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The NHL has just passed the half-way mark in the 2018 / '19 season. As always, at this point in the regular season, there are surprises, confirmations and of course many disappointments.
Wednesday 16 January 2019 9 minutes reading time
In the Eastern Conference, in high ranking, all according to forecast. Tampa Bay is dominating far and wide and remains the number one favorite to the final victory. Even the Presidents' Trophy does not seem to be in question and, in fact, the Lightning could be the first team to win it with over 11 points ahead of the second season 2015 / '16. At the moment Stamkos and his companions seem invincible: just think that in December they always went to points, losing only one game, to overtime. There are no competing competitors in the Eastern Conference. Even the Toronto Maple Leafs, who started off at great speed, have slowed down, while still respecting the trend forecasted by the preseason experts. Despite the return of William Nylander in the lineup, the Maple Leafs pay for the lack of a solid defense and many errors of youth.
The real positive surprises of the Eastern Conference are undoubtedly the Buffalo Sabers and the Montreal Canadiens, who are playing a place in the wild cards along with the New York Islanders. The Sabers have moved from last position last year to the possibility of qualifying for the playoffs. Jeff Skinner seems to be reborn to Buffalo and along with Eichel they put on a first line of fear.
Fight for wild cards also Montreal and no one, especially the Habs fans, expected it. Yet the roster is quite well stocked. Not yet to get to the end, perhaps, but certainly to create some headache to opponents. Especially if Carey Price, after a shaky start, will manage to maintain the current level. Let's not forget the return of Shea Weber in defense, at the end of November, which gave further vitality to the whole team. And a Max Domi who, like Skinner in Buffalo, seems to have found his right size in Quebec.
If we have to choose, instead, a surprise in negative, we indicate the Philadelphia Flyers, on the bottom of the standings, in full struggle to win the first choice at the next draft. A year totally to forget and that nobody had expected after last season and the return of James van Riemsdyk in attack. Yet, apart from Giroux, the big names in Philadelphia have not been up to now: Voracek, Simmonds, JvR, Couturier, Konecny. Not to mention the goalkeeper situation, to which the Flyers fans are more than used to. The hopes are all placed in Carter Hart, but not very short-term.
Also bad New Jersey, but only if we relate this first half of the season to last year. That was the real surprise: the Devils at the playoffs. All went well last year, maybe too much. This year New Jersey is paying his fortune with interest. But a place in the playoffs for the second consecutive year was however already excluded a priori.
On the other Eastern Conference teams there is little to add: Washington, Pittsburgh, Boston and Columbus are all divided by a handful of points, including Toronto. These will be the main antagonists of Tampa Bay in the race at the end of the Stanley Cup and from here in April overtaking and counterspots in the standings will be the order of the day.
All the others seem already out of the playoff race. And this, we can say, is not a surprise.
Let's move west.
Let's start from the bottom of the standings: St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles. There must be an error ...
Those who have been the rulers of the Western Conference in the last decade are in deep crisis. On the one hand Chicago was not considered among the favorites and the insiders had already predicted in the summer that this would be a transition season, while Blues and Los Angeles (with the high-sounding summer purchase of Ilya Kovalchuk) started with very different ambitions.
All three teams, after a nightmare start, have fired their respective coaches (the Kings John Stevens, the Blackhawks Joel Quenneville and the Blues Mike Yeo) hoping for a change of gear, but the only one that still seems to have something to say for a place in the playoffs is St. Louis.
Moving to the noble areas, at the top of the Western classification we find the Calgary Flames. Surprise? Only to the casual fan. In fact, it is enough to take a look at the roster of the Canadian franchise and at the age of its top players to realize how complete and competitive this team is and have a bright future: Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuck, Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan, all already over 50 points and none with more than 25 years.
To contend in Calgary the first place in the Conference we find the Winnipeg Jets, the Nashville Predators and the San Jose Sharks, who are respecting the predictions, confirming to be among the favorites for the final victory. The Sharks, in particular, took some time to put Erik Karlsson in their schemes and find a square, but now they have geared the right gear.
Fighting for the playoffs we find the "red hot" Golden Knights of Las Vegas who, after a stunted start, are ringing one victory after another, the Colorado Avalanche, the Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Wild.
Except for Vegas, the other teams mentioned are having a fluctuating trend, still leaving hope to those behind them - Edmonton, Vancouver, Anaheim, Arizona and Blues - to grab one of the two wild cards available.
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