What a turn around a year makes - well sorry Edmonton lol...
It is pretty early on but you can certainly see a few teams from Canada are really looking good out there.
Ottawa has to be the biggest surprise, they just look so fast out there, Lajoie and Chabot look like legit top pair talents out there...Tkachuk has been as impressive as any rookie can be right now (sucks for the injury but hopefully no more than a month)...their depth guys have stepped up as Tierney and Smith have looked real good, and Stone hasn't really even started scoring yet. Plus they have some real good kids ready to come up in Wolanin, Balcers, Brown, etc.. Ottawa might be a bubble playoff team this year, very very few even dreamed that.
Vancouver has a lot going on that Ottawa does. The kids are stepping up and taking roles like Petterrsen, Horvat and Boeser. They have guys like Sutter and Ericksson playing solid hockey, and anything I have ever said negatively about Edler- I take it back, that dude is a stud!! I am not sure they have the depth to get through the grind, but they have been entertaining as well and have kids like Gaudette ready to step up too.
Montreal is a team that....I honestly can't explain. I have no idea how they are winning games with the roster they have, but the team is so quick and hustles most nights, they simply are outworking their opponents. They have some talent here as Byron and Gallagher are two very underrated players, Tatar seems to be the find of the year and Drouin finally might be figuring things out. Kotkaniemi has been real good though nothing spectacular, but overall the team just looks good out there...also Mike Reilly has been very solid on the point too..and they have that Carey Price guy too...
Calgary and Winnipeg are both teams I expected to make the playoffs and neither are letting that down though Winnipeg is taking its sweet time to really get rolling here. I expect both teams to be in the playoffs this year as they are well balanced groups.
Almost every team from Canada is playing better than last year.....and oh yeah, forgot about the Leafs....no I didn't, don't want to talk about them, this is for the other teams lol... But so far so good for ALL the teams out of Canada this year............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................sorry Edmonton