Welcome to the 2017-2018 winter break! As a special treat to you the reader I'll spoil Star Wars for you first. Han Solo is still dead and Jar Jar Binks isn't. Should the Vancouver Canucks suffer from anymore injuries (more on that later) don't be surprised if he is signed to play first line center. Anyhow on with this shenanigans.
Eastern Conference first!
Atlantic Division:
Tampa Bay Lightning- It's like this team is so good when it is is not injured. It is so good it can afford to take on crappy defenseman (waves to Dan Girardi). Buckle up Danny Boy while we put you on your custom Nikita Kucherov crotch rocket to glory. The 2017-2018 Peter Budaj show has to this point been underwhelming. If Vasilevskiy gets hurt though this awesome season could go up in smoke.
Toronto Maple Leafs- Despite a somewhat average performance in the last 10 games, Toronto finds themselves second in the Atlantic and 9 points back. Unlikely to give the Bolts a serious challenge they are likely going to make a second play off in the year. They still need a defenseman or two to make a solid run in the playoffs. Until then we will just have to enjoy the Bromance that is Roman Polak and Mike Babcock. Or start some rumors (
https://twitter.com/SNFaizalKhamisa/status/938110665717194752), Babs can take it.
Boston Bruins- Somewhat quietly, unless you are Hellbie's fantasy hockey opponent or the Washington Capitals, the Bruins are kick nass and taking names. Recently the scoring has been spread around with both vets and young blood are getting the job done. Things are going so well they even waived Matt Beleskey!
Montreal Canadiens- This team is only going to go as far as Carey Price can drag them and he is having problem wearing his gear onto the ice. Right now though they stand at least 7 points out of the final wild card spot. Not impossible, but with no games in hand, there is no room for error.
Florida Panthers- Vincent Trocheck, he's a guy that the Florida Panthers decided to protect and is doing well and still a Panther. Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith are two more guys used to be Florida Panthers and play for a first place team. This team they play for is not the Florida Panthers.
Detroit Red Wings- Will the wonders of Little Caesar's never cease. Cheap pizza and a new arena. It's that new arena that is the single factor that keeps the Red Wings out of the Atlantic basement. That and probably the awesome smell of crazy bread that is probably vented into the shunted into the arena to distract their opposition.
Ottawa Senators- It seems trading Kyle Turris and in return receiving Matt Duchene, might not have been the best plan as the Sens and Duchene have been outright awful since. Its not all bad though Sens fans. Eugene Melnyk is going to move the team to another city and some other city can be a sucker to Melnyk's brand of scum. You can also go back to routing for the Leafs. It's a good time to be a Leaf's fan!
Buffalo Sabres- The Jason Pominville great reunion tour lasted about 3 weeks and then fizzled. Despite efforts to address the defense during the off season, none of it has panned out. Thus the Sabres are where they have been the last several years, in the basement. Okposo is under preforming and Moulson has been buried in the minors. Evander Kane is bound to get moved at some point. Hopefully the Sabres can make something out of that, but I'm not optimistic.
The Metropolitan Division
New Jersey Devils- Somehow it is December at the Devils have not collapsed yet. The Life of Brian(s) is helping to make this possible. Both Brian Gibbons and Brian Boyle have 10 goals a pop. Corey Schneider is also pulling 92% save percentage again. The Devils are also getting good rookie play from Butcher. If the Devils are still in the playoff hunt at the trade deadline would be interesting to see what they do. They pulled the trigger and traded for Sami Vatanen last month and I think long term that is more a win for the Devils than the Ducks.
Washington Capitals- Mostly on their strength at home and within the Eastern Conference the Caps have managed a better than expected first half. That is all with losing Matt Niskanen and to a lesser extent T J Oshie. I'd still pick them as the team most likely to fall in the standings between now and the playoffs down to a wild card slot due to the young defense. If Vrana continues to produce though, anything is possible.
Columbus Bluejackets- This guy is the only guy in town that matters (
https://twitter.com/ofcbobrovsky?lang=en) and also a UFA the year after next. Don't worry everyone, Columbus won't pay him.
New York Rangers- After an awful start to the season the Rangers picked up their sorry butts and corpse hopping themselves back into a respectable team. Then December happened and now you can flip a coin with almost equal results to see which Lundqvist shows up. That's still better than any result that involves Ondrej Pavelec starting, ever.
