It’s easy to overreact in the early goings of the season. No team has played more than five games yet, so sample sizes are small and tend to be overanalyzed.
But negative results tend to spark conversation.
No, we’re not surprised that the Sharks are the bottom-feeders in the league right now with an 0-5-0 start. They’re expected to finish pretty low in the standings after not defining their direction well enough. The Coyotes are 1-2-0? Color us shocked they got the win they did. And while the Young Ducks are a fun team to watch, going 1-3-0 isn’t exactly groundbreaking, either.
Bad teams being bad isn’t news. It’s expected. It’s boring.
When results split from expectations, however, there’s something to talk about.
So that’s exactly what we’re going to do by looking at a few teams with high hopes this year who have fallen flat to kick off the season.
Minnesota Wild
Before the season started, we were asking if the Wild could compete with the Avalanche in the spring as the measuring stick for a successful year. Obviously, a 6-3 loss to Colorado on Monday confirms that they can’t right now. But their start is bigger than that one game. Minnesota’s 0-3-0 after falling to the Rangers, Kings and Avalanche.
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