Surprises two weeks into 2026-27 season, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen

Welcome to the National Hockey List. Each week, NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen will provide a list dealing with important topics around the NHL. Today, Rosen lists and analyzes his seven surprises, pleasant and otherwise, through the first two weeks of the regular season.

We're two weeks and 105 games into a regular season that will go until April 10 and encompass 1,344 games.

Already, there have been some unexpected trends emerging, and certainly some overreactions to early-season success or struggles.

Here are my top seven surprises through the first two weeks of the marathon that is the NHL regular season:

1. Madison Square Garden is rocking for the New York Rangers again.

The Rangers are 5-0-0 at home and have won six of eight games (6-2-0) to start the season. 

It's a 180-degree turn from last season, when they set a franchise record for futility at home to start a season, losing their first seven games at the Garden (0-6-1) and getting shutout in five of them.

Last season, they didn't get their fifth home victory until Dec. 20, their 18th game.

This season, it came Tuesday, 4-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Last season, the Rangers won nine home games in regulation. They already have five this season.

Most impressive is how they have finished games at home. They've outscored their opponents 10-1 in the third period, with five empty-net goals.

Starting strong at home this season was one of the Rangers' main goals coming out of training camp. They knew it would be essential with 10 of their first 17 games at the Garden. 

It should get harder from here. They have to play the rest of this season without goalie Igor Shesterkin, who went down with a season-ending lower-body injury in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday.

But rookie goalie Dylan Garand has played well in place of Shesterkin, most recently with 25 saves against the Lightning, when the home crowd was chanting his name. His sustainability will be essential if the Rangers are going turn a hot start into a good season.

2. The Seattle Kraken are one of the highest scoring teams in the League. 

The Kraken have won five of seven (5-2-0), averaging 4.00 goals per game. They have scored at least six goals in three of their seven games; they did that twice in 82 games last season.

There will be the Kraken critic, or realist, however you want to look at it, that will say the team got fat on a pair of 6-1 wins against the struggling Calgary Flames and a 6-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings, and really they're not as good as their record and goals would indicate now.

Fair. The Flames and Red Wings certainly have had their struggles at the start of the season but then explain to me the Kraken's 5-3 win against the Washington Capitals on Oct. 11. 

The Capitals are considered one of the top Stanley Cup Playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference and the Kraken went into their building, Capital One Arena, and put a five spot up on goalie Logan Thompson, a Vezina Trophy favorite.

Seattle has a plus-9 goal differential in all situations (28-19), including plus-11 at 5-on-5 (23-12).

Sustainability is a real question. 

The Kraken are getting outshot 214-188 in total, about minus-4 per game. They're near the bottom of the NHL in shot attempts percentage at 5-on-5 (43.7 percent) while being near the top in 5-on-5 shooting percentage (15.3 percent, third) and save percentage (.931, fifth).

But they're rolling now, and for a team that last season finished 28th in goals per game (2.73), seeing the puck go in the net this early in the season is a great thing for confidence.

3. The Philadelphia Flyers look nothing like the team that made the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.

As good as things have gone for the Kraken and Rangers, it's been the opposite for the Flyers, and it started with a 7-0 loss at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins in their season opener Oct. 1.

The Flyers made the playoffs and won a round last season. Right now, they're the only team in the Eastern Conference without a win, going 0-5-3 while getting outscored 30-10. 

They were down 2-0 to the Kraken on Tuesday before coming back to at least force a shootout.

They have two goals in the first period and four in the third, with two coming against Seattle. They've been outshot 277-166, including 85-45 in the first. 

Individually, it's been a struggle for the Flyers' top players led by goalie Dan Vladar, who has a 4.21 goals-against average and .875 save percentage. He was 29-14-7 with a 2.42 GAA and .906 save percentage last season.

No skater has more than two goals or three points.

Matvei Michkov has two goals and is minus-7. Trevor Zegras has one goal and is minus-6. Tyson Foerster has one goal and is minus-8. Owen Tippett and rookie Porter Martone also have one goal apiece.

Travis Sanheim, the Flyers' best defenseman, is minus-9. Jamie Drysdale, who is expected to produce from the back end, has no points and is minus-5.

The Flyers have time to turn it around, but it better happen soon.

4. Devon Levi might the answer in goal for the Edmonton Oilers.

Levi didn't look like he would be in his first start. He allowed seven goals on 22 shots in a 9-7 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 1 when the Oilers got away with being goal happy and forgetting all about the defensive end.

