Around The Rink 11.27.07: Surprises Of The Quasi-Young NHL Season

Posted by Jeremy Yoder on 11.27.2007

Around The Rink this week a coach was fired, has your team been a pleasant or unpleasant surprise and we take a look at the Western Conference’s Pacific Division. In addition you will be provided with the latest news from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

News...

This past week the Washington Capitals made the second head coaching change in the NHL this year when they fired their coach of close to four years, Glen Hanlon. The Atlanta Thrashers made the first coaching change of the year when they fired Bob Hartley after losing their first six games of the season.

While I don't think anyone expected the Caps to set the NHL on fire this year, I'm sure no one really expected them to be the worst team in the league either. They started 6-13-1 under Hanlon which did, in fact, make them the worst team in the NHL. Taking over for the team now will be Bruce Boudreau. He will not be the permanent replacement, but the Caps have not set a timeline for finding a full time replacement. Boudreau was coaching the AHL's Hershey Bears, the Capitals minor-league team, this year where he has been for the last three years.

What teams have surprised you so far this season? When I look at the standings around the league, most of the surprises, to me, come from the Eastern Conference. In the Atlantic Division the Flyers are tied for first, with two games in hand, with the New York Rangers. Each team has compiled 28 points so far. Both of these teams made major moves in the off-season bringing in some big names to bolster their respective rosters. I don't think anyone really expected to see those moves paying off so quickly though. They Flyers have been very tough this year and look like they will be all season. While the Rangers got off to a bit of a slow start, it seems things are starting to come together for them.

There are two other surprises in the Atlantic Division. These surprises are not nearly as welcome, but rather shocking none the less. The Devils and Penguins are fighting to stay out of last place. These two teams finished first and second last year in the division and were expected to do a lot of the same this year. While the season is still pretty young, both of these teams have been struggling and are absolutely surprises sitting at the bottom of their division.

There's not a whole lot of surprising things happening in the Northeast Division. The Senators are king of the hill which shouldn't be surprising. I think the only thing kind of unexpected is the struggles that Buffalo is going through. While we all knew they wouldn't be the same team as the past few years, I think we also figured they would probably do alright with the cast they have. After losing Drury and Briere, it seems the team is really struggling to find themselves without last year's offensive leaders.

The Southeast Division is far and away the weakest of the Eastern Conference divisions. The only team with a winning record, Carolina, is leading the division. The surprise here is the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning have been a good hockey club for the last number of years. They didn't lose any key players, but can't seem to find their rhythm this year. I think some of that might be due to a shaky goaltending situation, but it's too early to rule this team out.

When I look at the Western Conference, the first thing that jumps out at me is that there are currently only three teams with losing records! That's half as many as are in the Eastern Conference. In the Central Division, and the Western Conference as a whole, I think that Chicago and Columbus are the biggest surprises. They are currently tied for second with St. Louis. St. Louis has two games in hand over both teams. Chicago and Columbus both had losing seasons last year and finished last and next to last in the division. This year though, they are playing good hockey and looking to make runs at the playoffs.

In the Northwest, the surging Vancouver Canucks are in a tie with the Minnesota Wild for first place. One point behind those two teams is Colorado, who also has a game in hand on both of those teams. I really don't see anything surprising in this division. The Oilers are having another rough year and the Flames seem to be continuing a regression since their heart-breaking Stanley Cup appearance in 2004. The Canucks, Wild and Avalanche will be fighting for the top spot in the division all year.

There aren't really any surprises in the Pacific Division either. The Dallas Stars, Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks are 1-2-3 in this division. The Phoenix Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings are fighting to stay out of last. I think if there's anything surprising in this division right now, it's that the Coyotes are above .500 right now. The Coyotes were the second worst team in the entire NHL last year, second only to the Philadelphia Flyers. They made a nice free agent signing with former Ducks goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. I don't expect them to make a lot of noise this year, but finishing near .500 will be a nice accomplishment for the team from Phoenix.

