Down the Frozen River

Tag: Buffalo Sabres

November 13 – Day 32 – More than movie Stars in Hollywood North
Time to close out the weekend. I know, it just started. The good times are so fleeting, aren’t they?

Settle in for some hockey at 2 p.m. when Los Angeles visits Winnipeg, followed a couple hours later by Dallas at Vancouver. 5 p.m. brings with it the puck drop of Minnesota at Ottawa (TVAS), with two more games getting underway at 7 p.m. (Boston at Colorado and Montréal at Chicago [RDS/SN]). Finally, tonight’s nightcap starts at 9:30 p.m. with the New York Rangers visiting Edmonton (SN1).

Short list:
- Dallas at Vancouver: Dan Hamhuis makes his way home to British Columbia for the first time after spending six seasons with the Canucks.
- Montréal at Chicago: In addition to being an Original Six rivalry, Andrew Shaw returns to the Windy City after playing their for five seasons.
It’s been a week of Game of the Day debuts, so we’ll continue that trend by heading to Rogers Arena.

Hamhuis’ days in a Canucks sweater began in the off-season preceding the 2010-’11 season. After six successful seasons in Nashville, he was so intent on returning to his home province to play that he turned down offers from other clubs that far exceeded Vancouver‘s.

The defenseman made 389 appearances for his “hometown” team and notched at least 10 assists and 13 points per season. His first Vancouver campaign was the season the Canucks made the Stanley Cup Finals. He threw 43 hits to go with his six points that postseason, but suffered a sports hernia in Game 1 against Boston when hitting Milan Lucic, forcing him to miss the rest of the series.

Hamhuis moved on to Dallas this off-season in free agency for a two-year, $7.5 million contract. He’s already notched four assists to bring his career total to 252 apples. That effort has helped the Stars to a 6-6-3 record, including victories in their last two contests against the Alberta-based clubs.

Just like a season ago, it has been the goaltending that has been the biggest issue for the Stars. Kari Lehtonen has started eight games this season for a 3-4-2 record on a .899 save percentage and 2.96 GAA, 12th and 14th-worst efforts, respectively, among goalies with five or more games played. He hasn’t gotten many favors from his defense, though. Lehtonen and Antti Niemi have had to face 31.2 shots per game, even with Johnny Oduya notching 2.27 blocks per game.

As would be expected, Dallas‘ penalty kill has suffered this season. Their 82 penalties are the most in the NHL, and they haven’t been able to back up their physicality, stopping only 77.2% of opposing power plays for 13 goals against. While the netminding hasn’t been perfect, all Dallas should need to do is avoid the penalty box to see vast improvements.

Vancouver enters the night with a 5-9-1 record, mostly due to their inability to score.

The Canucks are tied for last with Colorado for fewest goals scored with 27. Led by Henrik Sedin‘s nine points, no other Canuck has more than eight points to his credit. Sedin and brother Daniel Sedin each have five goals apiece to take credit for 37% of Vancouver‘s scoring.

In case you’re wondering, yes: more than two people need to get involved in the offense.

Part of the reason for the offensive struggles has been the poor showing on the power play. Vancouver ranks second-worst in the NHL with a 8.7% success rate. Having had 46 opportunities, the Canucks have left a lot of points on the ice.

Fortunately for Vancouver, the penalty kill has been close to exemplary by neutralizing 86.4% of their infractions to be sixth-best in the NHL.

Some players to keep an eye on this evening include Dallas‘ Tyler Seguin (17 points [tied for third-most in the league] on 10 assists [tied for ninth-most in the NHL] and seven goals [10th-most in the league]) and Vancouver‘s H. Sedin (nine points [leads the team]).

Vancouver is marked as the +115 underdog this afternoon. Even though it’s not much, I feel like the betting line is a little extreme. The Canucks‘ forte is defense, something they’ll need against Dallas. I’m picking the Stars to earn two points, but I don’t know if it will be a comfortable victory.

Hockey Birthday
- Gilbert Perreault (1950-) – The first pick of the 1970 NHL Entry Draft, the center of The French Connection played his entire 17-year career with Buffalo. Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1990, he was a six-time all-star and the recipient of the 1970-71 Calder and 1972-73 Lady Byng trophies. The Sabres also retired his number 11 in ’90.
It took overtime, but Florida was able to make a winning debut in the DtFR Game of the Day series by beating the Islanders 3-2.

With only 22 seconds remaining in the first period, Brock Nelson (Calvin de Haan and Jason Chimera) buried a wrister to give the Islanders a one-goal lead that held into the first intermission.

Six seconds before the midway point of regulation, that lead doubled. Nick Leddy (John Tavares and Josh Bailey) takes credit for the power play tally on a slap shot, the lone score of the second period.

The Panthers began their comeback 8:56 into the final frame. Third Star of the Game Kyle Rau (Michael Matheson and Derek MacKenzie) scored his first career NHL goal with a snap shot to pull Florida within a goal. With 14 seconds remaining, Second Star Jonathan Marchessault (Aleksander Barkov and Keith Yandle) scored a slap shot to force overtime.

First Star Denis Malgin (Vincent Trocheck and Matheson) avoided the shootout by scoring with 46 seconds remaining in overtime, sealing the Panthers‘ victory.

Roberto Luongo earns the victory after saving 19-of-21 shots faced (90.5%), leaving the overtime loss to Jaroslav Halak, who saved 40-of-43 (93%).

Florida‘s win is the second-straight for the home team in the DtFR Game of the Day series to set the record at 20-11-3, leading the roadies by 10 points.
November 13, 2016
November 7 – Day 26 – Buffalo-Boston bout
We’ve got three games on the schedule this evening, and they’ll all be played at almost the same time. Two games drop the puck at 7 p.m. (Buffalo at Boston [SN/TVAS] and Vancouver at the New York Islanders (NHLN]), with Tampa Bay at Florida going underway half an hour later. All times eastern.

Short list:
- Buffalo at Boston: Over 40 years this rivalry has been waged, including eight playoff series. Not only does it rage in the TD Garden this evening, but also at DtFR headquarters.
- Tampa Bay at Florida: Round two of the Governor’s Cup goes down tonight.
Given that Boston and Buffalo are tied on points, we’ll catch their game in the City on a Hill.

The Sabres entered the league in 1970, and the rivalry has only intensified since. Boston has a 156-141-29 all-time advantage over the Sabres for a well-contested series in addition to their eight postseason meetings.

They last met in the playoffs during the 2009-’10 season in the Eastern Quarterfinals, with Boston winning the series 4-2. That victory gave the Bruins a 6-2 series record against Buffalo in the playoffs, but they were upset a round later that year by Philadelphia.

The Sabres enter tonight’s game with a 5-4-2 record. While they have had some offensive struggles with Nicolas Deslauriers, Jack Eichel and Evander Kane finding themselves on the injury report, Buffalo has stood strong on the defensive end, allowing only 24 goals against – the fourth-best mark in the league.

Robin Lehner has started eight games for Buffalo this year, accounting for a 4-3-1 record on a .929 save percentage and 2.14 GAA. Given the defense playing in front of him, those numbers are very good. The Sabres defense has allowed 334 shots to reach their goaltenders already this season, which breaks down into 30.4 shots against per game.

