Tag: espnNHL

Top-Shelf Takes: Handing out the 2023 NHL awards as the regular season winds down

Who are the frontrunners for the 2023 NHL awards?

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

If you can believe it, the NHL regular season is almost over. In a few weeks, we’ll finally know which teams have made the playoffs and which ones will be spending a long spring and summer at home.

While we’ll have more end-of-season and playoff content coming to you over the next few weeks, now feels like a good time to take a look at who the frontrunners are for the major NHL awards. From the Hart Trophy to the Calder Trophy, here are our picks for the 2023 NHL awards with just a few weeks left in the regular season.

Hart Trophy: Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

McDavid is a no-brainer to walk away with the Hart, Rocket Richard, and Art Ross trophies after a career season in Edmonton. As of Wednesday, McDavid leads the NHL with 58 goals and 134 points, numbers we haven’t seen in the NHL since well before the 2004-05 lockout. By now, we all know that this is McDavid’s world and we’re just living in it.

Norris Trophy: Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks

The Norris is definitely the most wide open of the NHL awards, by my count. The biggest factor here is whether or not voters decide to crown Karlsson based on his historic offensive season alone. Karlsson has had quite the bounce-back season, with 85 points in 70 games. He is also on pace to become the first NHL defenseman to hit 100 points since Brian Leetch did so in 1991-92.

Personally, I think the Norris will eventually go with Karlsson here, since he’s had a fantastic feel-good season. That being said, don’t be surprised if Adam Fox, Rasmus Dahlin, or Hampus Lindholm pick up some late momentum from voters weighing defensive acumen more highly than offensive production.

Vezina Trophy: Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins

Out of everything that has gone right for the Bruins this year, Ullmark having the best season of his career in net might be the most important. After all, goaltending can make or break teams in the NHL and Ullmark has gone above and beyond for the Bruins this year. Ullmark leads the NHL in wins (34), save percentage (.935), and goals against average (1.97) and no doubt had the Vezina locked up months ago with his stellar performance.

Calder Trophy: Matty Beniers, Seattle Kraken

The Kraken have surprised many this season by playing well enough for a playoff spot come spring. While it’s been a team effort all around, the contributions of rookie Beniers can’t be overlooked. Beniers has 19 goals and 49 points in his first NHL season, leading all rookies in points as April draws near. While the Calder race was a bit more wide open earlier in the year, Beniers has shored up his claim over the last few weeks.

Selke Trophy: Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins

As long as Bergeron is playing in the NHL, he always has a shot at winning the Selke Trophy. While it’s hard to say what the future holds for the 37-year-old Bergeron, the forward deserves to pick up his sixth-career Selke this offseason. Bergeron plays nearly 18 minutes a night as the NHL’s best defensive forward and is a key contributor to the Bruins offense. It would be absolute robbery to award the Selke to anyone else this season.

Jack Adams Trophy: Jim Montgomery, Boston Bruins

Given that the Bruins are well on pace to absolutely coast by the NHL’s wins record this season, Montgomery is a shoo-in for the Jack Adams. And lest we all forget, this is Montgomery’s first year coaching in Boston as well and the Bruins came into the 2022-23 season with key injuries too. No team, so far, has been able to come close to the Bruins’ dominance this season and it seems like that’s only going to continue come playoff time.

Top-Shelf Takes: The Senators’ surprise playoff push is fun, but don’t get too attached just yet

This run from the Senators has been fun, but it probably won’t last.

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

No one saw this run coming from the Ottawa Senators.

On January 22, the Senators’ record stood at 20-23-3. The team was one day removed from the Winnipeg Jets absolutely wiping the floor with them in a 5-1 loss at home. The situation looked dire and with the powerhouses in the Atlantic Division locking down nearly all the playoff spots, it seemed as if the Senators were set to be out of luck.

Since then, however, the Senators have gone 12-4-1. This run over the last month and a half has revitalized their playoff hopes, with the Senators sitting three points out of a wild card spot with 19 games left to play. As the stragglers in the Eastern Conference — namely the Penguins and Islanders — struggle to keep their playoff positions, the Senators (and others) have slowly gained ground in recent weeks.

I’ve talked up the Buffalo Sabres playoff chances before, so it’s only fair that I give the Senators some love here too.

