Leaderboard full of surprises

A quick look at the scoring leaderboard shows some familiar names - the highly touted Anze Kopitar with his breakout season, the healthy for a while Marian Gaborik, Alex Ovechkin, Joe Thornton and Gaborik's linemate Vinny Prospal. But if you look further down the list, some surprises start to pop up - Dustin Penner the last year's scapegoat in Edmonton is showing the skills that made the Oilers' brass think that he will be a star - he now has 15 points (including 8 goals) in 10 games. Brad Richards is the other player who is looking to put his career back on the right track - the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner is now the playmaker in Dallas (13 points in 9 games), setting up young James Neal (12 in 11. The usual suspect Dan Boyle is currently tied for the defenseman scoring lead (12 points in 12 games) with... Michael Del Zotto - a player who once was listed among those that could push Steven Stamkos out and become the first pick, but fell from grace because of his iffy defensive play. Del Zotto is now the quarterback of the NY Rangers powerplay unit lead by Gaborik and is not looking out of place - he is a sure bet for a Calder nomination right now.

Speaking of Stamkos - he is on a tear, scoring 11 points (7 goals) in 9 games and pushing Vinny Lecavalier out of the spotlight in Tampa Bay. It is also worth to mention the starts of Rich Peverley, Mikael Samuelsson and Ryan O'Reilly. Peverley (10 points in 8 games), whose powerplay scoring and chemistry with this year's first round pick Evander Kane have finally given the Thrashers some scoring depth. The injury-plagued Canucks are relying on free agent acquisition Mikael Samuelsson to provide scoring and he currently has 10 points in 11 games. O'Reilly is one of the biggest stories this year - the 18-year-old was picked in the second round (33rd overall) of this year's draft and not only made the team out of training camp, but also is currently outplaying Matt Duchene, the Avs' first round pick - he has 10 points in 11 games and is one of the league's leaders in +/- with +10.

Although some of those players should cool down soon - especially Samuelsson (might have a reduced role if Demitra and Sedin return from the injuries), O'Reilly (experts are predicting the Avs' fall in the standings) and possibly Penner (is he strong enough mentally to withstand the additional pressure?), they all have the potential to sustain their scoring paces until the end of the season.