NHL Insights: Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders

Welcome to another edition of NHL Insights as we look at four teams that are on the rise in the standings which include the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and Los Angeles Kings.

A new season means NHL Insights has returned. We are about a month into the season and we have seen lots of surprises thus far. The New Jersey Devils remain red-hot. Teams that started off winning games are struggling. The struggling teams are starting to turn things around. But with a normal regular season, we are seeing parity in the league. Thus some teams are performing better than originally thought.

In this edition of NHL Insights, we look at the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, and Los Angeles Kings.

Time to dive into some NHL Insights for the past week.

NHL Insights: Avalanche, Canadiens, Islanders, and Kings

Colorado Avalanche

Here come the defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche. After a Stanley Cup hangover, the Avalanche are starting to find their stride. Needing a spark, the team played in the Global Series in Finland. Home country hero Mikko Rantanen took center stage. He was named NHL’s first star of the week for the prior week. Over the last six games, Rantanen has recorded 16 points. Including 5 points in two games during the Global Series with a hat trick in Finland.

Rantanen along with Nathan MacKinnon has propelled the Avalanche up the standings. Despite their winning streak coming to an end, the Avalanche found their game in Europe. Unlike Nashville, who left their game in Europe.

Despite the injuries to Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin, the Avalanche have found their offensive output as Cale Makar on the backend is providing the spark with Rantanen. Makar has found his game and showing why he won the Norris Trophy. Offseason acquisition Alexandar Georgiev has played well for the Avalanche giving them better goaltending than they did last year. A point of emphasis the Avalanche want to improve is their penalty kill.

Montreal Canadiens

Over the Atlantic Division, the Montreal Canadiens may not make the playoffs, but they are such an exciting team to watch. Martin St. Louis has been the perfect fit for this team. While it may be unconventional similar to Jeff Saturday taking over in Indianapolis, it is working. St. Louis is allowing the team to have fun, especially with the kids. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, and Juraj Slafkovsky have found success this season. Caufield and Suzuki are just carrying over their success from last year when St. Louis took over for Dominique DuCharme.

Through 15 games this season, Caufield has nine goals. He didn’t even touch that until the second half of the season. Dach has been a great addition as well. He is developing alongside Suzuki and Caufield and is put in the right position to succeed. This will be a steal for Montreal down the road as Dach is on pace to set career highs in every statistical category.

Even the goaltending has been better than expected with Jake Allen and Samuel Montembault. These guys won’t win the Jennings award, but you know that they are performing better than their expected numbers. So it is nice to see an original six-team succeed.

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New York Islanders

Then there are the New York Islanders. The Islanders sit in second place in a tough Metro Division right behind the Devils. Over their last 10 games, the Islanders are 8-2 with a +14 goal differential. This is a better number than they had last year. It helps with Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov between the pipes. Goaltending was never an issue for the Islanders. Neither was the defence. The emergence of Noah Dobson has made the Islanders a real threat to make the playoffs this season. Dobson is being trusted more by the coaching staff and he is allowed to control the offence more, which has improved this Islanders club this season.

Offensively, it could be a little better. Still too inconsistent, but it gets the job done. Mathew Barzal has 18 assists in 17 games. Barzal has yet to register a goal. Once he does the Islanders offence could take off. However, they still need a goal scorer. Hopefully, Oliver Wahlstrom can be that player. But he needs to develop just a little bit more. Brock Nelson leads the Islanders with nine goals and outside of Barzal has been the most consistent offensive player.

There was a belief last season in this group as the Islanders were one of the better second-half teams in the NHL. It has carried over from the start of this season. Let’s see if it can continue in a tough division.

Los Angeles Kings

Even though the Los Angeles Kings four-game winning streak came to an end, the Kings are playing much better than at the start of the year. Kevin Fiala has found his role on the team and is lighting it up for the Kings. Fiala has six goals on the season including three in his last three games. This is exactly why the Kings brought him over in a trade from Minnesota. Oh yeah, the Kings signed him to a long-term deal as well. A big reason why was to score goals and he is starting to produce like he did last year.

However, it is the kids that have taken the next step for LA this season. Arthur Kaliyev and Gabriel Vilardi have really taken it upon themselves to drive the offence this season. Vilardi leads the team with 10 goals while Kaliyev has six on the season. The Kings are getting production up and down the lineup including on the backend. Drew Doughty is picking up where he left off. Not to mention Sean Durzi is really finding a role on this Kings team. Goaltending has been good, but again it is Jonathan Quick carrying the load. LA needs more from Cal Pettersen.