Kevin Allen

USA TODAY Sports

With every NHL team either approaching or past the quarter-pole of the 2016-17 season, here’s an analysis of where we stand:

Most Valuable Player: 1. Carey Price (Montreal Canadiens); 2. Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers); 3. Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins); 4. Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning); 5. Shea Weber (Montreal).

Best rookie: 1. Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets); 2. Patrik Laine (Winnipeg Jets); 3. Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs); 4. Mitch Marner (Toronto Maple Leafs); 5. Brandon Carlo (Boston Bruins).

Best goalie: 1. Price (Montreal Canadiens); 2. Devan Dubnyk (Minnesota Wild); 3. Tuukka Rask (Boston Bruins); 4. Craig Anderson (Ottawa Senators); 5. Sergei Bobrovsky (Columbus Blue Jackets).

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Best defenseman: 1. Weber (Montreal); 2. Brent Burns (San Jose Sharks); 3. Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks); 4. Erik Karlsson (Ottawa Senators); 5. Ryan Suter (Minnesota Wild).

Best coaching job: 1. John Tortorella (Columbus Blue Jackets); 2. John Hines (New Jersey Devils); 3. Guy Boucher (Ottawa Senators); 4. Joel Quenneville (Chicago Blackhawks); 5. Alain Vigneault (New York Rangers).

Pleasant surprises (players): 1. Michael Grabner (New York Rangers); 2. Peter Budaj (Los Angeles Kings); 3. Jimmy Howard (Detroit Red Wings); 4. Patrick Eaves (Dallas Stars); 5. Paul Byron (Montreal Canadiens).

Disappointing players: 1. Andrew Ladd (New York Islanders); 2. Brian Elliott (Calgary Flames); 3. Mikkel Boedker (San Jose Sharks); 4. Evander Kane (Buffalo Sabres); 5. Justin Williams (Washington Capitals).

Exceeding expectations (teams): 1. Ottawa Senators; 2. New Jersey Devils; 3. Columbus Blue Jackets; 4. Edmonton Oilers; 5. Toronto Maple Leafs.

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Disappointing teams: 1. New York Islanders; 2. Calgary Flames; 3. Dallas Stars; 4. Florida Panthers; 5. Philadelphia Flyers.

Under-the-radar offseason acquisitions who have helped the most: 1. Grabner (Rangers); 2. Jonathan Marchessault (Florida Panthers); 3. David Schlemko (San Jose Sharks); 4. Chad Johnson (Calgary Flames); 5. Kyle Quincey (New Jersey Devils).

Important off-ice news: 1. Expansion team named Vegas Golden Knights; 2. NHL asks players to extend the collective bargaining agreement in exchange for owners’ Olympic commitment; 3. Penguins no longer for sale; 4. Las Vegas to be given a two-day head-start on free agent signings; 5. Coyotes negotiating new arena on Arizona State campus.

Players most associated with trade rumors: 1. Evander Kane (Buffalo); 2. Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins); 3. Kevin Shattenkirk (St. Louis Blues); 4. Martin Hanzal (Arizona Coyotes); 5. Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay Lightning).

Teams performing most like Stanley Cup contenders: 1. Montreal Canadiens; 2. New York Rangers; 3. Chicago Blackhawks; 4. Tampa Bay Lightning; 5. Pittsburgh Penguins.

Moves that have to be considered: 1. Complete rebuild in Vancouver; 2. New coach for the Islanders: 3. Committing fully to Andrei Vasilevskiy as the team’s No. 1 goalie in Tampa Bay; 4. Blackhawks finding another scoring forward who would fit in their salary cap; 5. Getting T.J. Oshie re-signed in Washington.