Every Tuesday, theScore's editors will examine the fortunes of the north's seven NHL franchises. Welcome to "O Canada."

Calgary Flames

Plus: Backup goaltender Chad Johnson, who appeared in four straight games and grabbed a trio of wins in the process. The journeyman netminder has been a revelation in Calgary, already with a 9-5-3 record on the season.

Minus: Conversely, the Flames' intended starter, Brian Elliott, is still finding his way in Cowtown and fighting to find consistency. Elliott had the league's top save percentage last season at .930, but that's dipped to .882 this year.

The Take: The Flames have a burning desire to figure out their goaltending, and making wins more difficult to come by will be the absence of leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau, who is out six weeks with a broken finger. The Flames have struggled mightily under new coach Glen Gulutzan, with just eight wins in 21 outings.

Edmonton Oilers

Plus: Hats off to Connor McDavid, who, after 10 games without a tally, silenced his critics with his first career hat trick in a 5-2 beating of the Dallas Stars. McDavid leads the NHL scoring race with 24 points in 20 games.

Minus: The Oilers surprised many in 2014 when they signed winger Benoit Pouliot to a five-year, $20-million contract. Eleven games without a point recently earned Pouliot back-to-back scratches by coach Todd McLellan.

The Take: After dropping five in a row, the Oilers enjoyed a nice bounce back with a win over the Stars and a 5-0 shellacking of the Chicago Blackhawks. Aside from McDavid, the Oilers' key contributors - namely Leon Draisaitl, Jordan Eberle, Milan Lucic, and goalie Cam Talbot - are delivering as the team sits first in the Pacific with 23 points.

Montreal Canadiens

Plus: Following a full-time shift to center, Alex Galchenyuk is finally realizing his potential. The third overall pick in 2012 is scoring at a point-per-game pace, with 19 points on the season.

Minus: How valuable is Alexander Radulov? The Russian winger missed two games, and without him in the lineup, the Canadiens dropped back-to-back games to the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

The Take: With 30 points in 19 games, the Canadiens leave little room for criticism as the NHL's top team. One curiosity is the usage of Sven Andrighetto, who's already been demoted to St. John's (AHL) twice. Andrighetto has delivered in the AHL - grabbing Player of the Week honors in October - but has zero points in four games with the Habs this year.

Ottawa Senators

Plus: Ever heard of Ryan Dzingel? Didn't think so. A seventh-round pick from 2011, Dzingel has surprised as the Sens' third-leading scorer, with 10 points in 18 games.

Minus: The negative spotlight shines on goaltender Andrew Hammond who, after missing significant time due to a groin injury, refused an AHL conditioning stint. The Senators subsequently waived him and assigned him to the minors.

The Take: The Senators continue to fly under the radar, with a 10-7-1 showing through 18 games. But despite their winning record, Ottawa sits just shy of a playoff position. For a team already short on offense, the Senators will have their work cut out for them as they deal with a pair of minor injuries to two of their top forwards, Bobby Ryan and Mike Hoffman.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Plus: It's easy to look at Toronto and talk about the young guns, but veteran winger James van Riemsdyk also deserves some love. With 17 points in 18 games, the lanky forward is on pace for a career year.

Minus: Sorry, Auston Matthews. After teasing us with a four-goal debut, the scrutiny will only increase as his goal drought continues. Matthews has six goals on the year but has not tallied in nearly a month, last scoring Oct. 25.

The Take: The Maple Leafs have made positive steps in the early stages of their rebuilding, and hold down a winning record of 8-7-3 through 18 games. The challenge will be how the team's young talent responds through the difficult middle portion of the season. Rookie Mitch Marner sits second in NHL freshman scoring with 16 points.

Vancouver Canucks

Plus: Don't get down on the Sedins. The twins can still play, and have combined for 25 points on the season. Both players are closing in on career milestones, with Daniel 45 points away from 1,000 and Henrik only 18 off.

Minus: After a strong start to the season, the play of goalie Ryan Miller has dropped off, with his save percentage under .900 and his goals-against average approaching three-plus.

The Take: After a slow start to November, the Canucks have grabbed points in three of their last four, including two overtime wins over the Stars and the Arizona Coyotes. General manager Jim Benning wants to add a 20-goal man, and that notion has linked the team to Buffalo Sabres winger and Vancouver native Evander Kane.

Winnipeg Jets

Plus: Mark Scheifele's name doesn't normally come up when discussing the league's best pivots, but he's making a name for himself this year with 23 points on the season already. Scheifele has arrived.

Minus: Defenseman Jacob Trouba is back in the lineup after a failed trade demand and appears to be taking his time to find the scoresheet, with no points through six games.