This most recent push by the Senators has been quite impressive. The impetus for it all stems from crucial back-to-back dominant wins against the Detroit Red Wings. Like the Senators, the Red Wings had been keeping pace with the playoff hopeful pack, with those two games against Ottawa a test for the team ahead of the trade deadline.

The Senators won those two games by a combined score of 12-3.

While Ottawa’s recent five-game win streak came to a screeching halt after a 5-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, the Senators are the team to watch right now in the playoff race. A lot of that is thanks to great relief goaltending from Kevin Mandolese and Mads Sogaard after some unfortunate injuries to Ottawa’s netminders. Plus, the Senators offense has started to come alive in the last few weeks due to clutch contributions from Claude Giroux, Tim Stutzle, and more.

And it’s thanks to the hard work of players like Giroux that the Senators went out to make a big splash at the trade deadline for Jakob Chychrun in the first place.

There’s a lot of hype around this Senators team to play spoiler to a playoff team by sneaking into the wild card at the eleventh hour. And I get why. After all, who doesn’t love a good dark horse story come playoff time?

That being said, I would heavily advise against getting your hopes up for this Senators team. As of Wednesday, the Senators have the NHL’s second-hardest strength of schedule remaining, according to Tankathon. In the next few weeks, the Senators will have to face the likes of the Oilers and the Bruins, with two meetings each against the Maple Leafs, the Lightning, and the Hurricanes.

Talk about a tall order, especially if the Senators best goaltenders remain out long-term. It’s not completely unreasonable that the Senators find another gear this late in the season and make the playoffs off a ridiculous end-of-season run, but it has to start today. Ottawa will need to brush off that brutal Chicago loss, put it in the rearview mirror, and get back to it.

The road ahead of the Senators isn’t an easy one. These last few weeks have been a fun ride for the previously listless Senators, but now is when the real work begins. Given the competition they’ll have to face to get it done and the odds stacked against them, don’t be surprised if the Senators’ playoff dreams ultimately fall short.

Top-Shelf Takes: The NHL’s All-Star weekend format is awful. Here’s how the league can fix it

How to fix the NHL’s All-Star weekend in four simple steps.

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

It’s no secret that the NHL’s All-Star weekend needs some work. Over the weekend, the 2023 NHL All-Star Game came and went without much fanfare from the wider hockey world. And when it was a topic of conversation, hockey fans ripped into the NHL for its lackluster showing.

For years now, the NHL’s All-Star events have been a huge miss. The All-Star Skills Competition has become overproduced drivel instead of a playground for NHL stars to showcase their awesome skill. And the All-Star Game itself lacks any sort of urgency to it, making it meaningless to watch as a worse version of three-on-three overtime.

While there’s always going to be people who aren’t going to care about the NHL’s All-Star offerings, it’s clear many hockey fans want a better product to display the league’s stars. So, if the NHL won’t fix its own All-Star weekend, I’ll do it for them in four easy steps.

1. Make the stars show up

Is it really an All-Star event if your biggest stars are skipping out on the festivities entirely? Kirill Kaprizov opted out of the skills competition and did not look at all like he wanted to be part of All-Star weekend when playing. The Seattle Kraken had no representative at all because the players wanted to go on vacation together instead.

Sure, not every NHL star is going to want to give up a prime mid-season vacation, but the league can definitely do a better job in enticing players to play along. Whether it be by setting All-Star weekend at more appealing destinations or giving players that do attend some sort of perk, the NHL can clearly do more to make the weekend more fun and less of a chore.

Oh, and while we’re at it, get rid of the one player per team rule. Keep a representative or two around for the host city but other than that, invite only the NHL’s superstars that people want to watch.

2. Bring back the player draft

The best part of NHL All-Star weekend used to be the antics between players during the All-Star team draft. Remember when Alex Ovechkin wanted to get drafted last so he could win a car? This is what they took from us!

The NBA has a player draft for its All-Star Game and it works wonderfully. Sure, the NHL may not have the same level of personality as the NBA, but the draft still was a fun time when it was around. Do you want to market your stars better, NHL? This is how you do it.

3. Keep it simple, stupid

In recent years, the NHL has gotten way too deep into the gimmick events for the skills competition. No one wants to see NHL players golfing with hockey sticks and pucks. I feel like I speak for hockey fans everywhere when I say the breakaway challenge, accuracy shooting, and hardest shot events are the most enjoyable to watch for their simplicity and immediate relation to the sport.

