NHL: Top 5 most disappointing teams so far this season
Many teams in the NHL were expected to start the season out strong but have struggled to do so. Here are the top 5 most disappointing teams so far.
The NHL season is still fairly young, but we’re nearing the point where it gets hard for teams to overcome slow starts. So far, this season has seen a lot of surprises and a lot of disappointments. It’s not too late for these teams to turn things around, but they’ve got to start climbing out of their holes soon if they want to make the playoffs.
Which teams have been the most disappointing this season? Here’s the top five.
5. Toronto Maple Leafs
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are a very strong team. However, they have not started the 2019-2020 season off to a great start. With players such as John Tavares, Mitch Marner, and Auston Matthews; this is some serious firepower on the team. It is not understood as to why they have not been towards the top of the league.
In addition to lack of good results, the Maple Leafs have also decided to fire coach Mike Babcock. This will also be some serious adjustment for the players as they are now forced to adapt to a new leadership and coaching style.
This will be an extreme challenge that the Maple Leafs will have to face but if they hope to make the playoffs, then they will need to overcome this challenge.
It is quite early in the season, so it is hard to tell the end result of the Maple Leafs but for a dominating team last year, they are performing very poorly this year. Besides their offense being great, they also have a good defense and great goaltending. It does not really make sense how they are only fifth in the Atlantic Division but there is still plenty of hockey left for the season.
The players of the Toronto Maple Leafs have a great range of very experienced veterans and talented young guns. They are also a very versatile team being good both offensively and defensively.
Since there is still a lot of hockey left for the season, they certainly have a lot of time to boost their position in the standings and outplay a lot of teams in the league. Although they failed to make the playoffs last year, they still have great potential to make the playoffs this year. Nevertheless, they are still considered to be a disappointing team in the league so far.
4. Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are another disappointing team so far in the regular season. They did an amazing job last season and even made the playoffs. Although they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, they still finished the season very strong.
The Predators have a well-rounded team. They are a great team in all aspects. Forwards such as Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan Johansen have helped give this team success. On their defensive side, they have players such as Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis. Even their goaltending has been great as recently as last season with Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros.
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In addition to the players, they also have great leadership in their coaching. Peter Laviolette has been one of the most successful coaches in recent times. He has led the Providence Bruins to a Calder Cup, coached the Carolina Hurricanes to their first ever Stanley Cup, and has led teams to the Stanley Cup Finals on several occasions. Laviolette is a wonderful coach for the Predators to have but their performance has been very under par so far.
Their performance has been very poor so far during the 2019-2020 season but there is still a lot of hockey left in the season. The Predators certainly have the talent and experience to be able to bounce back and have a successful season.
3. San Jose Sharks
In recent times, the San Jose Sharks have been a dominating team. Making the playoffs almost every season and coming to the conference finals last year, it is hard to believe how atrocious their gameplay has been thus far. Currently sitting at seventh place in the Pacific Division, the Sharks are definitely not playing to their potential.
With forwards such as Evander Kane and Logan Couture, defensemen Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson, it would not seem like this team would be playing so badly. Although they have struggled in net with Aaron Dell and Martin Jones between the net, this powerhouse team last year is certainly a new team this year.
The Sharks are a team that has great potential but they are not living up to that potential at their current state. They have had some changes to the team last year with the acquiring of Erik Karlsson but this trade most definitely boosted their defensive performance and he is a great addition to the team.
There is still a lot of hockey left to be played this season. However, if the Sharks keep up this kind of performance, they will most likely not see a Stanley Cup playoff experience in their sights this season. Nevertheless, the Sharks will still be a fun team to watch and see how they will improve their performance.
2. New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils were a team that was expected to thrive this season right from the start. It turns out, that they have done the exact opposite. The Devils are currently sitting at dead last in the Metropolitan Division. This kind of performance is mind-blowing as they were expected to dominate the league from the very get-go.
The Devils have fantastic players on the offense and defense. Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier, and Nikita Gusev are all wonderful offensive players. The Devils even drafted No. 1 overall pick Jack Hughes during the 2019 NHL draft.
Hughes has been playing very well so far during his rookie season. Additionally, the Devils also have defenseman P.K. Subban who was a fantastic addition to the team during the off-season.
Although this team is stacked with talented players, it does not align with the fact that they are last in their division so far. It would be hard to imagine that this team cannot come back and prove to the league that they will live up to their potential.
There is still a lot of season left but the Devils better get in gear if they want to make the playoffs. Nevertheless, they are still so far the second most disappointing team so far this season.
1. Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a team that has been top notch for quite some time now. With the help of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov on the offense, this team can put up some points. Stamkos and Kucherov are among the league’s best. However even with this amount of firepower, they are still struggling to do well this season so far. The Tampa Bay Lightning currently sit at 6th place in the Atlantic Division.
Not only do they have a great offense, their defense and goaltending are also some of the best in the league. Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev have been very helpful on the defensive side of the Lightning. On the goaltending side, Andrei Vasilevskiy is considered to be one of the best goalies in the league currently. With this amount of offense, defense, and goaltending, it does not make sense of how poor the Lightnings’ performance has been.
Last year, the Lightning were considered the best team in the NHL and were the #1 seed in the 2019 NHL playoffs. However, this season, it does not appear that they would have the same results.
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Although there is still plenty of hockey left, the Lightning definitely need to evaluate their performance and start winning more games if they hope to see the playoffs. They have an amazing team but they are not showing their fans and the rest of the league that they have one. We will see how the rest of the season pans out but currently the Tampa Bay Lightning will be the number one most disappointing team of the season so far.