Should the Sabres want to continue improving (odds are good that they do), more than Josh Gorges and Rasmus Ristolainen, who have 22 and 20 blocks respectively, need to contribute to alleviate pressure on their goaltender. Zach Bogosian has blocked the third-most shots so far this season, and only has 15 to his credit.

The special team Buffalo is most proud of has been their power play, which accounts for 32% of their goals. The Sabres have been successful on 22.22% of their attempts, which ranks as the ninth-best effort in the NHL, and half of their eight power play goals have been scored by Matt Moulson.

Boston enters the night with a 6-5-0 record, a position I feel they are fortunate to be in. Defense and goaltending has been the strength of the Bruins, if you could call an end of the ice that has allowed 32 goals in 11 games a strength. The offense has been even poorer, scoring only 25 times.

Last season, Boston was home to the fifth-most potent offense in the NHL, scoring 236 goals to average 2.88 per game. Almost a month into the season, the Bruins average only 2.27 goals per game to rank fifth-worst. Brad Marchand has done a good job to lead the team with 13 points, trailed closely behind by David Pastrnak‘s 10, but the remaining Bruins have yet to break the five-point mark.

If the Bruins don’t figure their offense out, at least they can hang their caps on having the 10th best penalty kill in the league. Allowing eight extra-man tallies against, they’ve killed 83.33% of their penalties.

Some players to keep an eye on include Boston‘s Marchand (nine assists [tied for sixth-most in the NHL]), Pastrnak (seven goals [tied for fourth-most in the league] and a +11 [tied for sixth-best in the NHL]) and Tuukka Rask (six wins [tied for fourth-most in the league], including a shutout [tied for sixth-most in the NHL]) & Buffalo‘s Anders Nilsson (1.95 GAA [10th-best in the league] on a .937 save percentage [10th-best in the NHL]), Kyle Okposo (five goals [leads the team]) and Ristolainen (eight assists [leads the team]).

Boston has been marked by Vegas with a -160 advantage, but I think they’re wrong. I’m picking the upset due to Buffalo‘s defense being more than able to contain the Bruins‘ anemic offense.

Hockey Birthday
- Michel Picard (1969-) – This left wing played 166 games over nine seasons in the NHL with six teams, 36.7% of which were in St. Louis from 1997-’99. Nowadays, he’s an amateur scour for the Blues.
- Mike Commodore (1979-) – The 42nd overall selection in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, this defenseman played 484 games over 11 seasons, mostly with Carolina, the team he won his lone Stanley Cup with.
- Pascal Leclaire (1982-) – The eighth overall pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, and first goaltender selected, Leclaire played 173 games over seven seasons to total a 61-76-15 record. Most of those games were played with the team that drafted him: the Columbus Blue Jackets.
With two goals in the second period, the Anaheim Ducks beat the Calgary Flames 4-1 in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

The Ducks found the scoreboard first, and didn’t wait long to do it. 2:29 after beginning the game, First Star of the Game Clayton Stoner (Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf) scored a wrister to give Anaheim the lead. With 3:45 remaining in the period, Calgary drew even when Alex Chiasson (John Gaudreau and Sean Monahan) found the back of the net for the Flames. The one-all score held into the first intermission.

The Ducks were quick starters again in the second period, waiting only 3:18 before Second Star Ryan Kesler (Perry and Getzlaf) scored the game-winning wrister.

Andrew Cogliano (Jakob Silfverberg and Josh Manson) and Kesler (Perry and Getzlaf) scored the two insurance goals for Anaheim to secure the victory.

Third Star Jonathan Bernier earns the victory after saving 25-of-26 shots faced (96.2%), while Chad Johnson takes the loss after saving 17-of-21 (81%).

Anaheim‘s victory on the Pond pads the home squads’ lead in the DtFR Game of the Day series, setting the homers’ record at 15-10-3 to lead the roadies by four points.
November 7, 2016
November 3 – Day 22 – What does QEW mean to you?
Thursdays are usually busy days, and today is no exception. We’ve got a dozen games to choose from, starting with four at 7 p.m. (Philadelphia at the New York Islanders, Toronto at Buffalo, Edmonton at the New York Rangers [SN360] and Winnipeg at Washington). Three more follow 30 minutes later (New Jersey at Florida, Boston at Tampa Bay and Vancouver at Ottawa [RDS]), and another pair of contests drop the puck at 8:30 p.m. (St. Louis at Dallas and Colorado at Chicago). 10 p.m. brings with it the beginning of Nashville at Arizona, and the final two games share nightcap responsibilities half an hour later: Pittsburgh at Los Angeles and Calgary at San Jose (SN360). All times eastern.

Short list:
- Toronto at Buffalo: It’s the first installment of the season in the Battle of the Queen Elizabeth Way!
- St. Louis at Dallas: The Blues and Stars met up last May for seven games, four of which were won by the Notes to send them to the Western Conference Finals.
I’m drawn to both, so we’re just going to assume the answer is in the standings. Since the Atlantic rivals are separated by only a point, we’ll head to KeyBank Center.

The Maple Leafs and Sabres have played 206 times in their history prior to this evening, with Buffalo having a 115-73-18 advantage all-time – an impressive record for a team with no Stanley Cups to their record against a 13-time champion (shh, we don’t need to talk about how none of those titles have come since Buffalo entered the league in 1970).

They’ve met one time in the playoffs. It was the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals, a series the Sabres won handily in five games before falling to Dallas in the Stanley Cup Finals.

But it’s not the past meetings or playoff history that makes this rivalry interesting. It’s how far apart, or really how close, these teams are geographically. Center ice between both teams’ home arenas is less than 90 miles apart, allowing either fan-base to easily commute to the other arena. Expect a lot of Leafs fans in the stands tonight.

Those Leafs enter tonight’s game with a 3-4-3 record. While their offense, led by youngsters Auston Matthews (10 points) and William Nylander (11 points), has certainly been strong, they have been held back by their defense and goaltending.

Frederik Andersen has started eight of Toronto‘s 10 games, but he has only saved 89.1% of the shots he’s faced for 3.46 GAA – not what the Leafs expected when they traded a first round pick to Anaheim for him.

Hosting them this evening will be the 4-3-2 Sabres, a team that has allowed only 21 goals this season – five fewer than the league average.

In six starts, Robin Lehner is the proud owner of a .921 save percentage for a 2.34 GAA. Further improving those numbers is the fact that his defenders are keeping shots off his net. Led by Josh Gorges‘ 20 blocks, Buffalo‘s goaltending has only faced 272 shots, 10 fewer than the league average.

Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Buffalo‘s Ryan O’Reilly (eight points [leads the team]) and Rasmus Ristolainen (seven assists [leads the team]) & Toronto‘s Matthews (six goals [tied for third-most in the league]) and Nylander (seven assists [tied for sixth-most in the NHL]).

At -120, Vegas favors Buffalo in tonight’s game, as does history: the Sabres have a 70-27-6 record against the Leafs in the Queen City, far superior to their 45-46-12 record in Toronto. I think the Sabres‘ defense is up to the task of beating Toronto‘s youngsters, and their forwards are more than capable of putting some pucks in the back of the net to secure the victory.

Yesterday’s Game of the Day wasn’t a close one, as the Penguins scored their game winner in only 10:24 to eventually win 5-1 over the Ducks.

