We’re simply over a month into the NHL common season, and for some groups, the excessive hopes and optimism of the preseason have light away for one motive or one other.
The Athletic requested its NHL workers this week for every staff’s greatest concern at this level. The responses coated the complete spectrum, from goaltending and lack of offense to dangerous protection, accidents and extra. Right here’s what they mentioned.
Their offense continues to be backside tier: The Geese have scored just one or two targets in six of their 10 video games. They’ve prevented being shut out however their 2.2 targets per recreation ranks thirty first, placing them above solely the equally punchless New York Islanders. A number of of their high offensive gamers are struggling. Mason McTavish and Cutter Gauthier have but to attain. Frank Vatrano and Trevor Zegras every have one empty web aim. It hasn’t helped that their energy play is simply 4-for-31, however they’re additionally being decisively outshot by a median of 9. The offense would actually be inept if Troy Terry, Leo Carlsson and Ryan Strome didn’t have 12 of their 22 targets. Lukas Dostal’s large goaltending is maintaining them afloat. — Eric Stephens
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5-on-five offense: By 11 video games, the Bruins have scored solely 16 five-on-five targets. David Pastrnak has only one. Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie, all of whom began the season within the high six, have zero. It will be one factor if the Bruins had high-end goaltending like they did for the previous three seasons. Jeremy Swayman, with out Linus Ullmark, continues to be discovering his recreation. — Fluto Shinzawa
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Secondary scoring: Heading into Friday night time, the Sabres had solely two power-play targets this season and had just one aim whole from second-liners Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn. Of Buffalo’s 24 five-on-five targets, 11 have include Tage Thompson on the ice. Lindy Ruff tried mixing up the second and third traces this week in an effort to get extra from gamers like Cozens and Quinn. The second line and energy play are the important thing to getting extra constant offense. — Matthew Fairburn
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Are younger gamers nonetheless progressing? This ought to be the No. 1 precedence for the Flames. Connor Zary is close to the highest of the Flames’ leaderboard in factors. That’s good. Dustin Wolf has misplaced his final two begins after profitable his first three. That’s much less good. The shine of Martin Pospisil as a middle has already worn off. That’s additionally much less good, however not less than he’s taking part in with Zary once more. Matthew Coronato doesn’t have an everyday spot within the lineup. The Flames crashing right down to Earth after a scorching begin was anticipated. It’s all concerning the youth persevering with to push themselves ahead. — Julian McKenzie
Goaltending: The Hurricanes’ goaltending has been good — coming into Friday’s video games, Carolina had allowed the second-fewest targets within the league at 2.33 per recreation — however that doesn’t imply there isn’t trigger for concern. Frederik Andersen missed Monday’s recreation in Vancouver, resulting in Spencer Martin being recalled. Andersen was later introduced to be out week to week with a lower-body damage. Andersen (3-1-0, .941 save share, 1.48 goals-against common) had a greater GAA and save share than Pyotr Kochetkov (4-1-0, .891, 2.61) in October, and the Hurricanes are skinny after Martin ought to one other damage happen. The place is definitely on the minds of the teaching workers and entrance workplace. — Cory Lavalette
Aim scoring: There’s little doubt the Blackhawks are a greater staff than a season in the past, however the offense stays an space of concern. They only don’t have a ton of depth scoring. They may particularly use extra five-on-five scoring from Tyler Bertuzzi, Taylor Corridor, Philipp Kurashev, Ilya Mikheyev and Teuvo Teräväinen. These 5 gamers mixed for 4 targets in five-on-five play via the primary 11 video games. — Scott Powers
Goaltending: Colorado’s .858 save share ranks final within the NHL, and it’s indubitably the largest contributor to the disappointing begin to the season. The Avalanche haven’t been dangerous defensively by most metrics, permitting the Tenth-fewest anticipated targets per 60 minutes, however all three goalies have struggled. Alexandar Georgiev’s minus-9.42 GSAx ranks 71st out of the 71 goalies to play this season, greater than three targets worse than the subsequent goalie. He ought to progress again to being close to the league common, but it surely must occur shortly earlier than the Avalanche lose an excessive amount of floor in an extremely aggressive Central Division. — Jesse Granger
Paper-thin depth: The Blue Jackets’ 5-4-1 begin is strong sufficient simply at face worth. However contemplating the gamers they’ve misplaced to accidents — captain Boone Jenner, Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov and defenseman Erik Gudbranson — they’ve patched traces collectively and continued to play properly. Nonetheless, they will’t presumably undergo that many accidents and count on to compete. Proper? Proper? — Aaron Portzline
Wyatt Johnston has one aim and 4 assists in 9 video games this season. (Jerome Miron / Imagn Pictures)
