[dannibalcorpse]

The first quarter of the season has come and gone, and the Golden Knights are playing at a much improved pace compared to last year’s disaster season. 20 games in, the team is 9-8-3, good for 4th place in the Central and within sight of the last playoff spot. The offense has definitely kicked into a higher gear this year, with offseason acquisition Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leading the charge. Nugent-Hopkins has 7 goals and 13 assists in the first 20 games, averaging a clean point per game early on this year. The rest of the team is keeping decent pace with him - T.J. Brodie tied him for the team lead in assists with 13, and has 15 points overall; line mates Jordan Greenway (5-9-14) and Jakob Silfverberg (4-10-14) have also seen an uptick in their scoring rates playing with RNH. The top line players are lagging a little but still have respectable lines - Ondrej Palat (5-7-12) leads the first line with Tyler Johnson (6-4-10) and Wayne Simmonds (5-3-8) are not too far behind. The other huge trade chip acquired, P.K. Subban, has put in good work - 3 goals, 8 assists, and is one of the strongest possession drivers on the team (not saying much for this team - they’re getting outshot by almost 8 shots per game). The goalies have been up to the challenge - Robin Lehner’s gone 6-6-2 with a 2.70 GAA and .916 SV%, continuing his strong play from last year. Malcolm Subban has started to become the player scouts thought he would - going 3-2-1 in 6 starts with a 2.80 GAA and .927 SV%, good enough for 8th in the NHL currently. Meanwhile, in the AHL, offseason signing Carter Hart has come out of the gates on fire, going 8-0-1 with a 1.62 GAA and a .934 SV% - the 21 year old is definitely making a push to be included on the roster in the near future.

Someone not on the NHL roster, in a very surprising move, is Josh Ho-Sang. Ho-Sang was demoted down to the AHL affiliate in Lowell after starting the year scoreless in 18 games. Called up to replace him on the roster was 22 year old Jack Becker, the former 7th round pick of the Bruins in 2015. Becker had put up 4 goals and 9 assists in the first 10 games of the AHL season, so time on the big stage was definitely earned, but more surprising was that it came at the expense of the player who started last season on the first line. “Josh has a lot of work to do - we love what he can do with the puck but he really seems to get inside his own head too often,” Coach Dan Hampton said to reporters at his pre-game presser the day of the demotion. “We really want him to play every day and work through what’s making him struggle, which is why we went with the demotion instead of just leaving him in the press box.” Ho-Sang, for his part, didn’t have much to say. “You know, it’s management’s decision. All I can do is go out there and play as hard as I can, and if I’m not producing, they’re gonna get someone who can.”

Around the league, no one’s been producing more than the Pittsburgh Penguins. Led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and their revamped d-corps, the Penguins are 17-3-1 to start the year and are threatening to run away with the Metropolitan division, already sporting a 7 point lead over the second-place Rangers. Worth noting: the league quietly went back to the original 2 points for any win, 1 point for OT/shootout loss system after two years with the 3-2-1 point system. Gary Bettman spoke briefly on the matter, commenting that if you scored out the last two seasons on the original scoring system, there would have been no changes to the playoff teams, just slight adjustments to the seeding. In fact, teams were clinching playoff spots and being eliminated earlier under the new system, so back to the old ways. One day they’ll figure this out, I’m sure.

Some new blood has shown up on the leaderboards this season - Vladimir Tarasenko is leading the league in the goals, with Dylan Strome tied for 3rd. John Klingberg leads the league in assists, with 20 in 20 games, and Jack Eichel leads the overall scoring with 27 points. 21 year old Filip Gustavsson, the second round pick of the Penguins in 2016, leads the league with 15 wins, while old reliable Henrik Lundqvist paces the circuit with a 1.88 GAA.

There’s been a few early season moves this year, with Winnipeg being at the center of the two biggest trades. They moved 31 year old Bryan Little to Boston for 24 year old Ryan Fitzgerald, and then moved center Mathieu Perrault to the Islanders in exchange for D Travis Hamonic. The league as a whole is pretty bunched up, with only Carolina and Detroit really bottoming out in the standings thus far, so it might be a couple more weeks before we see any big moves made.