Anaheim DucksThe Ducks' season seems like such a waste now. They were inexplicably bad at the beginning of the season. It went beyond Visnovsky's broken hand, they were just bad. But then they found their footing and rose up from the West's basement to the West's limbo. And now, they don't even have a shot at getting a big draft pick.
Highlight: The whole team grew mustaches for Movember, and Jonas Hiller had arguably the best goalie mask of the year.
Boston Bruins
The defending Stanley Cup champions are going to head into this year's playoffs as odds on favourites to reach the Eastern Conference finals once again. I personally don't see them coming out of the East, but you've got to give them credit for stretches of complete dominance this year.
Highlight: 6-0 against Toronto, outscoring them 36-10. Seguin records 11 points to Kessel's 3.
Lowlight: Brad Marchand.
Buffalo Sabres
What a bland season the Sabres have had. I was trying to think of their season, and the only thing that popped to mind was Lucic running through Miller. They're in a fight with Washington to make the playoffs, so they've been decent.
Highlight: Vanek and Pominville playing out of their minds for most of the season.
Lowlight: There was a point in the season where the fans were calling for Jonas Enroth to be the starter over Ryan Miller. Now that they're right in the hunt for the playoffs, I don't hear them.
Calgary Flames
Ugh. Kiprusoff's ridiculous talents are being squandered on a team that doesn't have an identity, doesn't seem invested in playing defence, and can't even manage to be competitve in the league's weakest division. Oh, Iginla's pretty good too.
Highlight: Watching this highlight package, you would think the Flames were a pretty good team.
Lowlight: They're not. This team is built around players that their GM traded away, then traded for. There's a word for that: Clueless.
Carolina Hurricanes
I'm betraying my lesser knowledge of the Eastern Conference here: the Hurricanes were more nondescript to me than were the Sabres. Their captain was useless for the first half of the season and that sunk them right there.
Highlight: Jeff Skinner has proven that he is more than just a rookie sensation (see: Steve Mason).
Lowlight: They brought in Kaberle, thinking it was a good idea (to their credit, they realized their mistake and traded him to the Canadiens).
Chicago Blackhawks
Although they have the same stars that won them the Cup a few years ago, this team just isn't deep enough to do so again. Nevertheless, they are in the process of solidifying 6th place in the West while being 4th in their division. That's unreal. They've survived a tough division, multiple injuries to their captain, and Patrick Kane's douchiness.
Highlight: I really do hate this team, so everything they do is viewed through a pair of Fuck-You-Vision glasses, but I'll give them credit for leading the West for 6 weeks or so with the season in full swing (and being 6-2-2 in their last 10 games as of this writing).
Lowlight: A 10 game losing streak, their worst in 5 years.
Colorado Avalanche
This is a young, skilled, hungry team that should (but won't) make the playoffs. I know the season isn't over yet, but they simply don't have enough games left to gain ground in the incredibly tight West. Next year looks promising though; especially if Matt Duchene can find his scoring touch with more consistency.
Highlight: Gabriel Landeskog is the front-runner for the Calder award for best rookie. He's a very complete player and should be very dangerous in the years to come.
Lowlight: The reason the Avalanche won't be in the playoffs is because they couldn't win in their division to save their lives. They have an abysmal 7 wins as of this writing, with only 1 more divisional matchup left on their schedule (Calgary).
Columbus Blue Jackets
This team was supposed to be competitive this year. They brought in Jeff Carter and James Wisniewski in the off season and were poised to be a decent team. Now, they're the worst team in the league, they've traded away Carter, and Rick Nash is likely on the way out too. That leaves the team with Wisniewski and Jack Johnson to build around.
Highlight: They will likely get the #1 draftpick this year. Seriously, that's as close as I could come to providing a good point to this season for the Blue Jackets. #TankCityOnIce (I apologize for using hashtags... I feel shame.)
Lowlight: Take your pick. There's the inconceivable-in-Bettman's-NHL 1 point through their first 8 games. There's the fact that their GM is utterly incompetent. There's the fact that their franchise player wants out. There's the fact that this is the worst team in the league by far. There's the fact that Steve Mason is their #1 goalie. I'll stop now.
