Mid-Season Review, Part Two of Three: The Western Conference

CENTRAL DIVISION

TEAM ...........GP..W...L...T..OT..PTS..GF...GA
St. Louis ......38..24...9..0..5...53...133..113
Nashville ......40..18..16..0..6...42...130..132
Chicago ........36..17..15..0..4...38...106..117
Detroit ........39..14..22..0..3...31...108..137

St. Louis Slashers sport an 11-point lead over the second-place side in the Central Division and hold two games in hand to boot. They've knifed their way to a fantastic 13-3-0-2 road record and are almost as good at home. Backup goaltender Martin Biron has arguably been the biggest surprise in the SPIHL so far with eleven wins against one loss, a ridiculous 1.47 GAA and a save percentage of .952. Five Slashers are in double-digits in goal scoring so there is no one forward for opponents to key on. Though this team has 15 more wins than losses, their goal differential is only +20 which is an indicator that they win close games. Games-played issues have been managed intelligently so this is not a team that is likely to slip in the second half unless Biron becomes human.

Nashville Stallions sit in second place by four points but have played four more games than the third-place side. Nashville boasts (whispers about?) the worst penalty-killing in the league so far with just a 70.2% success rate including a 68.8% mark on the road. Young gun Anze Kopitar is amongst the league leaders with 36 helpers in 40 games to go with 14 goals. Between the pipes, Evgeni Nabokov and backup Jocelyn Thibault have combined for a strong .910 save percentage which makes one wonder what the penalty would look like with more average goalies.

Chicago Cougars have been infused with excitement as new ownership recently took over and has embodied the true meaning of 'cougar': an older woman who preys on younger men. But that's beside the point. This team has plenty of balance and will likely be a contender for the division title next season as goalie Chris Osgood matures and ownership finds a proper winger for super center Joe Thornton (13-24).

Detroit Winged Wheelers are bringing up the rear and will be sitting there ... until next season. Youngsters Phil Kessel, Corey Perry, Braydon Coburn, Jack Johnson and Pascal Leclaire are learning the ropes this season and could mature into a formidable force as early as next season. This team could be great in a year or two, or horrible; time will tell.

St. Louis should hold onto first place and Chicago should overtake the Stallions. Detroit will finish last and miss the playoffs but show great promise for the future.

NORTHWEST DIVISION

TEAM ...........GP..W...L...T..OT..PTS..GF...GA
Edmonton .......39..26..12..0..1...53...122..103
Minnesota ......41..24..16..0..1...49...143..123
Colorado .......37..20..15..0..2...42...116..115
Vancouver ......41..17..21..0..3...37...124..129

Edmonton Golden Bears sit atop the Northwest division in large part to racking up 17 wins in 20 home games so far despite having just a .500 record at home. Martin St. Louis IS Edmonton as his 23 goals and 24 assists puts him more than 20 points ahead of the next Golden Bear scorer. Netminder Peter Budaj has played very well so for posting 2.67 and .914 numbers over 33 games. Opponents need to shut down Martin St. Louis to have a chance of winning.

Minnesota Wolves sit in second place despite a self imposed salary cap of fourteen dollars and seven cents. For some reason Minnesota thought that the salary cap was in Canadian dollars and didn't realize that Canadian dollars can now be used to purchase actual goods and services, so they went conservative when spending on players. It hasn't hurt them yet. Patrice Bergeron (19-39) is near the top of the league in points and joins Milan Michalek, Jarret Stoll, Steve Bernier and Gary Roberts as Wolves with at least 17 goals. Bernier, Jeff Carter, Mike Comrie, Andrew Ladd, Gary Roberts and Jarret Stoll are all going to run into games-played issues in the second half making it tough for the Wolves to stay in the top half of the division.

