Overreactions to the 1st Week of the 2015-16 NHL Season

A week of NHL hockey is in the books, and it's not exactly business as usual. There's an APB out on the Pittsburgh Penguins and captain Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin was a healthy scratch and the Arizona Coyotes won their first three games out of the gate.

Of course, some of the more predictable things have taken place as well, with the Montreal Canadiens and Carey Price playing very well and John Tavares, Patrick Kane and a healthy looking Henrik Zetterberg right near the top of the scoring list.

There are plenty of things to react to—or in this case, overreact to—in a season that is barely seven days old. We've gathered up some of the hot topics to get overly excited about from the first week and are offering a glass half-full and glass half-empty opinion on each.

Click ahead to check them all out, and feel free to add your own in the comments section.

Todd McLellan Was the Problem in San Jose

LM Otero/Associated Press

Glass half-empty: While Todd McLellan's former team, the San Jose Sharks, is flying high without the head coach in the first week, his new group, the Edmonton Oilers, is flailing. The Oilers are 0-4 while the Sharks are 3-0 after a mutual parting of ways between themselves and McLellan in the offseason. The roster didn't change much, so the coaching move must have been the difference.

Glass half-full: McLellan led the Sharks to six straight playoff seasons, and the imbalance on the ice and in the dressing room had as much to do with GM Doug Wilson and the players such as Joe Thornton as it did with the bench boss. Change was clearly needed, but who's to say the same sort of turnaround wouldn't have taken place if the team dumped a veteran such as Patrick Marleau or Thornton instead of the coach?

The bottom line: The Oilers were a mess before McLellan got there, and the Sharks are a team that has missed the playoffs once since 2003. It's time to stop blaming coaches in Edmonton for the problems there.

Ovechkin Is in His Coach's Doghouse

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Glass half-empty: Alex Ovechkin is the emotional captain of the Washington Capitals, and he was benched for one of the team's worst losses in recent history for disciplinary reasons after oversleeping and showing up late for the morning skate, per the AP (h/t ESPN). Barry Trotz is a no-messing-around head coach who doesn't look fondly upon rogue behavior.

Glass half-full: Ovechkin served his sentence, admitted his mistake publicly and returned to the lineup on Thursday night. Trotz set a solid example by making sure one of the league's biggest stars doesn't play by his own rules, and the team will respect the coach even more than before for not making exceptions and treating everyone the same way.

The bottom line: Ovechkin and Trotz will both move past this incident quickly, and it won't become a problem unless the captain habitually forgets the difference between a.m. and p.m. on his alarm clock.

Erik Karlsson Will Be the First D-Man to Win the Scoring Title Since Bobby Orr

Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

Glass half-full: Through the first week of action, Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson is tied for the league lead with seven points. The 25-year-old already has a pair of 70-plus-point seasons and could potentially finish at a point per game or more. Two years ago, he finished 14th in the entire league in the Art Ross race. The Senators are more talented as a team now, which could mean more opportunities for Karlsson to rack up points.

Glass half-empty: No defenseman has claimed the Art Ross Trophy since Bobby Orr in 1975. One injury could derail any hopes Karlsson has of being the first to do so since.

The bottom line: Karlsson plays big minutes, is a massive part of the power play and has led his team in scoring the last two seasons. If any blueliner is going to pull off the Orr, it could be Karlsson.

Mike Babcock Made a Massive Mistake

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Glass half-empty: Winless in his first three games with his new club, head coach Mike Babcock's legacy is tarnished forever, with the Toronto Maple Leafs putting an end to his winning ways. He enjoyed a decade of playoff hockey with the Detroit Red Wings, but it may take him a decade to get back into the postseason with the Leafs.

Glass half-full: The Leafs showed some signs of life in a shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators, and Babcock knew what he was getting into when he chose to leave the Detroit Red Wings in the offseason for the challenge of guiding the Leafs back to respectability. If anyone can change the way things are done in Toronto, it's Babcock. His legacy isn't tarnished; it will be cemented with future Leafs success.

The bottom line: The Leafs are likely going to be terrible this year—maybe for a few seasons. But Babcock is dedicated to turning things around and has the kind of support around him that will ensure growth. He's starting to build a foundation.

The Arizona Coyotes Are Playoff Bound

Christine Cotter/Associated Press

Glass half-full: The Arizona Coyotes have a stellar coach in Dave Tippett, who teaches a solid system that has ways of covering up holes in personnel. Despite plenty of these deficiencies, the Coyotes have solid young rookies and prospects who are finding the net early this season and a goalie in Mike Smith who seems to have rediscovered the steadiness that made him their netminder of choice when signing him to a long-term deal two years ago.

