Instability in the Eastern Conference
On any given night, you don't know what is going to happen. There is a lot of jostling in the standings now. You look at the start the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens got off to and you wouldn't think they would be where they are now in the standings, with the Rangers clinging to a Stanley Cup Playoffs spot and the Canadiens not even holding a wild card. The Tampa Bay Lightning got off to a slow start and have turned their game around, but I just think overall the East has been wide open and still remains wide open.
And teams like the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes are doing better than expected. They are definitely ahead of schedule than where many people thought they would be. The Buffalo Sabres are ahead of schedule too. Their two top centers are Ryan O'Reilly and Jack Eichel. There are other teams considered to be contenders that don't have that one-two punch. And Eichel has been better after he spoke and said he needed to be better. Any 18-year-old who says he needs to be better as a rookie in the NHL and goes out and does it is unheard of.
Florida Panthers
I spoke to a couple of original Panthers fans who are down here in Nashville for the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game, and they are talking about how fun it is to be fans of that team right now. Florida has been really impressive in all phases of the game: offensively, defensively and goaltending. They are for real. Roberto Luongo is in the Vezina discussion. Jaromir Jagr continues to defy Father Time. Aleksander Barkov, who is third on the team with 31 points, just got a well-deserved contract extension.
The Panthers have climbed into first place in the Atlantic Division and won 12 straight games in December and January. Florida has allowed the fewest goals per game (2.18) and coach Gerard Gallant has to be one of the favorites to win the Jack Adams as coach of the year.
St. Louis Blues
They are six points behind the Blackhawks for first place in the division and manage to keep winning despite the numerous injuries they've had to overcome. They play within the structure coach Ken Hitchcock wants them to play and it's worked for years now, at least during the regular season. Jake Allen goes down with an injury and Brian Elliott doesn't miss a beat filling in.
Los Angeles Kings
Failing to make the playoffs last season after winning the Cup the previous season is not something Los Angeles wants to experience again. They've quietly built a seven-point lead in the Pacific Division. The bounce-back from the Kings has been a good story. And re-signing their No. 1 center in Anze Kopitar to a long-term contract is one more distraction they don't have to worry about when they try to win their third Cup in five seasons.
Colorado Avalanche
They are making some traction sitting in the first wild-card spot from the Western Conference. It wasn't long ago they were in last place in the division, but Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog have been playing really well as has Jarome Iginla, who scored his 600th goal not too long ago. They hope to get back No. 1 goalie Semyon Varlamov back soon after the break, who missed time because of a legal matter. The Avalanche had a huge win against the Kings on Wednesday, a 4-3 come-from behind win in the third period.
San Jose Sharks
This may be the best version of the Sharks I've seen. Joe Thornton got his 1,300th point this week and is on a 10-game point streak. The Sharks are 8-0-2 in their past 10 games allowing 20 goals in that time. Defenseman Brent Burns is an all-star again, Martin Jones has been great, Joel Ward has done everything for them and Joe Pavelski is a difference maker. The Sharks have been great on the road (16-6-2) which is not easy to do, especially in the Western Conference.