10 BURNING QUESTIONS
Don Brennan drills down on some of the NHL’S most looming issues for the league’s upcoming season
Q
When will stars align in Winnipeg, Colorado?
A
Two important RFAS were still holding out in contract disputes as the season approached: Kyle Connor in Winnipeg and Mikko Rantanen in Colorado. How long will the players and their teams continue to stare each other down? If the Jets and Avalanche think they can’t afford to meet the demands of these goal scorers, well, as serious contenders in the West, they can’t afford to be without them either. It’s important to remember that any RFA not signing before Dec. 1 cannot play for the remainder of the season. Surely none of them want to become another Alexei Yashin. But what kind of an impact will there be by them missing camp, and maybe the first a month? On the player and the team?
How did it work out for Willian Nylander and the Leafs?
Q
Is this the season Lightning strikes twice?
A
Everybody expected Tampa to end a 15-year drought and win its second Cup last season. Nobody predicted what happened after the Lightning claimed the Presidents’ Trophy when they were swept in the first round at the hands of the Blue Jackets. The Bolts once again look to be the consensus choice to hoist the mug in June. But do they want to push themselves to finish first overall in the regular season again? None of them averaged 23 minutes of ice time, so it wasn’t a case of being exhausted. So why did they make such an early exit from the post-season tournament, and what will their bright coach, Jon Cooper, do to make sure it doesn’t happen again? The only significant roster changes see J.T. Miller and Anton Stralman being replaced by Patrick Maroon and Kevin Shattenkirk. If the Lightning get off to a slow start, is Cooper on the hot seat?
Q
What do the Blues do for an encore?
A
Does the St. Louis surge continue? Or do the Blues suffer a Cup hangover? The NHL’S worst team for the first three months miraculously turned into the league’s best squad in the final six months, capping the most remarkable comeback in history. But what now? Has the Gloria magic worn off? Looks like the roster has actually improved with the addition of defenceman Justin Faulk in the trade that sent blue liner Joel Edmundson and a prospect to the Hurricanes. Up front, they’ve lost some muscle with the departure of Maroon, but that should provide more opportunity to talented youngster Robert Thomas. Is Jordan Binnington the real deal? He went from being an AHLER to a Cup holder in the same season, but can he establish himself as one of the top puck stoppers over a full schedule?
Q
What’s next for the Great 8?
A
How long can Alex Ovechkin keep this up? He has won six of the last seven Rocket Richard Trophies and in 2018-19 surpassed the 50-goal mark for the eighth time in his career. Shouldn’t we expect a decline in his production soon? Maybe not. While joking to reporters that he weighs “the same 260” going into his 15th camp, Ovechkin did say he used different training methods over the summer to get leaner and quicker. He also remained uncommitted to his longterm future. Sitting 12th on the all-time list with 658 career goals, he could catch Wayne Gretzky’s once unapproachable record of 894 with six more years of excellence. No way? Ovechkin thinks he has a chance.
“After two years, let’s talk,” he said at the annual player media tour last month. “We’ll see what’s going to happen in two years. Of course I want to play till I can’t play. I don’t want to be the guy who go out there and just play (like) a joke. If I’m going to be in the same level, yeah.”
Q
Do the Penguins have one more in them?
A
Lest we forget, the Penguins have won two of the last four Cups, going back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. With an aging core of stars, do they have enough left for one last hurrah?
Sidney Crosby is still the best allaround player in the NHL. After four straight seasons in which his point total was in the 80s, the “Kid” scored 100 points last season to reach triple digits for the sixth time in his 14-year career. Now 32, can he hit that plateau again while once more drawing consideration for the Selke Trophy? Evgeni Malkin is 33 and coming off another injury plagued season which saw him score just 21 goals, his lowest total since 2012-13. Will he pull the numbers back up now that his supposed wish to have Phil Kessel traded was granted? Kris Letang is 32 and has also battled injuries the last few years. Can he still be an elite defenceman? And will newcomer Alex Galchenyuk rediscover the 30-goal form he had in Montreal with yet another fresh start?
The only other addition to the Penguins is former Jet Brandon Tanev, who through camp was on one side of Malkin while Galchenyuk was on the other.
Q
Who wins the race for the Lafreniere Cup?