Dallas Stars
Dallas has had a confusing year. They were the best team in the league for the first month, then were awful once Lehtonen got injured. He's back, and they're currently leading their division and 3rd in the West. Sounds pretty good right? Well, they're only 2 points away from falling out of the top 8. For a fan base that had to endure missing last year's postseason due to losing on the final day of the season, this must be a nerve-racking time.
Highlight: The Stars know how to win tight games; they're 12 games above .500 with an even goal differential.
Lowlight: It could be still to come. The Stars have 2 games against division rivals San Jose. Those 2 games will likely decide if the Stars finish 3rd, 8th, or even miss the playoffs entirely.
Detroit Red Wings
Every year I think the Red Wings will start showing their age. Despite Henrik Zetterberg's apparent efforts to make the Wings mediocre for the first half of the season, they continue to do things like break all-time records that seemed unbreakable. Also, Lidstrom is almost certainly a T-1000 programmed to play hockey. There's simply no other explanation.
Highlight: An all-time best 23 game home winning streak. The previous best was 20.
Lowlight: The Hyde to their home record's Jeckyll, the Wings are only 16-21-3 on the road. That's only one road point more than Montreal - the last place team in the East - has mustered thus far.
Edmonton Oilers
It's been the same old story for the Oilers this year. They have great young talent in Eberle, Hall, and Hugent-Hopkins, but find themselves near the bottom of the standings once again. This team is about 3 years and one elite defenceman away from being legitimate.
Highlight: For the first two months of the season, this team seemed as if they were a playoff team; their offensive power, bolstered by the 2nd ranked PP, can be explosive with the last two #1 draft picks, and another top 5 likely on its way.
Lowlight: They can't stay healthy. Hall and Nugent-Hopkins have both missed significant amounts of time due to injuries and without them, this is still the Oilers team that tanked so badly that they wound up with the draft picks to acquire those two players. And now Hall is having shoulder surgery and may miss the beginning of next year.
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| Although now that Hall is a zombie, he's impervious to further pain. |
Florida Panthers
This team is Dallas-lite. 3rd in the East, they are only 5 points away from missing the playoffs. Unlike Dallas, who could still wind up 7th or 8th, Florida is in an all-or-nothing position as they try to hold off Washington. In all likelihood though, the Panthers will be playoff-bound for the first time in a decade, after a near-complete roster overhaul. They returned only 9 players from last year, and then traded Booth 6 games into the season.
Highlight: Versteeg is among their new players who have had a really positive impact on this team (and he was one of the few bright spots in my hockey pool).
Lowlight: Gm Dave Tallon had this to say regarding the Booth trade, for which the Panthers got Marco Sturm and Mikael Samuelsson: "We felt as far as an organization we get two top NHL players...". Clearly Tallon doesn't watch the games, as those two are far from top NHL players.
Los Angeles Kings
Every year, I look through the teams before the season begins, and find myself terrified of the Kings. Every year I think this will be the year they dominate. I'm wrong every year. They're certainly decent, but they find themselves in a fight for a playoff spot, and 3 of their final 5 games come on the road.
Highlight: A large part of why I jump to the conclusion that the Kings are a great team, goaltender Jon Quick currently has a 1.93 GAA, a .930 SVP, and 9 shutouts. Nearly any other year those are Vezina numbers.
Lowlight: Dustin Penner provided one of the best punchlines of the year by injuring himself, and I quote, "reaching for more of my wife's delicious pancakes." To his credit, he poked fun at himself in further interviews, and it led to fans doing things like this:
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| You know what, can I change this to their season highlight instead? |
Minnesota Wild
On December 11th, the Wild were the best team in the league. You read that right. Since then, however, they are the league's worst team. You read that right too. Their poor fanbase has to deal with that absolute nosedive along with the fact that the club's is one of the most ironic names in history.
Highlight: Rookie coach Mike Yeo had this team playing above and beyond their potential and looked to be a serious contender for the Coach of the Year award.
Lowlight: ... And then the players remembered that they're the Wild. Now, they're out of the playoff picture, and have a -45 goal differential. That's atrocious for a team that supposedly is a defence-first team.
