Burning Questions, Predictions for 2015-16 NHL Season

A recent conversation with an NHL scout proved to be very interesting. They usually are. All the good gossip comes from scouts, whether true or not. Scouts, if they trust you, will tell you about the latest trends in the game or what they think the future will look like. 

When asked what the latest big trend is entering the 2015-16 NHL season, one scout replied, "Youth."

"It's all about trying to get these young guys ready as fast as possible," he said. "Everybody wants their core guys to be fully developed or close to it by their early 20s. If not, you're going to have an 'older' and maybe slower team, and everybody is scared of that. The kids coming in today can all skate like the wind."

The average NHL player age last season on opening night, according to James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail, was 27.8. Rosters have yet to be finalized for the season, which kicks off this week, but the early evidence is that the average will drop some. Heck, take out Jaromir Jagr (43 and still doing his thang), and we're probably down another half-year alone. 

According to NHL Numbers, two teams (Detroit and New Jersey) had an average player age over 30 in 2008-09. No team in the league has an average over 30 as of this week. 

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The trend toward youth is particularly higher with position players. If you're a player entering your late 20s or (gasp) early 30s, it's becoming harder and harder to secure jobs these days. The only position that remains immune to the trend toward youth is goaltender. Being 18 and fresh out of junior remains too scary a proposition for teams to take a chance with the most important position in the game.

But take a look around the league, and you see more and more players who still can't legally buy a drink yet are being entrusted to lead their teams. Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, both 18, are just the latest teenagers of the baby-faced NHL revolution expected to be major contributors—just like Nathan MacKinnon, Aaron Ekblad, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matt Duchene and John Tavares were at 18.

It is with youth in mind that we bring you what will be some of the more dominant storylines of the 2015-16 season. Will it be too soon for some teams to break out because they're a little too young, or will some squads quickly find out they aren't young enough to keep up? 

Will Connor McDavid compete for a scoring title as a rookie? 

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Only one player in league history reached 100 points in a season as an 18-year-old: Sidney Crosby had 102 points in 2005-06. Many believe the Edmonton Oilers prodigy will surpass that.

"Scary good, scary good," one Western Conference scout privately told Bleacher Report. "His skill set is just unreal."

McDavid averaged a point per game in his first five preseason contests with the Oilers (five assists), as Edmonton won its first six preseason tilts overall. With Edmonton's leading scorer from last season, Jordan Eberle, expected to miss the first four-to-six weeks with a shoulder injury, McDavid should get even more ice time from new coach Todd McLellan.

Of course, not having Eberle's talent in the lineup takes away a nice passing option for McDavid on the power play. But we just might see how good the rookie can be right away in a more elevated role because of Eberle's absence.

No rookie has ever won an NHL scoring title, not even Crosby, Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux. It's tougher than ever to score goals in this league. As Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal found, regulation goals—excluding empty-netters—have dropped from 5.80 per game in 2005-06 to 4.98 last season. 

But with Jamie Benn winning a scoring title last season with just 87 points, it would seem feasible that a phenom like McDavid could come in and surpass that number. 

Is it becoming 'now or never' for Alex Ovechkin to win a Stanley Cup? 

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Alex Ovechkin turned (gasp!) 30 last month. There are more than a few specks of gray in his hair. He has played 760 regular-season games already, but the personal odometer, based on the crash-and-bang style he likes, seems higher. 

Ovechkin's goal production has actually increased in recent years. He scored 53 goals in 2014-15 and 51 the season before that, after three straight years in the 30s (one, 2012-13, was a lockout-shortened campaign). He has not cracked the 100-point barrier since 2009-10, however.

While it has seemed at times to be the contrary, Ovechkin is human, and it is only natural to assume his numbers will start to decline.

Considering that the franchise has never won a Cup since joining the league in 1974, despite some video game statistics from him and the team in the not-too-distant past, it is only natural to wonder if the window on Ovechkin's personal title chances is shrinking from penthouse-suite-in-Vegas size to that of a porthole in steerage class of a cruise ship.

The Capitals were better than most predicted they'd be last season under first-year coach Barry Trotz. Of course, the year finished in a classic Caps choke job, as they lost to the Rangers in seven games in the second round after a 3-1 lead.

The offseason saw the importing of T.J. Oshie and a long-term contractual commitment from 26-year-old goalie Braden Holtby, but it also saw the loss of veterans such as Mike Green and Joel Ward. Also, top center Nicklas Backstrom will miss up to a month of the start of the season because of arthroscopic hip surgery. 

It still doesn't seem like the Caps have enough to seriously contend for a Cup. If not this year, Ovechkin will come back next season at age 31—with the porthole probably a bit smaller.

Can Chicago win back-to-back Cups and finally become a real dynasty?

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No, they're not a dynasty yet. Sorry, but the first rule of the "Are You a Dynasty or Not?" handbook is: You have to have won back-to-back titles.

So, no, the Blackhawks of today are not a dynasty. If they win a Cup in the spring of 2016, though, they will be one. Can it happen? With Jonathan Toews as captain, of course it can. He's still in his 20s, you know.

