[Author's note: Power rankings are usually three things: Bad, wrong, and boring. You typically know just as well as the authors which teams won what games against who and what it all means, so our moving the Red Wings up four spots or whatever really doesn't tell you anything you didn't know. Who's hot, who's not, who cares? For this reason, we're doing a power ranking of things that are usually not teams. You'll see what I mean.]

7. Concussions

Amanda Kessel's college career is reportedly over because of them. They don't even allow much checking in women's hockey (it still happens), which makes this all the more upsetting. Hockey's a physical, contact sport, obviously, but this shows just how easy it is to get concussions that have extreme effects for years after the fact.

At what point do we start acting like this kind of injury is the mega-huge deal it really is?

6. Stocking up on “experience”

No one is saying that Johnny Oduya or Patrick Sharp aren't still good hockey players — well, there's plenty of reasons to have doubts about Oduya, but nevertheless — and to some extent they are what the Stars need. But the suggestion that they're being sought to, I don't know, offer counsel on How To Win to the rest of the Stars (All losers! Tyler Seguin only has one Stanley Cup!) seems a bit silly.

Do you want to know the secret to winning a Stanley Cup? Having Stanley Cup-caliber talent just about everywhere in the lineup and also behind the bench. Shouldn't Jim Nill know that after all those years in Detroit?

What is Sharp going to tell Art Ross winner Jamie Benn about how to be a dominant forward who gets results as well as big point totals that he didn't already know besides, “Get more goals than the other team?” What can Oduya tell Alex Goligoski about defending better? “Have Jonathan Toews playing in front of you,” isn't necessarily the most helpful advice here.

And that's not to say Sharp and Oduya's success is entirely the product of their extremely great team — and one wonders by the way what kind of Leadership we would attribute to Toews if he had been stuck playing for, say, Dallas instead of a juggernaut in Chicago this whole time — but it sure doesn't hurt. There's basically no way Oduya is going to live up to the contract he got, but you pay a premium for recent Cup winners in this league.

In their games, Oduya and Sharp ostensibly provide Dallas something the team needed. Defense and scoring depth were both problems. And after what the nightmare season Kari Lehtonen turned in, Nill also (somewhat inexplicably) added an expensive goaltender who also happened to win a Cup with Chicago once upon a time.

The Stars will almost certainly be better next year than they were this year. But it will be because they've improved in terms of personnel and goaltending luck almost certainly won't go against them nearly as hard as it did in 2014-15.

So how much do you want to bet Sharp and Oduya's “leadership” is credited with the turnaround?

5. Rookie camp highlights

Nothing in the world is better than seeing a kid score some insane between-the-legs, backwards, blindfolded goal against a netminder who wasn't even paying attention in mid-July. That's the good stuff, baby!

4. “This is a good contract for Michael Del Zotto”

That's a real thing actual hockey writers said just last week about a contract that will give Del Zotto a cap hit of nearly $4 million for the next two seasons.

Now, obviously $3.875 million doesn't buy what it used to, but I don't understand where people get away with saying this kind of thing with a straight face. Sure, last year Del Zotto faced tougher competition and zone starts than he has at any point in his career, but the Flyers did better in terms of both possessing the puck when he was off the ice versus when he was on.

What this boils down to, really, is his goal total. He tied a career high with 10 goals (in just 64 games), which is really good. And the fact that eight of those came at even strength suggest he maybe could have used a little more power play time, if nothing else. And man, 119 shots in 64 games is a decent total too.

But please excuse anyone of being skeptical over the whole, “24-year-old posts career-best numbers in contract year,” thing being indicative of future value. Obviously, as with any good season Del Zotto has in his career, you'd have to say that a lot of luck was involved.

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