NHL teams
ESPN.com 8y

Not everyone is sold on early-season surprise teams

NHL, Arizona Coyotes, San Jose Sharks

The first days of the NHL season have seen some pleasant surprises. Will the teams trending up so far continue their early successes?

Scott Burnside@ESPN_Burnside: As the NHL emerges from its first weekend of play, I'm wondering what the odds would have been a week ago that the Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets and Anaheim Ducks, all picks to make the playoffs (at least in our grid), would be a combined 0-for-9 and outscored 35-11. Probably no greater than the odds that the Arizona Coyotes, Winnipeg Jets, San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers would be a combined 7-0, having allowed just seven goals among them while rocking opponents with 29 goals of their own. The question is whether it's harder to dig out of an early hole or more difficult to continue riding that early rainbow. And perhaps most importantly, which of these teams is most likely to reverse its early trend one way or the other?


Craig Custance@CraigCustance: Scotty, I'll take the layup before anyone else answers. Most surprising has to be Arizona starting 2-0, in large part because they beat the Kings and Penguins to make it happen. The Coyotes are also the most likely to reverse the trend, and I'm sorry to say that because I know how much you like them. It's been a great start for Arizona, and I'm glad to see it, because there are great people there who deserve something positive after last season, but it's still going to be a long season in the desert. That said, the biggest positive is goalie Mike Smith, whom goaltending coach Sean Burke predicted would have a strong season. Burke looks smart right now, and Smith playing well would go a long way in making this season a little less painful.


Pierre LeBrun@Real_ESPNLeBrun: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone! Of those teams on 2-0 starts, I'm least surprised by San Jose, even if the Sharks beat the Kings and Ducks to do it. Most hockey people expect a rebound of sorts from the Sharks this season, and I picked them to be a wild-card playoff team. They're not the elite Cup contender they once were, but Doug Wilson's retooling the past few years has them in decent shape. San Jose basically lost nobody of significance in the offseason other than veteran goalie Antti Niemi, and added Paul Martin, Joel Ward and Martin Jones. The Sharks show all the signs of a team that should be in the playoff mix this season.


Scott Powers@ESPNChiPowers: Pierre, I need to see more from the Sharks to be a believer. I was surprised coach Peter DeBoer was making declarations after two games. He went all-in after the Sharks improved to 2-0 with their win over the Ducks on Saturday, telling reporters, "I think a statement was made that the Sharks are back and we're for real this year." No doubt they looked impressive in a 5-1 win over the Kings in the opener and in that win over the Ducks. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though. Just a year ago, the Sharks started the season with a 4-0 win over the Kings and a 3-0 victory over the Jets. They actually began last season 3-0-0, and we know how that ended up for them. I'm not saying the Sharks can't be for real, but let's wait for a larger sample size.


AROUND THE LEAGUE

• The Buffalo Sabres have announced that goaltender Robin Lehner will miss six to 10 weeks with a high ankle sprain suffered in the team's season-opening loss to the Ottawa Senators. Backup Chad Johnson will fill in for Lehner.

• The Philadelphia Flyers have started 0-2 under new head coach Dave Hakstol, and the team held a players-only meeting after Saturday's 7-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. Hakstol, hired in the spring after 11 seasons coaching at North Dakota, said he did not have a problem with the meeting.

^ Back to Top ^