It's a bad year to be an NHL g...

Welcome to "10 insights and observations." Every Thursday, I’ll use this space to highlight teams, players, storylines, and general musings around the NHL, and perhaps at times, the greater hockey world.

This week we look at some breakout seasons, Mitch Marner’s point streak, bad goaltending, the playoff picture and much more.

Artturi Lehkonen making best of opportunity

Many famous names appear among the top forwards in terms of time on ice per game, including Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl, Aleksander Barkov, and Nikita Kucherov. Artturi Lehkonen, on the other hand, is a surprise. In Colorado, the player who scored the game-winning goal to send his club to the Stanley Cup Final two years in a row is averaging 21:35 minutes each night. He has never averaged more than 16:29 per game in a single season before this season, and that was during his sophomore season in 2017-18.

Mikhail Sergachev taking the next step

When the Tampa Bay Lightning traded Ryan McDonagh, it wasn't so much a decision they wanted to make as it was one they had to do. He's averaging more than 24 minutes per game and has 22 points in 22 games this season. Victor Hedman has deservedly led the Tampa Bay Lightning's power play for many years, but that is no longer the case. So far, Sergachev has averaged five more seconds on the power play than him. His 11 power-play points are five shy of his career high, and he still has 60 games to play. He has a bomb, and he should use it more often. On the power play, he has three shots on goal, and he has one assist.

A moment of appreciation for Tyler Toffoli

It was exciting to watch Tyler Toffoli reach 200 career goals. Toffoli, a Stanley Cup champion who earlier reached the final with the Montreal Canadiens, has 44 career playoff points in 88 games. He has over 400 career regular season points and is closing in on 700 career regular season games, and at 30 years old, he still has chance to significantly raise those totals. Even with the addition of Nazem Kadri, they needed other players to step up after losing Johnny Gaudreau and basically trading Matthew Tkachuk for Jonathan Huberdeau at forward. Toffoli has answered the call thus far and is tied for the team lead in points and goals.

Sidney Crosby continues to amaze

Alex Ovechkin is rightly getting a lot of attention for chasing the goal record (it's still hard to wrap your head around that even being remotely possible). The only current player in the league with more points than him is, of course, Sidney Crosby. He has seven more points than Ovechkin in 167 less games. More relevant here is that he’s 28 points away from being in the top 15 all-time in points. He is exactly 150 points away from being in the top 10 all-time. And he’s still as good as ever. Leading the league in 5v5 points, he has 31 points in 23 games. He was dominating last year in the playoffs until he got hurt, and that essentially swung the series (even with Pittsburgh’s goaltending carousel).

Filip Hronek quietly having a great season

A second-round pick in 2016, nobody has ever questioned his offensive abilities. He had a career-high 38 points last season and has always been able to run a power play. But he has struggled to play defense over the course of his career and that has always been the main knock on him. Last season he was minus-29 and while plus-minus isn’t always a telling stat, minus-29 is minus-29. The possession numbers matched it. The expected goals numbers were more positive at just under 48 percent with his main partner on the season, Nick Leddy. Some of it was simply bad goaltending.

Mitch Marner makes everyone better

Eighteen games with at least a point for Mitch Marner, and counting. Toronto’s Mr. Do Everything really is doing everything. A staple on their top power play and penalty killing units. A top line forward at 5v5, whether he is on a line with Auston Matthews or not. He is the player that other players play with to have career seasons. From James Van Riemsdyk putting up a career-high 36 goals, to Tyler Bozak putting up a career-high 55 points, to John Tavares putting up a career-high 47 goals, to Auston Matthews scoring 60. Those seasons all had one thing in common: Marner playing on their wing.

A bad year for goalies

Last season we had eight players put up more than 100 points. Goal scoring was up across the league and the talent infusion had never been more evident. Now, we are seeing the fall out of that: league average save percentage (.905) is on pace to be the lowest in 16 years. A few years ago Cal Petersen took over the net from Jonathan Quick and was later rewarded with a three year, $15-million contract. He was on waivers Wednesday. Igor Shesterkin is calling himself out in the media coming off a Vezina Trophy. Jack Campbell might already be the backup in Edmonton. Goaltending is all over the place and the talent in the league is making them pay.

Dach trade looking better by the day for Habs

The Canadiens acquiring Kirby Dach for first- and third-round draft picks and promptly giving him a four-year, $13.45 million contract was interesting on all sorts of levels. He just turned 21 and was not far removed from being drafted third overall in 2019. Dach flashed a bit in his rookie season, namely in the bubble playoffs where he put up six points in nine games. The following season was delayed due to COVID. In the meantime, he was named captain of Team Canada for the world juniors, which should have been a great opportunity for him to get his feet wet and hit the ground running for the shortened NHL season.

Playoff races shaping up to be much more exciting this year

We are now officially in December. American Thanksgiving is over. As things stand today, there would be five new teams in the playoffs this season compared to last. There would be a few surprising teams not making it, too. Last season, the final month or so of the season was an absolute snooze in terms of playoff races. They were non-existent. The Eastern Conference was set before the New Year even turned. The only thing of note in the West was whether an injury ravaged Vegas squad could make a run at a playoff spot. They sort of did, but it wasn’t that close. It was not an entertaining or particularly exciting end to the regular season.

Islanders putting last season behind them

One of those teams that would be returning to the playoffs right now after not making it last season: the Islanders. They were picked on a lot this summer, having not won the Johnny Gaudreau sweepstakes or being able to acquire JT Miller, two players they reportedly took runs at. They might not be too upset about how both have played so far (Nazem Kadri would have been nice there, though).