Weekend Update

Movin’ and shakin’ all around the conference this week:

- Montreal had lost 7 straight road games before finally winning in Colorado on Friday

- Sergei Gonchar’s return from injury makes Pittsburgh INSTANTLY better moving forward

- Philadelphia’s goaltending situation is officially “shaky”

- New Jersey beat a banged up Boston squad 1-0 in a clash of the East’s unmatched stalwarts

- Despite strong weeks from New Jersey and San Jose, the road to the Stanley Cup still goes through Detroit. The Wings remain the gold standard, the league’s envy.

The East’s talent distribution continues to follow a classic bell curve model: few elites, few poor teams, and MANY average teams. Though the middle cusp teams have the potential to win on any given night, they’ve been plagued with inconsistent efforts, producing two and three game spurts of hot and cold streaks. The top teams have a high probability of beating any opponent, while bottom teams are more likely to lose. In short, New Jersey has a great chance of beating New York (I) while Buffalo has around a 60% chance of beating Toronto.

Quality rankings (not current point standings):

Top: Boston, New Jersey

Above Average: Washington, Philadelphia, Buffalo, New York (R), Montreal, Pittsburgh

Below Average: Florida, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Ottawa

Bottom: Atlanta, New York (I)

BOLD = denotes top 8, playoff bound