NHL: 3 teams that just don’t look the same

Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

The 2019-2020 season has been full of surprises, especially in the standings. Here are three teams that just don’t look the same as last season.

The Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, and Anaheim Ducks are near the top of the league while the Tampa Bay Lightning, Winnipeg Jets, and San Jose Sharks linger on the lower half of the standings.

While it is early in the season, those three teams just don’t have the same dominance they had just a year ago. What happened?

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1. Tampa Bay Lightning

After an incredible regular season that earned them the President’s Trophy and 128 points, they blew it and were swept in the first round of the playoffs. Over the summer, the team stayed relatively the same and even added some more pieces to make them stronger on paper.

While they are currently 5-3-1 and won three of their last four games, they have not looked like the dominant Lightning from last season. They have so many superstars in their lineup and yet they have not been able to find consistency in their game.

Jon Cooper said that last season came too easy for them. They were winning while barely putting in any effort and that kind of hockey does not fly in the playoffs. Now the team is adjusting to hard times and it will take some time for them to play with proper structure. If the team can figure out how to play strong, consistent hockey, this team will be an even tougher one than last season.

2. Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets‘ step-back was expected after the team basically lost its entire defence corps in a blink of an eye. They lost Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers, and Ben Chariot over the summer, Dustin Byfuglien’s been out on personal leave, and both Josh Morrisey and Nathan Beaulieu have been out with injuries. The team has been picking players off of waivers and trying out rookies to fill the holes but obviously, that is nowhere near the kind of calibre players the Jets had just a few months ago.

The season started off wild for the Jets as they pumped their offence and basically tried to score their way out of the problem. While it worked for the first four games, their offence has been silenced and have not scored more than three goals since October 12. They are 22nd in the league in goals per game (2.5) and 17th in save percentage (.902).

The powerplay that’s supposed to be lethal has a 15.3% success rate (23rd in the NHL) and their penalty kill has been horrible, killing just 63.6%, good for last in the league. While Connor Hellebuyck has been really solid in net, the lack of solid defence and consistent offence has been the biggest reason for the Jets’ struggles.

1. San Jose Sharks

Losing captain Joe Pavelski was a huge blow to both the locker room and the offense of the San Jose Sharks. Their 2.7 goals per game is good for 17th in the NHL and their goaltending has been abysmal, with neither Martin Jones or Aaron Dell posting a save percentage above .900.

The team is currently last in the Pacific Division and have won just three games this season. This team has a bunch of stars that could really push them forward but so far, they are not clicking as a group. Their last game against the Buffalo Sabres ended as a loss in overtime due to a bad change from Kevin Lebanc and Timo Meier.

That’s the kind of season the Sharks are having right now and if they don’t start cleaning up their plays and getting reliable goaltending, they will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2014-15 season.

These three teams all have very big problems that are anchoring them and the rest of the league is taking advantage. If they don’t figure things out soon, a path towards the playoffs will be very difficult to navigate.