Three goals were struck in the first period, beginning with Evgeni Malkin‘s (Phil Kessel and Chris Kunitz) slap shot 7:41 after the initial puck drop. 2:43 later, Matt Cullen (Tom Sestito and Eric Fehr) scored a slap shot of his own to give the Penguins a two-goal lead. Anaheim trimmed the differential back to one with 4:11 remaining in the opening frame on the power play when Third Star of the Game Cam Fowler (Sami Vatanen and Ryan Kesler) scored on another slap shot, setting the score at 2-1 going into the dressing room.

Pittsburgh‘s first insurance goal was the lone score of the second period. Bryan Rust (Nick Bonino and First Star Kris Letang) scored his first goal of the season with a backhander with 3:18 remaining in the frame.

The Pens struck quickly to open the final period, as Letang (Justin Schultz) scored a power play goal only 1:27 after resuming play. 5:47 later, Patric Hornqvist (Second Star Sidney Crosby and Carl Hagelin) stuck gold with a wrister to notch the Penguins‘ final tally.

Matt Murray returns in style by saving 32-of-33 (97%) shots faced to earn his first victory of the season, while John Gibson takes the loss after saving 29-of-34 (85.3%). Jonathan Bernier entered the game for the final 8:40, but was not forced to make a save.

Pittsburgh‘s road victory pulls the visitors within four points of the home squads, but the homers still have a 13-8-3 record in the DtFR Game of the Day series.
November 3, 2016
November 1 – Day 20 – The Great Dane
We’re trying out our new DtFR mirror technology. I can only assume that a night with no hockey that aligned with the one night of the year when your neighbors give out free candy has you looking something like this.

Simmer down, kiddo.

Anyways, hockey’s one-day vacation has us feeling all types of withdrawals. Thank goodness we get a healthy serving of games today, starting with two at the usual time of 7 p.m. (St. Louis at the New York Rangers and Dallas at Columbus), followed half an hour later by four more (Boston at Florida [TVAS], Carolina at Ottawa [RDS2], Tampa Bay at the New York Islanders [NBCSN] and Edmonton at Toronto). 8 p.m. brings with it two puck drops (Buffalo at Minnesota and Washington at Winnipeg), with Calgary at Chicago trailing by 30 minutes. Nashville at Colorado finds its start at 9 p.m. At 10 p.m. the San Jose at Arizona (NBCSN) game starts, followed 1800 seconds later (that’s 30 minutes, guys) by Anaheim at Los Angeles, tonight’s nightcap. All times eastern.

Short list:
- Tampa Bay at New York: Last year, the Lightning defeated the Islanders in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in five games.
- San Jose at Arizona: Mikkel Boedker spent eight seasons in Glendale before being traded away to Colorado at the deadline last season.
- Anaheim at Los Angeles: You might have heard about this one. They call it the Freeway Face-Off. It’s kind of a big deal.
Eight seasons is a long time, and I don’t feel like we’ll have many reasons to go watch Arizona this season, so I’m drawn to the late game in the desert.

Danish right wing Boedker was drafted eighth overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Coyotes. He jumped right into the league that season, scoring 11 goals under head coach Wayne Gretzky, which tied him for sixth-most on the squad.

Boedker’s best campaign with Arizona was in 2013-’14 when he tied Radim Vrbata for the second-most points on the team with 51. But, as has been par for the course for the Coyotes since 2011-’12, it did not yield any playoff action.

Last season, Boedker shed his brick red sweater for a burgundy Avalanche uniform after being traded on February 29. It was all for naught though, as Boedker found himself on the golf course following the regular season for his fourth season in a row.

This offseason he joined a San Jose Sharks who knows a little bit about the playoffs, coming off a Stanley Cup run that fell just a series short a season ago. He has little to show for his work on San Jose‘s second line, notching a lone goal.

The 6-3-0 Sharks have played a more defensive game this season, allowing only 21 goals against – three fewer than the league average. Martin Jones has a .916 save percentage for 2.15 GAA, but he is getting a lot of help from his defensive corps. Four skaters (Justin Braun, Brent Burns, Paul Martin and Joe Pavelski) have 15 or more blocks to their credit, and their efforts have resulted in only 25.2 shots against per game, the second-fewest shots against per game in the league.

The 2-6-0 Coyotes would have to be classified as an offensive club, due to the fact that they definitely don’t play defensive hockey. They’ve scored 24 goals this season – on par with the rest of the league – led by Brad Richardson‘s seven points. That being said, it is Oliver Ekman-Larsson getting a lot of the accolades with a team-leading five goals to his credit.

Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Arizona‘s Max Domi (six assists [leads the team]), Ekman-Larsson (five goals [leads the team]) and Richardson (seven points [leads the team]) & San Jose‘s Burns (seven assists [tied for third-most in the league]), Jones (five wins [tied for third-most in the NHL]), Pavelski (11 points [tied for third-most in the league] on seven assists [tied for third-most in the NHL]) and Joe Thornton (seven assists [tied for third-most in the league]).

Vegas marks Arizona with a +150 in almost every book, meaning that the Sharks are favored.

I’d say that’s a very safe bet.

Hockey Birthday:
- Al Arbour (1932-2015) – Arbour won eight total Stanley Cups: four as a player (two of which were with Toronto) and four in a row as head coach of the New York Islanders.
- Phil Myre (1948-) – This goaltender played 14 seasons in the NHL for six different teams. Four years after being drafted fifth overall in the 1966 NHL Entry Draft, he was on the 1970-’71 Montréal Stanley Cup winning team .
- Tie Domi (1969-) – A right wing that played 16 NHL seasons as an enforcer, Domi is most remembered for his 11 campaigns in Toronto. Maybe son Max will give him a goal for his birthday.
- Matt Moulson (1983-) – This left wing is in his third season with Buffalo. Two seasons ago he struck 41 points, the second-best effort on the squad that year.
November 1, 2016
October 28 – Day 17 – Sticking with Scrappers
There may be fewer games than yesterday, but that’s not to say Friday is a slouch, as we’ve got six matchups to choose from. Two games get us started at 7:30 p.m. (Chicago at New Jersey and the New York Rangers at Carolina [TVAS]), with two more following at 9 p.m. (Winnipeg at Colorado and Ottawa at Calgary [RDS2]). Finally, at 10 p.m., our final two contests go underway (Edmonton at Vancouver [SN1/SN360] and Columbus at Anaheim). All times eastern.

With the season not even being three weeks old yet, I’m in the business of giving everybody some love. In essence, I guess what I’m saying is let’s head to Newark!

Enter right wing Jordin Tootoo. A little bit of a journeyman, Chicago is the fourth team he’s played for in his now 13-season career.

Most recently, he was a member of his opposition this evening. He played 134 games over two seasons with the Devils, easily his second-longest tenure with an NHL club.

Similar to Steve Ott, yesterday’s subject of the Game of the Day, Tootoo plays the role of agitator and enforcer. While playing at The Rock, he spent 174 minutes in the sin bin (1.3 minutes, or 77.9 seconds per game), 58.6% of which were last season.

In his defense, life in Jersey wasn’t always about being a nuisance. During the 2014-15 season, he found the back of the net 10 times en route to a 15 point season – the second-most goals he’s ever scored in a season since his junior days in Brandon.

