Early Evaluations: A Look at the Top and Bottom of the League

The 2015-2016 NHL season is back in full swing and with most teams being almost ten games into their respective campaigns, I wanted to take a look at the leading team and the bottom-feeding team to expand on their differences. We'll start with the team with the best current record so far.

BEST
Montreal Canadiens
Current record: 9-2-0

Name anything that could possibly happen to an NHL team. It has more than likely gone way of the Canadiens. There are four Habs players who have already surpassed double-digit points. Max Pacioretty, Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec, and P.K. Subban hold those titles. This is also Pacioretty's first season as captain, and he is only backing up just how good of a decision making him captain was. Carey Price has posted a 1.29 GAA in 420 minutes of play with 7 wins. Backup goaltender Mike Condon has helped out Price with two of the team's nine wins, posting a 1.50 GAA in his two outings. Special teams wise, Montreal has a 22.9% power play conversion percentage, eighth overall, and a 90.9% penalty kill efficiency, fourth overall. A whopping 35 goals scored over the course of nine games is impressive and sheds a light on the offensive fire power that Montreal possesses in their lineup. Only 12 goals against is a testament to the solid play of Price and the defensive corps that head coach Michel Terrien puts out. 

What is separating the Canadiens from everyone else is the fact that they play extremely calm and extremely well under pressure. They fundamentally sound and don't seem to have many weaknesses that stand out. The penalty kill efficiency has been a strength for the Canadiens in the past couple seasons

An extremely solid showing from the Habs to start the year. This team does not need much improvement in their lineup. Expect them to keep up this torrid pace for awhile and separate themselves from the rest of the league. 

WORST
Anaheim Ducks
Current record: 1-7-2

What is going on in Anaheim? A team that is supposed to be sitting a the very top of the league is sitting in the gallows. An absolutely dismal start has been at the hands of the offense. An almost embarrassing TEN total goals have been scored by Bruce Boudreau's squad. Ten goals in ten games is a laughably small amount. The Big 3 of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Ryan Kesler are not producing nearly enough. A grand total of six points combined between the three is what they have to show, with zero of those points coming in the goals category. The power-play conversion percentage sits at 10% even. That stat is not entirely alien to the Ducks who have dealt with power-play woes for the last few seasons. Six of the ten goals have came from Anaheim forwards, four from defensemen. Another embarrassing stat is that not a single Ducks player has a positive plus/minus category. Not having any player with a positive plus/minus is detrimental in a league where mistakes are capitalized on almost every time. It is not a coaching issue, however. It is a lack of leadership, competitiveness, and will. None of those things are being shown by the Ducks, and it needs to change fast.

The only two bright spots that seem to be shining through in this ugly mess are Frederick Andersen and the penalty kill. Andersen is posting a .932 save percentage ten games into the season and has only given up 16 goals. It is not his fault that his team keeps losing. A goaltender can only do so much until they break and give up a goal. It is on the defense to back them up. 

The penalty kill is sitting comfortably at a 90.9% efficiency rating. It is always good to know that you can have a brief sigh of relief when you need to kill a penalty, however just having a strong penalty kill is clearly not going to cut it. 

Anaheim needs to take a long look in the mirror and make some changes to their approach. It is coming down to a mentality issue. Approach and mentality are two key components to success in the NHL. If you don't have the right set of either, look out...you will be sitting a very unpleasant situation. Just ask Anaheim.