If the NHL wants to mix things up, adding in a goalie goal competition — with no gimmicks — or interesting stickhandling events would be the way to go. There’s nothing wrong with a little simplicity now and again.

Not only that, ESPN’s broadcast of the event has gotten way too involved for its own good. John Buccigross screaming random phrases that make no sense is bordering on Tony Romo levels of grating. Dialing back the broadcasting to be less intrusive is a must for the NHL, or at least offer a separate feed that’s just the direct audio and nothing else.

4. Give All-Star weekend meaning again

No one cares about NHL All-Star weekend because we’ve been given no reason to care. Many of the players don’t care either, as evidenced by their lack of effort on the ice. No one’s asking for Stanley Cup Playoffs level of effort here, but the lack of passion is evident with each passing year.

Even with all this doom and gloom, the NHL actually saw a viewership increase for the 2023 All-Star festivities. It’s hard to say why, exactly, given how uninspired it all felt this year, but something the NHL is doing is working.

Still, the NHL has to find a way to make All-Star weekend meaningful to its viewers. The fans attending the event notwithstanding, the hockey world as a whole has no reason to care about the All-Star Game. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Give hockey players a reason to attend the event and a reason to hustle out there — home ice advantage for the playoffs, perhaps? — and fans will follow suit.

The NHL’s All-Star weekend doesn’t just have to be a mindless exercise on the hockey calendar anymore. It can, in fact, be fun, but only if the NHL allows it to be.

Top-Shelf Takes: Bruce Boudreau deserved better than the hand the Canucks dealt him

Bruce there it is.

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

It’s never easy being let go from your job. Take it from someone who has gone through the process multiple times: frankly, it sucks a lot!

Bruce Boudreau, unfortunately, was dealt the worst hand imaginable in his final few weeks with the Vancouver Canucks. His eventual firing — and the subsequent hiring of Rick Tocchet — was public knowledge for weeks in hockey circles. So much so that Boudreau was gracefully answering media questions about the topic just a few days before his firing.

It’s safe to say the Canucks handled this business in the most unprofessional way imaginable. If you’re going to fire someone, be quick about it. Don’t let the person twist in the wind for weeks waiting for the sword to fall. And yet, that’s exactly what they did to Boudreau, who had to endure public speculation on his job status for weeks because the Canucks front office didn’t want to name an interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Let’s be clear, Boudreau is not at fault at all for what happened with the Canucks this season. Boudreau ended his Vancouver tenure with a 50-40-13 record. He singlehandedly turned the Canucks around last season and despite not making it to the playoffs, Boudreau earned the respect of Vancouver fans for the work he put in that made the team better even for just a short period of time.

Vancouver fans weren’t the only people to hold Boudreau in high regard either, as according to an interview with the former coach in The Athletic, Canucks players were quite emotional after his final game, a 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Boudreau said. “All of us, almost all the players and me, were crying in the room. It was crazy. Like, I mean, you’d have to see it to believe it because it’s hard to believe it just saying it.”

It’s hard to say if Boudreau will coach again in the NHL. Since 2007-08, Boudreau has coached 1,087 games, with a 617-342-128 record. Apparently, according to The Athletic‘s Michael Russo, hockey fans will likely see Boudreau on their televisions sooner rather than later, as the former coach is already lining up TV appearances.

All the respect in the world to Boudreau for publicly handling this terrible situation with class. It’s a real shame the Canucks organization couldn’t extend the same to Boudreau on his way out.

Top-Shelf Takes: It’s time we stop taking Alex Ovechkin for granted

It’s time to stop treating Alex Ovechkin’s greatness as mundane.

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

I think we, as hockey fans, have been desensitized to the greatness of Alex Ovechkin.

It’s pretty understandable how we got here, honestly. Ovechkin has been playing in the NHL for nearly two decades. The life-long Washington Capital has been part of our lives as hockey fans since he put up 52 goals and 106 points in his rookie year way back in 2005-06. For some hockey fans, they’ve never known a world in which Ovechkin hasn’t been automatic from his left wing circle office.

On Tuesday, Ovechkin scored his 800th career goal, making him just the third NHL player in history to hit that mark alongside Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin entered the night needing three goals to hit 800 and, fittingly, scored a hat trick to cap off the historical evening.

And hey, not an empty netter in sight either!

