Almost 20% through the season.
Some thoughts.

1) I'm happy that I've been proven right, so far anyway, about the goaltending. Although Scrivens has struggled, Reimer has been solid. This team is so flawed elsewhere that goaltending is, ironically, the least of their worries.

2) Their defense, predictably, continues to suck. Badly. For the 800th time, Dion Phaneuf is not a top pairing d-man. If he wasn't so badly miscast, overplayed, and overpaid, I could actually support him being used as a #3 guy. He could actually be very valuable if he was only playing 20 minutes a night instead of 28. But for cryin out loud, get him off the #1 PP unit.

3) Similarly, Kostka is playing way too much. A good story, but he's a #4 d-man. And he's miscast on the #1 PP unit.

4) Nazem looks great. Frattin too. And they are playing only 14 minutes... why?!

5) Get a real 4th line. I don't mind fighting, but if they aren't good enough to play more than 5 minutes a night, they are hurting the team by exhausting the other lines. Simple as that.

6) People talk about Ovechkin's predictability. How about Kessel's?! Most predictable player in the NHL. Without Lupul, and within a new system like Carlyle's, it was actually fairly easy to predict Kessel would regress badly. And I predicted before the season that he would.

7) Franson and Liles should be playing more on the PP. Considering their struggles, why not switch them in?! Instead they keep rolling out the same unit and expect different results. Definition of insane.

8) JVR was stolen for Schenn. Unbelievable trade.

9) McClement was a solid pickup. He should never be benched.

10) Kulemin needs to find consistency somehow. When he's on his game, he is a force out there and he carries the line. When he's off his game, he is simply awful.