An extremely surprising trend has manifest itself throughout the first five weeks of this year's NHL season. Some of the strongest teams from last year have struggled to find their playoff forms in this season's first month.
Two glaring examples of this trend are in the Eastern Conference, where the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils—the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds in last year's conference standings, respectively—find themselves next to last and dead last in the East heading into November.
Both teams won their respective divisions last year—the Sabres with a 45-27-10 record, good for 100 points; and the Devils with a 48-27-27 mark, earning 103 points. But for those teams thus far, their impressive records have been M.I.A.
The two teams have had their fair share of problems that have led to their rapid downfall.
The Sabres have fallen victim to crippling inconsistency. This is a talented team, there is no doubt about that. Left winger Thomas Vanek, defenseman Tyler Myers and goaltender Ryan Miller are the core of a team that was expected to repeat in the Northeast Division this season. But things have not gone as planned.
Tyler Myers, the reigning rookie of the year, has seemingly succumbed to a terrible sophomore slump. Myers is an NHL-worst -12 on the season, and through 15 games has only four points to show after scoring 48 points in 82 games last year. He has also looked hesitant with the puck, making him prone to giveaways. Buffalo GM has said that it looks like Myers doubts himself on the ice, not trusting that his first instinct is the best one.
Thomas Vanek, the Sabres' $7 million man, has also struggled out of the gate. He has seven points so far on the year, definitely a number smaller than what he has proven he can put up.
Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Ryan Miller has by no means had a bad season so far, posting a 2.71 GAA and a .903 save percentage. But that is a far cry from the production from last season when he boasted a 2.22 GAA and .929 save percentage.
Miller has also missed the past few games with a lower body injury, leaving his backup Patrick Lalime to mind the net. Lalime has not helped the Sabres' fortunes —he has lost every game he's started, putting up awful numbers (3.31 GAA, .888 SV%) in the process.
Miller is the unquestioned leader of the Sabres, and without his presence on the ice every night the Sabres have at times looked lost and uninspired as a result. Coach Lindy Ruff even benched captain Craig Rivet to try to fire up his team during their recent stretch of terrible play, but even that didn't inspire them.
Many believe the Sabres' success last year was directly tied to Miller's superb play, so Sabres fans like myself can only hope that Miller's return will signal a turnaround in Buffalo. He can't do it alone, though; The rest of his cast needs to step up their games.
As disappointing as the Sabres have been this year, they can look to New Jersey and think, ""Well at least we're not those guys.""
Coming into the season, the Devils were expected to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and who would have thought differently? They are led by a solid group of forwards consisting of Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jamie Langenbrunner, Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias. They also have the greatest goalie the NHL has ever seen in Martin Brodeur. There was little not to like about the Devils' chances coming into the year.
But somewhere along the line, things started going downhill very quickly. The Devils have limped out of the gate to a 4-10-1 record, good for dead last in the conference. The string of events that have highlighted the season thus far for New Jersey are nothing short of ridiculous.
It all started with Kovalchuk being a healthy scratch. Kovalchuk, the Devils' $100 million man was benched for a game for being late to a team meeting. This story set off a media fire storm and became a huge distraction, never a good thing for a team that was already struggling.
Kovalchuk and his enormous contract have been a problem for the Devils all year. Many people, including former Devils player Bobby Holik, have said it is because of that contract that the Devils have struggled. He said signing Kovalchuk to that deal this offseason has hamstrung the organization.
New Jersey's problems do not end with Kovalchuk, however. The Devils have only scored 25 goals in their first 15 games, and their power play ranks near the bottom of the league. It certainly hasn't helped New Jersey's cause that superstar forward Parise is out for three months with a knee injury, and Brodeur has missed a significant amount of time as well.
Whatever the problem is, no one would have predicted at the season's outset that these two teams would be middling around last place as the calendar turned to November. Only time will tell if, as the season goes on, the Sabres and Devils find a way to resurrect their thus-far-disappointing seasons.
Is there still a chance for Buffalo and New Jersey to get back in the winning spirit this season? E-mail Ryan at rmevans2@wisc.edu.
