1
|
Jets
|
Connor Hellebuyck just keeps outdoing himself. The Jets’ goaltender leads the NHL with 27.2 goals saved above average, and that’s 9.03 goals more than the next best player. His .858 high-danger save percentage is first among goalies with more than 10 appearances. There’s still time for things to change, but I think we can start etching Hellebuyck’s name on the Vezina Trophy again.
|
2
|
38-14-3
|
2
|
Stars
|
Injuries are piling up for the Stars, even though they keep piling up wins. Miro Heiskanen is now month-to-month after undergoing knee surgery. That’s terrible news for Dallas, but if Heiskanen lands on LTIR, that could give GM Jim Nill even more salary cap relief. Nill has already added Mikael Granlund from the Sharks, and he could keep loading up as Heiskanen tries to recover in time for the playoffs.
|
2
|
34-18-1
|
3
|
Capitals
|
With 0.1 seconds left in the Capitals’ win over the Panthers on Tuesday night, Alex Ovechkin hit the empty net for goal No. 878 of his career. Ovechkin is now just 17 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record, and Washington has the best record in hockey. Things couldn’t possibly be going any better for the Capitals.
|
2
|
35-11-7
|
4
|
Oilers
|
Evan Bouchard gets a reputation as an all-gas, no-brakes offensive defenseman. However, his five-on-five numbers don’t really support that. Edmonton allows just 2.23 xGA/60 with Bouchard on the ice in those situations, and his plus-16 goal differential is one of the best marks on the team. Bouchard has evolved into a strong all-around defenseman over the last couple years, and that’s made the Oilers true Stanley Cup contenders.
|
2
|
33-16-4
|
5
|
Panthers
|
Matthew Tkachuk has gone through some quiet spells at times, but he has been very loud over the last couple of weeks. In his last six games, Tkachuk has five goals and five assists. Tkachuk seems to work himself into a lather as the season progresses, so I would expect him to keep getting better as he gets a whiff of playoff hockey on the horizon.
|
3
|
32-20-3
|
6
|
Hurricanes
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Frederik Andersen recently returned after a lengthy absence due to injury, and he’s struggled to shake off the rust. In four starts, Andersen has allowed 11 goals on 95 shots against for a .884 save percentage. One of those four appearances was a shutout against the Rangers, so perhaps that’s something to build on. Carolina just needs to solidify its goaltending because that’s one of very few question marks on this roster.
|
1
|
32-18-4
|
7
|
Maple Leafs
|
Toronto paid up to get Chris Tanev last summer, especially when it came to term, but that decision looks pretty wise right now. Tanev has been an excellent shutdown defenseman, allowing just 2.12 xGA/60 at five-on-five, which is the second-best number on the team. He might be exactly what the Leafs have been missing in previous postseasons.
|
1
|
32-19-2
|
8
|
Avalanche
|
Outside of Cale Makar and Devon Toews, the Avalanche blue line leaves a lot to be desired. With those two on the ice at five-on-five, Colorado has a plus-9 goal differential and a 56.1% expected goals share. When those two are sucking wind on the bench, the Avs have a minus-14 goal differential and a 48.7% expected goals share.
|
3
|
31-22-2
|
9
|
Red Wings
|
Cam Talbot has quietly given the Red Wings some reliable goaltending. His .909 save percentage and 5.68 goals saved above average won’t blow anyone away, but that represents a huge upgrade over what Detroit got out of Alex Lyon, Ville Husso and James Reimer last year. It’s a wonder what slightly above average goaltending can do for a team.
|
5
|
28-21-5
|
10
|
Senators
|
The Senators are red hot, and so is Jake Sanderson, who has been driving play from the blue line. Sanderson is riding a six-game point streak with three goals and seven assists in that span. On the whole, Sanderson’s five-on-five numbers look poor due to horrific puck luck, but he has elevated his game as Ottawa pushes for a playoff spot.
