The Top Storylines of the 2015-16 NHL Season so Far

Time flies when you're having fun.

As the whirlwind of the holiday season kicks into high gear, we're already one-third of the way through the 2015-16 NHL season.

So far, we've seen a campaign with plenty of competition on just about every plane. The battle for regular-season supremacy is wide open, which should make for a very competitive playoff season, and plenty of candidates are fighting it out for MVP status.

For a change, we're not talking much about fighting, concussions or supplemental discipline. Click through for a look at the top 10 storylines of the year.

Star Power in Dallas

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Just one year after missing the playoffs by seven points, the Dallas Stars are proving to be the class of the NHL in 2015-16.

The Stars hold down top spot in the league through December 4, and Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and John Klingberg hold down three of the league's top seven scoring spots. 

Now in his third season in Dallas, general manager Jim Nill has overhauled his team from the ground up with impressive results. Just eight players remain from the roster that Nill inherited. He has traded for stars such as Seguin, Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp, drafted standouts such as Valeri Nichushkin and developed prospects such as Jyrki Jokipakka into full-time NHLers.

Other teams with good starts this season include the Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils and Arizona Coyotes.

Ducks Debut Disastrously

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press

At the other end of the spectrum, no team has struggled as unexpectedly as the Anaheim Ducks this season.

After dominating the regular season and reaching Game 7 of the Western Conference Final against the Chicago Blackhawks last spring, the talent-laden Ducks looked like they had all the pieces in place to be one of the NHL's elite teams this term.

Instead, they struggled out of the gate and remain two points out of a playoff spot in the Pacific Division.

Offense has been a problem. Ducks stars Ryan Getzlaf (one goal) and Ryan Kesler (three goals) are underperforming, and the team hasn't successfully replaced the contributions it received last year from Matt Beleskey (22 goals), Kyle Palmieri (14 goals) and Francois Beauchemin (11 goals).

Other teams that have performed below expectations so far in 2015-16 include the Tampa Bay Lightning, Columbus Blue Jackets, Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche and Calgary Flames.

Patrick Kane Bounces Back with Best Season Yet

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It's not very often that we see a player tie for the lead in playoff scoring and come back the next season to lead the NHL scoring race.

That's the case for Patrick Kane, whose brief offseason was filled with controversy as he dealt with sexual-assault allegations that were ultimately dismissed in early November, per Eric Macramalla of Forbes.

Kane has been the NHL's hottest scorer since before the weight of the rape case was lifted off his shoulders. He has gone pointless in just two games this season, both back in October, and he is now setting records thanks to notching points in 21 straight games, most recently tying a Chicago Blackhawks mark that was set by Bobby Hull back in 1971-72, according to NHL.com.

With 41 points in his first 26 games, Kane could post 128 points this season if he keeps up his current pace. To put that number in perspective, only four players have won the Art Ross Trophy with 120 points or more since Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins scored 161 points in 1995-96—Lemieux himself (122 points in 1996-97), Jaromir Jagr twice (127 points in 1998-99 and 121 points in 2000-01), Joe Thornton (125 points in 2005-06) and Sidney Crosby (120 points in 2006-07).

Kane holds a comfortable six-point cushion in the Art Ross race over Dallas Stars linemates Benn and Seguin. At this point, he's the man to beat for the scoring title.

Sidney Crosby Headlines List of Struggling Stars

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Yes, Sidney Crosby scored 120 points back in 2006-07. He's also less than two years removed from his last scoring title, with 104 points in 2013-14. Though his output dropped to 84 points last season, Crosby finished just three points behind Jamie Benn in the Art Ross race.

In just the third year of a 12-year contract that will see him paid $12 million this season, according to General Fanager, Sidney Crosby is ranked 103rd in NHL scoring with 15 points in his first 24 games. His minus-10 rank also buries him among the worst 20 players in the league for two-way play.

