NHL: Who Is for Real and Who Is Just a Flare

The first month of the season is now over and there are some surprises regarding how some teams have performed so far. The season is only about one-eighth completed, so which teams and players will slow down and who will turn things around?

Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto has certainly been a surprise so far this season.

Many predicted them to be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference by the end of the season. But just 12 games into the season they have gone 5-4-3. That's not that great but they have the eighth spot in the east and have won more games than people have expected.

They have been competitive in almost every game they've played and a lot of that is attributed to coach Ron Wilson. His tactics didn't seem to have much of a positive effect on his players in San Jose, but it's working with a team that has significantly less talent and is squeezing more than what is there.

Toronto's strengths going into the season were its goaltending and defense, but so far Toronto has allowed 41 goals against, ranking 27th in the league. That doesn't appear to be a strength.

Their offense has kept them afloat, scoring 35 times to rank 13th in the league. If the Leafs can keep the puck out of their net and rank in the top half (somewhere between 14th and 10th place), and their offense stays consistent, then the possibility of making the playoffs won't seem so far fetched.

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver is another team that was expected to not score many goals and to not let in many either. But so far it's the opposite.

The Canucks have scored 41 times, ranking fifth in the league. That's a big surprise seeing that they weren't expected to get much scoring beyond the Sedin twins.

Luongo hasn't been the man in net he once was when he first came over to Vancover in the 2006-2007 season. So far the Canucks have let in 38 goals ranking 23rd in the league.

The Canucks are sitting in the ninth spot so far, which is where a lot of people expected them to be around at the end of the season. But if Luongo and the defense shape up, then Vancover will be dangerous.

Chicago Blackhawks

Nikolai Khabibulin has been a rumors subject since the Chicago Blackhawks signed free agent goaltender Cristobel Huet. To many people's surprise though, Habby has been better than Huet in net so far.

Huet has played in only four games to Habby's six or seven after the game against Colorado Monday night. Huet has gone 2-1-1, posting a 2.77 GAA and .910 save percentage, while Habby has gone 3-1-2 with a 2.44 GAA and a .918 save percentage.

Not much of a difference between the two's GAA and Sv percentage, but the Hawks have been relying more on Habby in net. It could be because they're giving him more ice time to get him to look more attractive to teams with his 6.5 million dollar contract.

San Jose Sharks

San Jose isn't too surprising to some, but to me they really are. I believed their problem was that their players were much too overrated and the coach is what made them so good.

But the Sharks are off to a great start without Ron Wilson breaking down their egos constantly. New head coach Todd McLellan has taken over in a great way and is leading the Sharks towards becoming serious cup contenders.

It's not surprising that he's doing a good job in his first head coaching job after serving as an assistant in Detroit.

New York Rangers

Nikolai Zherdev has certainly found a new place in New York. He has 12 points in 14 games with the Rangers and has been more consistent in the first 14 games than he has for any period of time in Columbus.

He's reaching his potential on the ice as well as blending in well with the team for once. If Zherdev keeps this up he might be another star Russian player whose name is thrown in with talks of Malkin, Ovechkin, Semin, Datsyuk and Kovalchuk.

Anaheim Ducks

Anaheim started the season 0-4-0 with its top three offensive stars only combining for two points. The past four games, they have combined for 10 goals and 28 points. They're now second in the Pacific behind the Sharks.

Washington Capitals

Alex is scoring at a great pace to start the season off in Washington, except it's not the Alex you're thinking of. Alexander Semin has started off the season with eight goals and 16 points in 10 games and has earned player of the month for October.

Alex Ovechkin has started off with two goals and five points in eight games. Hopefully when Ovechkin comes back from Russia after seeing his ailing grandfather, he'll be producing like he was last season.

For now though, Semin is providing Washington with plenty of scoring to give Ovechkin time to find his touch. If both produce, the Capitals will be a very dangerous offensive threat.