Thus far, the 2015-2016 NHL season has been, in a word, strange. Sure, it’s still early, but it’s impossible to argue that things have generally gone as most people expected. The Blue Jackets have only won two games, despite the fact that their roster, on paper, is arguably the best roster in the franchise’s history. On the other hand, the Montreal Canadiens started off the season on an absolute tear, and have only lost two games. The league’s top ten scoring leaders consist of Blake Wheeler, David Krejci, and Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Calgary Flames, despite their offseason acquisitions, actually look worse than they did last season, even though they are generally accepted as a franchise on the upswing. Anaheim has been terrible, scoring just 14 goals in their first 11 games, and as of now, it looks like they might finish in the basement of the league. Yeah, this season has gotten off to a pretty weird start.

We’ve just passed the 10 game mark, and a few players have had particularly slow starts to the season, even though they are generally relied upon to perform by their respective teams. These key players are undoubtedly capable of more, and have plenty of time to bounce back. They’ve grossly underachieved so far this season, hitting massive scoring droughts, and posting embarrassing numbers. Luckily for them, we’re only an eighth of the way done with the season, and they have plenty of time to start performing in accordance to their capabilities.

Jordan Staal

A former second overall draft pick, Jordan Staal has had trouble living up to his draft pedigree throughout his entire career. He has certainly developed into a formidable two-way center, but he’s never quite reached the scoring potential many thought he would. Still, Staal is typically good for 40-50 points a season, and his ability to shut down star players is invaluable. This season, Staal has mostly played on the second line, and it took him 9 games to record a single point. He simply can’t seem to generate any offense, and defensively, he hasn’t been great either, recording a -3 (+/-) rating in the 8 games he’s played. Nobody expected the Hurricanes to be contenders this season, they’re a team that needs a few more years to really come together, but Staal’s struggles early this season are particularly concerning. In his past 3 games, however, Staal has played well, recording 1 goal and 2 assists. Though he had a slow start to the season, he’s finally starting to show signs of life, and it’s likely we will see his scoring numbers gradually improve.

Tuukka Rask

In the 7 games Rask has started thus far this season, he has let up 23 goals. That puts him at tenth in the NHL in goals against, but what’s particularly concerning about this number is that he has only played 7 games, whereas most other NHL starters have played around 10. So, he’s let up more goals than a large majority of NHL starters, yet he has started less games than most of them. You could certainly argue that Boston’s defensive play is equally responsible for Rask’s early struggles, but Rask’s save percentage, at a measly .889, isn’t very impressive for an elite goaltender. He’s only two seasons removed from winning the Vezina trophy, and in the summer of 2013, he signed a massive eight-year contract with a $7 million cap hit. He’s one of the highest paid goaltenders in the entire NHL, and he’s been a solid, reliable starter for his entire career. If his shaky play continues, Boston could be in for a nightmarish season. However, Rask has been far too consistent throughout his entire career for this streak to continue, and it’s inevitable that he’ll bounce back, eventually regaining his form as one of the NHL’s top goalies. In fact, in his past two starts, Rask had his best two performances of the season, posting a 24 save shutout, and recording a win in which he made 31 saves on 32 shots in the following game.

Sergei Bobrovsky

The undrafted Columbus goaltender has had an absolutely miserable start to the season, posting just 2 wins in 10 games. He leads the NHL in losses with 8, and goals against with 35, but his team’s poor play has truly been a team effort. It’s no secret throughout the NHL that nothing has been going right in Columbus, but Bobrovsky’s poor play has been particularly noticeable. After their fourth loss of the season, a 7-3 loss to Ottawa, Bobrovsky was quoted saying, “I have zero confidence right now. It’s a tough time.” As second highest paid goaltender in the entire NHL, Bobrovsky needs to regain the confidence he once had, and start playing at the level he is capable of. As of now, he has an atrocious .865 save percentage, and he looks absolutely lost. However, Bobrovsky’s poor play can be mostly attributed to his utter lack of confidence, something that is prevalent in the Blue Jackets’ locker room. Bobrovsky is still a relatively young, somewhat inexperienced goaltender, and it can be easy for less experienced goalies to fall into a rut. He’s an extremely talented player, and has posted excellent numbers throughout his career, so it’s difficult to fathom that his poor play will continue. Now that Columbus has finally won their first game, hopefully Bobrovsky will regain the confidence he once had, and play like the Vezina caliber goalie he was just two seasons ago.

Sidney Crosby

During the summer, Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby seemed like a perfect match for each other. Crosby has a reputation as the best playmaker in the world, and Kessel is one of the best snipers in the NHL. To the dismay of some Penguins fans, the two of them have struggled to find the chemistry people dreamed they might, and Kessel has instead found himself on a line centered by Evgeni Malkin. Malkin and Kessel have been great together, and the Pens are off to a decent start, but Sidney Crosby has had a particularly slow start to the season, posting just 1 goal and 4 assists. It’s been a while since Crosby found himself outside of the top 10 NHL scoring leaders, and he’s definitely feeling pressured to deliver more offensively. After failing to record a single point in his first 5 games, Crosby has contributed 5 points in his past 6 games. He’s finally generating some offense, but he simply hasn’t been consistent. After scoring his first points of the season, Crosby was held scoreless for the following 3 games, and after recording 2 assists in a game against Buffalo, Crosby failed to record a single point the following game. If he can manage to string together a scoring streak, then he’ll undoubtedly relieve some of the frustration he’s felt, and start to amass enough points to be placed among the league’s top scorers. As of now, despite the fact that Sid is in the top 20 in the league in shots on net, he is shooting at just 3.3%, good for third worst in the league among players who have scored at least one goal this season. Yeah, that’s gotta be pretty frustrating for him. Some of the those shots are going to start going in, and Crosby will start putting up points on a consistent basis as we ease further into the season. He still is arguably the best player in the world, and he will certainly find his game soon enough.

Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry

At the start of the season, the Ducks were early Stanley Cup favorites. After nearly making it to the Stanley Cup finals, Anaheim appeared to have learned a lot from their seven game series against Chicago, and seemed hungry to improve on their performance from last season. Well, it hasn’t exactly worked out like that. Now 11 games into the season, the Ducks have scored less goals than any team in the entire NHL, and have won just two games. Why have they been so bad? Because Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf have both had absolutely horrendous starts to the season. In the 8 games he has played, Captain Ryan Getzlaf has recorded zero goals and one assist. Corey Perry, Getzlaf’s dynamic scoring winger, has also failed to score a single goal, and has recorded 3 assists. For a while now, the two of them have been one of the most effective scoring duos in the entire NHL, both finding themselves among the league’s top scorers season after season. If the two of them want to get back to the Western Conference finals, they’re going to both need to contribute much more offensively. A few days ago, Getzlaf was diagnosed with appendicitis, and it’s possible that his illness was effecting his play, thus providing the only logical explanation as to why he has struggled so much this season. Perry, as Getzlaf’s linemate, would in turn struggle as well if Getzlaf wasn’t completely healthy in the first 8 games he played. This, though, is the only explanation I can come up with for their offensive shortcomings. Perry and Getzlaf are two of the best players in the world, and it’s simply inconceivable that they will continue to fail to generate offense. When Getzlaf is completely recovered, and returns to the lineup, the two of them will undoubtedly start to find the back of the net, and Anaheim will slowly but surely turn into a playoff team once again.