Balance on display early in NHL season

You can call it what you want but I like to hail the opening stages of the NHL season a parity-party.

Parity-party, even-Stevens, parallelism or simply – uniformity. They all fit the description of a season that holds the appearance of being highly, highly competitive.

Here in Ottawa the local club has joined that non-exclusive club as well.

Record-wise as we breach the very early 11-game mark, the Ottawa Senators sit at comparable 5-5-1. Why comparable? There are four other teams with the same number of points (Toronto, Florida, Philadelphia and Anaheim). There are another 11 teams within one point – either way – of the Senators.

That is tight.

What’s interesting is that to the naked eye, this season has the guise of not veering too far away from the initial outlook. Teams that have tanked in previous recent years are catching up and teams that have lapped the field by Game 82 are, generally, coming back to the pack.

Case in point – the Stanley Cup two-timing Florida Panthers. The champs hold a seat right beside the up-and-down Senators at 5-5-1. Granted, Paul Maurice’s team is not only missing its two top players in Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk but they’re missing two of the absolute best in the entire league.

(As you know Ottawa Fan, your Senators are missing a Tkachuk of your own.)

As we’ve written in this space before, it doesn’t seem to matter to the Panthers where they finish when all is said and done as long as they finish somewhere that includes a playoff spot. They’re not skipping the post-season this year. Won’t happen.

Other perennial regular season success stories like Toronto and Tampa (ugh, what an early start for the Lightning) and the Western Conference winning Edmonton Oilers have proven less than stellar. The Leafs, especially, were a given for a rung on the playoff ladder. This go-round things could get sticky.

This particular line of thought does not include all the expected top dogs. Colorado, Dallas, Vegas and Winnipeg are all off to strong starts and give no indication of falling off . . . at this point.

But from the top to the ‘expected’ bottom we roll.

Taking a peep at the very top of the circuit there are some big surprises. In fact, four of the five clubs tied in league-leading points with 16 jolt you out of your slumber.

Utah? New Jersey? Unexpected.

Montreal and Pittsburgh? Startlingly unexpected.

Of the bunch, we’d have to conclude that the Penguins – who’s average roster age among their very best comes in at around 40 – get the lion’s share of surprise. Maybe it’s simply Sid just tuning up his game for what promises to be his last Winter Olympics or maybe it’s a fresh face behind the bench in Dan Muse, we muse.

Well, next up is Montreal, a team the Senators will see at the Bell Centre – 1909 Av. des Canadiens-de-Montréal – on Saturday night.

Hot ticket?

You bet.

The Habs are playing splendid, rapid-fire, rapid-paced hockey.

Newcomers Noah Dobson, Ivan Demidov and Zack Bolduc fit like a glove on a team that values skating seemingly like no other. Returnees Nick Suzuki (16 points in 11 games), Cole Caufield (nine goals in 11 games) and rookie-of-the-year Lane Hutson (10 points) are marching forward like an Atlantic Division title might be in reach.

This is called fast development, and Montreal fans are praying for a continuation.

And we can’t leave this alone until we talk about a few of the other interminable cellar-sitters plowing their way forward. These are the teams that have struggled out of the muck and finally are seeing . . . hope.

The Detroit Red Wings were being counted on for another success-less year under the suddenly suspicious leadership of Steve Yzerman. Not so early on. Detroit’s at a genuinely nice 7-3-0.

The Wings fellow Eastern Conference strugglers in Buffalo have also found their game after a truly horrific start. The Sabres have collected six points in their last four games.

The look in the Western looks to be changing as well.

Chicago and Connor Bedard are 5-3-2 out of the gate.

Meantime, San Jose’s off to a rough opening but there is no doubt the Sharks will be better and soon.

And that club need not look any further than down-State for evidence. The Anaheim Ducks and their riches of youth are bearing fruit.

Is there a stronger collection of near-potential skaters and reaching-their-potential players than Anaheim’s? Mason McTavish, Cutter Gauthier, Troy Terry, Leo Carlsson and Beckett Senneke lead the way.

Add in some savvy veteran pick-ups (Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba and Mikael Granlund) and you see why general manager Pat Verbeek is getting hefty praise.

What this all tells us is the race to the post-season will be taxing and challenging and highly watchable.

Let’s hope it holds.

OTTAWA SENATORS WEEK AHEAD:

Thursday, Oct. 30: Calgary at Ottawa (7 pm)

Saturday, Nov. 1: Ottawa at Montreal (7 pm)

Thursday, Nov. 6: Ottawa at Boston (7 pm)

thegrossgame@yahoo.com

Photo: Courtesy NHL