He’s appeared in every game this season for the 3-3-1 Blackhawks, a team that scores as many goals as they give up – 25. Part of the problem for the numerous scores against them has been a pitiful penalty kill. Their 46.1% kill rate ranks worst in the league, trailing the Nashville Predators by 22.1%.

For those wondering, the average kill rate in the league entering Thursday’s action was 79.97%. Chicago has been atrocious.

Offensively, the Hawks are lead by center Artem Anisimov and his nine points. That being said, it has been Richard Panik scoring the goals, with a team-leading six to his credit.

Life has been treating Jersey only slightly better, as they’re sitting at 3-2-1 for an early third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Defense and goaltending have by far been the name of the game for the Devils, as Cory Schneider has allowed only 12 pucks to get past him this season. Saving .936 percent of his shots faced for a solid two GAA, he’s played every second of the season so far. That is, up until tonight. Keith Kinkaid takes the crease this evening for his first game since April 7, a 4-2 loss on home ice to Tampa Bay.

Last season, the Devils ranked dead last in the NHL with only 182 goals to their credit, and this season has been more of the same. Taylor Hall has done his part, leading the team with five goals for six points, but more players than Travis Zajac will have to contribute if the Devils want to make the run at the playoffs Schneider deserves.

Some players to keep an eye on tonight include Chicago‘s Anisimov (nine points [tied for fifth-most in the NHL]), Patrick Kane (six assists [tied for fifth-most in the league] and a +7 [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]) and Panik (six goals [tied for the league lead]) & New Jersey‘s Hall (five goals [tied for fifth-most in the NHL]).

Bets look to be off the table at most establishments in Sin City, but sportsbook.com still has a line posted at -110 in favor of the Devils. If only Jersey had somebody on their team that could ensure the Hawks would head to the penalty box… Huh. Since that’s not the case, I worry for Kinkaid’s safety against an offense that has scored six goals in their past two games. I’m taking the Hawks.

Hockey Birthday:
- Martin Skoula (1979-) – This Czech defenseman played 10 seasons in the NHL with six different teams, but 383 of his 776 games were with Colorado, the team that drafted him 17th in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. Three years later, he hoisted the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche.
- Jack Eichel (1996-) – Buffalo‘s wonder-boy from Boston University scored 56 points in his rookie year, 24 of which were goals to lead the team. Hopefully he’ll return to the ice soon.
After an eight-round shootout, the Detroit Red Wings extended their all-time record over the St. Louis Blues to 146-136-37.

Kevin Shattenkirk (Patrik Berglund) opened the scoring at the 22:31 mark of this game, but the Red Wings leveled again with 6:06 remaining in the second period with a Second Star of the Game Frans Nielsen (Darren Helm and Alexey Marchenko) backhander to set the score at one-all, the score that held through the remainder of regulation and overtime. And off to the shootout they went.
1. Alexander Steen: bingo, Blues up a score.
2. Nielsen saved by Third Star Jake Allen.
3. Vladimir Tarasenko straight-up missed the cage.
4. Gustav Nyquist found the back of the net to tie the shootout.
5. Shattenkirk: saved by First Star Petr Mrazek.
6. Dylan Larkin: saved by Allen.
7. David Perron: third-straight save.
8. Andreas Athanasiou: mixing it up with a miss.
9. Nail Yakupov: Mrazek says “No way, bruh.”
10. Tomas Tatar gets the same memo from Allen.
11. Robby Fabbri learns that not just Jesus saves.
12. Riley Sheahan gets some of the same medicine.
13. Berglund finds Mrazek.
14. Helm can’t score either.
15. Dmitrij Jaskin can’t get it done.
16. Henrik Zetterberg scored so he could go to bed. Wings win 2-1.
Mrazek earns the victory by saving 31-of-32 shots faced (96.9%), while Allen’s 26-of-27 (96.3%) is only good enough for a shutout loss.

Detroit‘s victory earned the road teams in the DtFR Game of the Day series another two points, but the homers still have a five-point advantage with a 11-6-2 record.
October 28, 2016
Colby’s Corner Flames Found a Goalie

The Calgary Flames had a rough season last year due to some pretty bad goalies. They had a carousal of goalies starting with Jonas Hiller. Hiller played in 26 games last year and finished with a goals against average (GAA) of 3.51 and a terrible save percentage of .879. They soon gave up on Hiller and they turned to Karri Ramo. Ramo played the most games of their season with 37 games, Ramo wasn’t much better as he posted a 2.63 GAA and save percentage .909.

They gave youngster Joni Ortio 22 games and the trend continued with him as his numbers were 2.76 GAA and save percentage .902. The team got desperate as they turned to Niklas Backstrom for four games and his numbers were also pretty bad as he posted 3.35 GAA and save percentage of .881.

So it didn’t come as surprise that the team needed to bring in some better goaltending. They thought they accomplished this when they traded with St. Louis for Brian Elliott. He was set to become the Flames new number one goalie.

They also added Chad Johnson through free agency after his career year in Buffalo. He was set to be the backup to start the season. Johnson believes he can be a number one goalie and maybe believed he could beat Elliott out for the number one spot, but was content as number two.

Well things didn’t go as suspected for Brian Elliott. After back-to-back losses to Edmonton and allowing 10 goals. They final give Chad Johnson his first start of the season against Vancouver and he earns the team the first points of the season as the team falls to Vancouver in overtime. They give Johnson his second start of the season 3 days later vs. Buffalo and he gives the team their first win of the season.

The Flames gave Brian Elliott another chance against the Carolina Hurricanes. He gave up another 4 goals and another loss for the Flames. Elliott’s season stats thus far are horrible with a GAA of 4.72 and save percentage of .839. Johnson however has tremendous numbers thus far with GAA of 1.89 and save percentage of .923. This ranks him top 10 in NHL in both stats.

The Flames still believe Brian Elliott is their number one goalie even when the stats don’t back the information up. I am a believer in playing the hot goalie and thus I think Johnson should take over as number one. Elliott may have a better career numbers and more experience in bigger games. But Johnson can be a number one goalie and Calgary should give him the chance.

Although a team can’t make the playoffs this early in the year, they can definitely lose hope. When a team plays their hearts out and yet they lose because of a lack of goaltending, it can kill a team’s morale and impact a team greatly. I am not saying Calgary’s season is over, all I am saying is Johnson is the hot goalie and they should give him a chance to be the number one.

October 22, 2016
October 22 – Day 11 – Not just a rivalry game
It’s Saturday, so you know what that means: a busy day. Everything is being held for prime time, so eight games drop the puck at 7 p.m. (Toronto at Chicago [CBC], Montréal at Boston [CITY/TVAS], Tampa Bay at Ottawa [SN1/SN360], San Jose at Detroit, Colorado at Florida, Minnesota at New Jersey, Carolina at Philadelphia and the New York Rangers at Washington [NHLN]). 8 p.m. brings with it two more contests (Pittsburgh at Nashville and Columbus at Dallas), and the final two games find their start two hours later (Vancouver at Los Angeles [CBC] and St. Louis at Calgary [SN1/SN360]). All times eastern.