Ovechkin is now just 95 goals away from passing Gretzky and breaking the NHL’s career goal scoring record that’s stood the test of time since 1999. Quick math says Ovechkin is currently on a 52-goal pace, which would put him at 832 on the year after he finishes his age-37 season. As long as Ovechkin stays healthy and continues to pace this well, we’ll be witnessing NHL history before his 40th birthday in 2025.

For some time now, it’s felt like we — as a hockey community — have taken what Ovechkin is doing for granted. When the greatest goal scorer of our time routinely scores 50 times over the course of an 82-game season, it can feel a bit mundane in the thick of it. But scaling out to a wider view, Ovechkin’s greatness is simply… breathtaking.

Think about it. Ovechkin is chasing a record many never believed would be broken set by the greatest hockey player of all time. As someone who never watched Gretzky play growing up, Ovechkin’s chase to become the best goal scorer in NHL history has no comparable. And somehow, for many of us, this display of grandeur has become the norm. Expected even!

One day, sometime very soon, Ovechkin won’t be playing in the NHL anymore. It seems impossible to fathom now but it’s a fact. And hopefully before then, Ovechkin becomes the NHL’s greatest scorer of all time. Until that point, I’m no longer going to take Ovechkin for granted. Every goal he’s ever scored and every goal he will ever score before his career ends is a gift that we should be cherishing. Because one day, Ovechkin will no longer be playing hockey and these moments we once looked forward to will only be memory.

Top-Shelf Takes: The NHL shouldn’t tolerate Jordan Binnington’s childish antics any longer

Jordan Binnington continues to be an embarrassment to the NHL.

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

The best pests in the NHL are good at getting under their opponents skin while staying unbothered themselves. Think Brad Marchand, love him or hate him. Jordan Binnington, on the other hand, is a petulant child playing hockey.

Over the weekend, Binnington once again became the narrative of the hockey world thanks to yet another incident involving his well-documented short fuse. During the St. Louis Blues Saturday matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Binnington gloved Jason Zucker in the face as the winger was chasing a puck behind the net in the dying seconds of the first period.

The move was a completely unnecessary one, given the routine nature of Zucker’s route, and one that caused play to be halted as the Penguins winger lay crumpled in a heap on the ice.

Then early in the second period, when Binnington was being pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots, the Blues goaltender was given a 10-minute misconduct for “inciting” as he had words for the Penguins bench while leaving the ice.

This incident is just the latest in a long list of tantrums Binnington has thrown over the years since 2018-19. Without fail, when Binnington has a poor game or things don’t go his way, he lashes out physically against his opponents in a meltdown of epic proportions. That all came to a head in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs when Binnington tossed a water bottle at Nazem Kadri during a postgame interview after the goaltender left due to an injury sustained when colliding with the forward.

So far, the NHL has tolerated Binnington’s childish outbursts with no external punishments. Even the water bottle toss didn’t warrant a fine or a suspension from the powers on high. But it’s clear by now that in-game penalties aren’t going to stop Binnington from taking out his frustrations physically on his opponents, since he’s continued to do so for years.

That being said, Binnington’s antics are starting to wear thin on his head coach, Craig Berube, who had this to say after the Blues 6-2 weekend loss to the Penguins.

“It’s got to stop. It doesn’t help anything,” Berube said. “Just play goal, stop the puck.”

Look, I could understand Binnington’s actions here a bit if he was actually an elite goaltender. Tom Brady throws fits on the sidelines all the time, but the dude is the undisputed football GOAT with seven Super Bowl wins. Binnington has a Stanley Cup, yes, but in the years since he’s posted a .906 save percentage and has been remarkably mediocre.

The NHL needs to be finished with tolerating Binnington’s actions from now on. Binnington’s petulance has gone on for far too long and he’s only going to keep embarrassing the league — or maybe even hurt someone — if he continues to act out like this.

Top-Shelf Takes: 6 NHL teams in playoff trouble now that Thanksgiving is officially here

Not being in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving could spell doom for these NHL teams.

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

American Thanksgiving is one of the most important dates in the NHL. Yes, really! The day that most of the country spends eating good food and watching bad football is one of great significance to the hockey world.

You see, dating back to the 2005-06 season, 76.3 percent of NHL teams in playoff spots on Thanksgiving make it to the postseason come spring. Of course, that statistic doesn’t count the COVID-shortened seasons and the lockout years, but for these 14 seasons, Thanksgiving has been a huge milestone in the NHL calendar.

