Welcome to another edition of NHL Insights as we look at some surprise teams that remain in playoff contention past American Thanksgiving. Those teams include the Winnipeg Jets, Seattle Kraken, Vancouver Canucks, and Montreal Canadiens
A new season means NHL Insights has returned. We are past the American Thanksgiving mark on the calendar. If a team is in the playoff picture at this point normally they make the playoffs. If you look at the standings, you can guess what changes could come by the end of the year. Usually, it is around 60 percent of the teams change by the end of the regular season compared to American Thanksgiving. We know the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins continue to torch the rest of the league. However, who would have thought the Winnipeg Jets and Seattle Kraken be sitting pretty in their divisions? While the Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens are just a couple of points out of the final wild-card spots in their respective conferences.
Time to dive into some NHL Insights for the past week.
-
Ep 57: Conference Finals, Dubas Out, Coyotes Wandering
by Full Press Coverage on May 23, 2023 at 11:38 am
Jim and Chris discuss the Conference Finals, the departure of Kyle Dubas […]
NHL Insights: Jets, Kraken, Canucks, and Canadiens
Winnipeg Jets
How about those Winnipeg Jets? Did anyone really expect the Jets to be in this position as American Thanksgiving passed? Winnipeg is playing well under new head coach Rick Bowness. It helps when Connor Hellebuyck is playing at a Vezina Trophy level. But Hellebuyck needed to step up considering the weakness on defence for Winnipeg. Or at least we thought the defence for Winnipeg was a weakness. Josh Morrissey is steering this defence in a positive direction. He might be one of the more underrated defencemen in the league. Morrissey is leading the Jets in points with 23 and assists with 19. And was just named the second star of the week by the NHL behind Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars.
Speaking of offence… the Jets big boys are their best players this season. Despite all that happened with Blake Wheeler losing the Captain “C”, Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Pierre-Luc DuBois are playing very well this season. And they are doing it without Nikolaj Ehlers in the lineup. It just speaks to how your best players need to be your best players. Having a player like Cole Perfetti step up has been huge for this Winnipeg team. It will be interesting to see if they can hang on as the season progresses.
Seattle Kraken
All of a sudden the Kraken who were an embarrassment last season, are starting to turn into the team people expected them to be. It helps when they are getting an offensive output each night. The Kraken relies on balanced scoring. Nobody is running away with the scoring lead on the team. It is very balanced as five players have six or more goals with Andre Burakovsky leading the team with 21 points (seven goals and 14 assists). Matty Beniers has brought life to this team. His speed and skill has been a difference maker this season. The Kraken have taken their game to the next level and Beniers has set the tempo as the rest of team keeps up with him.
Defensively the Kraken are much better too. While they still make the odd mistake here and there, they are winning games. In large part to that defence and the resurgence of Martin Jones between the pipes. Jones has 11 wins in 16 starts this season even with his save percentage below the average at .903. He will need to raise that up for the Kraken to remain where they are. Additionally, they need more from Philipp Grubauer as well. Despite playing better and getting balanced scoring, they will need to keep the puck out of their net if they want to remain in this position as teams in the Pacific start to find their way.
Around Full Press Coverage
NHL: NHL Power Rankings: Devils Gain The Top Spot
NHL Rumors: NHL Rumors: Ottawa Senators, Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils
NHL: NHL Insights: New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning
NFL: Best Bets For 2022 NFL Defensive Rookie Of The Year
Full Press Bets: Early 2022 NFL MVP Odds: Bills’ Josh Allen Favored
PODCAST: Full Press Hockey Weekly Ep 38: NHL Season Preview: Golden Knights, Maple Leafs, Johnny Gaudreau
Vancouver Canucks
Speaking of the Pacific Division, here come the Vancouver Canucks. Despite their awful start to the season, the Canucks are just one point out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Just imagine if they were able to hold on to those leads at the beginning of the season, the Canucks be sitting pretty at the top of the Pacific Division. Vancouver just swept their most recent road trip, and good for them as there were rumblings coming out that a coaching change was a possibility. However, head coach Bruce Boudreau has righted the ship and the Canucks are holding onto leads. Barely, but they are figuring out ways to win games now instead of losing them.
The Canucks second line of Ilya Mikheyev, Elias Pettersson, and Andrei Kuzmenko have been lightning it up recently. The line is scoring 2.13 goals per 20 minutes at 5v5 play. Talk about domination. Not to mention Bo Horvat is picking up his scoring as well with points in five of his last six games. Brock Boeser, who just signed a new deal this offseason, is picking up his play and living up to his contract. As is J.T. Miller who has quietly recorded at least a point in 16 of his last 17 games. With the Canucks scoring goals and playing better defence, they are a threat to unseat a playoff team. Why, well they have Thatcher Demko, and just like the rest of the team, he is playing much better.
Montreal Canadiens
Then there are the Montreal Canadiens. What can we say about Montreal that hasn’t been said already? The main thing is the Canadiens are having fun under head coach Martin St. Louis. That kind of atmosphere is doing wonders for these players. St. Louis is just letting the players be themselves, especially players like Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, and Nick Suzuki. Caufield and Suzuki are tied for the team lead with 12 goals each. Suzuki leads the team in points with 24, while Dach leads the team in assists with 13. Dach especially has seen great success this year. It was the perfect situation to go to for him after Chicago decided his wasn’t developing properly. Dach exercised some demons the other night scoring the OT winner against his former club.
