NHL Christmas Roundup
The defending champion Blues are lighting it up, leading the league in goals and leading the West in goal differential. Daley has proven an adequate replacement for Cole and OEL is almost at a point per game pace right now. Rookie Patrik Laine has 10 goals already as a nineteen year old after sliding to them at 24th in the draft a year ago due to concerns over his attitude and one dimensionality. After a slow start the Nashville Predators are climbing back into the conversation in the Central, where they currently sit third. Filip Forsberg leads the league in goals at the break with 29. Their vaunted blue line has been without Seth Jones for much of the year due to injury and Mattias Ekholm just went down with an arm injury before the break. Their goaltending has been mediocre between Rinne and Mazanec and they're going to need much better to make any noise in the postseason if they even make it there. The Avalanche are third in the league and best in the West in goals allowed per game. Michael Neuvirth has earned almost a fifty percent share of starts so far with two shutouts and a .930 save percentage. Varlamov has been having a sub par season by his standards, his save percentage is down to .900 and he has fewer wins than Neuvirth in more starts. He's going to have to step it up if the Avs want to stay in second place in the Central. The Flames lead the Pacific with 43 points, the lowest total of any division leader. Dubnyk has been critical for them, 19 of their 20 wins have come with him between the pipes. Johnny Gaudreau is second in NHL scoring as well. The Ducks sit just two points back of the Sharks for third in the Pacific. They have leaned heavily on 24 year old goalie John Gibson after losing Frederik Andersen to Vegas in the expansion draft. Gibson leads the league in GSAA but can he hold up at this intense pace that has him well on his way to playing over seventy games this season? With both Fowler and Lindholm missing significant time the blueline has leaned on 22 year old Theodore and 26 year old Sami Vatanen, who sits tied for sixth in defenseman scoring in the league with 33 points so far. They also re-signed last year's deadline acquisition, James Wisniewski, and at 33 he has proven to have plenty left in the tank, scoring seven goals and seventeen points so far this year with more minutes than he was probably expecting this year. Vegas is acquitting themselves well in their inaugural season, currently at 4th in the Pacific and two points back of the Sharks for third. Frederik Andersen has taken the starting role but Fleury has been excellent in his limited starts as well. 24 year old defenseman Ryan Murphy is taking advantage of his opportunity playing top minutes on his new team and already has more goals (13) than he had all year for Carolina last season. He leads the team in scoring by a significant margin, nobody else even of the forwards has cracked 20 points or ten goals but they do have a lot of depth. Captain Justin Abdelkader is having a resurgent season on pace for 45 points. Stephane Da Costa has nine goals and seventeen points and has played every game so far after only being in 41 games for thet Canadiens last year. Bryan Little is having a bounce back year on pace for 43 points after only putting up 22 in an off year for Buffalo last season. Gabriel Bourque already has more goals (6) and points (14) in 24 games than he had all season for Nashville. Surprisingly, a few of the players expected to excel in a larger role for Vegas have mostly fumbled their opportunity. Erik Haula is on pace for only 22 points after having 46 with the Wild. Bobby Ryan hasn't stepped up with the fresh start and is on a disappointing 27 point pace, which would be his worst point total of his career other than his twenty year old season when he only played 23 games. The Minnesota Wild are only two points back of a Wild Card spot (currently held by the Blackhawks, whose demise has been greatly exaggerated) and Charlie Coyle is blossoming into a legitimate first line NHL power forward in his 25 year old season. He has already set career highs in goals (20) and points (38) and currently leads the league in Powerplay Goals.
The Montreal Canadiens have been putting a great season together on the strength of Carey Price's goaltending and Brendan Gallagher joining Max Pacioretty in the top five of NHL scoring. They lead the East in goals, goals against and goal differential and have lost only 2 games all season at home in the Bell Centre. With P.K. Subban suffering a serious arm injury fourteen games in Thomas Chabot has really stepped his game up to near Norris level at only 20 years old. Russian defenseman Alexei Emelin has been impressive in a top four role as well, leading the NHL with +25. The Bruins have a stingy defense and solid offense as well and they aren't going away any time soon, seven points back of the Habs but with two games in hand at the break. The Penguins been dominant over in the Metro and are currently on a six game winning streak. Carolina is the only other team in their division with a positive goal differential while the Pens sit at +44. Crosby is having a statement season leading the NHL scoring race by 11 points with 63. Matt Murray and Antti Raanta have been sharing starts pretty evenly and they both have 3 shutouts already. Letang had 35 points in 32 games before sustaining a lower body injury just before the break. He should be out for a week or two. The Florida Panthers are the beneficiaries of an incredible sophomore season from star sniper Auston Matthews. Matthews is third in goals in the league and on pace for 61. He's also tied for third in the league in plus minus at +23. The Flyers are back in a playoff spot but it may not be sustainable with their current -18 goal differential and their poor road record. The Rangers are hot with five straight wins. Henrik Lundqvist has retaken his crease after last season's anomaly and Skapski is back to being a typical backup. 22 year old Tony DeAngelo has 20 assists but no goals through 37 games. Chris Kreider is on pace to blow his career highs in goals and points out of the water with 21 goals and 40 points already. Ottawa is clinging to the last Wild Card spot currently. Vezina winner Robin Lehner is having an off year at least by last season's lofty standards but Erik Karlsson and Mark Stone are tied for the NHL lead in takeaways (33), Hoffman has 20 goals already and Zibanejad is at 31 points in 35 games.