Winners and Losers from the First Month of the 2021-22 NHL Season

Just like that, it's already been a month of the NHL regular season. 

Or at least the better part of one.

And now the calendar has hit November, the hockey writing types here at Bleacher Report have reconvened to discuss all things pucks, skates and sticks to have occurred in the first month of this season.

From great starts in Alberta and the Southeastern United States to disappointment in Chicago and Montreal, all stories were taken into consideration as we analyzed who was trending up and down.

All were up for discussion as we assembled the definitive list of winners and losers from the opening month of the 2021-22 season. Click through to see what we came up with and feel free, as always, to leave a viewpoint or two of your own in the comments section.

Stats were up to date as of Tuesday evening's games.

Connor McDavid's resume is pristine. Well, almost.

The precocious 24-year-old has played six seasons in the NHL and has already won three Art Ross trophies as the league's scoring champion and two Hart trophies as its most valuable player, and he was a point off the 2021-22 scoring lead heading into Tuesday night's games.

But there's something missing.

Though they're surely better with him than without, the Edmonton Oilers have still not gotten over the hump from also-ran to contender since McDavid's arrival. They won a playoff series in 2017 but were bounced in the qualifying round of the 2019-20 playoffs by a No. 12 seed and were swept in four games last season by a team they had beaten seven times in nine tries during the regular season.

If the first month is any indication this time around, though, progress is being made.

The Oilers opened the season with five straight wins and responded to a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers with another four victories in a row, including a stirring defeat of the New York Rangers on Saturday in which they trailed 4-1 before rallying to win 6-5 in overtime.

It was the type of game the Oilers have lost in the past, before the offseason haul of Zach Hyman, Warren Foegele, Duncan Keith and others arrived to northern Alberta to help change the culture.

In the aftermath, only one team (Florida) had more points heading into Tuesday's games. And no one had a better winning percentage than the .900 shared by Edmonton and the Carolina Hurricanes.

"The atmosphere was electric. For a game in November, it felt like a playoff game. It was just awesome," Hyman told NHL.com after the Rangers comeback. "It was really fun to be a part of, and when you win a game like that and be a team that doesn't give up and continues to press and believes in itself this early, it's just exciting to be a part of."

Stay tuned, Edmonton fans. It could be a special year.

The Montreal Canadiens went to the Stanley Cup Final last summer.

The Chicago Blackhawks had a busy offseason in which they acquired several impact players.

So, needless to say, expectations were high for both as the 2021-22 season approached.

But to say it hasn't worked out seems a gigantic understatement.

The teams were a combined 5-19-2 through 26 games heading into Tuesday night, had registered a minus-39 goal differential between them and had gone an abysmal 1-10-1 on the road.

Montreal has been rattled by the loss of Carey Price, who said on Tuesday he entered a residential treatment facility for substance abuse in October and doesn't know when he'll be ready to return. The team has also dealt with injuries to other key players and underperformance from some who were expected to contribute.

Chicago, meanwhile, has endured the same struggles on the ice while simultaneously dealing with the results of the investigation into the organization's handling of sexual assault allegations made against then-video coach Brad Aldrich by former Blackhawks player Kyle Beach in 2010. The team was fined $2 million, while team president Stan Bowman and senior director of hockey administration Al MacIssac both resigned. Joel Quenneville, head coach of Chicago in 2010, also resigned from the same position with the Florida Panthers.

Meanwhile, coach Jeremy Colliton was fired after the team's poor start.

"You find out if you're a [playoff] team in April. Let's be totally honest, the math is not in our favor right now to get to that point," interim GM Kyle Davidson told ESPN. "But no season is ever lost, because you're always going to be able to learn something, you're always going to be able to continue your evaluation process."

Lest anyone forget, there's another NHL team in Alberta.

And though Edmonton's Oilers have won more championships and made a more recent trip to the postseason, there's no denying that Calgary's Flames are having quite a start, too.

The residents of southern Alberta were right on Edmonton's heels heading into Tuesday night's games, having lost once in regulation through their first 11 games while claiming second place in the Pacific Division.

The lone 60-minute loss came against the Oilers in Calgary's season-opener on Oct. 16, but they've gone 7-0-3 since, while getting spectacular play from goaltender Jacob Markstrom (1.65 goals-against average, .942 save percentage) as well as great production from Elias Lindholm (14 points in 11 games), Johnny Gaudreau (14 points in 11 games) and Matthew Tkachuk (11 points in 11 games).

