Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, I thought it would be interesting to update this article from the off season to see how the teams stack up against one another as we head into the playoffs

(Previous article found here: http://new.brhl.net/article/view/8)

While the earlier article only looked at SC and PA ratings, I’ve added a new wrinkle this time and have included a breakdown of DF ratings; but for forwards only. This is because most teams have 80+ DF rated dmen for 4 or more of their top 6 so I felt including them would be a bit irrelevant.

Also note that only those players on team’s main rosters were looked at. I know that there are plenty of teams with guys that have 70+PA or 70+DF stashed on their farms, but if they aren’t one your big squad now, chances are they won’t be up there for the playoffs.

As a reminder, ratings of 80 and above are generally considered ‘elite’ or top line player ratings whereas ratings of 70 and above are generally considered secondary scoring.

Once again, the major thing to remember when looking at these charts is that this doesn’t mean that the Coyotes have 2 guys with elite scoring and 7 guys with secondary passing abilities. In a lot of these cases, the scorers and passers shown on a team are the same player; i.e. Patrick Kane is a 95 SC and a 96 PA.

Here’s how the league shakes out post trade deadline:

As an extra bit of analysis, here’s how all of the teams stack up to one another conference wise:

Notice anything interesting about this distribution and oh say… the current standings in the West?

Clearly, the distribution of firepower is a bit more balanced in the East.


So what does this all mean?

Once again as it was at the start of the season, most teams have a healthy amount of secondary scoring and at least one or two ‘elite’ scorers or passers.

However, it does appear that the teams that have 3 or more ‘elite’ scorers and passers are the ones that are performing the best this year; with the notable exceptions being the Panthers and the Penguins.

Teams that may not have as much elite firepower as some of their competition but are doing well seem to be doing so because they have a lot of secondary scoring to help offset not having as many star scorers; i.e. Devils and Habs in the East, Yotes and Preds in the West. Again, with the notable exception of Rich’s Panthers.

Defense: Is important, duh. But it also looks like if you don’t have the firepower to back up that D - i.e. St. Louis, Leafs - it doesn’t matter how good defensively your forwards are, you won’t do well. For the most part, teams with at least 4 80+ DF rated forwards coupled with elite level scoring and passing (looks like 3 is the magic number in the more balanced East and 2 is the number in the top heavy West) are doing well; with the exception of Rich and Billy.

So in the end, what does this all mean and what will it mean for those teams chasing a playoff spot or when the playoffs actually start?? Probably nothing…. But it was fun to take a look at ;-)