An early NHL slump: 4 teams got off to a rough start and what needs to change

It’s easy to overreact early in the season. No team has played more than five games yet, so the sample size is small and prone to over-analysis.

But negative results tend to spark conversations.

No, it’s no surprise that the Sharks are currently bottom of the league with a 0-5-0 start. They are expected to rank much lower because their direction is not well defined. Coyote is he 1-2-0?, shocked that they won. The Young Ducks are a fun team to watch, but going 1-3-0 isn’t groundbreaking at all.

It’s not news that bad teams are bad. Expected. It’s boring.

However, if the results are different than expected, there is something to discuss.

So looking at some teams with big expectations this year who leveled off to start the season, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

Before the season started, we were asking if Wild could compete with Avalanche in the spring as a measure of this year’s success. Clearly, his 6-3 loss to Colorado on Monday shows they can’t do it now. But their start is bigger than that his one game. He went 0-3-0 for Minnesota, who lost to the Rangers, Kings and Avalanche. Maybe they can find their first win since one team against Vancouver. actually You have to win that game. But Wild needs more than Canax to burn for that to happen (potentially).

Wild is starting the season with quite a few problems. 5-5 Minnesota, so far he’s 60-2.19 goals, the bottom 10 teams in goals scored. Slightly below expectations, even with Kirill Kaprizov on the ice, Wild’s creation of scoring chances wasn’t all that noticeable. The heatmap below reflects that, with blue dominating the scoring opportunities areas.

Via HockeyViz

Minnesota can perhaps turn it around with more lineup tweaks, such as the return of Jordan Greenway and Marco Rossi sliding into the third row with Matt Boldy.

The question is whether the offense Wilde has managed to create can outperform what they’ve been allowing, and what their goalie hasn’t stopped.

As Mats Zuccarello said after the 7-6 loss to the Kings, a team known for its defensive structure has struggled tremendously. athletic‘s Michael Russo reported.

“If you concede 14 goals in two games, you can’t expect to win the game,” Zuccarello said. “Sometimes we play defense like a junior team.”

Its ‘junior team’ has allowed nearly 63 shot attempts out of 60, and while doing its best to protect the center of the ice, goalkeepers have stopped a high percentage of shots reaching the net. Is not … Against an expected goal of around 9.4 in all situations, the tandem of Marc-André Fleury and Philippe Gustafsson conceded around 10 more goals than expected. So if Wild wants to get back on track, next he’ll need help on all three fronts.

• A power play is not the only source of scoring opportunities, as it is a more evenly-strength attack.
• A stronger team defense to limit the goalkeeper’s workload.
• To prevent this team from having to play from behind too often, Key saves at key moments from the goaltender.

If the wild bounces off the first two points as expected, it’s a start. can If the play elsewhere is strong enough, you can get by with average goaltending. However, a goal-seeking player should at least reach that average.

Do you know what the Canucks, Lightning and Devils have in common?

So far this season, Tampa Bay has only one win. Blue has a 5-2 win over the Jackets. He lost two to presumed contenders of the year with the Penguins and Rangers, blowing a 2-0 lead before, of course, losing one to the Flyers.

It hurts to not have Anthony Cirelli from the closed center. Plus, Tampa Bay is learning to live without a few significant plucks from the summer. Specifically, Ondrej Palat, Ryan McDonagh and Jan Rutta. Without this group of players, their defense is still not in top shape to start the season, both of even strength and penalty kills.

Tampa Bay doesn’t allow its opponents to generate many 5-for-5 shots, maintaining a top-10-ranked 50.5 shot attempts per 60. It’s a problem. The opponent has run towards the quality area in front of the net. Both Rangers and Penguins made use of them there, as did Flyers.

A small sample highlights results with limited ice time. This is especially true for special teams with just four games. Among them, very very Despite its limited minutes (below 22 to be exact), Lightning is also generally unsuccessful with the game’s strong point, shorthand.

On the flip side of penalty kills, Tampa Bay has had a favorable result so far. Stephen Stamkos and his shot bombs appreciate that much. But they don’t have the same 5-on-5 results to counter some of their weaknesses. because it is not should do it start spinning. The Lightning are doing everything they can to score as they have a high shooting percentage and scoring chances from an offensive generation perspective. The result (1.67 goals per 60) does not match expectations (3.02 expected goals per 60). Previous Describe the shooting talent we all know this team has. However, a mere 4.66% of shots explains a lot. What goes down tends to go up (and vice versa), so when this returns to average, it should give Lightning a score that allows it to continue playing below the surface. Perhaps once Tampa Bay starts getting more cash, there will be less pressure on a defense that is clearly undersupported.