Short list:
- Montréal at Boston: One of, if not the best all-time rivalry in hockey. It’s always worth the watch.
- Toronto at Chicago: Another Original Six matchup.
- New York at Washington: This rivalry goes back to the ’80s. Since all of us at Down the Frozen River were born in the ’90s, we’re pretty sure that was a long time ago.
Of those three games, it’s just too hard to ignore the scrap for the Atlantic Division lead between Montréal and Boston going on this evening in the TD Garden.

Two of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference square off this evening and, as I mentioned before, the winner will take the division lead. But, something tells me that a division lead, especially this early in the season, is just icing on the cake between these two.

The Canadiens enter the game with an impeccable 3-0-1 record, with their lone single-point game occurring last weekend In Ottawa.

Although the Habs have scored 16 goals already this season, it has been their blue line and goaltending that has been more impressive. So far, Al Montoya and Carey Price have only allowed six tallies, half the league average, on a combined .955 save percentage.

The home Bruins have a 3-1-0 record, losing their only game last Saturday 4-1 in Toronto.

Just like their counterparts, goaltending has been the Bruins‘ shining spot so far this season, as Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin have only allowed nine goals against, collectively saving 92.4% of shots faced.

To properly breakdown how good a goaltending matchup this could be, Montoya and Rask are the top two in the league in save percentage, and both also rank in the top five in goals against average. If presumed starter Price can continue to produce like his backup did to start the season, we should be in for a great game.

Some players to keep an eye on during this evening’s game include Boston‘s David Backes (+7 [tied for third-best in the league]), Brandon Carlo (+7 [tied for third-best in the NHL]), Zdeno Chara (+6 [tied for seventh-best in the league]), Brad Marchand (+9 [tied for the NHL-lead] with nine points [tied for the league-lead] on six assists [tied for the NHL-lead] and three goals [tied for ninth-most in the league]), David Pastrnak (+9 [tied for the NHL-lead] with four goals [tied for second-most in the league] for seven points [tied for fourth-most in the NHL]) and Rask (.947 save percentage [second-best in the league], three wins [tied for second-most in the NHL] and 1.67 GAA [fourth-best in the league]) & Montréal‘s Nathan Beaulieu (+6 [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]), Montoya (1.3 GAA [leads the league] and .962 save percentage [leads the NHL] for a shutout [one of three so far this season] on two wins [tied for sixth-most in the league]) and Shea Weber (+6 [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]).

Last season, the Canadiens took the season series 3-2-0, including two victories in Massachusetts. But, it is the Bruins that are favored in tonight’s game at -124. Although the Habs have played well to start the season, I have a hard time picking against Boston on home ice.

Hockey Birthday
- Ron Tugnutt (1967-) – This goaltender put in 16 NHL seasons, playing most of his 537 games with Quebec (153) and Ottawa (166). Some of the records he still holds are most saves in a regular season contest (70) and highest regular season save percentage.
- Stephane Quintal (1968-) – A long time Canadien, Quintal played 507 of his 1037 games along the blue line in a red sweater. Nowadays, he’s Senior Vice President of Player Safety.
- Miroslav Satan (1974-) – Over 14 NHL seasons, Šatan played for five clubs, but he spent most of his time in Buffalo. The right wing scored 363 scores and ended up with 735 points.
I expected a Predators win in yesterday’s Game of the Day. I was terribly wrong.

This game may come to be known as the Power Play Game, as five of the eight scores were a result of the man-advantage. The first of those tallies was struck 5:17 into the second period when Justin Abdelkader (Third Star of the Game Ryan Sproul and Gustav Nyquist) took advantage of a Filip Forsberg holding penalty four seconds earlier to set the score at 1-0 for the Wings. The Predators struck back 8:56 later with power play goal of their own from P.K. Subban (Roman Josi) on a 5-on-3 play. Still on the power play from Danny DeKeyser sending the puck over the glass, Mike Ribeiro (Ryan Ellis and Viktor Arvidsson) gave Nashville a 2-1 lead with 5:29 remaining in the period. They couldn’t take that lead into the dressing room though, as Drew Miller (Mike Green) beat Pekka Rinne with 40 seconds remaining before the horn to level the score at two-all.

1:10 after returning to the ice, First Star Tomas Tatar (Alexey Marchenko and Jonathan Ericsson) returned the lead to the Red Wings on an even-strength snap shot. Nyquist takes credit for the game-winner, an unassisted snap shot with 8:33 remaining on the game clock. Nashville pulled within one when Mike Fisher (Josi and Forsberg) scored a power play goal, but Darren Helm (Luke Glendening and Henrik Zetterberg) put that comeback to sleep with a power play goal of his own with 22 seconds remaining on an empty-net.

Second Star Petr Mrazek earns the victory after saving 30-of-33 (90.9%), while Rinne takes the loss, saving 38-of-42 (90.5%).

Detroit‘s victory at Joe Louis Arena sets the home teams’ record in the DtFR Game of the Day series at 9-3-1, favoring them by eight points over the visiting squads
October 22, 2016
Sick Hands Sunday – McDaivd’s Amazing Two Game Performance Puts Him On Top.

Hello ladies and gents, I am finally back after a nice three-week break. Well, not really a break, there was just two weeks of preseason so I couldn’t do anything with that because there were no stats that were kept. So, where do I start? Hockey is finally back and I hope you die hard hockey fans, like me, are jumping out of your seats because I am! The best sport ever is finally getting back in the swing of things and I couldn’t be happier!

The 2016-2017 NHL season officially got under way on Wednesday, October 12 which now means I will have a new article out every Sunday about the best player in the week! (Now even though this “SHS” article is going to only cover five days of hockey I will still do it.) On the 12th, there were 4 games taking place over the span of the night. Toronto vs Ottawa, St. Louis vs Chicago, Calgary vs Edmonton, and Los Angeles vs San Jose. ALL games were rivalry games so in my opinion, the NHL did a great job on the first night.

Connor McDavid celebrates his penalty shot goal vs the Calgary Flames (Photo by Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via VP)

Just like my last article, this week was extremely difficult to pick a player that stood out the most just because there were three players who had a fantastic first couple of games. Edmonton center Connor McDavid has been on FIRE collecting 6 points in his first two games (3G, 3A) while winning both games against Calgary as well, Boston winger Brad Marchand (who took home honorable mention in my last article) had a dominating season opener recording FIVE points (2G, 3A) in a 6-3 come from behind win against Columbus. He finished with one more assist in a 4-1 loss to Toronto. Last but not least, Toronto Maple Leaf center Auston Matthews making his NHL debut went off against Ottawa registering four points (all of them being goals) and becoming the third youngest player to have four goals in a game. He failed to register a point in his second game against Boston. His hat trick was the quickest for a player making his NHL debut since 1943-44. And he became the fifth player overall to score a hat-trick in his first game. So as you can see I had a hard time picking who won (down below you can Matthews’ four-goal night:

I decided to go with Oilers’ Connor McDavid as this weeks’ “Sick Hands Sunday” winner! The reason why I picked McDavid is simple in my opinion. The way he played in the Oilers season opener was awesome. He helped them to 7-4 win vs a depleted Calgary team. McDavid scored his team’s fourth goal overall thanks to a friendly bounce by the side of the net. McDavid corraled the rebound standing to Flames goalie Brian Elliott‘s left and slid the puck through the sprawled-out pad and into the net. He would then score again just about two minutes later on a penalty shot to increase the Oilers lead to 5-3. McDavid was hooked on a breakaway by Flames defender Dennis Wideman and was awarded a penalty shot. McDavid made Elliot look like he was in squirts again and deaked him out of his skates. He slowed down at the hash marks, quickly made four or five stick handles, made Elliott go the wrong way, and roofed the puck over Elliott’s blocker. Rodgers Place went crazy for their newly appointed captain scoring his second of the night. You can see his amazing penalty shot down below.

