Welcome to another edition of the Hockeybuzz hotstove.
As is the case every Monday, we'll be sharing things we've learned and some takeaways from the season thus far.
Todd Cordell I really liked the Canucks prior to the season as a sleeper team to get back to the playoffs, and so far they're making me look good.
To this point Vancouver doesn't just look like a team that could squeeze into a wild card spot, but a legitimate threat in the Western Conference.
With Ryan Miller and Eddie Lack many figured they'd get more than adequate goaltending, but wondered how potent their offense would be.
Through 12 games they've scored 38 goals playing in a tough western conference, and already have wins over St. Louis, Montreal, etc. under their belt.
Their PDO (shooting percentage + save percentage) at even strength is 98, which could quite possibly go up, and they're a 52.5 Corsi Close% team, so the underlying numbers suggest they are as good as their record indicates.
It'll be interesting to see if they can keep it up, but so far they're looking pretty good.
Ryan Wilson: Kings miss(ed) Kopitar The Los Angeles Kings played without Anze Kopitar for three of the past four games. They lost all three of those games without Kopitar and only scored 4 goals total.
Prior to Kopitar being out the Kings scored 2.75 goals per game and gave up 1.5 goals per game.
In the three games with Kopitar out the Kings have scored 1.33 goals per game and have allowed 3.66 goals per game.
The Kings were on a six game winning streak before Kopitar went out, they have gone 0-2-1 without him.
I do understand that losing Voynov and Gaborik certainly impacts things as well, but the Kings were getting by (6 game winning streak). Kopitar is the straw that stirs the Kings drink and they miss him. Good news is that he is now back into the lineup, as is Gaborik. The bad news is that it didn't matter last night, they still lost to Carolina. LA is in a slump, I don't expect it to last a long time.
Tim Chiasson Through three weeks Tyler Seguin has picked up where he left off last year: working to make Boston regret their personnel decision.
Seguin's rise to super-stardom isn't leveling off anytime soon and the Dallas Stars have to be ecstatic with how that trade is working out. The Seguin situation in Boston was not unlike the Kane situation in Chicago in regards to maturity. The only difference is Chiarelli got himself into cap trouble and decided to throw Seguin and his character under the bus, whereas Chicago stuck with Kane and worked with him through the maturation process.
Seguin continues to become the player that everyone thought he could be and he's not slowing down. He's a legitimate superstar and he makes everyone around him better. By the end of the season there's no reason he won't be considered a franchise player, if he isn't already.
Bonus Thought: Marc-Andre Fleury is doing everything he can to prove he's a legitimate star. You can argue improved defense in front of him but you can't take away his three shutouts in nine games. Flower is playing some good hockey for Pittsburgh right now.
Ed Stein What I learned this week:
If a team has a stockpile of defensemen, they may have hit the lottery.
It seems like NHL blueliners were dropping faster than Terminus residents in the Walking Dead.
Let's start off with the team I cover, the Ducks. Ben Lovejoy broke his hand Sunday night, beating up Joe Pavelski's helmet. His replacement Mark Fistric lasted only two games before sustaining a lower back injury. Co-seventh defenseman Bryan Allen began the season on the IR and may be back this week. That left the Ducks with a third pairing of the less than mobile Clayton Stoner and rookie call-up Josh Manson on Saturday. For a team that appeared to have one of the deepest defense corps to start the season, they are now a bit thin.
Speaking of thin, how about the New York Rangers. Already playing without off-season pickup Dan Boyle, due to a broken hand, John Moore took the opportunity to hit Wild center Eric Haula with an elbow to the head on Monday, drawing himself a five game suspension. New York went into Saturday Night's game with a bottom pair of Matt Hunwick and Mike Kostka, two borderline NHLers. Now those two guys may be the second pair because Ryan McDonagh separated his shoulder and Kevin Klein took a puck off his foot and was forced to leave that game. McDonagh is gone for several weeks and Klein's status is unknown. The Blueshirts have already called up Connor Allen and are looking for another defender. Ten games into the season, the Rangers are using their ninth and tenth defensemen.
Those are just a few examples. Boston (Chara, Krug and Miller) and Philly (Coburn, MacDonald, Timonen) are missing three defensemen each from their rotations. Several teams are missing two of their top six defenders. This season started as a sellers market on defensemen and the pendulum has swung even more favorably toward those teams with rear guard players to spare.
Adam French 1. Datsyuk is still worth the price of admission.
At some point the legends have to slow down right? Or so people keep telling me. Jumbo Joe, Alien Datsyuk, Hossa and The Sedin's, age will soon destroy them. Yet they all continue to truck on in elite fashion, Pavel doing his best to show that despite missing an alarming amount of games a season, he's still the wizard we love when healthy. While Detroit lost 3-2 in OT to the Sabres, Datsyuk was being Datsyuk, and he has been this short start to the year. I know he's past his Selke guarantee days or Hart nominations, but there are still few players I would pick over Datsyuk when looking to build a team.
2. Patric Hornqvist Fantasy God.
So I, like many of you, selected Hornqvist in the early mid-rounds because...well look who he would play with. He has always been one of the most underrated players in the NHL and by far the best goal crease shift disturber in the league for years. His style of play was desperately needed in Pittsburgh, a squad that mixes the artfully over-complicated with the woefully ineffective simplicity...what does that mean? Well they get lost in their game at times and loudly, which usually leads to an early exit. Hornqvist is proving to be everything they wanted and needed. With 6 goals and 14 points already in 10 games, I think this trade is looking like one of the more fair deals in recent memory.
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