It's made a success story of second-term coach Darryl Sutter, who led the team to a Stanley Cup Final in 2003-04 before returning for a 32-game stint last season after Geoff Ward was fired. He was 15-16-1 as the Flames stumbled to fifth in the North Division and missed the playoffs in 2020-21, but it's been a different result in 2021-22.

"That's one thing about Darryl; he squeezes every ounce out of whatever you can give out of you and wants a little bit more," said assistant GM Craig Conroy, who played for Sutter with the 2003-04 team. "He's had time with them' and it just seems like everything has kind of jelled. He knows the line combinations he wants and what he wants to do. The players are playing great for him, and the goaltender is playing great.

"He puts you in an uncomfortable spot where you're a little tense, but you want to do well for him."

Unlike fanbases in Montreal and Chicago, there's probably no surprise in Phoenix.

The Arizona Coyotes were 22nd overall in 2020-21, missed the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons and unloaded a host of veteran talent—goalie Darcy Kuemper, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and right wing Conor Garland among them—while assembling draft picks for a substantial rebuild.

Only six players are signed past this season, and the team is nearly $8 million below the salary cap as it further positions itself (read: tanks) to construct a roster that can compete in years to come.

But as for now, it's no fun.

The Coyotes have one win in their first 12 games, have been outscored 49-19 and have half the points of their nearest rivals—the aforementioned Chicago Blackhawks—in the Central Division.

No player has scored more than four goals, veteran sniper Phil Kessel has two goals and the team was led in points heading into Tuesday night by defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere's nine.

Not to mention, Arizona's overall rates of goals per game (1.58) and goals allowed per game (4.00) were worst and worst, respectively, among the league's 32 teams. 

Welcome to the NHL, Andre Tourigny.

"We're in the NHL and nobody will feel sorry for us," the first-year coach said last week. "The most important thing for us is to keep getting better. The teaching part and getting everybody on the same page in our structure, in our system and in our detail is what's important. That's what will get us closer to the result we want.

"We cannot be 100 percent focusing on the result because if you forget the process that brings you the result, the result will never happen."

It's a natural default. 

When you think of the NHL's capitals, you probably think Montreal, Toronto and Boston, among others.

And it would probably be a ways down the list before mention was made of Raleigh or Miami.

But in the NHL in 2021-22, there's no place hotter.

A look at league standings heading into Tuesday's games shows metropolitan Miami's Florida Panthers and Raleigh's Carolina Hurricanes as the two best (American) teams through the season's first month.

The Panthers were unbeaten in regulation before losing in their 12th game but still hold the overall top spot with 21 points. They'd scored more goals through Monday (49) than any team, had a better goal differential (plus-21) than any team and had soldiered on for a 3-1-1 record since Andrew Brunette took over after Quenneville's resignation.

They're first in the Atlantic Division, and held a six-point lead over Toronto through Monday.

Speaking of first place, the Hurricanes are first in the Metropolitan and second overall after going 9-1 through their first 10 games, amassing the second-best goal differential (plus-19) in the league and getting stellar goaltending from offseason acquisition Frederik Andersen (1.83 goals-against average, .939 save percentage).

Winger Andrei Svechnikov is tied for eighth in the league in points (14), and Tony D'Angelo is tied for sixth among defensemen in that statistic with 10.

"You have to understand (a day-in, day-out expectation), take pride in the fact that that's your job, and I think that's what this group has done well," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour, who captained the team when it scored the franchise's lone Stanley Cup win in 2006, said in October.

"It's been a short sample size, but they've done it well."

The NHL has so much young talent.

But amid all the success, there are always players from whom more was anticipated.

Rewind to this time last year. The New York Rangers won the draft lottery and with it the chance to select prized forward Alexis Lafreniere, who'd made mincemeat of the Canadian junior ranks while earning comparisons to a guy named Sidney Crosby who'd played his teen years for the same team.

Much was expected from him. Much less than that has been produced.

Then just 19, he played all 56 games with the Rangers as a rookie, but scored 12 goals and nine assists while recording a minus-7 plus/minus rating.

Not one of the 100 voters for the Calder Trophy even listed Lafreniere on their ballots, while two other Rangers (Igor Shesterkin and K'Andre Miller) wound up among the top 12 finishers.

Not much more has followed in 2021-22, with the now-20-year-old scoring three goals and adding a single assist in 13 games while logging a minus-4 and seeing his shooting percentage tumble to 13.6.

"He wants to do better, and we want a little bit more from him, too. That's on both sides of the puck," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said Thursday. "He's a good kid, and I always come back to him being young, but we got to grow up a little bit and you got to play a mature game."

