The NHL and their covid season is more than halfway over as teams try to push for a playoff spot or try to hold their spot to take a trip to the Playoffs starting this May.
There are always teams that are supposed to be great almost every year like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Las Vegas Golden Knights because of their great coaching and how they treat the offseason. And there's also always a couple teams like the New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabers, San Jose Sharks, and the Detroit Red Wings that are always expected to do poorly because of their bad coaching, awful drafting skills, and their poor free agency moves. That being said, there are also always a couple teams in these categories that will surprise you.
A team that I did not expect to do well at all this season but is doing pretty well and are in the playoff picture as of March 26, 2021 are the Boston Bruins. Usually the Bruins are making really good moves and always dominating their division but this offseason they lost their 1st line defenseman Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug in free agency. I had the Bruins at either the bottom of the division, or a couple games out of the playoffs, but they have surprised me this season. With a tough division for the second half of the season and players getting injured and getting Covid a lot lets hope they can stay in the spot they are currently in right now.
A team I have high expectations for this season was the Dallas Stars but they are not producing the type of levels I wanted them to. They have a star 1st line and a perfect build for their team with an amazing veterian goalie but they are not even in the playoff picture as of March 26th, and they need to turn it around. To just be in the Stanley Cup Finals last season and a dream of a team to not even be in the playoff picture half way through the season is unbelievable and they need to pick up the tempo quickly before it's too late.
I'm not the only one that watches hockey in Franklin county. I got a couple of locals' opinions on the season and asked local hockey analyst Ivan Rivera what team has disappointed him in the first half of the season. “The Blues to be honest,” he replied. “They added big free agents to their team like Torey Krug and Mike Hoffman, and are still below the wild, lol.” He also claimed, “to be fourth in a weak division is disappointing and they have played two more games than the first placed team in their division,” (Las Vegas Golden Knights).
Greenwave Hockey player Trevor Kucheski had an opinion on a team that has overachieved this season, “I would definitely say the Panthers.” He followed up, “I didn't expect Barkov to have such a year he is having and the Panthers got more weapons and they have just shocked the whole NHL.” I agree with this statement they are having such a great year sitting second in their division behind the Tampa Bay Lighting.
In each season there are always teams that underachieve or overachieve, but with the short covid season could these teams be a one year fluke, or is this a new trend? That's something we will have to figure out in the future.