Most surprisingly good teams this season?

[Howe Elbows 9]

Among the teams that missed the playoffs last season, who have been the most surprisingly good (so far) this season?

Team	2021-22 season, points	2021-22 season, league finish
Seattle Kraken	60	30th
New Jersey Devils	63	28th
Detroit Red Wings	74	25th
New York Islanders	84	20th
Winnipeg Jets	89	19th
Vegas Golden Knights	94	17th

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[MardyBum]

Picked the Devils. Last year they were a very good 5v5 team with awful goaltending that killed them (kind of like Seattle who were a good team with awful goaltending).

I thought they'd be comfortably in a playoff spot if they got league average goaltending this year, did not expect them to be this damn good though.

 

[sebsisles]

Devils and Kraken for me.

 

[bobholly39]

Pretty obviously Seattle and NJ

Vegas - last year is a fluke and everyone expected them to be good again

NYI - everyone knows they disappointed last year and could have done better. Not surprising they're doing good

Winnipeg - this is a team with constants ups and downs. Like NYI not really surprising, still early in the season too

NJ is shocking simply due to how good they are. If they had a similar record to Jets or Islanders would be less shocking, but as it is its a huge surprise

Seattle - everyone expected them to be a bottom feeder. To see them do so good is quite shocking, to me at least. Still dont think its sustainable, as i think they miss playoffs, but we'll see.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Kraken. I was expecting them to be a bottom 5 team but they've been impressive.

 

[Hockeyholic]

My only concern with NJ is are they peaking too soon?

Eventually they will hit a losing streak and slump. You want it to happen in February or March. Not right before the PO.

 

[NyQuil]

Seattle is an easy choice.

I hesitate to put New Jersey ahead of a team like Detroit because the components have also been building over the past few years but I think the magnitude of their success is more surprising.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Picked Seattle, people knew the Devils would break out so it's only surprising how quickly it happened.
Most thought Seattle would be closer to 32nd than a playoff spot.

 

[Xspyrit]

Seattle


Not that surprised about NJ, they were on the verge of "breaking out" and made some necessary adjustments. Didn't expect that good of a record though

 

[Aashir Mallik]

In terms of how good they’ve been, the Devils

In terms of just being good at all, Seattle

I expected the devils to fight for a playoff spot, not the presidents trophy

I expected Seattle to fight for a top 5 pick, not for home ice in round 1

 

[biturbo19]

I went with Seattle and Winnipeg.


The Devils have been surprising in just how good they've been so far this year. Really firing on all cylinders in a pretty remarkable way. But it's not necessarily as surprising as some of the others, in that there were plenty of signs that they were actually a potentially pretty good team last year, being held back by abysmal goaltending. They also improved their blueline in the offseason and have key guys healthy. I didn't think they'd be this good, but it always seemed like with competent goaltending, they were primed to take a big step forward.



Whereas the Kraken being anything other than a cellar dweller, is absolutely shocking to me. They really didn't show anything last year that made me think they were on the cusp of turning things around and even leading the division. Still not convinced it's sustainable. I think other teams in the division are going to get things sorted out a bit and Seattle will fall off. But it's been shocking to see them winning games and topping the standings.


The Jets are also really surprising to me. They feel like a kind of flawed team that had all sorts of "locker room drama" floating around them and seemed to be on a pretty evident downward trend as a group. But they've really come together and the coaching change has worked out for them, so far at least.