What do you know? The London Knights are rolling. Again.

London-Knights-centre-Cliff-Pu.-(Terry-Wilson/OHL-Images)

London Knights centre Cliff Pu. (Terry Wilson/OHL Images)

The CHL Top 10 Rankings were released Wednesday, and it seems like things are starting to normalize. After nine weeks, gone—or mostly gone—are the wild swings that have seen teams jump on and off the list.

The average number of weeks spent in the rankings for this week’s group is 6.2, with Rouyn-Noranda and Shawinigan having made every list and Oshawa debuting. Thanks to Prospect-Stats.com for allowing us an alternative look at the 13 teams named. The chart is sorted by points percentage.

Rank Team Record Pts. Pct. Est.FC% GF GA GD GF% SF SA SD SF% Sh% Sv% PDO
1 Regina Pats 14-0-3-0 0.912 59.91 104 57 47 64.6 810 557 253 59.25 12.08 0.898 101.85
3 Everett Silvertips 15-2-3-0 0.825 54.11 69 41 28 62.73 604 551 53 52.29 10.83 0.926 103.39
5 Prince George Cougars 16-4-2-0 0.773 52.68 80 56 24 58.82 709 661 48 51.75 10.78 0.917 102.45
6 London Knights 13-3-2-1 0.763 53.87 85 53 32 61.59 707 598 109 54.18 11.9 0.913 103.19
2 Erie Otters 15-4-2-0 0.762 58.13 96 59 37 61.94 810 629 181 56.29 11.52 0.906 102.14
7 Windsor Spitfires 13-4-1-0 0.750 50.38 69 53 16 56.56 595 611 -16 49.34 11.15 0.919 103.08
4 Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 14-4-1-2 0.738 54.56 84 46 38 64.62 700 596 104 54.01 11.62 0.926 104.21
10 Oshawa Generals 15-5-0-1 0.738 53.38 73 57 16 56.15 814 719 95 53.1 8.52 0.922 100.72
9 Medicine Hat Tigers 14-5-1-0 0.725 59.88 96 63 33 60.38 869 594 275 59.4 10.74 0.900 100.74
8 Shawinigan Cataractes 13-6-0-0 0.684 48.98 74 51 23 59.2 664 585 79 53.16 11.01 0.914 102.45
HM Moose Jaw Warriors 11-4-4-0 0.684 49.41 72 67 5 51.8 617 700 -83 46.85 11.24 0.906 101.8
HM Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 14-6-1-1 0.682 54.34 64 45 19 58.72 689 618 71 52.72 8.89 0.927 101.61
HM Saint John Sea Dogs 13-6-2-0 0.667 61.12 87 61 26 58.78 863 545 318 61.29 9.66 0.893 98.96

There are some interesting trends emerging among this week’s teams. We’ll start in the OHL.

Lighting it up
Alex DeBrincat and Taylor Raddysh are the top-scoring duo in the country for the top-tanked team in the Ontario loop. To put it simply, they can’t be stopped. Raddysh is riding a 10-game scoring streak in which he’s put up 13 goals and 27 points, while DeBrincat has seven goals and 15 points in his past five contensts.

The pair sit first and second in OHL scoring, with Raddysh five points up on DeBrincat and 10 points up on No. 3 Jeremy Bracco of Kitchener.

Taylor Raddysh; Erie Otters; OHL; CHL; Tampa Bay Lightning; 2016 NHL Draft; Sportsnet
Taylor Raddysh is shooting a ridiculous 20.22 percent this season. (Terry Wilson/OHL Images)

Here come the Knights
I know: different season, same story.

What’s surprising is that the Knights have been doing it without any members of their top line from last season. They were also hoping to have 19-year-old centre Jack Roslovic, but he is leading the Manitoba Moose in scoring and isn’t likely to be loaned to London. Compounding those issues has been injuries to both of London’s top goalies, Tyler Parsons and Tyler Johnson, meaning five netminders have already seen the ice for London this season.

So it’s been plug and play for Dale Hunter’s sqaud, which hasn’t missed a beat. And they’ve been doing it with a brood of kids and a handful of others who’ve played second fiddle the past season or two and are now getting their shots.

Player Pos Age GP G P P/GP
Richard Whittaker LW 16.438 6 1 1 0.17
Billy Moskal C 16.485 6 0 2 0.33
Liam Foudy C 16.611 14 1 3 0.21
Evan Bouchard D 16.904 19 0 9 0.47
Alex Formenton LW 17.005 19 5 10 0.53
Riley Coome D 17.192 2 0 0 0
Robert Thomas C 17.205 19 6 19 1
Josh Nelson C 17.304 16 1 3 0.19
Ian Blacker D 17.304 14 0 0 0
Cole Tymkin RW 17.447 16 2 4 0.25
Jacob Golden D 17.49 17 0 2 0.12
Alex Turko C 17.688 4 0 0 0
Victor Mete D 18.274 18 7 18 1
Cliff Pu C 18.285 17 13 32 1.88
Janne Kuokkanen C 18.31 17 11 25 1.47
Olli Juolevi D 18.364 15 2 11 0.73
Nicolas Mattinen D 18.532 17 0 1 0.06
Max Jones LW 18.575 10 8 20 2
Justin Badour LW 18.668 1 0 0 0
Noah Bennett RW 18.995 2 1 1 0.5
Sam Miletic LW 19.367 19 13 17 0.89
Brandon Crawley D 19.616 15 1 7 0.47
Chris Martenet D 19.973 8 0 1 0.12
JJ Piccinich RW 20.26 17 9 23 1.35
Owen MacDonald C 20.312 12 2 7 0.58
             
