After the significant trades orchestrated by Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin, the team’s bottom-six depth up front will play a huge role in the upcoming season. In the past couple of seasons, the Wild have been a four-line team, with the first line and the fourth line being equally valuable and deployable. The Wild
Previews and Predictions
There’s no local bias involved in the Vegas Golden Knights being among the most probable Stanley Cup contenders in the early odds for the upcoming 2020-21 season. At +900, they rank just behind the Colorado Avalanche (+450) and defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning (+800) as the third-largest favorite heading into next season. And it’s easy
It is officially safe to say that the St. Louis Blues blue line is going to look different in the 2020-21 season after former captain Alex Pietrangelo signed a seven-year, $61.1 million deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. I believe that it is inevitable that the Blues defensive unit will take a step back with
The Metropolitan Division housed in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League is a perennially difficult environment to thrive in for the eight teams residing there, specifically for the New York Rangers who are essentially in the process of starting from scratch in the toughest division. Related: Capitals’ 2020-21 Season – How Do They
By this time in any other year, we’d be watching our favourite NHL teams while predicting which player breaks out, who wins the Hart Trophy, and which team will run away with the Presidents’ Trophy. Instead, here we are in mid-October wondering exactly when the 2020-21 NHL season will begin. So while we wait, let’s
The addition of Taylor Hall for the 2020-21 season was an obvious signing regardless of fit for a Buffalo Sabres franchise that has not seen playoff success in nearly a decade. And while there are still issues with the roster that haven’t been addressed, it would be overly skeptical to claim the Hall acquisition an
The results are in from my annual seventh-round mock. Now it is time to see how your favourite franchise fared and to provide analysis on those selections. What was I thinking? I’ll try to tell you here! RELATED: THW’s 2020 NHL Draft Guide The franchises are listed in order of their first selection, from highest
Stanley Cup Final season is fully underway across the hockey world. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars are gearing up for a battle to see who can claim their second Stanley Cup title in franchise history. The Stars won their first in 1999, while the Lightning captured theirs in 2004. For Tampa Bay, there
It was 2004 when the Tampa Bay Lightning last hoisted the Stanley Cup. The lineup then was stacked with talent, The offense included Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Cory Stillman, among others, and Dan Boyle and Pavel Kubina were standouts on the blue line. Between the pipes, goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was a
Anytime a team’s season ends early there are stages to getting over the end of a lost season. At first, you’re sad, you may drown your sorrows, you may break down the game tape and find out where things went wrong or you may find yourself mad online trying to find answers on your Twitter
The Washington Capitals will pick 25th overall in the 1st round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft which will take place on Oct. 6-7. They also have picks in rounds 3, 4, 5, and 6. General manager, Brian MacLellan, has to take stock of his prospect pool and decide what moves are the best for
That was a fun offseason project — ranking the NHL teams by position. Fun and enlightening, yet challenging since the league’s parity is so prevalent on paper. There were tiers at every position that opened the door to much debate, with the slightest of margins separating several teams. That made for difficult decisions from top
Defence wins championships, right? Well, if that’s true — and the St. Louis Blues were pretty darn good on the back end — then the top teams here could have a leg up on the competition. Defensive depth is crucial, but having a couple studs on the blue line is also invaluable. There is no
With the NHL down to its final four playoff teams, there are a handful of players who have emerged as front-runners for the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP. After having scored 25 points in 15 games, Nathan MacKinnon looked like he was going to run away with the award until his Colorado Avalanche lost
After wins for both the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the two teams are set for their first playoff series since 1987. The Islanders had to play in the Qualifying Round where they defeated the Florida Panthers, and the Flyers earned the top seed after
Revenge will be fresh on the minds of the Carolina Hurricanes as they prepare for a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Final against the Boston Bruins. The Hurricanes were on a tear, having just swept the New York Islanders, but they ran out of gas against a juggernaut Bruins team and wound up the
When the NHL season was put on pause, the Washington Capitals had racked up 90 points, good enough to cling to third place in the Eastern Conference. While they avoided the qualifying round of the rebooted postseason, the Caps aren’t widely considered to be among the league’s handful of elite teams. So what will it
Anticipation is building as the NHL approaches its return to play on Aug. 1, and it’ll be the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers who kick things off with a Saturday afternoon 12 p.m. drop of the puck. The playoff-qualifying series will be best of five, with the winner advancing to the official 16-team playoff