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Follow @james_tanner123 I never participate when The HockeyBuzz Hotstove does the weekly power rankings because if you go against the standings (and you should, as the standings are luck based and the best teams rarely are ranked 1-5) people just call you an idiot and the whole thing is not really worth the hassle.
But, If I was going to I'd rank the LA Kings as the best team in the NHL because they have the best defenseman (Drew Doughty), arguably the best all-round player in Anze Kopitar and one of, if not the best, goalies in Jonathan Quick. And guess what? They are barely a playoff team right now.
If anyone ever doubts the luck effects of a seven game playoff series, you should tell them about how after 41 games the Kings are one point up on the Canucks. How does that even happen?
Anyways, Power Rankings in general are not exactly my cup of tea. Neither are expressions like Cup of Tea to be honest, which is a terrible cliche and I don't even drink tea - what am I, your grandma?
- I like coffee and lots of it, with a milk/cream (not picky about which) ratio that declines as the quality of the coffee rises.
What other random non-essential things can I tell you? I wrote a book of short stories that I have no idea how to publish and if given a choice I would like to never hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers or the Foo Fighters ever again.
Which reminds me that after damn near 25 years, I finally looked up the lyrics to "Even Flow" (a song I also really never need to hear again) and guess what? Thoughts really do arise like butterflies.
I've always said that.
Did you know I have never left the province of Ontario? I mean, technically I have done so three times - once when I was like four, my family went to Cincinnati but that doesn't count because I have no memory of it, once when my wife and I got lost in Ottawa and accidentally drove into Quebec for a few minutes and once on my grade eight trip to Niagara Falls we crossed over to NY to visit an aquarium for one hour. People seem to think this is weird but I don't really have any desire to travel (let alone a passport or the money to do so).
What else can I tell you?
I do a killer Ace Ventura impression, am totally part of the Liberal Elite and my life goals are to own an NHL team (of which I will name myself general manager) and to appear on Jeopardy. Yesterday I bought the new D'angelo CD and I like it a lot but I don't know if I'm supposed to say D-Angello or Dan-jello or Dan-je-lo or what. Either way it's a great new record and you should probably buy it too.
All this just to say that by game 42 a game preview seems pretty boring.
Guess what? The Coyotes played and they lost. Cue enthusiasm......now don't get me wrong, I am going to love the draft this year, but is it even sincere to try to muster enthusiasm for a team that sits 14 points back of a Playoff spot? In January?
A team whose ownership says it wants to win but who has yet to prove it by re-signing keith Yandle? I mean, I could probably get more pumped about the impending rebuild if each game didn't feel like Yandle's last with the team.
Hard to feel excited when the team is almost certainly going to trade your favorite player. (Ok, Co-favorite with OEL).
But I have resigned myself to this, and I just want them to do it already. Rip the ___ band-aid off real fast, not slow and tortuously.
Throw me some kind of bone here, cause we're in what the baseball guys call the dog-days of summer, only it's winter, but either way, you get the point.
As for last night's game? Well, the most positive thing is that Boedker scored for the third straight game. The team limited shots and gave itself a chance to win. Nothing super exciting happened, but it was a reminder that when the Coyotes are on, they aren't far off being a competitive team.
(Although the addition of a star goalie and elite top-line centre would pretty much turn any team into a contender, no?)
They came close to tying it in a frantic last minute that made you forget for a second that losing is probably more of a win than actual winning....but then someone on the Sharks blocked OEL's shot, the puck went was cleared and time ran out.
One interesting thing though was that Chris Summers played. I wonder if that was awkward: "Hey Chris, you're on waivers and you're being demoted, but we need you to play tonight because your replacement didn't arrive on time."
I'm sure he didn't mind the disrespect though: "Hey you want me to play another game in the NHL? Ok, I guess..."
Hey - just 40 games to go!!!!!!
(sorry for not including any classic cliche quotes from the coach about playing well and just not quite getting there in the end......until someone says something interesting, I'll leave that to the experts).
Thanks for reading.