We have reached the halfway point in the NHL season and there are some very good teams in the league right now that are poised to win their respective divisions and make the playoffs. There are also teams that may not win the division, but are poised to make the playoffs. Here are the top-10 teams in the NHL right now.
10: Montreal Canadians: The Canadians have had a great season so far, as they are 26-12-3 and are currently second in the Atlantic Division. Carey Price is having another great season as goaltender for Montreal and is really establishing himself as one of the best goaltenders in the league. Max Pacioretty leads the team in points with 33 and P.K. Subban is right behind him with 27. It's going to be interesting to see if Montreal can overtake the Lightning down the stretch and win the Atlantic.
9. New York Rangers: The Rangers are one of the hottest teams in the league right now, having won 13 out of their last 15 games. After such a slow start to the season, it seems that Henrik Lundqvist has found his game again and has shown that he is one of the best goaltenders in the world. Rick Nash has 26 goals this season and is on pace to record 53 goals this season if he keeps up this This team will be very dangerous come playoff time if they get a high seed in the East.
8. Washington Capitals: Washington has been surging as of late and now are real threats to win the Metropolitan division over teams such as the Islanders and the Penguins. Nickas Backstrom has been outstanding throughout the first half of the season with the Capitals and so has Alex Ovechkin. Braden Holtby has also been outstanding for Washington in goal this season as he has a .957 save percentage which ranks near the top of the league. We'll see if this continues in the second half of the season.
7. St. Louis Blues: Even though the goaltending has been a bit of an issue for them, players such as Kevin Shattenkirk, Alexander Steen, and especially Vladimir Tarasenko have stepped up for the Blues. Tarasenko has had a career year with 24 goals and 22 assists. A few of those goals he scored earlier in the season were just filthy. Ken Hitchcock has this team going in the right direction, but it's going to be interesting to see how they play in the playoffs since they have a habit of blowing 2-0 series leads.
6. New York Islanders: What a season it has been for the New York Islanders. They have really surprised me this season in terms of contending for the Metropolitan division title and quite possibly the best record in the East. goaltender Jarolsav Halak has been outstanding this season and has gone through stretches in which he hadn't lost a start in over eight games. John Tavares and Kyle Okposo have also had outstanding years as they are both at the top of the leaderboard for points for their team. They face a big test on Friday against the Penguins who are trying to win their second consecutive Metropolitan divison title.
5. Pittsburgh Penguins: It's been one crazy season for the Penguins so far. From Pascal Dupuis being out for the season because of blood clots, to Olli Maatta having a cancerous tumor removed, to a lot of the Penguins players getting the Mumps including captain Sidney Crosby, it's just been a mess. Not to mention that the Penguins once played with half of their AHL team this season since they were decimated by injuries. The Penguins finally seem to be almost healthy now and they're starting to look like a really dangerous team. Evgeni Malkin is having an MVP type season while Sidney Crosby is in one of the worst slumps of his career even though he seems to be just about out of it. Marc-Andre Fleury has also been a top five goaltender this season and is a serious candidate for the Vezina trophy. He also leads the league in shutouts with six. This teams success will always be measured in the postseason though so we'll see how the team looks by the time it gets there.
4. Anaheim Ducks: Anaheim has had a great first half of the season as they currently lead the Pacific division by nine points. Ryan Getzlaf continues to have another MVP type season as he has 45 points which leads the team. Ryan Kesler has also been a pretty good player in his first season in Anaheim as he is second on the team in points with 29. Anaheim has had some struggles this season but they remain one of the best teams in the West and will be force down the stretch.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning: Tampa has been arguably the best team in the East this season and currently lead the Atlantic division. Tyler Johnson has really been great this year as he leads the team in points and in my opinion, he's one of the most underrated players in the NHL. Nikita Kucherov is also playing great as well. Steven Stamkos is back what he's doing best which is scoring goals and the Lightning are going to need him to continue doing that for the rest of the season if they are to win the Atlantic. Ben Bishop is again having another great year after coming off the best season of his career last season in Tampa. Hopefully they will have him in goal for the playoffs this year since he was unable to play in last years playoffs due to injury.
2. Chicago Blackhawks: Chicago had a pretty bad start to the season but as everyone expected, they climbed up the standings and are second in the Central division right now. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are doing what they normally do which is leading this stacked Blackhawks team. As always, they will be a threat down the stretch and especially into the playoffs where they have had some great success over the years hence the two Stanley Cup championships they've won.
1. Nashville Predators: I never thought I would be saying this at any point this year but the Nashville Predators truly are the best team in the NHL. Pekka Rinne has established himself as one of the best goaltenders in the world again after injury problems the past couple seasons prevented him from playing. He got hurt the other night but it doesn't sound like it's too serious which is good because they will need him big time for the playoffs. The emergence of Filip Forsberg has been huge for the Predators as he leads the team in points and Colin Wilson is also having a career year for the Predators. Not to mention Mike Ribeiro has had a bounce back season as well. It's going to be one heck of a race down the stretch for the Central division.