Hockey Hodgepodge

A few random thoughts for the moment:

After most NHL teams have played in the neighborhood of eight games it is important to note (as should be said every year about this time) that no top team is as good as they seem and no bottom teams are as bad as they seem.  So Pens and Rangers fans keep your lids on and Leafs fans it really will get better.

The L.A. Kings are for real. There has been some debate whether they’re ready to be good now or are still a year off. Well after a very strong start there should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that they are ready to compete now. So to those of you on the east coast if you do not watch any other games for west coast teams all year make sure to catch L.A. in a home game if you can it’s worth it to watch a team just beginning to bloom.

Early signs point to the Atlantic Division in the east and the Pacific Division in the west as being the most competitive division in each conference. As a result they will probably have the most teams in the playoffs come April.

The Washington Capitals are in the bottom third of the conference in terms of goals allowed. As exciting as that offense is to watch they can forget about winning anything other than the division if they don’t play better defensively (and that’s not entirely on the goaltender).

The Ottawa Senators have been playing well. Enjoy it while it lasts Sens fans because they are a fraud.

Credit to the Phoenix Coyote players who have not allowed any of the off-ice drama from the summer affect them. They are playing very well right now and the team is going to be solid all year of they can remain focused on hockey. Playoffs? Doubtful, but they are no easy W for anyone. Kudos to the players and keep up the good work.

As much as many puckheads might hate to admit it the Detroit Red Wings are the favorites to win the West until they are officially eliminated from playoff contention or knocked out of the playoffs themselves.

Enjoy your weekend of hockey everyone, all teams in play Saturday, should be a good one.

Where Has Marty Turco Gone?

On Thursday night the Dallas Stars lost to the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 6-3. The Stars have lost three of their last four and now sit last in the Pacific Division with 15 points in 18 games played. The more alarming stat is that they have given up a league worst 68 goals, and that begs the question what has happened to Marty Turco? The last few years Turco has been considered one of the best goaltenders in the league and rightfully so. Turco has a career save percentage of .911 and goals against average (GAA) 2.21 which are both incredible career numbers. However, thus far this year he is way off those numbers with a .867 save percentage and a 3.67 GAA. Sure the Stars have a lot of talent and that talent combined with the brilliance of Turco drove them to be Western Conference finalists before they ran into the brick wall that was the Detroit Red Wings; and although that talent has scored a below league average 51 goals (league average is 54.4 total goals) they still need to get a lot more from Turco if they expect to be contenders. Despite his rocky start Turco is probably the Stars’ best chance at making the playoffs so there is no logic that supports demoting him at this point but if the old Turco does not show up sometime soon it will be a very long season for Dallas who are on pace to miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2001-2002 season.