The Take: Coach Paul Maurice is juggling a host of young talent this season - not only Scheifele, but Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor, and the NHL's leading rookie scorer, Patrik Laine, among others. That's led to a bevy of highlight-reel plays, but also some predictable growing pains, like the Jets' embarrassing 12-shot showing versus the Boston Bruins.

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Jeff Carter, Cam Ward, and Nicklas Backstrom are the NHL's three stars of the week.

Carter paced the group with six points in his last three games, including four goals. The Los Angeles Kings forward led the way with three consecutive game-winning goals over the Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, and Anaheim Ducks. Through 20 games this season, Carter has recorded nine goals and eight assists.

Ward appeared in three games, posting a perfect record, alongside a 1.01 goals-against average and a spectacular .964 save percentage. The Carolina Hurricanes netminder improved his record to 6-4-3 on the season with wins over the San Jose Sharks, Montreal Canadiens, and Winnipeg Jets.

Backstrom was a key cog for the Washington Capitals, posting eight points in four games, including four goals. The feat included a five-point outing in a 7-1 drubbing of the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Backstrom has recorded 17 points in 18 games, while the Capitals sit at 11-5-2 through 18 games.

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Every Tuesday, theScore's editors will examine the fortunes of the north's seven NHL franchises. Welcome to "O Canada."

Calgary Flames

Plus: Michael Frolik has 10 points in 16 games, and, if things keep up, it looks to be a career year. Frolik is on pace for 52 points, which bests his 45-point rookie campaign with the Florida Panthers.

Minus: Captain Mark Giordano is no where to be found, with zero points in his last nine games and just one goal on the season. This after finishing with 21 tallies last season.

The Take: The Flames had a slow start to the season, winning just one of their first six games. But things haven't picked up much into November, as the team's record sits at 5-10-1, just a single point above the Western Conference basement. That's left some fans calling for change, specifically with coach Glen Gulutzan, who just signed on with the Flames this past offseason.

Edmonton Oilers

Plus: The workhorse Cam Talbot, who has started all but one of the Oilers' games this season, is posting an 8-6-1 record and .918 save percentage through 15 games.

Minus: Oddly, Connor McDavid, who has six points in his last four games, hasn't found the back of the net since a 2-0 win over the Canucks on Oct. 28.

The Take: For years hockey fans have heard how the Oilers would climb the standings, and that's finally come to fruition this season. Through 16 games the Oilers sit atop the Pacific Division and second overall in the Western Conference. More is needed - the team has dropped its last three games, all in regulation - but it's a nice bounce-back to relevancy after years of on-ice losses and off-ice lottery wins.

Montreal Canadiens

Plus: The obvious, Carey Price, who just doesn't lose. The Habs' netminder has won all of the 10 games he's started this season, while posting a ridiculous .957 save percentage. He's allowed just 14 goals on the year.

Minus: It's difficult to be negative about a team that has lost just twice in 16 regulation games, but if something needs to be critiqued, than more is needed from center Tomas Plekanec. A regular 20-goal scorer, he has just one on the season, finding the back of the net in the 12th game of the year. The Czech forward is on pace for only five goals.

The Take: When the Canadiens pulled off the Subban-for-Weber blockbuster, general manager Marc Bergevin noted that it was a deal to remake his team. So far, it's done exactly that. Shea Weber has stabilized the blue line while providing a host of offense along the way, already with 13 points - including seven goals - in 16 games. Couple that with MVP Price, and the Canadiens will contend in the East.

Ottawa Senators

Plus: Mike Condon has taken the ball and run with it since joining the Senators, winning both starts and allowing just one goal in the process.

Minus: The Senators' offense ranks 27th league-wide, so obviously more production is needed. Circle the names Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman, who have combined for just five goals on the year.

The Take: Quite simply, the Senators need to score more and, so far, have looked from within to resolve the issue. Stone is on pace for only 12 goals after scoring a combined 49 the last two seasons, while Hoffman projects to score 16 goals after scoring 29 a year ago. Despite this, the Senators have quickly meshed under new head coach Guy Boucher and currently sit in a playoff spot in the Atlantic division.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Plus: Mitch Marner continues to score and really hasn't had any noticeable slumps through the early part of the season. The rookie forward has 12 points in 15 games.

Minus: He's a rookie, and he's still on pace for 66 points, but Auston Matthews is in a nasty funk. After scoring four goals in his NHL debut, he has just two markers in his last 14 games.

The Take: The Maple Leafs are in the initial stages of a rebuild, and the early returns look promising with their young talent already producing. From Marner and Matthews, to William Nylander - who has four goals and eight assists in 15 games - the Leafs are teeming with offensive upside. As well, defenseman Morgan Rielly has taken another step, with 10 points on the season. If only Toronto's veterans could produce like its young talent.

