Oshawa Generals, Soo Greyhounds 1-2 in first Buzzing The Net Dynamic Dozen of new year

The theme of the week is ch-ch-changes, not so much in the rankings but in the composition of contenders.

Be it.the Oshawa Generals, who sustained successive one-goal losses to mid-pack teams, or the Kelowna Rockets or Quebec Remparts, several teams that loaded up at their league trade deadlines had pratfalls last week. It's to be expected as they work to be greater than the sum of their (old and new) parts.

The OHL's conference leaders are 1-2 in the first  Dynamic Dozen of the calendar year. All changes in team ranking are since the last update on Dec. 17.

1. Oshawa Generals, OHL (.566 RPI, +1.7 SRS, —) — Feel free to have some fun with the cherry-picked fact that seven of the Gens' eight losses are against teams currently ranked sixth through ninth in the Eastern Conference, i.e., their potential first-round opponent. It is a reminiscent of 2012, when Oshawa was an eighth-place team but gave the loaded Dougie Hamilton-led Niagara IceDogs their toughest fight of the first three rounds.

In all seriousness, though, Oshawa GM Roger Hunt appears to have addressed two big needs — some two-way savvy on the back end and a certain veteran tough-mindedness up front and  — with the additions of Dakota Mermis, Michael McCarron, Matt Mistele and Brent Pedersen. The '13-14 Generals didn't find out that they needed that until, oh, about midway through the first game of the Eastern final against North Bay.

Mistele is likely to line up alongside Michael Dal Colle once he returns from a fractured hand.

2. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL (.556 RPI, +1.3 SRS, +3) — The 'Hounds, of course, emptied their stock of second-round choices to load up with Justin Bailey, Connor Boland, Anthony DeAngelo and Nick Ritchie at the deadline. Of course, the loss of high picks can be off-set by finding some gems in the later rounds. To wit, within the past couple weeks the Soo faithful got a sneak peek of one potential steal when 12th-rounder Mac Hollowell made it up for five games while Darnell Nurse was off with Team Canada and scored two goals from his defence spot. The Niagara Falls, Ont., native is undersized and has a late Sept. 26 birthday, which might explain why he was on the board that late in the priority selection.

Ritchie makes his home debut in red and white on Wednesday.

3. Medicine Hat Tigers, WHL (.549 RPI, +1.2 SRS, -1) — Coach Shaun Clouston has been flexible with finding a way to utilize the Queen City kids, right wing Dryden Hunt and defenceman Kyle Burroughs, the deadline adds from the Regina Pats. Hunt's arrival has entailed a midseason move to centre for Cole Sanford, which isn't easy to carry off, while Burroughs and Tyler Lewington have formed a rare all-righty D pairing. It's certainly working, given the fact the Tigers took two points out of Kelowna last weekend.

4. Kelowna Rockets, WHL (.546 RPI, +1.3 SRS, -1) — The schadenfreude over Kelowna losing their first game where Leon Draisaitl and Josh Morrissey each suited up should be tempered by the fact their 2009 championship team also stumbled right after loading up at the deadline. You know the saying about not knowing history.

Every team's lines and defence pairings are a moving target for the first two weeks after the trade deadline and the loaded teams are hardly immune. One could reasonably expect the Rockets to find their form during these next two weeks, when they have back-to-back two-game weeks at Prospera Place 

5. Rimouski Océanic, QMJHL (.540 RPI, +0.6 SRS, -1) — The Océanic lost 5-of-8 games during the stretch where Frédérik Gauthier, Jan Kostalek and Samuel Morin were at the world junior. The team that stood pat in the trading period had a couple decisive wins during their northern swing in their first outings since reassembling their complete lineup. Second-year defenceman Simon Bourque absorbed a hit to his plus/minus during the stretch where the club was short-staffed, so it was probably nice for him to chip in with a couple points in the Sunday win at Val-d'Or.

6. Erie Otters, OHL (.539 RPI, +1.2 SRS, +7) — It is a given Erie will be potent offensively, because Connor McDavid, Dylan Strome, and so on and so forth. Job one down the stretch will be coaxing more consistency from No. 1 goalie Devin Williams, who is being tutored by former NHLer Martin Biron on how to simply his style. There's no doubting the 19-year-old goalie's potential, but understandably it needs to be converted into performance.

