KHL Statistical Power Rankings - Holiday Edition

With the Winter Olympic break in February, this Christmas break and a couple days off for the All-Star game, the season is further along than the last games in early March indicates.  This makes these rankings especially interesting.  Because the method used awards those that defeat teams with more points in the standings than those clubs disposing of weaker opponents, we are starting to get a picture of who has fared best against potential playoff opponents (full explanation of the methods used can be seen here).

Statistical Power Rankings

The first two interesting situations to discuss are Torpedo and KHL Medvescak.  Torpedo is ranked sixth in the stat rankings, though they are ranked 12^th in the league in points.  Their 88 goals scored is nothing impressive for potential playoff clubs.  So, their high power ranking likely means they are beating the best teams.  Their defeats of Medvescak (twice), Metallurg, CSKA and Dinamo Riga are proof that they will be competitive come playoff time.

Medvescak is a little different, as they have defeated some quality opponents (CSKA, Donbass, Sibir, Barys Astant), but their high scoring offense (third in the league) is pulling them into the 7^th spot.  All-Star forward Brandon Bochenski stated he thinks Medvescak will be a forced to be reckoned with in the first round of the playoffs because of their ability to put in goals. 

Current playoff bound teams that should be worried are Salavat Yulaev and Sibir.  Salavat has the fourth best scoring offense in the league and are fourth in the Eastern Conference.  However, they are ranked 12^th in the power rankings, indicating they have a hard time with the top teams.  This is true as they have lost to SKA, AK Bars, CSKA, Metallurg MG, Lev Praha, Traktor, Barys and Sibir.  Several of the teams mentioned previously are possible playoff opponents for Salavat and could spell an early defeat if they cannot begin competing with the best clubs.

Sibir is the team that separates the clubs with higher raw scores (1500+) from those who are in the bottom half (1300s and lower).  Unfortunately, they are on the bottom side of that separation.  Sibir’s 84 goals scored are third worst of all current playoff teams in the league and their +1 goal differential is also tied for third worst.  They have some cushion currently between themselves and lower seeded clubs Traktor and Admiral, but their remaining schedule includes SKA, Riga and Metallurg MG.  They will need to play the rest of the season at the level they showed they were to before the break, defeating Barys Astana 4-3.

Admiral is the final interesting case.  They are tied with Traktor for the final spot in the Eastern Conference, but Admiral is ranked higher than Traktor here.  Does this mean Admiral will prevail above Traktor?  Not necessarily.  It does indicate that if they make the playoffs, they have the potential to be more dangerous. 

Both Traktor and Admiral rank higher than current higher seeded club Sibir, making for some interesting hockey to watch with the playoffs on the horizon. 

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