The NHL has hit the quarter-season mark, and already we've
seen some turmoil. Some of the season's biggest early disappointments have not
wasted any time making changes to salvage their seasons; four teams (the
Blackhawks, Blues, Kings and Oilers) fired their coaches, and the Flyers
dismissed GM Ron Hextall.
The Golden Knights are missing the juju from their inaugural season, and
injuries have piled up for many teams (but it seems especially bad for the
Ducks).
THEN WE HAVE THE
PLEASANT SURPRISES: The Sabres were a trendy sleeper pick this preseason,
but who would have thought Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner &
Co. would produce one of the best records in the Eastern Conference? (With 34
points, Buffalo enters Tuesday ahead of both the Maple Leafs and the Bruins).
The Flames are atop the wide-open Pacific Division. The Preds reign in the
Central, though last year's ahead-of-schedule surprise, the Avalanche, haven't
shown much sign of drop-off. The Hurricanes seem to love being the plucky,
young underdogs and celebrating as such.
The past five seasons, 62 of the 80 teams in playoff spots
as of American Thanksgiving have gone on to clinch playoff berths. Who will
help cement that trend, and who will buck it? Here's a glance at where all 31
teams stand, including their biggest concerns and a bold prediction for how the
season will finish.
METROPOLITAN
DIVISION
PITTSBURGH
PENGUINS
Preseason standings point projection: 102.5
Current standings point pace: 86
No. 1 takeaway thus far: It has been a sluggish
start. Impatient GM Jim Rutherford has already made one big trade
(swapping Hagel Infor Tanner
Pearson) and has threatened to shake up his roster even further.
Biggest concern: What's going on
with Matt Murray?
The 24-year-old netminder is on injury reserve yet again, and he has hardly
looked like the No. 1 franchise goaltender the Penguins believe him to be.
Pittsburgh, trying to endure a tense time, must lean on the less
experienced Casey DeSmith.
Bold prediction: It's pretty obvious that
Rutherford still isn't satisfied with the current roster. In need of a
defenseman, the GM ships out the popular Bryan Rust.
Carolina
Hurricanes
Preseason standings point projection: 85.5
Current standings point pace: 89
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Canes might be
having the most fun of any team in the NHL right now -- including creating, and
defending, their postgame celebrations -- as first-year coach Rod
Brind'Amour has his team fighting for a playoff spot in the
wide-open Metro.
Biggest concern: The Hurricanes
are currently juggling a three-goalie conundrum, which is not sustainable.
Carolina will need to make a decision soon; does it have the guts to do
something difficult, such as give up on Scott Darling in
the second year of a four-year contract?
Bold prediction: The Canes move on from the
Darling-as-a-No. 1 experiment by December. Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek give
this upstart team the best chance to win.
COLUMBUS BLUE
JACKETS
Preseason standings point projection: 97.5
Current standings point pace: 103
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Blue Jackets seem
to be in control. They're getting better secondary production outside Artemi
Panarin, including from Cam Atkinson, Josh Anderson, Pierre-Luc
Dubois and one of the year's best redemption stories, Anthony
Duclair.
Biggest concern: The uncertainty
surrounding Panarin's and Sergei
Bobrovsky's futures still lingers. It's going to be awkward when
this team is pushing for a top playoff seed and has to decide whether to deal
one, or two, of its star players.
Bold prediction: Panarin and Bobrovsky both stay
past the trade deadline as GM Jarmo
Kekalainen decides to go all-in with this group.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Preseason standings point projection: 91.5
Current standings point pace: 78
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Devils sit at the
bottom of the Metro, but a run to the top isn't impossible. New Jersey's
offense is performing well, and the advanced stats (including a sixth-best
expected goals for percentage) say that if the Devils keep playing this way,
results will improve.
Biggest concern: It has been a
shaky go for Cory
Schneider since his return from offseason hip surgery. Keith Kinkaid is
a serviceable fill-in, but the Devils could really use Schneider at full form
and a better defensive effort in front of him.
