It only felt like yesterday when the Pittsburgh Penguins secured their second straight Stanley Cup final over the eighth seed Nashville Predators. With all that now history, we now turn our attention to the 2017-2018 season, which begins in less than a week. Opening night begins this coming Thursday the 5th of October with four games set to kick start the season off.
In such a competitive sporting era it's hard to imagine any team winning back to back finals especially in the NHL but to win three seems out of this world. But that's exactly what Mike Sullivan and the Pittsburgh Penguins will be attempting. But they will have to try and do it without backup goalie Marc Andre Fleury and a list of stars like Nick Bonino, Chris Kunitz and Matt Cullen who have left the club. Since the inclusion of Mike Sullivan things have been perfect. Yes they had multiple injuries last year but with players like Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust filling in the void the Penguins come up with new strategies to defeat teams. With a healthy team I see them soaring into the postseason.
There will be two banners raised at the start of the season with the new team the Vegas Golden Knights set to mark franchise history. Vegas enter the competition hoping to at least be competitive, I guess there aren't any huge expectations to make a push for playoff hockey and to be honest they don't have the lineup to do it. The inclusion of James Neal, Mikhail Grabovski and David Perron will certainly provide some goal scoring. Defensively they may struggle with their number one defensemen being ex Anaheim Duck Shea Theodore. He showed he last year he was capable with all the injuries to the Ducks, maybe a fresh start may help and also a successful year from goalie Marc Andre Fleury.
The Eastern Conference has been lead by powerhouses Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston and the New York Rangers for the past decade, will we see a shift in dominance by teams like Toronto and Carolina? The Washington Capitals ex general manager put together a team poised to win the Stanley Cup in 2014-2015. They mixed the young with old trading in TJ Oshie and then claiming Justin Williams from LA. Yes they won the league the previous two years but have failed to reach the third round. Is this the end of an era? They failed to trade young blood but still have experience in Alex Ovechkin, Nic Backstrom and TJ Oshie. Will they prove critics wrong this season?
The Toronto Maple Leafs pushed Washington to the brink last year and they showed what is to come in the future. They have great composure for a young team and push teams with their speed and energy. Toronto have now added Patrick Marleau a hardworking unselfish veteran who will be working alongside Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and James Van Riemsdyk. For such a young team the expectation will certainly be high after last years achievement, can they produce the same this season.
There has been a lot of hype around the Carolina Hurricanes this preseason. The Canes had one of the best defensive teams last year but couldn't find consistency from goalies Cam Ward and Eddie Lack. The introduction of ex Blackhawk Scott Darling Scott Darling may fix a few issues. They also needed to rearrange their forward line, with trading in a veteran like Justin Williams things are looking quite promising heading into October.
The Western Conference all starts with the Nashville Predators, the Preds final campaign finished at the hands of Pittsburgh last season in the Stanley Cup final.
The loss of Mike Fisher on the defensive end may be hard to fill and also losing playoff experience James Neal heading to Vegas might come at the cost. But they still have number one defense man PK Subban and a goalie who stood out last year in the playoff. They have had a huge blow losing Ryan Ellis to a knee injury and is out till January, but have gained ex Penguin Nick Bonino in the offseason. Expect them to be there come final time.
The Calgary Flames were knocked out in the first round of the playoff last season. It's going tough to make it past round one if the goaltending isn't up to scratch. So that's what they have done, acquired Mike Smith from Arizona to work behind Mark Giordano , TJ Brodie and newest member Travis Hamonic. The Flames look great on paper with a beefed up blue line and two of the best young forwards in Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
The Anaheim Ducks had a successful finals campaign until they lost to the Preds in the Western Conference, but things may have been different if goalie Josh Gibson stayed healthy. The start of this season doesn't look great with Ryan Kesler set to hopefully return around Christmas and shoulder injuries to Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen. In a conference that looks super competitive this season they will be hoping for quick recovery to key players to push for a finals berth. With the depth and talent expect the Ducks to finish high in the Western Conference.
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