The Nice List: The best performing Detroit Red Wings this year

Now that the naughty list for the Detroit Red Wings is out of the way, it's time to focus on the players who didn't get lumps of coal in their stockings.

While the bad news is that the Red Wings are barely ahead of the last place Buffalo Sabres in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference standings, the good news is that there are a handful of players this year that they can't point the finger toward for their extremely disappointing results.

But back to the bad news - there aren't enough players who are worthy of being on this year's nice list; at least, not yet.

The first-year Red Wings goaltender (for the most part) has done everything possible to give his teammates a chance to win their games.

His inaugural game in the Winged Wheel was an impressive shutout against the Nashville Predators in just the 2nd game of the year.

His outing against the Montreal Canadiens last Friday night could fairly be categorized as his first poor outing with Detroit, but far more often than not, his teammates haven't given him the offensive support that he needs.

Detroit's top defenseman who was signed right before Training Camp continues to play in every situation, and is averaging just over 25 minutes of ice time per game.

He leads Detroit's defensemen in scoring with 18 points (4G, 14A).

Like Seider, Raymond was signed to an eight-year contract extension before the year began. And though he got off to a lower start goal-scoring wise, he's since heating up.

Before Detroit's recent three-game skid, Raymond had notched 11 goals in 13 games. Right now, he's on pace for 80 points, which would best last year's career-best of 72 points.