Bold prediction: The Devils keep playing hard
under John Hynes, clean up the defense and find themselves once again an
unlikely playoff team.
NEW YORK
ISLANDERS
Preseason standings point projection: 82.5
Current standings point pace: 93
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Isles might have
felt slighted after John Tavares picked
the Maple Leafs, but they're doing just fine without him. Turns out, New York's
core was sturdier than we thought.
Biggest concern: The Islanders
are still sporting a league-high PDO at
5-on-5, and they have already begun to show signs of the inevitable regression
to the mean.
Bold prediction: The goaltending duo of Thomas Greiss and Robin Lehner
actually holds up. Despite a few shaky performances by each lately, the tandem
will become the biggest goaltending success story of the season.
NEW YORK
RANGERS
Preseason standings point projection: 75.5
Current standings point pace: 92
No. 1 takeaway thus far: Rebuild? What rebuild?
The young, plucky Rangers, under first-year coach David Quinn -- who has an
affinity for motivation-through-benching -- are shockingly in the playoff hunt.
Biggest concern: This was all a
mirage. Bolstered by some vintage Henrik
Lundqvist goaltending and inspired, us-against-the-world-play,
the Blueshirts overachieved through the first quarter. But look at the talent
level on this roster. Is it really sustainable?
Bold prediction: The Rangers make the playoffs.
Not only that, but they make a run, just as they have for the better part of
this decade, with a much more seasoned and star-studded roster.
PHILADELPHIA
FLYERS
Preseason standings point projection: 97.5
Current standings point pace: 78
No. 1 takeaway thus far: This team is a lot
further from a playoff contender than we thought. Of course, goaltending is a
huge issue -- this is the Flyers we're talking about here --
but so are the slow starts, a sloppy penalty kill and a lack of consistency.
All of it led to the team cutting ties with GM Ron Hextall on Monday.
Biggest concern: The middling
combination of Brian Elliott, Michal
Neuvirth, Anthony
Stolarz, Alex Lyon and Cal Pickard has
posted a league-worst .880 save percentage. Top prospect Carter Hart is still
adjusting to the pro game in Allentown, which means immediate help is likely
not on the way.
Bold prediction: Following the team's firing of
Hextall, the new GM makes a bold trade to try to salvage the season. The most
likely candidate is 30-year-old winger Wayne
Simmonds, who is on the final year of his contract.
WASHINGTON
CAPITALS
Preseason standings point projection: 97.5
Current standings point pace: 106
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The band came back
together but haven't been able to all play together for most
of this season due to injuries and suspensions. Nonetheless, Washington has
stayed afloat while Alex Ovechkin (18
goals, one behind the league leaders) laughs at anyone who suggests a Cup
hangover, be it real or figurative.
Biggest concern: The defense
hasn't been too leaky, but it also hasn't been stellar, with some puck
management issues. The Caps have allowed 3.04 goals per game as Todd Reirden has
already tried shuffling pairs to get the group going.
Bold prediction: Braden Holtby is
off to a slow start, by his standards, but will heat up this winter and finish
top-five in save percentage in the NHL, once again emerging as a Vezina Trophy
candidate.
ATLANTIC DIVISION
BOSTON BRUINS
Preseason standings point projection: 102.5
Current standings point pace: 103
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That the Bruins are
good enough to win despite having nearly every defenseman on the roster injured
in some way, shape or form (or so it would seem). Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug, Charlie
McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, Kevan Miller and
others have missed time this season. Yet Boston has the second-lowest goals
against average in the NHL (2.39). Thanks, team defense and Jaroslav
Halak!
Biggest concern: The Bruins were
in the bottom third in the league on offense (2.83 goals per game), and being
26th overall in 5-on-5 goals is a big reason why, especially after being in the
top 10 in that category last season. The truth is that the Bruins' scoring at
forward runs five players deep right now, and that's not what you want to see
knowing that the mile-deep Maple Leafs or Lightning could be blocking the road to
a championship.
