TRAIKOS: Discover 7 stories from the first quarter of the NHL season

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The New Jersey Devils are on fire and the Ottawa Senators are bottoming out. Sidney Crosby and Eric Carlson scored again and the battle is heating up again in Canada.

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Here are seven stories that have made it to the National Hockey League in a quarter of the book season.

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Scoring up among top scorers

Two months into the season, a whopping 60 players (who played at least 10 games) are averaging 1 point per game. Of those, 40 had him 90 points, 18 had him 100 points, 12 had him 110 points, and 6 had him 125 points.

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Last year, eight players scored 100 points.

Meanwhile, seven players are on pace to reach that milestone after four players scored 50 goals last season.

Still, goals per game across the league only increased from 3.14 to 3.17. What this means is that teams do not always fill the back of the net en masse. Rather, it’s that the best players are getting better and better at putting the puck in front of the goalie.

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Players like Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl are on pace for 130 points. And his Oilers teammate Conor McDavid is on pace to become the first player to score 65 goals and 150 points in the same season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. increase.

Leaf is coping with adversity

From a coach sitting in the hot seat, to an unhealthy goalie, to a depleted lineup lacking a top three defenseman, the first two months weren’t easy for the Leafs.

Maybe it’s not so bad.

For a team that was at risk of sleepwalking throughout the regular season, early-season adversity forced them to stoop and play with purpose. Second, a team that looks like the aging Jon Tavares has found the next step.

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Either way, the Leafs have the second-best record in the Atlantic division.

hot seat is getting hot again

The chances of seeing Barry Trots on the Toronto bench have dwindled since the first month of the season. But that doesn’t mean the unemployed head coach won’t be returning to the NHL anytime soon.

Trotz has revealed that he will not be ready to return until mid-December. By then, there should be no shortage of offers, especially from Canadian teams.

The Canucks, who are three points behind the Wildcard spot in the West, can use Trots. The same goes for the Oilers, who are looking for his spot in the playoffs from the outside after going 3-7-0 in the last 10 games. And then there are the Senators, who entered the draw with the fewest points in the NHL on Friday despite having a big run in free agency over the summer.

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GM Pierre Dorion has repeatedly said head coach DJ Smith’s job is safe, but one has to wonder if the vacancy at Trotz will change that. Looking at the book, I can assure you that he will never be out of work again.

new kids on the block

Several teams moved from imposters to contender status in the first two months, until New Jersey went on a 13-game winning streak and Seattle and Detroit held off surprise playoff spots.

Among them, the Devils have to be the biggest surprise.Last year, the team finished in 5th place, the worst overall. They currently have the third best record in the NHL.

It’s a wonderful reversal. But given that he’s been named within the top five four times in the past six years, two of those times he’s been named #1 overall. The Kraken made a similar leap, going from 30th place to 7th overall for the extended season. This is largely due to Calder’s play for his trophy favorite Matty Beniers (his 14 points in 19 games) and his off-season acquisition Andre Brakovski (his 18 points in 19 games). . 19 games).

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Who knows if they’ll be able to keep it going for another four months, but it’s a start.

Return of Eric Carlson

In the first two months of the season, Eric Carlson returned to Norris Trophy form with an unimaginable 30 points in 22 games. That’s enough to get him into fifth place in NHL scoring. Not bad for a defense who scored just 35 points overall last season.

The question is what does this mean for Carlsson’s future?

Despite his offensive achievements, Carlson plays for the 13th-ranked San Jose Sharks team in the West. They won’t be a playoff team this year. maybe not a few years. That’s why the 32-year-old could be traded this year.

Doing so is obviously not easy. It’s not a deal with an $11.5 million cap hit over the next four years. Don’t be surprised if we’ll be back in the near future.

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sid is on a mission

Sidney Crosby won’t be catching McDavid in the scoring race this season. However, the Penguins captain, who scored 10 goals and he scored 27 points in 20 games, still proves that he is one of the best players in the world.

At that pace, Crosby would end the season with 110 points. This is the highest total since the 35-year-old scored his 120 points in his second year in the league.

Penguins teammate Evgeny Malkin, 36, has scored 20 points in 20 games. And 37-year-old Alex Ovechkin has scored 19 goals in 21 games.

In other words, the old dog is still alive.

compete for the bottom

Is Conor Bedard’s tank difficult? Or do stupid things for Adam Fantilli?

In other words, given that at least two generations of talent are headlining next year’s NHL Entry Draft, it’s no surprise that so many teams started so slowly out of the gate. This year looks like a draft year after all.

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Bedard has already scored 48 points in 22 games with the Regina Pats, and Fantilli has scored 23 points in 12 games with the University of Michigan. Both are considered the best prospects since Matthews took his No. 1 spot in 2016.

No wonder the bottom of the standings seems more packed than the top.

Starting play on Friday and leading the Turtle race are the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators, who finished last in the league with six wins and 13 points respectively. However, he had six teams within five points of him from bottom. His two of those teams include the Buffalo Sabers and Vancouver his Canucks, both of whom were expected to push for the playoffs, but are far from a playoff spot. , may change gears.

If so, it might be worth it.

mtraikos@postmedia.com

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