The 2018 NHL season begins tonight in the nations capital where the reigning Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals host the Boston Bruins in a matchup between two Eastern Conference favorites.
There are still so many questions heading into the regular season across the league that remain unanswered. Are the Capitals victims of a championship hangover? Can the Islanders move on from the departure of their former captain? How effective will the Rangers rebuilding plan be? Is this the year McDavid gets to a conference final? Will Ottawa win 20 games? Was Vegas’ run to the Cup final a fluke? Are the Sharks the deepest team out West? The list goes on and on, but one thing remains clear–HOCKEY IS BACK!
As a former college hockey player at Colgate University I have been an avid follower of both the NCAA and the NHL my entire life. I grew up in Minneapolis and when the league expanded in 2000, I became a fan of the Wild. I’ll admit, I followed the Gophers but for some reason Michigan was the team I grew up rooting for. I don’t know if it was because my buddy Charlie Lingren’s dad played goalie in Ann Arbor or if it was because of “The Michigan” goal in the 1996 NCAA Tournament against Minnesota. Whatever it was I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Gophs. But I did enjoy going to Marriucci Arena to watch college hockey.
Anyways, back to my point. I grew up following the Wild, but the State of Hockey has had its fair shares of disappointment. Minnesota has the longest active streak in the NHL of making it to the playoffs ( 6 straight) and the feat might be in jeopardy in the deep Western Conference. Although they have made the playoffs in six straight years, they have failed to reach the conference finals. A team with so much talent and depth, along with a few hometown players has underachieved since the Zach Parise–Ryan Suter era began in 2012. I’ll be one of the first to admit it…2018 might be the beginning of the end for the Red and Green, but let’s not be too quick to count them out just yet.
Sticking with the West, the San Jose Sharks missed out in the John Tavares sweepstakes back in July but made a big splash last week. They traded for two-time Norris Trophy defenseman Erik Karlsson and solidified their back end for the year. They, along with Nashville, have, in my opinion, the two deepest blue lines in the league and are likely on pace to meet in the Western finals.
Think about it. Who is going to get around their d-core? Their top-4 consists of Karlsson (2x Norris, Olympic Gold), Brent Burns (Norris winner, Olympic Gold), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (Olympic Gold)and Justin Braun/Jokim Ryan. This group of defensemen might account for more goals than the Senators entire team.
They have three well balanced lines with one of the best right wingers in the game on their top unit, Joe Pavelski. The power play will only get better with the addition of the All-Star Swede to run the point, and they have a goaltender in Martin Jones that has been to the Finals before. Jones will be the x-factor, but if they get enough run support up front…good luck.
Staying in the Pacific, I’m writing the Anaheim Ducks off right now. Corey Perry suffered a knee injury that will keep him out until after the All-Star break and they have been on a steady decline overall since 2016. I’m not in love with John Gibson as many of you are, but I do respect his game, however. They do have a sound top-4 on the back end, but their offense is a big question mark. Getzlaf is aging, they have a few youngsters like Troy Terry and Maxime Comtois who will log a lot of minutes for the Ducks up front. They will be interesting but I believe the run in Anaheim ended with Perry’s injury.
Calgary made noise this offseason when they traded Dougie Hamilton to the Hurricanes in return for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin, while also landing James Neal in free agency. They, like Anaheim will be competitive, but I do not see them making a bid for the postseason. They have skilled forwards up front such as Johnny “Hockey” Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. Drafting Matthew Tkachuk was a great pick as well, but goaltending is my biggest concern. I don’t trust Mike Smith. I just don’t. If you’re going anywhere far in hockey, the goalie position cannot be second guessed.
I’m high on Arizona this year, but they are still a year away. Quietly last spring they had one of the leagues best final 20 games of the season and goaltender Antti Raanta posted a 2.24 goals against average and a .930 save percentage (second in both categories in the NHL). He single handily was the ‘Yotes best player and in games that he started the Maroon and White was 21-17-6. Take a look at their record to see what they did without him…I’ll let you do some math (hint: you can count their wins on tow hands..).