Bold prediction: Despite his early-season
struggles, Tuukka Rask ends
up with better overall numbers than Halak by season's end.
BUFFALO
SABRES
Preseason standings point projection: 80.5
Current standings point pace: 116
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That the hockey world
had to wait far too long for Jeff Skinner to play with an elite center. With
all due respect to Victor Rask, Riley Nash, Elias
Lindholm and Eric Staal (before
he figured out how to be Eric Staal again in Minnesota),
playing with Jack Eichel has been revelatory for Skinner, who has 18 goals
through 24 games. Yes, Jack has a history of boosting his linemates' shooting
percentages. But Skinner went from an 8.7 percent clip to a 22.5 percent clip
so far this season. That's incredible.
Biggest concern: There are some
underlying metrics that are encouraging, like the fact that this isn't just a
ride on the PDO train (the Sabres have a PDO of 100.8, with league average at
100). But they're on the negative side of possession (49.3 Corsi for
percentage) and are just a plus-3 in 5-on-5 goal differential. But honestly,
the biggest concern is that either Eichel or Skinner goes down with an injury;
not only because they have a history of doing so, but because that top line is such
an engine for this team.
Bold prediction: Jeff Skinner's contract
situation lingers through the season into the postseason, and the phrase
"testing the market" starts to send shivers down Buffalo fans'
spines.
DETROIT RED
WINGS
Preseason standings point projection: 75.5
Current standings point pace: 79
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That Andreas
Athanasiou might finally be something more than a set of
wheels. The 24-year-old forward has 10 goals in 19 games, nearly doubling the
best goals-per-game mark of his career. On a team still struggling to find
total team offense -- at 2.65 goals per game, the Red Wings are 28th in the NHL
-- he has been a revelation and a hope for the future.
Biggest concern: That despite
some signs of life and early contention, this remains a defensively porous,
offensively challenged team that inexplicably has its head pushed up against
the salary cap ceiling. OK, "inexplicably" probably isn't correct.
It's totally Ken Holland's fault.
Bold prediction: That Jimmy Howard trade
we all figured would happen at some point during the last three years finally
happens at the trade deadline, with the Wings picking up part of the salary
tab.
FLORIDA
PANTHERS
Preseason standings point projection: 94.5
Current standings point pace: 82
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That expectation is not
execution. The Panthers were picked by many (raises hand) to have a breakout
season, but through 21 games they're last in the Eastern Conference. Most of
this is due to their defense, in the sense that they haven't played much of it:
3.62 goals allowed per game, which is second only to Ottawa through 21 games.
Only four Panthers who have played at least 15 games have a positive goal
differential at 5-on-5.
Biggest concern: Much of this
defensive failure tracks back to their goaltending, as James Reimer, Roberto
Luongo and Michael
Hutchinson have combined for an .884 team save percentage,
second worst in the NHL to the Flyers, who just fired their general manager.
Bold prediction: The Panthers catch fire and
rally to make the Eastern Conference playoffs as a wild-card team, because I
hate being wrong.
MONTREAL
CANADIENS
Preseason standings point projection: 80.5
Current standings point pace: 92
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That apparently Max Domi and Tomas Tatar had a bit
more to offer. Acquired from the Coyotes for Alex
Galchenyuk, Domi has 26 points in his first 24 games, including 11
goals, surpassing his total from last season (nine). Acquired
in the Max
Pacioretty trade, Tatar has 10 goals in 24 games for the Habs,
or two more than Pacioretty has with Vegas.
Biggest concern: Carey Price.
Which is a weird thing to say when the Habs are on the wild-card bubble and
exceeding expectations. But frankly, they're winning despite Price, who has a
minus-6.28 goals saved above average and a .902 even-strength save
percentage.
