The NHL season is young, but there's already one team that stands out above the rest: the Ottawa Senators.
Although they have played only seven games, the Senators are doing it all, as they once again establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with.
Ottawa finished last season as the runner-up to the Anaheim Ducks for the Stanley Cup. In many instances this could have been devastating for the team's future, but the Senators are playing great hockey. Their 6-1-0 record and 12 points lead all teams, and they should only get better.
One of the main reasons why Ottawa has had such success during this young season is its penalty kill. The Senators are an astonishing 32-for-33 in killing off penalties this season for a 97 percent average, with veteran captain Daniel Alfredsson contributing a shorthanded goal.
Many thought that the goaltending would be an issue early in the season; however, backup goalie Martin Gerber has played well in relief of injured starter Ray Emery, with a 5-1 record and a 1.99 goals-against average. If Gerber can keep this up until Emery returns, then the Senators could have one of the best goalie tandems in all of hockey.
The Senators' management is also responsible for the team's hot start. After finishing fourth in the Eastern Conference last year and making it to the Finals, they proved to their fan base that they meant business, re-signing their leading goal-scorer, Dany Heatley, to a monstrous offseason extension for six years and $45 million. He has responded with six goals in the first seven games, emerging as the league's leading scorer.
With their offense and defense intact, as well as great play from their backup goalie, the Senators are well prepared to make another run at the Cup. And as statistics show - the past three Stanley Cup winners have gone a combined 23-2-1-4 in October - the better a team does in October, the better the chance they have at going deep into the postseason.
As the Senators continue to establish themselves as one of the top teams in the NHL, the world has taken notice. After the success of the two-game series between the Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings earlier this year in London's O2 Arena, next season will feature the Senators facing off against Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins in Prague to kick off the year.
This year was not the first time that two teams opened their schedules abroad, and the games seemed to be popular with European fans. The question is, are the two games worth the expenses and travel? It appears as if both the Ducks and Kings are feeling a little bit of the effects from their trip. The Kings have opened their season with a 1-5-0 start and have lost all four of their games back in the States. The defending Stanley Cup champs have not fared that much better, starting off 2-4-1. Time will only tell whether these two teams can regroup from their hectic early-season schedules.
The NHL is doing a fine job in trying to garner some more interest from fans with some new gimmicks. A second attention-grabbing idea has been the attempt to play games outdoors in the middle of winter.
In 2003, the Calgary Flames faced off outdoors against the Montreal Canadiens in Edmonton. These winter matches are trying to recreate what many players and fans remember from their youths - playing pick-up hockey on the ponds of Canada and the northern United States.
Tickets to the Penguins versus Buffalo Sabres game on New Year's Day 2008 have already sold out. Seeing a spectacle like this on the frozen ponds in the dead of winter confirms that the NHL still does provide some great entertainment.
