NHL Surprises, Who's for Real?

The first month if the 2009-10 NHL regular season has brought upon many surprises, which teams are for real and which are a fluke? Let’s take a look.

FLUKES

COLORADO AVALANCHE: 22 Points, 1^st in Northwest

The Avs are led in net by their workhorse Craig Anderson. Anderson, with a league leading 10 wins, a 2.11 GAA, two shutouts, and a career high .936 save percentage, is the hottest goalie in the NHL. The acquisition of Kyle Quincey from Los Angeles and the improved defensive play from Adam Foote and John-Michael Liles has made the opposition a lot tougher to get to Anderson. While the defense has been playing well, the offense has been struggling lately while Milan Hejduk hasn’t lit the lamp in his last three games, and starting
center Paul Stastny has not scored a goal in his last five. With the lack of offense and over-achieving defense, I do not see the Avs holding on to their Western Conference lead.

PHOENIX COYOTES: 18 Points, 2^nd in Pacific

Like the Avalanche, the Coyotes are led in net by Ilya Bryzgalov, who is first in the NHL in shutouts (3) and second in GAA (1.79). The Coyotes are led by defenseman Ed Jovanovski (4G, 6A) and RW Shane Doan (3G, 7A) each with 10 points. The Coyotes, currently in second place of the very under-rated
and powerful Pacific Conference, are trailing the San Jose Sharks, and are competing with an improved Los Angeles Kings squad, and under-achieving Anaheim Ducks team. Bryzgalov will not keep this pace up and there is not a lot of firepower on this team, another last place finish is in their future.

BUFFALO SABRES: 17 Points, 1^st in Northeast

Ryan Miller is posting an 8-1 record, a .940 save percentage and 1.86 GAA. These are great numbers for a bad team. The Sabres are lacking offense and Ryan Miller has no defensive help. Tomas Vanek, the team’s best sniper, has only 4 goals and 25 shots on goal. Who leads the Sabres in goals this season? Clarke MacArthur. Exactly.

FOR REAL

LOS ANGELES KINGS: 20 Points, 2nd in Pacific

I understand the Kings are in 3^rd in the Pacific, but there is a lot of promise here. Ryan Smyth has exploded for the Kings since he was acquired from Colorado, posting six goals and nine assists through 14 games. But the real story here is Anze Kopitar, who currently leads the NHL in points (24) and has a +7. The previous three seasons, Kopitar has ended with -12, -15, and -17 for his annual +/-. For the Kings, it starts with Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Smyth on the offensive end. If Jonathan Quick can lower his GAA and keep his save percentage above .900, the Kings will compete this season.

OTTAWA SENATORS: 14 Points, 2^nd in Northeast

The Senators have found quality replacements for former LW Dany Heatley in Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo. Both have struggled a little at the start of the season, but Michalek still leads the team in goals
(6, including a hat-trick against Tampa Bay Oct. 15). With center Jason Spezza without a goal so far and right wing Daniel Alfredsson carrying the load, these two additions need to find some consistency if the Sens want to take this division.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: 17 Points, 1^st in Central

This may not seem like a surprise to anybody, but the big surprise is they have jumped out to an early Central lead, and it doesn’t look like anybody is going to catch them. With Captain Jonathan Toews still out with
concussion like symptoms, the team still has not surrendered their lead. The Hawks defensemen have been a big part of the success this season. Duncan Keith and Cam Barker lead defensemen with eight points with Brent Seabrook and Brian Campbell second with seven. Once Toews gets back and the forwards start
producing more, this team will be scary to play come April.