This is a feature that will run about every two weeks with improbable stats and situations in the National Hockey League.

Teams:

• The Saint Louis Blues would be the first team to 100 points
• the New York Rangers would be first in the NHL in points with the 29th ranked powerplay
• the Pacific Division team (The Los Angeles Kings) with the best goals differential, would also be the team in the division with the least goals scored
• the Florida Panthers would have a winning road record at 16-15-5 and the Detroit Red Wings would at 16-20-3 would not
• the NHL’s best powerplay would be owned by the Nashville Predators
• only eight teams would have a winning record in the shootout
• one team the Carolina Hurricanes would be winless in that gimmick
• the Nashville Predators would lead the league in wins when giving up more shots than their opponent with 28
• the Boston Bruins would have the best winning percentage when being outshot by their opponent at .690%
• the ‘clean’ playing Vancouver Canucks would have spent the 6th most time killing penalties on the season

Players:

• Rookie defenseman Jared Cowen would be two hits away form 200 hundred on the season and have more than 70 blocked shots
• Chris Kelly would enter the stretch run with more PIMS than Matt Cooke
• Rene Bourque would be suspended more than Raffi Torres
• Alex Ovechkin would enter the last two weeks of the season with less points than Blake Wheeler
• John Tavares and Phil Kessel would both be in the top ten in scoring and on non playoff teams
• Ray Whitney would lead the entire Pacific Division in scoring at 39 years old
• of the top 10 scoring defensemen Erik Karlsson would be one of only two with more than 55% offensive zone starts
• with two weeks left in the regular season no one would be sure if there would be three 40 goal scorers this season
• after back to back Art Ross wins neither Daniel Sedin nor Henrik Sedin would be in the top ten in the NHL for scoring

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The dividing line between the upper echelon of the NHL’s forwards in terms of pay and the merely competent is always sliding upwards. Right now the line is slipping from the five million mark upwards. Without knowing what the next CBA will look like, much less the next two or three annual caps we’ll take a look at the league and who’s earning about twice the leagues average salary or more.

In the Northeast division, there are this year or next only a handful at this salary or more. The Montreal Canadiens have three on the list, Scott Gomez, Thomas Plekanec, and Brian Gionta, combining for a cap hit of $17,357,143. The Ottawa Senators have just Jason Spezza making north of five million, and he’s got making a cool seven million with a no trade clause. The second highest paid forward in the division is Thomas Vanek, who along with Pominville are over the threshold for the Sabres. Boston boasts Patrice Bergeron, Brian Rolston and David Krejci. The Maple Leafs lay claim to Mikhail Grabosi and Phil Kessel.

A brief look at the disposable:

• Gomez is a punchline. He appears to be liked by his teammates, but with 38 points in the 2010-11 season, and a boatload of missed games in the 2011-12 season that’s allowed him to put up 11 points in 38 games, he’s not in anyway living up to his contract. While it’s true no one forced the Rangers to sign him to the contract or the Canadiens to trade for him, he’s unlikely to see another contract worth north of $2million anywhere in the NHL when his deal expires in two more seasons. He’ll be 34 by then and can retire if he chooses having suffered through his $51,000,000 seven year contract.
• Phil Kessel is exactly the player he was at the end of his second season. He’s a one dimensional goal scorer who disappears for weeks at a time. He shows up and blows the doors off the league working hard for October, showing interest in November and then might as well not exist the rest of the season. He’s shut down on a regular basis by smart defense regardless of it is the top pairing or the third against him. He “didn’t want to be traded” from Boston, and landed in Toronto to the tune of $5,400,000 a year and frequent “Thank You Kessel!” chants. If he did any thing other than score or at least did it consistently all year he’d be an elite player, as it is his contract is dead money December 1st onward.
• Brian Rolston, while part of his issue is simply not fitting into the plan and system on Long Island, his age has more than a small part in it. It’s highly unlikely he’ll be in the NHL in two years, and how much he plays from now until the end of the season in Boston depends on how fast Horton and Peverley work their way back into the lineup.

