Monday, November 12, 2007

What, is it contagious?

In recognition...

...of the end of the rebuild, we offer that little thermometer thing over there in the margin. If the rebuild is over, it's over, and the standard now is the playoffs. And so, we retire The Peerless Improvement Index in favor of The Peerless Playoff Meter.

The former was a nod to gauging improvement compared with the 2003-2004 season, when the Caps were selling assets faster than you could say, "clearance sale." If the Caps had been doing better than that abysmal season at the same point in games, the index would register over 100.00, and things would be "better."

Well, we're past that. Now, it's about the playoffs. And the standard here is what qualified for the playoffs last year in the Eastern Conference, that being the 92 points posted by the New York Islanders. So, like one of those fundraising posters you might see from time to time, we have a thermometer gauge to measure where the Caps are with respect to that 92-point standard. This morning, with their record of 6-10-1, they have 13 points on their way to 92. They need 79 points in 65 games to get there.