October 26, 2009
FWR's Field Report: Trending Up & Down
TRENDING UP
- The Los Angeles Kings' Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smyth:
The Slovenian-born Kopitar currently leads the league in goals (10) and points (21), and the gifted center has also tallied 10 power-play points in 12 games. Ryan "Captain Canada" Smyth has six goals and 15 points, with eight points on the man-advantage.
Plenty of hockey analysts and bloggers are predicting these numbers to drop significantly, along with the Kings' overall offensive production. Smyth is 33 years old, and plays an in-your-face game that's surely taken its toll on his body; it wouldn't be all that surprising to see him hit a wall of sorts, maybe even before the Olympic break. ButAnze Kopitar is different. Often touted as extremely talented in the offensive zone yet lacking in effort, Kopitar may just be coming into his own in his fourth NHL season.
- The Montreal Canadiens:
After losing five straight, Montreal rebounded with three wins in a row, including a gritty, come-from-behind victory over the red-hot New York Rangers.
During this period, GM Bob Gainey's newly-signed forwards shined: Michael Cammalleri recorded a hat-trick (including the game-winner in overtime) and center Scott Gomez came up, big both on the scoresheet and in key game moments. Brian Gionta is even being touted by some as a candidate for the dreaded Canadiens captaincy.
The Andrei Markov-less defense has looked much tighter than expected, and backup Jaroslav Halak just might be challenging Carey Price for the starting job (Halak recorded all three of Montreal's wins).
ESPN.com's Pierre Lebrun just wrote an interesting piece analyzing, up to this point, the season statistics of both the new Canadiens members and the players Gainey let go this past summer. Yes, it's early, but the numbers themselves are worth looking at. {LeBrun Blog}
- The Florida Panthers: Unlucky Number 28
The Cats are currently sporting a 28th ranking in the four major categories: Goals For (19), Goals Against (35), Power Play Percentage (12.5%) and Penalty Kill Percentage (72.5%).
Clearly, nothing is working for the squad playing out of Sunrise, Florida. Coach Peter DeBoer isn't finding any reliable producers on his front lines, while both the defense and Tomas Vokoun's goaltending have slid the Panthers into the Southeast basement. Right now, there doesn't seem to be much to build on.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
0 Comments:
Post a Comment