We are one month into the NHL season, and some interesting trends have emerged.

1. We are seeing more games requiring overtime than ever before. It is a main reason why only two teams are outside of a playoff spot by more than three points. Calgary and St. Louis are six points out of the playoffs this morning, while every Eastern Conference team has a point% of .500 or better. The defending champion Florida Panthers are currently in 16th place with 13 points, but they are only two points back of eighth place.

Here is a chart outlining the number of games going to OT since 2016.

Currently the NHL is on pace to have 362 games go to overtime. The most the league has had was 307 in 2014. I know it is early, but rarely do we see fewer OT/SO games later in the season. The early-season trend is great if you like parity (or fake parity), but more OT games lead to more games decided by a shootout. That isn’t good.

We’ve already seen 21 games decided by a shootout. The most we’ve seen since 2016 was 107, and currently the NHL is on pace for 128 shootouts. If more games are decided in a shootout, that isn’t good long term for the NHL. It was why the NHL changed from 4×4 in 2015 to 3×3 in 2015. That change dropped the number of shootout games from 170 in 2015 to 107 in 2016. The league likes games decided in OT, not in shootouts, and the next change they likely have to make is implementing the over-and-back rule. Once a team crosses centre, they can’t cross back into their half of the ice (similar to basketball). This will force teams to keep attacking rather than regrouping, like we often see.

I realize it is early in the season, but the shootout trend is one to watch. If it remains around 130, the NHL will take notice, and it will become a discussion. Bill Daly did confirm on my show yesterday, the NHL has had discussions regarding the over and back rule, but it wasn’t close to being implemented. The fact it is on their radar is a good thing.

2. The NHL has had 92 comeback wins this season, which consists of 42.9% of games. The highest in NHL history was 43.7% in 2006, and last year was the second highest at 42.7%. Lead changes are great for entertainment. They will need them to remain high to counter all the shootouts.

3. The Edmonton Oilers have seen 40% of their games require OT/SO. The Oilers already have four OT/SO losses. Last year they had five, preceded by seasons with six, nine, five and two (in 2021 with 56 GP). The Oilers went to a shootout twice last season going 1-1. They’ve already had two this season and lost both. The early trend suggests teams should practice shootouts more, because it could become a significant factor if a team makes, or misses, the playoffs.

4. The past four seasons, since the NHL returned to an 82-game schedule, nine teams — FLA, TBL, TOR, CAR, COL, DAL, EDM and LA— have made the playoff all four seasons. BOS, NYR, WSH, MIN, VGK and WPG made it three times, NJD, NYI, NSH and STL made it twice while OTT, MTL, CGY, PIT, VAN and SEA made it once.

Eight teams didn’t make it once: ANA, BUF, CBJ, DET, PHI, CHI, SJS and UTA (formerly ARI).

Of those eight teams, four of them are in a playoff spot today in DET, PHI, UTA and ANA. How many new faces will actually make the playoffs in April? It is good to get a few new teams back in the dance.

5. The last time an NHL season finished with a league-average Sv% below .900 was in 1996 when it was .898Sv%, which was also the last season where the GAA was +3.00 (doesn’t include empty net goals). It was 3.04. This season the Sv% is .897 and the GAA is 2.87. We are seeing lower Sv% due to fewer shots on goals, as the NHL reviews every shot to ensure it was a shot on goal and not a save by a goalie on a shot that was going wide. People have to alter how they view Sv%. This season there are 13 starters (minimum seven games started) with a .905Sv% or better.

6. Are we starting to see a dip in top scorers? Here is the number of players who reached 100+ points and up to 150.

Early on six players are on pace for 120 points (minimum 10 GP) and we know scoring pace lowers the more games you play. Those six are William Nylander, Jack Eichel, Mark Schiefele, Drake Batherson, Macklin Celebrini and Leo Carlsson. None have ever scored 100 and only Nylander and Eichel have reached 90 points.

I love scoring, and I want more players reaching the century mark, but we will have as many in 2026 as we saw in 2023 or 2024? I hope the trend goes back up, rather than remaining in single digits.

7. The Eastern Conference has dominated the West early this season with a record of 54-32-5. The West’s record is 37-36-18. Some interconference records that stand out early:

Montreal is 6-1. The best Seattle twice (both in OT), Calgary and Nashville (OT) and Chicago and Vancouver. They lost to Edmonton. All their wins came against non-playoff teams from last season.

Pittsburgh is 5-2 and all their wins came in regulation over LA, VAN, SJS, MIN and STL.

Anaheim is 6-2 v. the East. They beat FLA twice, PIT, BOS, DET and NJD all in regulation except one win over FLA. The Ducks are off to a very solid start and look much improved. They’ve only played four games v. the West, (2-1-1) but have yet to face a West playoff team. Their next four games are against Dallas, Vegas, Winnipeg and Colorado. If they win two of those, then they should feel confident they can compete in the West.

8. Alex Ovechkin became the first player to score 900 regular season goals last night as Washington crushed St. Louis 6-1. The Blues are 0-5 v. the East and have been outscored 26-12. Ouch. Meanwhile, Ovechkin has entered unchartered territory with goal #900. Ovechkin has 977 total goals between the regular season and playoffs in 1,665 games. Wayne Gretzky had 1,016 in 1,695 games. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ovie play until he passes that record as well. He needs 40 goals to break that mark, and it seems very doable if he opts to play another season.

9. The next-closest active player is Sidney Crosby with 634 goals. He should reach 700, but he won’t be close to 800. Steven Stamkos (584), Evgeni Malkin (517), John Tavares (501), Patrick Kane (494), Corey Perry (453), Anze Kopitar (440), Brad Marchand (431), Leon Draisaitl and Auston Matthews (409) are the only active players above 400 goals.

Draisaitl and Matthews are the two leading goals scorers over the previous few seasons, but they aren’t even halfway to Ovie’s 900. Matthews has 409 goals in 643 games, while Ovechkin had 403 in his first 643 games, however, Ovechkin played in 643 of the Capitals 668 games. He was suspended for seven of those games and missed two to be with his ailing grandfather. He was injured for only 16 games. Matthews has missed 71 games thus far in his career, 69 due to injury, and he was suspended for two games. Even if he remains healthy, maintaining Ovechkin’s goal-scoring pace over his last 861 games will be very difficult.

Ovechkin has scored 497 goals in his last 861 games which is a 0.58 goals/GP pace. Matthews is currently at a 0.63 goals/game pace. He would need to remain close to that pace for another 11 seasons to catch Ovechkin.

Ovechkin scored 422 goals in 731 games from age 30-39. Matthews has scored 409 goals between age 19-28, and he has 68 more games this season to add to that total. It was amazing how productive and healthy Ovechkin was in his 30s and that’s why I can’t see any active player catching his goal-scoring record.

The other eerie connection between Matthews and Ovechkin is they share the same birthday. Ovechkin was born September 17th, 1985, and Matthews was born exactly 12 years later in 1997.

10. Cole Caufiled already has three overtime goals. Montreal has won five games in OT. The NHL record for most OT goals in a season is six, set by Leon Draisaitl last year. Only 29 players in the history of the NHL have scored four OT goals in a season and only seven have scored five including Nick Suzuki and Sebastian Aho (2025), Brad Marchand (2018), Alex Galchenyuk (2017), Jonathan Toews (2016), Steven Stamkos (2012) and Draisaitl had six last season.

Caufield has three in the first 13 games of the season.