Hockey is baaaaaaack and the best time of year is officially underway.
October is the best month for sports. College football is into the thick of things, the Nationals are two wins away from going to the World Series, basketball season is looming and hockey is just getting started. Fall is easily the best of the four seasons, and this is why. There is something interesting on every night. I love it.
Hurricanes, Oilers off to Hot Starts
Just like everyone predicted, the Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers raced out to 5-0-0 starts. A lot of people will say, “it’s five games into the season, that pace is unsustainable.” And that’s true! But here’s the thing, these early season games count just as much as the ones in March. For teams that are expected to be on the playoff bubble, these games early on are so important. It’s absolutely crucial to win these games early in the season before the wear and tear of the 82-game season starts to set in. And ten points is often times the difference between making the playoffs and booking tee times during playoff season. These ten points are going to be huge as the playoff race tightens up later in the season. Carolina and Edmonton have given themselves a great launch point for the rest of the season.
Parity Party
I’ve long thought that the NHL is the most competitive of the North American professional sports. There is so much talent from around the world coming to the NHL that it leaves little room for separation of talent on a team-by-team basis. Even the Ottawa Senators are going to have their nights (which they did against Tampa this weekend).
Simply put, there are no nights off in this league. If you don’t bring your A game, you could lose to anyone. The first two weeks of the season have proven that.
Not only does the sheer amount of talent in the NHL make the league so competitive, it makes it so much fun to watch. Just about every team has a bonafide star that is worth the price of admission many times over.
The Leafs Have Depth!
The talk of the summer was how the Toronto Maple Leafs and GM Kyle Dubas would keep their young core intact with the salary cap. They were able to extend Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. They traded Nazem Kadri and ended up with Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot. They dumped the contracts of Patrick Marleau, Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Brown, paving the way for some young talent from the Marlies to make the jump.
Everything looks to be paying dividends right now. Rasmus Sandin, and Dmytro Timashov have had their moments this season. I’ve been especially impressed with Timashov, he’s a stud. The biggest addition to the forwards came by way of KHL-import Ilya Mikheyev. He’s been incredible for the Leafs and it’s going to get harder and harder to keep him out of the top-6.
The summer started early for the Leafs and with many questions. But Kyle Dubas not only made the big moves, he made some great personnel decisions and somehow dumped the three contracts that needed to be moved. This is the most talented team in the league top to bottom. That includes Tampa Bay.
Cole Caulfield
This guy could probably be playing in the NHL right now. As it stands, he’s a freshman phenom at the University of Wisconsin. Through two games for the Badgers, he’s got four goals and an assist.
Elite Prospects lists him at 5’7″ 163 pounds. That’s kinda small. But he shattered the National Team Development Program records for goals (single season and career) and he’s got his eyes on some NCAA records I’m sure. He’s a game-breaking player. He’ll grow and get stronger, that’s what strength programs do. Montréal got a really special player at 15th overall.
College Hockey Top Ten
- Minnesota State
- Denver
- Minnesota Duluth
- Providence
- Penn State
- Northeastern
- Quinnipiac
- Notre Dame
- St Cloud State
- Western Michigan