2017-18 NHL Preview: 1980-2017 Expansion Teams
October 4, 2017
Pinch me, hockey is back! That’s right folks, kiss summer goodbye for good and sit back and watch the fastest game on ice take center stage starting tonight. Our final preview of the last of the extension teams is here as well. The article features the Anaheim Ducks, the previously Hartford Whalers (whom I hope makes a come back) but are now the Carolina Hurricanes. Conor McDavid, Mr. 100 point man and face of the league his team the Edmonton Oilers are also featured, as well as both Florida teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers, the Minnesooooota Wild, last years Western Conference Champions the Nashville Predators, Ottawa Senators, and the Winnipeg Jets (previously the Atlanta Thrashers). And last but not least the Vegas Golden Knights will make their NHL debut this week! Hockey is back people! Let’s enjoy it.
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks have won the Pacific division five years in a row and have been a consistent playoff presence in that time but have not hoisted the Stanley Cup since 2006-2007. Anaheim was finally able to win a game seven this year against Edmonton but couldn’t get past the Predators in the Western Conference Final. Their captain, Ryan Getzlaf, is 32 years old, and so are the alternate captains, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler, which means if the Ducks want to get back to the Finals and raise another banner they must execute in the next coming years, starting with this year. They improved their goaltending situation by adding Ryan Miller as a back up to John Gibson and have a solid defensive core, but I imagine it won’t be all that easy to win the Pacific this year with Edmonton and Calgary getting stronger along with the Sharks and Kings consistently being in the mix as well.
Carolina Hurricanes
GM Ron Francis believes the Canes are in a good position to make the playoffs this year, I think he may be on to something, but perhaps not this year. The Hurricanes have a slew of young talent with the likes of Jeff Skinner, Noah Hanifin, Justin Faulk, and Sebastian Aho. They also added “Mr. Game 7” Justin Williams, as he returns back to Carolina. The Canes haven’t tasted playoff hockey in eight seasons, but with the addition of Scott Darling to tend the pipes and the hopes that the younger players can chip in with 20+ goals each, the Canes could be a scary fast eight seed in the Eastern Conference come April.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Seth Jones is hungry for the Cup as he noted to a reporter early last week. With Sergei Bobrovsky coming off of his Vezina winning season, and the addition of Artemi Panarin joining the young guns of Columbus, it could very well be possible. Columbus is a fast and physical team as is, but Panarin adds a lot more speed and potentially a lot more points to an already offensively skilled group. Seth Jones and company are poised to make a run this year, and I say why not? They are a very fun team to watch.
Edmonton Oilers
Connor McDavid, Mr. Hockey himself. This kid is a stud, and has to be considered the best player in the league going into this year, sorry Sid. Leon Draisiatl earned himself a hefty contract extension over the summer, Ryan Strome and Jussi Jokinen joined the team, and Cam Talbot’s potential can only look up entering this year. Along with the names mentioned above, are players that may be looked upon but surely add to the depth, skill, speed, and defense of this roster with guys like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Milan Lucic, and Oscar Klefbom. The Oilers are a legitimate threat to reach the Stanley Cup Finals and could even win it all, the only thing they may lack is experience. In my opinion, they are the team to watch this year, whether you are a hockey fan or not, keep an eye out you are bound to be “wowed”.
Florida Panthers
First things first, thoughts and prayers to the Panthers organization and their families as hurricane season is in full swing in Florida. The Panthers team made their way up to Boston to run their training camp for the time being, good for them to get out of there and reach a safe place. Now to the team, it feels like each year over the past three years the Panthers have gotten better. They have legitimate talent with the likes of Vincent Trochek, Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Keith Yandle. Their goaltending can sound iffy on paper, but Roberto Luongo and James Reimer did a good enough job last season. This year, Florida will look to stay in the hunt in the East, despite not bringing back Jaromir Jagr, which indicates the youth movement Florida wants to move along with.