Vancouver Canucks

Plus: The Canucks' goaltending is doing all it can to give the team a chance. One-time highly touted goalie Jacob Markstrom has found his game in Vancouver, posting a .915 save percentage in eight games.

Minus: Loui Eriksson may have the monkey off his back with two goals in his last three games, but those are his only goals on the season. This isn't what the Canucks had in mind when they signed him to that $6-million per year pact.

The Take: With 33 goals in 16 games, the Canucks have the second-fewest goals in the Western Conference. General manager Jim Benning insists he has a playoff team, but the squad's 6-9-1 record and pesky minus-15 goal differential flies in the face of that. The lack of scoring and overall lack of wins has many Canucks fans and hockey pundits calling for the replacement of head coach Willie Desjardins.

Winnipeg Jets

Plus: Patrik Laine told us months ago that he was the best player in this past summer's entry draft, and he may be right. The rookie sensation leads the NHL with 11 goals.

Minus: Alexander Burmistrov, the former first rounder who has just two points on the season, has recently seen reports suggesting that the Jets would like to move the Russian forward.

The Take: A round of applause is owed to general manger Kevin Cheveldayoff after he recently locked up holdout blue-liner Jacob Trouba, who originally asked out of the Manitoba capital. Trouba has since agreed to a two-year extension with the club and has rescinded his trade request. Trouba's addition helps bolster a blue line which will be key in helping a pair of young netminders in Connor Hellebuyck and Michael Hutchinson.

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The Minnesota Wild will be without Zach Parise and Marco Scandella on a week to week basis, as the team announced Saturday that both have been sidelined with lower-body injuries.

Parise and Scandella suffered the ailments in Thursday's 4-0 shutout victory versus the Buffalo Sabres.

It's a tough blow for the Wild, with Parise off to a solid start, having scored six points in eight games. He only trails blue-liner Ryan Suter for the team lead in scoring.

Scandella has recorded one assist in seven contests, missing one game earlier this month due to an illness.

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The Ottawa Senators believe Binghamton is the perfect place for Curtis Lazar.

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion says there is no plan to call up the team's 2013 first-round pick, telling Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen "the best thing for Curtis is to go down there and play and play as well as he can play."

The Senators assigned Lazar to their AHL affiliate in Binghamton after he missed training camp with mono, providing him an opportunity to get his game up to speed. It's also a new experience for the 21-year-old who had not played in the AHL prior to this season. He has tallied two points in five games.

"(He can) play in all situations and I think it's the right thing to do. Let him get confidence and when the time comes we'll call him back up but there's no timetable to call up Curtis," Dorion added. "(It's) for him to work on his skills. We didn't draft Curtis just to be a third- or fourth-line guy, we drafted Curtis to be an impact player for us."

Lazar has 143 NHL games to his credit, but has scored just 35 points. That's a far cry from his last year in junior in which he scored 76 points in 58 games with the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings.

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The NHL announced its three stars of the week Monday, naming Cam Talbot, Artem Anisimov, and Mike Green as its winners.

Talbot, the starting goalie of the Edmonton Oilers, was named the NHL's first star after winning all three of his starts and posting an outstanding .970 save percentage, allowing just three goals over that stretch. Talbot and the Oilers sit atop the NHL standings, with a 5-1-0 record and 10 points in six games.

Chicago Blackhawks center Anisimov was named the second star following a pair of two-goal performances. Anisimov tallied two goals and two assists against the Philadelphia Flyers, and then scored two more goals versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. He finished the week with seven points in three games.

Green, the Detroit Red Wings blue-liner, was named the NHL's third star after a hat-trick night against the Ottawa Senators, the first by a Detroit defenseman since Nicklas Lidstrom accomplished the same feat in 2010. Green picked up two more points on the week, both assists, finishing with five points in four games.

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All seven Canadian teams missed the postseason last year - the first such occurrence since 1970 - so it's an odd feeling Monday to see two of Canada's clubs atop the NHL, and three in the top four. While it's better times ahead for many, here are three teams who made noise this week, for better or worse:

Edmonton Oilers

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers sit first overall, and not in the draft lottery standings. Through the team's first six games, they've posted a 5-1-0 record, and had a strong bounce back following that 6-2 stinker to the Buffalo Sabres, going 3-0 since and allowing just three goals.

Has the future finally arrived for the Oilers? After a series of first overall picks that only amounted to more high picks, the Oilers are off to the franchise's best start since 1985-86.

