National Hockey League
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We're now a quarter of the way through the NHL's 2009-10 campaign and in some ways, things have been unfolding as expected.
A quick check of the standings finds Washington, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Philadelphia in the top five of the Eastern Conference while San Jose, Chicago and Calgary are perched among the top four in the West.
San Jose's Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley, Rangers winger Marian Gaborik, New Jersey's Zach Parise and Columbus' Rick Nash are among the top 10 scorers.
Buffalo's Ryan Miller, San Jose's Evgeny Nabokov, Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff and New Jersey's ageless Martin Brodeur rank as usual among the top goaltenders.
Still, there are a lot of notable early surprises as some teams and players are performing better or worse than predicted.
Many experts predicted the Bruins would dominate the East again but so far, they're off to a sluggish start. Injuries to key offensive forwards Marc Savard and Milan Lucic hurt their offensive production while Thomas and Chara have struggled to regain their 2008-09 form.
The Avs, however, might be returning to earth having won only three of their last 10 games heading into this week, but they've certainly caught many observers off-guard.
Despite an injury-ravaged lineup (five regulars are currently sidelined long-term) and inconsistent goaltending, the Wings have won seven of their last 10 games, a testament to their coaching, depth and team play. Predictions of their imminent demise might be premature.
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Leading the Thrashers offensively in Kovalchuk's absence was Nashville Predators cast-off center Rich Peverley (24 points in 19 games) and winger Maxim Afinogenov (20 points), who resurrected his career after being written off by the Buffalo Sabres.
Both teams instead find themselves wallowing near the bottom of their respective conferences. The Ducks won only three of their last 10 games heading into this past weekend while the Hurricanes only recently came off a horrific 12-game winless skid that saw them lose stars Eric Staal and Cam Ward to injury.
It remains to be seen how long Kopitar will remain atop the league's points race, but it appears a new hockey king is about to be crowned in Los Angeles.
Richards struggled with sub-par linemates in his final season with Tampa Bay and with injury and adjusting to his new team after being dealt to the Stars at the 2008 trade deadline. After managing 48 points in an injury-shortened 2008-09 campaign, Richards, 29, has 26 points in 20 games this season, good enough for eighth overall in the scoring race and on pace for a career-best 104 points.
The defending champion Penguins have been whacked hard by injuries and with 22 points in 23 games, Crosby played OK, but he's not off to his usual high standard. Between Oct. 31-Nov. 21, he was held off the scoresheet in four of 10 games.
One reason for the Coyotes' solid play is goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who finds himself amongst the top goaltenders, heading into this week with the third-best goals-against average (2.04), eighth-best save percentage (.922) and tied for the lead in shutouts with three.
Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Savard, Staal, Andrei Markov, Marian Hossa, Johan Franzen, Simon Gagne, Martin Havlat and Ryan Smyth are either currently sidelined or recently returned from lengthy periods on the injury list.
Injuries aren't unusual, they're part of a long NHL season. But it's odd to see so many notable players hurt so early in a season. If the trend continues, it's possible this season could set a record for highest number of man games lost to injury.
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