Warriors clinched?

I see both the WHL and the Warriors are saying that Moose Jaw has clinched a playoff spot.

Now, we all know they're going to make the playoffs, but my math shows that they in fact have not clinched a spot at all. They have 73 points right now; if the 9th place team (Lethbridge) were to win all of their remaining games, they would also have 73 points, meaning the Warriors and Hurricanes would be tied for the 8th and final playoff spot in that case.

WHL rules require a 1-game playoff if that happens. If the Warriors lost that game, they would miss the playoffs. So I don't see how they can be declared to have clinched a spot. Or am I missing something here?

I know it's irrelevant since they will surely get one more point sometime this season and then it will be mathematical. Just trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong in my calculations here....or what the league has done wrong.

Best of the West

One of my favourite annual events in the WHL is the release of the "Best Of The West" and "Best Of The East" polls, where the players and coaches around the league are asked to rate the top opponents in various categories. Well, the Tri-City Herald released this year's Best Of The West yesterday. This will be the last year for the Best Of The West, which next year will be renamed the Tyler Johnson Awards.

I made that last part up. But Johnson has won a number of B.O.W. categories over his career in the WHL and capped off his last season in the league this year by winning four categories (Best Overager, Best Defensive Forward, Best Skater, and Top Faceoff Man) outright, and finishing 2nd in Most Valuable Player and 3rd in Most Accurate Shot.

Remember, these awards are chosen by his peers - the other teams in the western conference. So this is a heckuva lot more meaningful IMO than something chosen by the fans or beat writers.

Given all this recognition over the years, plus the fact that he is currently leading the WHL in scoring, and let's not forget about that WJC gold medal from 2010, why is this guy still an undrafted free agent in the NHL?

I know he's 5'9" and that's an issue for NHL teams. It's also reasonable to assume that he probably isn't going to be a big offensive contributor at the NHL level; if any of the 30 NHL teams saw any chance of that possibility coming true, he'd have been drafted or signed by now. But so what? Is there no team in the NHL that can use a good-skating defensive forward who's good on faceoffs? Even if he's not a blue-chip prospect, I think you have to at least acknowledge that the kid has a chance to play at that level....there's a lot of pretty untalented 6'4", 6'5" guys getting drafted in the late rounds of the NHL drafts and yet nobody will give a good smaller player a chance. In some ways, the NHL hasn't changed very much at all.

Deadline early returns, part II

More on how teams and players have performed since the trade deadline....below is a chart showing the games played and winning percentage for each team in the league before the deadline and after it, with the increase/decrease in winning percentage calculated and ranked amongst the 22 teams in the league:

	Before Deadline		After Deadline
	GP	Win%	GP	Win%	Diff.	Rank
Brandon Wheat Kings	43	0.395	11	0.545	+0.150	(5)
Calgary Hitmen	42	0.321	11	0.364	+0.043	(8)
Chilliwack Bruins	39	0.500	11	0.318	-0.182	(18)
Edmonton Oil Kings	40	0.525	12	0.417	-0.108	(16)
Everett Silvertips	42	0.476	10	0.550	+0.074	(7)
Kamloops Blazers	43	0.488	11	0.227	-0.261	(19)
Kelowna Rockets	41	0.537	9	0.889	+0.352	(1)
Kootenay Ice	42	0.679	11	0.545	-0.134	(17)
Lethbridge Hurricanes	40	0.425	12	0.458	+0.033	(10)
Medicine Hat Tigers	40	0.675	10	0.600	-0.075	(15)
Moose Jaw Warriors	42	0.619	10	0.650	+0.031	(11)
Portland Winterhawks	42	0.679	10	0.700	+0.021	(12)
Prince Albert Raiders	44	0.432	9	0.389	-0.043	(14)
Prince George Cougars	40	0.562	10	0.300	-0.262	(20)
Red Deer Rebels	42	0.655	12	0.917	+0.262	(3)
Regina Pats	41	0.415	10	0.450	+0.035	(9)
Saskatoon Blades	41	0.768	11	0.864	+0.096	(6)
Seattle Thunderbirds	41	0.512	11	0.136	-0.376	(21)
Spokane Chiefs	39	0.679	11	0.682	+0.003	(13)
Swift Current Broncos	46	0.489	9	0.111	-0.378	(22)
Tri-City Americans	38	0.658	10	0.850	+0.192	(4)
Vancouver Giants	42	0.512	11	0.818	+0.306	(2)

As you can see, the most-improved teams since the deadline are Kelowna (.537 before the deadline and .889 since it), Vancouver, and Red Deer. What is most interesting about those three teams being in those position is that two of them (Kelowna and Red Deer) made no deals at the deadline at all, and Vancouver made a lot of deals but primarily were sellers, moving Craig Cunningham. Yet all three teams are outperforming teams that loaded up.