Glass half-empty: The Coyotes were the worst team in the Western Conference last season and second worst in the entire league statistically. Moderately better goaltending and improved scoring will help them climb the standings slightly, but a turnaround that massive would have to include strong play from the defensive group that has one bona fide top-pairing player and a bunch of third-pairing types behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson. They won their first three games but fell to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

The bottom line: The only way the Coyotes do the unthinkable is if they have two legitimate Calder Trophy performances from Max Domi and Anthony Duclair and a Vezina Trophy-worthy season from Smith.

Steve Mason's Days as a Starting Goalie Are Done

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Glass half-empty: Flyers goaltender Steve Mason allowed four goals on eight shots in his second start of the season—in less than seven minutes of action. He then left the team for personal reasons, and in his absence, backup Michal Neuvirth posted back-to-back shutouts and has seemingly wrenched the starting job away.

Glass half-full: Mason was one of the few bright spots for his team last season, finishing third among goaltenders with a .928 save percentage and seventh with a 2.25 goals-against average. He had a strong preseason, and there is no reason to panic based on a small sample size early in the regular season.

The bottom line: The Flyers have a long break, and unless the personal reasons continue to keep Mason away from the team, he'll get his chance to redeem himself. Neuvirth is a nice backup, but Mason has better numbers over his career.

Darryl Sutter Should Be Fired

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Glass half-empty: His Los Angeles Kings are without a victory in three games—all on home ice—and the booing at the end of Wednesday's game at Staples Center was an extension of the disappointment of missing the playoffs last season. Head coach Darryl Sutter's typical shelf life has been three to five years, and he's in his fourth with the Kings. His players may not be listening any longer.

Glass half-full: Sutter has helped the Kings win two Stanley Cups in his relatively brief time in Los Angeles, and the team would be nuts to let him go before he gets a chance to bring together a group that has more new faces than usual and lost a few veterans in the offseason.

The bottom line: Sutter's leash is probably getting shorter more quickly than you'd expect for a guy who coached his team to the 2012 and 2014 championships. As reported by Sports Illustrated, oddsmakers have Sutter just behind Boston's Claude Julien as the favorite to be the first coach fired.

Connor McDavid Is a Bust

LM Otero/Associated Press

Glass half-empty: The first overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Connor McDavid, is feeling the pressure of being so highly touted as a rookie. He's looked overwhelmed at times and only shown brief flashes of the speed and skill that made him a standout junior player. While many other freshmen are having big performances, McDavid is adapting slowly to massive jump.

Glass half-full: It took Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby three games to score in their NHL debuts as well. The 18-year-old's talent is undeniable, and it's a matter of time before his confidence catches up.

The bottom line: It may take some time for McDavid to become a difference-maker for the Edmonton Oilers with regularity, but he is capable of explosive offensive outbursts, and you can expect to see one of those in the near future.

The Montreal Canadiens Are Going to Win the Cup

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Glass half-full: The Habs have claimed the Stanley Cup every season they've started with four straight wins. They hit five straight wins for the first time in their storied history with a victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.

Glass half-empty: It's way too early to be crowning champions, and the Montreal Canadiens will go through some ups and downs over the course of the season. They still depend too heavily on MVP Carey Price to win, and it has been proved his heroics aren't necessarily enough to claim the Cup the past couple of seasons.

The bottom line: There are a lot more teams and parity in the league than the last time the Canadiens won their first four games back in the late 1970s. They're among the favorites, for sure, but they are far from a lock to repeat ancient history.

Sidney Crosby Is Washed Up

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Glass half-empty: The offseason addition of super sniper Phil Kessel was supposed to boost the Pittsburgh Penguins offense and give captain Sidney Crosby his biggest weapon yet. Career season coming, right? Not based on his start. Crosby has gone without a point through the first four games of the season and has just made seven shots on goal after being blanked for the first two. One unnamed opponent, via Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, even suggested Kessel's presence has thrown Crosby off.

Glass half-full: The chemistry isn't there yet after a big new addition, and the pressure is high in Pittsburgh after a disappointing finish and changes behind the bench. But this is Crosby, who is one of the league's best players when healthy. The 28-year-old has finished with more than a point per game in every one of his 10 previous seasons.

The bottom line: Given his slight drop in production over the latter half of last season and his rough start so far, there may be reason to suspect the gap between Crosby and his peers has lessened to a degree. Don't bet against him winning the Art Ross Trophy for the second time in three seasons and third overall.

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics courtesy of NHL.com.