New York Islanders- The Islanders are quite the surprise this year. If they had a better goaltender they probably wouldn't be the 5th place team in the division. Barzal, Lee, and Bailey are all having excellent seasons. The only problem is that Tavares and Bailey are both going to be UFA after this season. There are UFAs on defense that will also be up for a raise so this maybe the only solid season the Islanders have in awhile to put together a solid, if not deep, playoff run.
Carolina Hurricanes- Scott Darling became a starting goal tender and may have recently lost the starting job to the previous starting goal tender Cam Ward. Cam Ward's save percentage this year is 91.1%. That's better than Scott darling, just not good enough for anything else :(
Pittsburgh Penguins- 6th in the division isn't where anyone expected this team to be. However, there top 6 forwards and bottom 6 are night and day. Matt Murray isn't playing up to Matt Murry level and that combination doesn't bode well. The majority of teams ahead of them right now have games in hand, which is never good.
Philadelphia Flyers- Saving their cross-state rivals from the basement are the bipolar Flyers. Brian Elliot has done reasonably well for himself and the cybernetic implants installed over the off season have allowed him to press on while Michal Neuvirth, bent his Wookie (
http://theswca.com/images-misc/RALPH4.html) and landed on IR again. Dude can't catch a break.
Western Conference!
The
Geocentric Central Division:
St. Louis Blues- The Blues have cooled off a bit lately and that is in part to the injury to Jaden Schwartz. Goal tending has been solid though and should keep them afloat. Team offense is significantly top heavy with 46 of 113 goals from one line. Brayden Schenn for MVP.
Nashville Predators- David Poile keeps doing good things and traded for Kyle Turris. Kevin Fiala is having a break through season and is tied for second in points total on the Preds. Filip Forsberg continues to remind all Caps fans how many points Martin Erat didn't score.
Winnipeg Jets- Connor Hellebuyck and that offense just might get this team into the playoffs and it might be better than the wild card. The might be an excellent achievement would it not mean having to play either Nashville and St. Louis in the first round.
Dallas Stars- Some nights are better than others, but the Stars are just as good (or bad) as the teams behind them in the standings. There defense and tending is better than last year, but that doesn't guarantee a spot.
Chicago Blackhawks- To this point it has been an off year for the Blackhawks. The defense is getting old and diamonds in the rough aren't there to replace the salary cap casualties. The good news for the Blackhawks is that they have games in hand against the majority of the conference. There are only a point out of a wild card. They are also only 2 points above last place in the division too. That's pretty rough.
Minnesota Wild- injuries, middling goal tending, and losses in the expansion draft have hit the Wild this season. All that doesn't appear to improve anytime soon making the Wild the playoffs.
Colorado Avalanche- Last place is bad, but the team is competitive right now. They will likely fall out of the playoff picture, but if they .500 hockey the rest of the season after getting that silly haul for Matt Duchene I'd call that win win.
Pacific Division
Vegas Golden Knights- God loves Skee Ball and the Golden Knights. I find that the only logical explanation for their success. She also hates the Florida Panthers.
Los Angles Kings- The poor Kings can't get their due because the Knights are rebelling against the crown. Most everyone of consequence is having a bounce back year and Jeff Carter is still out on LT IR. The Kings even turned Darcy Kuemper into a quality back up.
San Jose Sharks- This team either needs to score more or grow more beards to clog up the neutral zone.
Anaheim Ducks- This team needs to stop getting hurt and fire Randy Carlyle. The order in which they do it is irrelevant.
Calgary Flames- Mike Smith has played respectable, it's to bad the whole team can't consistently. Jagr can't stay healthy. That really isn't how I want to remember the last year of Jagr.
Edmonton Oilers- Now only 2 wins out of the last Wild Card. Sekera is back and playing again so things are looking up for the Oilers.
Vancouver Canucks- What started well has plummeted back to earth due to injuries. Brock Boeser has exploded this year and Bo Horvat was looking good until he was hurt. Thomas Vanek is going to net them a pick at the trade deadline so all is well.
Arizona Coyotes- Clayton Keller is a stud, the rest of the roster needs a real kick in the tail to jump start things. A change in venue would do well for some in that dressing room. How about some place like, I don't know, Seattle. It sure beats raising cattle.