The interesting:

• David Krejci is nearly a mercurial as Phil Kessel. He shows up willy-nilly, sometimes for a game, other times for a week or even a month. Then like responsible government he becomes a myth for days, weeks and months at a time. His saving grace is that even if he’s not particularly physical he’s willing to hit, take a hit to make a play and can be counted on not to make reasonable efforts defensively when engaged.  Next year the soon to be 26 year old becomes the highest paid Boston Bruins forward with a cap hit of $5.25m.
• Brian Gionta may be proof that going from the Atlantic division to the Canadiens is a bad career move. No one would bat an eyelash at the numbers he put up for the Devils and his current contract. Unfortunately when your production drops about 20 percent people tend to notice. Not a complete waste of a contract, but possibly they are putting him on the ice too much. His last year in New Jersey he played about four minutes less per game and produced twenty percent more points, including picking up shorthanded points. Nineteen and a half minutes a night is a lot for any forward. At an even $5m he’s worth watching to see what happens if and when a new coach takes over, especially if the team drafts a high end forward like Filip Forsberg or Alex Galchenyuk who might make the immediate jump to the NHL.
• Thomas Vanek is another curious case. The last three seasons have seen his numbers spiral. Even if you throw this season where the Buffalo Sabres had more injuries than can be counted out, the last two years are still wanting. He’s got a ton of ability, but is very, very streaky. Realistically he hasn’t much support around him in recent years, and that will drag any one down. But after two 40+ goal seasons, more is needed. Maybe if he’s paired with skilled import Hodgson he’ll revitalize himself.

The cream:

• Jason Spezza for all the negative press he’s earned over the years is still a very highly skilled center working around the fact he’s been marooned on a team with little NHL talent for the last several seasons. Hometown All Star appearance aside, with one more goal he’ll be the least heralded 30 goal man in the NHL. He’s won almost 54% of his faceoffs this season, won over 56% last season and is over a point per game this season while spending a lot of time on lines with guys you probably can’t name. The Ottawa Senators star center is on the books for $7m a year with a no NTC>
• Patrice Bergeron in any reasonable version of the universe Bergeron would probably own at least two Selkie trophies. That could finally be addressed this season.  He wins faceoffs, is arguably eclipsed defensively only by Norris trophy winner Zdeno Chara on the Boston Bruins. He’s a former 30 goal scorer who has not often been gifted in terms of his linemates offensive abilities and despite that he’s 6th in total points for the fabled 2003 draft, just 6 points behind Zach Parise, and ahead of a number of big names taken ahead of him like Richards, Carter, Kesler, Eriksson, and Brown among others. He’s taking home $5m with a no movement clause.
• Thomas Plekanec is living the post Thornton pre-Savard era of Patrice Bergeron’s career in Montreal. There’s very little offensive help and he’s spending entirely too much time on the ice. With almost 21 minutes a night of ice time sucking down his reserves his production would plummet even if there were someone to pass the puck too. More than three of those minutes are spent standing in front of slapshots as he plays and produces points short handed. If I’m going to point to a guy in the league currently “under producing” and say it’s the system or team, it’ him. The $5m and ntc are about what he deserves simply for taking the mess the team is quietly.
• Mikhail Grabovksi is the newest member of the club. If I were taking over the general managers job in Toronto, immediately after scheduling weekly time with a therapist, I’d put him officially on the teams “untouchable” list. Much like Plekanec or Bergeron he’s a gamer. He shows up ready to play and play hard. He may or may not prove to be as offensively gifted as some of the other players on the list, but he doesn’t take nights off and he brings his game no matter how bad the teams situation is.

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Way back in September and October as I was evaluating teams I had this to say about the Maple Leafs:

Toronto Maple Leafs, some deceptively good low level moves by Burke in the off season and late last year should see this team notably improved if they can get all the misfit toys to march in the same direction. Phaneuf, Kessel, Komisarek, Lupal all need to pull their weight this season for the team to succeed. Will bite at the heels of whoever is third in the division.

Which made the early third of the season very entertaining as Phil “Mr October” Kessel did his normal explosion out of the starting gate and Dion Phanuef held up his end of the bargain on the backend. The team was healthy, motivated and many players were competing for jobs. Then there were the injuries. Then the holes in their game got exposed as other teams got rolling. As November turned to December, the team as a whole began its slow backslide. December first they were one point behind Boston for the division lead, but their leaky goaltending and under skilled defense began to show. The scoring was fine, and has remained so, but through 25 games they allowed 80 goals. As of December 1st only two teams had allowed more goals.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have three fundamental issues no coach can fix.

