On the Fly: Improving the Habs, Seguin's 2nd best, the awfully excellent Leafs, more

"On the Fly," theScore's NHL roundtable series, continues. We're tackling a number of topics this week: the high-flying Penguins, criminally underrated Blake Wheeler, the NHL-worst Maple Leafs, the NHL-best Canadiens, and the league's second-best goal scorer.

Improving the NHL-best Canadiens

Josh Gold-Smith: The NHL's best team could use some minor tweaks, but they're a deep squad that hasn't missed a beat without Carey Price. The unexpected contributions of Dale Weise and Torrey Mitchell probably aren't sustainable, but those outbursts speak more about Montreal's system than anything. The Canadiens lead the league in goals per game and have the fewest goals allowed per contest. One red flag is possession, as Montreal ranks 14th in even-strength Corsi For percentage.

Devante Smith-Pelly hasn't taken advantage of his opportunity on the second line in place of Alex Semin, who's been scratched in five straight games. Signing the Russian forward was a great low-risk move, but he's been a disappointment. The Canadiens could look to add scoring on the wing, and they'd be dealing from a position of strength with blue line depth. If they can acquire another scoring winger who drives possession, they'll be unbeatable.

1. Ovechkin 2. Seguin 3. Paciorietty

Ian McLaren: Over the past two seasons, and through the early stages of 2015-16, Alex Ovechkin has recorded 25 more goals than his nearest competitor, making him without question the game's best pure scorer. Three players can put their names forward as second to Ovechkin: Joe Pavelski (86), Max Pacioretty (83), and Tyler Seguin (82). What gives the latter two the edge, however, is appearing in fewer games due to injuries. On top of that, Seguin has scored one fewer goal than Pacioretty in three fewer games played, giving him a per game average of 0.5. For his part, Pacioretty is averaging 0.49, meaning Seguin gets the edge in the argument for hockey's second best pure goal scorer by the slimmest of margins.

The awfully excellent Maple Leafs

Justin Cuthbert: It's been a spectacularly bad season in Leaf land, speaking simply to results. The Maple Leafs have two wins, or the fewest in the NHL. They've slipped an incredible 19 points behind the Atlantic Division lead in less than a month of action, opening up the largest deficit league wide. They're terrible at home and equally bad on the road, and in the shootout - again, speaking in terms of results. And their special teams are downright horrendous.

But at the heart of the matter, things couldn't be better. With each competitive defeat and Corsi event banked, Maple Leafs brass are gaining more and more intel on what they have in players like Nazem Kadri and Nick Spaling and what they perhaps don't in Peter Holland and Martin Marincin. All while positioning themselves better and better to win the rights to Auston Matthews.

The pain that was advertised before the season isn't something many Maple Leafs fans can willingly rally behind; attendance at the ACC being a clear indication of that. But in getting to where they want to go, you really can't ask for much more out of this 12-game sample.

Appreciating Wheeler

Mark Millard: There's no NHL player more underappreciated than Winnipeg's Blake Wheeler. On a criminally underrated scale of 1-10, he scores an 11.

Wheeler is incredibly durable. Since entering the NHL in 2008-09, the 29-year-old has played in 547 of 554 (98.7 percent) possible games over eight seasons - fifth most during that span - and is just six games behind iron man Andrew Cogliano. However, it's even more noteworthy considering his physical style of play, dropping the gloves three times last season.

Since 2012-13, only 14 players have recorded more than Wheeler's 188 points. He has put together three seasons of at least 60 points in his four previous campaigns with the Jets, and was well on his way to another with 41 points in 48 games during the lockout-shortened season.

The notoriously slow starter is sitting fourth in the NHL through 14 games with 17 points. Primed for his best year to date, perhaps this is when everyone will finally start putting "elite" and "Wheeler" in the same sentence.

Flying Penguins

Craig Hagerman: Sidney Crosby is struggling out of the gate, and that means the Penguins may have one of their best seasons on their hands.

Crosby has six points and is on pace for only 14 goals, but we all know he's bound to break out. Crosby's 6.1 shooting percentage is the lowest total of his career - and will surely rise.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's power play is 22nd in the NHL - where it likely won't remain. On the other side of the puck, Marc-Andre Fleury and Co. have allowed a league-low 22 goals in 12 games.

The Penguins are ailing offensively, but their defensive play has been stellar. When - not if - Crosby and friends start to fill the net like they can, we may see a well-oiled machine that could easily compete for the East's top spot.