It’s January so it is time to get serious about hockey as a sports fan.
It has long seemed to me about the time the Spengler Cup and World Junior Championships are decided, games in the National Hockey League begin to mean a bit more.
I should veer back a couple of weeks, and note it is a good thing that Canada lost in the gold medal game at the Spengler, and bowed out early in the World Junior event too. Sure, the losses are disappointing from the perspective of a Canadian fan, but if you take a step back and survey the situation from a global hockey perspective it is good. We want our sport to grow internationally. It makes for better hockey. Having one country win every year doesn’t foster such growth as well as a situation where other countries can see evidence of having a chance to excel.
Neither Canadian loss is reason for any panic in terms of the game in this country. They were simply losses which occur when top teams are involved.
So back to the National Hockey League, and the season that is starting to heat up. As a Canadian fan you have to be generally pleased with how things are going for teams on this side of the border. As I pen this Calgary and Winnipeg are both sitting atop their respective divisions.
The Jets were expected to battle for top spot, along with Nashville, so their position is not a surprise.
The resurgence in Calgary is. The Flames have exploded on offence, found a netminder in David Rittich and a steadying influence in new head coach Bill Peters, with the combination creating a very exciting, confident team.
As a fan of the Jets and Flames I can seriously dream of the two teams meeting in the western final. It’s a long way to go for that to happen, but the teams are both flying high so far.
That’s good news for Saskatchewan fans hoping to take in the outdoor game in Regina next fall too.
More surprising in the west is the Vancouver Canucks who are hanging in the hunt for a wild card berth come playoff time.
Elias Pettersson is the new heart and soul player for Vancouver. Currently on the injured list with a bad knee, the Swedish forward is the odds-on favourite for the Calder Trophy unless long term injuries come into play, (the knee is expected to shelf him for a couple of weeks). So far, in 38 games the rookie has 22 goals and 20 assists, more than a point a game.
Edmonton is the one dark shadow on hockey on this side of the border. They might have Connor McDavid, the player most anointed the best in the game, but the brass in Edmonton have never managed to find the complimentary pieces to go with their superstar to be successful. The Oiler defence, long suspect have been rendered worse by injuries, and goaltending many nights is a mystery. Even the arrival of veteran coach Ken Hitchcock hasn’t been enough to get any sort of consistency out of the Oilers.
Out east the Toronto Maple Leafs are battling Boston for second in the division with Tampa Bay sitting on top with perhaps the best team in the game right now.
John Tavares was of course the big off season acquisition for TO, although he may prove long term to be a bad deal as he ties up a lot of cap space on a team with young guns to resign.
And, as was the case last season the Leafs need a defenceman to eat minutes. That has to come by the trade deadline or the Leaf brass should be turfed for failing to address a glaring need for a second straight season.
Montreal, a bit like Vancouver, is in the wildcard mix, and will make it, or miss it, based almost solely on the playoff of netminder Carey Price.
As I pen this Ottawa is the worst team in the NHL, but that is not a surprise. The team fire-saled a number of top players in 2018, and have injury issues to an already suspect goaltending group. If not for the longer woes in Edmonton the Sens would be in line for the worst-managed teams in the NHL tag.
Still, having five-of-seven teams in the playoff picture, and three with the potential of long playoff runs, it’s an exciting time to be an NHL fan.
Oh, and by the way the game is back to be very exciting. I tracked the last 20-games I’ve watched in the NHL this season and the total goals scored has been 138, or an average of just a smidge less than seven goals per game, which is the sweet spot in terms of goals in my game.
