This is what the standings look like heading into the 2nd half of the year:
Atlantic Division
Tampa Bay Lightning 30-14-4; 64 pts
Detroit Red Wings 27-11-9; 63 pts
Montreal Canadiens 29-13-3; 61 pts
Boston Bruins 25-16-7; 57 pts
Florida Panthers 20-14-10; 50 pts
Toronto Maple Leafs 22-23-3; 47 pts
Ottawa Senators 19-18-9; 47 pts
Buffalo Sabres 14-30-3; 31 pts
Metropolitan Division
New York Islanders 31-14-1; 63 pts
Pittsburgh Penguins 26-12-8; 60 pts
New York Rangers 27-13-4; 58 pts
Washington Capitals 24-13-9; 57 pts
Philadelphia Flyers 19-22-7; 45 pts
Columbus Blue Jackets 20-22-3; 43 pts
New Jersey Devils 17-22-8; 42 pts
Carolina Hurricanes 16-25-5; 37 pts
Western Conference
Central Division
Nashville Predators 30-10-5; 65 pts
Chicago Blackhawks 30-15-2; 62 pts
St. Louis Blues 29-13-4; 62 pts
Winnipeg Jets 26-14-8; 60 pts
Colorado Avalanche 20-18-10; 50 pts
Dallas Stars 21-18-7; 49 pts
Minnesota Wild 20-20-6; 46 pts
Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks 31-10-6; 68 pts
San Jose Sharks 25-17-6; 56 pts
Vancouver Canucks 26-16-3; 55 pts
Calgary Flames 25-19-3; 53 pts
Los Angeles Kings 20-15-12; 52 pts
Arizona Coyotes 16-25-5; 37 pts
Edmonton Oilers 12-26-9; 33 pts
So there are some new faces at the top of the boards by the all-star break. Not too many people had the New York Islanders pegged as a top team in the East this year, but there they are. With the outstanding goaltending of Jaroslav Halak and the balanced scoring attack, the Islanders have managed to find their way to the top of the chart in the Metro division. They are gonna feel the effects of not having Kyle Okposo, who is now going to be out 6-8 weeks with an upper body injury, which hurts the Islanders. He has been really clicking with star center John Tavares. Now without Kyle in the lineup, the Islanders are going to have to make due with what they have. They have a deep lineup with guys scoring like Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson. then you add in Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy being productive from the back end and it makes a lesson in success.
Another team that's been a surprise leader of a pack has got to be the Nashville Predators. After years of being known as a defense-first team under coach Barry Trotz, the Nashville Predators shifted gears in hope of finding more offense. In the offseason general manager David Poile traded for forward James Neal, signed free agents Olli Jokinen and Mike Ribeiro, and hired offensive-minded coach Peter Laviolette. The moves have worked. The Predators are on pace for 242 goals, which would be the third-most Nashville has scored, behind the 272 they scored in 2006-07 and 259 in 2005-06. Rookie Filip Forsberg leads the Predators in goals (14) and points (38), and Ribeiro has had a huge bounce-back season with 36 points in 41 games. But the defensive roots put in place by Trotz remain strong. Goaltender Pekka Rinne, finally healthy after missing most of last season with hip issues, leads the League with 28 wins and is in the top five in goals-against average (1.98) and save percentage (.930). Just getting Rinne healthy likely would have improved the Predators this season. But in the ultra-tough Western Conference, Nashville has moved to the front of the pack.
Then we also have a couple of surprise teams as well in the form of the Panthers and Jets. Florida has made the playoffs once in the last 13 seasons. This year they been in and out of a playoff spot for most of the first half of the season. The Panthers have climbed the standings in part because of strong play in close games. Of Florida's 39 games, 26 have been decided by one goal, and the Panthers are 14-3-9 in those games. There is also the factor of Roberto Luongo back in the Florida nets. The Panthers are allowing 2.51 goals per game this season after allowing 3.20 last season. And a young core has started to gel, led by third-year center Nick Bjugstad, who leads the Panthers with 15 goals and 24 points, and rookie defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who has 23 points. And then there's the Winnipeg Jets. They are holding down the top wild card spot out West right now and are buying into the system put in place by head coach Paul Maurice. One of the big reasons that the Jets are able to sustain this attack is that offense. Offensively, Winnipeg has scored by committee, with seven players have at least 20 points. Jets captain Andrew Ladd leads the way with 34 points and 15 goals.
Sticking with the theme of offense, there are individual players who have plenty of offensive talent. There are number of familiar names at the top of the NHL scoring race, from the Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to the Anaheim Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf and the Blackhawks' Patrick Kane. But with more points than all of them is Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek. In his first five NHL seasons Voracek cracked 50 points once; last season he set a career high with 62. But this season he has 50 points in 42 games, putting him on pace for 97. Voracek could become the first player in Flyers history to win the Art Ross Trophy (in 1994-95 the Flyers' Eric Lindros tied Jaromir Jagr for the League scoring lead, but Jagr had more goals for the tiebreaker).
As you can see there a lot that has gone on. Now lets hand out some hardware. Here now are our midseason awards.
Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year):
Peter Laviolette, Nashville Predators
I would give stronger consideration to Jack Capuano of the Islanders, but I give the edge to Laviolette here. Nashville is the best team in the entire league. He has had move a positive impact on his team than any other coach in the league. Nashville has had a turnaround of sorts this season and the coach has been a big reason
Norris Trophy (Top Defenseman):
Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
A strong candidate for this award could go to Shea Weber of Nashville, but I give the edge to Giordano of Calgary. Calgary has gotten off to a great start this season (although they have faded a little bit as of late) and one of the big reasons is this guy. Giordano is second among defensemen in scoring with 35 points, one off the lead (which is 36 by Kevin Shattenkirk of the Blues). If the Flames continue to fade, that might hurt his candidacy. But he’s on pace for 20 goals and 70 points, and he doesn’t have as strong a team around him as other candidates do. There has been a lot of stock thrown into the offensive defenseman for this award, which is a little disappointing since this is supposed to be the best Defenseman award. Still Giordano has been a solid blueliner that has helped out Calgary's goaltending.
Vezina Trophy (Top Goalie):
Pekka Rinne Nashville Predators
This one is almost a bit of a run away vote here. Rinne gets the nod because he has been the best goaltender in the NHL. He leads the league in wins (27), goals-against average (2.00) and save percentage (.929) among netminders who have played at least 18 games. Consider that Rinne has stopped the highest percentage of shots while facing the third-most shots (995). In other words, he has been the best and had almost the biggest sample size. Rinne has had quite a bit of work in the Music City, being a big reason why the Predators have one of the best records in the Western Conference/
Hart Trophy (League MVP):
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
There are two other names that can come into mind here, Pekka Rinne of Nashville and Claude Giroux of the Flyers. Rinne is a key reason the Preds are near the top in the west. Even though the Flyers are near the bottom of the standings, Giroux has been one of the top performers in the entire league. But Getzlaf has an advantage. He may not be the leading scorer in the entire league but he the leading scorer on the best team in the league in the Ducks. He has a 16 point lead over the next best scorer in Anaheim. Getzlaf been the best overall player this season.
So that's just some of what has gone down the first half of the 2014-15 NHL Season!
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