10 NHL Storylines to Watch Through November
The 2024 NHL season is officially three weeks old, and with the calendar jumping over to November, we’re starting to get a good feel for which teams are true contenders, and which might be pretending in the race for the Stanley Cup.
From goaltending problems, to slow starts, and even coaching hot seats, there’s no shortage of storylines worth focusing on as things start to get serious.
Here are 10 storylines to watch through November.
Is Anthony Stolarz the Man in Toronto?
Toronto’s list of problems right now is a mile long, starting with the power play and ending with Auston Matthews’ incredibly slow start.
Arguments on Craig Berube’s bench don’t help matters, but one of the few positives has been Anthony Stolarz’s emergence in net – potentially solving the Leafs’ ongoing struggle to find a reliable goaltender.
He hasn’t featured in the crease since last week’s start against Winnipeg, but through seven starts, Stolarz has been money, posting a 2.45 goal against average to match a .916 save percentage.
With Joseph Woll allowing three goals in the loss to the Blues on Saturday, Stolarz’s health could prove crucial with the Leafs lacking options and depth between the pipes.
Can the Stars Start to Win on the Road?
The Stars are +900 to win the Cup with Vegas oddsmakers, so it’s hard to nitpick a team that sits third in the West at 7-3-0 with Jake Oettinger playing the role of brick wall in net.
Still, coach Peter DeBoer will be the first to admit that his team needs to improve on the road, as evidenced in Finland over the weekend when the Stars lost back to back games in the Global Series to Florida.
As of Saturday, the Stars are 2-3-0 away from home, scoring a combined 15 goals. Facing road games at Winnipeg and Chicago when they return next week, winning on the road is paramount if Dallas wants to be taken seriously as a Cup threat.
Can the Capitals Fix Their Power Play?
The Caps fall in the same category as the Stars when it comes to finding faults, but the one area they can improve on is the power play.
Washington has been on a warpath winning three in a row heading into Sunday to improve to 8-2, but they’ve easily been of the league’s worst teams with the man advantage - tied with the Leafs and Sabres with only three goals scored.
Team-leading goal scorer Tom Wilson has scored two of those with fellow first-liner John Carlson accounting for the other. But with 32 opportunities counted, the power play is the one area preventing the Caps from being considered a very good team, rather than an elite one.
Will the Avs Trade for a Goalie?
The Avs’ goal-tending woes have been well-documented, as my colleague Ant Barberio wrote earlier in the week when he proposed a trade with the San Jose Sharks.
Alexander Georgiev ranks dead last in the league in goals saved above expected, while Justus Annunen just had his four-game winning streak snapped when he gave up three goals in Saturday’s loss to the Predators.
Kaapo Kahkonen doesn’t appear a reliable option in his first year with the team, and this year’s first round draft pick, Ilya Nabokov, has given up 23 goals over his last 10 games in the KHL.
Already falling behind in the West at 5-7 with injuries continuing to mount, a trade looks like the only way out of this mess.
Can the Oilers Keep Their Heads Above Water?
Winning without Connor McDavid hasn’t proven too difficult for the Oilers so far, but it’s only early days with the Conn Smythe-winner set to miss 2-3 weeks with an ankle injury.
As far as injuries go, an ankle injury isn’t the worst when it comes to hockey players, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time with Edmonton squaring off against the Flames, Devils, and Golden Knights (all teams over .500) over the next week alone.
Having won only five games to start the year, and only one win last season when McDavid was out of the lineup for five games, this shapes as a potential make or break part of Edmonton’s season.
Could We See a Coach Fired?
The hot seat burns early for those in charge in Pittsburgh and Boston, which isn’t something we thought we’d be saying a month ago.
Sidney Crosby could easily make us look foolish and turn this thing around on his own, but at 5-7-1 with the future Hall of Famer struggling, alongside Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin, something has to give.
Kyle Dubas has set this team up for failure with his lack of foresight as the man in charge of an aging team, but as is the case in any sport, Mike Sullivan will be the first domino to fall with fans growing frustrated.
You can go ahead and throw Boston coach Jim Montgomery into this discussion as well, particularly on the back of last week’s dismal 8-2 loss to the Hurricanes.
Firing a third-year coach who just took his team to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs might seem harsh to some, but Brad Marchand is off to a slow start, and with big-time signing Jeremy Swayman struggling between the pipes, murmurs are beginning to swirl in Beantown.
Was Utah Pretend All Along?
The NHL’s newest team got off to a hot start last month winning three in a row, but the good times were short-lived in Salt Lake City with Utah going on to lose seven of its next nine games – which includes Saturday’s overtime loss to Vegas.
John Marino and Sean Durzi’s injuries have hurt defensively, but the offense has been the biggest concern with the team sliding to 18th in goals scored and 22nd in shots.
Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther – the team’s leading goal scorers – continue to keep Utah in the majority of games, but the play of goalie Connor Ingram has been concerning. The fourth-year pro has allowed 17 goals over his last four games, including a fairly weak backhander from Brett Howden to decide the game against the Golden Knights.
That aside, if injuries strike the top line, it’s hard to see this team remaining competitive with overall depth razor-thin.
Who Shakes Off the Rust?
Clearly last week’s overtime winner against Toronto lit a fire under Brad Marchand, who has since gone on to score in back to back games against the Hurricanes and Flyers.
But who’s next?
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who the Oilers would desperately like to step up in McDavid’s absence, has just the one goal on the season, while the same can be said of Vancouver’s Elias Petterson.
Not quite as bad, but still off to a slow start is Mika Zibanejad in New York (2 goals) and the already mentioned Auston Matthews, who has found the twine five times, but only once on the Leafs’ power play.
What Becomes of the Islanders?
We’re only three weeks in, but the season is quickly trending south for Patrick Roy in his first season in charge of the Islanders.
I wrote yesterday about their lack of forward depth with Matthew Barzal suffering an upper-body injury, but that was before we learned New York’s 2023 fourth-leading goal scorer was set to miss 4-6 weeks.
Roy and General Manager Lou Lamoriello have already traded some not so subtle jabs through the media over the last week, while Barzal’s absence is only compounted by Anthony Duclair’s lengthy injury and the team’s overall lack of prospect depth.
Blowing an abundance of late leads and still ranking 30th in goals scored, this shapes as a fascinating month for everyone on Long Island.
Can the Jets Survive Their Schedule?
Well done if you had the Jets as the best team in hockey (10-1-0) through the first three weeks of the season.
Winnipeg already looks the real deal and checks most of the boxes when it comes to serious Cup contenders, but the upcoming schedule is treacherous with games against the Rangers, Lightning, Panthers (twice) and Wild coming up.
There hasn’t been a better offensive side when it comes to scoring goals at 5v5 or on the power play, but compared to last year’s efforts at even strength, coach Scott Arniel will see room for improvement.
Scoring over 18 goals per 60 with a man advantage is a nice consolation though, particularly if Connor Hellebuyck can continue holding teams to under 2.5 goals a game.