THN.com/podcast. From The Hockey News Podcast: Recapping a Wild World Juniors Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk1MTE4OTYwNjA4MjkwNTMw/usatsi_19743325.jpg] The NHL’s regular season is halfway done, so it’s a good time to check in and assign each franchise a letter grade for what they’ve done (or haven’t done) thus far. We’re going to go division-by-division with these grades. We’ll start today with the Eastern Conference and the Metropolitan Division, which has the league’s most 50-plus-standings-point teams. We move tomorrow to the Atlantic, followed by the Central Saturday, and (after our three stars of the week column Sunday) the Pacific on Monday. Off we go: 1. CAROLINA HURRICANES (25-9-7, 57 POINTS) The Hurricanes are amidst a four-game winless streak, but before that, they reeled off 11 straight wins and 14 wins in their previous 15 games. No team was hotter, and the Canes were demonstrating why many observers saw them as a Stanley Cup front-runner. Despite their current issues, they remain the Metro’s top squad, with a 25-9-7 record. And they only just had star forward Max Pacioretty play his first hockey of the season. They will have a goalie issue [https://thehockeynews.com/news/screen-shots-jt-miller-alexis-lafreniere-and-carolinas-goalies] when Frederik Andersen returns [https://thehockeynews.com/news/screen-shots-jt-miller-alexis-lafreniere-and-carolinas-goalies], but if that’s their biggest problem, it reflects how well their season has gone. Grade: A 2. NEW JERSEY DEVILS (26-12-3, 55 POINTS) They’re another team that’s cooled off in the past month. But the Devils shocked the hockey world by being up there with Boston as the NHL’s most dominant team out of the gate, losing four times in regulation and five times in total in their first 26 games (21-4-1). They since went 5-8-2, and their defensive flaws have been exposed, as they’ve surrendered four or more goals in eight of those past 10 losses. They’re still playing with house money overall with a 26-12-3 mark, but with 55 points, they’re only three points ahead of Washington for fourth in the Metro. In other words, they’ve been one of the league’s better teams, but they have little room for mediocrity. Grade: A 3. NEW YORK RANGERS (23-12-7, 53 POINTS) The Rangers have gone 12-2-2 since Dec. 3 and climbed into third place in the Metro with a 23-12-7 record. But earlier in the season, the Blueshirts’ defensive issues were wholly apparent when star goalie Igor Shesterkin couldn’t carry them to victories as he did so often in 2021-22. The Rangers still need Shesterkin to be a dominant force, but the good news is that he is again showing he can do so. With 31 games played this season, Shesterkin is projected to appear in a whopping 61 games, which would be eight more than his career-high 53 games last year. We’ll find out by playoff time if they rely too much on him. Grade: A 4. WASHINGTON CAPITALS (23-15-6, 52 POINTS) Washington was flat and uninspired to start the season, going 7-10-3 through Nov. 19. But they’ve gone 16-5-3 since then and are fourth in the Metro. That said, the fifth-place Pittsburgh Penguins are just four points behind them with four games in hand. In sum, the Caps are where many of us believed they’d be – in a big battle for one of the final playoff spots in the East with no assurance they’ll outlast teams like the Pens, New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres for a wild-card berth. They need star winger Alex Ovechkin to carry them, and relying on one player is a dangerous blueprint to succeed. Grade: B+ 5. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (21-13-6, 48 POINTS) Like the Capitals, the Penguins have fluctuated between powerhouse and pitiful this season. They went 12-1-1 between mid-November and mid-December. But since then, they lost six in a row and seven of 10. The Pens are one of many teams with problems on defense, but they’ll have approximately $2.6 million in salary cap space [https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/penguins] by the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline. GM Ron Hextall will probably use all of it as the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin-Kris Letang era slowly closes. Consistency is the name of the game for Pittsburgh the rest of the way. As it stands, though, there’s legitimate concern about whether they’ll be able to make the playoffs or miss them for the first time since 2005-06. Grade: B+ 6. NEW YORK ISLANDERS (22-17-3, 47 POINTS) The Isles have been one of the league’s better defensive units, with a 2.69 goals-against average that’s the sixth-best in the NHL. Their offense is another story altogether, as their 3.10 goals-for average has them in the 20th-overall spot and the sixth in the Metro. Injuries haven’t been as big a factor for them as last season. The reality is they don’t have enough elite-level talent on offense as the teams ahead of them in their division. They do employ one of the best goalie tandems in the game in Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov, but there’s a sense GM Lou Lamoriello is going to be one of the most active GMs at the trade deadline (Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko, anyone?). He’s projected to have $10.2 million [https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/islanders] to address his team’s scoring problem. It’s going to be difficult, but not impossible, for the Islanders to get back into the playoffs. But it won’t be good enough if they play the way they have in the first half of the season. Grade: B 7. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (17-18-7, 41 POINTS) For the first three games of the season, the Flyers shocked the NHL by going unbeaten. Since then, it’s been almost nothing but misery for them. They went 8-17-7 after that three-game win streak, burying them in the standings and putting up a massive obstacle for their playoff aspirations. Yes, Philly is currently playing better – they’ve won six of their past seven games – but many of those wins have come against lesser lights (San Jose, Anaheim, Arizona), and even with their improved play, the Flyers are 11 points out of fourth in the Metro. It will take a miracle for them to make the playoffs, and it feels like another long losing skid is just around the corner. Their first half of the season has been mostly abysmal, and their grade reflects that reality. Grade: D 8. COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (12-26-2, 26 POINTS) Hopes were high for the Jackets after they signed star winger Johnny Gaudreau last summer. But injuries, terrible goaltending and the NHL’s third-worst offense (averaging 2.55 goals per game) have destroyed Columbus’ playoff hopes. Their bottom two forward lines and defense corps generally have been a wasteland. There’s no cavalry on the horizon, and when only Chicago has fewer points than the Blue Jackets do, that’s a sign there are more problems in Ohio than injuries. Winning generational talent Connor Bedard in the 2023 NHL draft would make it worth all this losing, but the Jackets need help in all areas of the game, and that won’t come right away. Grade: F