7. Québec Remparts, QMJHL (.538 RPI, +0.3 SRS, +1) — Playing in a parity-filled league might be the best thing for the Memorial Cup champs, really, since it keeps the now loaded Remparts' feet to the fire. It is going to take a few weeks to re-integrate Anthony Duclair into the lineup and build a synergy between Zach Fucale and his new set of defencemen (Matt Murphy notwithstanding). Being in a race for playoff seeding probably increases the incentive to give Fucale more starts and a shot at becoming the winningest goalie in league history.

8. Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL (.538 RPI, +0.9 SRS, -2) — Any road trip where a team breaks several-years-long losing streaks in two buildings (the Saddledome in Calgary and Rexall Place in Edmonton) is typically a good one. Brandon has not only done that over its past two games, but it's buoyed by the fact overage defenceman Eric Roy  finally feels free of the lingering effects from a September shoulder injury.

Brandon only has seven games left in January, with only two one-game road trips. It should be interesting to see what the extra time at home does for Morgan Klimchuk, who was pointless in three games before earning an assist in Tuesday's win at Edmonton. Klimchuk has been busy; he squeezed in two pre-Christmas games with the Regina Pats after being cut by Team Canada and wound up playing nine games in 18 days due to the schedules. That's a lot, even for a fourth-year player.

9. Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL (.536 RPI, +0.6 SRS, +10) — The 'Cats are 10-1-0-1 since swinging the trade that brought in overage centre Taylor Burke and dispatched playmaking wing Vladimir Tkachev to the Remparts. Burke isn't necessarily a big-time scorer, but having a big centre who has won 56.9 per cent of his faceoffs (while taking some 26 per game) has probably helped Moncton become an even better puck-possession team. Their last eight games have all be decided by one goal or a shootout, so some regression might be in the offing, but clearly Moncton merits being at the top of the table in the Q.

10. Portland Winterhawks, WHL (.534 RPI, +0.5 SRS, -1) — Share this with your friends who scream about creeping socialism every time there's a news story about a children's sports league that doesn't keep score or limits how many goals one child can score. Winterhawks goalie Adin Hill ended up in net as a boy because his minor hockey league only allowed one player to score three goals a game, and he would typically fill his quota in the first period. The 6-foot-4 Hill (2.53 average, .933 save pct.) has the best numbers of any 18-year-old goalie in the Dub. And he might be the only one who can say he's dunked on an NBA court, while wearing dress shoes.

11. Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL (.532 RPI, +0.6 SRS, +5) — The other Cats make it a troika from the East Division. Shawinigan is getting the maximum out of a team that isn't exactly runneth over with top-end forwards, but have had a variety of players chipping in during a 7-3-0-0 run over their past 10 games. Meantime, sophomore Anthony Beauvillier has Benoit Groulx's endorsement for a spot on a future Team Canada. Whether Beauvillier could crack the lineup at age 18 remains to be seen, but he's not a player one would like to bet against.

12. London Knights, OHL (.530 RPI, +0.6 SRS, -2) — The Knightss likely have the double-edged distinction of being the first seller to ever crack BTN's ranking. That might validate the feelings among Knights fans about moving McCarron and Mermis before the deadline, but the payoff should Cliff Pu reach his potential is just too enticing.

London will be without overage centre Josh Sterk for the next five games after he got the automatic suspension for flipping a puck into the stands last Sunday against Erie.

The not as dynamic but still very distinguished dozen — 13. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, QMJHL (.529, +4); 14. Red Deer Rebels, WHL (.526, -2); 15. Barrie Colts, OHL (.525, +3); 16. Everett Silvertips, WHL (.520, +12); 17. Sarnia Sting, OHL (.520, +6); 18. Spokane Chiefs, WHL (.520, +20); 19. Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL (.518, +22); 20. Saginaw Spirit, OHL (.517, +13); 21. Sherbrooke Phoenix, QMJHL (.512, +8); 22. Calgary Hitmen, WHL (.511, -11); 23. Regina Pats, WHL (.510, -16); 24. North Bay Battalion, OHL (.510, +8).

Hot team — Seattle Thunderbirds, up 22 (19 to 41).

Cold team — Gatineau Olympiques, down 20 (50 to 30).

Nowhere to go but up — Saskatoon (.424).

An explanation on rankings — Buzzing The Net uses Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) with a recency factor. RPI combines a team's record with the strength of its opponents to produce an overall rating. Our method also gives more weight to recently played games. Shootout wins and losses are classified as ties, for philosophical and practical reasons. Simple Ranking System (SRS), a ranking which combines goal differential and strength of schedule, is used as a complement. All three CHL leagues are considered equivalent in quality.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.