The 2018-2019 NHL season has begun and it has been exciting! We’ve seen great performances out of many of the NHL’s stars and some newcomers have burst onto the scene. Unfortunately for some teams, they haven’t had those great moments yet, and sit at the bottom of the standings. Here are the teams that rank last in their division and what has gone wrong.
First, we have the current worst team in the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings. Once a long-time dynasty, the Red Wings are now considered to be one of the least talented teams in the NHL. Are we really supposed to compare Dylan Larkin to the likes of Sidney Crosby and Auston Matthews? He’s a good player, but he is not a star yet. The Red Wings also lack any defenseman that should be on a first-pairing. Though Dennis Cholowski is looking like a solid blue-liner for the future, he would definitely not make a second-pairing for the Nashville Predators or the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their talent just simply doesn’t stack up, and they’ll remain one of the worst teams in the NHL this season.
In the Metropolitan division, we have another rebuilding team, the New York Rangers. The Rangers are another team that doesn’t stack up talent-wise to the teams that will compete for the playoffs. Their most talented offensive player is Mika Zibanejad. Like Dylan Larkin, Zibanejad isn’t a true star in the league and should not be your biggest threat to defend. The Rangers are at least better than the Red Wings in that they have more depth in their offense, such as wingers like Chris Kreider. Though they do have depth, the aging Henrik Lundvist has to keep their team in the game by making 30-40 saves each game. They currently have no defenseman that are consistently playing well, and they don’t have the offensive firepower to truly compete.
Moving to the Western conference, here is our first real surprise: The St. Louis Blues. Just a year separated from them being at the top of the NHL standings, the Blues have been cursed by the Central division competing at such a high level that one team had to rank last. Looking at their player stats, it seems that Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, and Alex Pietrangelo have all taken steps back in terms of production. Being fair to Pietrangelo, his weak +/- stat may be due to Jake Allen’s poor performance. The Blues have only played 8 games so far. Many team they’re behind have already played 9-10 games, so there is time for the Blues to come back if Allen can stop the puck, and Tarasenko can return to 2016 form.
Finally in the Pacific division, we have the Los Angeles Kings. Wait a minute, not the Vancouver Canucks or Arizona Coyotes? Yes, the playoff-making Kings of last season have started out of the gate very weak to start the season. Much of this can be attributed to Jonathan Quick not being 100%. The Kings have thrived off of his success since the early 2010’s, they simply need him in order to be a playoff contender at this time. However, another good way to lose games is by not putting pucks in the net. The Kings have been especially good at that this season, scoring less than 2 goals per game through the first 9 games of the season. I did predict them to not make the playoffs this season, but I was not expecting the Kings to start 2-6-1 and be only 1 point ahead of the Red Wings. Like the Blues, they do have a chance to get it together if Quick can get back to elite form, and the offense can score. Who do you think is the most surprisingly good/bad NHL team so far? Reply below!
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