Player Pos Age adj.GSAA SA GA Sv%
Jordan Kooy G 16.378 1.74 34 1 0.971
Trenton McGrail G 17.863 0.4 5 0 1
Tyler Johnson G 18.603 1.15 223 19 0.915
Tyler Parsons G 18.992 -0.06 173 16 0.908
Emanuel Vella* G 18.104 -2.85 185 19 0.897
*traded          

The latest star turn in London has come courtesy of centre Cliff Pu. He arrived as a 16-year-old from Oshawa in the Michael McCarron deal two seasons ago, made great strides in 2015-16 and was one of the most impressive Knights at the MasterCard Memorial Cup. With 32 points since returning from Sabres camp, he’s already surpassed his total from last season. He’s joined by relative veterans Olli Juolevi, Max Jones, JJ Piccinich and Victor Mete in the Knights core.

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Spits not firing at 5-on-5
Windsor is scary in that if not for its power play, who knows where it’d be. The Spits are clipping along at just over 30 per cent to lead the O with the man advantage. Case in point: Logan Brown. The first-rounder leads his team in scoring with 21 points, but 14 have come on the power play. At 5-on-5, his goals-for percentage is 52.17, that’s 101st among OHL forwards who’ve played at least 10 games.

That’s not to put all of Windsor’s 5-on-5 issues at Brown’s feet, but he’s an example of what’s ailing that team, if you agree that the seventh-ranked team in the nation can be ailing.

West is best
In the Dub, the squads at the top of the table are looking as strong as they ever have in recent seasons.

Regina is the only undefeated team left in the country, and WHL teams are holding down the three best points percentages in the CHL, although they’re getting things done in different ways.

Rank Name Record Pts. Pct. GF GF% SD
1 Regina Pats 14-0-3-0 0.912 104 64.6 253
3 Everett Silvertips 15-2-3-0 0.825 69 62.73 53
5 Prince George Cougars 16-4-2-0 0.773 80 58.82 48
6 London Knights 13-3-2-1 0.763 85 61.59 109
2 Erie Otters 15-4-2-0 0.762 96 61.94 181
7 Windsor Spitfires 13-4-1-0 0.750 69 56.56 -16
4 Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 14-4-1-2 0.738 84 64.62 104
10 Oshawa Generals 15-5-0-1 0.738 73 56.15 95
9 Medicine Hat Tigers 14-5-1-0 0.725 96 60.38 275
8 Shawinigan Cataractes 13-6-0-0 0.684 74 59.2 79
HM Moose Jaw Warriors 11-4-4-0 0.684 72 51.8 -83
HM Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 14-6-1-1 0.682 64 58.72 71
HM Saint John Sea Dogs 13-6-2-0 0.667 87 58.78 318
  All situations        

The Pats are the only team of the 13 to have scored 100 goals and sit third in shot differential. Everett has scored 35 fewer goals in five more games, but is getting a ton of saves from Carter Hart and Co. Medicine Hat is tied for second in goals and second alone in shots generated. With a negative shot differential and a goal differntial of just plus-5, Moose Jaw looks like it could drop off this list pretty quickly.

Carter Hart; Everett Silvertips; WHL; 2016 NHL Draft; CHL; Sportsnet; Philadelphia Flyers;
Carter Hart is sporting a 1.85 GAA and 0.929 Sv% in 972 minutes so far this season for Everett. (Marissa Baecker/Getty)

Oh Danny boy
In the QMJHL, Rouyn-Noranda rises one spot while Shawinigan drops six after losing to Gatineau and Rimouski last week. Both have been mainstays in the Top 10 and aren’t likely to be going anywhere any time soon.

But the Saint John Sea Dogs could be. Danny Flynn’s team has been ranked for six of nine weeks, but is falling. I wrote a while back that they needed to either find a way to get more offence out of the core or shake things up. Of course, they went out a couple hours after I pressed “publish” and hung a 10-spot on the Moncton Wildcats.

Saint John Sea Dogs on Twitter

The Sea Dogs have been averaging 3.57 goals per game at 5-on-5 since I penned that bulletin board material, but book-ended by dropping eight on Moncton and six on Sherbrooke. Take away those two contests and the 5-on-5 production falls to an average of 2.2.

There’s no doubt the Sea Dogs are generating shots, but, like Windsor, they can’t score—they are 10th in 5-on-5 goals in the QMJHL—and are being kept afloat by a power play clicking at 32 per cent. In all situations, Saint John is controlling play and generating a huge volume of shots, but look at that PDO in the first chart, it’s ridiculously low.

Possession is great, but the name of the game is scoring more than your opponent. The Sea Dogs are going to need to figure out how to do that before the playoffs.

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