Every October brings a standings check that looks a little cleaner than the chaos underneath it, and the Metropolitan Division is already serving up plenty of that. Some clubs are humming, some are merely hanging on, and a few are finding out early that one injury or one cold stretch can tilt the whole picture fast.
Start with Carolina, because the defending champions are doing exactly what defending champions do when things are rolling. Sebastian Aho has burst out with five goals and nine points in six games, and the Hurricanes are averaging almost four goals per night to open the season. That kind of production is an encouraging twist even for a team that was expected to sit near the top anyway.
The Rangers, meanwhile, took a brutal hit this week. They lost Igor Shesterkin for the season to a leg injury after already getting off to a solid start, with four wins in their first five games and their new faces settling in nicely.
Shesterkin had even scored the first goalie goal in the long history of the club, which made the whole thing feel especially surreal. Now the outlook changes completely.
Joonas Korpisalo is hurt too, so New York likely has to go shopping in free agency for a goalie, the kind of old hand who wasn’t signed over the summer and is now being asked to steady the situation. That’s a much steeper climb than the one they were facing a week ago.
Washington has also picked up early wins that matter. The Capitals have beaten Carolina, Pittsburgh and New York already, and they’ve done it without needing a huge number of games to do it. The line of Alex Tuch, PL Dubois and Tom Wilson has been a problem for opponents so far, and the size on that trio is going to make life difficult for anyone trying to slow the Caps down.
For Pittsburgh, the first stretch has been a roller coaster. The good has been good, the bad has been bad and the ugly has been ugly.
Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell still haven’t really gotten going, and Egor Chinakhov has just one goal. An extended road trip could be exactly what the Penguins need to shake things loose and maybe get some of their veterans moving in the right direction.
New Jersey keeps fitting a familiar script: strong underlying numbers, not nearly enough payoff in the standings. The Devils have wins over Philadelphia and Vancouver, which helps, but they still look like a team that should be getting a little more out of what they’re doing at 5-on-5.
Anthony Mantha hasn’t helped yet, either. He has zero goals and zero points in his first four games with New Jersey despite being used alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, which is probably not the best fit.
Put him on a third line, let him feast on easier competition. Or, don’t!
Columbus has been alternating wins and losses, so there’s not much of a sample to work with yet. Still, there was some promise from younger players in the game against Pittsburgh, especially Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger. If the Blue Jackets are going to get moving, they need that kind of help from former first-round picks who have been around long enough to start pushing things forward.
The Islanders are in a similar early-season holding pattern. They’ve gone win, loss, win, loss through four games, which doesn’t reveal much beyond the fact that the sample is tiny.
Matthew Schaefer remains fun to watch, and Bo Horvat has four goals in the first four games. He also avoided injury after taking a hit that led to Frank Nazar being suspended for two games.
Then there’s Philadelphia, and the picture there is already rough. The Flyers are once again dipping into the kind of stretch where nothing seems to work, and this one has started with seven goals in six games.
That’s a mess. The question now is how deep the hole gets before they find any kind of answer, and whether they have enough time to climb out of it.
Right now, they need to show basic competency before anything else can matter.
In Other News...
Sabres Just Added A New Concern To Their Blue Line Depth
Buffalos blue line depth took another hit with a minor trade on Tuesday, as the Sabres and Penguins swapped organization-level defensemen in a move that could still ripple beyond the AHL roster. Pittsburgh picked up Ryan Johnson, while Buffalo brought in Caleb Jones and Daniel Laatsch, with all three players currently assigned to minor league teams. For the Penguins, it is a low-risk way to add another young defenseman to the system and see whether Johnson can carve out a path within a different organization.
For Buffalo, the deal closes the book on Johnsons time in the organization after a long run that began when he was drafted in 2019. Jones is the name most likely to matter in the short term, since he is expected to give the Sabres some defensive insurance while injuries continue to test the teams depth. The rest of the move is more about rearranging pieces than making an immediate NHL impact, but it is the kind of transaction that can quietly shape what a team has available when the season starts to wear on. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Head Into Tough Trip With One Big Question Still Unsettled
After a rough start to the week against Winnipeg and Washington, the Penguins steadied themselves enough to pick up three of a possible four points in back-to-back games against Columbus and Dallas. The Dallas showing in particular offered a better snapshot of where the group can be when it is skating with purpose, and now the next test arrives quickly as Pittsburgh opens a difficult road trip in Chicago.
The trip brings the usual lineup and goalie questions into sharper focus, especially with the Penguins trying to keep momentum while making small adjustments around the edges. The Blackhawks have been struggling through a poor season and a low expected goal share, but there is still some uncertainty around whether Connor Bedard will be available Tuesday, leaving Pittsburgh to prepare for more than one version of the matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Just Added A Blue Line Piece Worth Watching
Pittsburgh continued its blue line shuffle by bringing in Ryan Johnson from Buffalo, a move that adds another young defenseman to the mix as the Penguins keep sorting out their depth on the back end. Johnson has spent parts of four professional seasons working between the NHL, the AHL and college hockey, and his background gives the Penguins a player with some mileage but still room to grow.
For a team that has been looking for useful pieces on defense, Johnson arrives with a manageable cap hit and some runway left on his contract. The question now is how quickly he can carve out a role in Pittsburgh after getting a longer look in Buffalo, where he logged 47 NHL games before this change of scenery. [Read more 🡒]