They have a very underrated blue line who can create problems for their opposition, but they will struggle to fill the net up front. They won’t finish last out west, but they won’t be playing in April either.
Was Las Vegas’ Cup run a fluke? No, I don’t believe so. They did get hot early, and have one, if not the biggest home ice advantage based on location. I mean who doesn’t go out the night before in Sin City? The are so well rounded from top to bottom and added a huge goal scorer from Montreal in Max Pacioretty. They have the best top-6 in the West and their first line Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson–Reilly Smith, could combine for the most total points in 2018.
Marc-Andre Fleury‘s 2017-18 was one for the history books, but he faded when the Knights needed him the most against D.C. Can he duplicate what he did in the inaugural season? We will have to wait and see. But, if you’re a betting man/woman, don’t put your money on it.
Vancouver will move forward without the Sedin twins. It will honestly be weird not watching them this fall. They made magic happen from the start of their careers to the ends and they made plays that only twin siblings could ever make. You two will be missed. But, besides the brothers, their won’t be too much to look forward to if your a Canucks fan. I’m not high on any single group and they will struggle to possess the puck. They are young and have some skilled talent, but this franchise is still very far away from where it was in 2011.
I absolutely love the Oilers this year and that is why they are one of my dark horse candidates. How can you count out Connor McDavid? They struggled mightily last year and had a disappointing season none the less. 2018 will be all about redemption and the NHL points leader in back-to-back seasons will help right the ship. Cam Talbot could be the top goalie in the Pacific Division, but I do not like the lack of depth defensively. This is why they are my dark horse solely because of McJesus.
Los Angeles were the winners of the Ilya Kovalchuk bidding war and signed the former Devil to help generate some offense. The Kings have the best two-way centers in the Pacific with captain Anze Kopitar highlighting the top line. Will he gel with the former KHL addiditon? That is a huge question the Kings look to have answered this season.
I like their d-core a lot and I think Drew Doughty could beat out Karlsson for the Norris this year, but the Kings have a very underrated blue line with Martinez, Muzzin and Forbort. Oh, and they have two-time champion Jonathon Quick in net. I like this roster a lot.
Central Division
The Central Division has a ton of skill offensively. They have two teams who have legitimate chances of hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup in June, and one team whose dominance over the past decade is no more.
I already touched on the Minnesota Wild earlier, but I do believe that they have a chance of sneaking into the playoffs, but it is slim. Devan Dubnyk will need to play like he did in 2016 if the Wild are going to make a run. I do like, but not love our top-6. Mikko Koivu and Eric Staal are againg, Parise is always hurt, but Mikael Granlund is due for a huge season. He’s St. Paul’s most skilled forward and can help elevate Minnesota on the PP. The blue line top-4 is sound and does have a high ceiling this fall. If this team gets into the playoffs in April it will be a wild card slot at best.
Dallas resigned Tyler Seguin to a max deal this past summer and the Stars now have one of the leagues most skilled forwards for the future. A team that has failed to qualify for the playoffs in consecutive years will look to get back in the win column this season.
Their top pairing of Jamie Benn-Seguin-Alexander Radulov will pose a threat every time they step on the ice, but the threat only goes as far as they do. They don’t have a deep forward group, other than John Klinberg they don’t have any steady defensemen and their goalies have struggled to stay healthy and keep the pucks out of the net over the course of the last two years. One prospect to keep an eye on is goaltender Colton Point. He led the NCAA in save percentage in 2017-18 and had an unbelievable camp this fall.
Colorado will look to build on an overachieving 2017-18 campaign that placed them in the playoffs after being a bottom feeder the year prior. They have an elite talent in Nathan Mackinnon up front paired with captain Gabriel Landeskog. They aren’t very deep offensively or defensively, but I do think Semyon Varlamov is underrated. Now do I think they make the playoffs again? No, I do not.
The Chicago Blackhawks run of Western Conference Finals appearances ended last year and the thought of them ever getting back is no more. Other than Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews the Hawks have very little fire power offensively. Duncan Kieth and Brent Seabrook are not the defensive players they once were and the entire team is filled with young prospects. Corey Crawford is still one of the top-10 goalies in the league, but the display in front of him will hinder the Windy City’s shot at the postseason. Oh, did I mention the West was really deep this year?
