Reader here, and it’s (one of) the most wonderful times of the year… the start of a brand-new National Hockey League season!
Training camps are done, the preseason wrapped up over the weekend, and the opening night lineups are set.
The curtain rises on a new season tonight, with three games, including the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (it will never not feel weird saying that!) playing host to Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks.
Tonight’s other two games have the New York Rangers home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, led by the ageless Sidney Crosby (who’s starting his 21st season!), and the Colorado Avalanche in Los Angeles, to square off against the Kings.
Four of Canada’s teams get going tomorrow night, when the most storied Original Six rivalry resumes in Toronto, when the Mitch Marner-less Maple Leafs host the Montreal Canadiens, while the Battle of Alberta fires up in Edmonton, when the Oilers, led by newly-extended captain Connor McDavid welcome the Calgary Flames to the Alberta capital.
Then, on Thursday night, the Winnipeg Jets open up at home against Dallas, Vancouver welcomes Calgary to open up the Canucks’ season, and the Ottawa Senators open their campaign on the road in Florida, when they visit their 1992 expansion cousins, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Oh, and my beloved Philadelphia Flyers hit the ice Thursday night to open their season in Sunrise, Florida against the Panthers.
For a Flyer fan like me, it’s been a long, miserable stretch of mediocre teams and missed playoffs. But General Manager Danny Briere (GMDB) has been doing a pretty good job of clearing out salary and bringing in players to build a contender.
The biggest part of the rebuild? The play of Matvei Michkov. Philly got him from the KHL a couple years earlier than expected, and he made an immediate impact in Year One, leading all rookies in goals! He’s a beauty, and I look forward to watching him in Orange & Black for years to come!
Along with veterans like Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier and Travis Sanheim, there’s the nucleus of a fun offense. And then you add in former Anaheim Duck Trevor Zegras, who introduced the “Michigan” goal to the NHL, and there’s the making of a fun top line!
If nothing else, the Flyers’ power play shouldn’t be quite as garbage as it’s been for the last several years.
Now, if only the Flyers could solve their ongoing issues between the pipes, they’d be set! (RIP, Bernie Parent!)
It’s that awesome time of year, when every team is at Square One. Everyone’s a contender, with an entire season ahead, to be filled with ups and downs, and fans hoping that this year is THE year! Hope springs eternal, and at the end of the season, one team will be left standing, hoisting Hockey’s Holy Grail.
Will it be the Florida Panthers standing tall for the third straight year? Or will somebody knock them off the mountaintop?
I guess we’ll find out come playoff time. In the meantime, let’s get this show on the road! Happy Hockey Season, everybody!
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