1. Bad, fragile goaltenders. Both physically and mentally the goaltending in Toronto is well below championship caliber. James Reimer is up and down, but is in no meaningful way a better goalie than Steve Mason, he is playing on a better team with slightly more capable defense, but that’s about it. Health issues and the name on the back of the jersey seem to be the only difference between Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson the only consistent thing about his play is that whatever mode he’s in lasts about a month.
2. Youth. The Toronto Maple Leafs are the second youngest team in the NHL. On the current roster there are only three players over the age of thirty. This is particularly bad for defense as it really does take a good 200 games to figure out how to play defense (well) at the NHL level.  Coming into today Franson, Gunnarsson, Gardiner are all under that number.
3. Weakness at center. If you look at the last four teams to win the Stanley Cup about the only thing they all had in common was strength at the center position. Aside from Grabovski who just doesn’t seem to mesh with Kessel and Lupul, I can’t think of another center who could legitimately be considered at least a strong #2 center. Connolly you can make a case for but with his health issues, I can see coaches shying away from trying to build their offense around him.

Until at least the goaltending and center position are shored up, hitting the playoffs is fighting well out of the teams weight class. It can get there with a hot streak, and playoff experience is good for young players but expecting to climb as high as sixth and avoid Boston or New York in the first round is a stretch with so few games remaining  Against those two team a moral victory could be declared if they play a fifth game. Ron Wilson was not the problem with this team. On the ice there are a couple players who just don’t get it, and some who don’t have NHL talent. Randy Carlyle may or may not prove to be a better coach for this team, but simply ousting Wilson isn’t a solution.

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This is a feature that will run about every two weeks with improbable stats and situations in the National Hockey League.

Players:

• the leading scorer in the NHL would be a guy with six or seven games less than the three men closest to him, and not named Sedin, Ovechkin, or Croby but Claude Giroux
• the only Edmonton Oiler on a better than point per game pace would be Jordan Eberle
• on January 6th Rick Dipietro and Sidney Crosby would have played the exact same number of games (8)
• that Cal Clutterbuck (6) would have more special teams goals than Zach Parise (4)
• that David Clarkson who’s career high is 17 would lead the New Jersey Devils in scoring, and the team would still be tied for a playoff spot
• Alexandere Burrows of the Vancouver Canucks would  have more game winning goals than Phil Kessel, James Neal, Dany Heatley or Pavel Datsyuk
• James Neal would be the first player to 10 powerplay goals
• Zdeno Chara would have more powerplay goals than Chris Kunitz, Ilya Kovalchuk, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, or Jonathan Toews
• Dan Girardi would lead the NHL in average time on ice at 27:17
• Nik Lidstrom would be on pace for roughly 30% more penalties and 30% less points than last season

Teams:

• the 26th place Edmonton Oilers would have the 2nd best powerplay
• the New Jersey Devils would have a penalty kill clicking at 90.9% and still be the 19th placed team in the NHL
• the Northeast division leading Boston Bruins would have a goal differential of +69 and the other five divisional leaders would have a combined +98
• the Los Angeles Kings could have a negative goals differential, be dead last in goals per game, and still be in playoff position
• two teams Vancouver, and Minnesota would have a winning percentage over fifty percent when trailing after one period.
• the Anahiem Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens would share the distinction of having a losing record when scoring first
• just two teams, the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers would have a winning record when trailing first
• the Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils would each have as many wins in the overtime and the shootout as the Columbus Blue Jackets and Anaheim Ducks would total (10)
• despite being in 30th place all season, the Columbus Blue Jackets would make it through the seasons first 31 games without being shutout
• only two teams the Ottawa Senators and the Columbus Blue Jackets would be the only two teams to be neither shutout or have a shutout

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This is a feature that will run about every two weeks with improbable stats and situations in the National Hockey League.