Now, I’m at a standstill when it comes to St. Louis and don’t know how I feel about this Blues roster. They have one of the best pure goal scorers in the game today in Vladimir Terasenko and signed Ryan O’Reilly, a gritty two-way center, to pair with one of the four other big offseason additions, Patrick Maroon. Brayden Schenn and Jayden Schwartz make a great second line, and the third pairing of Alex Steen–Tyler Bozak–David Perron might be the best third line in the West, but like many other offensive juggernauts they lack a steady defense.
Jay Bouwmeester is getting old and he is paired with the Blues top d-man, Alex Pietrangelo. The second pairing of Colton Parayko and Vince Dunn are their second and third best defensive players and playing Bouwmeester consistently will hurt. The goalie, Jake Allen, scares me and not in a good way. He has a history of imploding in the playoffs and could be shaky in 2018.
Nashville came up short last year after losing to the Winnipeg Jets in the second round, but they will be back for blood this time around. Like San Jose, the Preds defense is sturdier than the GW Bridge, and they have skilled forwards all around. The Preds bolster one of the best two way centers in Ryan Johansen and a scoring threat who is lethal from anywhere insid ethe blueline and on the PP in Filip Forsberg.
P.K. Subban highlights the defense and he will begin the year with Mattias Ekholm, while the other pairing will consist of Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis. In between the pipes they have the reigning 2017-18 Vezina Trophy winner Pekka Rinne and one of the best coaches in all of hockey Peter Laviolette.
Last, but certainly not least in the West is the heavy favorite Winnipeg Jets. The Jets were a series away from competing for the title last spring and exceeded far above any expectations a season ago. This season all eyes will be on them and Vegas once again. A small market team with a loaded roster from top to bottom.
The Jets have arguably the deepest top two forward lines in the West and one of the best players in the league, Mark Scheifele. The 25-year-old had 20 points (14 goals) in 17 playoff games last year and will look to build off of that feat beginning Thursday. The offense is big, skilled and possesses the puck better than any other team in the Central. Josh Morrissey, Jacob Trouba and Dustin Byfuglien highlight a deep blue line and Connor Hellebuyck is one of the most underrated goalies today. Look for Winnipeg to push the pace in May and possibly earn a spot in the Finals.
Eastern Conference
I’ll begin the Eastern preview in the Atlantic Division where one of the biggest moves in Maple Leafs history took place. Toronto won the bid for Tavares and inked their hometown boy for the next several seasons, making the blue sweaters a heavy favorite out East.
Toronto has an extremely, and I mean extremely deep roster offensively. Their best player might not even be Tavares either as they have one of the best up-and-coming talents in the entire show today, Auston Matthews. Now, the big offseason splash has bumped the former first-overall draft pick to the second line, only creating more depth for the franchise. Tavares will be paired with Zach Hyman and Mitch Marner on the outside and Matthews will center Patrick Marleau and Tyler Ennis.
Adding to that deep offense is Nazem Kadri who will center the third line with Connor Brown on the right and Josh Leivo on the left. William Nylander has still yet to sign and who knows how long this holdout will last. Both sides need to come to an agreement, but if I’m Tornoto I pay the guy now and deepen this offense.
Defensively, the Leafs will struggle just like they have for the past 10 seasons on the blue line. Morgan Reilly is a really good asset, but it basically stops there. Nikita Zaitsev had a down year in 2017, but has a lot of potential to help out significantly in 2018. Toronto is going to have to lead the league in goals to make up for the poor blue line they have assembled. One positive back there is their goalie Frederik Andersen who can at times be a dominant force in the cage. The Leafs also have Mike Babcock, the best coach in the entire league. So…that’s always a plus.
Montreal seems to be in full rebuild mode after shipping their captain to Vegas last month. They do however have one of the games top goalies Carey Price in net, but what good does it make when you have poor management and a depleted roster in front of him? Still think they won the Shea Weber-Subban deal? Anyways, they have an offense that will struggle to score and a blue line that will be hemmed in their own end for decent lengths of time. This will be a lost season and the fan base will be more restless than ever before.
