NHL Season Preview: Teams and Trends
By Jeremy Tuch
Elite Tier
Boston Bruins
Last Season: 50-20-12 (112 points), Eliminated by Tampa Bay in 2nd Round
Summer Changes: Lost two guys who’s name started with Ri and ended in Nash (Rick and Riley), Nick Holden, and Anton Khudobin. In return, they signed defenseman John Moore for far too long.
Trending: Steady
The Bruins are one of those teams that seem to be in contention every year. They didn’t need to make many moves, with their core as strong as ever. Young players like Charlie McAvoy, Jake DeBrusk, and Danton Heinen are coming into their own. They’ll be just fine, and should be around until late in the playoffs.
Nashville Predators
Last Season: 53-18-11 (117 points), Eliminated by Winnipeg in 2nd Round
Summer Changes: None of consequence.
Trending: Steady
The Predators are coming off a President’s Trophy and were just one game away from the Western Conference Final. They have one of the top defense corps in the league and a very solid and deep team at the front. Goaltender Pekka Rinne may have been the only reason Nashville bowed out last year and he’s backed up by the up and coming Juuse Saros. Nothing to worry about in Nashville.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Last Season: 47-29-6 (100 points), Eliminated by Washington in 2nd Round
Summer Changes: Salary dumped Matt Hunwick on Buffalo, costing them Conor Sheary, lost Tom Kuhnhackl to the Islanders, and signed Jack Johnson to a five-year deal for some reason.
Trending: Steady
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin still run the show. Phil Kessel still scores goals in buckets. Nothing new to see here, though my guess is that they’ll get a good chance for revenge on the Capitals this spring. If Matt Murray stays healthy, they’ll be just fine.
San Jose Sharks
Last Season: 45-27-10 (100 points), Eliminated by Vegas in 2nd Round
Summer Changes: A bunch of swing and misses until they hit a home run landing Erik Karlsson for Chris Tierney, Dylan Demelo, prospects and picks.
Trending: Up
The Sharks’ window of contention was closing ever slightly, with Joe’s Pavelski and Thornton getting older and creakier. In comes Evander Kane and Erik Karlsson, and the window is immediately thrust wide open yet again. They’ll be contenders late into the spring, unless some funny business finds it’s way into the locker room.
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Tampa Bay Lightning
Last Season: 54-23-5 (113 points), Eliminated by Washington in Conference Finals
Summer Changes: Couldn’t afford any, then general manager Steve Yzerman stepped down.
Trending: Steady
At the moment, the Lightning have a lethal offense led by Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, a sturdy defense led by Victor Hedman, and a great goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy. However, without any changes, they’ll have lots of salary cap issues to work out after giving raises to Kucherov and Ryan McDonaugh, so this may start to effect things. Even still, they are very much contenders now.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Last Season: 49-26-7 (105 points), Eliminated by Boston in First Round
Summer Changes: Clearing out lots of space (James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Leo Komarov, to name a few), just to use it all on John Tavares, which is totally worth it.
Trending: Up
The Leafs were a threat last year, until their underbelly was exposed by Boston’s gritty hockey style. Toronto’s up-tempo offense is now buttressed by Tavares, who will complement Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner well to create a potential top-5 offense in the NHL. The defense may be suspect, but that’s nothing new to goalie Frederik Andersen. They are a couple of quality defensemen away from being truly elite.
Washington Capitals
Last Season: 49-26-7 (105 points), Won Stanley Cup
Summer Changes: Ruined their livers, didn’t care. Also, Jay Beagle left and Philipp Grubauer got traded.
Trending: Steady
Nothing more can be said about the enormity of the party the Capitals experienced after winning their first Cup ever. Now, they have to defeat the dreaded hangover and defend their crown in earnest. The essential parts of the crew return, so there’s no reason they can’t make another run at it.
Winnipeg Jets
Last Season: 52-20-10 (114 points), Eliminated by Vegas in Conference Finals
Summer Changes: Lost Paul Stastny and a few other spare parts.
Trending: Up
After years of being the Thrashers and being bad (the same thing), all the high draft picks and patience is finally paying off on Portage and Main. The Jets are prepared for take off yet again with Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck and crew. The team looks more or less the same as it did last year, which means they should be good to contend yet again. Many believe the Jets to be the strongest Cup contender.