Storylines in Hockey (so far)

Prelude- It's early in the season yet, but if you are need of some hockey talk to get you through the week, here you go.

Sport - Hockey

Event - Stories lines in the NHL so far.

Issue - Before each season begins, fans and pundits alike make predictions on how some team will do during the year. Some teams are expected to do well, others aren't. But then, some teams just seem to put together a winning record that nobody expects. This year the Minnesota Wild are the team everyone ignored but have put together the second best record. The Philadelphia Flyers are the team everyone thought might get better, but not this much better. And the Ottawa Senators are the team everyone expected to do well, and actually are but for a reason not many expected.

Point to Say - "Do you think (choose one) Martin Gerber/Flyers/Wild is/are for real?"

Follow up point - "Gerber is only allowing 2 goals a game. It will be really hard to replace that kind of goals against average."
or
"Daniel Brier is really making the difference with the Flyers this year!"
or
"What's interesting about Minnesota is that, as a team, they have scored twice as many goals as they've let in".

Backgrounder
I've discussed already the need for a quick start. In short, it carries you through the tough times and is plainly indicative of good play.

Daniel Brier was signed as Free agent by the Flyers before the start of this year to improve a team that simply was one of the worst last year. Daniel has 11 points in last 7 Games Played. A very good rating.

Minnesota has been a competitive team in the last few years. One reason is that they play a very defensive game. That means instead of rushing at the net with their forwards, they send one forward in and keep the rest back in order to stop any counter attack by the other team. This year, while it has been noted in the media that they are playing an especially defensive system, their goalies are playing very very well.

Links
TV's The Sports Network (TSN) issues a ranking system for the NHL teams. Note that this week the top three teams are....

Who will play goalie for the Sens?

How are the Wild off to a great start? Click here to read more.