It’s been hard to distinguish between what we know and what we think we know this NHL season.

Any time you glance at the Atlantic Division standings, for instance, a team without a positive goal differential and a less-than-dominant record is barely hanging on to the top spot.

Right now, it’s the Red Wings, their 12-7-1 record, and their goal differential of zero. Are the Red Wings good, or are they just not as bad as the rest of the middling Atlantic teams this week? Then there’s the Canadiens, who looked dominant early but have won only one game in regulation in November. The Bruins have been a rollercoaster, with long winning and losing streaks, in a season expected to be a rebuilding one.

Every team in the Atlantic carries a serious question mark heading into American Thanksgiving. But it’s not the only division experiencing parity.

The Metropolitan Division has given us a bit more normalcy with the Hurricanes and the Devils leading the pack as expected. But what will the Devils become after the freak accident that’s taking Jack Hughes out of the lineup for at least two months?

Meanwhile, the Penguins have emerged as a surprise team after a strong start featuring some solid play from goaltender Tristan Jarry. But the injuries are piling up in Pittsburgh, including Jarry, and they’ve slipped to 4-3-3 in their last 10 games.

These types of injuries are piling on for many teams that we’d expect more from, and that’s no doubt contributing to the utter mid-ness of this season. The Panthers are struggling without stars like Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, the Sabres have unraveled once again without multiple key players, and the Stars have been fine — but would be much better — without the loss of their captain, Jamie Benn, and several others to start things off.

Still, some unexpected teams are seizing opportunities while we’re left to weigh their legitimacy. Matthew Schaefer is giving it his all, and the rookie’s play (and the veteran in Bo Horvat) is turning things around on the Island; Can Ilya Sorokin look more like himself in net to round it all out and make this team a legitimate contender?

Then there’s the boneyard of loser points: the Pacific Division. The Ducks genuinely look sustainable, with a less egregious loser point resume, atop the division at 12-6-1, but are they ahead of schedule? The emergence of Leo Carlsson and the additions of Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider have been awesome to watch, and their success as a whole team is very real. You look at how drastic the turnaround is from last season and wonder if it’s sustainable.

The Golden Knights have been good enough for second in the Pacific behind the Ducks at 9-4-6, but the lack of clutch factor in these overtime losses really does raise some eyebrows for a team that had the best odds to win the Cup to start the season.

Then we glance at the Central Division, and we see the real reason why the rest of these teams give us so much pause: The Colorado Avalanche are the only team truly dominating this season. They’re leading the league in goal differential by 16 goals (31). They’ve only got one regulation loss at 13-1-5. Nathan MacKinnon is somehow shining brighter than ever, leading the league in goals (14), points (33), and plus/minus (+19) in 14 games.

Guess who’s right behind him? Martin Necas has 13 goals and 25 points in 19 games, and Cale Makar has 25 points in nine games. On the other end of the ice, Scott Wedgewood’s got a strong .917 save percentage and a 7.2 goals saved above expected, ranking 11th among goaltenders league-wide according to MoneyPuck.com.

No other NHL team has come close to the completeness of these Avalanche through the first 1.5 months of the season, and it’s why we’re struggling to make sense of it all. There’s the Colorado Avalanche, who have given us nothing to question except the morality of optimizing the hand they were dealt and capitalizing on the loser point.

Then there’s the other 31 teams, each of which is leaving us with at least one serious question thus far.