Three Stars of the Month – The National Hockey League has released its three stars of the month and they may not be the guys you would have picked prior to the season. The first star is Washington Capitols star forward Alexander Semin, who is off to the best start of his career. Semin has 8 goals and 17 points for Washington and led the team when Ovechkin was in Russia. Semin has become a true star in the league and has all the talent to keep these numbers up all season long. The second star is Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers all world goalie. Henrik is now the favorite for the Vezina with Brodeur being hurt and hasn’t disappointed the New York fans. Early on this year Lundqvist has posted 8 wins and a save percentage of .926. The third star might be a surprise to you and its Nashville d man Shea Weber. Shea is off to a great start averaging a point a game and is a plus 3 for the Predators.  All three of these players had great starts and will look to continue there success through November and the rest of the season.

Rookie Duo - If you are Columbus Blue Jacket fan, you should be incredibly excited about the future of your franchise on the ice. Derick Brassard leads all rookies in scoring recording 12 points in just 12 games, while Jakub Voracek is second with 10 points. Brassard is 21 years of age and Voracek is just 19 and have surprised some with there early season production. Hopefully these two forwards along with Nikita Filatov, can represent a great future for the fans of Columbus. The Columbus franchise has never made the playoffs, but if they keep finding great young players like these guys that streak will end sooner rather then later. Its unknown whether or not these guys can keep up there numbers, but with plenty of ice time I think they will become great NHL players. With a great young base of players hopefully Columbus finds a way to win some games, before they lose all there fans. The Blue Jacket fans deserve a winner, no matter how good a market might be if you never make the playoffs it will be hard to sell tickets. With players like Brassard, Voracek, Filatov and Nash it shouldn’t be to long until Columbus finds themselves in the playoffs.

Hockey Hall of Fame - Its that time of year when it is time to induct new members into the hockey hall of fame. This year the class includes Glen Anderson, Igor Larionov and Ray Scampinello. “Scammpy” might be the most popular referee in the history of sports, and served as NHL linesman for a lot of years. Anderson will be remembered as a member of the great Oiler teams of the 80’s playing along side Gretzky and Messier. Anderson was at his best in the playoffs and always seemed to score the big goals at the big moments. Larionov might be the best Russian born player of all time. He was solid at both ends of the rink and could skate and stick handle as good as anyone in the league. Larionov will fondly be remembered as part of the Russian 5 in Detroit with Fedorov, Konstantinov, Fetisov and Kozlov. Being enshrined in the hockey hall fame is great honor and all these men should be extremely proud of all there accomplishments. Being inducted is the final chapter the Stanley Cups are behind you, there will be no more game winning goals, but you will forever be remember as a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Surprise Teams - When you look at early season successes two teams will jump out at you the Buffalo Sabres and the Minnesota Wild. Neither was projected by most to be as good as they seem to be, both teams are leading there respective divisions. The Wild play a strict defensive system and for years have frustrated opponents and that trend continues. The Sabres have a set of highly talented and fast forwards that can change a game in a hurry. These teams haven’t won the same way, The Sabres with exciting fast hockey and Minnesota with boring defense. This shows that you can win hockey with a lot of different styles. Its to early to tell, but the Sabres in particular look like they will stick around the top of the Eastern Conference all year long