Lightning knows that it matters how the team ends, not how it starts. Last season we dealt with early injuries so that was true and should be the same this season. How to handle is something to watch as the year progresses.

new jersey devils

Oh yes, another year in which the Devils had a strong offseason and failed to show it.

However, this time there are positives.

Ahead of the league’s three Wednesday night games, the Devils were 5-5 and ranked second in shots (66.1%) and expected goal share (68.0%).shooting in new jersey tons Get quality shots and ice areas. And pre-shot moves to set up chances like Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt make those shots even more dangerous.

Jack Hughes had a full Jack Hughes last night. #NJDevils https://t.co/GDJ3DyDrhC pic.twitter.com/tpig7oUc30

— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) October 19, 2022

On the other side of the ice, no player allowed a drop in shooting percentage or a drop in expected goals. John Marino was also positive in his own zone to begin his tenure in New Jersey.

Despite going 5-5 behind the scenes, the Devils team got off to a very tough start. A 5-on-5 finish could take some polish. Scoring chances are only very useful if you don’t get results to back them up at the end of the day. The power play, now run by Andrew Brunett, also needs work to rise from last season’s blunders. The point of is what prevents them.

The Devils aren’t getting a reliable netmind. This is almost the difference between the expected goals percentage of 68% and the actual goals percentage of 42.1.

Management bets on the tandem of Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanessek to provide at least average goaltending. It’s dangerous play. Blackwood’s rebounding with his control still dangerous, Vanessek had a lackluster start with his new team.

Goalkeepers are the most pressing issue and have been for some time. Their play robbed the team of confidence. But the problem doesn’t stop there. There are arguments that the team’s systems have not always supported Netminder, exacerbating the team’s predicament. This summer, the Devils hired a new defensive coach named Ryan McGill, but the question remains as to how far he’ll have to defend to execute his own strategy, or within head coach Lindy Ruff’s system. It’s not yet clear if they’ll have to work at.. The staff are better than last year, but the system could hold them back, especially if goalkeepers aren’t up to the task.

The Devils were able to get their first win on Tuesday, which relieved the pressure and temporarily cooled the position of head coach. I backed up with play and recovered from the initial deficit. However, it was also played against a weaker Ducks team in the second half of consecutive games.

For the Devils, it only gets more challenging from here. Expectations are high after another offseason of adjustments to better position this team for success. should be expected, and it is likely to start behind the bench.

vancouver canucks

Ah, the Canucks.

Like these other three teams, the Vancouver team got off to a poor start to the year.But the Canucks start feels addition It hurts to think what it took to lose those games.

To open the season, the Canucks have:

• They led Edmonton 3-0 but lost 6-3.
• Won 2-0 at Flyers but lost 3-2
• They beat the Capitals 4-2 but lost 6-4.
• After leading 2–0 over Columbus and the Blue Jackets equalized, they led 3–2 but lost 4–3 in overtime.

Vancouver finally managed to score their first points of the year against Columbus, but the team still lost 2 lead the team No Missing out on one of the best offensive threats in Patrick Laing.

The Canucks are now the only team in league history to lose four straight games before the start of the season after leading multiple goals in each contest.

The Canucks are the first team in NHL history to lose four straight games after leading multiple goals in each contest.

(h/t @OptaStats)

— Sports net statistics (@SNstats) October 19, 2022

The atmosphere in Vancouver is completely rotten.

In 5 vs 5 there is not one number that identifies their shortcomings. They haven’t missed a chance or failed to create their own shot.

But there is no doubt that there are some costly issues with managing their packs and making decisions. Turnovers are burning out even the biggest difference players like JT Miller, and teams are crumbling when opponents start pushing back. Their mistakes led to opportunities from which the team could not recover.

The team spirals from there as in-game breakdowns start to mount. And unlike most of last year, Thatcher Demko wasn’t perfect in the early stages to hide the weaknesses ahead of him: Across three games, he struggled to cope with his workload. Therefore, he conceded 4.38 goals, better than expected.

Like the Devils, the Canucks are not the predicted contenders. Rather, it’s a team that needs to scratch and scratch for extra points to actually enter his mix in the playoffs, not just racing for the wildcard seed. That’s why these early points are so important. Losing them now won’t make their way easier.

After starting the season on the road it might help to go home for the weekend. But that alone probably isn’t enough to get them on track. Canucks needs to figure out how to piece together 60 minutes of work and how to stay calm when things go wrong. Vancouver must find ways to improve what plagues its execution and mindset.

Data provided by: Hockey Evolving, hockey bizWhen natural stat trickThis story relies on shot-based metrics.is here Primer About these numbers.

(Photo by Matt Boldi and Kirill Kaprizov: Brace Hemelgarn / USA Today)