|
6
|
29-21-4
|
11
|
Devils
|
Jack Hughes has heard your complaints about his inconsistent scoring. Following a two-goal performance against the Penguins on Tuesday, Hughes now has five goals in his last five games, which puts him at 23 for the season. Hughes is tracking for 34 goals, and that would be the second-highest total of his young career. If he could ever creep closer to 40 on an annual basis, Hughes would be a top-five player in the league.
|
4
|
30-19-6
|
12
|
Blue Jackets
|
There is no justice in this world. With the Blue Jackets in the thick of a playoff race, Kirill Marchenko will miss significant time with a broken jaw. He joins Sean Monahan and Yegor Chinakhov on IR, and Zach Werenski has been listed as day-to-day. If there’s any good news for Columbus, it’s that the 4 Nations Face-Off will give these players a chance to get healthy.
|
—
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26-21-7
|
13
|
Lightning
|
Six players have accounted for 135 of the Lightnings’s 180 goals. No one else has more than nine, and just three players have more than five. Tampa is still a very formidable team, but it relies heavily on its star power at the top of the lineup. Will the Bolts upgrade their bottom-six before the trade deadline, or will they roll the dice against deeper teams in the playoffs?
|
—
|
28-20-4
|
14
|
Wild
|
Creating offense without Kirill Kaprizov just got even harder because Ryan Hartman chose to give Tim Stutzle’s head a People’s Elbow into the ice. Hartman was suspended 10 games, and Minnesota has now been shutout in back-to-back games. The Wild have to find a way to scrape together a few goals because they’re in jeopardy of falling back into the wild card race.
|
5
|
31-19-4
|
15
|
Islanders
|
The Isles have now won eight of their last nine games, and Ilya Sorokin is playing them back into the wild card races, as he is wont to do. Since start of the new year, Sorokin leads the league with 10.2 goals saved above average in 11 appearances, and that is accompanied by a sparkling .942 save percentage. Sorokin has a Vezina-caliber ceiling, and we’re seeing it right now.
|
3
|
25-21-7
|
16
|
Golden Knights
|
Vegas has now won three of its last 14 games, and its offense has completely frozen over. Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev haven’t had a miserable time finding the back of the net, and it’s becoming much more apparent that the Golden Knights have a depth scoring problem. The issue there is they don’t have a lot of salary cap space to make an upgrade, and they don’t have an obvious LTIR candidate to create some.
|
9
|
31-17-6
|
17
|
Canadiens
|
After an incredible run, the Canadiens have finally started to cool off, but that doesn’t mean it’s all bad news. Jakub Dobes, a 23-year-old former fifth-round pick, has been terrific in his limited action thus far. Dobes has appeared in seven games, posting a .927 save percentage and 5.08 goals saved above average. He should steal some starts from Sam Montembeault down the stretch.
|
7
|
25-23-5
|
18
|
Flames
|
The Flames made a fascinating trade with the Flyers, taking a shot on Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, a pair of 25-and-under players who have shown some potential at the NHL level. As Calgary continues to rebuild its roster, Frost and Farabee will get plenty of opportunities to show that they should remain with the team for the long haul.
|
2
|
26-20-7
|
19
|
Rangers
|
New York’s interest in JT Miller was one of the worst-kept secrets in the NHL, and the deal finally went down last Friday. GM Chris Drury got his man, and now we’ll have to see whether Miller can give the Rangers the boost necessary for them to climb back into the playoffs. This was a big risk for New York because Miller, 31, still has five years left on his contract at $8 million per year.
|
—
|
25-23-4
|
20
|
Bruins
|
Morgan Geekie has suddenly turned into a goal-scoring machine. Geekie now has 16 goals in 50 games, which is good for an 82-game pace of 26. Prior to this year, Geekie had never scored more than 17 in a single season. Can Geekie sustain this? His 16.5% shooting percentage is elevated, but it’s not too far above his career average of 12.5%.
|
1
|
27-22-6
|
21
|
Canucks
|
With Miller now gone, we’ll see if team chemistry improves at all. I just find it hard to believe that getting rid of a player like Miller, no matter how badly his feud with Pettersson affected the locker room, is going to make the Canucks more of a contender. Vancouver does have a little more salary cap space to play with, so perhaps the team goes out and makes a splashy addition before the deadline.
