its more prominent in the East. with so many teams within 10 points of each other, we could see some teams rise to the occasion (Montreal is my favorite for this) and we could see some teams sputter out and crash
The Easy especially this year is insane. I dont think there is a single bad team in that conference (yes even buffalo). But I can kinda see it flipping in a year or two when the Sharks and Hawks get better and there are some teams in the east that are bound to bottom out eventually.
I think that this is parity, in the sense of The Salary Cap being the biggest factor since it was started, in that any team can beat any other team, because of More Parity In The Teams' Talent/If Salary Is Correlation, other than prior, in which The Chicago Black Hawks, Rangers & Canadiens (1970s) were The Best Teams (The Philadelphia Flyers being The Exception). Let me know what you think
Shannon: Vegas shouldn't have any trouble winning the Pacific with a 6 point lead.
Me watching 3 days later: you mean 2 point lead?
Definitely looks like Seattle should be in the bottom row of the power rankings. You need to fix them next week. You have a sweet spot for them for some reason and I'm not sure why.
There's definitely parity. Heck, even with San Jose and Chicago, they're closer to the playoffs than they have been.
11:15 The Wings schedule hasn’t exactly been easy… The Caps and the Jets are both very good, and the Pens, BJs, and Sens are in the same boat as Detroit. Their only real “easy” opponents were their last two wins against Seattle and Chicago… who they manhandled.
the caps beat toronto on the road less than 24 hours before that game... It was really a scheduled loss for Washington and I don't think anyone was expecting them to win it
Habs beat the last 5 Stanley cup champs. A little harder than Ottawa and pens 😂
Last year didn’t count for NJ. We got a raw deal. We’re back
Last I heard SJ is sitting at 2nd to last with a league leading 19 one-goal(minus EN goals) losses. Definitely a strong parity indicator. Especially considering how awful they were last season.
If parity becomes more common, expect Gary to expand the playoffs.
Yeah right!!
There is definitely a parity in the NHL. East has basically no rebuilding team currently, while west has 2. It feels like every team apart from the 2 are built that they can beat anybody, maybe not every night, but still.
Perry has played for a lot of NHL teams, but does he really warrant his own video?
A lot of parity, especially in the East. About 9 East teams with anywhere from delusional to longshot playoff chances.
It's interesting that several East teams have also looked mediocre (or awful) and then gone on pretty noteworthy hot streaks: Pittsburgh, Montreal, Detroit, Ottawa
I'm not for the NHL going out of it's way for parity. The salary cap, numerous penalties per game including even up calls, and all the other stuff they do try and create parity.
The sport itself lends to parity. More than any other major team sport. Hockey is played at a sprints pace with teams consisting of 20 players (including the goalies) with top players getting around 1/3rd of playing time only. That in of itself lends to parity. We don't need to go out of our way to create more of it.
If there was no parity in the league the Montreal Canadiens would be the most feared and best team every season and everyone would think it’s an honour to play for OR against them.
Love the Quebec Nordiques Outfit
What’s your take on the Nordiques going back to Quebec City?
The one goal loses late every game for the Sharks is more depressing than losing by 10 every other night.
As a season ticket holder I wholeheartedly agree with you, last season there were games where my wife and I were the only ones in row. Now with the closeness, there’s starting to be a return to closeness in the stands. Not SRO yet but definitely back to more butts in the seats
If it makes you feel better, it's losing that eventually starts breaking your way.
As much as I love your videos and find you funny you’re breaking my heart from melancholy with your Nords attire. 💙💙💙
I was with a friend of mine last night. I was listening to sports. He said you know who to bet on? I said, well I used to be really good at the NHL but this year, I can't figure bleep out. I said don't take my advice this year.
As an Anaheim fan, I am not happy or upset. I don't like how the offense cannot setup a single powerplay properly. I don't like how we get outshot and outplayed on most nights. Goaltending is the reason we are 7 points out. There's a lot of work to do.
that's it! for wpg
What happens if the salary cap shrinks instead of the constantly predicted steady growth?
How many teams can absorb enough salary off the full guys to let the league continue?
Especially due to unforeseen issues and terrible attendance in BUF and ANA!
