It's a long, long season, with many disappointments and tailspins yet to come.
But 2009-10 is already a success for the Axis of Underdog.
The Buffalo Sabres, Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes should have all faded away by now, according to media types like, well, me.
They remain among the top 10 teams in the NHL.
The Coyotes, in particular, appear to be fading of late.
But regardless of what transpires down the stretch - and there's no telling how teams will respond to a lengthy, late-season Olympic break - it can't discredit what the Axis of Underdog has already achieved.
Even with the benefit of hindsight, the lineups on these teams look rather ordinary.
But they've been winning consistently, and winning consistently in the NHL might be the biggest challenge in pro sport.
Just ask overpriced, punch-drunk challengers like the Flyers, Red Wings, and Flames. Call them this year's Axis of Turmoil.
Photo: Bet you don't have him in the pool. Patric Hornqvist is the leading goal scorer on the 7th-best team in the NHL (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images).
Comments
“Just ask overpriced, punch-drunk challengers like the Flyers, Red Wings, and Flames. Call them this year’s Axis of Turmoil”.
The Flames are certainly a team in need of leadership, specifically, coaching. It appears Flame’s players have tuned out Brent Sutter. The irascible style of Sutter doesn’t seem to be resonating with some of the egos (Phaneuf, Jokinen) on the team. Turmoil, no doubt.
Philadelphia appears to have turned things around and will probably make the playoffs, unless the Islanders continue to surprise the “experts”, the Bruins get healthy and Gaborik stays on speaking terms with Tortorella.
Depending on the injury situation, the Red Wings should be able to overtake Los Angeles and Calgary and possibly Vancouver. I doubt that San Jose or Chicago would be looking forward to playing a healthy Red Wings club in the first round.
As for being over priced (they all have to live under the salary cap) and punch-drunk and with 30+ games remaining, I would take any of these teams to live up to the expectations of the “experts”, rather than looking ahead, because some other teams had a good first half.
There is no doubt, the last two months of the season are going to be very interesting. The Islanders and Kings futures appear promising. Then again, that’s been said about the Kings for a few years now. However, I believe that Drew Doughty will be a Norris Trophy winner in the not too distant future.
It’s going to be a good stretch run, especially in the West and I, for one am looking forward to some great hockey.
Enjoy the rest of the season Jamie.
Actually, I think Colorado’s success was predictable – and I did so in the comment I sent that failed to appear here (as I mentioned to you earlier). A good goalie, some solid defensive defencemen, and lots of young talent allowed to flourish. Plus, Statsny is a really terrific top centre. My big question mark was coaching, but Sacco seems to be doing a good job. Last year as well you could see how hard the Islanders played and how well organized they were – clearly a good coach.