Once upon a time, I thought I was doing NHL personnel everywhere a favor by asking them for one-to-three words to describe Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal.
The resulting story ended up lovely, and everyone loves Staal, but what I thought was going to be an easy and thoughtless task ended up being deceptively difficult for the participants.
Now that I’ve assigned one word to every NHL team headed into the 2022-23 season, I can finally say I understand how hard this is. Here's my best attempt…
Atlantic Division
Boston Bruins: Underrated
Look, I have a bone to pick with the word “underrated.” Too often, the underrated thing finally gets noticed and becomes overrated. Rating things is a pretty futile endeavor as it is, but we humans love to do it.
Over the summer it felt like many looked at Boston’s first-round exit and put a fork in them. Now training camp is upon us and Patrice Bergeron is back, David Krejci is also back (!) and Pavel Zacha joined the team. The concerning early-season injuries should be resolved in time.
We all know they’ve got some issues to address with stocking up the prospect pipeline, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. The Bruins have at least one more playoff run in them.
Buffalo Sabres: Hopeful
I want this to be the year the Sabres return to the playoffs so badly. The lovely people of Buffalo deserve it. But I’ve been getting my hopes up about this every season for the better part of the decade, then the Pegulas always rip the football out from under me Charlie Brown style.
I’m proceeding with caution, and the East is too stacked to confidently say the Sabres will be back in the playoffs this year, but at least things are looking up with Tage Thompson and Co. It’ll come down to the goaltending.
Detroit Red Wings: Encouraging
We’ve been told year after year to trust the Yzerplan–and for good reason. Doing a rebuild the right way means no shortcuts, and the Red Wings are almost done setting themselves up for another era of long-term success. I’ve loved almost every move they’ve made the past few years, and I can’t wait to see young stars Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond play. At the very least, Detroit will be fun to watch again this year.
Florida Panthers: Hmm…
Folks, I really don’t know what to do with this team. I hate that they didn’t keep Andrew Brunette as head coach, but I guess I get it. I’m annoyed they couldn’t keep Jonathan Huberdeau on top of adding Matthew Tkachuk, but I guess I get that, too. And what is going on in net with both Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight on decently expensive deals?
There are so many questions, and I hope the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners are able to answer them without giving Tkachuk way too much responsibility. We’ll see.
Montreal Canadiens: Reconstruire (or Rebuild in Anglais)
Speaking of rebuilds, a significantly less-fun one is occurring in Montreal. That’s how it always starts, though. Hang tight, Habs fans.
Ottawa Senators: Intriguing
As I said in my preseason hot takes, I think the Senators sneak into the playoffs this year. The vibes are even better now that reports of interest in Jakob Chychrun are surfacing. The Senators are my pick for a Cinderella run this season.