The Pacific Division: The Most Predictable Division in Hockey?

As I mentioned in the section above, the Dallas Stars, Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks are sitting 1-2-3 in the Pacific Division. Anybody who watches any hockey could tell you that those three would be fighting for first in that division. One needs to look all the way back to the 03-04 NHL season to find a season where those three teams did not finish in some order where all three were at the top of the division.

The Dallas Stars are currently leading the way in this division. They are 12-7-4 which is good for 28 points and second place overall in the Western Conference. Led by head coach Dave Tippett, the Stars are another team that does not see much change on their roster. They have good veteran leadership in Mike Modano, Sergei Zubov, Jere Lehtinen, Brenden Morrow, Mattias Norstrom and goalie Marty Turco. Norstrom was a trade deadline acquisition last year, but the rest of those guys have been in the Stars organization for a number of years. The Stars have consistently been a top team in the Western Conference for many years now. They appear to have tools in place to ensure that they will be a front-runner for many more years to come. They have a good group of fairly young players on the team in Jussi Jokinen, Joel Lundqvist, Loui Eriksson, Trevor Daley, Nicklas Grossman and goalie Mike Smith. Smith has started splitting playing time with veteran Marty Turco giving the Stars a great 1-2 punch in goal. They should be a top runner in the division, and conference, all year long.

Currently sitting in second place are the Anaheim Ducks at 11-9-4 with 26 points. Last years Stanley Cup Champions saw some unwanted changes in the off-season. The Edmonton Oilers paid Dustin Penner an absurd amount of money prying him away from the Ducks as a restricted free agent. Along with losing Penner, Star defensemen Scott Niedermayer went into a form of retirement and has not played a game yet this year. I call it a "form of retirement" because speculation is rampant that he will return to the team. I honestly am not sure what the latest word on that is…Brett Favre, Roger Clemens, eat your hearts out. Aside from losing Penner and Niedermayer not much else changed. Offensively they are led by youngsters Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. They have a seasoned, veteran corps of defensemen led by Chris Pronger, Mathieu Schneider and Sean O'Donnell. In net they are led by the steady Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Along with the Stars, look for the Ducks to be at the top of the Pacific Division and the entire Western Conference.

Close behind the top two in third are the San Jose Sharks. They are currently 11-8-3 with 25 points. Along with the Ducks, Stars, Avalanche and Red Wings, the Sharks have become a staple of Western Conference post-season hockey. I haven't had the chance to watch any Sharks hockey yet this year, but looking at the stats for the team, I have to wonder how they're winning games. They're leading points scorer is Joe Thornton who has 24 points. Second in scoring is Jeremy Roenick. Yes, Jeremy "JR" Roenick. It becomes clear that the reason the Sharks are winning games is because of their defense and goaltending. Evgeni Nabokov's record may only be 11-8-3, but his save percentage is .914 and his goals against average is 2.02. When the rest of this team, Patrick Marleau, Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo, get going, they will be very dangerous. They will definitely be fighting for the top of the Pacific Division as well as the Western Conference along with their other Pacific Division counterparts, Anaheim and Dallas.

Fourth in the division are the Phoenix Coyotes. The Wayne Gretzky-led team is currently a game over .500 at 11-10 with 22 points. The Coyotes made a great free agent signing when they picked up Ilya Bryzgalov after the Ducks let him go. While Bryzgalov will provide them with a steady goaltender in net, if this team is going to go anywhere it will have to be a total team effort. Aside from Shane Doan, there really isn't anyone that is a proven points scorer in the NHL. They have some good defensemen in Ed Jovanovksi and Derek Morris, but look for this team to hover around .500 most of the year. Staying five games on either side of that mark should be considered a pretty successful season for this squad.

The Los Angeles Kings are bringing up the rear of the Pacific Division. Things might be looking rough right now for the Kings, but this is a team that could come alive and make a bit of noise. They have some really talented players in their lineup in Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Alexander Frolov and Mike Cammalleri. They have a decent defensive corps led by veterans Rob Blake and Jon Klemm. On paper, this looks like a team that should be winning hockey games. It appears that they have players that aren't playing to the fullest of their potential though. With Jason LaBarbera playing pretty well in net, look for the Kings to put the ‘yotes in the basement of the Pacific Division at some point this year.