Montreal Canadiens
The last place team in the East, despite having an all-star goalie in Carey Price. Why? Because their offensive weapons were non-existant. Scott Gomez went over a calendar year without scoring, and he's eating up $7 million of their payroll. It's also probably telling that I didn't use that as their lowlight... Oh, and this team decided that they could use Kaberle and acquired him from the Hurricanes (still somehow not the lowlight).
Highlight: Max Pacioretty is a 30 goal scorer a season after having his neck broken on a hit by Zdeno Chara. Good for you, Max.
Lowlight: Even after throwing some pretty bad stuff into their synopsis, I still have a tie for their lowlight. This team traded Cammalleri in the middle of a game! Seriously?! I think I have to give the edge to their coaching "controversy" though. The city of Montreal lost their collective minds when the Canadiens hired Randy Cunningworth as their head coach because he doesn't speak French. This is clearly a catastrophe despite the fact that their coach back when they were a dynasty didn't speak French. And maybe this would be a legitimate gripe if translators didn't exist, but they do, so get over yourselves. Also, Montreal, please don't lose it on me for not using the accent in your city's name. I did it so you could practice staying calm.
Nashville Predators
Unlike the Kings, this team is legitimately scary. They play amazing defense, somehow have the best PP in the league, and loaded up at the trade deadline for what could be a serious run at the Cup. They also extended Pekka Rinne's contract. I hear he's a pretty good goalie.
Highlight: This team traded for Hal Gill, giving them a Suter-Weber, Gill-Klein top 4 defense. Right there, they addressed what knocked them out of last year's playoffs. Ryan Kesler had his way with them because Suter and Weber matched up against the Sedins, allowing Kesler to single-handedly eliminate Nashville. You'd better believe that won't be the case this year.
Lowlight: Rinne is tied for the league lead win 41 wins, but isn't in the top 5 in either GAA or SVP. That's because he's had multiple games this year where he struggles with consistency. If he maintains his form, it's a non-issue, but it has to be in the back of their fans' minds.
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| Rinne is also the recipient of the NHL's prestigious Niel Patrick Harris lookalike award. |
New Jersey Devils
Martin Brodeur is clearly not the same goalie he once was. Even so, he's been good enough to make this a team that will once again be in the playoffs. With a likely matchup against the Florida Panthers, the Devils have a chance to make a bit of noise come April.
Highlight: Rookie Adam Henrique will be in the Calder discussion along with Landeskog and Nugent-Hopkins and rightfully so.
Lowlight: Brodeur still getting it done just underscores that this team needs to find a legitimate number 1 goalie to replace him. I could be wrong, but I don't think Hedberg is that guy. This team doesn't feel as if they have a proper identity right now.
New York Islanders
The Islanders have the offensive ability to score 3 goals per game, but unfortunately have the defensive incompetence to allow 4. Just as often as Moulsson and Tavares provide offense though, the team dries up offensively. The feast or famine quality to their season leaves the Islanders starving more often than not. They've been shut out 9 times this year.
Highlight: Matt Moulsson . He gets dogged for being one-dimensional, but let's be honest, when that dimension is "putting the puck into the net a lot", you can live with it. Hell, you should want to live with it.
Lowlight: Rick DiPietro is arguably the biggest punch line in the NHL. But unlike Penner, who is funny in the Ha-ha way, DiPietro is funny in the makes-you-want-to-curl-into-a-ball-and-weep way, which is to say, the opposite of funny. Seriously, the most he has done to deserve his 15-year, $67.5 million contract is getting healthy long enough to re-injure himself. Screw Wall Street, Occupy DiPietro.
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| Oh... Never mind, you're clearly busy with... whatever this is. |
New York Rangers
For the moment, the Rangers are the class of the East. The blueshirts should be in the East finals, so we can look forward to plenty of John Tortarella antics. But if they bow out early, I desperately want TSN to hire him for their panel. One key to the Rangers success (but certainly not the only key) has been the simple fact that they're healthy. They're a very good team when healthy, which has been an unfortunate rarity for them over the past several seasons.
