NHL insiders debate the biggest surprises, reason for the Jets’ success, best moments of the season

Kristen Shilton, NHL reporter: I put a lot of weight behind the Edmonton Oilers this season, and my confidence in that prediction ebbs and flows like the team itself. It felt like there would be more momentum from that push to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season, and yet Edmonton has looked more disjointed than anything.

Being a .500 team a few weeks into the campaign doesn’t mean the Oilers are bad by any means, and they can certainly climb their way back to being a powerhouse in the Pacific or even make my Cup Final prediction look good, but I’m not as bullish on Edmonton now as I was in September.

Greg Wyshynski, NHL reporter: I was convinced that the Utah Hockey Club would make the playoffs in the Western Conference. I needed to find someone who made the cut last season that would not return to the postseason to make room for the newbies. The Winnipeg Jets were a 110-point team under Rick Bowness last season. I didn’t see a repeat performance there, and was left somewhat unimpressed with the defense corps sandwiched between the forwards and Connor Hellebuyck.

Well, it turns out the Jets are still quite good under Scott Arniel, last season’s associate coach who replaced Bowness, as were are on pace for [checks standings] 164 points through eight games — an offensive machine built on the foundation of the league’s best goaltender. Meanwhile, Utah started strong before tumbling back to .500, and injuries to defensemen Sean Durzi and John Marino might invalidate that prediction, too.

There were 28 players currently on pace to hit or eclipse 100 points this season as of Monday. How many will actually reach that mark?

Clark: Let’s go with 15. The most challenging part is figuring out the “unknowns” at the top of the leaderboard.

Can Mark Stone, who has not played in more than 70 games since the 2018-19 season, stay healthy? Could Jared McCann, whose current career best is 70 points, hit the century mark for a Seattle Kraken team that entered Monday 19th in shooting percentage and 21st in goals per game? How will it work for defensemen such as Andersson and Pionk? Andersson scored 88 points over the last two seasons, while Pionk scored 98 points over the last three.

Matiash: I’ll offer up a dozen. Nine skaters eclipsed the mark last season, with a couple more — Kirill Kaprizov would have in a full season — were left banging on the door. A few who are on pace right now — Casey Mittelstadt and Dylan Strome come to mind — don’t boast the career résumés to convince me they’ll find themselves flirting with that magical plateau by season’s end, although I’d be more than happy for either to show me up on that point. Injuries and games lost will also serve as an unfortunate factor for many.

Öcal: All 28. Give us a historic season. OK, in all seriousness, we had nine last season, so let’s say we at least break double digits this season. And give us a couple surprise 100-point seasons. Mark Stone leads the league, with 18 points through 10 games. He’s never had more than 64 points in a season, and that was in 2014-2015 with the Senators. I say he gets to 100.

But what might be arguably the most important aspect of all? It’s the fact that we’re just now mentioning Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner. That’s how strong they’ve been, and shows how well Scott Arniel and his staff have prepared to start the season.

Matiash: Balanced scoring, staunch defensive play, Vezina-caliber goaltending, ridiculous production with the extra skater, effective penalty killing, and disciplined conduct — the Jets are one of the least penalized clubs in the league — makes for a nearly flawless recipe. If there’s an obvious weakness on this team right now, I can’t spot it.

Fantasy hockey essentials

Öcal: How about that Lowry-Appleton-Niederreiter third line? It’s been the identity line so far for the Jets. All three are either hovering around a point-per-game pace through eight games … as the third line! Jets head coach Scott Arniel told reporters that this group consists of “straight-line players” who “push the puck forward in their straight line, they get after it. They score a lot of goals in that blue paint area.” A new contender for best line in hockey? They have outscored opponents 6-0 at 5-on-5 so far.

Shilton: It’s how balanced the Jets are that’s made them special. Through nine games — eight wins, one loss — they had five players with 10 or more points, and consistent contributors on each line. Winnipeg is no one-man show relying on star power (although they’ve got it) or elite goaltending (which they have in Connor Hellebuyck) to win the day. When a team establishes that depth of attack out of the gate, it sets the tone not only for your own club but how the rest of the league views your team, too.

The Jets have swagger, and you can tell it comes from knowing they’re not just a good team, but a deep one as well.

Wyshynski: How about some love for Scott Arniel? The NHL is full of head coaches who needed to faceplant in their first gig before finding success the second time around. Arniel had a 45-60-18 record in parts of two seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2010 to ’12. After that, he worked under Alain Vigneault in New York, Peter Laviolette in Washington and then under Rick Bowness as an associate coach with the Jets.

His early dedication to diving into Winnipeg’s analytics as a way to figure out what went wrong against the Avalanche last postseason has led to improved understanding of the roster and communication within the team. Give credit where it’s due: None of us had Scott Arniel as a Jack Adams favorite before the season, but here we are.

What has been your favorite moment of the season so far?

Clark: Everything about the Utah Hockey Club’s first game in franchise history. It was a chance for the league and the sport to see Salt Lake City, while giving Salt Lake City a chance to show it can be home to the NHL.

The franchise had months to get everything in order — which says a lot given other teams get years to plan before their first season. So what stood out? The cool details like the artificial snowflakes falling during the opening, the chants — even though there is no mascot — down to how the game ended up having a somewhat close finish. It was a strong start for a market that has a chance to really make its mark on the NHL.

Matiash: I can’t call it a favorite moment because of the devastating events that brought about the action, but John Tortorella inviting Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau’s father, Guy Gaudreau, to help out at Philadelphia Flyers practice stands out as memorably meaningful. To offer such a personal overture to a man overcome with severe grief and overwhelming loss, someone Tortorella had never met, speaks to the coach’s deep sense of empathy and the close-knit strength of the hockey community altogether.

Top stories of the week from

Öcal: The classy way the entire league handled tributes to Johnny Gaudreau. But the one that hit me the hardest was at the start of the Columbus Blue Jackets’ home opener, when the puck was dropped then slowly passed to an empty left wing, where Johnny Hockey would have lined up, and left there for 13 seconds. Players let the clock tick away out of respect, followed by a standing ovation. A truly special moment to remember a truly special person.

play

Blue Jackets open game without left winger to honor Johnny Gaudreau

The Blue Jackets honor Johnny Gaudreau by starting their game against the Panthers with no left winger and letting 13 seconds run off the clock.

Shilton: I thought the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin milestone game against the Buffalo Sabres was pretty cool. It’s rare in the modern NHL that we see teammates together long enough to where they’re hitting those sorts of numbers together. For Malkin to get his 500th goal — with a Crosby assist, after Malkin assisted on Crosby’s 500th two years and — and for Crosby to have his 1,600th point the same night was a unique feat to witness.

Pittsburgh Penguins fans haven’t had much to be excited about the last couple of years, but you’ve got to appreciate how that duo continues to produce at a high level so late into their already illustrious careers.

Wyshynski: Steven Stamkos’ return to Tampa. As Lightning coach Jon Cooper said, “Breakups are hard. It’s the soap opera of sports.” This breakup was no exception. It was surreal to see a franchise that basically walked away from its captain and greatest offensive player embrace his return with an emotional video tribute and scoreboards flashing “Forever 91.”

It was memorable to hear Lightning fans go from booing two Nashville goals to cheering Stamkos’ name for having assisted on them. It was delicious to see Jake Guentzel, Stamkos’ replacement on Tampa Bay’s top line, tally two assists of his own, including on Nick Paul’s game-winner. Did that emotional night help Stamkos turn the page? “I dunno. We’ll see. I’ll let you know if that day comes, but I don’t think you completely turn the page,” he said.