A Normalish Hockey Season

For the first time since 2018-19, the NHL will play a normal season.  Well, normalish, at least.  They're starting a week later, ending a couple weeks later, and taking an Olympic break, but that's nothing compared to the disruptions of the last two seasons!  What's important is that there'll be 82 games, teams won't just be playing against their own division, and, most importantly, fans will be in the arenas.

Of course, bubble hockey and a shortened season worked for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup twice in nine-and-a-half months.  The Lightning are the first repeat champions since the 1997-98 Red Wings.  Can they become the first to win three Cups in a row since the Islanders' dynasty?  (Frankly, it'll be tough.)

We also say hello to the Seattle Kraken!  I'm excited about the NHL's newest team, even if the threshold for expansion success has been blown completely out of the water by the Golden Knights, who'll be the Kraken's opponent in their inaugural game.  It's unrealistic to think they'll be as good as Vegas was in its first year.  But can they make the playoffs?  Absolutely!  Especially in that division.  (More on that later.)

The Kraken aren't the only new kids on the block.  After 15 years, NBC is out and ESPN and TNT are in.  Frankly, NBC's coverage is a tough act to follow.  It was THAT good!  From its preseason broadcasts, TNT's coverage looks promising, and I love it that ESPN's iconic hockey music is back.  But I don't love that the focus is mainly on streaming.  Especially after there was a hockey game on NLBCSN seemingly every night.

And, let's not forget, the NHL is taking an Olympic break after skipping the 2018 Games.  I'm glad they were able to work this out, even if it required including it in the CBA for it to happen.  The PyeongChang Games were a gigantic missed opportunity, and I think they now understand that.  Hopefully they make up for it in Beijing by giving us the hockey tournament we all deserve.

But that's not until February.  There's plenty of hockey to be played before then.  And it's exciting to be back to quasi-normal, with American and Canadian teams intermingling.  I can't say we're back to the old divisions, though.  Because the Coyotes (and their outstanding new/old logo) moved to the Central so that Seattle can take their place in the Pacific.

Atlantic: Last year's version of the Atlantic featured the teams with the third-, fourth- and seventh-most points in the league.  Carolina has returned to the Met, but Toronto and Montreal are back after spending last season in the all-Canadian North Division.  Thanks to all the pandemic-related realignment, the Lightning are in the same division as the team they beat in the previous season's Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year.  (Like I said, some weird stuff has happened over the last two years.) 

Throw in Boston, and you've got an incredibly top-heavy division.  Only three of them are guaranteed playoff berths, and I've gotta say the Bruins, Leafs and Lightning are the favorites for those.  I also think Montreal will finish ahead of the Panthers, but that really depends on how the Canadiens do without Carey Price.  If they manage to get into the playoffs, though, they could easily do what they did last year again.

Metropolitan: This is the only division that remained mostly in tact last year.  Six of the eight Met teams were in the East last year, and the only significant swap is Boston for Carolina.  The Bruins and Hurricanes are both good teams, so that doesn't change the pecking order that much.  And, seeing as there are six good teams in the Metropolitan Division, the battle for the playoff spots will be intense.

If not for the Lightning, we could be talking about the Islanders as the back-to-back defending champions.  They're a very similar team to Tampa in that it doesn't matter where they finish in the division.  As long as they get into the playoffs, they're a threat.  And making the playoffs shouldn't be a problem.  It shouldn't be a problem for Pittsburgh or Washington, either.  Which leaves the Rangers, Hurricanes and Flyers fighting for fourth place and what should be a playoff spot.  The Rangers are probably another year away, so I'll say Carolina gets that spot.

Central: With the Coyotes making the shift, the Central now has eight teams like the other divisions.  It's also no longer as weak as it was when these teams were last all together in 2019-20.  Colorado won the President's Trophy last season (but lost its goalie).  Winnipeg has been on the verge of doing something big for the last few years.  Dallas was victimized by being in a very strong division last season.  And Chicago added last year's Vezina Trophy winner, who just happens to have never missed the playoffs in his career.

I think the competition in the Central is gonna be intense.  Because you can't forget about the Wild, Blues or Predators, either.  It's really only the division's newcomer--Arizona--who I don't see capable of making a serious playoff run.  I do think that the Avalanche, Jets and Blackhawks are the three strongest teams, though.  But, considering how bad the Pacific is, I can easily see five playoff teams coming out of the Central.  Which is good news for Dallas and Minnesota.

Pacific: Pretty much everyone agrees that the Pacific is the weakest of the four divisions.  And it isn't even close, really.  That's why Seattle can realistically think it has a shot at making the playoffs.  Because this division has more bad teams than good, so third place is definitely reachable.  Will they catch Vegas or Edmonton, though?  No.

It should really come down to a battle between the Knights and Oilers for the top spot.  I also like Calgary for some reason, even though the Flames missed the playoffs last season by finishing fifth in 2021's weakest division--the North.  I just have a feeling it'll be Calgary that Seattle will be battling for that third guaranteed playoff spot.  Because the three California teams and Vancouver will probably struggle again.

Don't ask me why, but I like Boston in the East for some reason.  I can't really explain why.  I just have a feeling about the Bruins.  So I'm going with them instead of the Lightning, Islanders or Leafs.  In the West, I'll take Colorado.  The Avalanche replaced Grubauer with Darcy Kuemper, so I think they'll be OK in goal.  And they've just got too much talent up and down the roster.  In fact, Colorado isn't just my pick in the West.  I'm going with the Avs to lift the Cup.