Ice hockey giants Florida Panthers have been branded “scary from top to bottom” after their superb start to the league season.
Florida Panthers came out on top of a power rankings piece by The Athletic, who singled out “a resurgent Sergei Bobrovsky ready to reassert himself as an elite netminder” as one of the team’s star players.
They also selected the Florida Panthers as their top-ranked team last week, and there’s little sign that they’re going to surrender their place at the top any time soon.
Those who partake in Hockey Betting from time to time would be brave to put any money against them right now, though they can find plenty of other intriguing markets to take a look at Vietnamese sports betting site Vwin.
Speaking after the latest game, coach Andrew Burnette said: “Back to back nights in tough buildings, an emotional week… To come up with the energy and desire to compete for that hard shows the resiliency of this group.”
Elsewhere, the Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers might also be worth keeping an eye on in the coming weeks, as they both climbed the rankings after some impressive recent performances.
The latter of whom notably have Connor McDavid, who has previously been tipped to be the best player in the NHL, and he’s living up to that reputation.
“There is no scarier player in hockey than Connor McDavid,” writes The Athletic, adding that he “can utterly embarrass any player in this league with his incredible speed and skill.
“No one expected the Oilers to start the season with five straight wins, but here they are thanks to McDavid’s continued heroics. Not only does he have a point in every game, but he has multiple points in every game to start the season. He’s an absolute freak of nature and the fact we have to take Edmonton seriously as a contender is a testament to his value. The Oilers are for real.”
McDavid’s rise follows an interview earlier in the season in which he spoke about his desire to be more vocal and more of a leader, but that he wanted to take his game before asserting himself in this way, by earning others’ respect first.
“For me, it’s definitely taken me a long time to open up a little bit,” he told Sportsnet. “I’m still not… What I put in front of the camera is not necessarily who I am each and every day. But I try and do my best for the fans, and for the game. I do try to be better at it.
“There’s a lot of respect that goes along with playing hockey. You’ve got to earn everyone’s respect, and once you feel like you’ve been able to do that, you get a little more comfortable. You feel like you can say something. Like you’ve earned the right to say something.”
At the other end of The Athletic’s power rankings, the trouble continues for the Chicago Blackhawks, who sit rock-bottom of the list as they remain winless and were even dubbed “one of the worst teams” that The Athletic’s hockey writers had ever seen.
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