This article is part of our From the Press Box series.
Edmonton fans in mourning as McDavid suffers injury
On Tuesday night, the city of Edmonton saw its hockey fortunes take a big hit as the newest "Next One," Connor McDavid, sustained a left shoulder/collarbone injury that will keep him out of the lineup for at least two months. The rookie phenom was making a seamless transition to the NHL, with five goals and seven assists in 13 games. He was also getting credit for helping elevate the play of Nail Yakupov, who is off to the best start of his career and has provided the first real glimpse of the player the Oilers thought they were getting with the first pick of the 2012 draft. Yakupov formed quick chemistry with McDavid and has 10 points in 13 games played.
The young Russian will hard-pressed to continue that pace, but now we get a chance to see what he looks like without McDavid. Additional pressure and tougher opposing checkers will now face the trio of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and the recently promoted Leon Draisaitl, all recent high draft picks themselves. It seems continued growth and future success will be a bit harder to achieve while McDavid is sidelined.
Somewhat ironically, the play of a couple of highly touted young defensemen may be even more significant in the outcome of this season for the Oilers. Oscar Klefbom has held his own, chipping in five points, while playing over 20 minutes per game. Darnell Nurse was recently added
Edmonton fans in mourning as McDavid suffers injury
On Tuesday night, the city of Edmonton saw its hockey fortunes take a big hit as the newest "Next One," Connor McDavid, sustained a left shoulder/collarbone injury that will keep him out of the lineup for at least two months. The rookie phenom was making a seamless transition to the NHL, with five goals and seven assists in 13 games. He was also getting credit for helping elevate the play of Nail Yakupov, who is off to the best start of his career and has provided the first real glimpse of the player the Oilers thought they were getting with the first pick of the 2012 draft. Yakupov formed quick chemistry with McDavid and has 10 points in 13 games played.
The young Russian will hard-pressed to continue that pace, but now we get a chance to see what he looks like without McDavid. Additional pressure and tougher opposing checkers will now face the trio of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and the recently promoted Leon Draisaitl, all recent high draft picks themselves. It seems continued growth and future success will be a bit harder to achieve while McDavid is sidelined.
Somewhat ironically, the play of a couple of highly touted young defensemen may be even more significant in the outcome of this season for the Oilers. Oscar Klefbom has held his own, chipping in five points, while playing over 20 minutes per game. Darnell Nurse was recently added to the Oilers' roster and has picked up two points while playing 19 minutes per start in his first four assignments.
Turris meeting, exceeding expectations
It's been eight years since Turris was selected third overall in the 2008 Amateur Draft by the Coyotes as a highly skilled player who was considered to have an off-the-charts hockey IQ. Things did not pan out for him in the desert. His fortunes began to improve when he was dealt to the Senators during the 2011-12 season, in which he gradually rose up the Ottawa depth chart into a second-line role. That trajectory continued last year, when he became the first-line pivot and responded with a career-best 64 points while playing in all 82 games.
This season, he has found an even higher gear and has eight goals and five assists to show for these efforts. At 26 years of age, he looks very confident and comfortable with his lofty role in the Senators lineup. He is playing almost 20 minutes per game and logs lots of time on the power play. With this situation in hand, he has every opportunity to set personal bests and finally fulfill the expectations that have been held out for him.
Turnaround in Boston
In many quarters, the Bruins were expected to take a bit of a backward step, largely on the basis of losses on the club's one-time deep blueline. With the continued absence of Dennis Seidenberg (back) to injury, no fewer than three regular roles have been assigned to relative newcomers.
Of these, only Colin Miller (one goal and four assists) has contributed much offensively, but holdovers Zdeno Chara (seven points, plus-6), Torey Krug (10 points, plus-5) and Adam McQuaid (two points, plus-5) have continued to play lead roles while insulating the aforementioned Miller as well as Kevan Miller and Joe Morrow on the Boston blue line.
A healthy David Krejci leads all Boston scorers with 15 points in 11 games, which is a career-best pace. Right behind him is Patrice Bergeron, with 11 points in 11 games played. Together with Krug, the ower-play quarterback, they have been integral to the league's leading unit in terms of power-play efficiency, operating at a blistering 34.2 percent.
It's also notable that three key additions to the scoring lines have all been enjoying some success. The productivity of Matt Beleskey (five points), Jimmy Hayes (10 points) and Brett Connolly (six points) has been another big reason for the Bruins' strong early returns.
Kings finding their groove
When the Kings opened the season with three lopsided losses on home ice, the sense was not to worry about this veteran lineup. They would right the listing ship soon enough. Well, that recovery has been swift and impressive, as the Kings are now boasting an 8-4 record.
A deeper look behind that lofty mark leads me to assign much of the credit to the forward line led by Jeff Carter, who's leading the club in scoring (five goals, seven assists, plus-7) through 12 games. That stat line includes four points on special teams and two game-winning tallies. He continues to enjoy great on-ice chemistry with Tyler Toffoli, who has elevated himself into a fixture on Carter's wing. Toffoli sports a team-leading nine goals (two game-winners), which ranks him among the NHL leaders. While that lofty rate is not expected to continue, he seems a cinch to exceed his career-high 23 goals from two years ago. Completing that potent line is Milan Lucic, the experienced big man who was a key offseason trade pickup from Boston. Lucic has two game-winning tallies as well and has been a huge presence on the power play.
All told, this unit has combined to score 16 of the Kings' 29 goals. Clearly, Los Angeles will need other front-end offensive talents to become more productive. While the top line may not be expected to continue clicking at this rate, look for Marian Gaborik (one goal), Dustin Brown (no goals) and others to pick up their level of output to offset that drop-off.
Stars' top snipers looking to repeat
While many hockey pundits, yours truly included, were surprised by Jamie Benn's Art Ross Trophy victory last season, it was the clear result of a fabulous partnership with Tyler Seguin, one of the finest young superstars on the NHL landscape. This was a pairing of highly skilled players, but it was made stronger by a great friendship away from the rink. Both of these guys have become very familiar with how the other thinks, and offseason acquisition Patrick Sharp has joined Benn and Seguin to form one of the league's top offensive lines.
Just as importantly, they've been put into a scheme that emphasizes offensive flow and is capably supported by a cast of good puck movers on the blueline, particularly John Klingberg, Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski. That ensures that the Stars' dynamic duo will have support in the transition game that is pivotal to their success.
So it's no surprise to see Benn and Seguin tied atop the league's scoring race with 20 points each. They have every opportunity to rank among the NHL's points leaders once again.