Bold prediction: The Canadiens sell high on Andrew Shaw at
the trade deadline.
OTTAWA
SENATORS
Preseason standings point projection: 69.5
Current standings point pace: 72
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That bad can be good.
There have been few teams as entertaining as the Ottawa Senators this season,
who are third in the NHL in goals scored per game (3.61) but last in the NHL in
goals allowed per game by a country mile (4.35). And that's just on the ice:
Who knew that the cyberbullying scandal from earlier this calendar year was
just the appetizer for the "players talking smack on an Uber camera"
and "team potentially creating Twitter sock puppets to defend beleaguered
owner" scandals?
Biggest concern: That the
Senators continue to run hot and cold and don't finish with the league's worst
record in a rebuilding year. Wait; sorry ... that's actually Avalanche GM Joe Sakic's
biggest concern about the Senators, since Colorado owns their 2019
first-rounder.
Bold prediction: Matt Duchene parlays
his contract-year success into a long-term deal with the Senators worth eight
years and $8.3 million annually.
TAMPA BAY
LIGHTNING
Preseason standings point projection: 107.5
Current standings point pace: 120
No. 1 takeaway thus far: Depth, depth and more
depth. How the Lightning looked on paper entering the season is how they've
played, as Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Yanni Gourde, Steven
Stamkos, J.T. Miller, Tyler Johnson and Ryan McDonagh --
having a Norris Trophy-worthy season, according to coach Jon Cooper -- are all
17 points or better through 24 games. Cooper's like a chef with access to
gourmet ingredients: No matter how many times he changes the recipe through his
frequent line scrambling, the results are scrumptious, to the tune of 3.79
goals per game, the best in the NHL through 24 games.
Biggest concern: That the
lessons they're learning this season on defense aren't applied in the
postseason. The Lightning have made a concerted effort to be a more complete
defensive team in front of (currently injured) goalie Andrei
Vasilevskiy. It's going to be the key to winning those marathon
Eastern Conference final series they've lost in two of the last three seasons,
in the sense that a stronger and more confident structure can end those series
before they reach a sphincter-clenching seventh game.
Bold prediction: Brayden Point leads the Bolts
in goals and, as is tradition, Professional Hockey Writers Association voters
finally recognize him for his defense with a Selke Trophy nomination.
TORONTO MAPLE
LEAFS
Preseason standings point projection: 106.5
Current standings point pace: 112
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Leafs are 8-5
without the injured Auston
Matthews in the lineup, and 16-8-0 without William
Nylander in the lineup, as the latter's contract situation has
kept him off the ice for the entirety of the season. Mitch Marner has
30 points in 24 games, while John Tavares had 15 goals in 24 games. This is a
team that had considerable depth, but one that has shown an impressive
perspicacity for handling adversity.
Biggest concern: The defense
corps still remains the weakest part of the roster. Only two Maple Leafs
defensemen are on the positive side of the shot-attempts counter at 5-on-5 (Travis
Dermott, Igor
Ozhiganov); and while their shots against per game are down about a
shot per game from last season, their goalies are still seeing 32.7 shots
against per contest.
Bold prediction: William Nylander signs before
Saturday's deadline, and all this chatter about how this very specific
situation affecting one specific team is somehow a harbinger of doom for other
teams facing second contracts comes to an end.
CENTRAL DIVISION
CHICAGO
BLACKHAWKS
Preseason standings point projection: 85.5
Current standings point pace: 79
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Blackhawks'
dramatic firing coach of Joel Quenneville 15 games into the season (and
promotion of 33-year-old Jeremy
Colliton) means the team is looking to the future, though management
is reluctant to embrace a full rebuild just yet.
Biggest concern: The team stays
stuck in neutral. The hodgepodge roster of an aging star core and unseasoned
young talent can't keep up with more balanced teams, and the Blackhawks lose
relevance in a competitive market.
