The Blade: NHL news and notes

Now that we are a couple weeks into the 2010-11 season, we are starting to see some teams emerge as early contenders and others falling behind. When teams get off to poor starts, it becomes awfully difficult to make up points and rungs on the playoff ladder.


So who has the most points in the league so far? It has to be the Capitals, Penguins, Canucks…nope. The Nashville Predators are the only undefeated team in regulation left in the league. The Preds are 5-0-3 with 13 points so far. Interestingly enough, Nashville is only 2-0-3 at home, but 3-0-0 on the road. Steve Sullivan is leading the team in goals (4) and points (6). Pekka Rinne is again one of the top goalies in the league and has a very stingy 1.58 GAA.

The Tampa Bay Lightning top the Southeast Division with 11 points (5-2-1). This offseason Steve Yzerman left the Red Wings’ front office team to take over as the new Lightning GM. He has put players that he likes in place and the result is a great start to the new season. The Lightning are lead by young superstar Steven Stamkos, who leads the team with eight goals, six assists and 14 points. Mike Smith is manning the pipes and has a 4-0-1 record with a 3.11 GAA.

Who is a big surprise in the opposite end of the record spectrum? The New Jersey Devils might be spending too much time on GTL and not enough on hockey. The Devils are 2-6-1 with only five points so far this season. Things were so bad that Coach John MacLean benched Ilya Kovalchuck for one game for undisclosed reasons this week. Was it just a motivational tool to get the offense going? To add to the mess, even the most consistent goalie of a generation might be starting to show his age. Martin Brodeur can’t win games by himself anymore. Although his GAA is still pretty low at 2.78, it is his highest since his rookie season back in 1991-92. We have a situation here.