Minnesota Wild
Minnesoooooota, had their best season in franchise history last year earning 106 points and 49 wins, but that was all forgotten about when the team was one and done in the playoffs against their rival St. Louis Blues. The Wild have yet to go deep the past four seasons that they have made the playoffs, without ever getting out of the second round. In hopes of beating that statistic the Wild made small moves like adding Tyler Ennis, Matt Cullen, and Marcus Foligno to their already offensive gifted lineup. Obviously the big thing for the Wild this year will be whether or not Devan Dubnyk can repeat the year he had last season or if not, do around the same or better. Minnesota loves their hockey, and they should have expectations of being a top team in the West.
Nashville Predators
Nashville was so close. They did the unexpected and made it to the Stanley Cup Finals as an eight seed and gave Pittsburgh a run for their money in an awesome Finals series. Ryan Johanssen was injured during the Finals which hurt Nashville’s offense, but their defense remained strong in front of Pekka Rinne. This season, the Preds have probably the best top two pairing defensive units with Roman Josi, PK Subban, Ryan Ellis, and Mattias Ekholm and have added Cup Champ Nick Bonino to their offense. Nashville should and will be back in the playoffs this year, and not as an eight seed.
Ottawa Senators
Talk about a surprise, the Sens got their feet wet last year in the playoffs reaching the Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh and made it one hell of a series bringing it to game seven. This year, Ottawa hopes to make that one final leap to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. Erik Karlsson is coming off his phenomenal runner up Norris trophy campaign where he notched 71 points with 17 goals last season, while also playing a ton of minutes in the playoffs. Not a lot of additions or removals were made to the roster which shows Ottawa management thinks the Sens already have what it takes to make that extra step towards the Finals, let’s see if they do it.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Again, thoughts and prayers to the Lightning players, coaches, personnel, and their families as Hurricane season hits Florida. The Bolts had a down year after being a consistent playoff team over the past handful of seasons. The loss of Steven Stamkos to injury is an obvious blow, Stamkos had 20 points in 17 games played and missed pretty much the entire season. Nikita Kucherov picked up the slack though, finishing with 85 points, kid is legit. Tyler Johnson had a somewhat quiet season but earned himself a contract extension so you can expect him to pick up his play back to where he was in the playoffs a couple years back. Victor Hedman remained a brick wall while also adding 72 points on the season. The goalies that Tampa had last year weren’t overly impressive. “Big” Ben Bishop had a bad year and was ultimately let go at the end of the season, which allowed youngster Andrei Vasileskiy to take most of the minutes and post a 23-17-7 record. This season Dan Girardi looks to be a bit of an upgrade to replace Jason Garrison on the blue line and he gets to be with former teammate, Ryan Callahan. With Stamkos coming back healthy and Vassy being in net mostly full-time this season, the Bolts should be considered a playoff team once again.
Vegas Golden Knights
The newest franchise to take the ice will be in Las Vegas, and they actually have a pretty decent roster believe it or not. Headlined by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, forward James Neal, and Shea Theodore. I am curious to see how the players respond to living in Vegas and playing hockey as well as how opposing teams treat the Vegas lifestyle when they arrive to the city. I don’t expect Vegas to make the playoffs but what a story it would be if they did.
Winnipeg Jets
The Jets missed the playoffs last season finishing in ninth place in the West and were down by seven points. However, the potential for success lives on in Manitoba with guys like Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Patrik Laine. Blake Wheeler has been a consistent performer for Winnipeg along with Dustin Byfuglien. The addition of Dmitry Kulikov will also help the teams blue line and offensive game. Goaltending has been the biggest issue since the team moved out of Atlanta and has gone through a handful of goalies, this year they hope Steve Mason can fix that. I doubt Mason is the answer, but guys like Laine and Scheifele are guys worth watching. I think another snub short of the playoffs, and perhaps in 2018-2019 Winnipeg will regain their playoff chances.
Written by Nick Gendreau