Wyatt Johnston’s lack of scoring: It’s all relative, proper? The Stars don’t have a complete lot to be involved about. They’re 7-3-0, Jake Oettinger is in high kind, Matt Duchene is having a turn-back-the-clock season. However this was speculated to be the yr Johnston took that remaining step into superstardom. As a substitute, he has one aim and 4 assists in 10 video games, he has among the worst possession numbers on the staff and is on the third line whereas Logan Stankoven takes over on the highest line. The Stars have been nonetheless outscoring opponents 6-3 at five-on-five (heading into Friday) with Johnston on the ice; it’s hardly a disaster. But when the Stars are going to make one other Stanley Cup run this season, Johnston needs to be an enormous a part of it. — Mark Lazerus
An absence of offensive zone time: There are plenty of considerations accompanying Detroit’s 4-5-1 begin, however that is the one which sums all of them up greatest. Detroit simply hasn’t spent sufficient time in its opponent’s finish. In line with information from NHL EDGE, the Pink Wings have performed simply 37.3 p.c of the time within the offensive zone, the bottom share within the league. That stat is probably going a symptom of a number of points, together with getting hemmed into their very own zone too usually and flaws with the staff’s forecheck, but it surely sums up Detroit’s offensive woes precisely. The Pink Wings knew they misplaced plenty of offense this summer time and that it will be exhausting to interchange, however they’re not even actually giving themselves an opportunity to take action. — Max Bultman
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Connor McDavid’s damage: The Oilers obtained off to begin of their first full recreation with out McDavid, who’s anticipated out of the lineup for 2 to 3 weeks with a lower-body damage. They recorded a season-high 5 targets in a victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday. However that’s only one recreation and it was in opposition to Nashville. They at all times beat Nashville. The Oilers gained simply as soon as in 5 tries final season with McDavid sidelined as a result of damage, and so they’ll be in robust till he returns. Even with the Music Metropolis end result, the Oilers nonetheless have simply 5 wins of their first 11 video games. A slide this month might price them the Pacific Division crown they’re coveting. — Daniel Nugent-Bowman
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The third pair: All the things goes about in addition to could possibly be anticipated for the defending champs, beginning with Aleksander Barkov’s return to the lineup, however they’re going to wish to determine find out how to proceed with their backside defensive pairing. There are three doable combos of Adam Boqvist, Nate Schmidt and Uvis Balinskis, and none have been good — Florida has been outscored 10-1 with them on the ice. — Sean Gentille
Quinton Byfield is and not using a aim over the primary 11 contests. (Jason Parkhurst / Imagn Pictures)
Quinton Byfield’s gradual begin: Byfield is and not using a aim over the primary 11 contests. He’s chipped in 5 assists, but it surely’s not the sort of starting he or the Kings imagined after the perimeters agreed on a five-year extension value $31.25 million. His superior metrics aren’t dangerous, and the Kings haven’t performed him any favors by committing to return him to his pure place at middle and abandoning that simply 5 video games in. It’s doable that he bounces between the center and the wing, which will not be nice for sustaining consistency or chemistry along with his linemates. The concern with him offensively is that he’s had an inclination to fall into prolonged scoring droughts. Even in his breakout final season, the 22-year-old went 19 video games and not using a aim earlier than he scored his twentieth within the regular-season finale. — Eric Stephens
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An absence of maturity: When you find yourself the second-youngest staff within the NHL, with the youngest blue line, a scarcity of maturity most likely shouldn’t be a priority. It ought to be anticipated. However regardless of their youth, the Canadiens have elevated inner expectations, and meaning recognizing recreation conditions and simply how badly issues can go improper when your reads are off. Primary notions like taking part in a deep recreation, defensive protection on faceoffs or defensive zone play typically have been issues at numerous factors already this season. Maybe it’s an indication this staff will not be but mature sufficient to execute comparatively easy ideas, but when the Canadiens hope to be mildly aggressive this season, they might want to mature in a rush. — Arpon Basu
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Nashville Predators
No. 2 middle: Defensive zone protection deserves a nod, as properly. Although the Preds have rebounded properly from dropping their first 5 video games, they’re nonetheless forcing Juuse Saros to take care of too many Grade-A possibilities. However simply as Saros, the ability play and different facets of the Preds’ recreation are progressing, that can, too. There’s no clear reply on No. 2 middle, which is a part of why Andrew Brunette has performed a lot shuffling along with his high two traces. The reply is probably going on one other roster proper now. — Joe Rexrode
Ondřej Palát’s struggles: The Devils are off to a strong begin, and their ahead group has been good. Palát, nevertheless, is off to a gradual begin. Getting into Friday, he had the worst expected-goals-for share amongst Devils forwards, based on Pure Stat Trick, and was averaging his lowest ice time per recreation since his rookie season. — Peter Baugh
