Toronto Maple Leafs
the Offense B+ - Kessell and Lupul are both in the top 10 in the NHL scoring with Joffrey Lupul sixth with 52 points and Phil Kessel tied for eighth with 51 points and it would be better if the secondary scoring being more productive after the all-star break especially Mikhail Grabovski who has 17 points in his last 14 games.
The Defense B- - The Leafs are sixth worst goals against with 149 goals and the penalty kill was the worst by along shot going into the year 2012 and since then they are 16/16 in January on the penalty kill while the Leafs defense has 110 points (19 goals and 91 assists) this season.
Goalies C- - it has been hit and miss all season with James Reimer started well with 4-0-1 in his first five games before his concussion with 13 goals given up and a 2.50 GAA with a .913 save% and a shutout while in January Jonas Gustavsson is 7 and 3 with 3 and almost 4 shutouts along with GAA of 1.90 and save% of .932 but the rest of the season have been misses.
Management D - Burke and Wilson talk like they know everything and everybody else knows nothing and are basically putting themselves in the HOF already when only Burke has a ring because of trickery and Wilson has never finished the job anywhere not even close.
Ottawa Senators
Offense B - Jason Spezza (10th in the league in points), Erik Karlsson (leads all defenceman in scoring) , and Milan Michalek (before his concussion) have had a career pre all star season and all were in the all-star game and are part of the reason that the Sens are way better than expected this season while the pickup of Kyle Turris motivated the team.
Defense B - They gave up 52 goals in 12 October for a GAA of 4.33 and since than 108 in 40 games for a 2.70 GAA while Erik Karlsson has 47 points in 51 games which is second on the team in points to Spezza while Sergei Gonchar has 16 points in 45 games and they have 123 points (18 goals and 105 assists).
Goalies A- - Craig Anderson until the three games before the all-star game which were all loses he had a string of a point in 11 of 12 games where he gave up more than 2 goals only twice in that stretch and has had a 5 game win streak and 3 game win streak this season as well. Even after a horrible start he still has a .910 save% and a GAA of 2.70 and is 24-14-4 since his first 5 starts where he was pulled twice and gave up 22 goals.
Management B - Bryan Murray has turned little into a lot with his wheeling and dealing with trades like Craig Anderson from Colorado for Brain Elliot who is shining in St. Louis, Kyle Turris from Phoenix for David Rundblad (played two games for the Coyotes) and a second round draft pick and then there is Milian Michalek who was traded for Danny Heatley who was not able to do what the Sharks got him for which was to help the very talented Sharks into the Stanley Cup finals and is now wilting away in Minnesota. While Paul MacLean has turned this team from a laughing stock at the beginning of the season to a playoff team looking separation from the bottom pack.
Montreal Canadiens
Offense C- - They have four players with at least 30 points with Erik Cole (39 points and 19 goals) leading followed by Max Pacioretty (17 goals) and David Desharnais (9 goals) with 35 each and then Tomas Plekanec with 33 points (10 goals). The Canadiens with 129 goals are scoring more are still scoring 2.6 goals a game and are have squeaked into the top half of the NHL in goals with Scott Gomez with no goals in almost a calender year and he is making over a million dollars an assist with 7 assists and he is making 7.5 million dollars.
Defense C - The Montreal defense whipping boy P.K. Subban is even plus minus and has 19 points to lead the defense that have youngest in P.K. and Yannick Weber and then two over 30-years-old veteran players in Hal Gill and Tomas Kaberle who are minus 10 and 9 respectively while nobody else has lower than minus 3 while Josh Gorges is a plus 10.
Management FFFFFFFFF - The organization which used to be the staple of greatness is now the butt of everybody's joke with the Gomez trade, anything P.K. Subban (he is only 22 years old), Mike Camilleri trade where he taken off the bench during a game (did not come out for the period) and not told what was going on, and then hiring Randy Cunneyworth and immediately throwing his under a 200 pound avalanche and the intern is just that he is out as soon as Patrick Roy signs a contract.
Winnipeg Jets
Offense D - Evander Kane with 18 goals and 31 points needs to be the leader and scoring in bunches and the surprises of Blake Wheeler, Kyle Wellwood, and even Nik Antropov is nice but to have also Andrew Ladd your captain having 25 points in 50 games is unacceptable. It is also tough when your scoring at home with Kane with 18 of 31 points at home and Ladd 14 of his 25 at home while Wheeler has 19 of his 33 @ home, Wellwood 18 of his 30 @ home, and Niki 15 of his 26 @ home.
Defense C - Dustin Byfuglien has been on the ice for too many even strength goals as he is a minus 8 in only 35 games but does have 24 points in those 35 games while Tobias Enstrom has 19 points in 30 games so the Jets have lost a lot of man games on D as 8 players has played more than 20 games this season.
Goalie B - With everything changing it is not surprising that Ondrej Pavelec has faced 30 shots a game but still has 3 shutouts this season and carried the Jets to 6 extra points just by getting them to overtime and has 2.84 GAA and .909 Save% for a team not set yet.
Goalies B - If it was not for Carey Price the Canadiens would be even worse situation as his goaltending has gotten them a point 8 times this season as he has helped them to overtime and that is with no 20 goal scorers yet in 49 games and his 2.47 is good and his .914 save% is solid as he has faced the 8th most shots in the league with 1,185 and saves with 1,083.
Management ? - With the move they basically still have the Atlanta Thashers and it will be interesting to see what they do in the off-season with some extra cash and see if they can get a solid defenseman to help cut down on the shots and a good scorer to go along side Ladd and Kane.
The Leafs and Sens might both make the playoffs
Tom Mehegan
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