Pucks set to drop on hockey season: Predictions, analysis and more
On Wednesday night, the Washington Capitals raised their 2018 Stanley Cup banner and the NHL season got under way.
Here’s a preview of each of the league’s 31 teams, in predicted order of finish.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Last season: 100 points, 2nd in division, lost to Washington in second round
Notable: Forget Cups, gold medals and MVPs; Sidney Crosby over the summer was named the greatest athlete in Nova Scotia history. Some, especially around here, argue he’s also the greatest diver ever to come out of the Canadian province. The Penguins dealt Conor Sheary to Buffalo in a salary move but have plenty to make a Cup run, especially if goalie Matt Murray can stay healthy.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Last season: 105 points, 1st in division, won Stanley Cup
Notable: Most of the roster that finally delivered a title is back in DC, including defenseman John Carlson, who could have bolted after a career year. He was retained with an 8-year, $64 million deal. Tom Wilson has a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday after his vicious hit on St. Louis forward Oskar Lundqvist. He’s looking at his fourth suspension in a little more than a calendar year.
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
Last season: 98 points, 3rd in division, lost to Pittsburgh in first round
Notable: James van Riemsdyk wasn’t the No. 1 free agent available (John Tavares was), but he was in the top 5. The most popular guy in the organization
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Last season: 97 points, 5th in division, lost to Tampa Bay in first round
Notable: It’ll be a clean slate of sorts for left winger Marcus Johansson, whose first season with the Devils was cut short due to a concussion. Johansson played in just 29 games last season. He had 24 goals for the Capitals the year before.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
Last season: 97 points, 4th in division, lost to Washington in first round
Notable: Star goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and winger Artemi Panarin could be free agents after the season, and might be looking to move into bigger markets. Panarin had a career-best 82 points last season. All-star defenseman Seth Jones will start the season on the shelf with a sprained MCL.
CAROLINA HURRICANES
Last season: 83 points, sixth in division
Notable: Changed the owner, general manager, coach and dealt some of their top scorers. Rod Brind’Amour, a Flyers Hall of Famer who was captain when the ‘Canes won the Cup in 2006, is the head coach. His two visits to the Wells Fargo Center are January 3 and April 6, which is the regular-season finale.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Last season: 80 points, 7th in division
Notable: The Islanders lost John Tavares but added the hottest coach when Barry Trotz left the Capitals after a contract dispute less than two weeks after he guided them to their first Stanley Cup victory. Imagine it’d be like seeing Doug Pederson on the sidelines for the Cowboys. Trotz’s first visit back to Washington is January 18.
NEW YORK RANGERS
Last season: 77 points, 8th in division Notable: Chris Kreider occasionally complained about Alain Vigneault’s subdued nature. That’s not the case with new coach David Quinn. “There’s a lot of chatter between the players,” Kreider told the New York Post. “You [can] hear guys screaming on the ice and that’s good. It was too quiet before.”
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Last season: 105 points, 3rd in division, lost to Boston in first round
Notable: The addition of John Tavares in free agency has Toronto fans thinking (gulp) Stanley Cup. Not only do the Maple Leafs have solid depth up front (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Patrick Marleau), but goaltender Frederik Andersen was the top goalie at the World Championships. Hopefully, it’ll help him get over an awful Game 7 loss to the Bruins.
BOSTON BRUINS
Last season: 112 points, 2nd in division, lost to Tampa Bay in second round
Notable: The Bruins need to get production beyond their top line and made a run at free-agent center John Tavares. This did not sit well with David Krejci, who is the second-line center.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Last season: 113 points, 1st in division, lost to Washington in conference finals
Notable: General manager Steve Yzerman’s resignation on Sept. 11 was a surprise. Julien BriseBois, who ran Tampa’s AHL operations, is in charge of the big club. BriseBois started as a lawyer working for teams in arbitration cases against players.
FLORIDA PANTHERS
Last season: 96 points, 4th in division
Notable: Looking forward to games against the Canadiens after Max Domi beat up Florida’s Aaron Ekblad in a preseason skirmish that goalie Roberto Luongo called “gutless.” Domi got a five-game suspension for the incident. “It’s dumb. I think he’s stupid for doing it,” Ekblad said. “In the end, it’s hockey. That’s the way it goes. Scores will get settled at a later date.”
BUFFALO SABRES
Last season: 62 points, 8th in division, worst in NHL
Notable: Made enough moves that there is actually some warranted optimism. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, and center Casey Mittelstadt are projected to be rookie-of-the-year candidates.
DETROIT RED WINGS
Last season: 73 points, 5th in division Notable: The Red Wings have passed the torch from the retired Henrik Zetterberg to youngster Dylan Larkin, who had a career-best 47 assists last season. (He had 37 in his first two seasons combined.) Detroit thinks it got a steal when it landed forward Filip Zadina with the sixth overall pick. He’ll start the year in the minors.
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Last season: 71 points, 6th in division Notable: Solved one problem by trading captain Max Pacioretty and his expiring contract to Vegas three weeks ago. Now they just have to make sure franchise goalie Carey Price Is Right in order to get back to the showcase playoffs. Shea Weber is the new captain.
OTTAWA SENATORS
Last season: 67 points, 7th in division Notable: If this team doesn’t finish in last, Guy Boucher should get coach-ofthe-year consideration.
