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This site will be ranking the Candian teams on 5 categories in the middle of each month. Remember, these are just my opinion and this isn't anything official but I'm sure you'll find it interesting. (Their placing last month is in brackets)
Goaltending
1. Montreal(1)
2. Ottawa (2)
3. Toronto (3)
4. Calgary (5)
5. Edmonton (4)
6. Vancouver(6)
Explanation
Montreal's still getting great goaltending from Jeff Hackett and he's the team MVP at this point. Ron Tugnutt's playing great but for some reason Rhodes keeps starting for Ottawa. CuJo's stealing wins for T.O. while Freddy Brathwait is starting to give people a crazy notion that he's for real. Edmonton and Vancouver are bombing in nets.
Defence
1. Ottawa (1)
2. Vancouver (3)
3. Edmonton (2)
4. Montreal (5)
5. Toronto (4)
6. Calgary (6)
Explanation
Ottawa and Calgary stay on the edges while there's a bit of flip-floping in the middle. Edmonton's awful (or atrocious) play of late drops them to third while Montreal's aquisition of Scott Lachance bumps them up to fourth.
Forwards
1. Toronto (2)
2. Ottawa (1)
3. Montreal (3)
4. Edmonton (5)
5. Vancouver (6)
6. Calgary (4)
Explanation
The big droper here is Calgary and I think we all know why (starts with a Theo, end with a Fleury). Montreal's got enough depth to maintain third after their loss and neither Edmonton or Vancouver have the guns to de-throne them from the upper half. Toronto and Ottawa, Canada's two good teams are obviously 1-2 here.
Overall
1. Ottawa (1)
2. Toronto (2)
3. Montreal (3)
4. Calgary (5)
5. Edmonton (4)
6. Vancouver (5)
Explanation
Calgary's hot player of late gets them into fourth here ahead of the slumping Oilers. Edmonton does not look like a playoff team at this point and they need to solve their golatending woes or they'll lose those valuable playoff revenues. Montreal's been hot-cold but they still have a better team than Calgary and Edmonton, they just play in the better conference.
Most Likely to Win the Cup
1. Ottawa (1)
2. Toronto (2)
3. Calgary (5)
4. Edmonton (3)
5. Montreal (4)
6. Vancouver (6)
Explanation
I might just as well write:
1. Ottawa
2. Toronto
and leave it at that because those are the only two contenders. Calgary and Edmonton may be in a great playoff race but they don't have the talent to go far. Montreal may have the talent but they're not in the playoff race and the Recchi deal doesn't help. As for the Canucks...