We’ve seen a lot of surprises so far in the 2022-23 NHL season. The New Jersey Devils are one of hockey’s best teams. The Seattle Kraken are finally looking like a competent team and are in line for a playoff spot. But what about the teams we thought would have successful seasons yet have instead faltered out of the gate?

Here are six NHL teams that are out of a playoff spot on Thanksgiving and are in danger of missing the postseason unless things turn around.

Florida Panthers (One point out of a playoff spot)

Sure, the Panthers may have won the Matthew Tkachuk trade in our early returns, but it won’t mean much if the team can’t get back to the playoffs after being the NHL’s best offense last season. Florida’s been unable to get into a rhythm at all this season with a 10-8-2 record, winning two straight games just twice this season. An inconsistent start to the year may very well doom their chances at a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference given the tough competition ahead of them in the standings.

Buffalo Sabres (Five points out of a playoff spot)

For the first few weeks of the season, the Sabres were one of the NHL’s best teams. Buffalo started the year 7-3-0, with people throwing out the red carpet for Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin just 10 games into the season. Then, the Sabres went on an eight-game losing streak, one that may have foiled their playoff chances when all is said and done. Sure, the Sabres probably weren’t good enough to win 70 percent of their games the rest of the way, but failing to make the playoffs will feel like a bit of a let down after their hot start.

Washington Capitals (Four points out of a playoff spot)

If the Capitals miss the playoffs this season for the first time since 2013-14, blame it on their 3-6-3 record since October 31. After starting the season at a respectable 5-4-0, Washington petered out hard at the end of October and haven’t recovered since. The Capitals biggest problems are goaltending, which allowed 43 goals against during this span, alongside an anemic, aging defense. You know things are bad in Washington when even Alex Ovechkin is slumping hard.

Pittsburgh Penguins (One point out of a playoff spot)

Yes, the Penguins enter Thanksgiving on a four-game win streak, but there’s still some concern here. The Penguins also had a disastrous late October and early November with a winless streak of seven games and overall have been quite the Jekyll and Hyde team so far this season. You can never count out Sidney Crosby and crew, not when they’re continuing to pile on the goals as they have recently, but the cracks have certainly started to show in this Penguins team.

Edmonton Oilers (One point out of a playoff spot)

November has not been kind to the Oilers. First, they lose Evander Kane for at least three months after a terrifying skate cut injury. Then, the team goes 4-7-0 in November ahead of Thanksgiving, putting them outside the playoffs as a true .500 squad. Stuart Skinner should be the team’s full time goaltender from here on out, as the Jack Campbell experiment isn’t working either. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have their work cut out for them if the Oilers want to make it back to the playoffs.

Minnesota Wild (One point out of a playoff spot)

Turns out, Kirill Kaprizov can’t carry a hockey team no matter how good of a player he is. Right now, the Wild are desperate for goals and are the NHL’s fifth-worst team in terms of scoring with an average 2.67 goals per game. Even worse, Kaprizov is the team’s only double digit goal scorer! A toothless Wild offense will need to find another gear the rest of the way if they want to make it to the playoffs once more.

Top-Shelf Takes: Panthers early winners of blockbuster Matthew Tkachuk trade, for now

It’s early, but the Panthers seem like clear winners of the Matthew Tkachuk trade so far.

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

At the time of the Matthew Tkachuk trade over the summer, I knocked the Florida Panthers for paying the steep price of three players and a conditional first-round pick to get the best upcoming free agent last summer. And so far, Tkachuk has proved me quite wrong!

We’re now well into the second month of the 2022-23 NHL season, which is a pretty fair time to look at some early returns from the offseason’s biggest trade. Back in late July, the Calgary Flames traded Tkachuk to the Panthers in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a conditional 2025 first-round pick. The move came after Johnny Gaudreau left Calgary at the start of free agency, breaking up a Flames core that had been together since 2016-17.

When the trade went down late on a Friday night, many first reactions — mine included! — handed the Flames the unconditional victory at first blush. After all, the Panthers gave up a king’s ransom for Tkachuk. Last season, Huberdeau outpaced Tkachuk in points (115 to 104) and Weegar netted a career-high 44 points as a defenseman in his age 28 season. That was a lot to give up for Tkachuk, who bypassed his previous career high by 27 points last season with no real promise he’d hit those same peaks on a new team without Gaudreau by his side.

