Head coach Darko Rajakovic summed it up perfectly in one of his post-game media scrums from a while back. Back in September, if you'd told the Raptors personnel they'd be near the top of the Eastern Conference and on a crazy win streak in November, it wasn't that the outcome wasn't in their sights - just that it wasn't something to get too far-fetched about. Yet, the Raptors were able to produce those results.
"O's been solid," Carbery said. "I don't think the production's been there thus far. He's got the two goals coming off of faceoff plays. But they just haven't been falling for him early in the year, much like a lot of our group. So it's a little bit different than last year. Felt like everything went in for him last year. His shooting percentage was through the roof, best of his career, and now it feels like it's flipped a little bit through 10 games."
It's easy to find a lot of negative with the Rangers, so we try to focus on the positive. Though it's only 11 games, the Rangers have a lot of both going on. The defensive process as a whole is strong, with the Rangers looking like a top-10 team in terms of puck possession and play driving at 5v5. The problem is the offense is non-existent due to a number of factors, some that will work themselves out and some that won't.
Every coach I've ever had has told me to shoot more, the Swede told amNewYork with a smirk. I'm pretty well used to it. I'm the one who looks more to pass. I've been trying to teach myself to shoot the puck more and get my shot off more, but I think you have to balance it out I don't think most people over here [in North America] have that mentality.
Eichel is one of the NHL's best, but is it fair to worry he won't be able to replicate that point total? The Golden Knights have a new offensive weapon in Mitch Marner. You can look at it as that's a shiny new toy to help the Eichel scoring machine, or it may disrupt or take time to develop chemistry.
Last season, there were plenty of opportunities for regression, given what occurred during the 2023-24 season. Almost every player in last year's article regressed in a meaningful way. Auston Matthews, Sam Reinhart, Jonathan Marchessault, Zach Hyman and the Vancouver Canucks regressed in their own significant ways from the previous season. That's not to say they won't bounce back this season.