The teams with the biggest drop in performance since the deadline are Swift Current (.489 before the deadline and a dismal .111 since it!), Seattle, and Prince George. Swift Current was an obvious seller, moving out Cody Eakin. Seattle wasn't clearly either a buyer or seller in their deals, and Prince George made no moves at all. Yet, all three teams have taken a dive since January 10.

And another look at how individual players have performed since they were traded:

(Dec 10) Regina sends Carter Ashton and 3rd rd '12 to Tri-City for Tanner Olstad, Nils Moser, 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '12, and 5th rd '12

Carter Ashton with TRI: 9-6-9-15-20,+5

Tanner Olstad with REG: 19-4-2-6-14,-11

Nils Moser with REG: 6-1-0-1-6,+1

(Dec 11) Saskatoon sends Tyler Kizuik to Lethbridge for 6th rd '11

Tyler Kizuik with LTH: 14-2-0-2-4,-3

(Dec 14) Regina sends Thomas Frazee to Kamloops for Shayne Neigum, Lyndon Martell and 3rd rd '12

Thomas Frazee with KAM: 19-9-9-18-22,-3

Lyndon Martell with REG: 15-6-4-10-9,+8

Shayne Neigum with REG: 17-6-1-7-44,-6

(Dec 28) Vancouver sends Craig Cunningham and 6th rd '11 to Portland for Spencer Bennett, Teal Burns, 1st rd '11 and 2nd rd '12

Craig Cunningham with POR: 15-8-10-18-13,+2

Teal Burns with VAN: 16-3-6-9-13,+4

Spencer Bennett with VAN: 16-15-14-29-10,+10

(Dec 30) Swift Current sends Joel Rogers to Vancouver for Dalton Reum

Joel Rogers with VAN: 6-1-3-4-16,+3

Dalton Reum with SC: 15-1-1-2-16,+2

(Jan 4) Moose Jaw sends Nathan Smith to Vancouver for Brett Lyon

Brett Lyon with MJ: 13-3-3-6-41,+5

(Jan 5) Brandon sends Darren Bestland to Vancouver for Matt MacKay and 4th rd '12

Darren Bestland with VAN: 13-1-6-7-13,+5

Matt MacKay with BRN: 13-3-14-17-6,+10

(Jan 7) Medicine Hat sends 4th rd '11 (Cond.) to Seattle for Scott Ramsey

Scott Ramsey with MH: 11-0-2-2-16,+5

(Jan 8) Edmonton sends 5th rd '12 to Vancouver for Mark Reners

Mark Reners with EDM: 10-4-3-7-2,-3

(Jan 9) Swift Current sends Cody Eakin to Kootenay for Christian Magnus, Ryan Bloom, Jarett Zentner, Colby Cave, Steven Myland, 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '11, and 3rd rd '12

Cody Eakin with KTN: 7-5-7-12-5,+5

Christian Magnus with SC: 7-0-1-1-7,-3

Ryan Bloom with SC: 9-0-0-0-0,-3

(Jan 10) Everett sends Kellan Tochkin and Alex Theriau to Medicine Hat for Ryan Harrison and 2nd rd '11

Kellan Tochkin with MH: 10-2-7-9-12,+1

Alex Theriau with MH: (has not played due to injury)

Ryan Harrison with EVT: 9-4-6-10-26,+5

(Jan 10) Calgary sends Matt MacKenzie to Tri-City for Brooks Macek, Spencer Humphries and 3rd rd '12 (cond.)

Matt MacKenzie with TRI: 10-3-4-7-15,+5

Brooks Macek with CGY: 11-3-7-10-4,+1

Spencer Humphries with CGY: 10-1-4-5-10,+2

(Jan 10) Vancouver sends Tanner Sohn to Saskatoon for 10th rd '13

Tanner Sohn with SAS: 1-0-0-0-0,-1

(Jan 10) Regina sends Mitch Spooner to Seattle for 5th rd '12 (cond.)

Mitch Spooner with SEA: 11-0-2-2-2,-3

(Jan 10) Prince Albert sends Sebastian Svendsen to Moose Jaw for Michal Hlinka, 3rd rd '11 and 6th rd '11

Sebastian Svendsen with MJ: 10-4-4-8-0,-1

Michal Hlinka with PA: 8-1-2-3-0,+2

(Jan 10) Brandon sends Brayden Schenn and 3rd rd '12 to Saskatoon for 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '11, 1st rd '12, 1st rd '12 Import pick, Ayrton Nikkel, and Tim McGauley

Brayden Schenn with SAS: 7-5-10-15-10,+8

(Jan 10) Prince Albert sends Ryan Button to Seattle for Charles Wells and 1st rd '11 Import pick

Ryan Button with SEA: 5-0-2-2-8,-3

Charles Wells with PA: 9-0-3-3-6,-3

The one deal that really sticks out to me so far is the Cunningham-Bennett deal. With Spencer Bennett playing so unexpectedly (to most of us, anyway) well, that deal is looking like sheer genius for the Giants. They moved out Cunningham but they got back a guy who is actually doing better for them than Cunningham did, AND they got the big draft picks to go with it.