Buying or Selling Hot Starts to the 2017-18 NHL Season

The 2017-18 NHL season is off to a rollicking start with a brand new franchise, plenty of scoring and hat tricks galore.

Results from the first few days of any season can sometimes be a mirage. Case in point: Remember when the Vancouver Canucks opened up by going 4-0 last year, then went 26-43-9 the rest of the way to finish 29th overall?

Through the first six days of this season, eight teams are unbeaten. Two of those sides, the Canucks and the Carolina Hurricanes, have played just one game—not enough to be considered a trend. 

Here is a look at the six teams that have been perfect through their first two or three games and whether they will be able to sustain their success.

St. Louis Blues

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The numbers: Last season, the St. Louis Blues finished third in the Central Division, with 99 points. The Blues reached the second round of the playoffs before being knocked out by the Nashville Predators in six games.

Despite coming into the new hockey year with a long list of injuries, St. Louis has started the season with a 3-0-0 record—beating the champion Pittsburgh Penguins, the Dallas Stars and the New York Islanders.

The verdict: Buying

The bottom line: The Blues' hot start comes as a surprise given regulars Alex Steen, Patrik Berglund, Robby Fabbri, Zach Sanford and Jay Bouwmeester are all sidelined through injury.

The lineup holes are being effectively filled by everyone from the 19-year-old rookie Tage Thompson through to the 34-year-old veteran Scottie Upshall.

Left-handed defenseman Joel Edmundson has seen his ice time spike while Bouwmeester's on the shelf, and right-handed captain Alex Pietrangelo is carrying a heavy load, leading all NHL players with an average of 27:26 of ice time per game.

St. Louis has averaged a scary 38.3 shots against per game but is trending in the right direction. The team gave up 42 shots in the overtime win over the Penguins, then 40 against Dallas and 33 against the Islanders. Jake Allen has seen plenty of rubber but has been rock-solid, building an early .930 shooting percentage.

The Blues finished strong last season after Mike Yeo took over behind the bench on February 1. Even without a number of key players, they have picked up right where they left off.

New Jersey Devils

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The numbers: After a 27th-placed finish in the NHL standings last season, the New Jersey Devils got lucky when the ping-pong balls dropped their way at the draft lottery, enabling them to select the 18-year-old Nico Hischier with the first overall pick.

The Swiss sensation earned a spot in the opening-night lineup, but it's the 19-year-old Jesper Bratt who led the charge for the Devils in their early-season wins over the Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres. A sixth-round pick out of Sweden in 2016, Bratt scored on each of his first three NHL shots and added two assists.

Usually starved for offense, the Devils have outscored their opponents 10-3 in their first two games.

The verdict: Selling

The bottom line: Both Bratt (three goals) and new acquisition Marcus Johansson (two) boast perfect shooting percentages. It's safe to say that's unsustainable.

Both of the Devils' early-season opponents also ranked in the bottom 10 in goals against in 2016-17. Scoring opportunities will probably be harder to come by when the quality of competition increases.

The Devils are certainly teasing the possibility they will be more fun to watch, and Cory Schneider's .955 save percentage indicates he's back in the groove after a subpar campaign last year.

New Jersey will deliver better results this season, but don't expect to see the Devils suddenly pushing for a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division.

Los Angeles Kings

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The numbers: Coach Darryl Sutter may be gone, but the Los Angeles Kings are up to their old tricks—winning games by keeping scoring to a minimum.

With a healthy Jonathan Quick back between the pipes, L.A. kicked off the John Stevens era with a 2-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Flyers, followed by a 4-1 win over the rival San Jose Sharks.

The verdict: Buying

The bottom line: Quick's .983 save percentage is the best in the league among goalies who have played more than one game. He has something to prove after missing 59 games last season with a groin injury.

New coach Stevens and new general manager Rob Blake were both promoted from within after the Kings' offseason housecleaning. That puts the team in a unique position to tap into its pre-existing organizational strengths, such as its airtight defensive approach, while also breathing new life into the offensive side of the game.

After signing a deal with a $10 million cap hit and being named captain, Anze Kopitar sputtered offensively last season with just 12 goals and 52 points. Early signs indicate he's turning that around—the Slovenian has two goals and three points in his first two games.

If the Kings stay in their lane and play heavy, low-event hockey, they will come out in the win column on most nights.

Vegas Golden Knights

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The numbers: Defying all expectations, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights have started their tenure in the NHL with two 2-1 wins—first against the Dallas Stars and then in overtime against the Arizona Coyotes.

Touted as the team's two top stars during the expansion draft, James Neal has scored three of their four goals, including the two-game winners, and Marc-Andre Fleury has been virtually airtight in net.

The verdict: Selling

The bottom line: It's all about luck in Vegas, and the Golden Knights are rolling in it.

General manager George McPhee says he's focused on the long term, per Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com, so he's making moves that could hurt the team's immediate chances of winning, such as dealing away backup goaltender Calvin Pickard and stashing waiver-exempt talents such as Vadim Shipachyov, Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore in the AHL.

Once Fleury takes a rest or Neal's hot stick cools off, expect to see the Golden Knights come back to earth. Like every expansion team before them, Vegas fans will have to endure some growing pains before their club is truly competitive.

Toronto Maple Leafs

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The numbers: Not content to rest after their 26-point jump in the standings last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to assert themselves as a team to be reckoned with.

This year, they are 3-0-0 out of the box and lead the league in scoring after wins over the Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks.

Toronto's power play has been its No. 1 weapon in the early going, scoring six times on a league-high 16 opportunities for a success rate of 37.5 percent.

The verdict: Buying

The bottom line: The Leafs offense can come from anywhere. Grizzled Eric Fehr is the only one of the 20 skaters who have suited up in the first three games who hasn't recorded at least a point. Thirteen different players are responsible for Toronto's 19 goals.

It took until the last play of the Leafs' 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday for Auston Matthews to climb back to the top of his team's scoring race, with five points in three games.

His dazzling individual effort in overtime capped off a late-game comeback that was fuelled by goals from Connor Brown and James van Riemsdyk—against a Blackhawks team that had dominated the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets in its first two games of the year.

It has been a long time since the Leafs have been true NHL contenders, but they are not going away. Entertaining and effective, they have earned the extensive TV time they will receive this season.

Detroit Red Wings

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The numbers: The Detroit Red Wings finished 25th in the NHL standings last season. They are dealing with one of the toughest salary-cap situations in the league thanks to the 10 players on their roster with some sort of no-trade or no-movement clauses in their contracts. 

No matter. The Wings opened their new Little Caesars Arena with a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. They then beat the Ottawa Senators 2-1 in a shootout on the road two nights later.

The verdict: Selling

The bottom line: Goaltender Jimmy Howard was limited to just 26 games last season because of injury. When he was healthy, he was fantastic and posted a 2.10 goals-against average and .927 save percentage, but that was only good enough for a 10-11-1 record on a Red Wings team that ranked 24th offensively.

This season, Howard has picked up where he left off, with a pair of 37-save performances. He would need to play nearly all 82 games at that level to counterbalance Detroit's disjointed roster, which will struggle to find offensive chemistry as the team attempts the dreaded rebuild on the fly.

Expect to see the Wings sink down the Atlantic Division standings before too long.

All stats courtesy of NHL.com.