The National Hockey League is a North American professional ice hockey league with 32 clubs, 25 in the US and 7 in Canada. It is regarded as the world’s finest professional ice hockey league and one of the leading professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. While all of us expect these teams to always perform their best, sometimes luck can be on the other side.If you want to watch the playoffs live and your team is the Penguins, for example, you should check their Penguins schedule well in advance to ensure you can get tickets.
This article combines some of the NHL teams that didn’t perform well from 2021-to 2022.
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Montreal Canadiens (7-21-3, 31st in NHL)
The 2021 Stanley Cup runner-ups came to Earth in the first third of the season, their season plagued by the absence or departure of many key postseason participants, including captain Shea Weber, center Phillip Danualt, and Carey Price. The Montreal Canadiens are battling the Arizona Coyotes for first place in the draft lottery, and they look nothing like the team that stunned the hockey world last spring. Notably, some of Montreal’s young players have struggled to adjust to their expanded roles and responsibilities. Click here to find the best sport betting sites in Brazil.
Nick Suzuki has struggled as the team’s first-line center, and rookie sensation Cole Caufield (12 points in 20 postseason games in 2020-21) was sent to the American Hockey League (AHL) after a sluggish start to the season. It’s debatable whether entering a competitive slump before the coveted 2022 NHL draft is advantageous to the team in the long term. Still, such bleak outcomes sting compared to the fascinating slice of success much of this core enjoyed last season. It’s not like the squad has been snakebitten; the underlying results present a picture as bleak as a peek at the standings suggests. They don’t generate much offense at 5v5 (24th in xGF/60) and fail to protect their net-minders (26th in xGA/60), resulting in a dismal blend of incompetence.
New York Islanders (8-12-6, 26th in NHL)
COVID has played a significant part in many of the New York Islanders’ dismal starts this season, kneecapping their lineup so frequently that their schedule was the second to be postponed by the league after the Senators. It didn’t help that Barry Trotz’s team started the season on the road for 13 straight games, whereas their new stadium was being built.
Mathew Barzal, the Islanders’ offensive talisman, has failed to match his past performance levels. His 17 points in 23 games are the latest in a concerning pattern of stagnant scoring totals since his stunning rookie season of 85 points in 82 games. It’s not through a lack of effort, as Barzal has the greatest shot-attempt (CF/60) and anticipated individual goal (ixG/60) percentages of his career. The shaky center is in the middle of a terrible slump, which nightly lineup changes have only compounded.
For much of the season, the team has also been missing defensive veteran Ryan Pulock, with the right-handed defenseman appearing in only 12 of New York’s 26 games due to a serious foot injury. His absence has been a significant loss, especially given his success as one-half of the Islanders’ go-to duo with Adam Pelech.
The Seattle Kraken
The Seattle-based hockey team also did not do their best. They now have a -23 goal differential and have let 3.57 goals for each game; a futile number bested only by the Ottawa Senators (3.61) and Arizona Coyotes (3.69). The Kraken has struggled in the net, and this is the primary issue. Seattle’s goalie stats are an apparent source of concern. The Kraken ranks worst in save % and high-danger save percentage, which corresponds to what the eye test revealed. The team gave up too many goals and failed to make crucial stops at crucial times.
This article summed up three famous NHL teams that did not perform well from 2021 to 2022, including the Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, and The Seattle Kraken. Each of the mentioned teams has had a season to forget from 2021 to 2022. The combination of considerable squad change, COVID causing havoc, and periods of harsh puck luck has sent these teams to the NHL’s bottom. There is still some time for them to correct their mistakes, so they should work really hard to get back to their success.