What do I need to say about Ottawa? The Senators are exploding from top to bottom. They lost their best goal scorer to Florida, the face of the franchise to San Jose and cut veteran leader Zack Smith. This team will be feeding off the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for the next 10 years.
Florida’s roster is very intriguing to me. After missing the playoffs by a game in 2017-18 the Panthers will look to build upon their near run. The addition of Mike Hoffman on the second line rounds out a very deep top-six. Evgeny Dadonov-Aleksander Barkov–Nick Bjugstad are a constant threat while Jonathan Huberdeau and Vincent Trocheck, along with Hoffman, create one of the best offenses in the Atlantic.
They have a very underrated roster highlighted by Aaron Ekblad and Kieth Yandle on defense and veteran goalie Roberto Luongo. This is my dark horse candidate in the Eastern Conference hands down.
Hockey Town is still a few years away. Detroit is the one franchise that loves developing their prospects in the AHL and they don’t care for how long. The era of Datsyuk and Zetterberg has finally ended and the Red Wings are in the midst of a rebuild. Dylan Larkin and Gustav Nyquist highlight the offense and it will be a long year filled with ups and downs. Defensively, I’m still trying to find a weaker unit in the NHL and I just cannot, while Jimmy Howard has still yet to figure out how to be consistent in net.
Buffalo just named Jack Eichel captain this morning after signing him to a long-term contract earlier this offseason. They have not qualified for the playoffs since 2011 and have hovered around the bottom of the league since. They added Jeff Skinner and Sam Reinhart this summer to help in the goals category, and drafted Rasmus Dhalin, one of the most highly touted defensive products first-overall in June. The Sabres are still a few years away but the future does seem bright…somewhat.
Tampa Bay is a heavy favorite to claim the Atlantic after doing so last April. They added Ryan McDonagh on the back end last February to create the deepest blue line in the East. They add him to a back end consisting of 2017-18 Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman, Dan Girardi, Anton Stralman and Mikhail Sergachev.
Up front the Bolts have one of the top 5 players in all of hockey, Steven Stamkos, and the second overall points leader Nikita Kucherov. They have a deep second line and in net they have another preseason Vezina candidate, Andrei Vasilevskiy. This team is really deep and will be looking for redemption after blowing a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern finals last spring.
Boston is my pick to win the Atlantic and here is why. The Lightning have the deeper roster, but Boston has the better forwards. Hot take, I know, but I will take Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak over any other top line in the Atlantic. They are gritty, play 200-feet and have really good chemistry. Their second line is deep as well and eventually Ryan Donato will work his way onto that pairing.
Defensively, they are not nearly as deep as Tampa. They still have the 40-year-old veteran Zdeno Chara who has taken a step back, but is still an asset. They have a dominant young gun in Charlie McAvoy and their best defenseman Torey Krug won’t be in the starting lineup for the first week due to injury. Other than that they will be shaky, but they have a really dangerous power play that will carry this roster all season and Tuukka Rask in net who has been a proven goalie in the regular season for the past several years.
Metropolitan
Moving over to the Met, my favorite division in the NHL, the Capitals and Penguins have claimed the past three Stanley Cup banners and they could possibly make it four in 2018-19.
Let’s begin with the defending champs. Washington is virtually returning every key piece from last years run which is why I like their chances again this time around. But not right away. I do believe in the old Stanley Cup hangover, especially with the Caps after Alex Ovechkin partied all the way into August and got Cup keg stands banned forever…LOL.
They won’t be at full strength to start the year due to Tom Wilson‘s suspension, but once he returns they have the best top-six forward pairings in the division. Evgeny Kuznetsov will look to build off of his epic Cup run performance, while Backstrom and Oshie highlight the second line. Please do not take a penalty against Washington…they will score…every time.
Management made a huge decision to re-sign John Carlson and keep the majority of their defense in tact. Braden Holtby proved his worth in the playoffs last year and will look to guide Washington back again this season. The Capitals are my pick to win this division, but it will be interesting to see how they do without Bary Trotz behind the bench.