WINNIPEG JETS
Last season: 114 points, 2nd in division, lost to Vegas in conference finals
Notable: The Jets return most of the lumber that helped them to the best season in franchise history. They did lose rental Paul Stastny to Vegas, but there are kids capable of stepping in. Patrik Laine, 20, was second to Alex Ovechkin (49) in goals last season with 44. Laine has 80 goals in 155 games.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
Last season: 117 points, 1st in division, lost to Winnipeg in second round
Notable: The Preds lost in the Cup Finals to Pittsburgh in 2016 and in a Game 7 to Winnipeg last year, so they made only a few moves. “[We] truly believe this team can win a Stanley Cup,” said second-year captain Roman Josi, “and that’s why we want to keep this team together.”
ST. LOUIS BLUES
Last season: 94 points, 5th in division Notable: The Blues missed the postseason by one point and went out and made several key acquisitions. They picked up center Ryan O’Reilly from Buffalo and winger David Perron from Vegas. Since 2012-13, Perron has played for (in chronological order) St. Louis, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, St. Louis again, Vegas and St. Louis again.
COLORADO AVALANCHE
Last season: 95 points, 4th in division, lost to Nashville in first round
Notable: Looking to build on an enormous leap when they went from dead last in the league in 2016-17 to the playoffs last season. Veteran defenseman Ian Cole, who won two Cups with the Penguins, was added in free agency.
DALLAS STARS
Last season: 92 points, 6th in division
Notable: Jim Montgomery, a former Flyer who came up with the nickname “Legion of Doom,” takes over behind the bench for Ken Hitchcock. Montgomery had been the coach at the University of Denver, where he won the NCAA title in 2017.
MINNESOTA WILD
Last season: 101 points, 3rd in division, lost to Winnipeg in first round
Notable: The Wild continue to rack up points in the regular season and fold like a lawn chair come April. Minnesota didn’t make many moves in the offseason but will get defenseman Ryan Suter back after a late-season serious leg/ankle injury. Suter has averaged 28 minutes per game in his six seasons with Minnesota.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
Last season: 76 points, 7th in division Notable: The Blackhawks won three Cups from 2010-15 but haven’t won a playoff series since. Another last-place finish could result in major changes. Alex DeBrincat, who led the team with 28 goals last season, isn’t going anywhere, however.
SAN JOSE SHARKS
Last season: 100 points, 3rd in division, lost to Vegas in second round
Notable: The mid-September acquisition of defenseman Erik Karlsson is the hockey equivalent of the Chicago Bears getting Khalil Mack. The Sharks host the All-Star Game on Saturday, January 26. The skills competition will be held the night before.
ANAHEIM DUCKS
Last season: 101 points, 2nd in division, lost to San Jose in first round
Notable: The Ducks are transitioning to a more up-tempo style of play. It’s an interesting change for a team that has had at least 100 points in each of the last five years but not reached the Cup Finals. “We’ve addressed this,” coach Randy Carlyle told the Los Angeles Times. “we’ve taken a long, hard look at what we think it’s going to take to be successful and we’re going to try and hold our feet to the fire as much as possible in doing that.”
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Last season: 109 points, 1st in division, lost to Washington in Cup Finals
Notable: Coming off a historic season, the Golden Knights signed Paul Stastny away from Winnipeg and traded for Montreal captain Max Pacioretty. Lost James Neal (25 goals) to Calgary and David Perron (team-best 50 assists) to St. Louis.
EDMONTON OILERS
Last season: 78 points, 6th in division Notable: Connor McDavid (108 points) became the first player to win back-to-back scoring titles since Jaromir Jagr won four in a row from 19972001. Problem was, he didn’t have much help and the Oilers missed the playoffs. Milan Lucic had just 10 goals last season. He can do better.
CALGARY FLAMES
Last season: 84 points, 5th in division
Notable: Fired coach Glen Gulutzan after missing the postseason and replaced him with Bill Peters, who was the coach at Carolina for four seasons and never made the playoffs. The Flames also brought Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm in from Carolina in the Dougie Hamilton deal. Hanifin and Lindholm each got a contract in excess of $29 million over the summer, so they’re part of the foundation.
Last season: 98 points, 4th in division, lost to Vegas in first round
Notable: The biggest move the Kings made was signing Ilya Kovalchuk, who had spent the past five seasons playing in the KHL. Usually durable former captain Dustin Brown is out indefinitely after sustaining a broken finger on a shot by teammate Anze Kopitar in the preseason finale.
ARIZONA COYOTES
Last season: 70 points, 8th in division Notable: Love this guy’s coach, but file this away until April. “This is a franchise that’s about to turn a corner,” team president and CEO Ahron Cohen said. “We really see this as a sleeping giant.” A big reason for the optimism is the Coyotes went 17-9-3 after February 7, suggesting coach Rick Tocchet’s system was finally being absorbed.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Last season: 73 points, 7th in division Notable: It’s a new era now that the Sedin twins have retired. Bo Horvat, 23, and Brock Boeser, 21, are the leading returning scorers, but it’s 19-yearold Elias Pettersson who is generating excitement. The Canucks have missed the playoffs the last three years and haven’t been beyond the first round since losing in the Finals in 2011. That probably won’t change this year because the West is too stacked.
East playoffs: Pittsburgh, Toronto, Boston, Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, Flyers, Buffalo
West playoffs: Winnipeg, San Jose, Anaheim, Nashville, Vegas, Edmonton, St. Louis, Colorado East finals: Pittsburgh over Toronto West finals: San Jose over Winnipeg Stanley Cup: San Jose over Pittsburgh (Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)
LOS ANGELES KINGS