Around the end of January, there seemed to be a clear groups of haves and have-nots in the NHL — or perhaps, more appropriately, serious Stanley Cup contenders and also-rans.
Fast forward about two months. With less than a dozen games on the schedule for each team, every so-called elite team has run into its share of problems. The good news for those teams is that they amassed enough points in the first 2/3 of the season that their place in the standings aren't necessarily in danger. However, what made each team seem invincible has disappeared; in its place is inconsistency, injuries, and now-glaring holes on the roster — holes that can no longer be filled with trade-deadline deals.
Let's see how the mighty have fallen...
San Jose Sharks
Once on a record-busting pace, first-year coach Todd McLellan predicted that the team would eventually hit a slump, and hit a slump they did. Some of it could be blamed on injury; after all, the third and fourth lines (including key checking and penalty-killing forwards) were decimated and replaced with AHL call-ups while injuries kept peppering the defense and even goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was out for a spell.
No one predicted the slump that the star-studded Sharks offense went through, though. For everyone to go cold at once is alarming, and it points to McLellan's comments about how the team may not be as mentally tough as it wants to be. That mental toughness is critical to overcoming adversity in the playoffs. That sounds familiar coming out of San Jose, doesn't it?
Detroit Red Wings
Sure, the Red Wings can score. Any team with Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Marian Hossa should be able to do that. Team defense? Goaltending? That's something different. While Chris Osgood had a spectacular Cup run last year, things have been so bad for Osgood that he even went on a team-sponsored sabbatical to try to get his head back in the game. The Wings gave up eight — yes, eight — goals twice within a few days of each other, and Detroit's goals-against is worse than just about every team that's vying for a playoff spot.
Is this a concern for Mike Babcock's team? Remember, in the playoffs, checking is tighter and powerhouse offenses often run cold against stingy defense tactics. Considering the rather shocking plus/minus of Detroit's key defensive players (perennial Selke candidate Kris Draper is a double-digit minus), you can bet Babcock has stocked up on some extra Tums for this very reason.
Boston Bruins
This year was supposed to mark the return of the big bad Bruin machine, yet their train seemed to have run out of steam around the All-Star Game. A large part of it was the extended disappearance of the team's offense. Unlike the Sharks, whose big players dried up for a few weeks, key Bruins forwards like Phil Kessel and David Krejci had just a handful of goals each in months.
However, the bigger concern for coach Claude Julien has become Boston's inability to hold on to leads in key moments. Call it mental lapses, brain cramps, or just inconsistent work ethic; whatever the case, the Bruins aren't adding up to more than the sum of their parts right now. Their aura of invincibility has diminished to the point where rumblings of a first-round upset — at one point, an unthinkable prediction — are coming up more often than not.
The difference, though, between Boston and Detroit/San Jose is that no one expected the Bruins to contend for a Stanley Cup. The Bruins are essentially where San Jose was a few seasons back — on the cusp of greatness thanks to the emergence of key young players. If Boston gets bounced early on, pundits can chalk it up to a learning experience and fans can talk about how the team is ahead of schedule.
For Detroit, as disappointing as an early exit may be, the Red Wings can still hang their hats on their recent Stanley Cup championships. With parity and the salary cap, it's becoming nearly impossible to achieve the level of consistent regular season success as the Red Wings have had, let alone back-to-back Stanley Cups, and Wings fans can be thankful that their team hasn't hit the Cup hangover that Anaheim, Carolina, and Tampa Bay had. After all, Detroit still has 29 other teams to contend with, and how many can say they've won Cups in the past ten years?
That leads us back to San Jose, where playoff disappointment after playoff disappointment has plagued this franchise since their Conference Final appearance in 2004. Will another early round exit lead to a dismantling of this team's core? That seems rash as the playoffs are unpredictable, and bad bounces or injuries can lead to upsets. However, the Sharks have lacked consistency and effort in their previous exits; if they don't at least deliver on those promises, heads will roll.
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