From the pre-season games I have two teams that stand out to me that I have two different projections for based on their 7-0-0 records.

Atlanta Inferno: There is no way that they are that good of a team in the regular season. Nothing against Atlanta as they are definitely coming along nicely as a squad in their early years as a franchise, but they're just not nearly at the point where they could be a contender in their conference and certainly not as dominant as the pre-season would lead us to believe. Their pre-season had five of their games combined against the Aurora, Pride and Monarchs. Not exactly powerhouses in the league. They did beat their one off against Hamilton and the LAP aren't slouches but again not a team you think of tearing up the West. I think they will be a middle of the pack squad by the end of the regular season.

Edmonton Blizzard: These guys could absolutely play up to their potential in the pre-season though, as much as I hate to say it as a Dragons defenseman. They did face off against the Barracuda and Pride, twice, and beat them up pretty well, but that's to be expected. What shows they do have the ability to contend in the West is that in the key match ups against Texas, Calgary and twice against the Panthers, they pulled out victories in all those games. Absolutely it would be impossible to keep that 100% win rate against those division rivals but that they were able to complete the sweep against all three in the four games does speak volumes to their depth and abilities.

Overall, the pre-season means nothing, but it is a nice look at the way teams are fielded after the off-season shuffle and sometimes you can get a bit of an inside look at how they will perform in the regular season.

Word Count: 319