1) Sharks and Knights meet again
The pre-season may have ended after the September 29th game between the two teams, but certain matters will carry over into the regular season. An unusually physical pre-season game was a sign of a division rivalry in the making with a total of 50 hits and 114 PIMs between the two teams. The Sharks surely aren't happy that Vegas D Deryk Engelland was involved in the incident that ended with a three game suspension for Evander Kane (though they may have dodged a large bullet on the length of the suspension.) Engelland has not had a fighting major in his first 2 seasons with the Knights, after piling up 54 during his years with the Penguins and the Flames. His first dance in Vegas might be in order.
2) The last two teams to win the Cup
The premier game of the night will surely be in St. Louis, pitting the defending Cup-winning Blues against the 2018 champion Capitals. The Caps are still bitter about their first round playoff loss to the Hurricanes last season, but they realize this year may be their last best chance at another Cup in the Ovechkin era, considering that C Nicklas Backstrom and G Braden Holtby are both UFAs at the end of the season.
When Vladimir Tarasenko brought the Cup to Novosibirsk, Russia just a few weeks ago, the Caps D Dmitry Orlov, Tarasenko's old friend, made an appearance and quietly reminded the Blues' sniper which one of them got to hold the Cup first. Even without Kuznetsov in the lineup, the Caps will put their pride on the line for this one.
3) Battle of Ontario
The Maple Leafs had an incredibly busy and contentious off-season. From the seemingly endless Mitch Marner saga, to eventually investing so much money in their top three salaries that they begin the season with 11 (!) players on their roster making under $1 million this year (as per Capfriendly.com). Auston Matthews spent the last few days explaining that being caught with one's pants down is a bad thing. They made trades and pushed rookies and will now rely on a strange mix that seems more likely to get Mike Babcock fired than one that can win the Cup.
And they still haven't named a captain.
In the wake of all those trades and free agency decisions, four former Leafs happened to end up on the roster of the team they're opening the season against, in Toronto. Nothing motivates a player more than to prove their old team wrong in front of their fans. Tyler Ennis, Ron Hainsey, Connor Brown, and most importantly, Nikita Zaitsev will be wearing Ottawa uniforms tonight in Toronto. Zaitsev requested a trade during the offseason, despite being two years into a seven year deal. It came after his interview in Russia where he vented his feeling about the Toronto media always smearing defensemen no matter how well they play and proceeding to call Don Cherry a "clown" for his well known tirades about Zaitsev. That trade sent Zaitsev and Brown to Ottawa and brought Cody Ceci to the Leafs.
Oh, and Jason Spezza will wear a Leafs uniform against the team he started his career with and maintained a point-per-game pace for the 11 years he spent there.
One also wonders how Matthews will look at Scott Sabourin's jersey without Ben Harpur around to protect him.
4) Retool and rebuild
As the Canucks face the Oilers tonight in Edmonton, the teams' GMs might consider discussing strategy over a cup of coffee or a cold Molson Canadian. The Oilers have the best hockey player in the world, but have struggled to surround him with depth, defense, and goaltending. The Canucks have a few young promising players but seem to be missing...depth, defense, and goaltending.
For the Oilers, McDavid, Draisaitl, and RNH will see some new faces on their wings. Markus Granlund, James Neal, and Tomas Jurco were brought in to add scoring depth. But the defense, led by the guy who was traded for Taylor Hall and Oscar Klefbom is still shaky. Mike Smith, 37, was brought in to split time with Mikko Koskinen,31 in goal. For reasons unknown, the Oilers signed Koskinen to a three-year extension, worth $4.5 million a year, which seems to be fair considering his spectacular .904 career save percentage.
19-year-old Quintin Hughes will look to solidify the blue line for Vancouver along with big money free agent Tyler Myers, and the crew of Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, and Elias Pettersson (all under 25) will dazzle up front, but the depth is pitiful. Loui Erikkson, Jay Beagle, Michael Ferland, and Anotine Roussel aren't going to make opposing defensemen shudder, and J.T. Miller is still looking for his breakout season. Jacob Markstrom, who wouldn't be a starter on any other team with the possible exception of the Oilers, will get the majority of the workload. Thatcher Demko, 23, with 10 NHL appearances under his belt, is his backup.
Main reason to tune into this game? Pity, for two once great, now fallen franchises.
Coaches can now challenge goals that were scored after something that should have been an offensive zone stoppage (hand pass, out of play, touched with high stick) except penalties. I'm certain there will be clamoring for that down the line after some coach goes on a furious tirade about his player being tripped or hooked in the defensive zone leading to a turnover and a goal.
Thanks to Cody Eakin and the Knights being screwed out of a Game 7 win last season, refs will be required to review all non-fighting major and misconduct penalties on-ice. The coaches' jobs becomes more fun as they technically get infinite challenges, but the penalty for each failed challenge after the first will be a double minor penalty.
BONUS: The Leafs will put us out of our misery by finally naming a captain.
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