Joining Lafreniere in the New York doghouse is another 20-year-old, Kaapo Kakko.

The Finnish winger was picked second overall in 2019 and also arrived right away, scoring 10 goals and 23 points as a rookie. He had 17 points in 48 games last season and has been held off the scoresheet entirely through nine games in 2021-21, managing 13 shots on goal and registering a minus-2.

Still, the message from Gallant sounds a trifle more optimistic.

"He's a young kid; he's just a kid," the coach said. "He's playing well and I'm happy with the way he's playing. I don't put expectations on my players, go out there and play and try and win a hockey game. That's what our goal is every day."

And just to prove it's not solely a New York thing, we present Cole Caufield.

The University of Wisconsin took the Canadiens by storm upon arriving late in 2020-21, scoring four goals and five points in 10 regular-season games before adding 12 more points during the team's unlikely run to the Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The effort prompted anticipation, but it hasn't resulted in much.

The 5'7", 166-pound sparkplug had just one assist in 10 games before the team pulled the plug and sent him down to Laval of the AHL on Nov. 1.

"It's just a different situation," Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme said. "Playing until almost mid-July and coming back really quick to start the season, and obviously he's got high expectations for himself. And, when you start squeezing the stick and overthinking a little bit, then for an offensive guy like him, I think it just snowballs a little bit, so things get harder.

"And so I think just taking a step back and going back to those basics and finding his swag and confidence; he's going to be back."

Jack Eichel is smiling again.

The second overall pick of the 2015 draft behind some guy named Connor, Eichel had plied his trade respectably well in Buffalo's hockey purgatory until an injury-plagued 2020-21 turned things sour.

A springtime disconnect became a summertime drama that extended into fall, until the Sabres finally pulled the trigger on a deal that sent the forward, still just 25 years old, to the Vegas Golden Knights.

And though Eichel's neck injury—and the artificial disk replacement surgery to which his new team has given its blessing—will still keep him off NHL ice for several more months, it's clear by the way Eichel is already expressing himself that a load, both personally and professionally, has been lifted.

He'll be on a team that's supporting his medical wishes.

Oh, and that team happens to be pretty good, too.

Where the Sabres have missed the playoffs for a league-record 10 straight seasons, Vegas was in the Stanley Cup Final in its expansion year and hasn't missed the postseason in its subsequent three either. 

"I'm excited for the change," Eichel said. "This is a great place to play hockey and a great place to live. It seems like everyone really enjoys it so I don't think I'll be any different.

"I'm very fortunate and happy to be in this situation."

There's always a flip side.

And make no mistake, both the Sabres as a whole and GM Kevyn Adams have to be pleased to finally be able to put the Eichel drama in the rearview mirror.

But Buffalo doesn't appear to be the winning side in the trade.

While his future health is not guaranteed, a fully recovered Eichel would deserve placement among the league's best players. He was slotted 15th overall in the league by the NHL Network prior to the 2020-21 season and was ranked as the sixth-best center, trailing only McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl, Sidney Crosby and Auston Matthews.

So if he's anywhere close to that upon returning, the Sabres better have gotten themselves a lock.

The problem is, they didn't.

Alex Tuch is a big-bodied (6'4", 217 pounds) winger who was a first-round pick in 2014 and has been a steady NHL player since debuting in 2017. He's scored 15 or more goals three times, including a career-high 20 in 2018-19 and 18 in 55 games during the abbreviated 2020-21 season.

But, in an ironic twist, he's not played yet this season while recovering from surgery and won't be available for several more months, putting his return time neck and neck with Eichel's.

Alongside him is 20-year-old Peyton Krebs, who played four games for the Golden Knights at the tail end of last season and nine more this season before the trade with a decidedly pedestrian stat line of no goals, one assist, a minus-5 rating and two penalty minutes.

To be fair, a broken jaw ended his run in Vegas last season, and his arrival to Buffalo won't be immediate either given his assignment to Rochester of the AHL. He produced 43 points in 24 games in the junior-level WHL before reporting to Vegas, so there's some offensive talent present.

Still, it's no guarantee he'll produce those numbers on an NHL bottom-dweller.

The trade package was rounded out by a top-10 protected first-round pick in the 2022 draft and a second-rounder in the 2023 draft but still well off the rumored cache of first-rounders and players that Adams had reportedly demanded before a deal was made.

No matter how you spin it, losing a top-tier center for pennies on the dollar is a loss. The draft picks and the players they received in return might be good, but they probably won't be Jack Eichel.