NHL Notebook: A New Season Opens

The NHL season starts in just a couple hours. The Florida Panthers will hoist another championship banner when they host the Chicago Blackhawks in the first game of the regular season, starting ESPN’s opening night tripleheader.

THE LONG MARCH TO SPRINGTIME

Hockey season is a long haul, and we like to ease into it. The big storylines for the NHL are clearly Florida’s push for a third straight Cup and Edmonton’s drive to make the Finals for the third straight time themselves—and to this time get over the hump.

But we have a lot of time to focus on the Panthers and Oilers. Last season, while they both comfortably made the playoffs, they each finished third their respective divisions before turning it on in the postseason. When we get to April, whatever they do over the next several months, they deserve the benefit of the doubt for their ability to find another gear.

VEGAS DOUBLES DOWN

Of the top contenders for the Stanley Cup, the Vegas Golden Knights offer some early intrigue. The Golden Knights swung a deal for Toronto’s Mitch Marner, the signature offseason move anywhere in the league. Marner gives some real offensive juice to a team that has an exceptional ability to play cohesive defense. Watching head coach Bruce Cassidy make these new pieces work together will be an interesting early storyline.

THE MIDDLE MATTERS MOST

In a format like the NHL (or the NBA, which starts two weeks from tonight), where a little over half the league qualifies for the postseason, and that postseason lasts for two months, the focus in the early going should be on the bottom of the barrel—or at least the middle. Who are the teams that are playing meaningful hockey games right now?

On a directly related note, one of the more intriguing developments in the NHL over the past few years has been the shift in power to the south and to the west. Some great hockey cities, including some of the league’s storied franchises, have either been on extended hard times or, at the very least, are facing challenging years ahead. The teams that need to play well between now and the end of the calendar year reads like a who’s who of great hockey towns.

FAN BASES NEEDING EARLY HOPE

Boston Bruins: They missed the playoffs last year and there’s not a lot of hope of that changing this year. While the Bruins have been a contender recently, they haven’t reached a conference finals since making it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2019. There could be some dry years ahead in New England. These early months of the new season will give us some clues.

Montreal Canadiens: No franchise in this league has a more storied history than the Canadiens. Last season was their first time in the playoffs since a surprise run to the Finals in 2021. Can they build on that, or was the playoff trip a one-off?

Toronto Maple Leafs: They still have talent on hand after trading Marner, and it would be a pretty big surprise if they missed the playoffs entirely. But the trade, coming as it did when it appeared likely the Maple Leafs couldn’t resign him when he hit free agency, indicates that Toronto’s window of opportunity may have closed with another postseason disappointment last year. They need to take these early months and show us otherwise.

Detroit Red Wings:  Another franchise with a history as good as it gets. But not recently. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, and they have not advanced in the postseason since 2013.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The Steel City is a great hockey town, and the Penguins are a championship franchise. The last time they were really notable was 2018, and the last time the Pens were in the playoffs at all was 2022.

New Jersey Devils: New Jersey seems to have something going with young Jack Hughes, seen recently at Yankee Stadium during MLB’s Wild-Card Round, and they got in the playoffs last year. The Devils, once a flagship franchise during the glory days of Martin Brodeur, haven’t been an impactful team since Brodeur’s last Finals appearance in 2012.

Philadelphia Flyers: They always seem to have some young talent that may or may not be turning a corner. Mostly that they “may not” be. A team that looked promising when they reached the second round in 2020 has fallen apart and been irrelevant since.

Chicago Blackhawks: No franchise defined the NHL in the decade of the ‘10s like this one, with three Stanley Cup titles. Since Chicago’s last Cup in 2015, they’ve only made the playoffs three times, never won a postseason series, and produced some absolutely hideous teams along the way.

Buffalo Sabres:  In a working-class town that loves its hockey, it’s still easy to forget Buffalo has a team. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2011, and they haven’t advanced since 2007.

LETTING THE SEASON TAKE SHAPE

At a time of year when our sports attention, at least in this space, is consumed by baseball, the NFL, and some college football, these are the NHL teams worth at least noticing out of the corner of your eye as we let the season take shape over these next couple of months before we do a check-in between Christmas and New Year’s.

UP NEXT: OCTOBER BASEBALL

Of more immediate concern here at TheSportsNotebook is the Division Series in baseball. As soon as all four wrap up, we’ll be back with analysis, as well as previews of the League Championship Series round that will begin this weekend.