{"id":295415,"date":"2025-11-19T19:02:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/295415\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T19:02:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:02:18","slug":"which-nhl-teams-are-outperforming-preseason-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/295415\/","title":{"rendered":"Which NHL Teams Are Outperforming Preseason Expectations?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the season
\nroughly at the 20-game mark, this seems the perfect time to look
\naround the NHL<\/a>
\nand see which teams are the biggest
\nsurprises.<\/p>\n

When you haven\u2019t made the playoffs in seven seasons and have
\nbeen mostly an afterthought in Southern California, there\u2019s nowhere
\nto go but up.<\/p>\n

Sure, there\u2019s no better way to accumulate high-end talent than
\nto get high draft picks consistently, but even that doesn\u2019t
\nguarantee anything. (Hello Buffalo!)<\/p>\n

The Anaheim Ducks have put together quite a collection of talent
\nwith draft picks Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Bennett Sennecke,
\nJackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Lukas Dostal, to name a few.
\nBut it\u2019s more than just drafting that has spurred Anaheim to its
\nsurprising perch atop the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n

With the season roughly at the 20-game mark, this seems the
\nperfect time to look around the league and see which teams are
\noutperforming preseason expectations. And the Ducks have made the
\nbiggest jump so far.<\/p>\n

\nMore From Opta Analyst\n<\/p>\n

Anaheim Ducks<\/p>\n

General manager Pat Verbeek made what has turned out to be a
\nbrilliant move in January 2024 when he traded defenseman Jamie
\nDrysdale to Philadelphia for forward Cutter Gauthier, the fifth
\noverall pick in the 2022 draft who refused to sign with the
\nFlyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gauthier has taken a huge step forward this season in his second
\nfull NHL season with 12 goals and 22 points in 19 games. The 1-2
\npunch of Carlsson and Gauthier is among the league\u2019s most lethal
\nright now (23 goals, 48 points) and the two have a combined age of
\n42 or just slightly more than Brent Burns and Corey Perry (both
\n40).<\/p>\n

Carlsson leads the team with 26 points and deserves to be
\nmentioned with the game\u2019s brightest young stars. Since Feb. 22,
\nCarlsson ranks 13th\u00a0in the NHL in points and leads all players
\n25 or younger, ahead of Connor Bedard.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They are just the sixth pair of 21-and-under teammates with 20
\npoints in their first 15 games of the season. A list that includes
\nWayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni
\nMalkin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"most<\/p>\n

The Anaheim tandem spearheads a deep offensive attack that is
\ntied for second in the NHL with 3.63 goals per game after the Ducks
\nwere 30th\u00a0last season (2.65).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Ducks, who lead the Pacific Division with 25 points, weren\u2019t
\ncontent to just draft and throw a bunch of 20-somethings into the
\nfire, so they traded for defenseman Jacob Trouba in December 2024
\nand acquired his Rangers teammate Chris Kreider in June. Trouba has
\nbeen a steady influence on the blueline with 12 points and Kreider,
\na former 52-goal scorer, has fit in perfectly with 10 goals in 15
\ngames.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kreider\u2019s net front presence has been felt particularly on the
\npower play, helping improve Anaheim\u2019s league-worst 11.8% power-play
\nconversion rate last season to 15th\u00a0this season (20.9%). He\u2019s
\nbeen responsible for five of the Ducks\u2019 14 goals with the
\nman-advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just a collection of talent that has been
\nresponsible for Anaheim\u2019s turnaround. Joel Quenneville was hired as
\ncoach in May after almost four years out of the game for his role
\nin the Chicago Blackhawks\u2019 sexual assault scandal. While hiring
\nQuenneville was seen as a risky move because of his baggage and
\ntime away, there was no doubting his coaching credentials as the
\nsecond-winningest head coach in NHL history with three Stanley Cups
\non his resume.<\/p>\n

Quenneville offered instant credibility and is clearly a
\nsuperior bench boss to his predecessors with the Ducks (Greg Cronin
\nand Dallas Eakins).<\/p>\n

Whether a team that relies so heavily on offense (fourth in
\noffensive TRACR<\/a>\/23rd in
\ndefensive TRACR) can continue this success remains in question, but
\nthe playoffs seem very possible for that other Southern California
\nteam.<\/p>\n

The Opta
\nsupercomputer<\/a> gives them the fifth-highest probability of
\nmaking the playoffs at 90.9%.<\/p>\n

Chicago
\nBlackhawks<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been rough for hockey fans in the Windy City since the
\nglory days of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews when Stanley Cups
\nwere the norm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the start of the 2020-21 season, the Blackhawks rank
\n30th\u00a0in points with 319, better than only San Jose and the
\nArizona\/Utah franchise. To make matters worse, Blackhawks fans have
\nhad to watch lackluster hockey with their team second-to-last in
\nthe league with 2.58 goals per game during that span.<\/p>\n

