Power Rankings: Sabres Claim Top Spot

By: Tyler J. Altemose (@HockeyGuyTy)

This is the first of my Power Rankings segments. I opted to not do one for the preseason because it was difficult to get a grasp on how exactly to rank each of the teams. Obviously it is not an exact science (everyone has their own opinion from TSN to ESPN to the next Joe Schmo writing about the sport of hockey), but I do my best to use my best judgment and not allow for bias in these segments.

For the record, there are a couple of things I like to consider when doing these power rankings. First, I cannot stress enough that I only take into consideration team performance on a week-to-week basis. If you’re looking for team standings, look somewhere else. I look at where teams sit from the previous week, how their GF:GA ratio looks, what their record for the week looks like (W, L, OTW, OTL, SOW, and SOL are all weighted against each other) and the number of games played in a week (for example, a team that only plays two games a week stands less of a chance of moving than a team that plays four games in a week). I also look at injuries and team depth.

Again, it isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s completely opinionated. But it should make for some fun hockey banter. I can’t ask for much more than that.