With a few days to kill until the Red Wings’ globe-trotting tour continues, we’re looking across the NHL this week to catch up on what’s happened so far this season, what hard lessons teams have learned from offseason decisions and what’s going right across the league. The Central Division is up today.
Dallas Stars
The Stars were a fairly trendy pick to win the Central Division, and they’re proving why with an 11-3-1 start and a comfortable five-point lead in the division. Detractors may have pointed to the aging core as a reason to expect the team to take a step back, but come on… Joe Pavelski will be tipping pucks in from the slot until the sun burns out.
Pavelski is one of five players hovering around a point-per-game pace, along with Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Roope Hintz and Matt Duchene, who so far looks well worth the one-year gamble they took on him after Nashville cut ties, citing team culture concerns. The star of all Stars though, is likely Jake Oettinger who is quietly posting some of the best numbers in the NHL, with a 2.26 goals-against average and 0.926 save percentage alongside his 8-2-1 record.
Continue reading…
