NHL Top 10: Dec. 10

Many teams in the NHL have had a very good start to their seasons. After a thrilling week of action and some shocking upsets throughout the league, some teams have fallen a couple of spots in the standings.

Let's take a look at the hottest teams in the league right now and who cracks this week's top 10 teams in the NHL.

10. Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning survived two months without their superstar All-Star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, however, the wins are not coming as easy for this Bolts team as they did the past couple of seasons.

The bright spot for this team has been their Right Winger Nikita Kucherov who has 19 goals and 47 points which is the best in the league in both categories.

9. Dallas Stars

Coming into the season the Stars were one of the favorites to win the Western Conference, but after a solid start, they have just slumped through this most recent stretch of the season.

They have been led by their sensational goaltender Jake Oettinger who has posted a .905 save percentage and 10 wins in 19 games played.

8. Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings have been one of the most surprising teams to start this season and have been the highest-scoring team in the league so far this season.

The Red Wings are set to get even better on offense as they add another spark to their lineup once future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane returns from injury.

7. Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks were scorching hot coming out of the gates and had three skaters ranked as the league’s top scorers.

As of late, Canucks come down to earth and are no longer sitting atop the Pacific Division and could potentially lose their star Elias Pettersson at the trade deadline.

6. Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers have been off to a very hot start this season and look like they won't be fighting for their playoff lives like they did last year during their Cinderella run to the finals.

Their surprising hero so far this season has been Sam Reinhart who has been very good at scoring clutch goals at key times in the game.

5. Los Angeles Kings

The LA Kings continue their dominance on the road by putting up a 10-0 record so far this season away from home.

They are only just six points behind the defending champ Vegas Golden Knights and could be a dark horse contender going down the stretch this season.

4. Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche remain one of the league’s top ten teams without a doubt. They have collected 34 points through 25 games so far this season.

The Avalanche have been getting by with some stellar goaltending and great defensive play from Cale Makar. They look to do a little bit more on offense and get some of their stars fired up.

3. Boston Bruins

The Bruins have surprisingly been off to a very dominant start to the season even with losing their longtime captain Patrice Bergeron.

They recently lost a couple of games but still, sit atop the Atlantic Division and have been a very consistent team on a nightly basis.

2. Vegas Golden Knights

The reigning Stanley Cup champions continue to assert their dominance in the Western Conference and remain one of the favorites to repeat and win it all again this season.

The Knights will be without their goaltender Adin Hill for a short period of time but have a very capable backup in Logan Thompson.

1. New York Rangers

The Rangers continue to remain one of the top teams in the NHL despite the subpar performances from their Vezina Goalie Igor Shesterkin.

They have been led by their Russian star Artemi Panarin who has been dominant this season and is building his MVP case on a nightly basis.

Christian Holtzapple is a fourth-year student majoring in broadcast journalism, To contact him email cmh7064@psu.edu