The NHL schedule is rounding the quarter mark and it is time to look at the season's best and worst surprises so far.
By the end of this weekend, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the United States, almost every team in the National Hockey League will have reached the 20-game mark.
Since that mark traditionally represents the point where most general managers have a handle on just what their team is all about, we thought we'd take a mini-tour around the NHL and give a candid analysis about the surprising and disappointing teams through the first quarter of the season.
Surprising (in a good way):
Montreal Canadiens: Who else could top this list? Picked by many as a team that could, should or would miss the playoffs this spring, the Canadiens currently sit fourth overall in league standings, fourth (and challenging for second in the Eastern Conference standings and second only to the runaway success story of the early season, the Ottawa Senators, in the Northeast Division standings.
On the surface it appears that the oldest success story in hockey, quality goaltending, is the reason for the Habs 11-6-3 mark, but hey, this is a team that has given up 54 goals in 20 games. Vezina Trophy numbers they are not. The real reason for Montreal's success is that their offense is finally productive, their power play is superb and coach Guy Carbonneau had finally been able to get his team to respond to his no-nonsense brand of coaching. That took time and a major effort by general manager Bob Gainey who weeded out some of the malcontents who appeared to be working against Carbonneau last season. The message that comes with Gainey's moves has reinforced Carbonneau's approach to his players: simply put, you either play Carbonneau's way or you either find yourself in the press box or on Gainey's list of players to be moved. The most intriguing thing about that is that Carbonneau, long considered a defensive-minded player and coach, has given his team the freedom to create offence and it's done so. As of Monday night's games, the Canadiens had scored more goals (63-61) in the same number of games (19) than Ottawa, the league's overall points leader. They are also fun to watch.
New York Islanders The Islanders are almost as surprising as the Canadiens are and had they played a few more games, might have topped the list. After all, rookie general manger Garth Snow mortgaged the future when he acquired Ryan Smyth at the trade deadline last spring and then lost him to free agency after he cleared the financial deck by buying out the always disappointing Alexei Yashin.
Despite the disappointment that comes with losing Smyth and free-agent, 40-goal scorer Jason Blake, the Islanders sit 12th overall in league play, sixth in conference play and third in the Atlantic Division despite having played just 17 games and they consistently beat (and sometimes beat the heck out of) the division-leading New York Rangers. There's nothing particularly outstanding about the Islanders offence or defence (45 goals scored, 45 goals allowed), but they do get consistent goaltending out of Rick DiPietro, are incredibly tough at home (7-2) and are streaking via a 7-3-0 mark through their last 10. That's a tribute to a number of things including the work of Snow and former GM for a moment, Neil Smith, but at the heart of this team is a coach, Ted Nolan, who gets the best out of what he's dealt and does it on a nightly basis. Nolan won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year before he was forced out of the game in Buffalo. A decade later, his work with the Islanders is a clear indication of just how much the NHL lost during his exile. It's early, but right now Nolan is a genuine Coach of the Year candidate again.
St. Louis Blues: The Blues are a team rising from the ashes of failure via the work of general manager Larry Pleau and broadcaster-turned-president John Davidson.
St Louis is 11-7-0 through their first 18 games, tough to beat at home (7-3-0) and play physical defence. The Blues have superb penalty killing and their offence appears to be building into a reasonable force. How did that happen? Well, for starters, hard-nosed coach Andy Murray has put his stamp on this team and that's always good for extra points. The offence got an infusion of talent in the form of free-agent acquisition Paul Kariya and (and this too is a surprise), Keith Tkachuk. Defence, never as bad as often portrayed, is reasonably deep and anchored by vets like Jay McKee, Bryce Salvador and Christian Backman. There's also a fresh-faced rookie of the year candidate in David Perron, a 19-year-old who is showing a decidedly-decent scorer's touch. It remains to be seen if the Blues can keep it going and it will likely all fall apart if veteran Manny Legace can't keep his goals-against-average (2.22) in the top 10. For now, it's all going well in St. Louis and it's been a long time since anyone has been able to say that.
Honorable mentions: The Chicago Blackhawks who are playing with kids and having some early successes with them; the Nashville Predators who were written off for dead because of ownership issues but still remain a force in the Central Division; the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team that may be boring us to tears with their close-to-the defensive vest approach, but are nonetheless racking up wins under veteran coach Ken Hitchcock and the Atlanta Thrashers who seem to have reversed a losing trend after general manager Don Waddell went behind the bench to replace the fired Bob Hartley.
Disappointing (and in this there can be no good way):
Buffalo Sabres: Is it possible to go from first to worst in a single off-season? The Sabres may let us know. They've climbed out of a tie for last overall in the league in recent days, but largely because of the continued ineptitude of the Washington Capitals. The difference is the Caps didn't win the Presidents' Trophy last season as the best team in the regular season, the Sabres did.
Ownership and front-office miscues are at the heart of the problem. They lost leading scorers and team leaders Daniel Briere and Chris Drury to free agency and replaced them with salary-cap savings (read no one). They also allowed themselves to be forced into matching a $50 million contract for third-year pro Thomas Vanek (producing expectations that Vanek has struggled with in the early going). They put their hopes for a No.1 centre on seemingly always-injured Tim Connolly and he's been sidelined again. Ownership also created turmoil in the room by cutting veteran defenceman Teppo Numminen just days before he had to be cut open for open-heart surgery to repair a heart problem they were aware of when they signed him to a $2.3 million off-season deal. It was termed "just business".
If you want a 'How Not to Do It' manual, look no further than Buffalo. Last in the Northeast Division, second-last in the Eastern Conference and in the overall standings.
Washington Capitals: Hey, no one expected a massive turnaround, but last place in division, conference and league is a place this team should have evacuated by now. The Caps have been rebuilding longer than George Bush has been claiming victory in Iraq and have had just about as much success. General Manager George McPhee spent some of owner Ted Leonsis' money in the off-season, acquiring some much-needed help for scoring sensation Alex Ovechkin, but it isn't showing in the standings. Caps are 2-6-0 at home, 4-7-1 on the road, get blown out at times, but also lose the close ones on a regular basis. A 2-7-1 record in their last 10 has the few loyal fans screaming for the head of head coach Glen Hanlon. They may well get it.
New Jersey Devils: No one expected or predicted a Cup campaign for the Devils, they've been two beaten up by age and losses to free agency. Still, no one expected 25th place overall 20 games into the season and some real questions regards the every-night capabilities of goalie Martin Brodeur. The calendar says there's plenty of time for new coach Brian Sutter to get things turned around and normally we would agree with that, but these are the Devils we're talking about and general manger Lou Lamoriello, as we all know, waits for no man, least of all a coach. Two games under .500 is not a crime, but it's pretty close to one in New Jersey, so is letting in 56 goals in 20 games. The biggest disappointment is seeing Brodeur so far out of the top 10 in goals-against average that one has to count to 22 to see his name in that category. Worse, one has to go to 30th to find his save percentage.
Less than Honorable Mentions go to: The Calgary Flames, a team even less engaged then we thought they would be and one local columnist there recently dubbed "old, expensive and sluggish"; the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that can't seem to find itself or steady goaltending; the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that simply refuses to work hard enough to play even decent defence; the Atlanta Thrashers, yeah, we have them in the honorable mention category for their improved play of late, but their defence may well overtake the Leafs as the worst in the league this season and Dallas for firing a GM (Doug Armstrong) who has never missed the playoffs and was at .500 and replacing him (in part) with a former player (Brett Hull) who has never managed anything other than his bank account.
