New York. The waiting time is over.
After 107 days of futile attempts to pass the time, tonight we can finally lose ourselves at the greatest hockey show on the planet once again.
There are many questions before a total of 1,213 games in the regular season and subsequent matches, and here I am trying to answer the most exciting of them.
Yes I know. The 2022-2023 National Hockey League season actually kicked off this weekend, with Nashville and San Jose in the Czech Republic.
But they do not count. Not right. The real race begins with “Opening Night” in North America.
How it will turn out, no one knows, not even the most confident, but here I will try a number of advanced guesses about the most pressing questions that the hockey world will be occupied with in the next nine months.
1. Can Colorado Do It Again?
– Undoubtedly. They certainly lost a number of heavy pieces, including Andrei Burakowski, Nazim Kadri and goalkeeper Darcy Comber, and due to limited cover space, they were unable to replace them with similar names. But the solid frame formed by Nathan McKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskoog, Kal Makar and Devon Tooze is so formidable that they could win anyway. Only the stars can handle the Stanley Cup hangover. It is a real factor and can cause it.
2. Who are the biggest threats to doubles in avalanche?
The competition for the top spot in the league is now fierce in every sense of the word. There are over a dozen reasonable candidates for the Stanley Cup. Personally, I think it is time for Edmonton Oilers now. Superstars Conor McDavid and Leon Drysittle are at the start of their prime, the team has been stressed in the agony of agonizing playoff defeats and for the first time in the modern era, a decent goalkeeper – Jack Campbell – is in a box. But Tampa, Calgary, Florida, Los Angeles, Carolina and Pittsburgh are all roughly equal candidates.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs?
– Yes, they must also be “competitors”. Like the Oilers, they have superstars of just the right age, strong cards in most positions, and a recent history filled with the kind of adversity that shapes future champions. What’s shocking, though, is that general manager Kyle Dupas opted to sign mid-level goalkeepers Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov this summer, and with a duo like that, you likely won’t win any championships.
4. Which teams have failed to establish themselves in recent years that are expected to make progress this year?
– Many pieces are fully outfitted during the summer, especially the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils. Like I said, the league is pretty even, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one or a few of them rose above the line this spring. Something also tells me that Anaheim can rock.
5. Which established teams can take a step back?
The people I don’t want to think of when I hear this question are Washington Capitals. The 2018 champions are getting older, and in recent years have focused more on Ovechkin’s pursuit of records than on winning. Now they also have to lay off their long-afflicted Niklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson at least until Christmas. It can be tough.
6. Who is the worst?
Chicago, Arizona, San Jose, Philadelphia and Montreal should be fighting for the jumbo spot. Many are designed for lobsters, so they stand the best chance of winning the sweepstakes and can pinch Conor Bedard, the next generation of Sidney Crosby.
7. Can anyone stop Conor McDavid from winning the scoring league?
– Just bad luck. If it collapses and goes for a long time, the field is open. But if he plays all 82 matches, he cannot be stopped. As I mentioned above: This generation’s greatest is at the point where it needs to be at its best and most productive.
8. On a related note: Can anyone stop Austin Matthews from winning the scoring league?
– It’s exactly the same with him. Only injuries can prevent the Toronto icon from becoming a top scorer. He scored 60 goals last season, in 73 games. He might be 65 now. maybe more …
9. Can we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Häkan Loeb setting the Swedish 50-goal record by someone finally breaking it – and if so, is it Philip Forsberg?
– This topic is starting to feel a little uncomfortable now, but yes. Just Forsberg played only 69 games last season and is still 42 in total. If he can be healthy in all of the regular season games, Loob will probably find out the phone sometime at the end of March and call him and congratulate him.
10. Do we have any other Swedes who excel?
– Guaranteed. We can coldly count on the “usual suspects” – Hedmann, Zipanegad, Nylander, Lindholm, Forsberg, Peterson – to be as good as usual, but there’s also a pair of blue and yellow talent on the cusp of really big breakthroughs. Rasmus Dahlin in Buffalo is one, and Adam Buqvist in Columbus is another.
12. Who will be this year’s rookie?
There are plenty of options and none of them are fully given, but after success in this summer’s JVM, Mason McTavish has put a lot of eyes on it. It will be a real pleasure to see what he can achieve among the other artists in Anaheim. Owen Bauer (Buffalo), Mate Benners (Seattle), Kent Johnson (Columbus), Juraj Slavkowski (Montreal) are other names to consider.
12. And where do we have the winner of the Vezina Cup – I mean the best goalkeeper?
– Last year, Igor Sestyurkin (New York Rangers) and Andrei Vasilevskij (Tampa) were absolutely superior and there is no reason to doubt anything other than that they will dominate this year as well. Gus Saros (Nashville), Jacob Markstrom (Calgary), Thatcher Dimko (Vancouver), Jake Oettinger (Dallas) and Frederick Andersen (Carolina) may make up the third nomination.
13. Which coach gets fired first?
Everyone who works in teams with high ambitions lives dangerously. If it becomes crunchier than initially expected, they can smoke right away. But the situation appears particularly dire for New Jersey’s Lindy Raff. Andrew Brunet, who was unexpectedly fired as Florida State’s coach this summer, has been appointed as the new assistant and is ready to take over at any moment…
14. What would it be like to see NHL hockey at the new Arizona stadium?
– You can really ask yourself that. So they move to a newly built gymnasium called Mullett Arena, which belongs to a university and can hold no more than 4,700 spectators. It probably feels a bit titillated at first seeing hockey’s biggest stars in such an intimate setting, but I think the fun of the news wears off pretty quickly.
15. Where is the easiest and best place to follow the NHL?
– In Sportbladet of course. Every morning we have new reports from the night’s matches, often with their own quotes from Swedish stars. Plus, my blog runs nonstop – as is the podcast where Jonathan Iquileo and I browse the latest.