The Oilers would then go right back to work against the same Flames team just two days later for the Flames home opener. McDavid went on to have another three-point night (1G, 2A) in another 5-3 win to move to 2-0 overall in just two games! McDavid picked right up where he left off scoring at 7:45 of the first period to tie the game up at one goal a piece. Oilers winger and linemate Jordan Eberle fed a beauty of a pass to Connor McDavid at center ice that sent him in all alone on a breakaway. Flames goalie Brian Elliott wanted to redeem himself after McDavid made him look like a fool two days ago. Well, Connor wasn’t having any of it, he made a quick little move to the backhand and roofed it over Elliott’s glove for a great goal. McDavid would then grab the next two assists on the next two Oilers goals for another solid night. Here is the link to McDavid’s game tieing goal: (https://www.nhl.com/video/mcdavid-scores-on-a-breakaway/c-45312403)

Once again, Brad Marchand will take home the Honorable Mention for the second time in a row. Even though his five-point night was insane, McDavid two-game performance stomped Brad’s first game by far: Brad played great in his first game and his highlights are down below for you to check out!

So as you can tell, McDavid had a stellar first two games and actually has a game tonight at home against the Buffalo Sabres. So if McDavid follows his first two games, he is certain to have another great night! I will see you guys next Sunday for another recap of the best player of the week!

October 16, 2016
October 16 – Day Five – What does Dylan Strome have to do with Buffalo at Edmonton?
Washington‘s second appearance in the Game of the Day series didn’t need more than 60 minutes for them to earn their first win of the 2016-’17 campaign over the New York Islanders.

First Star of the Game Daniel Winnik (John Carlson and Jay Beagle) opened the scoring 11:58 after beginning play by deflecting Carlson’s wrister past Third Star Thomas Greiss. 1:51 later, Ryan Strome (Brock Nelson and Johnny Boychuk) scored on a power play wrister to beat Second Star Braden Holtby to level the score at 1-1, which held into the first intermission.

Winnik (Karl Alzner and Brooks Orpik) struck oil again 7:46 after returning to the ice with a wrister. It was the lone score of the final 40 minutes, giving the Capitals their first victory of the season.

Holtby earns the win after saving 21-of-22 (95.5%), while Greiss saved 26-of-28 (92.9%) in the loss.

Washington‘s victory sets the DtFR Game of the Day series at 5-2-0, favoring the home sides by four points over the roadies.

What a day yesterday, huh? Let your remote celebrate the Sabbath too, as there’s only three games to be played this evening. The action gets green lit at 6 p.m. when Anaheim visits the New York Islanders, followed an hour later by Buffalo at Edmonton (NHLN/SN1). Finally, Carolina at Vancouver gets its start at 10 p.m. (SN1). All times eastern.

The one that really attracts me is Sabres at Oilers. I know this will be the third time we’ll feature Edmonton, but is anybody really complaining about watching Connor McDavid?

As hinted at before, McDavid’s early success has only been eclipsed by Toronto‘s Auston Matthews – the man who replaced as the most recent No. 1 pick. Through two games, he’s already scored three times (tied for third-most in the league). Pair that with three more assists, and his six points ties Boston‘s Brad Marchand for best in the league. We certainly need more evidence, but every time the center takes the ice I begin to believe a little bit more in the return of the Oil.

Detracting from this matchup is the condition, and ultimate absence of Buffalo‘s Jack Eichel. The second pick in last year’s NHL Entry Draft scored 24 goals last year en route to 56 points. Almost ironically, his second year has already started like McDavid’s rookie season. Last year, McDavid missed time early in the season. Now it’s Eichel’s turn, as he suffered a high ankle sprain on Wednesday. All I know is Dylan Strome, the third pick of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, had better be careful next year. Something’s coming. Something bad.

In all seriousness, Eichel and McDavid have only squared off once in three possible meetings, which is probably two fewer than the NHL’s marketing and promotions departments would have liked. That being said, it looks like ex-Islander Kyle Okposo will be making his Sabres debut this evening, with the possibility of ex-Panther Dmitry Kulikov also suiting up. So that’s exciting, right?

Just so you know, in comparison to Eichel v McDavid, the answer is no.

Some players to watch include Buffalo‘s Robin Lehner (.924 save percentage last season) and Matt Moulson (scored Sabres’ lone goal of the 2016-’17 season) & Edmonton‘s Leon Draisaitl (two goals [tied for sixth-most in the league] for four points [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]), McDavid (six points [tied for the league-lead] on three goals [tied for third-most in the NHL] and three assists [tied for third-most in the league], and +4 [tied for third-best in the NHL]), Kris Russell (three assists [tied for third-most in the league]) and Cam Talbot (two wins [tied for the league-lead]).

When’s the last time you heard this one: the Oilers are going to win this game. Vegas has Edmonton favored at -175 minimum in their home contest. I’ve gone against the odds a couple times this season (and, I would also like to point out that I’ve been right both times), but this is not one of those games. Edmonton pulls off the victory.

Hockey Birthday
- Darius Kasparaitis (1972-) – The defenseman’s career may have found its start on Long Island, but Kasparaitis is most known for his time in Pittsburgh. Last year, he co-founded a Floridian real estate development company.
- Paul Kariya (1974-) – This left winger was the fourth player selected in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, and with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim he played for nine seasons and 606 games. Oh, and he’s also a movie star. Check that footage from D3: The Mighty Ducks. Get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
October 16, 2016
Realistic Predictions for the 2016-2017 Season

By: Nick Lanciani

Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks added Jared Boll in the offseason to help bolster Team USA’s heart and grit rating at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Oh wait. Anaheim also brought back Randy Carlyle as head coach.

So basically it’ll be Throwback Thursday everyday this season for the Ducks, since it’ll be ten years since their 2007 Stanley Cup championship with Carlyle and crew. Why not bring back the maroon and jade uniforms while we’re at it?

Arizona Coyotes

Youth is not just prevalent on the Arizona Coyotes roster this season, but in their front office as well, as 27-year-old, John Chayka, was hired as the youngest GM in NHL history.

Max Domi and Anthony Duclair do all they can to convince Shane Doan to become the next Jaromir Jagr and maybe then we can start talking about a potential Cup run for the Coyotes. A plethora of defensemen fight for six roster spots and are narrowed down throughout the season, Hunger Games style.

Boston Bruins

Big and Bad are Backes. Wait, that’s not it. The Boston Bruins added David Backes, Riley Nash and Dominic Moore to their group of forwards this offseason all while seeming to forget that they still need another top-4 defenseman (let alone an entire defense).

