By Phelim McAleer
Copenhagen Post
This is the 4th part of 4 in the season preview series. Today we are looking at the second division in the Northern Conference, being the Ahearne Division that comprises of the Northwestern teams.
As always, I rate goalies, top 4 D, and top 6 offence out of 10, the “future” potential of the team out of 5, and cap space out of 3, in order to make a reasonable prediction about the standings for the current year.
I also tried to compare these teams to other divisions in order to keep the rankings consistent.
Goaltending
The Ahearne Division boasts arguably the best set of goaltenders, having five 84+ overall goaltenders as well as 3 others over 80+OVR. Not surprisingly, the three top teams in terms of goaltending include the 85+ goalies. Edinburgh traded away Lundqvist for Tavares and offense, but still have Bryzgalov and Reimer, and Dublin’s two veterans in Thomas and Nabokov declined over the year. Belfast, London, and Oslo have top tandems getting better so it will be tough to see the quality of goaltending dissapating in this division anytime soon. However, Copenhagen takes the top spot by having Luongo and Hiller, and the only team in the league with two 83+ OVR goalies.
Out of 10
- Copenhagen: 9 Points
- Belfast/London/Oslo: 7 Points
- Dublin/Edinburgh: 6 Points
Top 4 Defense
Oslo takes the top spot by far in this division by having the two best defenseman in the division in Weber and Suter. Petrasek and Fayne completes the top 4 in what is a top 3 D core in the league. Belfast and London on the other hand, have gone with a very young core with lots of potential, and it will be interesting to see how they handle the top offenses in the league.
Out of 10
- Oslo: 9 Points
- Copenhagen: 7 Points
- Dublin: 5 Points
- Edinburgh: 4 Points
- Belfast: 3 Points
- London: 2 Points
Top 6 Forwards
This category is very interesting as the offensive parity in this division is almost unbelivable. Oslo arguably have the top line in the division in Sedin-Datsyuk-Briere, followed closely by Dublin’s Ryan-Kesler-Kessel (USA USA USA!!!!!) line and Copenhagen’s Ladd-Weiss-Heatley line. However the division has some great young forwards in Duchene (Belfast), Sutter (Copenhagen), Benn/Tavares/Stepan (Edinburgh), as well as Seguin and Hall (London). Edinburgh improved the most by picking up the top offensive forward in the division in John Tavares. It will be interesting to see how London solves the problem of their relative weakness on forward, as current they have promising players in Hall and Seguin penciled into the first 2 lines, who are perhaps not quite ready to handle a large workload.
Out of 10:
- Oslo: 6 Points
- Dublin: 6 Points
- Copenhagen: 6 Points
- Belfast: 6 Points
- Edinburgh: 6 Points
- London: 3 Points
Future Potential:
Edinburgh and London boast the most future potential in Tavares/Benn/Stepan/Ekman-Larsson (Edinburgh) and Seguin/Skinner/Hall (London) which will in a year or two change the whole landscape of the division. However, the rest of the teams are not far behind in terms of having some top young talent.
Out of 5:
- Edinburgh: 4 Points
- London: 3.5 Points
- Dublin: 3 Points
- Belfast/Oslo: 2.5 Points
- Copenhagen: 2 Points
Cap Flexibility:
The only person with cap concerns will be Dublin, who is currently at 62M in payroll, however by moving a player or two to the farm it shouldn’t pose much of a problem. London, at around 55M payroll, has room to make deals and perhaps improve at left wing or defence.
Out of 3:
- London: 2.5 Points
- Oslo/Copenhagen: 2 Points
- Belfast/Edinburgh: 1.5 Points
- Dublin: 1 Point
Summary:
Overall, it seems like the top two teams in this division by far will be Oslo followed closely by Copenhagen, who both have a great defence and solid offence and goaltending. Ultimately for the other teams it will take coaching, player growth and investments to separate themselves from the pack for a playoff spot.
Final Projected Standings:
1st Place: Oslo (great D and solid all-around talent)
2nd Place: Copenhagen (great goaltending but could stand to upgrade on the other areas)
3rd Place: Edinburgh (the 1st line is becoming a powerhouse in the league)
4th Place: Dublin (very solid all-around team in every position, right up to the cap though)
5th Place: Belfast (young stars in every position that will be rewarding in the future)
6th Place: London (needs to address its concerns on quality of defense and offense)
