IT'S PLAYOFFS OR BUST FOR WILSON AND BURKE IN TORONTO
Right now the Leafs are playing very good especially @ the ACC with a record of 5-0-1 and are 7-3-1-15 and Phil Kessel has been on FIRE with 10 goals and 8 assists in 18 points in the Leafs first 11 games. When Kessel cools down the Leafs will need the line of Grabovski-MacArthur-Kulemin who have started slow but will need to pick it up soon and Dion Phaneuf is putting up his best numbers early in seasons with 11 points and Joffrey Lupul is a pleasant surprised as Kessel's sidekick and already 11 points on the season. Ron Wilson contract extension with the Leaf lies in James Ramier's hands and until his neck stinger he was 4-0-1 in his 6 starts and had a 2.58 GAA and .912 save percentage and lets hope it is not a concussion and then there is Tim Connolly who is like a box of chocolate U never now what your going to get.
THE SENATORS AFTER A CLOSED DOOR MEETING THE SENATORS HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO PLAYED 60 MINUTES INSTEAD OF THE LAST 20 MINUTES
The Senators early on in the season got blown out completely in the first two periods and then in the third turned it on and fall short in the end but have won their last 6 games and have outscored their opponents 23-15 and has helped 7-5-0-14 in their first 12 games. Jason Spezza in this 6 game win streak has 4G-6A-10P and 15 points in the first 12 games while Milan Michalek has had 8 goals and 5 assists for 13 points and Erik Karlsson has 12 assists and 13 points to help the Senators have a well rounded team including a bounce back performance of Sergei Gonchar who has already got 9 points already this season after only having 27 points all of last season. Craig Anderson in his last 5 games is 5 and 0 with just over 2.50 GAA with a .910 save percentage.
THE JETS ARE STILL IN THE HONEYMOON FAZE
The Jets have been having problems with their defense and given up untimely goals in the early part of the season and they have won a game 9 - 8 against the Philadelphia Flyers and are 2-2 @ home and 2-4-1 on the road for a a record of 4-6-1 in their first 11 games back in the NHL. Kyle Wellwood is surprisingly leading the team with 5 goals when his career high is 18 when he was with the Canucks while Nik Antropov is leading the team in assists with 7 and points with 10 which one of his better starts of the season and Alexander Burmistrov has 9 points in his first 11 games of his sophomore season after having 20 points in 74 games as a rookie last season. The Scary thing is that Evander Kane has 4 goals and 2 assists in 10 games and the Jets need a lot more from him and Dustin Byfuglien has a goal and 3 assists in 11 games and since beginning late season on fire he has been a real non-factor when he is supposed to be the go to guy. Ondrej Pavelec has started 9 of the Jets 11 games and has a 3.63 GAA and a very weak .885 save percentage and he will need to make more changing saves to help the Jets battle harder and get more wins.
THE CANADIENS ARE SIMPLY ON THE TITANIC BUT THE WATER HAS BECOME CALMER
The Canadiens started the season 1-5-2 and the Montreal media and fans were looking for blood but thing have calmed down after reeling off three straight victories but the fact still remains that Andrei Markov is still not suited up for the team yet and he very much missed. Then there are Scott Gomez who has 1 point in 6 games and is one of the highest paid players in the NHL this season with a 7.3 million dollar salary for rhw next three seasons and then there is the Canadiens prized free agent pickup Erik Cole who has 4 points in 11 games and is making 4.5 Million dollars for the next four seasons. Also out of their top 5 highest paid forwards only Tomas Plekanec with 9 points in 11 games is even close to a point a game pace and their two highest paid defenceman who are Markov and Jaroslav Spacek have played 6 games and have got 2 points and a plus 2 so it looks like the Canadiens do not get very much bang for their buck. The Canadiens backbone is their starting goalie Carey Price who has a 2.59 GAA and .900 save percentage and has started 10 of the 11 Canadiens games so far and will be responsible for taken the Canadiens to the playoffs again but that looks to be a big task right now. The positives for the Canadiens are Max Pacioretty who has 9 points in 11 games and really was not noticed until he hit by Chara last season and is on his best pace in points as he had 24 in 37 games last season and then there is Josh Gorges who is the third highest paid defenceman at 2.5 million dollars and has 6 assists and is a positive 6 in the plus/minus which is the best of the Canadiens so far this season.
Lots of hockey still to be played
Tom Mehegan
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