Like most years of Boston sports (okay, with the exception of the last fifteen years), the Bruins will probably narrowly miss the playoffs again, much to the dismay of their hardcore fan base that still goes to every game like it’s their job. Or am I confusing them with the guys on the roster? At least 63 + 37 = 100.

Buffalo Sabres

So the Buffalo Sabres look to do things this year. That’s a thing, I’m pretty sure. Major loss? Chad Johnson left the team via free agency and went to Calgary. Major gains?

They brought in Kyle Okposo and everything else remained pretty much the same, so they should probably be on the outside looking in again, unless they become the new Ottawa Senators (forged by youth and a backup goalie that takes over from February through their early first round playoff exit in April).

All kidding aside, the Sabres remain hopeful. Meanwhile, Rasmus Ristolainen finally got paid (at a discount, none the less— Flo from Progressive would be happy).

Calgary Flames

What did the Calgary Flames do this offseason? They got some goaltending. Brian Elliott was acquired via a trade with St. Louis and Chad Johnson came over from Buffalo in free agency, so that’s two new goalies for a total of about half as many goalies that the Philadelphia Flyers have played in the last twenty years (though Calgary is starting to catch up).

Johnny Gaudreau is still unsigned, so that could be problematic, since he’s like, Calgary’s entire offense. At least, that’s what the fake Kanye West account told me— just kidding, he finally signed the other day. Given the state of the Western Conference, it’s safe to say they won’t be flaming their competition in the standings.

Carolina Hurricanes

Biggest additions: Lee Stempniak, Viktor Stalberg and Teuvo Teravainen (so basically just Teravainen, if you’re playing along with the rebuild at home). Matt Tennyson was also brought in on the blue line via free agency from San Jose, so there’s that.

Hurricanes fans, take solace in the fact that the Columbus Blue Jackets exist in your division, because at least Carolina won’t finish last with an improved New Jersey Devils team (minus their defense) looking to jump ahead of the Hurricanes in the standings.

Chicago Blackhawks

2013, 2015— shoot, this year’s Stanley Cup Final is in an odd numbered year, isn’t it? Well, forget all of the season predictions, congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks. They’ll probably just insert some prospect alongside Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Artemi Panarin, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook or someone and be fine.

I mean, that’s been the formula since 2010 anyway. Win the Cup, trade a bunch of people because of the salary cap over the next offseason or two, win the Cup again and do it all over again. The only problem is, the Blackhawks have got the toughest division, so they’ll probably still make the playoffs, at least.

Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche added two Bourques to their team (Gabriel Bourque and Rene Bourque) so they’re obviously hoping to double their efforts of their 2001 Stanley Cup championship with legendary defenseman Ray Bourque. What’s that? They’re not related? Nice try Joe Sakic.

While the Av’s were perfect in the preseason, sadly none of it counted and they’ll start 0-0-0 just like everybody else. New head coach, Jared Bednar, won’t be dismantling any stanchions this year, so that’s good news, glass between the benches at Pepsi Center.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Zach Werenski made the team, so now they’ll have a defense. Oh, sorry, didn’t you there Ryan Murray, Seth Jones and Jack Johnson. But all kidding aside, these guys just need to stay healthy— I’m looking at you Sergei Bobrovsky.

Their group of forwards kind of have it going on. But sadly, this isn’t the year for the Columbus Blue Jackets, unlike the rest of the teams in Ohio it seems. Also, how it is possible for Werenski, a player from Michigan University, to not get run out of Ohio? I’ll wait.

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars have the same goaltending tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi, the same core group of forwards primarily in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn and an improved defense with the loss of Kris Russell.

Somehow every year, this band of veterans impresses the hockey world by combatting speed and skill with heart and grit (minus some of the grit). But just like last year, they probably still won’t figure it out in the playoffs between their two goaltenders and fail miserably (in the eyes of Stars fans).

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings added Steve Ott (grit), Thomas Vanek (heart) and Frans Nielsen (actually, kind of good), this offseason to their group of forwards that doesn’t include Pavel Datsyuk for the first time in like, forever.

Datsyuk was traded to Arizona at the draft after he announced his retirement from the NHL to go play in the KHL back home before ultimately wrapping up his professional hockey career. And with that, so ends the Red Wings playoff appearance streak this season. But at least Petr Mrazek will be their number one goalie, right?

Edmonton Oilers

Rogers Place looks pretty cool. Milan Lucic Bruinsinizes the team. Peter Chiarelli traded Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson. And that is all. Just kidding, Chiarelli also traded Nail Yakupov to the St. Louis Blues for practically nothing (so just like the Hall trade).

Connor McDavid was named captain and the team got worse. Kris Russell was added to the defense and Eric Gryba was not re-signed, then PTO’ed, then signed to a new deal with Edmonton, then probably placed on waivers. Sounds like things are business as usual for the Oilers.

Florida Panthers

James Reimer signed as the backup goaltender to Roberto Luongo for the Florida Panthers this offseason, so if you’re a fan of the 2013 Toronto Maple Leafs or 2011 Vancouver Canucks, maybe Florida is your team (until games actually matter in the playoffs).

Jason Demers and Keith Yandle were two major additions to the Panthers blue line, while they managed to finagle Jared McCann out of Vancouver in exchange for Erik Gudbranson. So basically, the Panthers are poised to dominate the Atlantic Division once again in the regular season. Can I get a Jaromir Jagr for the Hart Trophy to with it?

Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings most recently added Devin Setoguchi to their batch of forwards, so that summarizes everything about their offseason. Props to Setoguchi for making a comeback in the NHL. Shouts to the Kings for having a cool arena by the way. I stopped by there in August.

Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick and Anze Kopitar all won awards last season, so that should have some indication of how they’ll do this season. They’ll probably make the Western Conference Final and have to play the Chicago Blackhawks again, won’t they?

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild added Eric Staal to their roster this offseason and most recently (and more important than Staal), Teemu Pulkkinen.

Chris Stewart returned to the Wild organization after a trip around the league (or so it seemed) and everything else pretty much remained the same.

So if you’re a Minnesota fan, first, good luck surviving the winter (as usual). Second, nobody knows how the Vikings are doing it, but they’re doing it. And third, the Wild aren’t going to be that great this season, so pick one of the first two options to bandwagon, if you would please.

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens traded P.K. Subban. That is all.

But seriously, how could you, Montreal? Other than that, Alexander Radulov, Andrew Shaw and Shea Weber are all part of the team now, while Carey Price will miss the first game with the flu and Mike Condon got claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh. Looks like the team’s all yours, Al Montoya.

Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators acquired P.K. Subban this offseason. What were the Montreal Canadiens thinking?

The Preds are letting their forwards develop and made their defense significantly better by getting rid of Shea Weber for Subban. Now if only Pekka Rinne would return to vintage Pekka Rinne form, then this could the year for Nashville. Then again, they’re in the same division as Chicago in an odd numbered playoff year, so…

New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils restructured their forwards with the additions of Taylor Hall, Beau Bennett, Vernon Fiddler and P.A. Parenteau, but they still lack a defense (mostly). Brandon Gormley, Ben Lovejoy and Kyle Quincey are notable (somewhat) additions to the blue line in the Garden State.

