The puck has dropped on yet another NHL season, and after last year's lockout-shortened campaign chopped the schedule down to just 48 games, it has been refreshing to see the season start in October as it's supposed to with a full slate of 82 games. This season has had its fair share of surprises through its first two weeks, as some teams suspected to be powerhouses have faltered out of the gate and some clubs that were predicted to be basement dwellers have started out strong. There have also been some surprising young players that have emerged as sharpshooters through the season's infancy, and here is a division-by-division look at the surprising, yet exciting first couple of weeks to the 2013-14 season.
Atlantic Division:
The newly blended Atlantic Division converged the entire five-team Northeast Division (Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs), from years past with two teams from the old Southeast Division (Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning) while the Detroit Red Wings moved to the Eastern Conference from the Central Division to complete the eight-team division.
The Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs have surged out of the gate this season, both having identical 6-2-0 records with 12 points. Sniper Henrik Zetterberg and dazzling playmaker Pavel Datsyuk are in a six-person tie for second in the NHL in points with 10 apiece for the Red Wings while Toronto's Joffrey Lupul has placed third in the NHL with six goals scored to go along with three assists for nine total points as the Leafs have started off hot.
Montreal (5-2-0, 10 points) trails closely behind and is fourth in the league with 25 goals through seven games. Montreal also boasts a league-leading five power play goals to start the year while defenseman P.K. Subban is tied for second in the league with eight assists.
The Lightning (5-2-0, 10 points) have an identical record to Montreal and Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis are in a six-way tie for second in the league with 10 points.
The 2013 Eastern Conference champion Bruins sit at fifth in the division with a 4-2-0 record for eight points, while the Ottawa Senators have eight points off of a 3-2-2 record. The Bruins are tied for the league-low in goals-against with only 10 pucks going in against them.
The bottom of the division is held down by the Florida Panthers (2-6-0, four points), while the Buffalo Sabres have the second worst record in the league with a 1-7-1 mark for just three points thus far, though Buffalo netminder Ryan Miller has a league-high 231 saves. Buffalo has the least amount of goals scored this season with just 10.
Metropolitan Division:
The new Metropolitan Division encompasses the entire five teams that used to make up the Atlantic Division (New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins) along with two teams from the former Southeast Division (Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals) while the Columbus Blue Jackets have moved to the Eastern Conference for the first time, as they move over from the Central Division.
To no one's surprise, the Penguins have jumped out to an early division lead, posting a 6-1-0 record through their first seven games for 12 points. Sidney Crosby leads the league in points (14) and is second in goals (6) and assists (8) and also has a hat trick on the young season. Matt Niskanen (+10) and Chris Kunitz (+5) are first and fifth in the league in plus-minus respectively, while goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is tied for the league-lead with six wins. Pittsburgh ranks third in team goals scored with 27.
The Hurricanes (3-2-3, nine points) and Islanders (3-2-2, eight points) are hot on the trail of Pittsburgh out of the gate. A big surprise has been the New York Rangers (2-4-0, four points), who find themselves in fourth place after struggling early in the season through the first six games of a season-opening nine-game road trip. The Rangers have allowed 25 goals-against, the third most in the league under new head coach Alain Vigneault. The Blue Jackets (2-4-0) are tied with the Rangers in the standings in their first season out east.
Though boasting the league's best power play percentage while converting at a 30.8%, the Capitals are sixth in the division with a 2-5-0 record with four points, while Alex Ovechkin is fourth in the league with six points and ranks ninth with nine points.
The Devils (0-4-3) haven't won a game but have three points on the season while the Flyers (1-7-0, two points) have the least amount of points in the league.
Central Division:
The Central Division has kept three of its members (Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues) while Detroit and Columbus moved out east. To make up for the moves, the division has added two teams from the Northwest Division (Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild), and one team each from the Pacific Division (Dallas Stars) and Southeast Division (Winnipeg Jets). The Jets move to the Western Conference after moving west from Atlanta but playing in the Southeast Division for two seasons.
The Colorado Avalanche (6-1-0, 12 points) have been the surprise of the season under first-year head coach Patrick Roy after rattling off six wins in a row before losing its first contest. Colorado has only allowed ten goals against it to tie for the league-low in that category, and has surged to start the season. Matt Duchene is tied for third in the league with five goals.
The St. Louis Blues (5-1-0, 10 points) are right behind the Avalanche and have the second best power play percentage in the league. The Blues are converting on a 30.4% clip thus far this season.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, who most expected to be at the top of the ranks, sit in third with a 4-1-2 record for 10 points in defense of their Stanley Cup title, but are expected to overtake the division by many around the league.
The Minnesota Wild (3-3-2, eight points) and Nashville Predators (3-3-1, seven points) follow the Blackhawks in the standings. Minnesota is tied with the Maple Leafs for a league-high nine power play goals.
The Dallas Stars (3-3-0, six points) and Winnipeg Jets (3-4-0, six points) are on the outside looking in.
Pacific Division:
The Pacific Division received a makeover as it lost the Stars to the Central but kept four of its teams (Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes and San Jose Sharks) while adding three teams from the old Northwest Division (Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks).
The San Jose Sharks are off to an unbelievable start, having not lost in regulation through their first six games while boasting a 6-0-1 record for a league-high 13 points. One of the biggest surprises has been rookie Tomas Hertl, who leads the league with seven goals. Patrick Marleau follows closely behind with six goals. San Jose leads the league with 33 total goals with Marleau and Hertl combining on 13 of them.
The Ducks are right on San Jose's tail, having netted a 5-1-0 record for 10 points. Anaheim ranks fifth in the league by only allowing 14 goals through six games so far.
Vancouver, under the tutelage of new head coach John Tortorella have skated to a 5-3-0 record for ten points and sit in third place, and find themselves with an identical record to the Los Angeles Kings. Vancouver's Henrik Sedin leads the league with nine assists this season. The Canucks also boast the best penalty kill in the league, killing off 92.3% of situations that find them down a man.
Los Angeles is tied for second with an 87.5% penalty killing efficiency.
The Phoenix Coyotes (4-2-1, nine points) sit in fifth place in the division while the Calgary Flames (3-1-2, eight points) are right behind them, and still try to get it going after losing goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff to retirement.
The Edmonton Oilers under new head coach Dallas Eakins are in dead last, with a 1-6-1 record, good enough for just three points while 2012 No.1 overall draft pick Nail Yakupov has been the subject of trade talks after he was scratched twice following going pointless in his first four games.
It's been a surprising first couple of weeks of the NHL season and it promises to be a bumpy ride the rest of the way as all of these teams vie for a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup in June.
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