The NHL season will be at the unofficial halfway point after tonight’s games as the league takes the All-Star break. The All-Star game is on Sunday. The regular season resumes on Tuesday. It’s time to take a look at few of the mid-season awards.
The most surprising team in the NHL has been the New York Islanders. Last year, the Islanders struggled, going 34 wins, 37 losses, and 11 overtime losses. They earned a total 79 points for the year. This was third to last in the Eastern Conference. Only Florida and Buffalo had worse records. Turn the page to this year. They have 31 wins, 14 losses, and 1 overtime loss. They are second in the Eastern Conference with 63 points. Only Tampa Bay is ahead of them with 64 points. This was a team that was supposed to struggle in the division. They were picked by many experts to be close to last in the East at the start of the season. That has yet to happen. They are well on their way to not only breaking their total points from last year, but they should be in the playoffs come April.
The two most disappointing teams at the All-Star break are both teams who were in the playoffs last year, the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild. Experts picked them to go to the playoffs this year. Colorado is 19-18-10 with 48 points while Minnesota is 20-20-6 with a total of 46 points. They met in the playoffs last year. Minnesota defeated Colorado in the first round, 4 games to 3. These teams had high expectations of going back to the playoffs. Colorado is 5 points from the last playoff spot while Minnesota is 7 points back. The only way both of these teams turn it around in the second half of the season is by playing better defensively. Colorado is giving up 2.79 goals per game which is 22nd in the league. Minnesota gives up 2.94 goals per game. This ranks 23rd. Another area where both teams need to improve on is the power play. Colorado is 27th in the league scoring 14.2% of their power play chances. Minnesota is also struggling on the power play scoring on 15.7% on their chances, ranked 25th. If both teams start scoring on the power play and do a better job defensively, they could turn around and make the playoffs. If they don’t start scoring or continue to give up a lot of goals in every game, it will be a long season for both teams.
The Coach of the Year so far in the NHL has to be Jack Capuano. He is the Head Coach of the Islanders. The Islanders are off to a great start. All they need are eight wins to match their season total last year. You have to credit Capuano for turning this team around.
If the MVP vote was right now, the winner would be Pekka Rinne. Rinne has been in net for 29 of the 30 wins so far the Nashville Predators. He is second in the league in goals against average allowing 1.96 goals per game. Only Brian Elliott has a better goals against average. Elliott is giving up 1.86 goals per game. Rinne is the reason Nashville is leading the Central Division with 65 points.
It will be interesting to see if these trends continue in the second half of the season. Be sure to watch the NHL skills competition on Saturday and the All-Star game on Sunday.
Who is the Hockey MVP at the All-Star break? Which team do you think has been the most surprising? What teams have been the most disappointing?
Sorry I not a hockey fan but I hope Colorado will make it to the playoffs