Andy Greene remains one of the strangest trivia questions when someone asks you “who is the current captain of the Devils?” And Cory Schneider is still a highly underrated goaltender that somehow manages to survive without a team in front of him. But at least New Jersey is gearing up for the underdog of the year status.

New York Islanders

The New York Islanders added a lot of veteran presence to their noticeably Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum-less organization (yes, I took a shot at Barclays Center, there). Jason Chimera, Andrew Ladd and Dennis Seidenberg are now members of the Islanders and well, at least Seidenberg’s contract is only for a year.

As long as Jaroslav Halak plays like he did at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey (minus the final loss to Canada) and stays healthy, John Tavares and crew could lead this team further in the playoffs than in recent memory. Time may be winding down on their Cup contention clock, since Tavares is looking for an extension and well, everyone else on their roster is getting older.

New York Rangers

If winning the Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes counts for anything than the New York Rangers are winners. But they probably won’t be winners of much this season. Granted, they could make a playoff run (or miss it altogether), the same tune rings true, Henrik Lundqvist cannot be a team on his own.

Josh Jooris and Mika Zibanejad are big name additions to the offense. Okay, so they’re just names added to the roster. Nick Holden is new to the Blueshirts blue line and well, they’re still an aging defense. Best of luck to the youth in the New York, like Vesey, Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg, Kevin Hayes and others for getting to play more than one position this year on the same shift.

Ottawa Senators

Chris Kelly is back with the Ottawa Senators this season after playing 11 games last year with the Boston Bruins and recovering from a broken femur. Derick Brassard was acquired from the Rangers in exchange for Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan switched his number from 6 to 9 (get your mind out of the gutter, Internet).

Otherwise, the Senators remain virtually the same. On the outside looking in, but probably raising a few eyebrows for their late season surge. They’re still waiting on their youth, which is at least working better than it is for their counterparts in Ontario, the Toronto Maple Leafs (who, although contrary to popular belief, might actually be better this year).

Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers already appear to be in midseason form, what with Radko Gudas‘s six-game suspension and their apparent preference for Steve Mason as their number one goalie, as usual.

Boyd Gordon and Dale Weise are additions (though, can you really call them that?) and Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov made the team from training camp (and the last couple of years of drafting), so the Flyers appear to be a middle of the pack team again this year.

Additionally, they’ll face off with the Pittsburgh Penguins in this season’s Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game at Heinz Field on February 25, 2017 as part of the league’s 50th season celebration of the 1967 expansion. So yeah, that’s all I got for Philadelphia.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins have virtually the same team from Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final and look to defend their championship title without Sidney Crosby for at least game one of an 82 game regular season schedule.

New goaltender, Mike Condon, could make things interesting when comes time to decide between Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray before the 2017 expansion draft, since he could likely become Murray’s backup.

San Jose Sharks

Just like the Penguins, the San Jose Sharks roster remains virtually untouched since their loss in Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final, which kind of makes you wonder, did anyone remember that there was an offseason?

Matt Tennyson jettisoned to Carolina (I was dying to juxtaposition those words), where he was now sent down to the Charlotte Checkers. Roman Polak went back to Toronto and honestly, that was probably for the better for San Jose. Aaron Dell is the new backup to Martin Jones and would someone just let Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau win a Cup this year? I mean, if Phil Kessel can, then surely those guys can too.

St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues will be consciously uncoupling with Ken Hitchcock at the end of the season in his farewell to coaching tour. Mike Yeo has already been named as his replacement and has begun barking out orders at practice, similar to his meltdown in Minnesota (though I have not confirmed that).

They lost David Backes to free agency, because the salary cap exists and good luck to the front office in St. Louis to try figure that one out in the next few years. Meanwhile they added Nail Yakupov for virtually nothing, though in their defense, they already had their own Yakupov in Magnus Paajarvi on their roster, so maybe this time they can make it work.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning finally agreed to a three year bridge deal extension, so Lightning fans rejoice, your fountain of youth is still intact for now. Steven Stamkos stuck around for eight more years and GM Steve Yzerman can now take the next six months off until the playoffs when he has to start worrying about how far his team will go and what to do with Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Bolts look like geniuses here, for having developed their players well over the last few seasons and will more than likely dominant the Atlantic Division with their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers. Sadly, Tampa probably won’t win the Cup because the Blackhawks exist and that whole 2013, 2015, 20??? pattern exists.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews.

(Colby told me to just write that. I think it works).

Vancouver Canucks

Loui Eriksson joined fellow Swedes, Daniel and Henrik Sedin in Vancouver this offseason. So in other news, Team Sweden, feel free to send the Canucks some of your jerseys, because after looking at the rest of the roster, I’m sure they don’t want to be associated with whatever Vancouver’s front office is doing.

Vancouver added Erik Gudbranson. At the cost of Jared McCann to the Florida Panthers. Actually, from the sound of it, it wasn’t a cost at all. The Canucks hate youths. Millennials ruin everything. Best of luck to you Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom.

Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals acquired Lars Eller this offseason, so that’s good, but they also signed Brett Connolly via free agency (so that’s bad). But let’s be honest, the Capitals will probably make the former 6th overall pick better than he’s ever been. Or at least playing on a line with Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov or Nicklas Backstrom will probably help with that.

So basically, the outlook for Washington is this: they’re a good team, they’ll do well, Braden Holtby is elite and they’ll win a lot. Maybe a Cup run is in their future.

Winnipeg Jets

Patrik Laine was selected 2nd overall at this year’s draft by the Winnipeg Jets, Blake Wheeler was named captain and Winnipeg finally moved on from Ondrej Pavelec (by sending him to Manitoba).

What’s that? Jacob Trouba is still a RFA? He wants to be TRADED? Forget all of the good storylines going for the Jets, the Trouba dilemma overshadows everything especially after Rasmus Ristolainen re-signed with the Sabres and began the end of the stare down between Ristolainen, Hampus Lindholm and Trouba as to which RFA defenseman would make a move first. So Kevin Cheveldayoff, who are you going to trade Trouba to? Asking for a friend. No, but seriously, he doesn’t want to miss playing time.

*Honorable mention* Las Vegas _____ Knights

Honestly, somebody just name the team already. I want to start working on coming up with a uniform in NHL 17’s Franchise Mode for you, Bill Foley.

President’s Trophy Winner

If you’re Canadian, this doesn’t matter. If you’re American, good luck. Oh, you meant the President’s Trophy, as in “the team with the best record at the end of the regular season in the NHL”? Well, probably can’t go wrong with the Washington Capitals for that one, unlike their other Washington counterparts that have marred records.

1st Place in the Atlantic Division at season’s end– Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning, basically the entire state of Florida

One of the teams in Florida will win the Atlantic Division, that’s really all I know.

1st Place in the Metropolitan Division at season’s end– Pittsburgh Penguins

It’s no cakewalk, but Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury live up to that “two is better than one” mantra (sorry Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss).

1st Place in the Central Division at season’s end– Nashville Predators

It doesn’t really matter who clinches the Central Division this season because they’re still going to lose in the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs.

1st Place in the Pacific Division at season’s end– Los Angeles Kings

Winning the division isn’t everything. Just ask the 2015-2016 Anaheim Ducks and the late 2000s/early 2010s San Jose Sharks. Unfortunately what this means for Los Angeles is that they’ll be out in seven games in the first round.

October 12, 2016