Division rivals London, Erie and Guelph in collision course, all ranked towards top of BTN’s Dynamic Dozen

A week after Erie landed Brendan Gaunce, Guelph followed suit by exchanging a tidy ransom for Kerby Rychel and Nick Ebert. Prices are high for junior hockey players and while there's often a trade deadline arms race between contenders in the major junior system, it may be a little different this year, particularly in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League.

Last year, players were moved much closer to the deadline, including Joshua Leivo to Kitchener, Vincent Trocheck to Plymouth and Cody Ceci to Owen Sound. If the cost is going to be higher for the extra 10-15 games of acquiring a player before December rather than the early January deadline, what's the use? Almost every team that's a buyer at the trade deadline will make the playoffs and really, you're stocking up to give yourself a better chance in the postseason.

This year though, the field is different. The contending OHL teams are all based in the West: London, Erie and Guelph, and though the Knights have already secured their Memorial Cup berth, any other Western team that wants to play at the MasterCard Memorial Cup this season is going to probably have to go through London.

What more, if you parse down our own Dynamic Dozen rankings this week, you'll find that the teams after the 'Big 3' are concentrated in the West as well: Windsor is 14th and Sault Ste. Marie is 16th. The Oshawa Generals, at 21st, are the highest ranked OHL Eastern team in our national rankings.

So the balance of power is concentrated to one conference, and that means making moves early is a bit more important this season, to create some separation in the standings prior to the World Juniors and fight not just to prepare for the playoffs, but home ice advantage too. The advantage is difficult to quantify (not as easy as saying "13 of 15 series last year were determined by home ice!" since in almost every case, the team with home ice is the team with the higher point total in the regular season) but there may be some psychological attribute as well.

With Gaunce and Rychel moved, who will be the next domino to fall, and what number will he wear with the Knights?

1. London Knights, OHL (.607 RPI, +2.1 SRS, +1) — It was mentioned in this week's Hot & Cold, but the Knights have a .906 point percentage since Halloween, and leap ahead of Erie this week after going perfect in a week that included games against Sault Ste. Marie, Windsor, and Owen Sound.

Now, how much can you attribute the team being red hot to being a well-rounded team overall, and how much of it is thanks to the return of Nikita Zadorov from the Buffalo Sabres? The Knights are 7-1-0 and have given up just 15 goals in the eight games since his return.

2. Erie Otters, OHL (.598 RPI, +2.3 SRS, -1) — The Otters, like the Knights, are going to lose some key players for the World Juniors, a disease that often afflicts the top teams come December. They'll lose a player from each of their top two lines, their starting goaltender, and possibly their No. 1 defenceman. OHL leading scorer Connor Brown has been picking up points on a line with Dane Fox recently, so it won't be the first time he'll be tested playing without Andre Burakovsky.

Meanwhile, in Oscar Dansk's absence between the pipes, the team will have to count on sophomore Devin Williams. With a .907 save percentage, Williams is 10th in the OHL (Dansk is 4th). Williams is first-time eligible as a draft prospect this upcoming June in a fairly wide open goalie class, so he'll have a chance to impress some scouts that are sticking around in North America.

3. Portland Winterhawks, WHL (.597 RPI, +1.9 SRS, —) — The Winterhawks went 2-1-1 on the week, dropping a game against Edmonton in the shootout in the process, the team they've faced in the last two WHL Championship series. While a lot of teams can count on losing some of their best players in December, how many are going to have a player on both the Danish team and Austrian team?

One of the interesting stories to follow at the Canadian camp will be whether Taylor Leier makes the final cut. Leier has 43 points already on the season in 31 games, good for 7th in the WHL. He was probably the WHL's best forward during the Subway Series overall and one of four forwards selected in the 2012 draft (4th round, Philadelphia). I think he's the better depth player because he's strong at both ends, and that also means he could provide the team some offence rather than just throw his weight around.

The Hawks also made a move Tuesday acquiring Mat Dumba's WHL rights from Red Deer, so we'll see if the Minnesota Wild decide to send him back to junior.

4. Guelph Storm, OHL (.574 RPI, +2.1 SRS, —) — Guelph, meanwhile, will keep around most of their roster, including top scorer Brock McGinn, top defenceman Matt Finn, and considering the team banked 20 of their 22 wins without Rychel in the lineup, it's not like they're losing a lot over the break.

The Storm's upcoming schedule over the break is a good chance to bank some wins against teams with depleted rosters: they get London and Erie after Team Canada's selection camp starts on December 12, and get another shot at the Otters on the 29th. More important than the points in the standings, they have a very good chance to close the gap between them and the top three teams in the Dynamic Dozen!

5. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, QMJHL (.569 RPI, +1.2 SRS, —) — Unfortunately, the traveling secretary for the Armada forgot the get the team vaccinated for the seasonal injury bug. Top liners Marc-Olivier Roy, Christopher Clapperton and Ryan Tesink were all held out of this weekend's games against Gatineau and Sherbrooke. Still, this isn't a team that thrives on scoring so much as it thrives on the opposition not scoring. Despite goaltender Étienne Marcoux holding down the 11th spot in the Q in save percentage, he's first in goals against average, which should tell you about how few shots BBA allow.

6. Kelowna Rockets, WHL (.564 RPI, +1.6 SRS, +1) — The Rockets moved up a spot after wins over Vancouver, Everett and Kootenay before headed out on the road for a six-game tour through the prairies before the Christmas break. They've won 15 of 16, and have just three regulation losses so far on the season. Aside from the fact they held their first ever Teddy Bear Toss Friday night, it's been a pretty routine week for the Rockets.

7. Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL (.557 RPI, +0.6 SRS, +1) — With all the rumours linking Robinson Cano and the Seattle Mariners, the widely-reported turmoil inside the Mariners front office, a new coach for the University of Washington football team and the NFL's Seahawks being first place in the NFC, it's pretty tough for the Thunderbirds to get noticed these days in Seattle, even as the team is in the midst of a six-game win streak.

Thankfully, the Tri-City Herald has taken note. Steve Konowalchuk has suggested there's no secret recipe to the team's success, just "everybody chipping in" sort of thing. That may be. Only two players on the team are at a point-per-game or higher, Brendan Troock and Shea Theodore.

8. Spokane Chiefs, WHL (.551 RPI, +0.9 SRS, -2) — didreidgowscoreyet.tumblr.com is unfortunately going to be put on hiatus, as the Chiefs captain is "week-to-week" with an upper body injury. Gow has 0 goals, 33 assists on the season, and will stick there for quite some time.

9. Val-d'Or Foreurs, QMJHL (.548 RPI, +1.2 SRS, +2) — Our second QMJHL entrant. The next four on the rankings are pretty tightly jointed, with nearly identical records and strengths of schedule. While head coach Mario Durocher is happy with his team getting two points against Gatineau on Sunday, he still thinks his team needs to learn to play a full 60 minutes.

Which is an odd thing to say in the middle of a seven-game win streak. Unfortunately for Durocher, he'll be the only coach in the major junior system that can say he's losing the leading scorer in the league to the World Juniors. Anthony Mantha is still 19 points clear of Halifax's Jonathan Drouin, and should Drouin be healthy enough for the tournament, the two ought to be playing together.

10. Drummondville Voltigeurs, QMJHL (.540 RPI, +0.6 SRS, -1) — The six-game win streak of the Volts ended this week, a 4-2 loss to Chicoutimi two days after the "you have the momentum of a runaway freight train" article popped loose after the team acquired Fréderick Gaudreau from Shawinigan (eight points in his first six with his new club). Still, the Volts are the second hottest team in the Q behind Val-d'Or, which makes this upcoming Saturday's game between the two clubs more interesting.

11. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, QMJHL (.539 RPI, +0.5 SRS, +1) — After joining the Dynamic Dozen a week ago, the Huskies stick around, even moving up a spot. They haven't lost in regulation or overtime since November 15 and overage Marcus Power continues to climb up the leading scorer list, now at fourth. Factor in coach Gilles Bouchard coming out and saying that his team is going to look to be a buyer at the deadline, and I think we can affirmatively say that the Huskies recent streak has put them into contender status—or at least their brass seems to think so.

12. Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL (.537 RPI, +1.1 SRS, -2) — Finally, we end with Baie-Comeau. Not Halifax, though they're second in the league, they've played the 47th toughest schedule in the league out of 60 teams, in case you were wondering why they're ranked so low compared to their standings. The Drakkar had a quiet week, with a 4-3 win over Chicoutimi before being stymied by Drummondville's goalie Saturday night. Pretty tough schedule going into the break as well, hosting Halifax before going on the road for three against Quebec, Victoriaville, and B-B.

The not as dynamic but still very distinguished dozen — 13. Gatineau Olympiques, QMJHL (.536, —); 14. Windsor Spitfires, OHL (.535, +1); 15. Everett Silvertips, WHL (.535, -1); 16. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL (.531, +3); 17. Tri-City Americans, WHL (.527, -1); 18. Edmonton Oil Kings, WHL (.527, +2); 19. Swift Current Broncos, WHL (.525, -1); 20. Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL (.522, +2); 21. Oshawa Generals, OHL (.521, -4); 22. Québec Remparts, QMJHL (.520, +1); 23. Victoria Royals, WHL (.519, -2); 24. Calgary Hitmen, WHL (.518, +1).

Hot team — Vancouver Giants, up 8 (37th to 29th).

Cold team — Chicoutimi Saguenéens, down 7 (30th to 37th).

Nowhere to go but up — Saint John Sea Dogs (.405).

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.

(All rankings through play on Dec. 8.)