Have you looked at the standings lately? I'll forgive you if you haven't, but let me catch you up really quickly. First, lets just say that, aside from Carolina, the East looks like its going to be bloodbath. Second, Nevada and Vancouver might catch your eye in the West with their league-leading win totals. But just below them, with a record of 11-3-2, is the Anaheim Outlaws. Crazy, right? I know, hockey in southern California just wouldn't seem like it would be a fit yet here we are. But what's more interesting than the weather or Anaheim's impressive record is how they got there. Anaheim has played 16 games, one less than most other teams, which are at 17. And yet, they've scored an astounding 72 goals so far this season. By point of comparison, the Nevada Battleborn, who have the most points in the league at 27, have only scored 59 goals. Vancouver, who is a point back of Nevada, has scored 60 but with an extra game. For those of you that might not be math-inclined, that means that Anaheim is scoring an average of 4.5 goals per game. They've scored six or more goals in five games so far this season, and have never been shut out. In fact, they've only scored one goal in a single game, against the Quebec City Citadelles of all teams.    

Now with all that said, its perhaps unsurprising that, out of the top 25 players in points this season, five of them are Outlaws: James Boxman II (27), "Long" John Donair (25), Joorgustraad DuBolk (12), Arsene Leclerc (12), Thomas Rose (12). Let's talk about a few of these players, and the years there are having so far. First, Boxman II, the league leader in points. He's got 6 goals, 21 assists, and a plus/minus of 11. He's been primarily setting up "Long" Jon Donair, who is second in the league in points. 14 goals, 11 assists, and a crazy shooting percentage of 24.6%. The guy has taken 57 shots, and is still hitting at that clip. He's technically seventh in the league in shooting percentage, but has more than 2x more shots than anyone else ahead of him. If I was on a line with a guy who had that hot of a hand, I'd be feeding him as often as I could as well. Boxman II is a S55 guy with 442 TPE and "Long" John Donair is S56 and with 485 TPE. So they are both relatively young (though a bit less 'relatively in Donair's case), and absolutely lighting the league up. 

Not to be outdone, the three Outlaws who appear on the list have also had strong years for themselves. Dubolk and Leclerc are defenseman, while Rose plays out on the wing. Rose, by the way, is tied for third in the league in goals with 8, he just needs a bit more help from his line-mates to get his assists up and create a bit of distance in that point race. Leclerc is a S57 true rookie, the number one overall pick in the most recent entry draft and Anaheim must be thrilled with his progress so far. Long story short, there probably is no slowing of this offensive train, at least for now. 

So, what's the bad news? Well, we talked a lot about the goals scored for Anaheim, but they are actually tied for the lead in overall goal differential in the league. You see, Anaheim has let in 46 goals so far this season, as opposed to Carolina's 40, Nevada's 36, and Vancouver's 34. Anaheim's starting goalie, Vincent Mietitore has faced 347 shots so far this year. He has a decent save percentage at .905, but when you're facing that kind of volume its going to be hard to keep your GAA below 3. The fact is that Anaheim plays an aggressive style, with the defensemen pinching down to generate more offensive opportunities. That's going to leave their goaltenders out to dry on occasion. Against another high-powered offense like Nevada, Anaheim is 1-2 (though one of those losses came in a shootout). Time will tell if the Outlaws adjust their strategy to a more balanced system, or if their plan is to just drown their opponents in pucks and win 7-5 games all season long. 


APPROVED +5 TPE @Arkz