The NHL is back. Here are the questions that will shape the season
By Kevin Gibson | Sports Fugitive
The puck drops Tuesday, September 29, and the NHL has decided 82 games weren’t quite enough. Every team will play 84 this season. That gives us two more nights to argue about goaltending, officiating and whether a team that looked unbeatable in November can survive a first-round series.
Here are the questions I’ll be watching.
Can Carolina do it again?
The Hurricanes enter the season as Stanley Cup champions after beating Vegas in six games. Their 3–0 win in the clincher gave Carolina its first title since 2006. Now comes a different challenge: getting through a longer regular season with every opponent eager to measure itself against the champs.
Vegas, meanwhile, came within two victories of the Cup. A rematch of the Final is set for December 21, when Carolina visits the Golden Knights. Mark that one down, even if both teams would happily trade a December win for another meeting in June.
Which Toronto team shows up?
The Maple Leafs open at home against Montreal. That rivalry is a fine way to start a season and a terrible way to ease into one if your first shift goes badly.
Toronto has enough talent to make every regular-season winning streak feel like the beginning of something enormous. Leafs fans know the harder question arrives later. I’ll be watching how reliably this team plays when its stars aren’t producing, and whether it can turn a strong stretch into something sturdier by spring.
Is Edmonton’s path any clearer?
Connor McDavid can turn a routine Tuesday into appointment viewing. But Edmonton’s season will be judged by what happens around him: the support behind its top scorers, its defending when games tighten up and the saves it gets when a series turns on one goal.
The Oilers begin at home against Vancouver on September 29. The preseason can offer hints; the real answers start there.
Who makes the biggest leap?
This is the part of a season preview most likely to look foolish by Christmas, which is also why it’s fun. Montreal has an immediate chance to make a statement in Toronto. Buffalo gets an early test of its own when Carolina visits on October 13. A good opening week won’t settle either team’s season, but it can tell us which young players are ready for larger roles and which clubs have moved beyond merely looking promising on paper.
The Sports Fugitive call
Carolina is the team to beat because it has the Cup. Vegas has reason to believe it can close the gap. Edmonton remains impossible to dismiss while McDavid is driving the attack, and Toronto will draw attention all year whether it wants to or not.
That’s my opening assessment, with plenty of room for the season to prove me wrong. On Tuesday, Toronto and Montreal renew their argument, Edmonton and Vancouver begin theirs, and 32 teams start the longer road to the Cup. Finally, we get games that count.