8 NHL Storylines Nobody Saw Coming
We all like to think we've got a handle on everything that can and will occur in an NHL season, but there are always twists and turns that we didn't see coming. That's part of the fun.
We like the unexpected things, as long as they're happily unexpected anyway. If they're disappointing surprises, well, that'll happen too, but at least it gives us new wrinkles to poke at and ask questions about.
Today we're taking a look at eight stories that all the preseason action in the world could not have caused us to see coming. There are hot starts, there are players coming out of the blue to have success and there are teams that couldn't fall to even the lowest expectations we could've had.
It's a real mixed bag of bolts from the blue so far this year, and we wouldn't want it any other way.
Oilers Fire Jay Woodcroft After 13 Games
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Even compared to the recent years of the Edmonton Oilers' failure to live up to lofty expectations, the way they've started this season has been a true head-shaker.
After stumbling, bumbling and fumbling out to a 3-9-1 start thanks to equal parts poor goaltending and poor offense—despite having Connor McDavid (who dealt with injury) and Leon Draisaitl on the roster—it was coach Jay Woodcroft who took the blame for the dismal performance.
Edmonton headed into this season as one of the preseason favorites to win the Western Conference, and while 13 games is a small fraction of the season, everything the Oilers were doing seemed to be wrong. It was the perfect storm of failure that cost Woodcroft his job despite how well he pulled roster strings last season.
The Oilers getting poor goaltending from Jack Campbell to the point he was sent to AHL Bakersfield to get his game back was one thing, but it was the struggles of last year's rookie sensation, Stuart Skinner, that made matters worse there. Edmonton's dynamic offensive duo has picked things up of late with new coach Kris Knoblauch in charge, and the team is 5-3-0 with him at the helm.
Things aren't totally right for the Oilers, but they're starting to look a little bit more like the team that's supposed to be one of the Stanley Cup challengers in the Western Conference because of the increased offense (18 goals in the past three games, all wins).
Jonathan Quick's Rangers Resurgence
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When the New York Rangers signed goalie Jonathan Quick in the summer to back up Igor Shesterkin, there wasn't much hoopla made about it after the way Quick's season ended in Vegas last year.
Last year was dramatic for Quick after his sudden, surprising trade from the Kings to Columbus, which was followed soon after by his move to Vegas. Quick got his third Stanley Cup as a backup to Adin Hill—but individually, things went sideways. He went 16-15-6 with Los Angeles and Vegas with an .882 save percentage and two shutouts. He looked to be all but done in the NHL at age 37.
But the Rangers took a flier on Quick and hoped that bringing him closer to home (he's from Connecticut) could give them some backup help. Turns out a little home cooking was what Quick needed.
In eight games (seven starts), he is 6-0-1 with a .930 save percentage, a 1.99 goals-against average and two shutouts. By comparison, Shesterkin has yet to register a shutout in 12 starts this season. It's a stunning turnaround for one of the league's best goalies of the past 10 to 15 years but very much representative of the kind of player he is.
Quick's made a habit in his later years of proving people wrong when they've believed he was just about done, and he's doing it again this season. Doing so for the Rangers helps make them all the more difficult to deal with because opponents don't get an easier night when Shesterkin's off.
Vancouver Canucks' Rise to Power
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When Rick Tocchet took over as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks last season, things couldn't have been more gloomy, but he's unlocked the team's potential in a way no one expected.
Tocchet took over a squad that was 18-25-3 when it fired Bruce Boudreau last season and went 20-12-4 to close out the year. That finish didn't convince a lot of us that the Canucks would be able to hang tight with the likes of Vegas, Dallas and Colorado this season, but what we specifically didn't see coming was the offensive awakening of Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller as well as the return of Thatcher Demko among the goaltending elite in the NHL.
Miller, Hughes and Pettersson are all in the top 10 of the NHL in scoring, Boeser is in the top 20 and defenseman Filip Hronek is in the top 30. Vancouver has scored the most goals in the league, and it's second in goals per game with 3.96 (Los Angeles is No. 1 with 4.00). The uptempo attacking style of game the Canucks play under Tocchet has completely changed the perception of the roster.
Vancouver is right in the middle of the battle at the top of the Pacific Division with Vegas and L.A. when most of us thought they were going to be muddled somewhere in the soft middle of the West, maybe duking it out for the wild card. They play fun, and they score a boatload of goals and get superb goaltending from Demko to top it all off.
What a difference a year and a new coach make.
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Panthers Thrive Despite Defense Injuries
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The biggest question for the Florida Panthers this season was how they were going to weather the losses of Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour to start this year. Turns out, they made it seem like it was no big deal.
Ekblad and Montour each ended the Panthers' run to the Stanley Cup Final with shoulder injuries that kept them out of action for the first couple months of 2023-24. They're their top two defenders and guys who help push Florida's offense from the back end and allow their attack to be that much more dynamic.
Without the duo, the Panthers started 10-5-1 and looked every bit like the team that roared through the Eastern Conference playoffs and would once again be a threat to win the Prince of Wales Trophy again.
How did their defense do it? Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niko Mikkola, Dmitry Kulikov and Gustav Forsling held things down, and Ekman-Larsson resembled the player who led the Coyotes in the past rather than the guy we saw in Vancouver. He leads Florida's defensemen with five goals and six assists, while Mikkola has three goals and five assists. The Panthers also got impressive play from rookie Uvis Balinskis and Josh Mahura.