So far, however, Tkachuk’s been everything promised and more for the Panthers. After 14 games played, Tkachuk has five goals and 20 total points and is playing at a 113-point pace, which would exceed his career high set last season. While Carter Verhaeghe currently leads the Panthers in goals (10), Tkachuk is Florida’s best points producer in the early goings of the year.

There’s no doubt that Tkachuk is a phenominal hockey player, but there were questions as to his effectiveness in a new lineup after how much success the Flames top line had last season. After the first month of the season, though, it’s fair to say Tkachuk has settled in quite nicely on the Panthers top line alongside Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov.

As for the Flames, things haven’t worked out as well for their two newcomers in Huberdeau and Weegar. Huberdeau only just recently returned from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for three games. The forward also only has two goals and seven points in his first 12 games of the season. Weegar’s been one of Calgary’s best defenders this season, but his offense has suffered with only four assists in 15 games.

Both Calgary and Florida are fighting for wild card spots as of mid-November, with both teams looking a bit lackluster at times as American Thanksgiving looms large next week. Of course, one month into a season is too early to make definitive statements, but at the moment Tkachuk is providing far more value to the Panthers than Huberdeau and Weegar are for the Flames.

If Tkachuk can continue to be the Panthers most lethal offensive threat all season long, there should be no more doubters to Florida’s offseason plan.

Top-Shelf Takes: After years of underperforming, the Devils may finally be legit

Is it time to finally believe in the Devils?

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

It wasn’t that long ago that New Jersey Devils fans were calling for head coach Lindy Ruff’s job. In fact, Devils fans chanted “fire Lindy” during New Jersey’s home opener, a 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, to express their displeasure at the team’s state of affairs.

Oh, what a difference a month makes.

One week into November, Devils fans have completely changed their tune after the team shook off two straight losses to start the season. In their last 10 games, the Devils have gone 9-1-0 and sit third overall in the NHL with a 9-3-0 record. For a team that many — myself included! — wrote off entirely for the 2022-23 season, what the Devils are doing right now defies all logic and reason.

For a Devils team that finished seventh in the Metropolitan last season, this result without a doubt passes any and all best case scenarios New Jersey’s upper management had. Seriously, when the Devils have Jesper Bratt making goals like this, there’s something special going on in New Jersey.

Speaking of Bratt, the 23-year-old has been the impetus for the team’s hot start and a big reason why the Devils are fifth in the NHL (3.67) in goals for per games played. Currently, Bratt is on pace for a 113-point season after scoring five goals and 18 points in 13 games played so far, leading the Devils in both categories. All this after coming off the quietest 73-point season in history last year, by the way.

Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier haven’t been slouches either so far, with 12 and 14 points each respectively, but right now it’s Bratt driving the bus for New Jersey.

With the Devils’ offense riding high, what about the rest of the team? New Jersey’s goaltending, which torched them last year after using seven netminders, is actually standing quite tall all things considered. Mackenzie Blackwood’s .880 save percentage is pretty deceiving after a dismal showing against Washington (five goals on 18 shots) but is above .900 if you discard that outlier. And Vitek Vanecek has settled in well with his new team, going 5-1-0 with a .908 save percentage so far.

So, what’s the catch? There’s always one with the Devils, considering they’ve been perennial disappointments and underachievers for the last decade despite some high draft picks and major offseason signings. There’s still room for things to go wrong — it’s early after all — but this Devils team may honestly be legit. You’d like to see the rest of the Devils lineup step up offensively to meet Bratt, Hughes, and Hischier in case they falter, but right now New Jersey is proving the doubters wrong with gusto.

NHL November power rankings: Listless Maple Leafs are once again looking for answers

Lifeless Maple Leafs take a nosedive in our NHL power rankings as November begins.

Spooky season may be over, but it seems like it’s only beginning for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The first few weeks of the 2022-23 NHL season have passed by in a blur, but November is officially here! The real meat of the hockey season is still to come, as the opening weeks have been quite the feeling out process for the good majority of the NHL.

Of course, there are teams like the Maple Leafs that are facing real hard questions as the first full month of the season begins in earnest. Time will tell if Toronto — and others on this list — can turn things around, but that’s all part of the fun of hockey season, is it not?

So, dig on into that leftover Halloween candy and take a gander at our NHL power rankings for November 2022!