I know ratings and power rankings are often subjective and opinion based and aren’t worth the paper (or monitor) they are printed on.
However I happened to glance through a link of some sort and ended up on Adrian Dater’s NHL Power Rankings. He has the Pittsburgh Penguins at #1…fair enough, they have two of the game’s best players in Crosby and Malkin. Dater has the Rangers ranked #2, which sort of makes me shake my head a bit, but OK. Then the first shock with the unproven Edmonton Oilers at #3. Hey, they will be young and exciting, but will they really jump 22 spots in the rankings before the puck has dropped.
A couple of the members of the Sens “Aging” roster. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
Which brings me to the point of this post. You have to scroll all the way down to #19 to find the Ottawa Senators. Really? I don’t want to sound like a homer, (but probably will) and I can understand Dater not believing that the Senators cannot surprise the doubters once again. What I don’t understand is one major line in his reasoning for ranking them so low.
"But this team is aging somewhat, with five players 30 or older. In this league, it gets harder and harder to get by on veteran moxie.Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nhl/news/20130109/nhl-preseason-power-rankings/#ixzz2HgqhACDg"
Seriously? Since when does 5 players over 30 make your roster old. So I did a little unscientific research and looked at the rosters on the websites of all 30 teams. I say unscientific because each team didn’t have either a complete roster or a trimmed-down roster of actual players they expect to be in the opening night lineup.
The Ottawa Senators have 5 players 30 or older: Daniel Alfredsson, Chris Neil, Sergei Gonchar, Chris Phillips and Craig Anderson.
Only 3 of the other 29 clubs have fewer than 5 30 year olds – Columbus, St. Louis and Carolina.
NHL ROSTER PLAYERS OVER 30 BY CLUB AND POSITION
| TEAM | FWD | DEF | GOALIES | TOTAL |
| PHOENIX | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| MONTREAL | 7 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| NEW JERSEY | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| PHILADELPHIA** | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| NASHVILLE | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| VANCOUVER | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| FLORIDA | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| TAMPA BAY | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| CHICAGO | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| ANAHEIM | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| CALGARY | 6 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| SAN JOSE | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| BOSTON* | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| BUFFALO | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| NY ISLANDERS | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| NY RANGERS | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| PITTSBURGH | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| DETROIT | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| EDMONTON | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| TORONTO | 5 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| WASHINGTON | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| DALLAS | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| LOS ANGELES | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| MINNESOTA | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| WINNIPEG | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| COLORADO | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| OTTAWA | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| COLUMBUS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| ST. LOUIS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| CAROLINA | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
*BOSTON includes Tim Thomas
**PHILADELPHIA includes Chris Pronger
So, while opinion is one thing, making up reasons why you have that opinion is entirely another thing.