Surprises/Disappointments at the Halfway Mark

WEFFPIM · Post #1 » by **WEFFPIM** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 5:52 pm

East Surprises
-New Jersey: Atop the Eastern Conference despite changing play styles radically with the Jacques Lemaire now running the show. Lost Brian Gionta and John Madden. Brodeur is 25-9-1 this season

-Buffalo Sabres: A team that had little to no expectations coming in is leading the Northeast Division, mainly because Ryan Miller has been arguably the best goalie in the league.

-Atlanta Thrashers: Had even fewer expectations than the Sabres, yet keep dancing in and out of playoff positioning, and add some fuel to the fire that the team may actually be able to re-sign Ilya Kovalchuk.

New York Islanders: There's something to be said for this franchise for not being God-awful terrible right now, just a point out of 8th (despite being 13th)

East Disappointments
-Winter Classic Teams: Boston has been up-and-down all season, Marc Savard being out didn't help. Philly wins the award as the most dysfunctional team at the halfway mark. Yet, if the playoffs were to start today, they'd be in, so it's not completely disappointing.

-New York Rangers: The Rangers, however, would not. Despite having one of the best scorers in the game, Marion Gaborik, the Rangers give up more goals than they score and are two games under .500 at MSG.

-Carolina: The most injured team in the league, but it's still an incredible disappointment to have a team go from the ECF to your probable lottery winner.

West Surprises
-Phoenix Coyotes: Ummm, well this is quite a turnaround. From almost leaving Glendale to being 4 points out of first in the conference. 10-game home winning streak, fueled by a stingy defense and a resurgent Ilya Bryzgalov.

-Colorado Avalanche: In the same vein as Phoenix, the Avs are leading the Northwest Division behind some great play from Craig Anderson. Stastny, Wolski and Duchene have played great thusfar.

-Nashville Predators: Terrible team out of the gate has gone on a massive hot streak that is starting to show signs of cooling. But nonetheless, they sit six in the conference with no expectations coming in.

-Los Angeles Kings: A team that we've been waiting to making a charge did earlier in the year, and would still be in the playoffs were they to start today. And people are starting to realize who Anze Kopitar is now.

West Disappointments
-St. Louis Blues/Columbus Blue Jackets: I put these in the same boat because it's similar stories. Both playoff teams last season, have not shown anything like it this season. St. Louis can't win at home, Columbus seemingly can't win anymore. And their respective netminders named Mason have sucked.

-Detroit Red Wings/Anaheim Ducks: Also in the same boat together, two playoff foes last season riddled with injuries this season. Both would miss the playoffs currently.

So, those are mine, I didn't include individuals so go nuts. Anything I missed?

trwi7 · Post #2 » by **trwi7** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 7:32 pm

Do the Rangers really surprise anybody anymore? It seems they always start out hot, the national media is all over their nuts then they come crashing back to earth and either miss the playoffs or slide in as the 7th or 8th seed.

WEFFPIM · Post #3 » by **WEFFPIM** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:19 pm

trwi7 wrote:Do the Rangers really surprise anybody anymore?

No, they disappoint. This thread isn't THAT difficult to follow.

trwi7 · Post #4 » by **trwi7** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:56 pm

I'm just saying, can they really be disappointing when this is pretty much what they do every year? At some point it has to be said that they just aren't that good, no matter what is said about them in preseason.

That's not a disappointment to me.

WEFFPIM · Post #5 » by **WEFFPIM** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 9:32 pm

trwi7 wrote:I'm just saying, can they really be disappointing when this is pretty much what they do every year? At some point it has to be said that they just aren't that good, no matter what is said about them in preseason.

That's not a disappointment to me.

Relax, I'm just playin', homie.

Nah, didn't work, did it?

Post #6 » by **timd1218** » Sat Jan 2, 2010 2:56 am

trwi7 wrote:I'm just saying, can they really be disappointing when this is pretty much what they do every year? At some point it has to be said that they just aren't that good, no matter what is said about them in preseason.

That's not a disappointment to me.

When your top 2 defensemen are Redden and Rosival, it is pretty easy to see why they always end up being disappointments. I can't believe the cap hits of those 2 players. Sather is an idiot.

Anyway, surprises are the Coyotes and how bad Carolina is, Disappointments, Detroit, even though you can't really fault them, injuries hurt and Anaheim.

Post #7 » by **Mr Swagtastic** » Sat Jan 2, 2010 7:11 pm

With Detroit's slow start I don't think they are a disapointment anymore. There not great but they don't really have a goaltender.

Shocked to see how bad the Leafs really are and how good the Pens are.

Post #8 » by **Nolan** » Wed Jan 6, 2010 2:08 am

The two surprises of the season for me are Atlanta and Phoenix and the biggest disappointment has to be Carolina.

7r5ur · Post #9 » by **7r5ur** » Fri Jan 8, 2010 7:53 am

xbl_sucks wrote:With Detroit's slow start I don't think they are a disapointment anymore. There not great but they don't really have a goaltender.

Shocked to see how bad the Leafs really are and how good the Pens are.

Jimmy Howard says "what?"

4th in the league in save percentage and 8th in GAA.

Post #10 » by **Mr Swagtastic** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:01 pm

BDM22 wrote:
xbl_sucks wrote:With Detroit's slow start I don't think they are a disapointment anymore. There not great but they don't really have a goaltender.

Shocked to see how bad the Leafs really are and how good the Pens are.

Jimmy Howard says "what?"

4th in the league in save percentage and 8th in GAA.

Trust me ask anybody on th boards here or check the forums I am a huge Howard fan one of the bigger ones but I don't think he's a long term solution. I would love to bring Ryan Miller home to Detroit and be our starting goalie he would be amazing here.