The NHL season is about two weeks old, which is usually when everyone says "it's early" and moves on. But some early surprises are too good to wave away.

ESPN's latest NHL Power Rankings, published Sunday, picked the biggest shock of the season so far for all 32 teams. Some are delightful, some are painful and a few are just plain weird. Here are the ones worth knowing, even if you only half follow hockey.

The good kind of shocking

Start in Edmonton, where everyone expects Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to pile up points. What nobody expected was defenseman Evan Bouchard keeping pace with them. He had 14 points in his first six games, which ESPN worked out is a pace for 196 over a full season. Defensemen are mostly paid to stop goals, so that's a bit like your goalkeeper winning the scoring title.

In Ottawa, the Senators lost Brady Tkachuk and somehow look more dangerous. Goalie Linus Ullmark won each of his first six starts with a 1.20 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage, per ESPN. Translation: he's stopping about 95 of every 100 shots and allowing barely more than one goal a night.

Winnipeg's Kyle Connor opened with seven goals in six games, giving Jets fans something to smile about during the long-running Connor Hellebuyck trade-request saga. In Toronto, after offseason chatter that captain Auston Matthews wanted out, he and William Nylander both started with 12 points in seven games.

And in Boston, 22-year-old Fraser Minten is scoring at a point-per-game pace after putting up 35 points in 82 games last season. That's a big reason the Bruins jumped from 19th to seventh in the rankings.

The comeback nobody scheduled

When Chicago's Connor Bedard had shoulder surgery this offseason, the Blackhawks said they expected a recovery of about four months, which would have brought him back around Nov. 8. Instead, he returned last Tuesday against Pittsburgh, weeks ahead of schedule. He's already finding the net again, too, as the team's highlight below shows.

The plain weird ones

The Vegas Golden Knights keep winning, but the building got a little quieter. Oct. 8 was the first time in franchise history that the Knights didn't sell out a home game, ESPN noted, ending a nine-year streak that survived even a trip to the Stanley Cup Final last season.

Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, one of the most skilled players on the planet, already has two fights in the season's first two weeks. And Minnesota opened the season with star defenseman Quinn Hughes on an expiring contract, which ESPN called "a bit of a shock" despite all the summer chatter.

The ouch ones

Not every surprise is fun. The New York Rangers lost star goalie Igor Shesterkin to a season-ending injury, which has put Dylan Garand in the spotlight. Carolina sits No. 1 in the rankings despite losing captain Jordan Staal to a torn calf muscle (one to two months) and Taylor Hall to an upper-body injury. Coach Rod Brind'Amour said it "doesn't look good" for Hall. Health first, and here's wishing all three a smooth recovery.

Then there's Calgary. Nobody thought the rebuilding Flames would go all season without a win, but ESPN still called it a shock that their first one came against Anaheim, a playoff team last spring. Flames fans will happily take it.

Two weeks is a tiny sample, and plenty of these storylines will flip by Halloween. One gets a quick test tonight: the top-ranked Hurricanes visit the 31st-ranked Flames at 8 p.m. ET. Bouchard and the Oilers are back at it Tuesday against Minnesota. Bring snacks, and maybe a calculator.