Pittsburgh’s three-peat bid fell short at the hands of the Capitals last May, but they will be right back in the playoffs again in 2019. They didn’t have any key departures but added Jack Johnson to their d-core to solidify the top-four. Everybody is healthy to start the season which is huge and they still have one of the best players in the world Sidney Crosby.
Jake Guentzel will begin the year with Crosby and Patric Hornqvist and Evgeni Malkin will center Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin. I give Washington the edge on defense but the Penguins did upgrade with the Johnson deal. Also, Matt Murray will look to play a full season at full strength after suffering injuries in each of his first three years in the league.
Philadelphia had a huge addition this summer landing third line winger James Van Riemsdyk to give them much-needed depth offensively, while Claude Giroux will look to keep up his scoring touch after being a finalist for the Hart in July. I like the Flyers forwards a lot, but other than Shane Gostisbehere I simply cannot trust their blue line, or goalie(s) for that matter to claim the Met.
The Blue Jackets are another favorite to win the division after squandering a 2-0 lead against Washington in the playoffs last April. Their top line is highlighted by Artemi Panarin–Pierre-Luc Dubois–Cam Atkinson and they don’t have any real help beyond that. Their blue line lost Jack Johnson to Pittsburgh in the offseason but they have one of the divisions best talents in Zach Werenski. Their best overall player, however, is goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Everybody knows how valuable that can be, but unlike Montreal, Columbus actually has pieces that can play in front of him.
The Islanders are very interesting as well. They lost Tavares, but gained Bary Trotz as a head coach and mastermind Lou Lamoriello as president of hockey operations. They were one of the hottest teams out of the gate a season ago, but fell off dramatically after the All-Star break. Mathew Barzal will be their top center and he is an absolute game-changer who I believe will put up 85 points plus in 2018-19. Their biggest weaknesses are defense and goaltending, which has also been the issue with this franchise for a really long time.
On the other side of the city in Manhattan the New York Rangers are in operation rebuild. The Blueshirts got rid of every key veteran from their 2014 Cup run at last years trade deadline and have filled the bottom half of their roster with younger talent. Offensively they have yet to have someone eclipse 65 points or more in over four seasons, and they will likely part ways with Mats Zuccarello before next February.
One positive for the Rangers is their defense. They signed Brady Skjei to a five-year deal this summer and are also getting Kevin Shattenkirk back at full strength to begin 2018. Henrik Lundqvist’s contract makes this rebuild so tricky as he has expressed that he wants to remain in the Big Apple, only hindering the rebuild process of obtaining a lottery pick in 2019.
Carolina will begin 2018-19 without goaltender Scott Darling who was injured in the preseason earlier last week. As already mentioned, they obtained Hamilton from Calgary to add to a very underrated d-core. Justin Faulk, Calvin De Hann and Jacob Slavin round out the back end, while Sebastian Aho will start the year at center with two youngsters, including first-round pick Andrei Svechnikov.
Last, but not least the New Jersey Devils. This is a franchise that took a major step in the right direction last year. They have Corey Schneider, one of the leagues best goalies, who will begin the year on IR, the 2018-18 Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall and defenseman Sami Vatanen highlighting their key positions.
Other than Hall the Devils will be searching for someone to step up and produce and the likely candidate will be Kyle Palmieri. If New Jersey can weather the storm until Schneider gets back they could make another bid for the playoffs, but I’m just not in love with the roster enough and I think they will take a step backwards this season.
Predictions
West
Pacific-Vegas, San Jose, LA
Central- Winnipeg, Nashville, St. Louis
Wild Cards- Minnesota, Edmonton
East
Atlantic-Boston, Tampa Bay, Toronto
Metropolitan- Washington, Pittsburgh, Columbus
Wild Cards- Philly, Florida
Awards
Presidents- Winnipeg Jets
Hart- Connor McDavid
Vezina- Connor Hellebuyck
Calder-Rasmus Dhalin
Norris- Drew Doughty
Art Ross– Connor McDavid
Richard- Patrik Laine
Stanley Cup Winner- Winnipeg Jets over Boston Bruins in 6 games