By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

ith a couple weeks into
the regular season, a few
teams have raced out of the

starting gates at full speed—leaving
the rest of the league in their dust.
Here’s a look at some of the teams
in the NHL that have caught my
attention as a pleasang pense.

The Washington Capitals - -I don’t
know if it was ot

Save Percentage, a 1.95 Goals Against
Average, and recording a shutout

against his former team...the Panthers.
The 35-year-old goaltender
is finally—for the first time in his
career—playing for a team that is
one ie g for. Last =

 

    

out strong with a 4-1-1 record and —

the ‘Caps’ finished first in the Eastern
Conference with 107 points. Pretty
good...and that was with Michal
Neuvirth in net and Semyon Varlamov
as backup. Who are those guys, you
ask? No one really knows, so imagine
how strong this team can become and
how far they can go with a bona fide,
legitimate number one goaltender in
Tomas Vokoun. And with Alexander
Ovechkin coming off a career-low 85
point year (that’s still really good),

‘look for him to rebound stronger
than ever. The sky’s the limit for this

squad, as they are easily a Stanley
Cup contender with all of the talent,

_ depth, and experience in their lineup.

i The Toronto Maple Leafs - Ob, the
_ dreaded Maple Leafs. Whether you

love em’ or hate em’ —the classic

__ blue-crested Maple Leaf on the front _
> of their jersey never seems to get old. _

 

  

s team has been through
quite a lot the past several years of

i its rebuilding stages ever since losing

their Swedish captain Mats Sundin
after the 2007-08 season—a true

heartbreak for the whole city. But

now, four years later, an optimistic fan
might even say that perhaps this year

will be the end of their rebuilding era.
The Maple Leafs have started the year

nine points in their first six games.

Goaltender James Reimer has
been playing well in the crease,
winning four out of five games while
posting a .913 SV% and a 2.55
GAA. Not bad for a 23-year-old
kid. This guy seemed to have come
out of nowhere last season, literally
saving the Leafs from what seemed
to be a terrible nightmare of a season
and coming within eight points of
making the playoffs. Last year the
goaltender had a 20-10-5 record
with an impressive .921 SV% and a
2.60 GAA.., all in his first year in the
NHL. And at such a young age, the
future only looks bright for the city of
Toronto.

However, the real story seems to

__ be with front line right winger Phil

Kessel. The 24-year-old is off to the
best start of his career with seven
goals and 12 points in his first six

_ games—good for first in the league

in both categories. He is on fire and

playing with loads of confidence...

setting guys up, scoring goals, and
even coming back hard and playing
defense —something that was never
really a priority in the early years of
his career.

Reimer and Kessel hold the
success of this team; if they’re playing
well the Maple Leafs are playing

well. I wouldn’t say that this team is
necessarily a Stanley Cup contender
or anything, but I would say that they
have a legitimate shot at making the
post-season this spring.

The Edmonton Oilers - Man, oh man,
does this team have promise. Even
though they probably won’t make the
playoffs this year and have started the
year off with a shaky 2-2-2 record,
they sure do have potential.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been
good and then some in his first six
games in the NHL. The young 18-
year-old, first overall draft pick this
past summer has showed flashes of
brilliance so far this season, scoring
four goals and an assist, including
his first career NHL hat trick against
the Vancouver Canucks in just his
third NHL game. Pretty good for a
kid fresh out of high school. With
linemates Taylor Hall and Jordan
Eberle front running this young Oilers
squad, it looks as though they could
pull exactly what the Pittsburgh
Penguins and the Washington
Capitals did several years ago— going
from the bottom to the top with the
nucleus building out from the likes of
superstars Sidney Crosby and Alex
Ovechkin who are respectively the top
two players in the game today.

J

 

 

21