Just entering the all star break and 50 games into the season, more or less, this is what stands out to me so far
1. The Bruins are far and away the best team in the NHL. No other team is within 9 points of them. They have a +78 goal differential. And they started the season without Marchand and McAvoy for the first 10 games.
2. The Sabres are the top scoring team in the NHL on a per game basis. Never saw that coming. Tage Thompson 34 goals at the break. Rasmus Dahlin 55 points and a plus 21 while logging 26 minutes per game. Sick.
3. The defending Stanley Cup champs, Colorado Avalanche, are 8th in the Western Conference. I'd call that a bit of a hangover. They have lost a number of key players due to injury however, so that can explain part of it. As they get healthy bodies back it wouldn't surprise me to see them end up on top of the Central Division by season's end.
4. How about those Kraken? 29-15-5 1st place in the Pacific in just their 2nd season in the league. Doing so with no superstars just a balanced roster of contributors.
5 The Leafs are a carbon copy of their prior season, at lest by way of overall results. And they still play down to their competition. They have chalked up losses to Montreal(2x), Arizona(2x), Detroit, Anaheim, San Jose....all teams well below .500.
1) I am surprised that they have maintained a consistent pace. A few years back Tampa was in a similar situation and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Though, i do not see a team as disciplined as Boston doing that. At the end of last year I thought the Bruins were going to have to rebuild...go figure.
2) I have not watched them play but I would imagine the games are exciting from a fans perspective. Looking at their stats they do need to improve defensively. Maybe the reason they are so good offensively is because they sacrifice defense.
3) Agree. The Avalanche are a solid team and will factor in come playoff time.
4) Love it as it helps build the fan base in Seattle.
5) I think stronger teams tend to take the night off when playing their weaker sisters - See analysis below.
I did a quick scan of the head to head records of the top 5 teams in each conference this season (Bos, Car, Tor, NJ & Tampa - Dal, Sea, Win, LA & Vegas). Total losses include both a regulation and OT loss.
* Bos: 10 - 6. 12 total losses - 50% against weaker teams.
* Car: 10 - 4. 17 total losses - 76%
* NJ: 5 - 6. 17 total losses - 65%
* Tor: 9 - 8. 21 total losses - 62%
* TB: 6 - 6. 16 total losses - 62%
* Dal: 5 - 10. 23 total losses - 56%
* Sea: 8 - 6. 20 total losses - 70%
* Win: 6 - 8. 20 total losses - 60%
* LA: 6 - 13. 25 total losses - 48%
* Veg: 8 - 6. 22 total losses - 73%
I look at Bos, Car, Sea and Vegas as the strongest contenders per the final 4. All things considered, the Canes appear to be the strongest team. They had a bad spell when they lost 8 out of 10 games in November, but have been playing well ever since (not too sure if they had injuries at that time...).
Bos and Car are the two strongest teams in the league and if the Cane's loss % against weaker opponents was similar to Boston, then those two would be battling it out for first overall. The only difference between those two is that the Bruins have capitalized on beating the weaker teams.
Dal, LA and Win are suspect as they have not played well against the elite teams.
The rest of the teams are middle of the pack and would depend on getting "hot" around playoff time.