No team has done it, though, since the 1997 and 1998 Detroit Red Wings. The Blackhawks have their biggest core players back, led by Captain Serious, Toews. He is the best leader in the game, the player who keeps the blood pressure lower in the worst cardiac moments. 

But general manager Stan Bowman had some of the same salary-cap problems that helped prevent the previous two Chicago championship teams from repeating. Having to deal young, talented forward Brandon Saad to Columbus was not something he wanted to do, and Artem Anisimov as his main replacement will likely add up to a loss in the end.

But one thing Bowman managed to accomplish was getting his team younger. He jettisoned 30-somethings Patrick Sharp, Brad Richards and Johnny Oduya, creating more room for youngsters such as Teuvo Teravainen, 21, and newcomer Artemi Panarin, 23.

Of course, there was the offseason distraction of a police investigation into rape allegations made against Patrick Kane in August. As the regular season nears, Kane has yet to be charged by police. He has yet to have been cleared, either, so until the situation resolves itself, it will be a distraction to everyone in the organization, whether they want to admit it or not.

Chicago has failed twice recently in bids to repeat as champs. So history says the odds are against it again. But the Blackhawks have Toews, so it's at least even money.

Is Mike Babcock worth all that money?

Eight years, $50 million: a nice payday for a top NHL player. For a coach? It would have made for endless LOLing even just a couple of years ago. Mike Babcock broke the Plexiglas ceiling over the summer, becoming the highest-paid coach in league history with the aforementioned term and salary. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs will prove very shrewd or desperately foolish. Babcock's credentials are sterling: a Stanley Cup with Detroit, two other Finals appearances and two Olympic gold medals as coach of Canada.

Yet there has been plenty of private snickering around the league at Toronto. No coach is worth that much, especially in a copycat league like the NHL, where teams are so even, regardless of who is behind the bench, as the snickering goes. 

The betting from this corner: Babcock will turn the Leafs back into a winner. Into a Cup contender, though? That seems at least a couple of years away at best. He's especially good with young players, and Toronto's roster currently averages a fairly youthful 28.6 years old.

Ah, but Babcock has eight years. Nice work if you can get it.

Will Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby light it up in Pittsburgh?

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Well, the early returns are promising, anyway. Playing mostly on the same line together, newcomer Phil Kessel and mainstay Crosby combined for five goals and nine points in their first three preseason games. 

Kessel is still only 28, but the stress of playing in Toronto seemed to age him some. Now that he's on a line with No. 87, he's looking like a happy kid again.

Kessel's inclusion has allowed coach Mike Johnston to try Crosby in a new role on the power play, too, in the center slot instead of the half-boards. What a power play that should be, with Crosby, Kessel and Evgeni Malkin down low.

We can pencil in Kessel for 50 goals. This should be a real breakout season for him. He doesn't have to be the main guy anymore like he was in Toronto, and getting away from the incessant media pressure of Hogtown will be good for him. 

The Toronto media made Kessel into something of a flake toward the end, questioning his heart and character. In an interview with Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun last month, Crosby scoffed at such talk.

“Sometimes change is good,” Crosby said. “Sometimes it’s good to start with a clean slate. We’re definitely glad to have him here.”

Is expansion to Las Vegas and Quebec City a done deal? 

One thing that would definitely be nice for some of the older guys in the league would be two new teams to play for in time for the 2017-18 season. That would be 46 new jobs for players who may have been cut on PTOs (professional tryout contracts) or because of salary-cap concerns this year.

While it is highly likely the league will expand into Vegas and Quebec, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is still keeping his best poker face. Bettman said last week that there is no "specific timetable" on an expansion decision, which almost certainly isn't true, given that new arenas are in the late stages of completion in both cities.

The complicating factor for Quebec City is the plummeting value of the Canadian dollar, which as of Oct. 7 stood at 77 cents in percentage value compared to the American greenback.

Canadian teams' revenue comes mostly in Canadian dollars, but their biggest expense (player salaries) has to be in American money. With the price of poker at a minimum $500 million (or $670 million Canadian) for a new team, it's even possible that deep-pocketed prospective new owner Quebecor might shy away from that amount in the end, or that the league might be scared off too much by the shaky Canadian exchange rate.

Everything looks right on track in Las Vegas, where a glistening 20,000-seat multipurpose arena is slated to open next spring. It still seems strange to think of NHL hockey in Vegas, but at this point the league seems more than willing to roll the dice.

Rapid-Fire 2015-16 Predictions

Stanley Cup Winners: Anaheim Ducks 

Conn Smythe Winner: Corey Perry

Conference Champs: Anaheim Ducks, Tampa Bay Lightning

Presidents' Trophy Winner: Anaheim Ducks

Biggest Decline: New York Rangers

Biggest Improvement: Edmonton Oilers

Biggest Surprise: Florida Panthers

Biggest Breakout Star: Connor McDavid

Biggest Bust: Thomas Vanek

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report