We're about 30 games in to the NHL Season and the Dallas Stars are in 1st place in the Pacific Division while the San Jose Sharks are in last place. Granted, 1st place and last place are separated by 4 points, but the order is practically upside down. A brief recap of each team's season in the NHL's tightest division:
Dallas - Goalie Kari Lehtonen has benefited from a change in scenery (13 wins 2.59 GAA before his back injury) and head coach Marc Crawford is executing his style of play well. The blueline could use one another Top 3 guy, but the top 2 lines are producing and the bottom two lines are grinding it out and wearing down the other team. As great as the Stars are at home (11-3-1), they need to improve on the road (6-7-1) and on special teams (22nd ranked PP, 27th ranked PK)
Anaheim - When you're getting production from where you're supposed to (their top 5 scorers are Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne, Bobby Ryan, Lubomir Visnovsky), solid production on the blueline (Tony Lydman 's +18 is good enough to hover around the league lead, rookie Cam Fowler has chipped in with 15 points), solid goaltending (Jonas Hiller's 14 wins are 3rd best in the league); and have leadership (Saku Koivu, Todd Marchant, Jason Blake), that all adds up to being a tough out each game.
Los Angeles - The team went in to a really bad funk for most of November, but was one of the hottest teams out of the gate and it looks like they are finding their form again. Goalie Jonathan Quick has stepped up this season and played very well. Getting D Willie Mitchell back from injury provides the blueline with experience and leadership. It will be interesting to see what type of role newly acquired winger Marco Sturm takes on this team. Getting that 27th ranked PP going would help the Kings get back on track.
San Jose - The optimistic Sharks fan can say that the Sharks are pacing themselves this year instead of dominating the regular season to fall short in the playoffs. That could be the case, but this team is struggling no matter how you slice it. Ryan Clowe and Logan Coture are the only two guys on the roster to have scored multiple goals this month. Clowe is the team leader in assists and Coture is the leading goal scorer...this is a problem when you have guys like Thornton, Heatley (the team leader in points, at least) and Marleau (an ugly -17 on the season) on your roster. G Antti Niemi has hardly looked like the most recent Stanley Cup winning goalie but Antero Niittymaki has been serviceable. The 6th ranked PP is one of the bright spots this season.
Phoenix - The surprise team of the West last season is hanging tough this season. They've lost 4 of 7 after winning 7 in a row and rank in the middle of the pack of goals scored (13th), goals against (13th), power play (12th) , and penalty kill (18th). Off-season acquisition winger Ray Whitney has panned out nicely and leads the team in assists (16) and points (20). Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is shouldering the load between the pipes and is as reliable as usual (12-5-6, 2,54 GAA, .922 Save%). I'd like to see someone distinguish himself as a top goal scorer on this team as the season hits the midway point (Lee Stempniak, Lauri Korpikoski, and Scottie Upshall each lead the team with 8 goals - none of which are household names).
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