Based on my understanding, that is what escrow under the most recent player agreement. The players will have part of their salary pulled back or made up through reduced checks at the end of the season. The loss will be absorbed 50/50 between the teams and players.
top three teams in each division somewhat close? next three or four teams in each division fighting for wild card spot?
CBJ, OTT, MTL and DET are all playing well right now. Yea, a lot will come down to scheduling, consistency and injuries..typical EOY stuffs, yeah? Don't be surprised if TBL takes the division. They move the puck effortlessly and have the scoring power. (Yeah, they just had a bad recent road trip that cost them some catch up, but they already got their game back.) Be sure that the Habs will get mostly quality starts between the pipes from hereon. Sam and Jakub are outstanding. And their PP is currently 12th. I'm expecting that to move upward along with the overall quality of play as their seems to be that "we get it" in their strides on the ice.
I don't think there are any easy games in the league. The draft lottery teams (sounds more respectful than bottom feeder) will beat the teams above the playoff line, if they play their game better than their opponent plays theirs.
Well bottom feeders like my Habs are having a good run these days. Top teams have had a bad week.
Oilers had a 3-1 road trip.. 7-2-1 isnt a bad week. But 12-14 points came from all the top teams in last 10 games..pretty much same as detroit
@@dana102083 I didn't mean ALL top teams, but Boston, Ottawa and Montreal won against top teams recently.
Cool vid.
Man that Nordiques jersey looks good !
Who is saying the Wings' schedule is easy? Two of their wins in this streak were against Washington and Winnipeg, and two were wildcard competition in Columbus and Ottawa. And it's about to get much harder.
Wait so Detroit goes on a 7 game win streak. 2 of them being top 5 teams in the NHL and 3 teams that are currently fighting for a wildcard spot with Detroit.... but we had an easy 7 game streak?.... ppl love to hate lmao.
Dude habs played and beat the last 5 cup champs. I’d say Detroit has had it a little easier.
Oof 6 points ahead of the rangers? Those rangers sure look good swapping blue for black 😂
Yes
The fact that the two wild card teams in the East have less points than the wildcard teams in the West tells me that there is more parity in the East rather than meaning the East is mediocre. It seems like there is not a single tanking team in the East right now (at least no fanbase seems to want it apart from maybe PHI?) whereas there are two in the West (CHI and SJ). To further prove my point, as of today, the last place team in the East (BUF) is 4, 5 and 7 points ahead of the last place teams in the West (NSH, SJ, CHI, respectively).
Having most teams fighting for wildcard spots regardless of expectations makes for a much more exciting season than we've had in the past 3-4 years, where 8-10 teams were nowhere near the playoffs by US Thanksgiving.
I genuinely think the league should tweak the draft lottery odds to incentivize icing competitive teams every year, maybe go as far as reversing the odds completely from 16 to 1? I get why it is the way it is, but it seems weird how the league rewards losing instead of incentivizing GMs to take measures to stay competitive no matter what. Players and coaches certainly do not tank, so why do we accept that GMs do?
As a habs fan, I am very excited for the rest of the year not only because of our recent success, but also because it had been a while since I've been invested in a season to the point of looking at the matchups around the league and wishing for certain outcomes to give my team the better chance of squeezing through. The race for a wildcard spot in the East is gonna be great!
Rambling over 💩
Yes a buddy of mine is getting excited about Montreal being in te playoffs. Fair enough be excited.
BUUUUTTTT Montreal is tied with Ottawa and a point behind Tampa Bay. There are 15 NHL teams from Tampa Bay 53 to Seattle 45. That's 15 teams within 8 points of each other. You are a four game streak away from being safely into the playoffs to falling behind four teams to get in to the playoffs.
I can see parity but are the very top teams as good as top teams of the past? Are any teams today as good as per say 2013 hawks?
2014 habs
@johnq2068 Solid team and finished 3rd behind bruins and bolts.
I need to be fact checked, but I think Buffalo may be the only Eastern team who swept their Cali trip back in November, right before the wheels fell off. They are strangely "close" to the playoff line considering they managed to lose 13 straight. Interestingly, they haven't had a winning streak greater than 3 games since Jan 2023 when they won 5 in a row. It's difficult to watch someone self-sabotage their opportunities to succeed, but watching an entire team do so is bewildering.