The Panthers navigated offseason knowing they'd be without their top two defensemen and signed as many blue liners as they could to flexible contracts to soften the blow. Looks like their preparation for a potential storm paid off because with Ekblad and Montour returning to action, they're going to be even more formidable to deal with.
Bruins' Center Success After Retirements
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Raise your hand if you thought the Boston Bruins were going to come back to the pack after Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí announced their retirements over the summer.
Yup, looks like just about everyone. Good, you're all honest and we appreciate you for that. But here's the harsh news for all of us: We were totally wrong.
The Bruins had Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle returning up the middle, while rookie Matthew Poitras won a spot out of camp, and wouldn't you know it: All three of them have helped the Bruins not only not miss a beat, but also potentially be even better than they were last season.
Even though it's David Pastrnak driving the offense in Boston (13 goals, 18 assists), Coyle is tied for second on the team in points with Brad Marchand (19), and Zacha (16) is right behind them. Poitras, meanwhile, has 10 points playing in a third-line role.
What we all underrated about the Bruins was the veteran makeup of the team and how they've been there before—and have been for over a decade. It's what's allowed both Zacha and Coyle to graduate up the lineup in a big way, and it's what gives Poitras a lot of support as a rookie. It's a great luxury for the Bruins to have that support, and it's probably something the rest of us better recognize moving forward.
Flyers and Coyotes' Hot Starts
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It's a funny thing that happens when we make assumptions based on the previous season. Sometimes it causes us to be blindsided by teams adapting and progressing with a coach that was brand-new to them a year ago. That's precisely what's happened with the Philadelphia Flyers and Arizona Coyotes this season.
Last year under John Tortorella, the Flyers were dealing with a lot of injuries and a little bit of drama surrounding guys who weren't meeting the demanding coach's expectations (see: Kevin Hayes). Philly wasn't winning a lot of games, and a lot of nights it looked like it was a big-time struggle for the Flyers to get anything going. But one thing they didn't lack was effort, and that mindset carried over to this season.
The Flyers don't make any game easy, and that kind of persistent play can wear out teams that aren't ready for it. That's something they've been able to take advantage of, all while welcoming veterans Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson back to the lineup. The Flyers are third in the Metropolitan Division, and with Travis Sanheim having a great start to his season on the blue line, they look like a team that might be able to stick around and make a lot of opponents miserable in the playoffs.
The same can be said for the Arizona Coyotes, who in their second season under coach André Tourigny are showing they won't just roll over for anyone.
Rookie Logan Cooley has been a major spark plug for their offense, as has new arrival Sean Durzi on defense. With established guys like Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Matias Maccelli leading the attack while Karel Vejmelka and Connor Ingram hold it down in goal, the relentless Coyotes are able to take advantage of a weaker Western Conference.
We know it's early and stuff can happen to make all of these points moot, but seeing the Flyers and Coyotes in the mix for the playoffs a quarter of the way into the season is a very fun development.
Wild's Ice-Cold Start Costs Dean Evason His Job
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When the Minnesota Wild were drummed out of the playoffs by the Dallas Stars in six games last year, it was a dreadful way for them to go out. The team appeared a few steps slower than the Stars, and for a squad that looked so strong just weeks before that, seeing the Wild get manhandled was a surprise.
Unfortunately for Minnesota, things didn't exactly turn around to start this season. The Wild opened the year 5-10-4 with a group that was lacking in detail on defense, special teams and goaltending, and wasn't getting consistent scoring outside its top line of Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek. It proved to be a very bad mix for coach Dean Evason, as the Wild fired him this week, replacing him with former Devils and Predators coach John Hynes.
What crushed the Wild were poor starts from both Marc-André Fleury and Filip Gustavsson in goal. Both players have save percentages below .890, and they've combined to give up 72 goals in 20 games. One goalie starting slow can be overcome, but both starting poorly is really hard to cover up.
The situation was so grim that they slipped to the same neighborhood of the standings as the vastly underachieving Edmonton Oilers and the bottom-feeding Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks.
Minnesota had 103 points last season, and to be down that far in the standings was the sign of a serious issue. GM Bill Guerin has to hope Hynes can get things turned around ASAP or there will be more questions falling on his head next.
Blue Jackets Show Things Can Get Worse
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The Columbus Blue Jackets' offseason was overloaded with ominous omens, and it started with the controversial hiring of Mike Babcock. The coach's tenure didn't even last through training camp, as he resigned in mid-September amid an NHLPA probe into whether he violated player privacy, three months after he was hired.
That put coach Pascal Vincent on the spot to try to get a handle on a team that had a miserable go of it the year before when it put up 59 points. After the Jackets started the season 3-2-0, they won one of their next 14 games (1-9-4) and went winless in nine straight.
While a stretch like that is hard enough, during that time Patrik Laine and Johnny Gaudreau each were benched during games. Laine was also a healthy scratch for a game against Philadelphia on Nov. 19—the first time in his career that's happened. Laine has already missed time this season with a concussion, but being forced to sit out was an entirely different matter.
It's unfortunate to see because there are bright spots on the Blue Jackets too. Rookie Adam Fantilli has looked great, as has rookie defenseman David Jiricek at times. They've gotten solid goaltending from Elvis Merzlikins and Spencer Martin alike, and captain Boone Jenner has been a rock, as has defenseman Zach Werenski in his return to action this year.
Hopefully the worst is over for Columbus because it has won three of its last four following the nine-game skid, including wins against New Jersey and Boston.
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