Don’t bet against them
Knights’ top goal: Deliver championship to Vegas
The Golden Knights have made deep playoff runs in three of their four years and are used to being looked at as the team to beat in the Western Conference.
Advancing in the postseason, though, isn’t going to satisfy a young franchise that lost in the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season in 2018 and reached the conference finals in each of the last two years.
“We know what the expectations are and our goal is to win a Stanley Cup here, and that’s every year,” said coach Peter DeBoer, who enters his second season behind the bench with the Knights. “There’s obvious pressure that comes with that, but our group has shown that it doesn’t overwhelm us.”
The Avalanche are actually favored to win the West. The Wild, Stars, Oilers and Blues seem set up to earn playoff berths. Teams such as the Jets, Blackhawks and Flames possibly will play for a spot in the playoffs.
The expansion Kraken as well as the Predators, Canucks, Coyotes and the trio of California teams will register as surprises if they finish in the top eight of the top-heavy, 16-team conference.
Net changes
The Knights and Avalanche both made big changes between the pipes, trying to manage a flat salary cap.
The Knights traded reigning Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury to the Blackhawks in July for minor league forward Mikael Hakkarainen. It was clearly a salary dump, dealing a goaltender who’s set to count $7 million against the cap this season in the final year of his contract.
The Knights are giving Robin Lehner a shot to be their No. 1 goalie, but a teammate pointed out this isn’t his first opportunity to be a team’s top netminder.
“He was a clear-cut No. 1 in Buffalo,” forward Mark Stone said. “His numbers were good, the team wasn’t.”
After Vezina finalist Philipp Grubauer didn’t get a deal done with the Avs, he signed a six-year, $35.4 million deal with the Kraken. The 29-year-old Grubauer finished second in
the NHL with 30 wins last season and will give the offensively challenged Kraken a chance to keep games close.
The Avs are turning to 6-foot-5 goalie Darcy Kuemper, acquired from the Coyotes after he had a 2.56 goals-against average last season. The Avs also have a healthy Pavel Francouz, who missed last season after undergoing hip surgery, and Jonas Johansson as options in net.
Star in waiting
Oilers superstar Connor McDavid has established himself as the world’s best hockey player, winning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP last year for the second time in five years.
That hasn’t helped the Oilers when it matters most, failing to advance in the playoffs since McDavid was a rookie in 2017. He has put in work this offseason on his defensive game.
Speed over size
Blues GM Doug Armstrong has seen a lot in his three decades as an NHL executive, watching the game evolve, and he has noticed a slight shift in favoring fast over big players.
“The game is a little bit quicker right now,” Armstrong said.
“There seems to be less whistles than there used to be.”
We’re No. 1
The Central Division appears to be better than the Pacific, and Avs defenseman Cale Makar said he can make a case it’s also stronger than the Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions.
“I think it’s the toughest division in the NHL,” Makar said.