Winning AT Winnipeg IS NOT EASY!
New to your show bud and a new fan of it. You goofed up at the beginning. Vegas is not in first overall they are tied with Winnipeg and Washington. Vegas and Washington have a game in hand in Winnipeg but they are all at 61 points. Keep up the good work eh!!! You make the so called TV experts look foolish. If I were a gambling man I would make my picks the completely opposite to the "experts" and "insiders" and get rich quick.;)))
The official NHL standings have Vegas first. They're officially at the top. I didn't goof
@@TheHockeyGuy OK;)))) must be an alphabetical order thing,,,,I'm looking forward to the 'Nucks here in Wiinipeg tomorrow. Will have a beer and a cheer for you! 😁
Kings vs Panthers SCF.
1:38 u mean the hurricanes?
Only thing about parity is everyone thinks theyre. A " buyer".at the deadline. mlb has the model on this, a zillion wild card spots now
Just a heads up Leafs won 5 in a row before the 2 game skid
It's the leafs. No body cares😅
It seems like the Islanders have been five-and-five in their last ten for the last 15 years.
Consistent in their inconsistency.
Columbus is the only team in that East playoff picture that has 0 pressure on them. Every other team will likely have major changes occur in the offseason if playoffs aren’t achieved. Will be fun to watch.
i hope the jackets make it in. if they do they will for sure be a dark horse and lets just say they happened to face the leafs in the 1st.... well I know who I put my money on.
I'd put Montreal in that category as well
@@jefjon423 they are 2nd on that list for sure but it’s Montreal they have high expectations regardless.
Chicago has left the chat...
Lots of mediocre teams this year. I can't say there's too much parity.
It's funny how all season there have been many teams tied for 1st place... Washington, Winnipeg, I think Minnesota, maybe even Jersey for a minute and now Vegas is in the mix... but there's only been 1 team consistently tied for 1st place all season!!! WINNIPEG!! never once below third outside of "power rankings"
Still half season tho and injuries can happen in 4 nations
I expected the Atlantic to be competitive, there's no team that was expected to tank. Buffalo I think could still make it, we've seen the competition get to teams near the end of the season where "nobody wants to make the playoffs" and they just collapse
7:22 The irony with all this As of today (Monday Jan 13) The Oilers would STILL PLAY THE KINGS AND THE LEAFS WOULD STILL PLAY BOSTON DESPITE BEING 1ST. GO THE F AWAY BOSTON!
Buffalo is certainly parody at this point
both are true and not mutually exclusive parity & parody
Parity is just a fancy way of saying mediocrity.
Not surprised and encouraged. We want LA and qe want them TONIGHT!!!. Go Oilers GO!!!!
11:50 Montreal Canadiens
"Detroit's schedule on that 7 game win streak has been easy" .... uh they beat #2 and #3 on this list.... I dont think that's easy.
And yet, he put LA ahead of Vegas in his power rankings. He is just trying to curse us.
Vegas is #1 today, moved back up after the win over Minny.
@ and when the Kings beat Edmonton? We’ll be back to #1. Hahahaha
Leafs won 5 not 4 ...then lost last 2.
No team wants the presidents cup!!!
What about loser points?
(Shhh)
-Nucks fan
Every team is in the same boat so this argument is irrelevant. Thats why they have reg wins as a tie breaker. You have 82 chances to not get a loser point, thats on the team.
As far as making the playoffs is concerned, I think the only thing remaining in the west is Calgary or Vancouver. The east, on the other hand, is a different animal. There are at least 8 teams contending for the last 2 spots. We can maybe exclude the Pens, as they just seem too inconsistent for my taste. Bruins are in dire straits, as almost everyone has played less games, and their margin is very thin, but I won't exclude them just yet.
We are in pretty good parity this decade, and I'm guessing that Buffalo and the bottom dwellers in the west will turn it around in 2 or 3 years.
I would love it if montreal makes playoffs.
One of the veteran teams from the Metro has to step up to prevent one of these bottom feeder teams from stealing a playoff spot.
I don't think it's as close as it seems bc we KNOW teams like the Jets, Wild, Leafs, Caps, etc. will crumble in the first 2 rounds. Rangers also fell of the face of the earth.
Go Nordiques everyone