Highlight: Remember when I said that Quick would win the Vezina nearly any other year? Say hi to the reason he won't. Henrik Lundqvist has 8 shutouts, one less than Quick. But he edges Quick with a 1.93 GAA (tecnically a tie) and a .932 SVP. Beyond the numbers though, Lundqvist simply has another level; one that has earned him the rightful nickname "King".
Lowlight: Artem Anisimov racks up 16 PIMs celebrating a goal by "shooting" the Tampa goal. Begin at the 0:45 mark. As a bonus, you get to hear the audio of Torts and the ref talking.
Ottawa Senators
The Senators are trying to hold onto a playoff spot and represent Canada in the East. A month ago, it looked as if they were a lock for a playoff spot, now it's just probable. Even if they do make it, can they knock off the Rangers or the Bruins? Well, all I can say is that this is a team that can fall apart against average teams, but can also beat the Penguins 8-4. In other words, I have no idea.
Highlight: Erik Karlsson currently has 27 more points than any other defenseman. He's been criticized by some (including myself) for not being all that defensively sound, but in all fairness, scoring a goal is just as effective as stopping the other team from scoring. Maybe he's just trying to usher in a new defensive style where on a later shift he feels justified in letting his check skate by him seeing as he's already scored, so it just negates a goal against.
Lowlight: Down the stretch, goaltender Anderson injured his finger, keeping him out of action. Since his return, he's played as if his hand was amputated. This team needs better between the pipes.
Philadelphia Flyers
In the offseason, the Flyers sent Mike Richards on his way, making Claude Giroux the focal point of their offensive game. Good call. He's third in the league in scoring, could win the Hart trophy, and along with the ageless Jagr, mask Bryzgalov's occasional incompetence.
Highlight: The emergence of Scott Hartnell over the past two seasons has been wonderful to watch. He looks as if he's having fun out there every night (Hartnell down!) and edges Dustin Penner for funniest thing of the season with his "Suck it Phaneuf!" gem.
Lowlight: Chris Pronger, their captain and defensive cornerstone sustained a severe concussion and was shut down by the team for the season. That was a huge blow to this team and will ultimately prove costly come playoff time.
Phoenix Coyotes
Does any team over-achieve as much as the Coyotes do? There are serious talks they could be located in Quebec City (keep calm about the absent accent guys) next year, yet may be playoff-bound (they sit one point out of the picture right now). The city of Glendale committed nearly $25 million to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix for this season, and the team responded by playing dead-puck hockey to an incredibly effective, boring "T".
Highlight: Fans showed up to games.
Lowlight: They fell asleep during it.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Think back to the start of the season. It was becoming apparent that Crosby wouldn't be back anytime soon due to his concussion. You looked at this team and thought, well, they're good, but not great, or even really good. Then Malkin announced he would try this year. Yeah, apparently the player who was unanimously considered really good, wasn't trying. And boy, when he does: he leads the league with 99 points, and the Pens (now healthy) are the 4th best team in the entire league.
Highlight: Oh come on, nothing was going to top this. In 16 games this year, Crosby has recorded 25 points.
Lowlight: Between Malkin, Crosby, Jordan Staal, and Tyler Kennedy (all centers), the Penguins have lost 110 man-games to injury. Imagine the season that could have been.
San Jose Sharks
If you read my blog regularly, it's no secret that I'm not a fan of Joe Thornton, or the Sharks in general. I've bemoaned their makeup for several years, and this year it may come back to bite them. As it stands now, the Sharks sit in 8th in the West, only one point from missing the playoffs (although they're also only one point from the Pacific division lead and finishing 3rd). Their fates do rest entirely in their hands though: their final 4 games are a back-to-back with Dallas (current division leaders) followed by a back-to-back with LA (with whom they are currently tied).
Highlight: Logan Couture (who I do like; San Jose, you should immediately build around Couture) has pretty much single-handedly given the Sharks the opportunity to make the playoffs. And, oh yeah, this is only his second season in the league.
Lowlight: Their whole season really. With largely the same team that went to the Western Conference Finals last year, they might miss the dance entirely this year.
