12 Teams Set for Success After the First Month of the Season

It’s been a crazy opening month for the NHL this year, hasn’t it?

Going into November, half of the current division leaders didn’t even see playoff action last year. The Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs have all come on strong this year, to the surprise of their respective organizations and fans.

How about the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks? Both of last year’s Stanley Cup finalists wouldn’t even be in the playoffs if the season ended now.

However, the season doesn’t end now; it isn’t even a quarter finished at this point. Teams still have time to show their true colours.

Here are 12 teams that have positioned themselves to withstand this year’s NHL grind.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers look like they have survived the loss of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter in the summer quite nicely as they have the best offence in the league this year, scoring 56 goals in 14 games.

You can argue that last Saturday’s 9-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets and a wild 9-8 loss to the Winnipeg Jets two weeks ago has helped to inflate this statistic, but the Flyers put up an average of 3.25 goals in the other 12 games. They clearly know how to put the puck in the net.

Claude Giroux seems to be doing just fine in a starring role for the Flyers, with nine goals and 19 points thus far. And Jaromir “Moves Like” Jagr has proven to be the biggest free agent signing in the league this year, with 15 points in 14 games. He also brings intangible leadership qualities (such as holding late night practices) that have helped the Flyers tremendously.

In order for their success to continue, the Flyers’ goaltending needs to improve. It seems like forever since the Flyers have had a reliable goaltender—Ilya Bryzgalov needs to prove that the Flyers made the right decision in giving him a nine-year, $51 million contract this past summer.

Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators are second in the Central Division, earning 16 points in their first 13 games.

The Predators have been playing some sweet tunes this year, but most of them have been played away from the Music City, as their road record is 5-2-1. They have a losing record at home.

Pekka Rinne has played almost every minute of the Preds’ season thus far, with only 40 minutes of action going to backup goalie Anders Lindback. He was rewarded for his work last week by the Nashville Predators organization, as they signed him to a seven year, $49 million contract.

In order for their success to continue, Rinne must not pull a Rick DiPietro. They also need to learn how to win at home (or become the biggest road warriors ever).

Chicago Blackhawks

Yes, the Chicago Blackhawks are the first place team in the Central Division.

However, I’m looking at the Blackhawks’ player statistics and I’m not immediately wowed by anyone there. Their top scorer has 15 points—Patrick Kane. Meh. Their goaltender has a goals against average of 2.65—Corey Crawford. Ho-hum. These are not the stats of a first place team. They're good, but not elite.

And yet, here they are in first place. A look at their schedule shows that has been very evenly balanced thus far, as they have played eight games versus teams currently in a playoff spot and seven games versus teams who are not in a playoff spot.

It looks pretty even up until the end of December, too.

In order for their success to continue, the Blackhawks need to do exactly what they’ve been doing over their first 14 games. So long as they’re saving their real mojo for the playoffs.

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are in the midst of a four game winning streak, having beaten the Detroit Red Wings twice and both the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues once.

True, these teams are currently out of the playoff picture, but Detroit and Vancouver have represented the Western Conference in two of the last three Stanley Cup Finals. They’re a tough play.

The scoring is very balanced on the Wild, with five players sharing the team scoring lead with eight points each: Devin Setoguchi, Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Matt Cullen.

Both goalies have done well thus far, but Josh Harding is the current darling for the team as he was named the First Star of the Week for winning three games and allowing only a goal in each.

In order for their success to continue, the Wild need to settle on a goaltender before things become tense in the locker room. They also need to continue to have goals come from a variety of sources. 

Edmonton Oilers

The kids are alright in Edmonton as the Oilers are the top team in the Northwest Division, led by youngsters Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, and Taylor Hall. This is what eventually happens after a team loses badly for a few years, as the Oilers have benefited from those lottery picks.

However, currently tied for the Oilers’ scoring lead with 12 points is none other than grizzled veteran Ryan Smyth. After leaving the Oilers in 2007, a decision that he regrets was ever made, Captain Canada had five sub-par years with the New York Islanders, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings before returning to Edmonton this past summer.

Much like Jaromir Jagr, he was dismissed as washed up and in the twilight of his career. Like Jagr, he has proven people wrong thus far.

In order for their success to continue, the young guns need to keep scoring and Nikolai Khabibulin needs to keep providing the sparkling goaltending that comes along with a 0.98 GAA.