With a 9-5-4 record, Chicago is off to its best start since 2016
\nunder new coach Jeff Blashill. While Anaheim\u2019s resurgence can be
\ntraced to a larger group, Chicago\u2019s improvement rests mainly with
\ntwo players: superstar Connor Bedard and goaltender Spencer
\nKnight.<\/p>\n

Bedard, just 20 years old, has been as good or even better than
\nexpected since he was selected first overall in 2023 with 61 points
\nas a rookie and 67 last season. He seems poised to blow past those
\ntotals this season with 13 goals and 29 points in 19 games after
\nTuesday night\u2019s hat trick. He\u2019s also tied for the NHL lead with 13
\nprimary assists (excludes secondary assists).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps no player has been more instrumental to his team\u2019s
\nsuccess than Bedard, who isn\u2019t surrounded by elite offensive
\ntalent.<\/p>\n

\"percentage<\/p>\n

Bedard has received help from veterans Tyler Bertuzzi (nine
\ngoals) and Andre Burakovsky (seven goals) and the emergence of
\nFrank Nazar (12 points), but a case can easily be made that he\u2019s
\nelevating their play and everyone else around him.<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks cycled through several goalies during the lean
\nyears with the likes of Malcom Subban, Marc-Andre Fleury and Alex
\nStalock. Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom handled things in front of
\nthe net last year before Knight arrived from Florida in the Seth
\nJones trade in March.<\/p>\n

Knight was selected 13th\u00a0overall by the Panthers in 2019,
\nso the talent has always been there, but he seems to have truly
\nfound his game this season. His .924 save percentage ranks second
\nin the league and his elite athleticism and lateral quickness have
\nprevented mistakes by a mostly young defense from costing the
\nBlackhawks.<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks will need Bedard and Knight to continue their
\nstellar play to have any chance at their first playoff appearance
\nsince 2020, but advanced data doesn\u2019t see them as a fluke.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re third in the league in TRACR behind only the Dallas
\nStars and league-best Colorado Avalanche and the Opta supercomputer
\neven gives them the fourth-highest probability of winning the
\nStanley Cup.<\/p>\n

Boston Bruins<\/p>\n

Can a team with a six-game losing streak in the season\u2019s first
\nmonth be considered a positive surprise? Well, in the case of the
\nBoston Bruins, the answer is a resounding yes.<\/p>\n

Expected to struggle again this season after finishing with an
\nEastern Conference-worst 76 points last season (tied with
\nPhiladelphia), the Bruins hired former player Marco Sturm as coach
\nand figured to see some growing pains again in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Sturm\u2019s tenure started with three straight wins, but all those
\ngood feelings were erased by six consecutive losses that followed.
\nThat slide ended with a win over Colorado of all teams, and after
\nan ugly loss to Ottawa, Boston rebounded with an 8-2 stretch. The
\nBruins are now just one point behind the Atlantic-leading Detroit
\nRed Wings.<\/p>\n

An improved offense is the biggest reason for the Bruins\u2019
\nsuccess, going from 2.71 goals per game last season to 3.24 this
\nseason. That plus 0.53 differential is the league\u2019s sixth-biggest
\nimprovement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The power play has been far more potent under Sturm. Boston
\nranks sixth in the NHL with a 25.4% (18 for 71) power play
\nconversion rate after it was 29th last season (15.2%).<\/p>\n

In their first full season without Brad Marchand to rely on, the
\nBruins\u2019 best players have carried their fair share of the load \u2013
\nand none more so than David Pastrnak, who is on pace for his fifth
\nstraight 40-goal season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pastrnak shows no signs of slowing in his 12th\u00a0season. He
\nleads the Bruins with 26 points and ranks second on the team to
\nMorgan Geekie (12) with 11 goals, including the 400th\u00a0of his
\ncareer in a win over Toronto on Nov. 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No player has scored more goals in the NHL than Pastrnak since
\nthe start of the 2022-23 season.<\/p>\n

\"most<\/p>\n

Pastrnak and Geekie don\u2019t quickly come to mind when the league\u2019s
\nmost dangerous scoring duos are mentioned, but with 23 goals and 44
\npoints already, they should. Geekie came into his own last season
\nwith a career-high 33 goals after never scoring more than 17
\npreviously and he\u2019s on track to surpass that total this
\nseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charlie McAvoy remains one of the league\u2019s best defensemen after
\nstruggling through an injury-plagued 2024-25 season when he was
\nlimited to 23 points in 50 games. He already has 14 assists this
\nseason but could be stuck on that total for a while after he took a
\npuck to the face against Montreal on Nov. 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without Marchand, the Bruins have less margin for error and
\nmissing McAvoy for a lengthy period would surely hurt. Still,
\nBoston\u2019s early rise among the best teams in the Eastern Conference
\nis one of the league\u2019s biggest surprises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nFor more coverage, follow along
\non social media on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0X<\/a>.<\/p>\n