The Dallas/Minnesota game last night was hilarious. It was 3-0 Minnesota towards the end of the 2nd period and the Minnesota commentary team was talking about how awful Dallas was and how they had no clue how to figure Minnesota out. Then they talked about how with all of the injuries in the Central, the Wild have a real shot at first in the central (
). Then in the final minutes, Dallas scored. Came back for the third period, Minnesota completely fell apart and ended up losing the game 6-3. Six unanswered goals in 21 minutes. As the period progressed, the MN commentary shifted to this weird reverence for Dallas and their offensive prowess and commitment to growing defensively. It was a compete tonal 180.
But you're right, Jingle, Dallas and Sharks are two very shockingly bad teams and we are almost to that American Thanksgiving benchmark. The Pacific is a weird division too because there seem to be a lot of pretenders and false starts. Is Edmonton sustainable (offense like that isn't, but it's McDavid, so who knows)? They are kinda falling apart. Phoenix is a bubble team, Calgary is bipolar, Anaheim is off to a surprising start and Vegas is dominant and then lax the next night. LA is LA--goaltending sucks. Vancouver is growing and probably going to get better and better as the season goes, Markstrom is playing really well. The Sharks have come out slow and bad before and rebounded into what we saw last playoffs, but this is really bad. But maybe they rebound and still have a shot.
Dallas could still rebound, they have the pieces. Bishop will eventually find his game. The Central is weird too. I think the Avs will be fine without that offense for a bit because their defense and goaltending are phenomenal and will change up their style to help supplement the decline in offense. St Louis will probably find a way, Winnipeg, who knows..., Minnesota is up the river of Denial and keep using St Louis as an example of anything can happen (seriously GM and owner have all said that the once every 20 years story of last year's is doable for their team). Blackhawks are disappointing to me, I thought they would be up there or at least Wild Card and Nashville is doing what I expected them to do.
Add New Jersey to that list of shocks. Their little display of commitment to winning that they did this summer with the trades and Jack Hughes to show Taylor Hall they are the real deal isn't going so well. I feel bad for Jack Hughes, he was expected to be McDavid and I think he's putting a lot of pressure on himself. He'll be fantastic as time goes on. Again... Devils need goaltending!
And I agree TAC with all of your bullet points. Losing Pavelski is hurting more than the team thought it would, or at least that's what I think. Couture is trying to be that heart, but it isn't working. Calling out players in the media doesn't usually go so well. They are old with Thorton and Marleau on the team, although I think losing Thornton would only sink morale further. I agree Karlsson still appears to be injured (he's never been the same since that ankle injury against Boston in the playoffs two years ago. It's not a popular opinion in Ottawa or at least not on Sens Twitter, but I'm okay with them moving on from Karlsson. I don't think he's worth what he thinks he's worth. Sharks thought otherwise). Burns probably should be Captain, he strikes me as a powerful voice and one of those leaders that when he talks, you listen.