Welcome to another edition of the Hockeybuzz hotstove.
Today we'll be sharing thoughts and/or what we've learned from the season thus far, with a focus on what's happened more recently.
Todd Cordell: Jake Allen is ready to make a difference
Jake Allen may not be No. 1 on the depth chart just yet, but he looks ready to breakout and establish himself as a very good starter in this league.
After plenty of development time in the AHL, where he fared very well, Allen is off to an exceptional start in his first full season as an NHLer.
Allen is 4-1-0 with a .944SV% (2nd) and a 1.40 goals against average through five starts.
What's more impressive is that Ken Hitchcock hasn't just started him against poor teams. Allen has already shutout the Ducks once and beaten the Devils, who entered consecutive games against St. Louis one point behind Pittsburgh for the Metro Division lead, twice.
Ryan Wilson: Washington better than I predicted I thought hiring Barry Trotz would bring a very conservative approach to the Washington Capitals this year thus limiting their ceiling.
The Capitals are currently 6-5-3 but I don't feel that record tells the story of how well they have played. Ovechkin is playing great against top competition and the team has a Score-Adjusted Fenwick of 54.26% which is sixth best in the NHL.
So far the downfall has been goaltending. Washington ranks 26th overall with a very bad EVSV% of .903. Classically speaking Holtby is an above average goalie and I expect this number to bounce up. When it does the Capitals are poised to win more consistently. Not good news if you are the Columbus Blue Jackets trying to make up ground.
Adam French Lightning Forward Depth I have been a fan of the Tampa Bay development cycle that this latest group has gone through. While it hasn't really been as miraculous in the defense department with Hedman being the only standout and Gudas being serviceable, the wizardry of their development of forwards is scary. Kucherov, Johnson, Palat, Brown, Killorn, Namestnikov, all built up success together in the AHL before, this is before even mentioning Stamkos and Drouin (who were givens). Heck even castaways Panik and Conacher are decent players on other teams. They haven't won the Cup yet, they may never do so, but this style of mass development and insertion is fairly unparalleled. The Lightning have a 5th overall selection as a healthy scratch due to all their depth, it's insane.
Vladimir Tarasenko Fulfilling Expectations Having watched a lot of KHL (and MHL) hockey, it was easy to see why Tarasenko was an expected top-10 pick. Yet after the tragic death of top prospect Alexei Cherepanov, Alexander Radulov fleeing, Nikita Filatov was causing problems all year over playing time and demanding to be sent on loan to the KHL, Alex Semin was in the doghouse constantly being called out for being lazy and just a big "Red" scare over them, he managed to fall in his draft. You look back now and it is kind of funny. You can see exactly where he fit in that draft, the top-5...where he was expected if his passport was different.
Outside of Crosby and Voracek has there been a more dominant forward in the past two weeks? And are his accomplishments more impressive because he seems to be doing most of it on his own? He's electrifying, dangerous and if you can't catch a Blues game you can just re-name the NHL Highlights to the Tarasenko show. 91 is everywhere. Glad he's having the success he deserves, he's one of the hardest working players out there and why I always laughed when the world proclaimed Kuznetsov to be better. I'll take consistency over pure talent any day.
Tim Chiasson: Department of Player Safety still lacks consistency This week it became clear to me that, yet again, the NHL Department of Player Safety terribly lacks consistency. After John Moore got less than he should have I chalked it up in the draw column because at least he got suspended.
I had hopes that this season the league was finally starting turning a corner on supplementary discipline with respect to actually suspending players for head shots.
When Alex Ovechkin hit Niklas Hjalmarsson in the head it should have been a cut and dry suspension. The main point of contact was the head, Ovie is a repeat offender and he pushed up high and through. If you don't believe it was then maybe you should ask Hjalmarsson's chin. I fail to see how Ovechkin should have escaped that play without a suspension.
Hjalmarsson returning to play should have no bearing on a disciplinary decision. The check was illegal by today's standards, if there even are any, and the ref's got the call right on the ice. Year after year the Department of Player Safety drops the ball on suspensions and it looks like 2014-2015 is no different.
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