sports November 16, 2011 - Over the Edge LADIES AND GENTLEMAN START YOUR ENGINES! A few surprises early in the NHL season ANUP SANDHU CONTRIBUTOR a a “e The Canucks and Oilers have gone in different directions early this season. he NHL season is a month old [= some teams have started their engines while some have ignored this famous racing intro com- pletely. In a league where any team can go through many ebb and flows, this early season has produced some big surprises. The Oilers and Leafs have both bolted out of the gates. There have been many similarities between the two clubs. The upstarts Oilers have had a sur- prising start. Their goaltending has been excellent. Nikolai Khabibulin is playing as if he has found the fountain of youth. The trio of Taylor Hall, Jor- dan Eberle and rookie sensation Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has given the Oilers clutch scoring. The Return of Ryan Smyth is paying early dividends. He has played great and is providing much needed leadership to the young team. The biggest surprise is on the back end as Tom Gilbert and Ladislav Smid are leading a young blue line. The team is buying into the coach’s defense first game plan. Corey Potter is a huge surprise and compliments the young kids on the powerplay. It is doubtful the Oilers can maintain this pace in a competitive western confer- ence, but they are giving their fans a preview of what is to come in the future. The Leafs Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul are both in the top ten in scor- ing. They are scoring big goals and the team is getting timely second- ary scoring. Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin have been fixtures on the second line and are contribut- ing. Captain Dion Phaneuf is anchor- ing one of the deepest blue lines in the NHL. The team is getting very timely goaltending and has used all three of their goalies this year. An early injury to James Reimer has given Jonas Gus- tavsson a great opportunity and he has played well. The Leafs like the Oil- ers have given their fans a glimpse of what’s to come in the upcoming seasons. On the other end of the spectrum, this year’s projected favorites the Bruins, Canucks, and Redwings are still stuck in neutral. The Bruins have been very slow out of the gate. The team is feeling the effects of a Stanley cup hangover. Players are not win- ning battles and not back checking. The team might need to shake it up to cure their hangover. The Redwings just might be getting old. The once mighty Wings have been struggling all year. It starts in net Jimmy Howard has not had a great start. He will need to prove himself all year. Coach Mike Babcock will have to motivate his two star forwards. He has separated Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. They both have struggled defensively this year and that is alarming. These two teams have the talent to rocket up the stand- ings and probably will do so. The Canucks have started slow every October since head coach Alain Vigneault has been behind the bench. The goaltending has been shaky all year. Roberto Luongo has had a slow start to the season. Kevin Bieksa has looked lost out their this year. He struggled last week against Minne- sota and said it was the worst game of his career. The Sedin twins haven’t been consistent all year. Ryan Kesler is slowly improving and playing with newly acquired David booth gives the Canucks much needed secondary scoring. One bright spot has been the play of Maxim Lapierre. This agitator has stepped up his game and is having a great year. There is too much talent on this team for them not to tum it around. Look for the Canucks to have a great second half of the season. Sporting Shots The Nashville Predators signed one of there big three players last week. Pekka Rinne signed a seven year 49 million dollar contract. Rinne bene- fited by the fact he was the Ist one of the three to sign. They will try to sign Ryan Suter and then Shea Weber. The team will most likely have to trade one of these players. David Polle the General Manager is in a tough spot. PHOTO CRED. PUNEET HAYER He can overpay for Suter and then have three seven million dollar play- ers if Weber stay’s or he could trade one and risk losing the other to free agency. He should sign Suter than Weber. The Predators fans should get used to low scoring games. The team will never take the next step without a marquee forward. It might be time for them to fly to Russian and convince Alex Radulov to make a comeback. The Columbus Bluejackets have been terrible out of the gate. Look for a major shakeup soon. Scott Howson the General Manager has had some bad luck. James Wisniewksi was sus- pended to start the season. Upon his return star forward Jeff Carter has been out with a foot injury. Last week the Columbus Dispatch reported that the team has been inquiring about general manager and head coach re- placements. The Bluejackets denied the report but usually where there’s smoke there’s fire.