Dallas Stars

After just missing the playoffs last year, the Dallas Stars are the toast of the Western Conference, earning 20 points in their first 13 games.

Goaltender Kari Lehtonen has 10 wins thus far, tops in the league. He also has a save percentage of .936, tied with Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings for first amongst starting goalies. He has probably been the biggest reason why Dallas is where they are right now.

However, the biggest surprise for the Stars this year has been Sheldon Souray, hands down. The big defenseman with the hard shot has managed to put up four goals and eight assists in 13 games after spending a year with the AHL’s Hershey Bears.

In order for their success to continue, the Stars need to hope that Lehtonen does not miss any extended period of time. Backup goalie Andrew Raycroft currently has an 0-2 record and has proven that he cannot be a starter in the NHL.

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres have been doing fairly well this year as they are the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and have a 8-5-0 record.

However, as has been documented by my colleague Matt Masterson, there seems to be some goaltending controversy in Buffalo, with Jonas Enroth playing both games this past weekend. He has a 4-0 record and a 1.41 GAA.

It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out with Ryan Miller on the bench, but at least Thomas Vanek is playing as well as he did last year, scoring eight goals and eight assists.

Even though he’s technically not a rookie, Luke Adam has been a revelation for the Sabres with 11 points in 13 games after playing 19 games in his first season last year. He has fit in with the veteran players on the team.

In order for their success to continue, they need to do well in November with a schedule that has them playing seven out of 10 games against non-playoff teams (including tonight's game).

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs have their fans “beleafing” again after a remarkable 9-4-1 record to start the season, good enough for first place in the Northeast Division and second overall in the Eastern Conference.

They have the top goal scorer and point getter this year in Phil Kessel, with 10 goals and 21 points through 14 games.

They’ve had a relatively easy schedule thus far, but they’ve taken advantage like good teams do.

In order for their success to continue, they need to get better performances from their special teams as their power play is ranked 20^th and their penalty kill unit is the worst in the league.

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers are the fifth place team in the Eastern Conference, with 17 points in 13 games.

The Rangers had a wild beginning to their season, playing in Sweden and on the road until their first home game on October 27^th.

Their goaltending has been rock solid this year, as both Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Biron have played well. Biron, in particular, has a perfect record of three wins and no losses, a 0.95 GAA and a shutout.

Marian Gaborik has been great for the Rangers offensively, scoring at a point-per-game pace. Unfortunately, you always have to ask yourself how long Gaborik will stick around until the next injury.

In order for their success to continue, their goaltending needs to be great and both Gaborik and Brad Richards must stay in the lineup.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the top team in the Eastern Conference with 21 points in 15 games. They have received solid goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury, who boasts a stat line of eight wins, 1.95 GAA, .931 save percentage and one shutout.

Another player highly factoring into the Pens’ success this year is forward James Neal, who has nine goals and 14 points thus far. It’s looking more and more each day like Pens GM Ray Shero made an amazing deal in obtaining him last year.

What is most impressive is that the Pens have gotten to where they are without significant contributions from their top two forwards, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

Malkin has put up good numbers in the games he has played (10 points in eight games) but the team’s record with him in the lineup is 5-1-2. Crosby has not played an NHL game since January 5^th, but that may change on Friday.

In order for their success to continue, Fleury needs to continue to stand on his head and Sid the Kid needs to show everyone that he is still an elite NHL player.

Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals are the third seed in the Eastern Conference and the leaders of the Southeast Division, with 18 points. What makes this more impressive is that the Caps are three points out of first place in the conference with two games in hand.

Many people were wondering how Tomas Vokoun would play with a better team in front of him than was the case with both the Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers.

The truth is that his play has been pretty much the same. He has a 2.54 GAA, very close to his career average of 2.56. The difference has been the Washington offence, which is currently scoring exactly four goals per game.

In order for their success to continue, Washington needs to continue to score. Having Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom (who has had a tremendous start this year) helps.

Boston Bruins

This is by far the most controversial team on this list. Why is a team that’s two points out of last place in their conference even being mentioned?

First, the Boston Bruins are the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. They know how to win.

Second, the Bruins are one of two teams with a losing record that have a positive goal differential. The other team is their opponent in last year’s final, the Vancouver Canucks. They know how to score goals.

Third, the goalie who has started the most amount of games, Tim Thomas, has a goals against average of 2.00. They know how to stop pucks.

These three things strongly signify that they will improve from their lacklustre start and get over their Stanley Cup hangover.