With All-Star weekend upon us, it’s about that time again to evaluate who’s hot, who’s not, and exactly what has been going on while we’ve been in our Blueshirt bubble. It’s been a season filled with surprisingly good teams, surprising struggles and a strange new tradition up north of throwing jerseys onto the ice.
The Good
New York Islanders – as a Rangers blog, I’m sorry to open on this note, but credit is well due for the Isles so far this season. Given a healthy, talented young core and a steady netminder, the Islanders are sitting pretty atop the Eastern Conference, making work of the Penguins this past weekend and making it look easy. John Tavares is living up to his studly name, contributing with 45 points (21G, 24A) and a 14% shooting percentage. 8 other Islanders, including two defensemen, have 20+ points so far on the season. With contributions coming from every line, if the defense gels up a bit more, they’re a serious playoff threat. Would be an interesting way to leave Long Island, for sure…
Eastern Conference Fun Fact: though the Islanders currently sit in first place, only seven points separate seven teams in the East.
Anaheim Ducks – and why wouldn’t they be? I wish this were a surprise, but the Ducks seem to always be a no brainer West Coast powerhouse. Ryan Getzlaf is good per usual with 49 points this season, and goalie Frederik Andersen has an impressive save percentage at .918. The Ducks have won all but one of their January contests and seem to be rolling right along towards another run deep into the spring. For cohesive, entertaining hockey with some fantastic young talent (hello Sami Vatanen and Devante Smith-Pelly), try to stream some Ducks games.
Also playing pretty decent hockey….. the St Louis Blues, who started slow and have been red hot since the re-cohesion of their top line of TJ Oshie-David Backes-Alexander Steen …. The Detroit Red Wings, who have rallied around the loss of their goaltender Jimmy Howard to a knee injury … the long-suffering Calgary Flames, who, with 7 wins in their last 10 games, have tied themselves with the LA Kings to be on the brink of contention in the West.
The Bad
Buffalo Sabres – it’s actually painful to go on about this. After acquiring veteran Brian Gionta – with Buffalo being his first and only choice, in order to be close to his hometown of Rochester, NY – the hope was that some leadership could turn around some impressionable players. Frankly, I have no idea what’s going on with them, but they’ve lost their last ELEVEN games. Now, close your eyes and imagine what the tri-state area would look like if the Rangers lost eleven. Now imagine being Matt Moulson and not getting to participate in the Islanders’ success. Awful, huh? The lone bright spot in all of this mess is Zemgus Girgensons, the 21-year-old Latvian star in the making who already has tons of fan support.
Sad “fun” fact: last year, the Sabres were the first team to get officially eliminated from the playoffs on March 15.
Edmonton Oilers – also with 31 points, the Oilers are the definition of a hot mess. First, they hire #fancystats to help support the raw talent that they have. Somehow, this fails miserably. Next, you’ve got rumblings about trading Taylor Hall because he’s “uncoachable,” which is typically a great move if you don’t move this player. I heard it’s good for morale. Lastly, why not trade talent in David Perron for a bag of pucks and some tape. I think this tweet sums it up pretty nicely:
Kind of terrible lately…the Maple Leafs can’t buy a goal lately, losing 8 of their last 10 after firing their head coach Randy Carlyle… the Wild can’t seem to pull together a consistent season and it looks like Matt Cooke is back to old form… the New Jersey Devils are just not good this year and don’t seem to be looking up anytime soon: the average age of their team is 29.8, and Jaromir Jagr, recently out with the flu, is showing signs of being an (aging) human.
The Ugly
two hundred bones wasted
It’s raining jerseys in Toronto. Again.
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