NHL hockey Quarterly review

What team’s are surprising out of the gate?

Who is the MVP of the league so far for their team?

Mike Brophy of Sportsnet.ca has written his opinion on the highs and lows of the league so far and his opinions on those topics.

He examines the teams expectations and whether they have lived up to them or not.

Steven Stamkos is clearly the top player in the league right now

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2010/11/25/brophy_quarter_pole_ratings/

Brophy states the two teams that have been a surprise out of the gate

for him are:

out of the east the New York Rangers, because “ the team’s  

young defense rallied around goaltender Henrik Lundqvist” and have held there own in their division so far dispite all the injuries they have had to key players such as Marian Gaborik and Chris Drury.

I however disagree with this statement, my surprise team out from the east is the Tampa Bay Lightning. They have been doin rather well considering the team that they put out this year. Even though they have huge stars such as Martin St Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, and Steven Stamkos some might say they should be doing well this season. However there goaltending on paper isn’t that good and they have been inconsistent over the last few seasons. 

In the Western conference Brophy says that his surprising team is the Phoenix Coyotes saying that they have no real number one scorer and play solid defense to do well.

I disagree with Brophy once again on this, my surprise team out of the west is the Columbus Blue Jackets considering there star forward Rick Nash was injured for a few games near the start of the season they are still holding there own in the western conference and are only in 5^th place in the conference one point out of 4^th

Brophy states that his MVP  is Steven Stamkos saying he “has a legitimate shot at 50 goals in 50 games and he is leading the lightning to a strong season so far. I agree with this 100%, He has been a beast on the powerplay and has been lighting up the league for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season.