NHL Quarter-ish Pole

With the NHL season about one quarter of the way through, let's recap what's happened so far with some made-up awards and such:

Biggest Disappointment: Columbus Blue Jackets


With the additions of Jeff Carter and James Wisniewski (amongst others), Rick Nash and the Blue Jackets were supposed to be much improved. They're not. In fact, they're the worst team in the NHL to this point in the season. Their goaltending, especially Chris Mason, has been horrific. They've played a little bit better of late (4-4-2), and Curtis Sanford may be a stabilizing force in net.

Biggest Surprise: Edmonton Oilers/Toronto Maple Leafs (Tie)


This one is a tie. The young and exciting Oilers are playing pretty well, as are the surprising Leafs. Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul have some really good chemistry on the top line for Toronto and are both in the top three in points in the NHL. As for the Oilers, their young, exciting, top line is something to watch. I suggest if they're ever on TV (which they rarely are), you should check out the line of Hall (last year's number one pick), Nugent-Hopkins (this year's number one pick), and Eberle. Both teams have some serious upside and will be interesting to watch for the rest of the year.

Best Story: Sidney Crosby


Pretty self-explanatory; we weren't sure how Crosby would react to being back on the ice. Well, it's pretty obvious that he's comfortable and back to (at least close to) one-hundred percent. He has 11 points in 6 games and seems to be back to the form he showed before the concussion. Look for the Penguins to be a force this year. James Neal has been a great addition. Fleury is playing well in net, and Malkin seems to be healthy at this point in the season. The Penguins may just be the favorite in the East right now.

Best Month: November for the Boston Bruins


A historic month for the Boston Bruins ended with them having a 12-0-1 record. Their only loss was a shootout loss to the streaking Red Wings on the day after Thanksgiving. They have looked particularly dominant and are in the top two in both goals for and goals against. The Stanley Cup hangover is no more: watch out for the Bruins.

Early MVP: Phil Kessel


He's leading the league in points for a team that's in the playoff hunt, 'nuff said.

Comeback Player of the Year: Jaromir Jagr


I just wanted to show his mullet. It doesn't hurt that he has 20 points in 20 games either.

We'll be back soon with our mid-season report.