NHL: 10 Things you need to know about the 2018 Season!

10 things you need to know for the new NHL season! More Speed, more young super rookies, and the East will once again be the best conference. 2018-2019 will have a lot of exciting storylines so let’s drop that puck, skate, check, score that goal and talk some hockey, eh!

1 Defenders of the Cup!

No hangovers here for the defenders of the holy grail. The Washington Capitals ended years of playoff futility, and Alex Ovechkin got the monkey off his back. He will now be concentrating on scoring more goals and increasing his legacy among the all-time greats. Raising the banner, beating the Bruins 7-0, and Ovie scoring in the opener equals a whole lot of awesome! A deep roster with developing star Kuznetsov looks like he is still getting better makes it a tough challenge to slow down this team. The team is a bit ornery as well after Tom Wilson’s received a 20 game suspension. The defending Stanley Cup champs will be tough to beat yet again which makes them the top story for 10 things you need to know for new NHL season!

2 Tavares will stop the futility

The pressure is on John Tavares! #91 who will be trying to end 50 years of misery in Toronto. This roster is full of young talented players like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander. It’s very rare that an NHL franchise player moves from a team in his prime and being his boyhood favorite (Slept in Maple Leafs sheets as a kid), John Tavares will carry the expectations of a Hockey crazed town on his shoulders. Hey NHL 19 predicts the Leafs will host the cup so maybe this is the year? Think of LeBron James going to Miami from Cleveland as the last time I can think of a young superstar who switched cities and needed to prove himself with such high expectations. No one player is expected to do more making this a huge story for 10 things you need to know for new NHL season!

3 The Best Rookies for 2018-2019

Some Rookies you better get to know because they are special!  This kid in Vancouver, Elias Pettersson is someone to watch. Scoring in his first game has many Canucks fans very excited.  I can’t wait to see Rasmus Dahlin the Buffalo Sabres #1 overall pick from the 2018 draft. He will outshine Josh Allen by a lot in that town. This kid has superstar Erik Karlsson skills!  Other names to watch for include Brady Tkachuk Ottawa Senators, Filip Chytil NY Rangers, and Andrew Svechnikov Carolina Hurricanes. Some exciting new names are a big story for 10 things you need to know for new NHL season!

4 A career year ahead for the best player in the NHL!

Connor McDavid is fantastic, but this year barring injury he will be even better. I should have placed McDavid a bit higher in our 10 things you need to know about new NHL Season, but everyone is expecting gigantic success.

The Oilers franchise has produced Wayne Gretzky Mark Messier, Glen Anderson, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, and Grant Fuhr believe Connor is in that same class of greatness. His world-class speed (40 MPH) blowing past defenseman will be in full effect in Edmonton. Now entering his fourth season (256 points in 209 games), he has matured and is committed to improving every aspect of his game. I’m expecting this year that he breaks his own scoring best (108 points) and leaves no question to whom is the best player in the NHL.

5 Will Tampa Bay live up to the lofty expectations

The Lightning should have the best hockey team in the NHL. You can argue they the deepest as well.  On my 10 things you need to know for new NHL season, Tampa might have the most pressure of any North American based squad. If they don’t win the Stanley Cup in 2018-2019, then heads will roll this year.  Here is the list of All-Stars on this roster (Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and when healthy Tyler Johnson) add to that super rookies Anthony Cirelli and Mikhail Sergachev this team needs to win now!

6 Teams that are rebuilding

10 things you need to know for new NHL season is many famous franchises might be tanking. A huge list indeed for those teams who will try to suck for Jack Hughes! Is he that good? Yes, he is!  The Arizona Coyotes who seem like they are always rebuilding have a bigger question to answer like will they even remain in Phoenix? The Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, N.Y. Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, and the NY Rangers are all in the hunt to be in the Jack Hughes sweepstakes. Its hard to imagine the Rangers, Canadiens and Red Wings are on this list but its true.

For Henrik Lundqvist, it appears he is okay with New York restocking for next year. He’s 36 years old, and you wonder if he will ever get that elusive Stanley Cup. The Blueshirts might be closer than people think with such young players close to being ready (Brett Howden, Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil, Vitali Kravtsov, and Igor Shestyorkin). I’m sure Gary Bettman is in his office cringing at the thought of the Rangers, Canadiens, and Red Wings all rebuilding at the same time. The Original Six needs Toronto, Boston, or Chicago to carry that old school Hockey to greatness!

7 Can Vegas avoid the sophomore slump?

Yes, they can. Gerard Gallant has a stacked roster, and the off-season acquisition of Paul Stastny will help.  They did lose James Neal and David Perron but youngster Alex Tuch is about to take center stage!  The Golden Knights might not be as good during the regular season as they were last year but they will make a deep run in the NHL Playoffs.  Never doubt the greatness of Marc-Andre Fleury and William Karlsson (43 Goals) is killer!

8 Will Nashville bring a Stanley Cup to Graceland or are they just a tease?

You want to see or meet celebrities, attend a Predators game in Nashville. Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Kings of Leon, Dierks Bentley, Nicole Kidman, Connie Britton show up to see them play.  Okay, maybe Carrie doesn’t count her husband played for them, but this city loves its Hockey.  They should; the Predators are very good with such stars like (P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg, Pekka Rinne, and Viktor Arvidsson). Nashville scares you because that defense pushes the play and scores a ton of goals!  Las Vegas has Nashville as the favorites to win it all. Let’s hope the Predators aren’t Hound Dogs but true Saber-tooth monsters!

9 Are the Flightless Fowl on the decline?

One of these years the Penguins are going to falter. They are the New England Patriots of the NHL. Very consistent and always a threat to hoist the Cup.  They still have the marquee names (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, and Kris Letang) but they are all getting long in the tooth. Could one last Cup run be in order?, I wouldn’t doubt it.  This team finds a way. Crosby (1,116 career points) and Malkin (930 points) on certain nights can be the best two Hockey players in the world. They are also the two players who hated to see the Caps raise the cup more than anybody.

The problem with the Pittsburgh Penguins remains the defense which is weak and will Goalie Matt Murray ever stay healthy? A lot of questions to answer for the aging Penguins and worthy of a place in 10 things you need to know for new NHL season!

10 things you need to know for the new NHL season!: Get Ready Seattle the NHL is coming!

The most exciting news in Ten things you need to know about NHL season is a new franchise is on its way.  Sometime this year, we will get an announcement that Seattle will have a professional Hockey team. Apparently, with a $660 million renovation of the Key Arena and the NHL wanting to expand by 2020, all the stars appear aligned for this to happen. Hey, Expansion works in the NHL, the Golden Knights were in the Finals last year.  Great news for the Emerald City but can part of that deal somehow force the NBA to bring back the Sonics?  Then, we can all celebrate because the Sonics were fun no matter who you root for and those fans got royally screwed.

These are the 10 things you need to know for the new NHL season!  I’m sure many more will develop. The NHL playoffs are considered by many the best of the big four.  The season is pretty exciting as well. We are Unafraid to talk Hockey so let me know what you think and, let’s enjoy the fastest sport on the planet!