On Tuesday, we graded Eastern Conference teams based on their performance through a quarter of the season. Now, it’s the West’s turn. As with the East, we’ll hand out grades relative to how the team was expected to perform and list clubs by the current divisional standings.
Central
Chicago Blackhawks: A What, no record start this year? Jokes. The Hawks have shirked any notion of a Cup hangover and Chicago’s high-octane offence is averaging more goals-per-game than anybody in the league.
Minnesota Wild: A+ Josh Harding’s goaltending has been one of the biggest stories in the league all year. Coach Mike Yeo has encouraged his team to attack more, meaning the odd mistake in the name of creating goals is now allowed in Minny. The big question is, what happens when Harding’s inevitable cool-off settles in?
St. Louis Blues: A The Blues are the best outfit in the NHL at five-on-five and their plus-23 goal differential is tops in the league. That’s not really surprising until you consider it’s their second-ranked offence, not their 10th-ranked defence, driving those stats. Alex Steen’s ridiculous 17 goals through 20 games is an unsustainable pace, but as long as the Blues are getting above-average goal production, they’ll be really tough to beat.
Colorado Avalanche: A+ Admittedly, we’re still anxious to see where this goes, but just when it seemed like the Avs were slipping with three straight losses, they hammered Chicago 5–1 on Tuesday. While he’s shelved right now with a strained oblique, the emergence of Matt Duchene as a superstar headlines this incredible start.
Dallas Stars: B+ Tyler Seguin’s production alone makes this a successful season so far. The trade from Boston was obviously the tonic he needed and Seguin looks poised to lead the Stars’ attack for years, but don’t forget about the work of goalie Kari Lehtonen, a dark-horse Vezina candidate right now.
Winnipeg Jets: C There’s just nothing to latch onto with this team. Some nights they look OK, some nights you want to look away. The only truly distinct thing about the Jets is their terrible power play. Everything else is middle-of-the-pack or slightly worse.
Nashville Predators: C- They’ve managed to stay afloat despite the devastating loss of Pekka Rinne to hip surgery and his subsequent infection. But it’s the same ol’ tune in Nashville, where the team just doesn’t generate many goals. Who knows, maybe unheralded goalie Marek Mazanec will put the team on his back for a while.
Pacific
Anaheim Ducks: A+ For those peeking in on Anaheim from afar, there’s a tendency to think it’s Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and not much else. But Ducks GM Bob Murray has done an excellent job filling out the roster, largely with under-the-radar trades for guys like Nick Bonino, Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner and Mathieu Perrault. Factor in Anaheim’s deep, talented goaltending pool and this team is for real.
San Jose Sharks: A All the talk around San Jose is about how GM Doug Wilson has tweaked the club to give it more speed. The Sharks forward crew is scary-deep, especially with the emergence of leading rookie-of-the-year candidate Tomas Hertl.
Phoenix Coyotes: A+ As with the Blues, it’s shocking to learn that the offence is driving the bus in the desert, not the D. The emergence of Martin Hanzal as a six-foot-six, 236-lb., point-per-game player is, well, massive, and Shane Doan is scoring at about a 40-goal pace. And then there’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who’s become a legit Norris Trophy candidate on the back end. Even when the goals dry up a bit, the Coyotes will be a tough out.
Los Angeles Kings: A Can we please lobby to get more Western Conference teams in the playoffs? The story of the moment in L.A. is obviously Ben Scrivens, who’s been fantastic in goal since Jonathan Quick went down with groin strain. The Kings continue to be a stellar top-to-bottom team that may have unearthed a valuable goal-scorer in Tyler Toffoli.
Vancouver Canucks: C Tough to grade any kinder when the Canucks haven’t won in five games. There’s still something to this club, but when you look at all the sturdy teams in the West, it gets really hard to like Vancouver’s chances.
Calgary Flames: C+ Yeah, yeah, we heard, they try hard every night. Still, the Flames’ goal differential is only two better than their hated rivals in Edmonton and with just a pair of wins in 10 games in November, reality is taking hold in southern Alberta. This is where Flames fans need to remember that anything besides developing young players and gathering tons of draft picks through trades this year is gravy.
Edmonton Oilers: F About the only positive thing you can say is, maybe the worst is over. If it’s not, expect GM Craig MacTavish to make more moves, because he obviously isn’t taking this sitting down. It’s clearer than ever that Edmonton has too many players who bring some variation of the same thing—and filling out the roster with bigger, tougher bodies is not going to happen overnight.