We are nearly two weeks into the National Hockey League season. Early into most seasons there isn’t very many stories. People like to take things slow and keep their overreactions at a minimum. I do the same thing, but to get you knowing what’s going on in the NHL world here are the things to know.
The Montreal Canadiens are unbeaten so far. Six games in, let’s put a hold on the Stanley Cup parade. I had the Canadiens taking a step back this season with teams like the Lightning and Red Wings finishing above the Habs. So far Montreal has kept shots low in most of their games, they block shots and they have the MVP Carey Price in goal. I still think Tampa Bay will finish above the Les Habitants but if they keep up this play the Canadiens can definitely make this a tight race all season.
At the other end of the table, The Columbus Blue Jackets are winless six games in. A team a lot of people had as “great” can’t win. 30 goals against in six games will lose you a lot of games, the defense was one of the things I was worried about and the goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was going to have to save them which he has in the past. He isn’t saving them right now. Columbus has to right the ship fast, I know it’s only mid October but the parity is too good in the NHL to make up room that you lost early in the season. One more loss could be trouble for the Blue Jackets and look for someone, mostly the coach to pay a price if the losing continues.
Vladimir Tarasenko quickly and quietly becoming one of the best players in the NHL. 5 goals in 6 games is the start the young Russian is off to and that has helped the St Louis Blues climb to first place in a tough central division. Last season was the start of stardom for Tarasenko, scoring 16 more goals last season than the previous season and also seeing a 30 point jump. Tarasenko has a lethal shot and if he keeps this up you could see him easily hitting 40 goals and 50 goals isn’t out of the question. We’ve seen hot starts cool off but even if he doesn’t keep up this pace Tarasenko is a must watch player.
Sidney Crosby is pointless. Five games into the season and the best player in the world has zero points. That could be a combination of things, teammates not finishing on his setups, and goalies stoning him in the process. This is something that will change hopefully for the Penguins and if not it could be a huge factor in Pittsburgh struggling all season.
Something to keep an eye on for the Penguins is the coach. I’m not a big fan of Mike Johnston and I think that Penguins team last season severely underachieved. So far Pittsburgh has just seven goals in five games. A team with Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Hornqvist, Perron, Kunitz and Letang to name only a few can’t score. Management for sure knows this and could deal with it if the team wins, but if this team stays average someone has to pay and Johnston hasn’t proven he can lead this team to any kind of success like Bylsma did.
Martin Jones starting his career as a number one NHL goalie has been great. For people who don’t know Martin Jones season stats so far here they are, 0.49 goals against average, .982 save %. Add two shutouts to those stats and a shutout streak of over 200 minutes. Those stats are guaranteed to drop but it’s a great start to a career and it has San Jose jumping out to a division lead early on.
Southern California can’t score. Ask most people and I think you would hear Anaheim finishing first in the pacific division with LA rebounding and finishing second. So far five games in and they have a combined three wins. The thing that stands out is how little both teams have lit the lamp. The Kings have had trouble scoring goals for the past couple of years so scoring 6 goals in their first 5 games isn’t that shocking but coming out of the gate as poorly as they did after a bad season last season was shocking. Anaheim on the other hand was possibly one of the deepest forward teams in the league and it was surprising to see the Ducks score just 1 goal in their first 4 games. These slumps could be close to ending though, LA has won two games in a row and Anaheim is coming off a game where they scored 4 goals.
Jaromir Jagr is still great at age 43. Usually you will see a drop off in production when players hit their mid thirties and by time they hit 40 they’re long gone. Meanwhile we have a player in Florida who has 4 goals and 7 points in his first five games. Jagr is top 4 in points in his career and could move up to 2nd if he plays for a couple more years and stays at point per game pace but what he’s doing at his age is something to admire. To give you a clue on how good Jagr has been throughout his NHL career, he sits behind only Gretzky, Messier, and Howe in career points with 1,809 and he has played 200 less games than the two guys ahead of him. Watch Jagr while you can, he won’t be around forever and he is still great.
And finally after talking about how great a 43 year old has been, the young guys are playing pretty well too. Connor McDavid didn’t set the league on fire in his first 4 games getting just one point but in his last 2 games he has shown the NHL what he can do, 4 points in those two games. Jack Eichel has shown he has one heck of a shot, sniping and dekeing his was to 2 goals in five games. And Dylan Larkin, a kid some has marked as a Calder trophy dark horse has 6 points in 5 game and has looked great. As much as we love the old guys, the league is getting younger and these three players specifically have looked very good. Other notable young guys playing well are Max Domi and Anthony Duclair in Arizona.
There is always things to talk about during a long 82 game NHL schedule this is just a few of the things that have stood out. Games to look out for this week include San Jose @ New York Rangers on Monday, St Louis @ Montreal Tuesday, Tampa Bay @ Nashville Tuesday, LA @ San Jose on Thursday and Tampa Bay @ Chicago a Stanley Cup final rematch on Saturday.
