Trade deadline early returns

It's been about three and a half weeks since the WHL trade deadline on January 10, and most teams have played about 10 games - give or take one or two - since the deadline. With that in mind, here's a look at how teams have done since the deadline - records, plus goals for/against, win% since the deadline, and the difference between their win% since the deadline and what it was prior to the deadline - ie, are they playing better or worse since then.

Some interesting results for sure.

	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	GF	GA	Win %	Diff %
Portland Winterhawks	11	10	0	0	1	21	54	15	0.955	0.239
Edmonton Oil Kings	11	10	1	0	0	20	56	25	0.909	0.185
Kootenay Ice	8	6	1	0	1	13	36	22	0.813	0.273
Seattle Thunderbirds	10	8	2	0	0	16	25	18	0.800	0.143
Kelowna Rockets	12	9	2	0	1	19	54	32	0.792	-0.038
Red Deer Rebels	10	7	2	0	1	15	35	24	0.750	0.190
Victoria Royals	9	6	2	0	1	13	28	20	0.722	0.056
Tri-City Americans	11	7	3	0	1	15	30	22	0.682	0.143
Spokane Chiefs	12	6	3	3	0	15	31	38	0.625	-0.035
Brandon Wheat Kings	10	5	3	1	1	12	40	36	0.600	0.020
Regina Pats	10	6	4	0	0	12	36	28	0.600	0.061
Prince George Cougars	11	6	4	0	1	13	45	53	0.591	0.148
Vancouver Giants	11	5	4	1	1	12	41	41	0.545	-0.012
Medicine Hat Tigers	10	5	5	0	0	10	35	28	0.500	-0.122
Swift Current Broncos	10	4	4	1	1	10	33	31	0.500	-0.069
Everett Silvertips	11	3	6	2	0	8	28	46	0.364	-0.205
Calgary Hitmen	10	3	6	1	0	7	31	38	0.350	-0.330
Prince Albert Raiders	10	2	7	0	1	5	19	41	0.250	-0.240
Saskatoon Blades	9	2	7	0	0	4	20	41	0.222	-0.085
Lethbridge Hurricanes	10	2	8	0	0	4	15	54	0.200	-0.036
Kamloops Blazers	11	1	9	0	1	3	30	52	0.136	-0.128
Moose Jaw Warriors	9	0	7	0	2	2	17	37	0.111	-0.229

The first thing that jumps out at me is that Portland (followed closely by Edmonton) have been pretty much unstoppable since the deadline. Portland has netted 21 out of a possible 22 points since the deadline and are outscoring their opposition at a 4:1 pace. Edmonton is very close behind with 20 out of a possible 22 points, although less dominant in the GF:GA department in their wins. 

Both those teams were pretty good before the deadline though - so the most improved team since the deadline is Kootenay. The Ice are playing .813 hockey in 8 games since January 10, after being a .540 team before that date - an improvement of .273. 

At the other end of the spectrum is Calgary, who made several significant moves leading up to the deadline but are a terrible .350 pace since, after being .680 before - a drop of -.330. Prince Albert is another team that has dropped off since the deadline, playing .250 since after playing .490 before the deadline but making several moves intended to improve their team. I guess sometimes it just takes time to gel after making moves and the Hitmen and Raiders haven't found that chemistry yet.

Saskatoon, Lethbridge, Kamloops, and Moose Jaw have been the worst teams since the deadline, although they were the worst teams BEFORE the deadline too so not too much has changed there.