St. Louis Blues
Can you think of a team that at the start of the season, no one thought would be a contender? (It's easy: Columbus) Well can you think of any of those teams who have solidified themselves as serious contenders? The Blues are the best team in the whole league (currently tied with the Rangers with 105 points)! They were 6-7 when Ken Hitchcock took over; since then they're 42-13-9.
Highlight: The main reason that the Blues have had success this year has been the play of their two goalies. Starter Joroslav Halak is 25-11-6 with a 1.90 GAA (which is 2nd best in the league). Oh, and he's 6th in SVP and 4th with 6 shutouts. Backup Brian Elliot is 23-9-3 with a league-leading 1.48 GAA. If that's not enough to impress you, his SVP is .943 and he has 9 shutouts. He leads the league in every goalie category except for wins, but only because he's their backup!
Lowlight: Um... that it took them 13 games to hire Hitchcock I guess...
Tampa Bay Lightning
Like the San Jose Sharks, the Lightning lost in the Conference Finals last season. Unlike the Sharks, the Lightning will certainly miss the playoffs this year. This has led to many writing off last year as a fluke, but I disagree. Exhibit A: the highlight. Exhibit B: the lowlight. They'll be just fine.
Highlight: Someone take Steven Stamkos off of video game mode. Dude has 55 goals, 9 more than Malkin. Unquestionably the best pure scorer in the league at the moment.
Lowlight: Tampa shut down defenseman Matthias Ohlund before the season began so that he could have surgery on both his knees. The surgeries were done so that he will be able to play with a much lower risk of developing chronic knee problems in the future. A season without your best defenseman is going to be a tough one no matter who you are.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Brain Burke has not done a good job in Toronto. One good acquisition he's made has been Phil Kessel, although he had to give up the pick that turned into Tyler Seguin, and you've already read how that season series turned out. A season that had legitimate post-season aspirations is dead: the Leafs are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs... again. This makes it 7 years running.
Highlight: Kessel had his traditional fast start (just like the team). This year however, he's kept his pace up (unlike the team). His 36 goals make a career-high for him, playing on a line with the rejuvinated Lupul.
Lowlight: This team fell apart down the stretch. Add to that the fact that neither Reimer nor Gustavsson has made a resounding claim to the starting goalie spot, and it could be a long year next season for the Leafs... again.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks have once again taken advantage of the fact that they play in the Northwest divison; they locked up their division before any team other than St. Louis had even clinched a playoff berth. They got David Booth from Florida in a one-sided deal, and can finish no lower than 2nd place in the West.
Highlight: The second best goaltending tandem in the league. Roberto Luongo has come into form down the stretch, and Cory Schnieder has been great all year (2nd best SVP in the league).
Lowlight: After they beat the Bruins on January 7th, the Canucks began a two month period where they played bad hockey. They continued to gather points in the standings somehow, but were doing so in the worst, most uninterested way. An NHL coach reportedly said "Oh, the Canucks are jsut playing 70% right now", which is all very well and good for the last couple weeks, but not for two straight months.
Washington Capitals
The Caps find themselves in a race with Buffalo for the last playoff spot in the East. This season, they've fired coach Bruce Boudreau and under Dale Hunter, begun to play a more complete style of hockey. They also made the best off-season acquisition in Thomas Vokoun for $1.5 million.
Highlight: Ovechkin is peaking at the right time. In March, he has 10 goals in 14 games.
Lowlight: The once-reveared Mike Green is an afterthought due to injury and poor play.
Winnipeg Jets
The Jets have returned to Winnipeg! (But not the Jets who left in the first place, but another franchise, meaning the Jets' all-time leading scorer has never played a game for them, but nevermind because the Jets are back!) The Jets had the opportunity to be the worst team in the league and not have any of their fans harp on them for it. Rather than fall back on that, they chose to play like gods at home for their fans and nearly make the playoffs.
Highlight: The Jets fans proved to Gary Bettman just how another Canadian franchise would fair with a strong economy when the club sold their 13,000 season tickets in 17 minutes.
Lowlight: They may have played like gods at home, but on the road, this team was still the Thrashers.
*Credit To Alex Chipman Koty for fact checking my mistakes, as well as weighing in on his Kings highlight of the year:
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