McDavid has tallied nine points along the way, placing him first in the NHL scoring race, tied with Brent Burns and Brad Marchand. The Oilers made a number of roster bolstering moves leading up to the season, particularly the ousting of Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov, and the early returns seem to have paid off.

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens started last season 9-0-0, and with Carey Price now back in the lineup, the team hasn't skipped a beat. With nine points in five games, the Atlantic-leading Habs remain undefeated in regulation.

Canadiens fans held their breath as Price was sidelined with the flu for the first three games of the season, but he has responded well since returning, grabbing a pair of wins and posting a .920 save percentage.

Backup Al Montoya was an admirable fill-in in Price's absence, going 2-0-1 with an astounding .962 save percentage.

Calgary Flames

Goaltending dragged down the Calgary Flames last season, and this year has not fared much better, despite the team bringing in two new netminders. The Flames have gotten off to an awful start, with one win in six games.

Calgary has allowed an NHL-worst 27 goals, and this summer's big addition, goaltender Brian Elliott, has struggled to find his way so far. Elliott's .930 save percentage led the NHL last season, but that number has sagged to .839 this year.

Meanwhile, the Flames could have an early goaltending controversy on their hands, as backup Chad Johnson has already seen three games, recording the team's lone win, and a respectable .901 save percentage.

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By this time next year, only two Canadian franchises won't have hosted an outdoor game: the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.

Both the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs take it outside this year, leaving the Habs and Sens in the cold.

Either would be a good choice to host the next Heritage Classic regardless of the opponent, but a match between the two in Ottawa would be ideal. Here's why:

Location matters

As much as the Canadiens, the NHL's most historic franchise with 24 Stanley Cups, would play an excellent host, that's simply not possible given the logistics.

The fact remains that Montreal doesn't have a suitable, safe, and open-roof facility to host an outdoor game.

The best option, Olympic Stadium, is more than 40 years old, and its lack of a retractable roof makes it a no-go, leaving no other viable venue options.

Which takes us to Ottawa. The easy answer is TD Place Stadium, home of the CFL's Redblacks, which seats 24,000.

But if Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has his way, the game would be played before Canada's national parliament, as a celebration of not only the national pastime, but also the 150th anniversary of Canada.

The matchup

The good news is the Senators need an opponent, and the Canadiens are a terrific option. Since 2013, the Sens and Habs have met twice in the playoffs, and the two have developed a natural, and nasty, rivalry.

That's a ratings seller alone, but the Senators and Canadiens also boast two of the NHL's top players worth showcasing: goaltender Carey Price and defenseman Erik Karlsson, who are arguably the league's best at their respective positions.

A 2017 game would no doubt offer the two sides an opportunity to renew that rivalry, only from an outdoor rink and before a crowd of thousands.

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The Great One sees greatness in Connor McDavid.

Speaking with The Globe and Mail, the NHL's all-time leading score didn't hold back on his adulation.

"I don't think there's any question that Connor's the best 19-year-old hockey player I've ever seen and I saw (Mark) Messier, I saw (Mario) Lemieux, I saw (Guy) Lafleur," Gretzky said. "This kid is special."

Gretzky - who earlier this month was named vice-chair of Oilers Entertainment Group - will now have the opportunity to observe McDavid up close.

"Now, it's going to take time. He's still only 19," Gretzky continued. "But he has everything in place to become the best player in the National Hockey League and go on to win some championships for the Edmonton Oilers."

By scoring six points in the first two games of the season, McDavid became the first Oilers player to do so since 1987. That feat was last accomplished by, of course, Gretzky. And on Monday, McDavid was named the NHL's first star of the week as a result.

It's one of many accolades that Gretzky sees on McDavid's horizon, noting that championships are what separates the greats from the truly elite. Gretzky captained the Oilers to four Stanley Cups and believes McDavid has an exceptional opportunity to return hockey's Holy Grail to Edmonton for the first time since 1990.

"But what I'm saying is if you want to get that elite status where they say you're Bobby Orr or you're Jean Beliveau to me you've got to win a Stanley Cup," Gretzky said. "Winning a Stanley Cup is important and you should never lose sight of that fact."

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Chalk up another accolade for Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. The superstar center was named the NHL's first star of the week Monday, after scoring six points in three games to open the season. McDavid notched two goals, including the game-winner, in the team's season opener against the rival Calgary Flames.

Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, the first overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, was named the league's second star of the week. The 19-year-old had a record-breaking debut, scoring four goals in his first NHL game. Matthews notched the fourth tally with three seconds remaining in just the second period.

Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo has been named the NHL's third star of the week. The 37-year-old grabbed a pair of wins to start the season, posting a .957 save percentage through two games. His second win marked the 438th victory of his career, pushing him past Jacques Plante for sixth place on the NHL's all-time wins list.

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