Which underperforming team will bounce back in November?

We’re now a month into the season, and with so few games to go off of, there’s a lot of craziness in the results we’ve seen so far. Plenty of teams are exceeding expectations, and plenty are playing far below their expectations and have disappointed thus far.

But which teams that have underperformed have the best chance of bouncing back? Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton talked about which teams they think could turn things around after a slow October on Daily Faceoff Live.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I look at a team like St. Louis. .333 points percentage, two goalies who are playing uncharacteristically poor. I wonder if St. Louis isn’t due at some point here to just rattle off four or five in a row and really calm down that fan base.

Carter Hutton: Yeah, I think so. With their veterans, and it’s a good dynamic. Joel Hofer’s underperformed this year, Jordan Binnington hasn’t been much better. So I do like that one. Minnesota as well is a team I think is going to trend back in that direction.

But to switch over to the Eastern Conference, I think I got to lay into the Toronto Maple Leafs here. I think the Leafs have underperformed so far from what we’ve expected. I think when Joseph Woll comes back, it will be important for this team to get going in the right direction and start playing a better brand of hockey.

So that would be the team that I think was really underperforming which is due for a strong November. Statistically and historically, they haven’t been great in October. So I look for that trend to continue as November goes on here and they pick up their slack here a bit.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The second-worst 5-on-5 save percentage in the NHL belongs to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Everyone points and goes “Marner’s gone. They’re not going to be able to score.” They are scoring more than enough to win hockey games. They need to defend better. And with [Chris] Tanev getting stretchered off the ice the other day, that was scary. But you worry about the blue line without Tanev. And again, goaltending. Woll coming back is coming at a good time because they need to get some saves.

Carter Hutton: Yeah, it will. And again, when you look back on last year early in the year, there was a lot of games where they weren’t the better team. Their goalie played well, they kept them in games and right now they’re not getting that. So I don’t think this is totally concerning in Leafland. I think it’s going to get better.

But the Tanev loss is an interesting one because it’s something that worrying. How long is he out for? He isn’t a young guy, so that is concerning. But for the Toronto Maple Leafs, I think in the Atlantic, now that Tampa Bay is rolling, I feel like they’re starting to feel a little more pressure there.

You can watch the full episode here…