Washington added goalie Remi Poirier after New Jersey claimed him on waivers, fueling speculation that the Capitals may be preparing a goalie trade with Detroit. Nashville and Seattle also swapped former first-round picks Matthew Wood and Shane Wright. Around the league, early-season scoring and save-percentage trends are striking, but the sample is too small to draw firm conclusions—especially about whether Toronto’s five-on-five play is improving.

By the Numbers
  • League scoring is 3.15 goals per team per game, the highest rate since the early 1990s.
  • Average save percentage is .891, the lowest since 1989-90.
  • Power-play opportunities average 3.18 per team per game; the season has reached 226 games, excluding yesterday’s.
Yes, But

Early-season league numbers can shift as power-play opportunities decline, and team-level results are even more vulnerable to small samples, schedule effects and one unusually good or bad game. Toronto’s late-October improvement may be real, but it could also be noise.

State of Play
  • Poirier joins Washington’s goalie group, while Detroit assistant general manager Kris Draper has attended two straight Capitals games. A goalie trade is one possibility; an undisclosed injury is another.
  • Toronto’s five-on-five play remains the key question. The next few weeks should offer a clearer read on whether it’s improving.
What's Next

More games should help reveal whether Toronto’s progress is sustained and whether early league scoring and save-percentage trends hold. Until then, firm judgments about teams or players are premature.

Bottom Line

The transactions invite speculation, but the bigger takeaway is patience: early numbers offer clues, not verdicts, and Toronto still needs to show that its five-on-five improvement is real.