midseason standings analysis: always expect the unexpected....

well, it is the middle of the season, and everyone mis doing statistical analysis of the season so far.  i guess i'll jump on the bandwagon.  here's a look at the standings.

Conference Standings: East

1.	* New Jersey	41	61
2.	* Buffalo	42	58
3.	* Washington	43	58
4.	Pittsburgh	45	55
5.	Boston	43	51
6.	Ottawa	44	48
7.	NY Rangers	44	48
8.	Montreal	46	47
9.	Philadelphia	43	45
10.	Atlanta	43	44
11.	NY Islanders	44	44
12.	Tampa Bay	42	42
13.	Florida	44	41
14.	Toronto	44	39
15.	Carolina	42	29

-i don't see much of the east, so i don't really see many surprises here.  buffalo is doing surprisingly well.  carolina sure crashed to the bottom of the league. philly did already have their coach fired (the day after hosting the canucks :P), and seem to be back into gear.  toronto is, well, toronto.

okay, next up: the wild, wild West

1.	* Chicago	44	65
2.	* San Jose	44	63
3.	* Calgary	43	55
4.	Phoenix	45	56
5.	Vancouver	44	55
6.	Nashville	44	55
7.	Colorado	44	54
8.	Los Angeles	44	53
9.	Detroit	43	50
10.	Dallas	43	47
11.	Minnesota	44	45
12.	Anaheim	44	43
13.	St. Louis	43	41
14.	Columbus	45	41
15.	Edmonton	44	37

now, this i can talk about.
-what is detroit doing in 9th???  they had a bad start (so did vancouver, btw), and still haven't fully recovered.  many key players got injured, a couple are starting to come back though.  they're working their way up the standings though, so be prepared to see them make an impact soon.  in the meantime, chicago has taken a dominant lead of the league, and nashville is impacting the lower playoff positions.  columbus and st. louis have both crashed since their miracle playoff runs last year.
-san jose is top of the pacific.  no surprise there.  the big surprise is the phoenix coyotes, who currently have a strong hold of 4th place.  due to their off-ice dilemmas over the summer and previous non-success, they were dubbed as most likely to finish in last place.  however, the players and coaching staff has done an amazing job at putting their game back together.  if they pull off a playoff run, they will be the feel-good story of the year.  the kings are also doing remarkably well, although many people were already predicting that to happen at some point soon.  dallas is fighting for playoff contention, and really benifiting from the points for overtime losses (11 already!!), while anaheim is rising from the cellar.
-colorado has been the big story in the northwest.  they finished 3rd-worst in the league last year, and were expected to do similarily this year.  but at the beginning of the season, they started the strongest in the division!  backed by goalie craig anderson, who they acquired from florida, and helped by 2009 1st-round draft pick matt duchene, they have done extremely well.  it has just been in the last couple weeks that they have lost their stronghold of the division lead.  calgary has been waiting in the wings the entire time for the avalanche to fall, and just recently took over the lead.  their lead has recently been cut short, though, because of the canucks.  vancouver started rough, like detroit, but halfway through october lost 8 key players at once!  injuries to daniel sedin, luongo, and many others caused for much disorder in the lineups, which reflected on the scoresheets.  after these key players came back, the canucks have been getting hot again, especially the sedin line.  just last night, vancouver tied calgary for points to share the NW lead, and now all 3 teams (colorado is still in there too) are battling for the title.  minnesota has been struggling, and edmonton is currently the worst team in canada (yes, even worse than toronto).

well, that's what i have to say about the standings right now.  i'll likely look at other stats tomorrow.