Colorado Chaos who were apparently named after their four-goaltender rotation system sit in third place on the strength of their 11-5-0-1 home record. Ilya Bryzgalov and Martin Gerber should be a formidable goaltending pair next season. Jarome Iginla has paced the offense with 23 goals while Brian Rolston and Keith Tkachuk have chipped in 15 apiece. Wade Redden (3-23) and Brent Sopel (6-18) lead the attack from the back.

Vancouver Blizzard blow into fourth place due to inconsistent goaltending from Marc-Andre Flurries (36 games, .897). Scoring has been balanced with Eric Staal (11-33), Pavol Demitra (16-20), Brian Rafalski (5-29) and Fredrik Modin (12-16) having all contributed strong performances. This team will not get any better without either an upgrade to the goaltending or an upgrade in the defensive capabilities of the right-defensemen.

Edmonton should be able to retain their grip on first place as Minnesota is expected to stumble to third place due to games-played issues. Colorado will edge into second place and Vancouver will go nowhere unless they shovel themselves out of their goaltending issues.

PACIFIC DIVISION

TEAM ...........GP..W...L...T..OT..PTS..GF...GA
San Jose .......43..22..20..0..1...45...103..125
Los Angeles ....41..21..17..0..3...45...117..104
Dallas .........41..20..17..0..4...44...120..122
Phoenix ........41..18..20..0..3...39...118..136

This is the most competitive division in the league featuring just a six point spread between first and fourth place and also featuring four of the league top five goalies in terms of minutes played. San Jose Thunder are tied for first place despite a -22 goal differential. The Thunder have four players with more than 30 points in Mikko Koivu (15-23), Alexander Frolov (14-24), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (7-27) and rearguard Sheldon Souray (10-23) but the glue holding this team together is superstar goalie Roberto Luongo (39 games, .909). Most of the team's skaters are minus players and Luongo would benefit greatly if the team could add a legitimate top gunner.

Los Angeles Route 66ers are the other team tied for first but have played two fewer games than San Jose. LA sports one of the worst power plays in the league at 15.8% but balance it out by being far and away the top penalty-killing team at 86.3% which will serve them well in the playoffs. There is no shortage of character amongst the team scoring ranks as Brad Richards, Chris Drury, Mathieu Schneider, Dustin Penner and Mats Sundin have all had strong but unspectacular first halves, but some minor games played issues could be the difference between first and fourth for this team. Superstar goaltender Martin Brodeur has posted numbers of 2.28 and .923 in 39 games so far. How is it possible that he's started 21 and 17 consecutive games so far despite a fatigue rating of 10? More on that in Part Three of the Mid-Season Review.

Dallas Otters sit in third place just one point out of first place but are doomed to finish in the bottom half of the division due to games played issues. Star goalie Olaf Kolzig (2.80, .909) can only play about half of the remaining games meaning backup David Aebischer (3.94, .865) will see more time than is warranted. Five forwards have double-digits in goals as Alexander Semin (15-23), Jonathan Cheechoo (21-15), Alexei Yashin (13-21), Erik Cole (12-18) and Todd Marchant (10-7) have all found the back of the net, however all but Marchant are minus players.

Phoenix Fire Ants sit in fourth place and are likely to remain there as they have inexplicably shipped their top scorer Teemu Selanne (15-28) away for a draft pick. Stephen Weiss (16-21) and Daniel Alfredsson (9-28) are left to bear the scoring load and shake their heads in disgust as the scoring ranks are thin behind them. Kari Lehtonen (3.18, .904) has gotten the bulk of the work in net and has played reliably well but has yet to show a penchant for stealing games.

Expect San Jose to hold onto first place, LA to secure second, Dallas to finish third and Phoenix to finish fourth and barely miss the playoffs ... due to the loss of Selanne.

PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS

St. Louis, Edmonton and San Jose will hold onto their first place division leads. Detroit, Vancouver, Phoenix and most likely Dallas will be on the outside looking in.

UP NEXT

Mid-Season Review, Part Three of Three: The State of the League