Power Rankin's (week of 2/15/10)

The Olympic break will give most of the league a well-earned respite for the next couple of weeks. But for now, I give you what you've all been waiting for for 7 whole days, The Power Rankin's - Vancouver Olympics Edition!

The Caps stumbled ever so slightly during the past week after a run bested in the modern day only by the 1993 Pittsburgh Penguins' 17-game win streak. Although the West's top teams could not capitalize to take over the top spot in the Rankin's, the top 3 positions in this week's edition are as close as we have seen them, statistically-speaking.

The Philadelphia Flyers take home this past week's Big Mover award, entering the Olympic Break on a 4-game winning streak and impressing with back-to-back home-and-home sweeps over New Jersey and Montreal. Calgary, on the other hand, fell 5 spots as teams like Ottawa and Philly surged.

Phoenix remains the only team in the NHL to hold a top-10 position in all five component indices of the Power Rankin's. San Jose, however, has crept up to grab the #1 overall spot in the Strength of Victory, Strength of Loss, and Goaltending Quality categories. Throw in Los Angeles, which ranks out of the top 10 in only Goaltending Quality, and Anaheim's and Dallas' battles for the final playoff spot in the West (currently straddling the playoff positioning bubble at 16 & 17 in the Power Rankin's, respectively), and you've got a Pacific Division that really sets up for an exciting finish.

1) (1) Washington
2) (4) San Jose
3) (2) Phoenix
4) (6) Colorado
5) (3) Chicago
6) (5) Los Angeles
7) (7) Buffalo
8) (8) New Jersey
9) (9) Vancouver
10) (12) Ottawa
11) (11) Nashville
12) (16) Philadelphia
13) (15) Detroit
14) (13) Pittsburgh
15) (10) Calgary
16) (14) Anaheim
17) (17) Dallas
18) (20) St. Louis
19) (22) Boston
20) (18) Minnesota
21) (19) Montreal
22) (21) Atlanta
23) (25) NY Rangers
24) (23) Tampa Bay
25) (24) Florida
26) (26) NY Islanders
27) (28) Columbus
28) (27) Carolina
29) (29) Edmonton
30) (30) Toronto

Why not fight instead?

As I followed the fleeting moments of the Nashville/Calgary game on Friday night, a thought occurred to me:

Instead of pulling the goaltender to get an extra attacker on the ice, why not just start a fight?

I am told by my "real hockey fan" counterparts that fighting provides some value to the game. At various times and in various combinations, I am told it provides the potential for a momentum shift in a game, it gets the crowd "into it," it inspires teammates, etc., etc., etc.

So, in Calgary v. Nashville, we have the fighting-est team in the league taking on one of the least fight-prone teams. Calgary is down by one goal, at home, and has a Captain recognized leaguewide for his leadership skill which, on more than rare occassion, includes dropping the gloves.

Well? Isn't it obvious that instead of pulling Kiprusoff with a minute left in an effort to deposit the tying goal, Jarome Iginla should have beat the shite out of someone?

Nashville's lack of fights combined with their better-than-average record is arguably an indicator that even if fighting provides some value toward the goal of winning certain hockey games, they choose not to employ that particular strategy and would therefore not get the same lift as their pugilist opponents would from some fisticuffs.