Bold prediction: GM Stan Bowman finds a way to
take one of his unmovable contracts off the books; most likely (and
conservatively), it's center Artem
Anisimov, who has a limited no-trade clause and is an attractive
middle-six option for teams in the playoff hunt.
COLORADO
AVALANCHE
Preseason standings point projection: 89.5
Current standings point pace: 107
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Avalanche continue
to be plucky overachievers. They're propelled by the spectacular top line
of Nathan
MacKinnon, Mikko
Rantanen and Gabriel
Landeskog, though youngsters are stepping up (and developing
nicely). Meanwhile, the platoon of Semyon
Varlamov and Philipp
Grubauer is going as well as expected.
Biggest concern: The Avalanche
have had no trouble with scoring, with the league's second-best offense (3.74
goals per game). They also have the league's highest shooting percentage,
meaning they've been at least a bit lucky.
Bold prediction: Last season, the top line
willed this team into the playoffs without much secondary production. The gap
will shrink as the season progresses, as players such as Alexander
Kerfoot and J.T. Compher (who
missed time with a head injury) begin to find their groove.
DALLAS STARS
Preseason standings point projection: 94.5
Current standings point pace: 89
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Stars have been hit
by the injury bug, especially on the blue line, and have endured some
inconsistencies (including a 12-game goalless drought from Tyler Seguin)
but remain well-positioned for a playoff spot.
Biggest concern: Streakiness is
expected with a new coach implementing yet another new system, but the
diminishing power play (the Stars have scored only five power-play goals in the
past 52 opportunities) feels inexcusable.
Bold prediction: Hey, the Calder Trophy will probably
go to a forward, as per usual and likely Vancouver's Elias
Pettersson. But if Miro
Heiskanen keeps up his strong play, the 19-year-old defenseman
could actually make it a race.
MINNESOTA
WILD
Preseason standings point projection: 95.5
Current standings point pace: 107
No. 1 takeaway thus far: First-year GM Paul
Fenton barely tweaked the roster, and the team he inherited is still quite
good. There's a lot to like about this team, including ascending stars such
as Matt Dumba (leading
all defensemen with 10 goals and averaging nearly as much ice time as Yeoman Ryan Suter).
Biggest concern: Last season,
the Wild were waiting for Charlie Coyle and Nino
Niederreiter to flex the talent they have always promised. Now
it seems both players are still trending in the wrong direction.
Bold prediction: It's a star turn for Mikael
Granlund -- continuing the NHL's big trend of the Year of the
Finns -- and the 26-year-old finishes top-20 in scoring.
NASHVILLE
PREDATORS
Preseason standings point projection: 105.5
Current standings point pace: 120
No. 1 takeaway thus far: Rinse, wash, repeat.
Even with a few recent injuries (the biggest: Viktor
Arvidsson out at least a month), the Predators have the best
record in the Western Conference, with a whopping plus-23 goal differential.
Biggest concern: How can a team
so talented be so ineffective on the power play? The Predators have the
third-worst power play in the league (15.2 percent). Last season, with
virtually the same roster, Nashville hit on 21.2 percent of its opportunities.
Bold prediction: Kevin Fiala shakes
off his season-long slump to become the secondary scoring hero the Predators
need to win yet another Presidents' Trophy.
ST. LOUIS
BLUES
Preseason standings point projection: 96.5
Current standings point pace: 71
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Blues are one of
the NHL's biggest quarter-season disappointments. A summer of bold moves by GM
Doug Armstrong has not panned out, as the built-to-win-now Blues are sitting
near the bottom of the division, with fired coach Mike Yeo the casualty.
Biggest concern: Even with the
coaching change, the group has trouble putting up consistent effort on a
game-to-game basis. That's problematic because the talent level on this roster
is good enough to be competing for a top playoff spot.
Bold prediction: He has threatened this before,
but Armstrong finally shakes up the roster with a trade of a core player. Who
would be truly shocking? Vladimir
Tarasenko? Alex
Pietrangelo? One of the top young players such as Robert Thomas?
