Gameday - Detroit

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I've done this before...

Its been a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd check in to see how the Flames have progressed in regards to the power rankings around the sports pages. And yes, as I've said before, these don't mean anything...

TSN now has the Flames at 14, down from 11 last week, but up from 20 the week before. Seeing as I have only missed one Flames game in that time, I'm pretty sure that Scott Cullen has missed them all...

Sportsline put Calgary at 10 this week, as well as last week, up from 13 two weeks ago.

ESPN jumped the Flames up to 8th from 10th last week, but has them at the same spot they were two weeks ago.

Fox Sports seems to be all over the place, having Calgary at 13th this week, down from 11 last week, but an improvement on their 20th place ranking two weeks ago.

Sports Illustrated has the boys from Cowtown at 10th this week, down from 9th last week, but right in line with where they were the week before.

Finally, I've added Yahoo to the list, where they have the Flames at 15th, up from 18th a week ago. No wonder I didn't check them out before. They are also the only site to have the Red Wings at number 1, as opposed to number 2 (despite missing Hasek). And you can't say it has anything to do with their record, as Ross McKeon also has the Penguins at 6th with a worse record). It should be interesting to see where they put the 15th ranked Flames after a win over #1 Detroit tonight...

Overall, Calgary is ranked approxiametly 12th (11.67), down slightly from 11.5 last week, but up from 14.2 two weeks ago. And it should only be going up from here...

Excellent game from Kiprusoff on Tuesday night, as the Flames rolled through the Nashville Predators for the second time in as many games this season. Maybe the contract extension was all Miikka needed to get out of his early season funk...

The Flames host the Red Wings tonight, in what should be an entertaining game. Hasek is out with an injury, but Osgood has been playing well in his stead. Looking for the top two lines to keep rolling and for a little better performance from the blueline than what we've seen previously this season. And somebody needs to stop Zetterburg, as he's scored at least a point in every game so far...

Gameday - Colorado

Uhm, okay then...

The Flames are in Denver tonight to take on the Avalanche and are coming off a couple of road wins in Dallas and Nashville. Luckily this game will actually be televised...

Just out of curiousity I decided to take a look at sports sites to see what the rankings for the Flames (and the Avs due to them being the opponent tonight)...

TSN has the Flames ranked 20th, down from 8th even after winning the last two games. Their reasoning is that they think the team lacks scoring depth, which I find a little odd given the team's scoring last season and the fact that the forward lines only seemed to get stronger coming into this year. They have the Avalanche at 13, down from 12, and one spot ahead of the Predators (who have a worse record than the Flames and have some serious goaltending issues, not to mention the loss on Saturday)...

Sportsline has the Flames at a more reasonable 13, up from 14 last week. Which seems a fair bit more reasonable. Above the falling Predators and pretty much in line with how everyone has played the last week. The Avalanche dropped from 4 to 9, which is reasonable as well, since they are half a point up on the Flames...

ESPN is a little behind the times and still has their rankings from last week up, but they have Calgary at 8, down from 7 (and this is before the road trip started). Colorado is at 5, up from 8 (as they were at 2-1 at the time). I think the ESPN site is a little more in line with their idea of how they feel things will end up, with a weekly tweaking...

FOX Sports has the boys at 20th, up 7 points from 27th (!?!) last week. Wow, apparently Fox sports puts a lot more faith in the preseason than I do. Tonight's opposition dropped from 10th to 11th in the last week, obviously benefitting from a better preseason...

Sports Illustrated also has rankings up, but they are also a little behind. Calgary at 10, down from 5, and Colorado at 7, up from 13. Scott Wraight appears to be the only one to recognize the start of the season as nothing more than an anomally, as opposed to the norm. This is the only ranking that I read where the author fully admitted at the beginning that its nothing more than a crapshoot...

This gives an average ranking of 14.2 in the 30 team league...

What does all this mean? Sweet fuck all, as these things are always subjective. I just though I'd get an idea of where everyone thought the Flames would end up at the beginning of the season...