Worst of all—no one really knows why Crosby suddenly finds himself playing well below his typical levels. He has endured his share of serious injuries during his career, but at age 28, it would be unusually early for a career decline to be beginning.

Also, Crosby played just fine when he was away from the Pittsburgh Penguins with Team Canada last spring, collecting 11 points in nine games at the 2015 IIHF World Championships, which makes this year's stats seem more like a blip than a trend. The good news for the Penguins is that, even as they struggle, they're staying in the Eastern Conference playoff mix.

Other highly paid players who have underperformed so far this season include Jonathan Toews (8-7-15), Corey Perry (9-9-18), Eric Staal (4-10-14) and Jakub Voracek (1-14-15).

Red-Hot Race for the Calder Trophy

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With so many great rookies scattered around the NHL this year, the voting for the Calder Trophy could yield some interesting results.

Right now, Artemi Panarin of the Chicago Blackhawks is the runaway leader in the scoring race with 26 points in 26 games, but he might be hard-pressed to earn votes as a 24-year-old who's competing against kids as young as 18.

Do Max Domi and Anthony Duclair get extra consideration for the huge contributions they've made in turning around the Arizona Coyotes franchise? Will Oscar Lindberg consolidate support in the powerful New York media market?

Over in Buffalo, Jack Eichel's still in the mix. Elsewhere around the league, so too are standout defenseman Colton Parayko, the wise-beyond-his-years Dylan Larkin and the dazzling Nikolaj Ehlers.

One other possibility: Will Connor McDavid pick up where he left off when he returns from his broken clavicle, proving he earned the hype he received going into the 2015 draft and that he really is the NHL's next generational talent?

Expect to see a tight race in the second half of the season. Some deserving candidates will be passed over when the top three Calder finalists are announced next spring.

Scoring Continues to Drop

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Shrink goalie equipment? Make the nets bigger? 

These are just a couple of suggestions that have been offered up in an effort to halt the NHL's latest decline in goal scoring.

According to Hockey Reference, NHL teams are scoring an average of 2.65 goals per game this season—after holding pretty steady between 2.72 and 2.74 goals a game for the four previous seasons. This year's number is inching toward the scoring dip we saw in what's known as the Dead Puck Era that preceded the year-long 2004-05 lockout.

Compared to last year, when Jamie Benn won the scoring title with just 87 points, the league's top snipers are doing their thing. Six players are currently tracking to beat 87 points this year.

But goalie numbers are also continuing to improve. Six goalies who have played at least five games this season boast goals-against averages below 2.00 and eight have save percentages above .930, with backup Jhonas Enroth of the Los Angeles Kings leading both categories at 1.17 and .962.

Enroth doesn't even fit the conventional assessment that today's goalies are good because their big frames take up so much of the net. The 27-year-old journeyman is listed at 5'10" and 166 pounds. He appears to be benefitting from playing behind a tight defensive system in Los Angeles after spending most of his early career in Buffalo, where he delivered a .910 save percentage and 2.92 goals-against average with the Sabres.

Parity in the NHL makes every goal important, so coaches are vigilant about their defensive systems. After taking out the red line and cracking down on obstruction last time scoring needed to be increased, the league will have to get even more creative if it hopes to inject more offense anytime soon.

Coach's Challenge Is Cutting Offense

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One way the goals are disappearing is through the new coach's challenge, which allows referees to reverse their on-ice decisions if they decide a goalie has been interfered with or a scoring play was actually offside.

As Scott Cullen of TSN pointed out, coaches are learning to roll the dice on video review in crucial game situations. Even when an offside or goalie interference is questionable, there's still a chance their team might be able to pull an opposition goal off the board.

"Maybe there are changes that can be made to the process but, if not, it looks like the league will have inadvertently found another way to inhibit goal-scoring," said Cullen. "Even if it’s only an occasional thing that takes a goal off the board from time to time, the league needs those occasional things to add to the scoreboard, not take away."

