Metropolitan Division Roundup Week 1: Getting started

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The Penguins find themselves at the top of the division with Washington (Photo via Heavy.com)
The Penguins find themselves near the top of the division with Washington (Photo via Heavy.com)

We now have about a week and a half of games behind us in the 2016-2017 season, and we’re starting to see the identities, strengths, and weaknesses of teams emerge.  While a weak October might not necessarily break your whole season, it can still have significant repercussions for teams, coaches, and fans.

Every team in the Metropolitan Division has a few games under their belts, and it mostly appears to be par for the course so far.  Let’s take a look at the Met teams and how they’re shaping up.

The New York Rangers have taken over the division lead after beating the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday. Their weekend sweep of both the Washington Capitals and the Coyotes leapfrogged them up the standings: their eight points and game-in-hand over the Caps are good for a new leader.

The Rangers’ highly touted rookie Jimmy Vesey has been a huge factor in their success, already scoring three goals.  Chris Kreider, along with recent acquisition Mika Zibanejad, lead the scoring race with 7 and 6 points, respectively.  Kreider seems poised to have a breakout season while a change of scenery is clearly doing Zibanejad good.  Their chemistry as linemates has been far better already than the Rangers could have dreamt of.

Moving down the points list, the Washington Capitals are near the top of the standings again, followed closely by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Caps have played five games to the Penguins’ six, but again – that hardly matters this early in the season.  Both have won three of those.

The difference lies in their scoring weapons.  The Pens’ captain, Sidney Crosby, has not yet played a game this season after suffering a concussion during practice.  The team has been struggling somewhat to get on the board without him, even with big names like Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel healthy.  Matt Cullen, Patric Hornqvist, and Malkin are all tied as the point leaders, with five apiece, and the goal-scoring lead is a four-way tie.

On one hand, it’s good for the Penguins that so many players are scoring.  The depth of their roster was a major reason they won it all last season. On the other hand, the Penguins seem as if they will never be able to escape the injury curse that plagues them every year, as Kris Letang, Matt Murray, and Conor Sheary have all joined Crosby in the press box.

Meanwhile, in Washington, captain and offensive dynamo Alexander Ovechkin is firmly cemented in the position you’d expect him to be: first in goal scoring and tied for first in points.  Beyond Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Nicklas Backstrom, though, no one else is really stepping up to help Ovechkin out.

That’s not a bad list, of course.  That’s a great supporting cast of talented scorers.  When they start actually scoring goals instead of just helpers, the Caps will be good to go.

The newest Ranger has already made an impact (Photo via NHL.com)
The newest Ranger has already made an impact (Photo via NHL.com)

The New York Islanders jumped all the way up to fourth in the standings with a decisive 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild this evening. Save for his ice-breaking goal tonight, John Tavares, the captain, has gotten off to a slow start.  It’s clear to see that he – and his team – are missing Kyle Okposo’s presence, and no one’s really stepped up into his old spot.  Brock Nelson is currently the offensive leader down the board, with two goals, three assists, and five points overall.

That’s not a name you’d expect to hear on a team with players like Tavares and Andrew Ladd, really.  But when Cal Clutterbuck, of all people, is second on your team in points, you know you’ve got a problem.

The Islanders have problems – lots of problems, frankly.  The revelation that the ice surface and plumbing/freezing systems at Barclays Center are not up to NHL standards is a new one on their usual list of those problems.  Again, it’s still very early in the season, but I can’t see this team turning it around and making it too far without a whole revival of their team and system.

The Philadelphia Flyers are next on the list, having posted five points in five games.  The New Jersey Devils have the same amount of points in the same amount of games, but the Flyers have a far more impressive goal count.  They’ve put up 19 goals in those five games – however, they’ve also given up 19 goals in that span too.  Part of that scoring success came in their game last night against the Carolina Hurricanes, as Philadelphia netted six.

Jakub Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere each picked up three points, including Gostisbehere’s first goal of the season.  Wayne Simmonds, Brandon Manning, and current goal leader Matt Read also scored to add to Voracek’s two.  That offensive explosion helped snap a three-game losing streak, and showed what the Flyers are really capable of.

While Steve Mason could have been better in net, the roster players seem to be evenly balanced in scoring prowess.  Read, Voracek, Claude Giroux, and several others all have five or more points already!  Michael Del Zotto and Scott Laughton also returned to practice recently, both of which are good signs for the heavyweight Philadelphia team.

New Jersey won in overtime last night thanks to Taylor Hall’s heroics, as Hall headlines a busy offseason for the Devils.  He leads the team in both goals and points, and another recent pickup, P.A. Parenteau, trails closely behind.  Though the Devils are full of players who usually fly under the radar, Corey Schneider is a hugely important but underrated gem in net.

Schneider has been a big part of their success up to this point and has been a redeeming factor for a sub-par team over the past few seasons.  The danger lies in other teams just forgetting that he exists, because the Jersey market isn’t necessarily the largest or most conspicuous group.  Metropolitan Division teams, on the other hand, are always aware of the looming talent of Schneider.

The Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes round out the bottom of the standings, as both of them have just four points.  However, the path they’ve taken to those four points varies widely.

The Jackets lost their first two games – rather badly – but turned things around while facing the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars.  They squeaked out a win past the ‘Hawks thanks to rookie defenseman Zach Werenski’s strong performance, but took full advantage of the Stars’ weak goaltending situation by blanking them 3-0.

They’re the Jackets – they rarely look great, but they’ve looked good when they’ve had their feet under them.  There’s a lot of young guys on this team, especially following their AHL club’s Calder Trophy-winning season last year, and that fresh speed and skill could potentially bring them to a point where they really could scrap with the big dogs.

Lastly, we have the Carolina Hurricanes.  They’ve been a source of a couple surprises so far, especially in the scoring abilities of Victor Rask and Sebastian Aho.  The latter has five assists already, which is really impressive given his rookie status.

On the other end of the age spectrum, veteran Lee Stempniak has four goals and six points overall to lead the team.  Teams have never picked him up for his goal-scoring abilities, but he’s fit in incredibly well in Raleigh.  So has Teuvo Teravainen, acquired from the Blackhawks before this season.

This Hurricanes squad is a paradox so far.  Somehow they seem like they’re exactly the same, just going down the same path they have been for years; on the other hand, new players and new attitudes are altering the team from the start.  Even though they’re last in the division right now, they have solid potential to zoom right on up the list.

The Metro is one of the most dynamic divisions in the NHL, and the rivalries are fierce while the battles for position always come down to the wire.  Keep an eye out within the next week for injured players to return and for teams to get back into the swing of things even more.

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