Which NHL Teams Have Been Pleasant And Unpleasant Surprises?

We're just over a month into the 2026-27 NHL season, and the standings are somewhat taking shape. It's clear which clubs may have great campaigns and which others are getting off on the wrong foot and could struggle to turn it around.

Some teams fall into either category and have been the status quo of what everyone expected going into this season, but others are off to surprisingly pleasant or awful starts. 

Here are a pair of teams that have been a great surprise to their fans, and another two that are scratching their heads and looking for answers after an unexpected slow start.

For seemingly the second straight season, there wasn't a consensus of high expectations for the Boston Bruins. They have some talented wingers in David Pastrnak and JJ Peterka, as well as a solid D-corps, but they lack established top-end centers. 

That doesn't seem to harm them, with Elias Lindholm, Fraser Minten and Pavel Zacha manning the middle of the ice for the Bruins. And their responsible tendency is all Boston needs.

Despite several early projections that they'd miss the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Bruins have hung around the top of the Atlantic Division, which is certainly an impressive start for the club and should be a nod to head coach Marco Sturm.

The Seattle Kraken had even less expectation going into the year. They haven't seen the post-season since their second year of existence (2022-23), and that wasn't expected to change anytime soon given the look of the roster.

Seattle GM Jason Botterill has been searching for a superstar to add to the team, but has had no luck in doing so. Regardless, head coach Lane Lambert and the Kraken have pulled together and strung together several wins.

In 14 games, the Kraken are 8-5-1 and in the top three of the Pacific Division, while hanging around the top 10 in the NHL.

The Philadelphia Flyers were one of the pleasant surprises last season, made the playoffs without any expectation to do so, and wound up advancing to the second round of the post-season.

Naturally, the Flyers were expected to meet what they achieved last season, at least as one of the final eight Eastern Conference teams at the end of the regular season. 

It's fair to say that the team from 2025-26 may have overachieved, but they have been far from middling this year. In 15 games, the Flyers have three wins and are last in the East. They've struggled mightily to score goals, as they're the only team in the league averaging fewer than two goals per game.

It appears that all the money the Anaheim Ducks had to spend this past off-season may be catching up to them. The millions of dollars they needed to throw at Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Tristan Luneau (new contract kicking in next season) have kept them from adding to their roster after a breakout season of sorts last year.

After defeating the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs last year, the Ducks are now well into the bottom half of the league standings. They have a 5-7-1 record after 13 games, and could fall out of the Western Conference wild-card race, with three Central Division opponents ahead of them, who aren't even in the top three of their division.

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