Outside the kids, the veteran leadership that was added in Sean Monahan and Mike Matheson has really helped this club. There is not a lot of pressure on Monahan in Montreal as there was in Calgary to perform. However, like Dach, Monahan has fit in nicely. Does anyone expect this to last? of course not, but having Montreal playing better than expected will make life hard for teams trying to get back into the playoff picture. The Canadiens are no easy out anymore. Their future is bright with Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton controlling the direction of this team.
-
Ep 57: Conference Finals, Dubas Out, Coyotes Wandering
by Full Press Coverage on May 23, 2023 at 11:38 am
Jim and Chris discuss the Conference Finals, the departure of Kyle Dubas […]
-
Ep 56: Leafs, Oilers, Eastern Conference Preview
by Full Press Coverage on May 16, 2023 at 12:21 am
Jim and Producer Ian discuss the Leafs and Oilers early exits and they […]
-
Eastern Conference and Western Final Previews and More NHL Talk
by Full Press Coverage on May 18, 2023 at 11:00 pm
Full Press NHL Podcast with Jim Biringer and Vox Media AM/FM NHL Analyst […]
-
Taking a Trip Around the NHL as Changes Fill The Air
by Full Press Coverage on May 17, 2023 at 5:10 pm
Jim is back once again joined by Russ Cohen of Sportsology and Buffalo […]
-
Ep 83: Stanley Cup Playoffs Are Here; Can Bruins Keep Up Pace?
by Full Press Coverage on April 17, 2023 at 4:06 pm
Ian and Chris are back to give their thoughts on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, […]
-
Ep 82: Bruins Set Wins Record, Pasta Hits 60, Playoffs Around The Corner
by Full Press Coverage on April 10, 2023 at 2:27 pm
Ian and Chris react to the Bruins 63rd win of the season, David Pastrnak's […]
-
The Hockey World Revolves Around Toronto
by Jim Biringer on May 23, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Jim is back for a fourth season of the Final Word on Hockey as he is […]
-
S4Ep28 - Stanley Cup Playoffs - Conference Final Preview
by Jim Biringer on May 16, 2023 at 7:28 pm
Jim is back for the fourth season of the Final Word on Hockey previewing […]
-
Stars at Golden Knights
by Broken Controller Media on May 27, 2023 at 4:05 pm
Stack the Pucks gives a breakdown of every NHL Game on the card. For more […]
-
Golden Knights at Stars
by Broken Controller Media on May 25, 2023 at 12:35 pm
Stack the Pucks gives a breakdown of every NHL Game on the card. For more […]
-
Hurricanes at Panthers
by Broken Controller Media on May 24, 2023 at 4:00 pm
Stack the Pucks gives a breakdown of every NHL Game on the card. For more […]
-
Golden Knights at Stars
by Broken Controller Media on May 23, 2023 at 4:00 pm
Stack the Pucks gives a breakdown of every NHL Game on the card. For more […]
-
Episode #141: Tend The Goal
by Full Press Coverage on May 25, 2023 at 2:24 pm
The 2023 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs have reached its final four teams, and […]
-
Episode #140: Stone Cold's 4th Line
by Full Press Coverage on May 23, 2023 at 1:41 pm
And then, there were four. The 2023 AHL Division Finals have concluded, […]
-
Renegades Of Puck Ep 766
by Charlie Saunier on May 28, 2023 at 7:01 am
Ep 766 The Renegades Of Puck Recap Game 2 Preview Game 3 Milwaukee […]
-
Renegades Of Puck Ep 765
by Charlie Saunier on May 26, 2023 at 11:23 pm
Ep 765 The Renegades Of Puck Recap Game 1 Preview Game 2 Milwaukee […]
-
Full Press Hurricanes - Thursday, May 25th
by Full Press Coverage on May 25, 2023 at 4:00 pm
The Carolina Hurricanes are eliminated in four games in the Eastern […]
-
Full Press Kraken - Thursday, May 25th
by Full Press Coverage on May 25, 2023 at 3:15 pm
Taking a look at Vince Dunn’s season Learn more about your ad choices. […]
-
Full Press Blackhawks - Thursday, May 25th
by Full Press Coverage on May 25, 2023 at 1:15 pm
What team blueprint should the Blackhawks follow and what is will the […]
-
Renegades Of Puck Ep 764
by Charlie Saunier on May 24, 2023 at 5:19 am
Ep 764 The Renegades Of Puck Preview AHL WCF Milwaukee Admirals Vs […]
-
5/26 - Celtics Force Game 6; Mahomes QB List
by Full Press Coverage on May 26, 2023 at 2:12 pm
Ian and John discuss the Celtics big Game 5 win the Top 5 quarterbacks of […]
-
5/25 - Panthers Advance To Stanley Cup Finals; Celtics/Heat
by Full Press Coverage on May 25, 2023 at 3:00 pm
Ian and John discuss the Celtics and the Heat and welcome in Jim Bringer […]
-
5/24 - Lakers Eliminated, Celtics Force Game 5
by Full Press Coverage on May 24, 2023 at 2:08 pm
Ian and John discuss the Lakers loss to the Nuggets in the Western […]
-
5/22 - Celtics, Lakers Face 0-3 Deficit
by Full Press Coverage on May 22, 2023 at 1:58 pm
Ian and John react to the Celtics and Lakers being down 0-3 in their […]
Thatcher Demko is not playing much better. What are you smoking?