After Tuesday’s Edmonton vs. San Jose game, one-fourth of the NHL season will be over.
Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson has already established himself as the favorite for rookie of the year. Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly has put himself into Norris Trophy contention and teammate Frederik Andersen is in the Vezina mix as the league's best goalie. But Nashville’s Pekka Rinne has looked even sharper.
Coach Mike Babcock (Maple Leafs), Peter Laviolette (Predators) and Jon Cooper (Lightning) all have their teams sitting atop the standings, but how about the work of Barry Trotz (Islanders), John Tortorella (Blue Jackets), Phil Housley (Sabres) and Bruce Boudreau (Wild)? Did you expect the Blue Jackets (fourth) and the Sabres (fifth) to be this good?
But not everyone is happy with their start. Here are 10 NHL people or teams that would like a do-over at the quarter-mark of the season:
►Center Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings: With eight points in 18 games, Kopitar, who has a $10 million cap hit, is on a pace for 34 points. It’s Thanksgiving week and Kopitar is captain of the NHL’s worst team
►Coach Mike Yeo, St. Louis Blues: The Blues made major offseason moves, including trading for Ryan O’Rielly, but they are currently 30th out of 31 teams. Yeo has to be feeling the pressure
►Left wing James Neal, Calgary Flames: He was signed this offseason to score goals, and he has netted three in 20 games. That’s a 12-goal pace for a player who has scored 20 or more goals for 10 consecutive seasons.
►General manager Peter Chiarelli, Edmonton Oilers: You can feel the frustration in Edmonton, which has Connor McDavid and is not showing progress toward becoming a contending team. This is Chiarelli’s fourth season with the Oilers.
►Pittsburgh Penguins support players: Their top players continue to perform at a high level, but the supporting cast has struggled. Bryan Rust and Riley Sheahan have one goal apiece, and so does Derick Brassard, although he has been injured and has played in nine games. Daniel Sprong hasn’t developed as expected. New acquisition Tanner Pearson hasn’t scored in 19 games this season (two games with the Penguins). Defenseman Jack Johnson’s plus-minus is minus-9, which not what you want from a player brought in to bolster the back end .
► Goalie Mike Smith, Calgary Flames: An .876 save percentage in a league where .910 is the average says what kind of season it has been for Smith.
►Philadelphia Flyers penalty killers: The Flyers’ 68.4% penalty killing efficiency and .880 save percentage are the league's worst. They have given up 12 power play goals in 20 games.
►Forward Kevin Fiala, Nashville Predators: This was supposed to be a breakthrough season for Fiala, but the skilled performer has only netted two goals. He also has a plus-minus of minus-7 on a team where every regular is plus.
►Goalie Matt Murray, Penguins: Murray was supposed to be one of the Penguins’ difference-makers, but he has struggled for the first two months of the season. His .877 save percentage is well below his .913 career average. In his last four starts, he has given up 16 goals in nine periods, while being pulled twice.
►Anaheim Ducks’ scorers: The Ducks rank second-to-last with an average of 2.09 goals per game. You also can’t win with a 15% power play. Rickard Rakell has netted 67 goals over the past two seasons, but he has three goals in 22 games. These struggles aren't all on the players. This is an organizational issue: the Ducks need more scoring depth.
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