They've been under control since and Levi has been solid in his three starts, allowing four goals on 91 shots in wins against the Kraken (3-1), the Anaheim Ducks (5-2) and the Los Angeles Kings (4-1), when the Oilers were outshot 40-17.

Levi made 39 saves against the Kings and is 3-0 with a 1.34 GAA and .956 save percentage in three starts since the Canucks scored seven on him nearly two weeks ago. 

Considering their goaltending issues, notably Tristan Jarry's lack of consistency, it was smart by the Oilers to acquire Levi from the Buffalo Sabres on July 1. They gave up a third-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft to get him. Edmonton also got a 2028 seventh-round pick in the deal.

Levi is only 24 years old, and he came to Edmonton with some NHL experience: 36 games, 17 wins, a 3.29 GAA and .894 save percentage. He also won 23 games with a 2.83 GAA and .904 save percentage with Rochester of the American Hockey League last season.

Maybe it'll be Levi establishing himself as a reliable NHL goalie that pushes the Oilers over the top this season. That would be massive for them considering how much is riding on it, including, potentially, Connor McDavid's future in Edmonton.

5. Connor Hellebuyck remains suspended and the Winnipeg Jets are winning anyway.

The supposed distraction of Hellebuyck asking to be traded and not reporting to training camp, leading to him being suspended by the Jets, hasn't had a negative effect on the team.

The Jets are 4-1-1 after a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, when Cole Perfetti had two goals, Kyle Connor scored his seventh of the season, Mark Scheifele had three points on a goal and two assists, and Stuart Skinner made 19 saves for his third win in four starts.

Skinner is 3-0-1 with a 2.47 GAA and .917 save percentage. It's a small sample size, but that is the type of goaltending the Jets will need to contend for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. It's the type of goaltending they would expect to have if Hellebuyck were around.

The Jets' two most impressive wins have come in the Central Division: 3-2 against the Colorado Avalanche and the victory against the Wild. They also have road wins in Detroit and Pittsburgh.

The situation with Hellebuyck has to get resolved at some point, but the more the Jets win, the less of a pressing issue it will be for them. Frankly, the more they win, the more leverage they gain in whatever comes next with Hellebuyck, whether he comes back to play or stays home and waits for a trade.

6. The Ottawa Senators don't seem to miss Brady Tkachuk too much (when Linus Ullmark is in net).

The Senators have started 5-2-0 behind inspired offense from forward Tim Stutzle, Vezina-caliber goaltending from Ullmark and new captain Thomas Chabot's typical play-all-night ability.

They did not play well in front of goalie Samuel Ersson in a 7-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, but considering how things were going, maybe that's just a blip and not the start of a downward turn.

Stutzle leads the Senators with 11 points (five goals, six assists), including at least one point in six of seven games. 

Chabot has played at least 27 minutes in four straight games and five of seven. His low ice time is 24:13 in a 4-1 win at the Boston Bruins.

Ullmark has been the best goalie in the League to date. He's 5-0-0 with a 1.27 GAA and .948 save percentage. 

The Senators are off to such an impressive start despite not having two of their top defensemen in Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub. Sanderson has missed the past six games with a lower-body injury. Zub hasn't played yet this season while still recovering from knee surgery.

They need to improve when Ersson plays. He has lost both of his starts with 11 goals-against on 57 shots. Overall, though, their start to the season in the wake of Tkachuk's departure has been on point.

7. The Montreal Canadiens aren't as good as I thought they'd be -- yet.

I'm bullish on the Canadiens. They're my pick to win the Stanley Cup. Martin St. Louis is my pick to win the Jack Adams Award as the NHL coach of the year. But it's been tough sledding so far for the Canadiens, who reached the Eastern Conference Final last season.

Injuries are always looked at as a lame excuse, but the Canadiens have been dealing with some key players being out of the lineup.

Forward Ivan Demidov has missed four games with a lower-body injury and will remain out for the time being. Defenseman Kaiden Guhle missed the first four games while still recovering from offseason surgery. And now defenseman Mike Matheson is out with a lower-body injury.

Montreal's special teams haven't helped. The power play is 2-for-20 (10.0 percent) and the penalty kill has allowed five goals on 26 opportunities (80.8 percent).

The Canadiens had a 3-1 lead against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, but couldn't hold it in the third period, when they allowed two goals in 61 seconds. They fortunately got the two points with a 4-3 shootout win.

It's certainly nowhere near panic time in Montreal, but there have been some surprisingly alarming results for a team that has championship aspirations.