First month NHL starts off with a bang

As the UCO hockey season gets into full swing, so is the NHL season. Here’s a look at how the season has fared so far.

It has been just over a month since the NHL season started on Oct. 4, and there have been some crazy things happening. The league’s 32 teams have played 189 games, which is 14.4% of the total season. Weak teams are piling up wins, and powerhouses have looked below par over the first month of the season.

To try to make sense of the unusual things that have happened so far, here are some factors that have affected the season. These are the teams who are exceeding expectations and the ones that have underperformed.

 The Winnipeg Jets ended last season as a top four team in the league. Connor Hellebuyck is arguably the best goaltender in the world and has led the team to a red hot 11-1-0 start. While that is not much of a surprise considering the Jets didn’t change their roster from last year, there are a few teams that have already had drastic improvement: the Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals.

The Wild have the second-best record in the league so far and their goaltender Filip Gustavsson is a big reason for that. Last year, the Wild finished 24^th in save percentage, and through 11 games this year, it’s up to third. The team ranks second in quality scoring chances. These reasons point to the Wild being able to sustain their success this season.

The Capitals improved their roster drastically over the offseason after barely making the playoffs last year. They have a top five player of all-time in Alexander Ovechkin, who is looking to break the record for most goals in NHL history this season.

On the other hand, there are teams that have underperformed to begin the season. The Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, and Nashville Predators are struggling. The Bruins haven’t been scoring like they have in the past years, and they haven’t got great goaltending. The Bruins ended the season last year with 109 points and are on pace to finish this year with 82.

The Avalanche have been the league’s biggest disappointment thus far. They have been decimated with injuries, missing six of their top 10 forwards and having to rely on playing multiple rookies. The good news is, they still have Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, two of the top ten players in the league. Their biggest problem is their goaltender has the worst save percentage in the league, making him virtually unplayable. Once they get healthy, they will improve. It is still too early to write them off yet.

The Nashville Predators had the best offseason of any team, landing Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. They look like a very average playoff team at their peak because their depth is so concerning.

As the season gets into full swing, it will be interesting to see how the standings play out. Will there be any more surprises? Or will the perennial powerhouses continue to dominate the league?