The most surprising developments of the NHL season so far

The one constant in any given NHL season should always be to expect the unexpected because there is always going to be something that surprises you — maybe even shocks you.

The team that you thought might stink could turn out to be good for some bizarre reason.

The player you pegged as an offseason flop might catch lightning in a bottle and excel.

The player who was supposed to put the Stanley Cup contender over the top? Well, that might be the one who flops and ends up holding the team back.

We have seen a lot of those scenarios playing out over the first quarter of the NHL season.

Among them...

The Max Pacioretty trade is working...for Montreal

After more than a year of constant rumors and trade speculation, the Montreal Canadiens finally put an end to all of the drama and sent Max Pacioretty, their best goal-scorer and one of their best players from the past decade, to the Vegas Golden Knights.

At the time it looked to be a huge score for a Vegas team that stunned the hockey world a year ago by reaching the Stanley Cup Final in its debut season, and it would finally kick off a much-needed rebuild in Montreal.

In return, the Canadiens received a package of players centered around Tomas Tatar, who was a total flop in Vegas after he was acquired at the trade deadline this past season, and 2017 first-round pick Nick Suzuki.

So far it has gone the exact opposite way anyone could have anticipated.

Through Vegas' first 19 games (of which Pacioretty appeared in only 15 due to injury), he has managed just two goals and two assists, while Tatar, who seems to have rediscovered his scoring touch in Montreal, has recorded 16 points (including eight goals) in his first 19 games. Suzuki, meanwhile, has continued to dominate in the Ontario Hockey League.

At some point Tatar is going to cool off, and Pacioretty is going to rebound. And ultimately the key player to this trade for Montreal was — and will continue to be — Suzuki. But it's still been shocking to see how this trade has worked out in the early going, even if it doesn't last.

For now though it is a primary reason why Montreal has been one of the biggest surprise teams in the league and why Vegas has been one of the early disappointments.

Max Domi: offensive machine

Sticking with the Canadiens for a second, their other big offseason trade saw them send Alex Galchenyuk to the Arizona Coyotes in a one-for-one swap for Max Domi.

Domi was coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons in the desert where he managed just nine goals in each, with four of his goals a season ago coming as empty-netters. It seemed that his offense had completely dried up after a promising rookie season.

But just like the Tatar-for-Pacioretty trade, this one has found a way to work out for Montreal in the early going.

Through Thursday, Nov. 15, Domi had already scored 10 goals (all of them with an opposing goalie in the net) and was one of the league's top-10 total point producers. Even if it is an unsustainable pace, he is still going to crush his numbers from the previous two years.

The Blackhawks fire Joel Quenneville

It should have been expected that the Chicago Blackhawks might struggle this season. They had not won a playoff series in three years and were coming off their first non-playoff season in nearly a decade. The core is getting older, the depth is getting thinner and the salary cap space is still perpetually getting tighter for them. At some point they were going to start making some changes, and eventually that was going to lead to the end of the Joel Quenneville era. It was just surprising to see that after everything Quenneville did for the franchise that he was let go as quickly as he was, especially when a lot of the team's recent struggles are probably out of his hands.

The Blackhawks were done in a year ago by an injury to starting goalie Corey Crawford and the fact that they had no capable backup to fill in for him.

This year the problem is that the roster, outside of the top four or five players, just really isn't that good, and that responsibility has to fall on the front office.

Eventually it will. Because once the Blackhawks continue to struggle under a new coach (and given the roster, they will), the next change will be at the top.

The Kings' window slams shut

Like the Blackhawks, it's not really a surprise that the Kings are struggling. The surprise is just how bad they have been. Worst team in the league bad. Fire your coach less than two months into the season bad. They have had their flaws for a couple of years now and are probably due for a total rebuild, but this was still a playoff team a year ago. It committed long term to its two best players (Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty) and made a big splash over the summer by bringing back Ilya Kovalchuk. Still, they might be a bigger contender for Jack Hughes at the top of the 2019 draft class than for the Stanley Cup.


The New York Islanders

After losing John Tavares in free agency and spending the offseason stockpiling the roster with fourth-liners, expectations were, justifiably, low entering the season.

They have been far better than anyone could have reasonably expected though, thanks in large part to some sensational play from goaltenders Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss.

This is still a very flawed team that lacks offense, has questionable depth at forward and defense and is going to be dealing with three more significant unrestricted free agents after this season (Anders Lee, Jordan Eberle, Brock Nelson). But goaltending is the great equalizer in hockey, and so far the Islanders are getting a ton of it from two unexpected sources. How long that continues will determine how long they are able to keep winning hockey games and exceeding expectations this season.

The Vancouver Canucks

Like the Islanders, not much was expected out of the Canucks this season. But thanks in large part to the breakout performance of rookie sensation Elias Pettersson, they are kind of fun to watch. Also like the Islanders, this is a deeply flawed team that is probably playing way above its true talent level. But in Pettersson and Brock Boeser, the Canucks at least have two outstanding young forwards to build around.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals are struggling

The Penguins and Capitals have combined to win the past three Stanley Cups. They are both loaded with All-Star talent, individual award winners and future Hall of Famers.

When they started the day on Friday, both of them were on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

The Penguins have probably been the bigger surprise because they have been so much worse so far this season and, outside of a four-game road trip through Canada, have not really looked good at any other point. Matt Murray is struggling in net, they are getting zero secondary scoring, their defense isn't great, and unless Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin do all of the heavy lifting offensively, they do not seem capable of creating any offense. They already made one trade (sending Carl Hagelin to the Los Angeles Kings for Tanner Pearson) and will almost certainly make more this season.

Both teams have the top-end talent to get back on track and end up back in the playoffs for what could be a fourth consecutive postseason meeting. But so far neither one is where it wants to be — or expects to be.