6-6-6 With Michael Scott (Week 2) 6 TEAMS at the top --> Teams that shouldn't change a thing and keep grinding.6 TEAMS on the cusp --> Teams who show signs of life who are most vulnerable to join the contenders or head towards the bottom. 6 TEAMS in the hole --> Teams that are currently in the toilet and are trying to avoid a flush. 6 Teams at the top 1) Ottawa Senators (14-2-2): Moving up from the #4 spot in the 'Top 6' last week, the Senators are quickly becoming a tall task for the rest of the league. Back to back 7-1-1 weeks, this team is being led by their top two lines captained by their two free contracts, Stiff and Dubzz. This team is absolutely nails in close games and often don't participate in high scoring affairs - holding a 9-0-2 record in 1 goal games. As a result, they have a pretty small goal differential margin (+11) despite having 14 wins (10th best GD). Ottawa has made 0 roster moves so far, we will see how long that holds. We all know Patt is carrying this team though. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 4-3 W vs. Chicago Players To Watch: @AnacondaStud @Justdumpit 2) Tampa Bay Lightning (13-4-1): Tampa is coming off of a 6-2-1 week, a record they will need to replicate over and over again this season to keep pace with this fiery division. Their top line is dangerous (Blur-Stastny-gren-auggy-joe) so the bulk of the weight will be on the backs of the second line to keep pace (Barks-sitful-zilla-magic-silver) who are 5-1 so far. I am a little worried about the third line but there is a TON of chem with those 5 so I don't expect much to change for Tampa in the coming weeks. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 4-2 W vs. Minny Players To Watch: @Iv 0VI vI @Barks l21l 3) Detroit Red Wings (13-4-1): To no ones surprise, the '6 teams on top' is dominated by the East Atlantic and could have included additional teams like Florida and Toronto but I kept it to the top 3. The Red Wings are currently tied for 2nd in the league for goal differential after a 6-3 week. I am most impressed with the rotating third line of this team. Detroit acquired hatemakerr and eatchy after the third line struggled in Week 1 and added them to the third line with Baky. Ice Cream Truck changed his strategy this season by putting himself on the third line as opposed to playing with Kosmic and Bob again and it has worked out (4-2 thru two weeks with two different lines). Hatemakerr had a a great week including two 4 point games (10 pts total) working the left side with Truck. If this third line can continue getting 3-4 points a week, this team will be prime for a division title. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 4-3 W vs. Dallas Players To Watch: @hatemakerr @Chrispy8120 4) Chicago Blackhawks (12-4-2): After a decent Week 1, the Blackhawks brought their A-game in Week 2, winning the first 7 of the week (11 game win streak) and unfortunately dropping the last two of the week to block an 8 or 9 win week. Their schedule was BRUTAL this week (see impressive wins below) and their two losses came against two more solid teams (including Sens) - Was a big 'show me' week for CHI. This team is very top heavy with Hendry and Burnsy wrecking havoc on the top two lines - I am however worried about the third line. It looks like rg Breezy was recently added to this group which will hopefully help in the coming weeks but there isn't much to be excited about beyond that - As long as the top lines continue to hammer out wins, this team will be fine but keep an eye on that third line. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 3-1 W vs. Tampa, 4-3 W vs. Detroit, 5-1 W vs. Florida, 3-0 W vs. SJS, 5-4 W vs. Toronto Players To Watch: @rG Breezyy @Hyperr x 95 5) Minnesota Wild (11-5-2): Similar to the Blackhawks, this week was the 'Atlantic' week for West Central and the Wild showed up, going 6-3. Prior to the week, Minnesota acquired veteran ReplayChris to bolster their defense and it paid off (2-1 week for Chris). The Greggy-Gilbzey-DDW line has carried the weight so far despite being dragged down by greggy - with most of their games getting out of control (last four games goals scored: 7,5,7,7). As long as the CT and Shockz line continues to be solid at least (4-2 so far), Minnesota will be fighting for the West Central title most of the season. