EP Rinkside 3 stars: Hot teams, hot seats

It doesn't seem like this should be possible this early in the season but here goes anyway: As of right now, there is a team that has played seven games, and two more that have played six, while another has just two.

And yeah, the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres had those two games in Europe so that's gonna skew things a bit, but how is it possible that the Devils have played two back-to-backs already? Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes had that game in Tampa postponed due to the… well, hurricane, and has otherwise only played the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Devils at home.

I know this all balances out in the end but right now it's a little jarring to see a team that has played less than a third of what others in their same division have. Hell, the Hurricanes are playing tonight so the gap is shrinking by a sizable margin. But it does make looking at the standings — which we all love to do — a fun little game.

Let's go:

3. A hot market

Teams love trying to sign goalies lately. And hey, why not? You need one of those. Ask any team that doesn't really have one they trust.

And while the New York Rangers are still kinda waiting for something to happen with their No. 1 — who apparently isn't happy news of his refusal to take an $11-million AAV for eight years ended up getting out — the Dallas Stars are the latest to make a successful attempt.

And they can thank the Boston Bruins (and specifically Cam Neely) for setting the market for a great young goalie who played college hockey in New England and has one year to UFA status. Jake Oettinger signed for the exact same deal as Jeremy Swayman did, albeit with a lot less acrimony, and ensured his future in Dallas for the next eight years at $8.25 million against the cap. Now, you can argue Oettinger deserved more because he's played more than Swayman and had a bit more postseason success as well. But the finger thing means the taxes and he's gonna take more home on every same-size check than Swayman, and that's why I am advocating for every NHL team to move to Massachusetts, so it's more fair. Think of it now: The Braintree Oilers. Wow.

Anyway, this new contract can't be good news for Igor Shesterkin, because if we're saying Swayman was gonna reset the market, then Shesterkin was going to obliterate it. If you're the Rangers, a very good goalie like Oettinger (who, to be clear, doesn't approach Shesterkin's résumé) signing for the same money as Swayman is the move you want to see. Every signing that pulls the max value of a goalie a little more toward "not eight figures" is great news.

I do wonder, though, if this just forces the issue to some sort of deadline and the Rangers suddenly find their star goalie thinking about hitting the open market. You might not want to give the guy five years at an AAV of $11 million, but if he thinks someone else will — and why wouldn't they? — then you might come out on the losing end.

But whatever. The practical upshot of this for the Stars is that this is a great deal, and Oettinger gets to stay where he already lives, with a really well-built team. Not much to complain about for either side.

2. Just a regular old hot start

I mentioned the Devils already and it must be said that despite having to sprint out of the gate, they're playing really well. They have 10 points from their first seven games, which is basically all you can ask for — just please ignore that they started 5-2-1 before missing the playoffs last season — and have the best all-situations expected-goals share in the league (59.2 percent). And that's with a couple key injuries on the blue line and some guys getting off to slower offensive starts than they might have liked.

I don't really have a ton to say about them besides pointing out that this was a team that was supposed to bounce back this season, and unlike some other teams I'm about to mention in the next section, they're taking care of that business. Banking points during a busy part of the schedule is important, and they've been doing that. Thumbs up from me.

1. The hot seat?

With some of those expected-to-be-good teams I just referenced, I am already wondering whether they're thinking about a change behind the bench.

Like, how much is the putrid goaltending in Colorado putting Jared Bednar in jeopardy? Same with Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh. 

And how safe does Derek Lalonde feel in Detroit after his team has given up 15 goals in four games and a special teams net of just 76.8 percent. Just my opinion: That wouldn't be a good PK percentage, but that number is the sum of their power play (12.5 percent) and kill (64.3 percent). So that's tough to look at.

And the Red Wings are behind Buffalo in the standings, which is bad because it really feels like the Sabres' season is over already. They probably can't fire Lindy Ruff, since they just hired him, but maybe…

Vancouver just won its first game in Florida, and Edmonton seems to be back on track after their rough start (not that I expected a coaching change in either case unless the poor play stretched into November), so that takes two coaches' names out of the "uh oh" category for now.

But with Colorado, Pittsburgh, and Detroit, there were expectations of varying degrees. The Avs were supposed to be Cup-competitive, the Pens wanted to return to the playoffs, and the Wings really needed to finally take a step. It's only a handful of games, but no matter what time of the season it is, you don't want to be looking up the standings page at that many teams. It'll be interesting to see who makes the first move there.

And finally, not that I think Andrew Brunette is in any real danger of being fired right now, how about the Nashville Predators starting 0-4-0? Lots of talk about the Canucks not winning until last night, or the Oilers and the Avalanche. 

But you're not hearing much at all about how the Preds have just eight goals in four games, and have given up 14. I'm sure they'll be fine but what's the story there? Until Filip Forsberg scored midway through the first period last night, they hadn't even led in a game so far this season — and they lost that lead in less than six minutes. Juuse Saros, whom they wanted to bounce back after a below-expectations season and a huge contract extension, is sub-.900. They've been crushed at 5-on-5, generating just 42 percent of the expected goals (fourth-worst in the league). The good news is that last stat is right around some other teams that were expected to be good this season, but the difference is those teams — Boston and Vegas — are winning despite their poor starts and the vibes are pretty good. The vibes are not good in Nashville, and the expectation was that this was going to be an impressive team that built some real aspirations.

For them and the coaches mentioned above, it sucks that the clock is already ticking. But that is the reality.