Expect to hear some discussion about the execution of the coach's challenge when the NHL's board of governors meets in Pebble Beach later in December.

New Overtime Format a Work in Progress

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

Early in the season, the NHL's new three-on-three overtime format was deemed a smashing success. The end-to-end action was thrilling, the skill players got a chance to shine, and less games were being decided in shootouts.

The league liked the format well enough to use it as part of an overhaul of this year's All-Star Game, but around the league, not everyone is so enthusiastic.

Opponents of three-on-three include the smooth-skating Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators and Dustin Byfuglien of the Winnipeg Jets, said Luke Fox of Sportsnet.

According to Sporting Charts, five of the NHL's 30 teams, including the Jets, have yet to record a win at three-on-three, while five others have yet to lose. The Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers have seen a league-high 10 of their games go to extra time, and both have delivered mixed results. The Wings are 5-4 in overtime with one shootout win while the Flyers are 4-4 in overtime and 1-1 in the shootout.

The Vancouver Canucks have the most reason to feel frustrated. After finishing nine of their first 27 games tied after 60 minutes, they've lost seven of their games at three-on-three. With a 1-1 record in the shootout, Henrik Sedin told Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sun on December 1 that's how his team needs to get the overtime monkey off its back. 

"

It’s tough to pinpoint one thing, but it is one of those things where we just have to maybe try and get it to a shootout and go from there. Maybe win one and build off that.

I think we are pressing a little bit and when you do that in those situations, three-on-three, it’s real easy for it to go the other way.

"

As teams start learning how to defend at three-on-three, it's likely we'll start seeing more shootouts sneaking back into box scores around the league.

Big Stars Waiting on Contract Extensions

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Though the Chicago Blackhawks' success has put pressure on the team's roster because of salary-cap limitations since they won their first Stanley Cup of the cap era in 2010, general manager Stan Bowman didn't hesitate to award his top stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane matching long-term deals that made them the richest players in the game, according to NHL.com.

Those contracts were signed on July 9, 2014—just under a year before their old deals expired. Eleven months later, Kane and Toews led the Hawks to a Stanley Cup championship.

When dealing with elite players, management groups typically try to finalize new deals before those players head into their contract years, minimizing the distraction that comes with talk of potential unrestricted free agency.

This year, however, a stagnating salary-cap ceiling has caused teams to be a little more frugal than usual—and a lot more frugal than star players and their agents are expecting.

Steven Stamkos, 25, leads the list of elite talent yet to be re-signed and could be heading toward unrestricted status next July 1. Right now, the crop of impressive available talent in the prime of their careers also includes Anze Kopitar, 28, Milan Lucic, 27, Keith Yandle, 29, Dustin Byfuglien, 30 and David Backes, 31.

If any of these players remains unsigned through the spring, the wheeling and dealing could get very interesting when contending teams in a wide-open league try to shore up their rosters for the playoffs at the February 29 trade deadline.

Is Expansion Imminent?

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Damien Cox of Sportsnet told us no major announcements are imminent regarding expansion at the upcoming meetings between the board of governors.

"

What you need to know is there won’t be a formal recommendation from the board’s executive committee, which has interviewed the prime investors for both the Quebec City and Las Vegas expansion bids. Neither Quebecor nor would-be Vegas owner Bill Foley will be in attendance, either.

Basically, with all the relevant information now in hand, the governors are expected to give [Gary] Bettman a sense of where they want this expansion process to go, although it’s likely he already knows.

"

Cox suggested something definite could be announced as early as the All-Star Game in Nashville in January. "What the governors will also hear again is that all the chatter about possible interest in a team in Seattle is just that, chatter," he added.

The Las Vegas Arena will be ready to roll in the spring of 2016, with George Strait performing the first concerts on April 22 and 23. Now all the arena needs is a hockey team as its anchor tenant.

All stats courtesy of NHL.com unless otherwise indicated and current through December 4.