A
The Senators are the heavy favourites to finish dead-last for the second straight year and have the best shot at the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery. They might play better defensively under D.J. Smith (impossible to get worse), but their goaltending is sub-par and they won’t score a lot. Their season is a success if they don’t embarrass themselves with off-ice news again and if they wind up with Rimouski Oceanic left winger Alexis Lafreniere, who was last season’s Canadian Hockey Player of the Year.
Challenging, by falling well short of the Senators for best odds in the Lafreniere Sweepstakes should be the Red Wings in the East and the Ducks in the West.
Q
Can the Habs avoid the dreaded three-peat?
A
Only twice in their history have the Canadiens missed the playoffs three consecutive years: 1919-1922 and 1998-2001. To avoid it again, they need Carey Price to stay healthy. He played 66 games last season and they missed the playoffs by two points. The year before he played just 49 games and they fell 26 points shy. In 2016-17, Price played 62 games and the Habs finished first in the Atlantic. The previous season he played just 12 games and they missed the playoffs by 14 points. Having captain Shea Weber around for 82 games would also help the cause tremendously. They haven’t had that luxury the past two seasons. Up front, Max Domi had a breakout (72 points) in his debut with Montreal, but can he match that kind of production again? And will Jonathan Drouin ever be the player he was projected to be when he was selected third overall in 2013? This is Drouin’s third season in Montreal, and while he’s only 24 with time still on his side, the Habs need him to significantly improve on his career best 53 points.
Q
Will moving pieces around help Flames, Oilers?
A
Eyebrows raised with the off-season activity within Alberta, first on July 1 when Flames goalie Mike Smith signed as a free agent with Edmonton and Oilers goalie Cam Talbot inked a deal with the Flames, and then July 19, when the Oilers traded their expensive problem, Milan Lucic, to the Flames for theirs, James Neal. Can any of the four help their new teams this season? Neal should rediscover his scoring touch (he went from 25 in Vegas to seven in Calgary over the course of a year) before Lucic finds his (a drop from 10 to six last season), particularly when he gets a chance to play with Connor Mcdavid and Leon Draisaitl. But what about the goalies? Can a 37-year old Smith be the answer to Edmonton’s problems between the pipes, or does he become a backup to Mikko Koskinen, who was recently rated the worst starting goalie in the NHL by a website that polled coaches and GMS around the league? And with Talbot and Dave Rittich, do the Flames have a No. 1 or just two guys that represent the weak spot on an otherwise contending team?
Q
Who will ‘C’ the big letters?
A
Three of the seven Canadian teams had yet to name a captain heading into the final weekend of camp, and nowhere is that more of a focus than in Toronto. Unlike the other two clubs, the Leafs could actually need someone to take the Cup handoff from Gary Bettman this spring.
The Vancouver Canucks have four assistants — Bo Horvat, Brandon Sutter, Alexander Edler and Christopher Tanev — and probably would like their best player, Elias Petterson, to be their official leader. But he is 20, only has one year of experience under his belt, and English is his second language. In other words, he’s not ready for the role. Horvat is another good choice and will likely get the ‘C’ before the season starts, or soon into it.
Ottawa has given an ‘A’ to three veterans — Jean-gabriel Pageau, Mark Borowiecki and Ron Hainsey. Ultimately, the Senators captain will be Brady Tkachuk, although Thomas Chabot would be another good choice.
The Leafs were poised to give the ‘C’ to Auston Matthews before Drop-your-pants Gate. Now, they’re expected to hand it to one of the assistants — John Tavares or Morgan Rielly, if they don’t go without for another year. The Hurricanes, Rangers, Golden Knights and Red Wings are the only other teams without an official captain as training camp winds down. And really, does it even matter?
Q
When will it end?
A
Now that the Blues have won their first Cup, the focus falls to other droughts. The Maple Leafs own the longest — 51 seasons without a Cup or Cup final appearance. The Canucks and Sabres have never won a Cup in their 48 years of existence, but they did make it to the final, in 2011 and 1999, respectively. So by getting that far, at least they gave their fans hope.
Now that the Hurricanes have ended their drought at nine missed playoffs, the focus falls to other spans of ineptness.
Will this be the year the Sabres qualify after watching the past eight post-season tournaments on TV? Do the Coyotes have a chance of making the playoffs after missing the last seven? The Canucks are next on the firstto-the-golf-course list, having missed the playoffs the last four seasons.
Is this the year they get back?