|
3
|
24-18-11
|
22
|
Kings
|
They did it. With their 4-2 win over the Hurricanes on Saturday, the Kings scored more than two goals for the first time in eight games. Anze Kopitar still has a rather large monkey on his back, though. The Kings’ captain hasn’t scored in 14 games, and Los Angeles desperately needs more offense from somewhere. The team is one point away from being out of the playoffs.
|
5
|
27-17-6
|
23
|
Flyers
|
It took just over 50 games for John Tortorella and Matei Michkov to have a shouting match on the bench. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but how those two personalities mesh will be something to watch in the early portion of Michkov’s career. To Tortorella’s credit, he has gotten a lot of the 20-year-old in his first NHL campaign.
|
1
|
23-25-7
|
24
|
Blues
|
One interesting note about this Blues season is how much Colton Parayko has been contributing on offense. The redwood tree of a defensemen already has 12 goals, which is two more than his previous career high. With Nick Leddy and Torey Krug missing substantial time, it seems like Parayko has taken it upon himself to generate more offense from the blue line.
|
1
|
24-25-5
|
25
|
Sabres
|
Tage Thompson nearly got his head taken off by Stefan Noesen, and the rest of the Sabres hardly batted an eye. Even if you didn’t see exactly what happened, at least feign some anger. Instead, Buffalo waited until Tuesday night’s game against Columbus to do a staged fight at the opening puck drop. I’ll be the first to admit hockey code is even dumber than baseball’s unwritten rules at times.
|
3
|
22-26-5
|
26
|
Ducks
|
Mason McTavish got off to a painfully slow start, but he has started to turn a corner of late. McTavish has seven goals and one assist in his last seven games, and those eight points account for nearly a third of his 27 points. His five-on-five impacts are still lagging behind his scoring, but it’s good to see McTavish starting to impact the game on the scoresheet.
|
1
|
23-24-6
|
27
|
Hockey Club
|
Dylan Guenther made his return to the lineup on Tuesday after missing nearly a month due to injury, and he immediately made a statement. Guenther tallied a point on each of Utah’s three goals against the Flyers, and he scored the overtime winner with one second left on the clock. Considering Guenther was on an 8-game goal drought when he was sidelined, it was encouraging to see him producing now that he’s healthy again.
|
1
|
22-22-9
|
28
|
Kraken
|
Matty Beniers and Shane Wright, the two players the Kraken hope can be their long-term future down the middle, have had some trouble getting any traction this season. Beniers, now in his third season, has just 12 goals and 30 points. Wright, a rookie, has 11 goals and 29 points. Even more troubling than their actual production is the fact that neither player has had much luck when it comes to driving play at five-on-five.
|
1
|
23-28-4
|
29
|
Penguins
|
Any team kicking the tires on Kris Letang ahead of the trade deadline will have to determine exactly how much gas he has left in the tank. His 20 points in 48 games put him on pace for the least productive full season of his career since 2009-10, and his 48.7% expected goals share at five-on-five is also a red flag. Letang still has three more years left on his contract at $6.1 million per season.
|
1
|
22-24-9
|
30
|
Predators
|
The list of things that have gone wrong for the Predators this season is very long, but Juuse Saros’ struggles might be at the top of the list. His save percentage is just a tick over .900, and he’s allowed 1.56 goals above average. The 29-year-old goaltender’s eight-year, $61.9 million contract doesn’t even kick in until next season.
|
5
|
18-27-7
|
31
|
Blackhawks
|
If you’re looking for something nice to say about these Blackhawks, it’s that Arvid Soderblom has been really good in net, especially considering the mess in front of him. Soderblom’s .909 save percentage is solid, but his 4.82 goals saved above average paint a more accurate picture of his performance.
|
—
|
16-31-5
|
32
|
Sharks
|
I’ve said it already this season, but I’ll say it again. Macklin Celebrini is such a special player. The 18-year-old scored his 17th goal of the season on Tuesday, and his combination of skill and creativity is a ton of fun to watch. He’ll only get more exciting as he develops and gets a better supporting cast around him.
|
—
|
15-34-6
|