New York Islanders
Targets: If you get shut out 4 occasions in your first 10 video games, there will be no different concern that tops this one. The Islanders haven’t been a goal-scoring juggernaut for a very long time, however this season’s futility is a brand new low — and so they’ve been shut out by very mediocre groups (Pink Wings, Geese, Blue Jackets) to make it even worse. — Arthur Staple
The Rangers might use a Mika Zibanejad resurgence. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Pictures)
Mika Zibanejad’s struggles: Zibanejad had seven factors in 9 video games via Thursday, which on the floor is a good whole. However he was additionally a minus-3, and coach Peter Laviolette lowered his ice time from previous seasons. His underlying numbers have suffered, too. The Rangers had solely 41 p.c of the anticipated targets share with him on the ice at five-on-five, based on Pure Stat Trick, and have been getting out-chanced with him on the ice. Middle play is important for playoff groups, and the Rangers might use a Zibanejad resurgence. — Peter Baugh
The protection: The Sens protection has had good moments like an 8-1 domination over the St. Louis Blues. However they’ve nonetheless allowed three targets or extra within the majority of video games. The Senators have additionally adjusted to life with out Artem Zub, who usually performs alongside Jake Sanderson, and are taking advantage of their Jacob Bernard-Docker—Tyler Kleven pair. But when the Sens need to compete, they’ll nonetheless want an additional defender. — Julian McKenzie
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5-on-five scoring: By their first 11 video games, the Flyers have managed solely 16 targets at five-on-five — and 5 of these got here in a single recreation, a win over Minnesota on Oct. 26. A part of that’s as a result of they’ve regarded a lot too disjointed all around the ice at occasions and have too usually been hemmed in their very own zone. However gamers like Morgan Frost (zero five-on-five targets), Matvei Michkov (zero), Travis Konecny (zero), Owen Tippett (1), Tyson Foerster (1) and Joel Farabee (1) have nonetheless had loads of alternatives to do extra harm and haven’t. — Kevin Kurz
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Erik Karlsson’s offensive manufacturing: By no means an own-zone marvel, Karlsson has constantly created possibilities at a historic price for defensemen. That’s not the case this season, as his paltry level whole displays an ineffectiveness offensively that may be very exterior the norm. Karlsson is in Pittsburgh to be a prolific offensive drive. However he had just one aim and 7 factors via 12 video games, and he hasn’t pushed play the best way he has in earlier seasons. Maybe an upper-body damage that saved him from taking part in coaching camp stays a difficulty, or not less than it didn’t afford him the time he wanted to get game-ready. Regardless of the trigger, Karlsson’s poor offensive begin is among the large causes the Penguins started 3-7-1 and look nowhere near competing for the playoffs. — Rob Rossi
Will Smith’s early struggles: Eight video games. No factors. It was weighing on the 19-year-old rookie, who additionally was scratched from three different contests as a part of the staff’s load administration plan for him over the primary half of the season. It regarded like the previous Boston School star was having bother with the velocity and dimension of the NHL recreation as he had minimal influence. Thursday night time noticed the stress valve pop. Smith scored his first aim (and his first level) when he beat Chicago goalie Petr Mrázek within the first interval after which added one other profitable wrist shot within the second that will be the profitable aim in a 3-2 victory. The massive night time ought to be a confidence jolt for the No. 4 decide within the 2023 draft, who is predicted to be an enormous a part of San Jose’s future. — Eric Stephens
Make it TWO targets for Will Smith 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bNOm0OpaH8
Backup goaltending: The Kraken have performed properly within the first month, however regardless of some promising indicators, they’re nonetheless chugging alongside at roughly a .500 level share. They’re considered one of solely two Pacific Division groups within the black by aim differential and their underlying profile appears to be like per that of a playoff staff, however they’ve been held again by porous depth goaltending performances in October. Philipp Grubauer is sporting an .881 save share throughout his 4 begins, and the Kraken have gained simply a kind of 4 video games. It’s early but and the samples are small, however for a staff like Seattle, you have to be not less than at a .500 level share in video games your backup goaltender performs in the event you’re going to be a playoff staff. Within the first month of the season, Seattle’s depth goaltending prevented it from consolidating a extra auspicious begin. — Thomas Drance
St. Louis Blues
Robert Thomas’ damage: Thomas suffered a fractured ankle Oct. 22 and will probably be re-evaluated in late November. Any membership that loses its No. 1 middle will miss him, however the Blues have been already skinny on the place. They’ve compelled winger Pavel Buchnevich into the function, which hasn’t labored as they hoped. The offense (2.7 targets per recreation, tied for twenty fourth within the league) and energy play (16.7 p.c, twenty first) are struggling. Consequently, the staff has performed plenty of catch-up hockey, trailing by two targets or extra in seven of its 11 video games. Thomas can’t get again quickly sufficient. — Jeremy Rutherford