Weekly Pens Update

The Penguins won two out of three games over the last week since my last blog. They dropped a tough 2-1 game to the New Jersey Devils, thanks in large part to an outstanding game from Martin Brodeur, but followed that up by winning a tough game in a shoot-out against, at the time, the NHL's best team in the Ottawa Senators and then rolling over the Atlanta Thrashers by a score of 5-0.

The win against the Senators could very well have been a turning point in this season for the ‘guins. The Senators are a very good hockey team and it was a hard-fought victory for the Pens. It was the kind of win that can be described as a character building win. I was hesitant to say much about that win until seeing the way they followed up. They followed it up by scoring three goals in the first period against the Atlanta Thrashers and going on to beat them 5-0. The Thrashers were definitely not at the top of their game, but a win is a win and when it comes after a huge game like the one against the Senators, it can really serve as a confidence builder.

The biggest difference in those two wins for the Penguins was that it wasn't only Sid and Geno doing the scoring for once. In Ottawa, they got two goals from Ryan Malone and one from Tyler Kennedy. At home against Atlanta, Jordan Staal got a much-needed goal, Malone cashed in again, Colby Armstrong put one in and Ryan Whitney found his way back onto the scoresheet. Crosby had a goal against Atlanta and Malkin had a goal against Ottawa, but those were the only goals scored by those two players in the wins. Malkin saw his 15-game point streak come to an end against Atlanta while Sid saw his 19-game point streak come to an end in the loss to New Jersey.

Aside from getting others involved in the offense, roster moves have played a big part in seeing the Pens win their last two games. Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor were healthy scratches for both victories. Dressing in their place were, and hopefully are, Tyler Kennedy and Kristopher Letang. I mentioned in my last blog that I really like the energy that Kennedy adds to the lineup. I also mentioned that I really like Letang playing defense for the Pens. Kennedy had a goal against Ottawa and a couple of assists against Atlanta. He should start seeing regular playing time in the lineup if Therrien recognizes a good thing when he sees it.

Letang has been making a difference as well. As early as the Devils game last Wednesday, I started calling for Letang to take Whitney's place on the power play unit. I was calling for it not because I think that Whitney has been playing poorly, but because I think the Pens power play became all too predictable. With Whitney at the point, they only had one option for a one-timer with the entire unit consisting of left-handed shots. You could tell that teams were playing the Pens power play a certain way, knowing there were only so many plays that they could make. I argued with my friends that adding Letang to the power play would create a new threat and open more ice. Lo and behold, Kristopher Letang made his debut on the number one power play unit in Ottawa and it yielded instant results. Since putting Letang on the point, the power play has been 3-for-5 with Letang assisting on two of the three goals.

On top of all of that, Marc-Andre Fleury played probably his best game of the season against the Thrashers. While the team as a whole definitely produced their best effort of the season, it was Fleury who everyone was worried about. I said last time that he needs playing time. Therrien pulled him after facing three shots in Ottawa, but went back to him the next game at home against Atlanta. Fleury looked determined to once again prove that he should be the #1 goalie in Pittsburgh and played a fantastic game.

There is a down side to all of this…the Pens are off until FRIDAY. Who does the scheduling in the NHL??? That's almost an entire week off. Hopefully the rest will do more good than harm, although you hate to see a team seemingly warming up needing to take such an extended break. The reason the rest may be good though is because there are some banged up players. Sergei Gonchar didn't play the third period against the Thrashers because of a sore groin. Max Talbot didn't play against New Jersey, Ottawa or Atlanta due to an ankle sprain. Hopefully some time off will heal these players up a little.

More Next Tuesday...

I'll be back next week with another column. Please send any comments, questions, suggestions or a topic that would interest you to [e-mail].