2017-18 NHL Preview: 1970-79 Expansion Teams
October 1, 2017
Here we have our third preview of the NHL season as we inch closer to regular season play. This article features the lowly Vancouver Canucks as they enter their rebuild, the Jack Eichel led Buffalo Sabres, and the young gunning, Calgary Flames, who may be right next to Edmonton as one of the top young talented teams in the league. Also the New Jersey Devils are featured along with the team from the desert, the Arizona (no longer Phoenix) Coyotes, and the Colorado Avalanche. Lastly, perhaps Alex Ovechkin’s last year as a Washington Capital, is featured in this article along with Brooklyn’s very own, the New York Islanders. We have one more feature coming for you fans soon!
Arizona Coyotes
The Yotes are no longer the only team in the desert this year with Las Vegas getting their first season underway in the ’17-’18 campaign. They also watched their former captain, Shane Doan ride off into retirement after not offering the veteran a contract even though he could still perform. This can only mean that Arizona is trying to move forward with their young core of players like Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Max Domi, Anthony Duclair, and rookie Clayton Keller. Despite the additions of Derek Stepan and Niklas Hjalmarsson, the Coyotes will most likely continue to struggle and miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season borrowing a tremendous year from their goaltending tandem of Antti Raanta and Louis Domingue.
Buffalo Sabres
Jack Eichel, the face of the Sabres franchise, hopes to put Buffalo back on the map this season. While their goaltending may be questionable, Buffalo has some well-known names in their line-up including Kyle Okposo, Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, Sam Reinhart, Zach Bogosian, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Marco Scandella. Buffalo finished second to last this past season but I expect them to be a bit better this year and maybe even contend for a playoff spot. It is a young team with a lot of big bodies, and as all hockey fans know, Jack Eichel is the real deal. Will they be able to keep up with the young Toronto Maple Leafs this year? We shall see.
Calgary Flames
Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are in hopes of having bounce back seasons given their less than stellar campaigns last year despite bringing the Flames to the playoffs. Last year goaltending was the biggest issue for the Flames, but this year they have former Coyote Mike Smith between the pipes which is an upgrade from Chad Johnson and Brian Elliot. Mark Giordano is still the predominant leader of the Flames squad and he hopes to get back to his scoring ways as well this year, especially when playing in Anaheim, the Flames have only one win in Anaheim since 2001, yikes. If the Flames want to be back in the playoffs they will have to play strong in their division and in the Eastern Conference to rack up the points.
Colorado Avalanche
To jump start a change the Avalanche made their back in the day logo their official logo going forward. Other than that, not a whole lot has changed for the Avalanche during the offseason. Last year was abysmal for the fans of Colorado, despite having Nathan Mackinnon, Matt Duchene, and Gabriel Landeskog. Duchene wasn’t moved at the trade deadline last season, even though it was rumored he would be, so will Duchene pick his play back up and help carry Colorado to at least the 26th team in the NHL? Or will this just be another wasted year for the rocky mountain state? To me it begins and starts with Matt Duchene.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils were at the bottom of the barrel last year in the East, finishing with only 28 wins and 70 points, yikes. Kyle Palmieri beat former top pick Taylor Hall in goals with 26 (Hall only had 20) and their goaltending wasn’t any better with Cory Schneider only earning 20 wins despite a 2.82 GAA. The Devils added Dalton Prout over the offseason to improve their defense and also added Marcus Johansson to play with Adam Henrique, so hopefully they can be a little bit better this season, but I don’t see it being all that much of an improvement in the Dirty Jers.
New York Islanders
The Islanders just barely missed the playoffs last year finishing with 94 points (Toronto snuck in with 95). The Isles ended the year on a six game win streak and played well over .500 at their new home in Brooklyn. John Tavares led the team with 66 points and Anders Lee broke out with 34 goals, a promising sign for Islander fans can also come with the addition of Jordan Eberle into their offensive core. The goalies however did not change in the offseason, so Thomas Greiss and Jarsolav Halak will duke it out for starts. The Isles didn’t improve all that much but if their offense and be one of the top in the East, they may sneak in to a playoff spot.
Vancouver Canucks
It is rebuild mode in Vancouver, and as a Nuck fan it will be frustrating to watch for this year at the bare minimum. The Sedin twins (Daniel and Henrik) are each in the final year of their contracts making seven million each, will one of them get moved this year? Or is Vancouver such a homebody presence to them that they both stay and re-sign for much less than seven million to help the team get through the rebuild. This will be a yawn year for Vancouver, but the positive is that they most likely end up with the number one pick.
Washington Capitals
Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the NHL has been the Washington Capitals. That’s not because of their roster that boasts names like Alex Ovechkin, Braden Holtby, Mike Green, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, and T.J. Oshie, but it is because they have consistently been the best team in the NHL in the regular season and can’t even reach a Stanley Cup Final. One must wonder if perhaps this season may be the last that Ovechkin plays in the nation’s capital. Another must wonder if a poor start were to be upon this team would management blow it up? Hmmm… A lot of questions with unknown answers for the Caps.
Written by Nick Gendreau
