A month into the NHL season, the playoff race is already shifting in unexpected ways. While many of the highest postseason chances belong to the usual suspects -- as do the lowest (sorry, San Jose Sharks ) -- some are the property of rising teams surging ahead of schedule, versus others who've stumbled hard out of the gate.

Using playoff odds, season stats, Elo ratings and other indicators of team quality, we can see which clubs have overachieved or underwhelmed the most relative to preseason expectations .

Some of these early sources of curiosity (for good or bad) look built to last. But others? Not so much.

Let's dive into the biggest surprises to see which look real, and what they say about the league's shifting balance of power.

Pleasant surprises

Anaheim Ducks

Year 1 o

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