If I Told You In September…

Teams:

• only twelve teams would have a positive goals differential on December 22nd
• the Toronto Maple Leafs would be among the 12 and the Washington Capitals would be among the 18
• six teams would change coaches before the new year
• only the St Louis Blues among the teams with a change would be improved by it
• the 3rd place Boston Bruins and 29th place Anahiem Ducks would have a powerplay of identical efficiency at 18.5%
• the 30th place Columbus Blue Jackets would have scored more goals than the Anahiem Ducks, Los Angeles Kings or New York Islanders
• of the six division leaders on December 22nd (Boston, Florida, Chicago, Philadelphia, Minnesota, San Jose) none would possess a top 6 powerplay.
• Calgary and Anahiem would be the only teams without a shorthanded goal
• the Phoenix Coyotes who lost Ilya “Humongous Big” Bryzgalov to free agency would have a better GAA than the Philadelphia Flyers (2.56 vs 2.59 through 34 games each)

Players

• of all the players with 15 or more games played and on a point per game pace, the highest plus minus would belong to Marian Hossa +21
• Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would be on an identical 1.03ppg pace
• James Neal, Scott Hartnell, and Johan Franzen would be among the top five in powerplay goals scored when all three finished outside the top 20 last season
• Benoit Pouliot would have more game winning goals than; Phil Kessel, Jeff Skinner, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, or Daniel Sedin
• Erik Karlsson would lead all defensemen in scoring, and be 1st about defensemen and tied for 11th overall in takeaways
• in 31 games each Dan Girardi of the New York Rangers and Mark Stuart of the Winnipeg Jets would be the only players over 80 hits and 80 blocked shots
• two of the top five players in short handed time on ice, Josh Gorges and Jay Bouwmeester would be on teams not among the five leaders in penalty kill time
• that while having the lowest ice time since the 2005-06 Chris Kelly would be on pace for career numbers
• through 28 games on the leagues blackhat Boston Bruins Daniel Paille would have zero penalties and through 35 games Andrew Brunette of the Chicago BlackHawks would have zero PIM’s as well

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One of the woes of fans, and occasionally teams over the last half decade has been the lack of ability for teams to address their teams needs by moving multiple players all at once to another team, or two teams. The Mike Richards to LA, Kovalchuk to the Devils and Phil Kessel to Toronto trades count as possibly the two biggest trades since the lockout. It’s not just the salary cap, it’s the ability for players to come back and bite you in the future, over and over, and over again.

Imagine if you will the Chicago Blackhawks in the summer after their Stanley Cup win having the ability to make big, big trades to 3/4ths of the league and knowing they would only see those players twice a year in the regular season. What would someone have paid to get Byfugelien, Versteeg and Campbell all at once? Between the three of them you’ve got the ability to take a team from lottery to playoffs. Given what the New Jersey Devils have gone through trying to return to the playoffs or the Columbus Blue Jackets in trying to make their second playoff appearance, a cap crunch like the one Chicago found themselves in could be a huge benefit for one team and not just several small impact trades.

And as every poster on every sports message board and blog dreams, three team trades could be back on the table. I just don’t remember the last there was an impacting three way trade, or any other. With the potential to rebuild on the fly quickly, what sorts of deals will we see? Will this raise or lower the value of draft picks? Some teams already rely heavily on free agents and trade pieces.  With the realignment respaing the trade topography could the Flames finally find that number once center Iginla has never had? Could the Tampa Bay Lightning find a better defense? Could some GM with a the assetts and moxie land all three (no one counts Jared, sorry) Staal brothers on one team? Could the widening of trade possiblities lead to bigger moves at the draft and start of free agency?

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This is a feature that will run about every two weeks with improbable stats and situations in the National Hockey League.

Players:

• that Niklas Lidstrom (10) would have more penalty minutes than Matt Cooke (8)
• Jason Garrison would lead NHL defensemen in goals, have a +10 for the Florida Panthers, and not be in the top 25 in points for defensemen
• No one who has won an Art Ross or Rocket Richard would be in the top three for either goals or points
• Bobby Ryan would be the most interesting name in the trade rumor mill
• Tim Thomas would go 9-0-0 in November
• a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs would be a NHL star of the month in November, and it wouldn’t be Phil Kessel but Joffery Lupul
• two of the most visible sufferers of head injuries in the NHL, Max Pacioretty and Sidney Crosby would be embroiled in controversy over having delivered them

