Not So Fast: Three Emerging NHL Teams That Have Slipped Of Late.

The 2010-2011 season looked like it would be a year in which three overhauled teams would be leading the pack. Two of them were long term draft building teams, and the other has seen numerous facelifts over the past couple of seasons, these teams being the St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, and the perennially reconstructed Tampa Bay Lightning. Through October, these teams looked certainly like potential conference final material. The Blues had a rock solid defense with a nearly impenetrable goaltender, the Kings had countless young players looking like they were going to all mature to All-Star status overnight, and the Lightning’s offense was one of the most dynamic in the league. But not so fast.

The Sharks proved they can still handle the Kings. Photo courtesy of nhl.com

Since taking charge of their divisions, both teams have been knocked down the ladder a bit. Los Angeles was the dominant team in their division and close to the entire league until they went up to San Jose to see if they could knock off the long reigning division champions. In a short answer, no, the Kings didn’t and the Sharks proved they still can run atop the Pacific. As for Los Angeles, they have gone into a three game slide, allowing 15 goals over three games after they originally were only allowing barely over one goal a game.

St. Louis ran into an even worse skid in November. After starting the month only giving up one goal over three games, the Blues ran into a freight train. More specifically, it appeared Jaroslav Halak had walked in front of a freight train. Halak and the Blues let up eight goals to their division rival Columbus Blue Jackets, and then proceeded to go on a five game slide. Additionally, the Blues’ solid defense had completely evaporated, and the goaltending was far from infallible. Of four games of the five lost, the Blues allowed five or more goals against, and the long time power wielders of the Central division, the Detroit Red Wings, drubbed the Blues 7-3. Currently, Detroit sits above St. Louis by three points.

The Lightning and Stamkos are still under the Caps and Ovechkin. Photo courtesy of nhl.com

The Tampa Bay Lightning had their phenomenal start erased by their trip to California to start the month. The Lightning lost six of their seven games to start the month, and additionally lost their captain for a while due to a hand injury. The high powered offense only generated nine goals over their six losses, and the defense didn’t do the Lightning any favors, averaging four goals against on average in the losses. While the Lightning only played (and lost) one game against a division rival, their defeat came soundly and from the dominators of the Southeast the past few seasons, aka the Washington Capitals. Washington leads Tampa now by seven points.

So what has brought this on for the teams who looked to make power grabs on their respective divisions? Halak could be the easily identifiable issue in St. Louis. Back in Montreal, Halak was known for his streaky play, which was just as easily identified so far this season. Halak played the first month of the season like a wild man, posting MVP caliber numbers. Then through the last stretch of losses, Halak has managed to score even on himself. It doesn’t help either for the Blues that their offense took a sizable hit, losing T.J. Oshie until after the New Year.

The Kings have had their own far share of injuries also. Willie Mitchell and Alex Ponikarovsky, both cogs in the Kings’ defense first mentality and more specifically their penalty kill, went down with injuries after a game against Dallas. L.A. only went on to beat the Islanders after that, which is a task most junior teams are up for. Losing Scott Parse for a long period of time didn’t help matters, but the larger issue has been the late goals allowed. The Kings coughed up the lead twice over their past two games, both in the latter parts of the game. Additionally, the phenomenal penalty kill has allowed some extremely untimely goals against the Kings and quashed any momentum. It appears the youthfulness of the Kings is being exploited as teams are taking advantage of pressure moments and mounting comebacks.

As for Tampa, the issue is that the only player really producing is Steven Stamkos. Martin St. Louis is the backup man, but there is no depth behind the one line. With Lecavalier missing time, there is even less depth behind Stamkos and the goaltending has been a real concern. Neither Dan Ellis nor Mike Smith

St. Louis looked ready to challenge and have since been knocked on their butts. Photo courtesy of nhl.com

has taken the reins to be the starting man for Tampa, and it has reached a point that no matter how many goals Stamkos scores, the Lightning will allow more. Much more. The lack of depth could wind up being an even larger issue for GM Steve Yzerman down the road if he ever wants to address the goaltending issue via trade. Hard to get a starting goalie when you have no producing assets besides the face of your franchise.

Each of these teams are having their struggles, but still have plenty of time to rebound and look like Cup contenders again. However, overcoming their inconsistencies, inexperience, lack of depth and challenging for divisional supremacy may just be put on hold again for another season while the big kids show them how it is done.