Time for some NHL

So, we're a little more than a quarter of the way through the NHL season and we've seen some interesting things so far.

1. The Boston Bruins are good
2. The San Jose Sharks are even better
3. The Stars and The Lightning are awful
4. The Red Wings can repeat
5. The Rangers are underrated
6. The Penguins are even more underrated

Starting with the Bruins. The Bruins are scoring goals left and right but even more importantly they're allowing the fewest goals in the league behind a resurgent Tim Thomas and a very capable backup in Manny Fernandez. With Thomas and Fernandez posting save percentages better than .900, the Bruins have allowed only 53 goals on the year. As good as both Thomas and Fernandez are playing, credit is very much due to the Bruins D. The Bruins D is a big, physical, smart defense. Zdeno Chara and Aaron Ward both have over 40 blocked shots and over 60 hits. The Bruins offense is also very strong with 6 players above 15 points with Kessel, Savard, and Krejci playing good hockey. Don't count this team out of a serious playoff run.

The Sharks are probably the best team in hockey right now. With a 20-3-1 record, they're clearly a cut above the rest of the league. Scoring an incredible 92 goals and only allowing 57, they're dominating the competition offensively and defensively. Evgeni Nabokov and Brian Boucher are both having solid years in net so far for the Sharks. Blake and Lukowich are big contributors on the defensive side while four of the Sharks forwards each have 10+ goals and seven players have 20+ points. This team is a good, solid, well rounded team. The only question that remains about their dominance is their division. Clearly the Stars aren't what they used to be and the Kings and Coyotes haven't been much of a threat in the past few years.

The aforementioned Stars are awful. Just as bad, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Stars (8-11-4) are awful on offense and even worse defensively and in net. Marty Turco is not the stud that he was last year (this can change though). He's allowing over 3.4 goals a game which is just not good for a team that is not scoring 2.8 a game. This is clearly not the team that made it to the Western Conference Finals last year. I'm not sure what it is since they still have most of the big names from last year on the team still. Maybe its bad coaching? Maybe it was luck last year. Who knows? I think just as disappointing as the Stars are/is (stupid team with out a "s" on the end!") the Lightning. With the addition of Ryan Malone from the Pens and Olie the Goalie from the Caps, it looked like the Lightning would be going in the right direction under new (and mullet-sporting!) head coach Barry Melrose . Instead, Melrose was fired after just 16 games and Kolzig has been the second string goalie behind Mike Smith. Smith has better numbers than Kolzig but its still not enough. They've lost 9 out of their last 10 games (3 OT losses) and are just being dominated on offense and defense. I truly feel bad for Vinny LeCavalier. He's one of the better players in the league but is on a team that only has him, Malone, and Martin St. Louis producing points. Even worse news for the Lightning, other than the Caps the Southeast is the weakest division in the NHL.

On to the defending champs. I should note right now, in case you don't know, that the Wings are my team. However, this will be an attempt at an unbiased analysis of the season so far. The Wings are 15-4-4 so far with a good road record (10-2-2). Conklin and Osgood are not playing incredibly well so far in net, but they are getting the job done for the most part. Osgood has better numbers so far but that's also in more starts. 3 of the 4 regulation losses have come against teams over .500 including the Sharks and Bruins. Lately the Wings have stumbled a bit...according to the experts...but in the last 10 games they're 6-2-2. They're running into the true test of their skill though the next couple of games with tough Western Conference games, with the next four against teams over .500 . The reason I say that the Wings can repeat is pretty apparent. I'll admit, the division they play in is not the toughest in the league but it may be the most physical. The 'Hawks, Jackets, Blues and Preds are all teams that can wear you down with physical play and make the goals hard to come by. That being said, I think the Wings have the best skill level of any team in the league. They have their fair share of bruisers but they also have players that can just flat out put the puck in the back of the net. The addition of Hossa makes the level of talent hard to match in the forwards position. The Wings have always had a solid defense and I think its only going to get better with Stuart, Rafalski, and Kronwall going into year two in Hockeytown. I think the Wings have the skill, experience, and one of the best coaches in the NHL and will make it back to the Stanley Cup.

The Rangers are one of the teams that seemingly no one is talking about...for some reason. They're a little ahead of everyone else in terms of games played but still have 17 wins so far this year, second behind the Sharks. They've lost some games that they shouldn't have (Panthers, Stars, Oilers, Sabres) but they've also won some games that they weren't expected to (Flyers, Penguins, and Boston). The reason I say that the Rangers are underrated is that they're 17-8-2 with a fairly unknown cast and very few stars. Markus Naslund, Scott Gomez, and Henrik Lundquist are really the only names that stick out on the roster. Even more remarkable is how they've adapted to the departures of Brendan Shanahan and Jaromir Jagr. Nikolai Zherdev has stepped up and been the main point producer for the Rangers (along with Naslund). The strange thing about the Rangers is that they have only 5 players that are not in the negative column of +/- for the year. They're a hard team to figure out but they're also a good team. In the end though I think the Pens overtake them for the division but don't count them out of the playoffs.

If the Rangers are underrated, the Penguins are...well I don't even know a word to describe it. They're not dominating in the standings but are the best team in the Eastern Conference by far. They've lost some games that they had no business losing (Phoenix, Ottawa, and New Jersey) but then they've won games that they had no business winning...namely the 7-6 overtime win in the Stanley Cup rematch against the Red Wings on Nov 11. Scoring 4 goals in the 3rd period to tie the game and send it into overtime. This is the reason I think that the Penguins are by far the scariest team in the East. They definitely have the talent with Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fedetenko, Talbot, and MAFluery. Even more important than the talent, they have the most desire out of any team I've watched this season. They're a hard working team and very physical but also very skilled. The Pens also probably have the best defense in the NHL and that's WITHOUT Sergei Gonchar. Orpik, Letang, Scuderi, Boucher, Goligoski, and Gill have all played great defense this year. With the exception of Boucher, all of the Pens defenders are above negative in +/- and all have 20+ blocked shots. MAFluery has been good as always but even more surprising is the level to which Danny Sabourin has played in Fluery's injury absence. He's won 5 games and had a save percentage of .93 and is allowing under 2 goals a game. The Pens are a scary team. They may even be better than they were last year.

If I had to pick a Stanley Cup match up right now, it would be the Penguins vs. Red Wings again. I don't know who would win the Cup this time around, but it would be another classic battle. Although the Sharks are the best team statistically in the NHL right now, I'm not so sure that it will last the entire season and come playoff time the new coach Todd McLellan will have some proving to do.

The way the rest of the season plays out will be interesting and a tough battle the whole way...now if we could only get NHL back on regular cable...