WINNIPEG JETS
Preseason standings point projection: 106.5
Current standings point pace: 104
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Maple Leafs might
shoulder most of the attention, but the Jets are probably the Canadian team
with the best chance of ending the country's 25-year Stanley Cup drought. The
Jets have begun 2018-19 right where they left off last spring.
Biggest concern: On the surface,
the Jets don't have trouble finding offense -- ranking eighth in the league,
scoring 3.36 goals per game and with the league's top power play -- but
five-on-five scoring hasn't been totally dominant, and the team needs more
production from bottom-six forwards.
Bold prediction: Patrik Laine can
be streaky, and he's just heating up now. A scorching December puts the Finn
ahead in the goal-scoring race for good, and he runs away with the Rocket
Richard Trophy.
PACIFIC DIVISION
ANAHEIM DUCKS
Preseason standings point projection: 94.5
Current standings point pace: 82
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That John Gibson deserves
to be leading the Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy races, given that his .926 save
percentage and 2.57 goals-against average defy how disastrous these Ducks have
been in almost every other underlying metric.
Biggest concern: Pick your
poison. Being the second-worst team in possession, ahead of only Ottawa? Being
the second-worst team in goal differential, ahead of only Los Angeles? Being
carried to playoff contention by a goalie who can't be expected to do it all on
his own?
Bold prediction: Randy Carlyle is a losing
streak away from being fired. That streak hits before the All-Star break.
ARIZONA
COYOTES
Preseason standings point projection: 81.5
Current standings point pace: 75
No. 1 takeaway thus far: Why can't the offense
and the defense be on the same page? The Coyotes get solid goaltending
from Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper,
to the tune of a 2.82 goals-against average. But their offense is sputtering, with
2.36 goals per game, 28th in the NHL.
Biggest concern: Offense,
offense and offense. Their power play stinks (15.5 percent). They didn't have a
player with more than 14 points at the 22-game mark. The trade of Dylan Strome and Brendan
Perlini for Nick Schmaltz was
symbolic of the Coyotes' desire to stop waiting on potential and start
demanding results.
Bold prediction: In two years, we're calling it
simply "The Max Domi Trade."
CALGARY
FLAMES
Preseason standings point projection: 93.5
Current standings point pace: 99
No. 1 takeaway thus far: The Flames are getting
oodles of offense from the line of Johnny
Gaudreau(27 points), Sean Monahan (26
points) and Elias Lindholm, who has 11 goals and is fitting in exactly as GM
Brad Treliving envisioned it. Then there's the season Matthew
Tkachuk is having with usual partner in crime Mikael
Backlund, as he has 12 goals and 15 assists in 24 games. Let's not
forget defenseman Mark Giordano,
who has 22 points in 24 games. The Flames have beaten opponents by three or
more goals seven times.
Biggest concern: The Flames are
at 2.83 goals allowed per game -- middle of the pack in the league -- which is
a tribute to the play of "Big Save" Dave Rittich, who has a
.953 even-strength save percentage while Mike Smith remains
sub-.900. Our faith in the Calgary goaltending isn't exactly high; hey, it
wouldn't be the first Bill Peters team subverted by lackluster netminding.
Bold prediction: Noah Hanifin outscores Dougie
Hamilton on the season.
EDMONTON
OILERS
Preseason standings point projection: 89.5
Current standings point pace: 78
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That Todd McLellan was
totally to blame for this team's inadequacies, and hence had to pay for it with
his job. This is silly, of course, because the Oilers' problems are due to construction
and not coaching. And when that's the case, you just throw some Ken Hitchcock
at the problem and see what happens if you're GM Peter Chiarelli.
Biggest concern: That Hitchcock
can't work his usual magic defensively for the Oilers, who are saddled by
lackluster goaltending and a penalty kill ranked 27th in the NHL.