Depth help: Depth was at all times going to be a weak point in Tampa Bay. Cap casualties have depleted the underside six and third pair, and administration hasn’t discovered cost-effective choices to adequately substitute what the Lightning misplaced. Outdoors of Nick Paul, the underside six is just about a black gap for offense. Whereas the staff’s technique is constructed round its elite core, and with Ryan McDonagh again, plus Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli clicking, the supporting solid obtained a significant increase. However the backside of the lineup critically lacks. — Shayna Goldman
The facility play: On one hand, that is stunning. On the opposite, it’s not stunning in any respect. The stunning side: The Leafs have had one of many league’s high regular-season energy performs for years and nonetheless boast all the identical acquainted components of it. Sturdy begins have been the norm for the five-pack of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly. That very same unit, in fact, struggled mightily in second halves yr after yr and, extra damagingly, within the postseason. The Leafs, with first-year coach Craig Berube, opted to maintain that high group intact to begin the season. That’s modified not too long ago, with Berube pivoting to 2 balanced models. Whether or not that makes a distinction in the long term (if the Leafs even keep it up) may be very a lot TBD. — Jonas Siegel
The place did the offense go? After a terrific 3-0 begin the place the staff piled up targets and introduced the Salt Lake Metropolis crowd to its toes, it has been a troublesome go for the Utahns. They’ve solely two wins of their final eight video games, a stretch throughout which they’re twenty ninth within the NHL in targets scored. Even with their two large losses on protection — Sean Durzi and John Marino are each out with long-term accidents — they’ve managed to play OK in their very own finish, however the energy play has been misfiring and high prospect Josh Doan was despatched right down to Tucson. Utah particularly wants extra from Logan Cooley, Barrett Hayton and Lawson Crouse, who’ve mixed for simply six factors throughout this funk. — James Mirtle
The facility play: Vancouver’s core group has high-end ability and it’s constantly mixed on the ability play to fabricate targets at a couple of 22 p.c clip over the previous a number of seasons — which is excellent, however not elite. For no matter motive via the primary month of the season, nevertheless, the ability play is struggling enormously to get arrange and generate shot makes an attempt. Although the conversion price is just under common — buoyed by a two-goal outburst in opposition to the Blackhawks in mid-October — Vancouver’s energy play isn’t passing the attention check and its underlying footprint is league-worst. The Canucks, for instance, are the one staff within the NHL producing shot makes an attempt at a price south of 80 makes an attempt per hour. They usually’re within the mid-70s. They’re additionally producing photographs at a league-worst price. If that continues, the membership might want to get fortunate or shoot at an extremely environment friendly clip to supply at even a median price with the person benefit. Even when the Canucks have the ability degree to tug that off, it’s a really robust strategy to stay. — Thomas Drance
Efficiency on the highway: The distinction between how the Golden Knights have carried out contained in the pleasant confines of T-Cellular Enviornment in comparison with on the highway has been stark. Vegas is an ideal 7-0-0 at residence however has but to win in 4 contests because the customer. A part of that could possibly be competitors, as all 4 opponents on the highway have been playoff groups a yr in the past. It is also a results of the lineup not being fairly as deep because it as soon as was. Vegas’ high line of Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev has dominated, however on the highway, it’s harder for coach Bruce Cassidy to get favorable matchups. — Jesse Granger
The facility play: It looks like selecting nits given how good the Caps look total, however there’s some work to be performed with the person benefit. They’re thirtieth in share, which is tough, but it surely could be so simple as getting a bounce or two as a result of they’re producing possibilities. As a staff, they’re at 9.35 anticipated targets per 60, ninth within the league. In different phrases, the method isn’t damaged. — Sean Gentille
The Jets are particular groups retailers: Final yr’s Jets would have liked an influence play this good: an NHL-best 45.2 p.c behemoth that has regarded harmful from each place on the ice. Kyle Connor is on hearth, tied for the power-play targets lead with 4, and Cole Perfetti has three from the second unit. The issue is that this yr’s Jets aren’t nearly as good at even power as final yr’s staff. The ten-1-0 report deserves plaudits, however Winnipeg has outscored its opponents solely 27-20 at five-on-five. These numbers are top-10 versus greatest within the league just like the Jets have been final season. Preserve engaged on that via a grueling November schedule and this staff will probably be a contender. — Murat Ates
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(Prime photograph of Connor McDavid and Erik Karlsson: Curtis Comeau / Icon Sportswire through Getty Pictures)