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 3-2 W vs Florida, 3-2 W vs. Ottawa, 5-3 W vs. Detroit Players To Watch: @Gilbzey @Kjnger 6) Columbus Blue Jackets (11-4-3): Holding strong for a second week in a row, Columbus continues to impress, with a 6-1-2 week. Demarco continues his impressive start (5-0-1, 21 pts), proving to be a worthy free contract so far on this PlayStation heavy team. The Jackets moved The Broche to end the week and added Yicky Numbahs so we will see how that plays into their line building for week 3. Columbus is tied for 2nd with a +19 goal differential and are third in the league with 69 goals (nice). Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 4-0 W vs. SJS Players To Watch: @Krejci_46- @Wavy Nana 6 Teams on the cusp 1) New York Islanders (10-5-3): A team that was on the cusp of being put in the first group, the Islanders had a solid 6-3 week and haven't been afraid of making moves. After staying put with their roster heading into week 2, the Islanders have made some noise heading into week 3 adding Stewkos, Iggy, FunkyH and Blue Dream (losing shutthegate, hobbs, CM and Seek). Relatively fair value coming in and heading out but definitely will give their team a shot in the arm. Their defense has been impressive, allowing the 3rd lowest amount of goals on the season (46) and I think the roster moves this week should only help. Consistency is key for the Isles with 0 roster players with a losing record but no one with more than 4 wins. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 6-1 W vs. Edmonton, 2-1 W vs. Seattle, 3-2 W vs. Florida Players To Watch: @Stewkos @TheFunkyH 2) Toronto Maple Leafs (10-6-2): After a 6 loss week 1, the Leafs are back in the mix with a 7-1-1 week 2. They continue to be carried by their Sbass-Woody-Gally line but Fisher Dezo and Rippin erased their Week 1 blunder by having a 3-0 week. This third line is rough and will likely need some tweaks to have any success this season, otherwise they will continue to hold this team back from a real run at the Atlantic title. The Leafs have scored the most goals in the league thus far (72) and have to rely on the offense for the foreseeable future. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 5-3 W vs. Minny, 10-0 W vs. Dallas Players To Watch: @Dip City Don @DDezo 3) Washington Capitals (10-7-1): Similar to the Leafs, the Capitals had a great bounce back week (7-2) after a 6 loss Week 1. Believeinjesus-Goostav-Mxhahan-Assonato went 3-0 on Monday, sparking the 7 win week. Their goal differential is only +1 and their goal total is among the lowest in the league so the Caps will need to ramp up their offense but as long as the defense continues to let up 25 goals or less per week, they should be okay. BIG question mark is the 7-1 loss by huff and parksy to A1Freak and firehalo's Calgary Flames to end the week...hopefully that doesn't leave a bad taste in their mouth moving into next week. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 6-3 W vs. Edmonton, 4-3 W vs. SJS, 3-2 vs. Seattle Players To Watch: @Goostaav @Goahl 4) Vegas Golden Knights (9-5-4): Coming off of a 5-3-1 week, the Knights warded off their OT woes (3 OTLs week 1). The Rockxt line bounced back a little bit after making a few changes to the lineup going 2-1 but they got pounded by Pittsburgh's second line, beat a bad Carolina 3rd line and barely beat TheHeroicDuck's line. Will definitely be keeping an eye on Rocket/Kovy moving forward to see if they can start cranking out easy 3-0 weeks at some point. OgLowkeyy moved over to the Ground and Pound line and went 2-1. Hopefully the recent changes and flurry of trades will get this team back on track. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 3-0 W vs. Washington, 3-1 W vs. Minny Players To Watch: @xOgLowkeyyx @Newwdle 5) Calgary Flames (10-8-0): Well, well, well...Look what we have here. A team that most expected to be 0-18 at this point selling off pieces of their roster like hot cakes, the Flames continue to impress despite their interesting roster. The Flames defense ranks among the top 5 in goals allowed and they've gone 5-3 in 1 goal games with all 3 losses in regulations - They'd be a little bit higher on this list if they had pushed a few of those games to OT. Was most impressed by the EvMalkin-A1Freak-Firehalo-KsKrish line this week that I had dismissed before the first puck was even dropped. After going 0-3 last week with TertleToes at LW, EvMalkin (aka Dean) went off, carrying this line to 2-1 and somehow obliterating the moe-parksy line 7-1 to end the week. If the Flames can make a few more moves, they could flirt with a decent season. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 3-1 W vs. Islanders, 7-1 W vs. Washington Players To Watch: @EvMalkin @KSKrish 6) New Jersey Devils (7-10-1): I put the Devils here for 3 reasons. 1) They had an okay week (4-4-1). 2) Their division isn't that strong, leaving the door open. 3) They made a monster trade to shake up their roster to end Week 2. The only team to snag 2 wins this week was Ego-Toronify-Kenny line as HeroicDuck and Sleemn's lines continue to strugle. To conclude the week, Duck and Sleemn shipped out Booya, Taresenko, Perellzy and Sark for Gabseh, Shlarchey, Roaring Viper and Brandovedo. If Shlarchey falls in line, Roaring Viper turns his luck around and Brando wins his war with his internet, I think this is a great trade for the Devils that could turn their season around, but that's alot of BUTS. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 2-0 W vs. SJS, 4-3 W vs. Detroit Players To Watch: @Shlarchey @brandovedo 6 Teams in the hole 1) Colorado Avalanche (7-10-1): After a 5-4 Week 1, the Avs fell a bit going 2-6-1 in Week 2 which including an 11-0 loss but also 4 losses of only 1 or 2 goals. The major concern is the offense with the Avs having the 4th least goals (46) scored thru 2 weeks. TakeNotes97 remains the only Av with a winning record and all 3 lines have been average at best so far. Colorado shipped out PPask this week and added aPsychotik - a LW who can buzz and can help spark this lackluster offense. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): N/A Players To Watch: @aPsychotik 2) Philadelphia Flyers (6-10-2): Deke and Sejje finally got a win, going 3-0 this week on Sunday - However, the rest of the team thought that was enough wins on the week, going 0-6 the rest of the way, grabbing 0 pts (no OT games). Rookie goalie Kebz had a rough week, going 0-4 after being called up to the roster when the Flyers released Lundiee. The Flyers have 4 rookies on the roster with a combined record of 6-17-3 (spidy, trickshow, hudon and kebz). Philly will have to make a few moves to turn this sinking ship around. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 4-3 W vs. Seattle Players To Watch: @IkEBZI @Dekepedia 3) Carolina Hurricanes (6-11-1): After a rough week 1, the Canes barely avoided a 0-9 week going 2-6-1 and only won their two games by two goals (Jclaus line on Monday). With two lines going 0-3/0-2-1 and no roster moves made since bidding, I don't know where this team goes next. They have given up the most goals in the league (75) and have the 4th worst goal differential (-23). ??? Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 3-2 W vs. Edmonton Players To Watch: N/A 4) Vancouver Canucks (5-13-0): In my opinion, this team has the highest potential to turn things around from the bottom of the barrel teams. The partners in the Devils trade (mentioned above), the Nucks added Booya, Taresenko, Perellzy and Sark to give the roster a fresh look. Something that Duk will not let you forget, the Canucks lead the league in TOA differential by 8 minutes (+38min TOA) despite holding the leagues 2nd worst goal differential (-28). They are also tied for 2nd for least amount of goals scored so maybe less holdy, more shooty? Impressive Wins (Wk 2): 5-4 W vs. Columbus Players To Watch: The 4 guys from the NJD 5) Buffalo Sabres (3-14-1): The team with the worst record in the league, the Sabres did themselves no favors in Week 2 where the REFUSED to win a game, going 0-8-1. Unsurprisingly, the Sabres are leading the league in all the wrong categories (least amount of goals, most goals against, worst GD) and their top line is clinging on to a 3-3 record as the only victors thru two weeks with Owner Buffalo Star sitting at 0-6. They moved Unique and Finesse this week for BTW and Clouts but I don't see that changing the course of the next few weeks. Bleak outlook for the Sabres. Impressive Wins (Wk 2): lol Players To Watch: @BTW8892 6) N/A - Only 5 teams on this list for the week. -Mike
Mike Scott is the LG MVP so far this season. He’s carrying AHL and NHL media. Further proof 2020 is out of control. Great stuff as always Mike!