Teams

• the 30th place Columbus Blue Jackets (5-3-2) would have a better record over their last ten than the Eastern Conference leading Pittsburgh Penguins (5-4-1)
• the Northwest division, would be led by the team with the second least goals division, the Minnesota Wild
• the 27th best offense would belong to the team leading the Western Conference in points, also the Minnesota Wild
• the team with the best goals against in the league would be less than a month into a coaching change, the St Louis Blues
• the Pacific leading Dallas Stars would be the only team to lead their division with a negative goals differential
• the New Jersey Devils could have the best penalty kill in the NHL, but allow the most short handed goals against
• not one of the six division leaders (Pittsburgh, Boston, Florida, Detroit, Minnesota, Dallas) would possess a top six powerplay
• the Carolina Hurricanes with the 29th best defense, and 26th best penalty would lead the NHL in short handed goals
• three coaching changes in one week in the NHL would lead to two new to the NHL head coaches, and one guy switching coasts.

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The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs will square off Wednesday in Toronto, and Saturday in Boston. Amazing as it is to be talking seriously about the Maple Leafs and the playoffs, not to mention the importance of a two game set in November, it’s a reality. With more than a quarter of the season gone the Leafs enter this pair of games atop the Northeast.

The Bruins sit just one point behind them, and have had a strong November. With two meetings already in the bag, and the Bruins having won both games handily these two games will provide an opportunity for both teams. The Leafs can get back even with the Bruins by winning both, or at least remain competitive with a split. The Bruins with two wins can go forward knowing they have nailed down one of the tie breakers. As difficult as it is to imagine a team like the Leafs can give up over three goals a game and remain in the running, they hold a playoff spot now.

In the previous two games the Bruins won by a combined 13-2. Tyler Seguin has a hat trick, in Toronto. Phil Kessel has not had a goal and is -2. The Bruins enter Wednesday’s game without any injuries. Toronto is missing Colby Armstrong, James Reimer, Matthew Lombardi, Mike Komisarek is also on the IR.

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Every NHL season has its shocks. No matter how well you research, no matter what history says each season is its own mind searing, jumbled, chaotic, riveting orchestra of excitement. The biggest surprises are sometimes whole teams, other times single player and in other cases its a whole division.

5: Goalie madness. Not a single person predicted that the three hottest net minders of the first quarter would be the well traveled Mike Smith, seasoned number two man Brian Elliot and elder statesman Nikolia Khabibulin. None of the three has a save % under .936, with Elliot leading the NHL with a .947% on the equilibrium challenged, already made a coaching change St Louis Blues.

4: QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! The once mighty Ducks of Anaheim are looking more fit for orange sauce than great deeds. They are led in scoring by a guy who was drafted before most of his teammates were allowed to cross the street by themselves. The man drafted by Brian Burke who quipped that this guy was still there at #2 has points in just six games, maybe just maybe if he were less busy reviewing movies he’d stop playing like #2.

3: Unfamiliar Faces. Who would have predicted Erik Karlsson the skinny, smooth skating blue liner from Canada’s capital city team would be tied for the NHL lead in assists? Not Joe Thornton, no Steven Stamkos in sight, just a guy who showed up at the All Star draft last year and no one outside the few that haunted the Senators barn last season had a clue about him. I suspect when he goes this year, he’ll be a bit better known. James Neal, Phil Kessel and Milan Michalek atop the goal scoring chart? Not one or two but fifteen players ahead of Alex Ovechkin in shots taken? Insanity.

2: Black gold in blue and orange. There are some really, high skilled forwards on he Edmonton Oilers. Some of those talented forwards can not only drink (legally) in the US of A, but can even get decent car insurance rates. But anyone one outside the Oilers pay structure who said that on November 20th they’d have scored more than the Detroit Red Wings, and be fifth in the entire NHL in goals against with a 2.26 would have been laughed out of hockey.

1: Occupy Youth failure. With the NHL, and its adjacent medias general love fest for young players it’s more than a bit shocking that some of the newest lights in the constellation aren’t getting more attention. Sure Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and some of the other picks in this years draft got a bunch of attention in the first two weeks of the season. But where’s the love for Craig Smith, Jared Cohen, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Luke Adam, Roman Horak, Adam Henrique and the rest?

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