EP Rinkside 3 Stars: Microcosms

As we creep past the halfway point of the season, I have to say it's been a blast to look at the standings.

Boston has five regulation losses. Vegas is first in the West. New Jersey, Winnipeg, and Seattle are all top-10 teams by both points and points percentage. Edmonton is sitting 16th, Colorado is 21st.

There's a lot of stuff you can predict pretty accurately coming into every season, but the fun is what you can't predict, and whether that's good or bad for your personal favorite team is kinda beside the point. Last year was a bore because the Eastern Conference was sewn up in mid-November. This year you at least have two current non-playoff teams that are credible threats to the teams clinging desperately onto the bottom of the Wild Card.

And in the West, well, it's chaos. Five teams comp