The Pittsburgh Penguins are leading the way and is that any surprise at all? Looking at the teams in this division does any team really match up with them? Not really. Led by the best player in the league by far, Sidney Crosby, the Pens are just trucking along like always. But it is never just Crosby, the also have Malkin who is one of the scariest players in the entire league; and he sits tied for 2nd in points with 19 (5 more that Crosby). Playing with Malkin is Phil "The Thrill" Kessel who has a respectable 15pts in 10 games as well. As a team, the PK is 7th in the league at 86.2% and the PP is 9th at 25.9, both great places to be. Only concern is that Murrays numbers at the moment, but I have faith that he'll find his game.
Sitting in 2nd place very surprisingly are the New York Islanders. After losing their Captain to Toronto this off season, they're playing like he never existed. The biggest difference in this team as opposed to last season is their Goals, Against (GA), which is the lowest in the division with 30. Last year they could score 4+ goals per game...but they seemed to always allow 6. Now they're putting the puck in the net by committee and keeping it out. Goal tending has been by committee as well so far. Greiss has slightly better numbers, but Lehner has the Wins.
Breakout team of the year? The Hurricanes sit in 3rd place. I had them as an honorable mention in my most improved teams post, and here they are! Unfortunately I don't think it will last long term. Goal tending has been an issue. Mrazek and McElhinney both have under .9 Save Percentages and over 2.5 Goal Against, that's not gonna cut it. The PP and PK are not good either sitting at 14.3% and 66.7% respectively (that PK is last in the entire league). They're fun to watch though. Aho has been great and Ferland has been awesome! But outside of that...not so much. Look for them to fall back into about 5th place by Thanksgiving if they don't figure out those special teams.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are sitting in 4th, outside of the playoffs and looking in. This is a team that was expected to compete for The Cup this year and make some real noise in the playoffs...for some reason there is a lot of inconsistent play out of the team. That isn't very characteristic of a team coached by Torts. Atkinson and Panarin have been the bright spots offensively for the team, and Duclair has quickly become the never fan favorite as well (just scored his wrap-around goal against SJ as I write this). But once again special teams and goal tending are holding a team back and drowning them. The PP is at 13.6% and PK sitting at 71.4%, neither are good enough. In goal Korpisalo has managed to get some wins, but his numbers are worse than Bobrovsky's (who seems to be getting kicked off the force soon). If they don't get it together quick and in a hurry expect Bob and Panarin to be sent packing at the trade deadline.
In 5th place we have the reigning, defending, Stanley Cup Champions of the Wooooooorld! The Washington Capitals. And so far the repeat doesn't look to promising. You're getting production from all the guys you'd expect, Ovi, Kuzy, Backstrom (does he even have a nickname? Backy?), and Oshie all lead the way up front. And another thing that may not shock you, the PP is 1st in the league at 37.1%, though the PK is at 72.5...it could be better. But the real trouble comes in goal as Holtby has not looked to great this year with a 3.6 GAA and .887 SV%. And Copley is only better by .05 in GAA...The Defending Champs are in trouble.
6th place is home to the New Jersey Devils. A surprise team who made the playoffs last year led by league MVP Taylor Hall, they are expecting to make the playoffs again and actually make some noise. But after a shaky start to the season their time is running out fast. They do have a positive goal differential but it is only a plus 2, and they're very strong at home going 5-1-1. They're led offensively by everyone you'd expect in Palmieri, Hall, Hischier, and Zajac, but only Zajac is a plus player. In goal Schneider is just coming back from hip surgery so we will see how he fairs as the season goes on, because when he is on he is one of the best in the league. Kinkaid has proved to be starter material after last season and has been doing what he can to hold the team in the playoff race with a .910 SV%. But the GAA is at 2.74 which leads one to believe that team is not playing well defensively as a whole. It is a bit perplexing to be honest as they have the 3rd best PP in the division and 2nd best PK, all while not being out shot really in any games. Time will tell where they finish.
The Flyers, led by Gritty, sit in 7th. But Gritty being the new face of the organization is not nearly as scary as their goalies performances. To start on the goalies it is important to know that they're giving up the 2nd least amount of shots against per game in the division at 28.5. That should be enough to tell you that the team in front of the goalies is doing their jobs pretty well. So for your number one goalie to have a .893 SV% and a 3.10 GAA is unacceptable. And this is really all that is needed to show that they're being held back and likely playing without trust and a belief that they can really let loose and take a chance offensively. Giroux and Voracek lead the way for the forwards but it will help much more if Sean Couturier can get back to the level he was at last year. But I would expect the Flyers to remain at the bottom of their division for the remainder of the year with that goal tending.
And finally we have the New York Rangers sitting all the way in the basement holding down the 8th spot. And no matter who you are you cant but help to feel bad for Henrik Lundqvist. One of the best goalies of his generation and at 36 years old now will likely end up without a championship to his name. On a rebuilding team he is doing all that he can though and maintaining a .917 SV%. The problem lies with the players in front of him. While they're getting some decently balance contributions up and down the line up with 9 players having 5 or more points (up to 10pts at the most), it just isn't enough. Their PP and PK are both in the middle of the pack but they're being out shot virtually every game which is not a good trend and has led to a goal differential of minus -11. And this falls heavily on their high priced D-men. They're all just clearly being beaten game in and game out and I would not expect that to change any time soon. But with Skjei being only 24 years old, hopefully this will be a good learning experience for him.
And with that this wraps up the Eastern Conference. As of now we have a lot of tight races for the playoffs in both divisions. And with only 3 weeks from that Thanksgiving date, in which roughly 80% of teams who are in a playoff position maintain it, teams will begin to separate themselves from the pack quickly. And the nightly shows of speed and talent that we're seeing and the unpredictable-ness of the games every night are what make this the best game in the world.
But next I'm moving on to cover the Western Conference, starting with the toughest division in the league, The Central, before moving on to the Pacific. So keep an eye out for those as they will be out sooner rather than later. Until then, Arrivederci.
No comments:
Post a Comment