Bold prediction: Please don't make me do the
"Connor
McDavid would totally be the MVP were it not for the Oilers
missing the playoffs" thing again. I'm so tired of that thing.
LOS ANGELES
KINGS
Preseason standings point projection: 92.5
Current standings point pace: 61
No. 1 takeaway thus far: Boy, that escalated
quickly, huh? John Stevens was
fired after a 4-8-1 start that saw Jonathan
Quick limited to just four appearances due to injury. In comes
Willie Desjardins, who decides to play Ilya
Kovalchuk less than seven minutes per game while going 4-6-0 to
start his stint. Kovalchuk, by the way, has 14 points to lead the team as well
as a minus-13, second to Dion Phaneuf's
minus-14. Their combined age is 68.
Biggest concern: We're going to
need the world's largest dart board and about a thousand Post-it notes with the
Kings' issues on them. OK, here we go. [Throws dart] Anze Kopitar has
gone from the best offensive year of his life to his worst points-per-game
average. [Throws dart] Tanner Pearson has three goals in six games in
Pittsburgh after having one assist in 17 games in L.A., which necessitated his
trade. [Throws dart] The Kings look old on paper, and play even older.
Bold prediction: Say, Ron Hextall needs a job...
SAN JOSE
SHARKS
Preseason standings point projection: 101.5
Current standings point pace: 96
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That this is a veteran
group with some significant improvements -- see Timo Meier's
13 goals and Erik Karlsson getting
back to being Erik Karlsson -- on its journey back to
challenging for that elusive Stanley Cup. Their most impressive stat might be
that they're jumping on teams in the first period, to the tune of a plus-12
goal differential in that frame.
Biggest concern: Martin Jones.
The Sharks have an overall team save percentage of .895, which is bad; his .881
even-strength save percentage in 16 starts is even worse. GM Doug Wilson put
the team's faith in Jones to be a championship-caliber goalie. But goalies who
have a minus-7.85 goals saved above average are not that, and alas that's
where Jones is right now.
Bold prediction: The Sharks win the Pacific.
VANCOUVER
CANUCKS
Preseason standings point projection: 77.5
Current standings point pace: 76
No. 1 takeaway thus far: That the future is bright.
The Canucks have come back down to earth after a blistering start, but that's
OK. Between Elias Pettersson's Calder Trophy campaign (13 goals), Bo Horvat's
22-point performance, the quality play of Nikolay
Goldobin and "Shotgun" Jake Virtanen,
and the continued burgeoning stardom of Brock Boeser (when
healthy), there's a lot here to keep Canucks fans watching, even as their team
slips deeper into the lottery again despite some impressive coaching from Travis Green,
who's the real deal.
Biggest concern: Shot
generation. Vancouver is at 28.2 shots for per game, which is 28th in the NHL.
That should improve with Boeser back in the lineup, but it's also an indication
that the depth still isn't there for Vancouver.
Bold prediction: Alexander
Edler does the old "deadline trade, only to re-sign with
his old team next season" routine.
VEGAS GOLDEN
KNIGHTS
Preseason standings point projection: 101.5
Current standings point pace: 82
No. 1 takeaway thus far: Lightning is really
hard to capture twice in a bottle. The Golden Knights are admirably still in
the hunt despite losing free-agent prize Paul Stastny three
games into the season, missing No. 1 defenseman Nate Schmidt for
20 games due to suspension, and seeing the general regression for everything
from William
Karlsson's goal-scoring (he's on pace for about 20 goals, down from
43) to their ability to overwhelm teams (they have a minus-1) goal
differential. But a meek division means they're very much still in it.
Biggest concern: The Knights' power play is
still adjusting to the personnel changes (and early-season manpower losses),
clicking at 17.8 percent, down from 21.4 percent last season. Most concerning:
It's just 15.2 percent at home, 26th in the NHL, down from 10th last season
(24.2).
Bold prediction: The Golden Knights get rolling
again and make the playoff cut.
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