NHL Stock Market Teams 8-10
Minnesota (9-4-0) .692 ↑↑↑ They are scoring about as much as they should be, and their special teams can only get better. They lead the NHL in Expected Goals Percentage, and their stats suggest a team winning despite bad luck, a recipe for future success.
Calgary (7-3-4) .643 ↓ They are leading the NHL in 5v5 save percentage, but have a surprisingly decent Expected Goals rating. Still, Markstrom isn’t this good, and neither is Calgary. They just don’t have the roster to sustain. Unless Oliver Kylington and Markstrom are legit superstars – then who knows?
New York Rangers .654 ↑ (7-3-3) The Rangers are 16th in overall special teams. They 25th in shooting percentage and only 10th in save percentage. Why are they doing so well? I have no clue. They are near last in expected goals, but they aren’t even scoring a ton above their expected rate – in fact they are significantly below. They should be going down, based on the stats, but they also shouldn’t be doing good right now. The Rangers are a mystery team. I have them getting slightly better because I think they will get more out of their young players as the season goes on.
We are still early days in the NHL season, and as the year goes on we will likely see Boston, Colorado, Tampa and Vegas emerge as contenders.
Of the teams currently in the top ten, I think that Florida, Carolina and Edmonton will all remain in the top ten, just without winning as frequently as they have so far. They are all contenders, they just aren’t the three best teams in the NHL.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota Wild are definitely better than their records indicate, and I think the Rangers are slightly better than theirs. Washington, St. Louis, Anaheim and Calgary are unlikely to finish the year in the top ten.