1. Los Angeles Kings (1) The Kings are the real deal with a 9-1-1 record and an impressive 5-1-0 on the road. They've won three in a row and have the NHL's best goal differential at plus-18.
2. Vegas Golden Knights (3)Maybe it's time to start believing in the expansion Golden Knights, who own the league's top winning percentage, have won five straight and are coming off a 7-0 waxing of the Colorado Avalanche. Here's to unheralded netminder Oscar Dansk, helping out with a 3-0-0 record and .959 save percentage.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning (2) Maybe the most complete team in the NHL, the Lightning are all about confirming that last year's playoff miss was an aberration. Lightning players lead the league in points (Steven Stamkos), goals (Nikita Kucherov) and wins (Andrei Vasilevskiy).
4. St. Louis Blues (6) The Blues have already played eight games on the road and are a tidy 9-2-1 overall. Currently riding a three-game winning streak, the Blues have established themselves as the early team to beat in the Central Division.
5. New Jersey Devils (4)Devils were off for almost a week, but came back strong with two straight wins. Cory Schneider is back in action for a Devils team that is 4-0-0 on the road, and ranks second in the NHL in goals-per game. Go figure.
6. Ottawa Senators (7)Still can't quite figure out the Senators (honestly, we've been saying that for a year now) but they remain one of three teams with only one regulation loss (L.A. and Vegas are the others), but do have five loser points -- hence their curious 5-1-5 record.
7. Vancouver Canucks (-)Here's to rookie head coach Travis Green and the surprising Canucks, who have won four in a row with a mostly-unheralded cast. Derek Dorsett leads the team with six goals and former collegiate star Brock Boeser has nine points to lead the squad.
8. Columbus Blue Jackets (-)Blue Jackets are 7-4-0, but some interesting things going on behind the scenes with Brandon Dubinsky being stripped of the 'A' this week in favor of Jack Johnson. Sergei Bobrovsky is 6-2-0 with a .938 save percentage.
9. New York Islanders (-)The Islanders offense is starting to come alive led, not surprisingly by captain John Tavares who has nine goals, third-best in the league. Still giving up more than three goals a game on average but so are 15 other teams. Now, about that Tavares contract?
10. Philadelphia Flyers (-) Struggled with the 10th spot a reflection on how congested things are in the standings, but liked how the Flyers bounced back after a mini-slide to beat a very good Toronto team on Saturday night. A plus-7 goal differential ranks seventh-best in the league.
