The NHL All-Star break is around the corner and the standings are starting to establish themselves. Here are three teams that are proving doubters wrong.
Hockey is the hardest sport to bet on because of the sheer amount of luck that is required to win. Sample sizes can mean everything or it can mean nothing at all. The NHL is full of surprises, and twists and turns.
However, we are more than halfway through the NHL season and barring an incredible collapse, these three teams are on pace for a playoff berth, despite all their hardships and doubt from the rest of the hockey community.
3. Columbus Blue Jackets
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The Columbus Blue Jackets had a departure-filled summer as so many star players left for free agency. They lost their star goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky and two top goalscorers in Matt Duchene and Artemi Panarin. The team looked completely different and it seemed like they were going to take a step back after Jarmo Kekalainen decided to go all in.
To kick off the 2019-2020 season, the Blue Jackets released a very pointed season intro video, with the song “Loyalty” by Kendrick Lamar playing in the background while players and John Tortorella talked about wanting players “who want to be Blue Jackets” on their team.
Well, the players the Blue Jackets have right now are playing like they want to be on the team and Tortorella has done a great coaching job despite the lack of star talent. Joonas Korpisalo took the team on his back and was playing some of the best hockey of his career before his injury and his .913 save percentage is much better than Bobrovsky’s .898 sv% with the Florida Panthers.
The lack of superstar goalscorers hasn’t been a problem since the team is getting scoring from literally everyone, as they have eight players who have 20+ points. Considering the sheer amount of injuries this team has gone through and the fact that they are playing better than ever before shows the true strength of this hockey club. The team has completely adopted the underdog storyline and has been proving people wrong ever since.