The start of this season has been very exciting. All the teams are so good and so deep that there is but a few points separating those from the top of the standings and those in the bottom. Teams are closing in on their 21st game which will mark the end of the first quarter of the season. With that in mind I thought now would be a good time to analyze the standings and see who are the five winners and five losers so far this year.
First the winners. How many people picked Florida to be leading their division at any point this season or Minnesota to be first place in the entire league? I know I did not but yet there they sit. Minnesota has seen some amazing goaltending performances from both Nick Backstrom and Josh Harding, a big part of their fast 12-5-3 start. Florida had a complete roster make over this summer and the new players, along with the new coach Kevin Dineen, are experiencing great success in the sunshine state with a record of 11-6-3.
Other teams that have had good starts so far include Toronto, Phoenix and Edmonton. Not many people were sure how the Leafs were going to do this year but all their off-season moves seem to be paying off well. Phil Kessel and Joffery Lupal currently sit at the number one and number three spots in league scoring which has helped the team reach a respectable 11-7-2 record.
Phoenix lost big name players Ed Jovanovski and Ilya Bryzgalov to free agency this summer and it did not appear that they added to many players to replace them. But new goalie Mike Smith has played amazing and the team continues to win with a 10-5-3 record. Their Restricted free agent Kyle Turris has only ten days left to sign with the team and if he does, their offence should remain a threat all season long.
After finishing in last place the past two seasons it was clear the Oilers would be better this year. However no one predicted they would be this good, with 18 year old sensation Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scoring 19 points in 19 games and a rebirth of 38 year old goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his eight wins with two shutouts in 13 games.
All of these teams have had quick starts that have propelled them up the standings, and if they continue their great play, they could find themselves in the playoffs this spring.
Now to the losers. There are some teams that many hockey writers and commentators had picked to be very good this season but have yet to do so. The worst team so far this year has been the Columbus Blue Jackets who made some big acquisitions adding Jeff Carter and James Wisnewski this summer. Unfortunately the team has gotten off to a horrific 4-13-2 start which already has people questioning how long before this team leaves town. The worst team in the Eastern Conference has been the New York Islanders. This team just can't win. On paper they have a bunch of young scorers who have the potential to be stars as well as three solid goaltenders. But with their goalies hurt and their scorers not scoring, the team has only 5 wins. They do have the advantage of having only played 17 games but they should still have more wins than that.
Some other surprising slumps to start the year have come from Tampa Bay, Vancouver and Anaheim. The Lightning almost seemed to be too good to be true after their surprise run to game seven of the Eastern Conference third round playoff last year. Many people had them pegged to be a top five team in the league this year but they currently only have a record of 9-8-2 which is good enough for 22nd.
Vancouver seems to be suffering from a Stanly Cup hangover more than the champion Bruins. With only a 9-9-1 record, the team that was one win away from victory has not played nearly as good as last year. This is in a big part the result of poor goaltending from Roberto Luongo so it is probably a good thing they haven't traded back up Corry Schneider yet.
The Anaheim Ducks have really been a surprise so far though. With last year's goal scoring leader Corry Perry, along with Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf, this team should be scoring a ton of goals. Not so, as they sit 29th in the league with only 39 goals in 19 games. At that rate it is no surprise they have a record of 6-9-4 though it is frustrating for people who hold their goalie Jonas Hiller in their hockey pools.
Those are many winners and losers this season so far. The great thing about the NHL is though that these teams are still very close in the standings and could easily switch places. Take yesterdays games for example. Philadelphia lost 6-4 to Winnipeg, Washington lost 7-1 to Toronto and Chicago lost 9-2 to Edmonton. The fact that the best teams in the league can still lose by large scores further proves how close every team is. That is why hockey is such an exciting sport to watch.
My website, jbenny.com, continues to grow. I posted some more pictures I have taken of different OHL stars including Nail Yakupov and Jack Campbell. I am also starting to post articles from my school newspaper for you to read and hope to expand that section in the near future. Remember you can always reach me by commenting below this post, tweeting me at @jbenny15 or emailing me at josh@jbenny.com. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment