10 Storylines to Watch at the Start of the 2023-24 NHL Season
Puck drop on the 2023-24 NHL campaign looms in less than a week, and among the many wondrous things that will bring hockey fans: We finally get to see some of the narratives that spun up over the offseason begin to unfold.
That means a couple of notable Connors finally on the ice in meaningful games, some Eastern Conference up-and-comers attempting to live up to their billing and continued Patrick Kane speculation.
Also, we'll get to see if the Toronto Maple Leafs truly added their missing element.
Those are among the league's biggest storylines heading into the new season, and trust us—we had a tough time narrowing it to just 10.
Are the Rangers Going to Flip the Script on the Battle of the Hudson?
1 of 10
There's plenty of buzz surrounding the New Jersey Devils ahead of the 2023-24 season, and for good reason. They returned to the playoffs in 2022-23 and won a round, following the regular season in which Jack Hughes officially arrived as the player they anticipated he'd become when they drafted him No. 1 overall in 2019, and you know what?
Between his 43 goals and 99 points in 78 games last season, his refreshing personality and confident swagger, his newfound playoff experience, and his ripe age of 22, he might even turn into something bigger than we once imagined.
Not to mention his relatively modest eight-year, $8 million average annual value contract has allowed the Devils to build up the team around him. There's no reason they can't build on last season, especially with additions like Tyler Toffoli and a full campaign for Luke Hughes to get acclimated to NHL-level play.
But in this almost unanimous acknowledgement of the Devils' potential, are we dismissing their rivals on the other side of the Hudson?
The Rangers took them to seven games in the first round, after all, and goaltender Igor Shesterkin is still Igor Shesterkin. The Rangers are without last season's playoff rentals Patrick Kane (for now?) and Vladimir Tarasenko, though, and they opted for high-quantity, cheaper offseason signings given their cap constraints. I don't necessarily hate this for them, but it's never quite been about Kane, Tarasenko and/or a new supporting cast highlighted by Blake Wheeler, has it?
For the Rangers and their accelerated rebuild, it's always been about high draft picks like 2020 No. 1 Alexis Lafreniere and 2019 No. 2 Kaapo Kakko building a core and living up to the hype. Frankly, neither of those two have done so compared to their peers who have been recently drafted in the top five. And this isn't necessarily their fault—perhaps the Rangers need to examine their draft strategy in general. Or perhaps we need to exert some patience, and new head coach Peter Laviolette will squeeze the potential out of at least one of the aforementioned Rangers "kids."
This feels like a huge year for the Rangers in that aspect, and their friends across the Hudson are only adding to the pressure. Maybe that's the final push some of New York's forwards need to get to the next level, but regardless, the rest of us spectators are blessed that this rivalry is once again relevant.
Alex Ovechkin's Quest Continues…
2 of 10
For a very long time, it felt like Wayne Gretzky's 894 goals scored would be cemented with his long list of other potentially untouchable NHL records. But about five seasons ago, when Alex Ovechkin followed up a 49-goal campaign in 2017-18 with a 51-goal campaign in 2018-19, two things were clear: He wasn't slowing down anytime soon, and he actually had a chance to break Gretzky's all-time goals record.
It's been full steam ahead ever since, and now the 38-year-old enters his 19th NHL season only 72 goals away at 822. Ovechkin scored 42 goals last season, and he only has to score 24 each of the last three seasons on his contract to match Gretzky. Ovechkin has only scored fewer than 30 goals one season in his entire career, and of course that was the 2020-21 season in which he only played 45 games (he managed precisely 24 goals that year, by the way).
At this point, a devastating injury seems like the only thing that could stop Ovechkin on his trek to catch Gretzky's all-time goals record, but I refuse to think like that, and I can speak for many of us when I say the Capitals will be must-watch hockey for a few more years despite whatever else is going on with the roster.
How Far Will Erik Karlsson Take the Penguins?
3 of 10
It's highly unlikely that reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson will repeat his 25-goal, 101-point season, but the 33-year-old Swede's new team doesn't expect or need that out of him.
The Pittsburgh Penguins just need Karlsson to be Karlsson—the consistent scoring threat, ankle breaking offensive-defenseman we've all come to know. Karlsson is chasing his first Stanley Cup as he enters the twilight of his career, and he chose to do so alongside Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, as the Pittsburgh trio is facing one of their last opportunities to win another together.
It has all the makings of a great story, but how likely is it? Consider this: Pittsburgh missed the playoffs by only virtually one game last season (Thanks, Chicago!), motivation for one last dance is at an all-time high, Crosby is not slowing down and Kyle Dubas made a few shrewd moves beyond Karlsson (Reilly Smith, anybody?)
There's far too much elite competition in the East to feel overconfident about any team, let alone one with middling-at-best goaltending and an aging core. But you'd be a fool to count out a Sidney Crosby with something to prove, and there's a reason Karlsson chose this team as a landing spot. Let's hear them out and let them cook.
.png?w=256 "Playoff Winners and Losers")
Will Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl's Time Together Ultimately Be Wasted?
4 of 10
Not only are the two most prolific active NHL players on the same team together, but they also deliver and raise their ceilings higher and higher every single year. Great news for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and the rest of us who enjoy watching their greatness: The Edmonton Oilers seemed to finally figure out the team around them, particularly the defense with 2023-24 breakout candidate Evan Bouchard and 2022-23 trade deadline move of the year Mattias Ekholm.
The Oilers are trending up and have been for a while. But was last year—the year they scored more points than any other NHL team and gave the Golden Knights more of a fight than any other postseason team—their best chance to bring a Stanley Cup to Edmonton together?
For the sake of all of us who want to grow the game, I hope not. There will be some added pressure to get it done this year.
Can the Boston Bruins Get Creative at Center?
5 of 10
The Boston Bruins are a bit of a solar eclipse at the moment. Look at them through your little shoebox, and you've got a top-three winger in the league locked down long term in David Pastrnak, you've got one of the most effective agitators of all time still kicking in new captain Brad Marchand, the best goaltending tandem in the league returning in Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, and a solid defensive core led by Charlie McAvoy.
Stare directly at the center of the sun, though, and you'll remember that their longtime top two centers—Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci—both retired over the summer. You'll also remember that they were both on hometown-friendly deals, and the Bruins simply didn't have the cap space to swing for any of the few viable big names that were on the market as their replacements.
So what now?
Now, we see what a team that has everything except arguably the most important thing can do, or perhaps we watch the Bruins actually find viable replacements in Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha (who was pretty great in the playoffs) and/or a dark horse like Morgan Geekie. Stranger things have happened…
Was Grit the Missing Piece for the Maple Leafs All Along?
6 of 10
New Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving strutted in this offseason and immediately deviated from the Kyle Dubas era, opting for the "grit" and "toughness" some have speculated has been the missing X-factor. He made a few notable sandpaper signings to round out the team, highlighted by Tyler Bertuzzi, Ryan Reaves and Max Domi.
Bertuzzi in particular has a high offensive upside and a playoff clutch factor that the Leafs, who finally made it out of the first round but fell in the second last postseason, could use.
Personally, I'm more concerned with the unproven goalie tandem of Joseph Woll and Ilya Samsonov, and the uncertainty on defense with lack of a shutdown defenseman—and then John Klingenberg and Conor Timmins both at least slightly injured.
I do think Bertuzzi will provide a huge boost in terms of morale, scoring depth and toughness to play against—and I don't think Domi and Reaves particularly hurt. But making it past the second round will probably come down to what the Leafs defense and goaltending can do in their own end and not Reaves' sub-10 minutes time-on-ice average.
I'm still excited to see them go in a different direction and watch how it unfolds, though, and you can't blame Treliving for trying.
How Much Does Connor Bedard Accelerate the Blackhawks' Rebuild?
7 of 10
To answer this question, we have to think beyond the individual performance of Connor Bedard, the kid who "likes hockey" and hates losing. The domino effect of the Chicago Blackhawks jumping from No. 3 to No. 1 in the draft lottery forced GM Kyle Davidson to approach the rebuild in a more urgent way. You're not going to leave a potential generational talent and likely franchise cornerstone out to dry. You're going to trade for Taylor Hall and keep some more options open.
In that way the rebuild is already a bit accelerated, but obviously the Blackhawks are going to want to exercise a bit of patience and see how much they want to commit to being an actual team as opposed to tanking again, and of course the compete-to-tank ratio exists on a spectrum.
We'll get an interesting look into Davidson's thought process as the season progresses. As for Bedard himself, he's been tearing it up on the playmaking front and finding chemistry with Corey Perry in particular throughout the preseason. I might be in the minority here, but I'm not yet sick of the highlight reels.
Is Nathan MacKinnon Fiery Enough to Lead the Avalanche on Another Deep Run?
8 of 10
Even without captain Gabriel Landeskog, who's out for the season following knee surgery, the Colorado Avalanche are still—almost—as deep and complete a team as they were when they won the Cup two years ago.
Barring unfathomably bad luck, they won't have the injury bug that caused them to use 43 different players in 2022-23, and as much as it stinks that Landeskog is out for the season, at least they could prepare accordingly this time.
Something tells me MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar and the rest of this core isn't close to being finished, even if the Western Conference has gotten significantly stronger the past few seasons. Especially under MacKinnon's competitive watch, I'm predicting a bounce back from the Avalanche this postseason.
The Wild, Wild East
9 of 10
This might be the hardest question of all, but boy, will it be fun to watch several up-and-coming teams potentially enter this playoff race: the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres.
Is the Yzerplan ready to make its first playoff run with Alex DeBrincat now in the fold and some healthy pressure on young stars like Moritz Seider? It doesn't strike me as an abject failure if it takes another season or two for Detroit to find sustained postseason success, and the goal isn't a one-off or a monkey off anyone's back, so patience is still relatively fine over there.
Then you've got star players with restored health, young stars beginning to step up, and a full season of Jakob Chychrun on deck in Ottawa. Their offensively dynamic blue line will be a treat to watch no matter what happens.
Finally we arrive at Buffalo, the team with the league-longest playoff drought that keeps stringing us along, each scenario more heartbreaking than the last. This year really might be it, though, with Rasmus Dahlin rounding out into the player he was always supposed to be, a stud rookie goalie entering the net in Devon Levi and the Jack Eichel situation firmly in the past.
It's a new era of Sabres hockey led by Tage Thompson, and it would be super exciting to watch his moves in the postseason for once.
When–and Where–Will Patrick Kane Return?
10 of 10
Unrestricted free agent Patrick Kane underwent hip surgery June 1 after an unremarkable but decent enough seven-game playoff run with the Rangers last postseason. His agency, CAA, tweeted out a video of him back on the ice Sept. 27, stating his intentions to play this season.
The 35-year-old three-time Stanley Cup Champion will likely join a hungry team at or around the trade deadline, right?
There have been rumblings about his hometown Sabres expressing interest, and that could be a good fit, so long as we temper expectations and call it what it is—a veteran presence bringing experience to the locker room and some reliable, potentially clutch power-play points.
Adding Kane to a Sabres team with playoff hopes makes more sense than the Detroit rumors, considering they have enough cap space to go around and are allegedly on a calculated rebuild with no intense playoff desperation.
.png?w=480 "Playoff Winners and Losers")
