NHL Mailbag: Rangers' start is a mirage, isn't it?

This is, I think, the third big news week in a row.

Two more coach firings and that’s plenty of news for me. You know my thoughts on all this. Plus some teams are on super-hot hot streaks and people love talking about that kind of thing.

I’m not gonna write a whole big intro here. It’s Thanksgiving. Leave me alone!!!!!

Let’s talk it out over turkey:

Vin asks: “Is the Rangers’ start a mirage or are they really this good?”

I wanted to answer this question first and foremost because a bunch of psychos emailed me saying I didn’t have the Rangers (second in their division and riding an 8-1-1 hot streak) high enough in the Power Feelings. They did so in blatant disregard for the federal law which states you cannot question the Power Feelings for any reason.

Anyway, no obviously the Rangers are not this good. First of all, they are second in their division with a minus-6 goal difference and a minus-74 shot difference. You don’t win when you play like that over the long term.

People might say “Ah well their last 10 games are more indicative of their play than their first 11.” Okay, fine: They’re plus-8 in goals and minus-26 in shots. Think that’s not luck?

How about the fact that their number of regulation or overtime wins (7 in 21 games) is tied for second-lowest in the league, one ahead of LA and Anaheim? They’re 3-0 in shootouts and 7-9 in contests decided before the shootout. They’re not good. You know this.

Michael asks via email: “Am I right to be doubting the Sabres? Is there some unseen stat thats inflating this team? Or is it finally actually happening for them?”

They look to me like a borderline playoff team if things keep up as they have.

They’re marginally outscoring and outshooting their opponents. Their power play is a little worse than average. Their PK is a little better than average. Their team shooting percentage is a smidge low. Their team save percentage is a smidge higher than you might expect.

Reasonable to assume the top line and maybe even the second keeps scoring like this. Eichel looks phenomenal with Pominville and Skinner. Rasmus Dahlin looks insanely good as well.

The question, then, is whether you think Carter Hutton (career .915, currently .917 on the season) and Linus Ullmark (.918, .922) are going to keep slightly overperforming their numbers. If they get .919 goaltending all year, they’re in the playoffs. If they drop a bit to “slightly above the league average” it’s much more of a bubble.

I think they can do it.

Shawn asks: “Can Kyle Connor get a better contract than Patrick Laine? How do Jets sign both next year?”

Maybe he can if Laine keeps playing so poorly at 5-on-5 (he’s just 2-2-4 in 19 games), but I doubt it.

Laine’s probably going to win multiple Rockets and him shooting 5 percent at full strength to start the year won’t derail anyone’s expectation there. That’s not to say Kyle Connor isn’t very good, or he won’t get a lot of money, but I think he comes in a bit below Laine because he doesn’t have the clear pedigree.

Winnipeg is probably going to have to trade Jacob Trouba for non-cap reasons this summer but this is a club with just $55.6 million in cap obligations for next year right now. Those guys will be the first to get new deals, and no one else who will be even remotely expensive needs to do the same.

Maybe if they can find a way to send Kulikov to Robidas Island they won’t have anything at all to worry about.

Julien asks via email: “Would the Habs be wise to sell high on Domi and if so, what’s the optimist-realist’s best possible yield here?”

I mean they’re never gonna do it, but sure, yeah, why not.

Domi’s shooting 21 percent right now and is only eight goals away from matching his career high. The Habs better hope no one takes too close a look at his CF% (46.2) or where that number stands relative to team performance when he’s off the ice (minus-7.4).

What could they get for him? I dunno, Alex Galchenyuk maybe.

J asks: “Which new coaches do you see sticking with their new team beyond the end of this season (excluding Colliton in Chicago), if any?”

Yeah if we’re not counting Colliton then “none” is what I’m feeling right now.

Ken Hitchcock seems like he’ll be thanked for his time when Chiarelli inevitably gets canned this summer. Temp gig, all that. Craig Berube has even more of a temp gig, because his GM basically said as much in the introductory presser. And it sure sees like Willie Desjardins is just keeping the seat warm for Marco Sturm.

I guess stranger things have happened — especially on Netflix — but I can’t see any of those three guys being long-term coaches for their teams.

Ron asks: “If Nylander signs, are the Leafs the clear Cup favorite?”

No.

They wouldn’t even be the “clear” favorites to win their division. I think they might edge ahead of Tampa, particularly now that Vasilevskiy is out for weeks, in the Atlantic but I can’t in good conscience say they’d be Clearly better than them, or Nashville.

If you wanna say they’d move into a three-horse race with those teams, sure, why not. But I ain’t counting on even a team with this much talent to maintain a 103 PDO all year, y’know?

Tony asks: “On a scale of ‘No Big Deal’ to ‘Totally Porked’ where do you put the Bruins now that Bergeron is our for an extended period of time?”

Yeah it’s a real problem. They weren’t in great shape even before he went down because of all the other injuries. Charlie McAvoy has been out for a month and *may* be close to returning, Zdeno Chara is out 3-5 weeks, Brandon Carlo is out indefinitely, Kevan Miller just missed a month, John Moore has been out for a week.

That’s five NHL defensemen, plus first-call-up Urho Vaakanainen, who has been out for a month as well.

To be without even two of those guys is real tough, but to be without three, four, five of them simultaneously with Bergeron being out is brutal. Montreal is going to fade. Buffalo might too. The Bruins just need to survive the 2018 calendar year and they should, in theory, be fine again in January.

But that’s a hell of a long way — 18 games — from now and a lot can happen. Like Brad Marchand getting hurt or something.

Ryan Lambert is a Yahoo! Sports hockey columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

All stats via Corsica unless noted otherwise. Some questions in the mailbag are edited for clarity or to remove swear words, which are illegal to use.

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