ESPN.com's NHL Power Rankings Week 1

[caveman]

ESPN.com has posted their "Week 1" power rankings (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/powerranking) for the upcoming NHL season.

The Canes are ranked at #26 out of the 30 teams, last in our division behind Washington (#15), Atlanta (#20), and Florida (#25).

The return of a healthy Rod Brind'Amour -- and the embarrassment of being a one-hit wonder -- will lift the 'Canes off the East basement floor. But the performance of Kevin Weekes and the defense in front of him will determine how far.

Personally, I think we'll do a bit better than #26.

[guinevere]

Here's to hoping the follow up power ranking will be significantly better.
Come on Kevin... be all you can be.. :D

[Jillsdad]

This is par for the course with ESPeeN. If we had every all-star in the NHL on our team with patty Roy in his prime in net they would still not rank us above about 15th due to the fact that we used to be the Whalers.They are still sore about it.

[Stormbringer]

This is par for the course with ESPeeN. If we had every all-star in the NHL on our team with patty Roy in his prime in net they would still not rank us above about 15th due to the fact that we used to be the Whalers.They are still sore about it.

Exactamundo, JD. I know I constantly mention this, but it's absolutely sad how ESPN treats their humble beginnings...with the way they act, one would never even think that ESPN was formed to cover hockey games, especially Hartford Whaler/Carolina Hurricanes ones... :roll:

[nccanes]

Exactamundo, JD. I know I constantly mention this, but it's absolutely sad how ESPN treats their humble beginnings...with the way they act, one would never even think that ESPN was formed to cover Hartford Whaler games... :roll:

So are you saying that the Canes should get extra consideration because of that 20-some year old history? Are we supposed to look at the rankings and think "you can tell ESPN was formed in part to cover the Whaler/Canes".

I'm not saying that ESPN doesn't have faves, but I bet there are 15 sets of fans (or more) who think ESPN will never respect them after looking at these rankings.

Someone look up the week 1 power rankings from last year. They were wrong then no doubt. So they are wrong now (God we hope so). Big whoop. Tampa Bay was picked last by SI in their NHL preview issue. Big whoop. (Or did the Lightning do something to piss off SI that I'm unaware of? ;))

Yeah, I love to read good stuff about my favorite team but really - who gives a rip?

[Canesluver]

Well said.
:cool:

[Alicia]

I agree, Eileen. I mean, the season hasn't even started yet, so what the heck do they know anyway?

[guinevere]

No one knows and we are so unpredictable. I believe the standard equation is take number 2 and number 30, add and divide by 2. Take that number and subtract however many cups of coffee they had that morning and thats our ranking.

[Stormbringer]

No one knows and we are so unpredictable. I believe the standard equation is take number 2 and number 30, add and divide by 2. Take that number and subtract however many cups of coffee they had that morning and thats our ranking.

:laugh:

Despite what I said, I want ESPN and all to keep underranking/rating the Canes...it's only going to make the Canes a fiercer team to reckon with.

It's been said a ton already, but I can't wait for that first drop of the puck... :spin:

[Shell]

Here are power rankings for the season last year (assigned before the season started) to prove they know nothing

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/news/2002/10/08/rankings/

Their top 5 were

1. Colorady Avs win the cup
2. Detroit Red Wings
3. Washington Capitals
4. San Jose Sharks
5. Philadelphia Flyers

They ranked the Rangers higher than the Devils. We were ranked 17th. Anaheim was 22nd, Minnesota was 24th, Tampa was 25th

ESPN's must have been even worse since they have deleted those pages.

My advice, take one grain and call me in June...
http://www.marketart.net/projects/morton_close_up_2_small.jpg

[stewart123]

ESPN 2002 NHL Preseason Personnel Rankings

Eastern Conference

1. New Jersey Devils
2. Ottawa Senators
3. Carolina Hurricanes
4. New York Rangers
5. Philadephia Flyers
6. Washington Capitals
7. Montreal Canadiens
8. Toronto Maple Leafs
9. New York Islanders
10. Buffalo Sabres
11. Boston Bruins
12. Tampa Bay Lightning
13. Florida Panthers
14. Pittsburgh Penguins
15. Atlanta Thrashers

Western Conference

1. Colorado Avalanche
2. Detroit Red Wings
3. San Jose Sharks
4. Dallas Stars
5. Phoenix Coyotes
6. Los Angeles Kings
7. Edmonton Oilers
8. Vancouver Canucks
9. St. Louis Blues
10. Calgary Flames
11. Anaheim Mighty Ducks
12. Chicago Blackhawks
13. Nashville Predators
14. Columbus Blue Jackets
15. Minnesota Wild

These are strictly personnel rankings. We didn't take into account coaching, chemistry or scheduling. We also didn't go back and fix our "mistakes" after doing the math -- the Carolina Hurricanes are tied for third in the Eastern Conference because they have talent and depth at each position. Sure, there are teams that are better in certain areas, but those teams are also weaker in others. Plus, the Hurricanes have to stick to their system -- just like the Rangers need to kill penalties and the Flyers need to score on the power play -- to finish where they're ranked.

[nccanes]

Thanks Stewart and Shell.

Yeah that anti-Whaler bias was really evident in the Preseason Ranking last year. :roll: Shoulda had us first in the East I suppose. :p

[stewart123]

It's extremely hard to make a convincing case for the Canes being disfavorably treated in the 2002 rankings.. knowing as we do how it actually turned out.

But the Canes were the defending champions.. they had just beaten the Devils, Habs, and Leafs in the playoffs.. are there any teams below them that you would have expected to be ranked higher than the Canes in that situation? I didn't see any. But ESPN said it was a mistake to have them third, a result of some numerical skewing in their algorithm.

It's disrespect that just happened to be wildly more generous than the Canes ended up deserving.

[tommy]

Also, if you look in his archives, John Buccigross made some picks... I think he picked the Canes ending up 7th in the East this past year... but yeah, this just goes to show that it's just an over-hyped guessing game.

[CarolinaMatt]

I am with those who do not get too bent out of shape or put too much weight in the alleged experts' preseason predictions, but I do like to read them to get other viewpoints.

Here is a more favorable batch from tsn.ca.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=1704

The quick summary is that 2 of 4 analysts list the Hurricanes as "Team primed for a breakthrough." Interestingly, the other 2 pick Atlanta. The Southeast is finally! getting tougher though I still think the Thrashers will lose too many games 4-3, 5-4 because of their shaky defense.