Oh, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Playoff baseball, NFL games are starting to matter, the NBA has kicked off, and best of all, hockey. The NHL is going to be so much fun to watch this year that I truly have no idea where to start. Let’s just jump right in.
Toronto’s offense is absolutely unstoppable, and games like Pittsburgh-Edmonton are just a teaser for the playoffs this year. Two absolute studs going at it, only for Syd to score an all-time highlight reel goal in OT. Nashville and Tampa are just rolling, while MacKinnon found a new best friend in Mikko Rantanen up in Colorado. I can spend more time talking about how many good teams there are in this league than bad, so let’s talk about the bad.
Detroit has a -19 goal differential, giving up an average of 4.22 goals a game. They also hold the worst record in the NHL. Their season was really over before it began, and it looks like they’ll need a lot more than a few free agency signings (and maybe even a few summers) before getting back to their glory days. Ottawa is pulling out more games than expected which, good for them, but everyone knows they won’t be a playoff contender and will reside in the bottom fourth of the league for most of the year. Montreal, even without Shea Weber, is off to a terrific start. Everyone thought they were fucked from the start, and assumed losing Weber was going to officially bury them, but somehow, some way, they win games. Most likely in thanks to Mike Reily, Weber’s partner, finding something in Noah Juulsen as they’re sitting at a +8 goal differential when they’re both on the ice.
San Jose looked sluggish to start, but they straight-up pepper teams with shots now. However, unless Jones starts showing up in cage, they won’t be able to compete in the playoffs. Luckily, we’ve got a while to watch that team just get better, and once they hit full form, they’ll be absolutely terrifying to go up against. Anaheim looks good (defense not so much), but again, just another team that doesn’t worry me. Eight games in and they’ve let up nearly 300 shots as Gibson has stood on his head for the majority of their games. Sure, they aren’t a great defensive team, but you need to become a little more responsible on defense as the season progresses.
Now Boston…is really good. Really good. As a fan of the team I try to put my bias to the side–and I’m not saying we should be favorites for the Cup–but this squad is legit. Possibly the best first line in hockey with Bergeron-Pasta-Marchand (leading the league in 44 points for a trio), and so many promising young talents. McAvoy (my look alike) is clearly going to be a legit defender for a while, DeBrusk is so exciting to watch with such good vision, and Ryan Donato is a straight-up stud. Charra concerns me, but Halak has shown he isn’t a terrible goalie, so I wouldn’t it hate if we fell back to him. While it wouldn’t be ideal, I think the offense kind of dictates this team’s success. I’ll stop before I ride this team’s dick too hard. One last thing, though: Pastrnak is tied with Matthews for most goals in the league. Okay, that’s enough.
Not too much else to talk about this early into the season. Vegas looks how they probably should’ve looked last year, Washington is putting it together after their hangover, everyone that was supposed to be good is good, and everyone predicted to be bad is, well, bad. Only few bullshit suspensions, like Tom Wilson’s (which was outrageous), and then Borowiecki, who only got one game for his cheap shot on Vaakanainen (which I think more deserving, especially if the NHL really wants to stand up to those kinds of plays). Outside of that, everything seems according to plan.
To round this off, here are my picks for tonight’s games:
Flyers @ Bruins
Canadians @ Sabres
Predators @ Devils
Blue Jackets @ Blues
Kings @ Wild
Rangers @ Blackhawks
Ducks @ Stars
Penguins @ Flames
Capitals @ Oilers( MUST WATCH GAME OF THE NIGHT)
Canucks @ Coyotes
In The Books 
