Around the league: It's Finally Time
The NHL kicks off the new season tonight!
It feels like it’s been a long off season, but we’re finally ready for some hockey tonight, as the NHL kicks off their season with a triple-header featuring the Blackhawks at Panthers at 5p, Penguins at Rangers at 8p, and Avs at Kings at 10:30p.
As we enter this new season, I want to take an opportunity to welcome the swell of subscribers and readers I’ve gotten in recent weeks. Thank you for adding me to your doom scrolling regimen.
As most of you are likely joining me from either Sammi’s site DC Backcheck or The Hockey NewNHL kicks off their seasons - DC, I am using this opportunity to start up a new series of articles that recaps the events around the rest of the league. I’ll certainly focus on events that may be of interest to Capitals fans in particular. I may even come up with a clever title for the series eventually.
Of course, I’m open to suggestions, so if there’s a particular topic you’d like to see, please let me know via DM or in the comments.
Thank you, as always, for your support and readership. Time is something we all should value, and you giving me some of yours is not lost on me.
Dropping the Puck: NHL starting season with a triple-header on ESPN (sigh)
We’re back baby. Tonight, the NHL begins its 2025-26 season with games between the Blackhawks and Panthers, Pens and Rangers, and Avs and Kings.
The Hockey Guy on Youtube lamented recently in a video that I cannot seem to find now, on the triple-header being tiring to watch. I can’t say I disagree; I love hockey as much as anyone, but three games back-to-back-to-back gets to be a bit much. In any case, that’s what we have on tap for tonight.
The Capitals will kick off their season tomorrow against Boston, of which I will have a preview up tomorrow. Enjoy that one here
While I can’t say the choice of games is particularly astounding: all three feature major-market teams, and one also features the two-time defending champion Panthers, the fact that we have to endure another season of ESPN’s insufferable broadcasting is particularly maddening. Off the top of my head, I’m not sure when this broadcasting deal ends, but it can’t come soon enough.
Maybe I’ll write something ranting more about that in the future. In the meantime, The Hockey Guy recently did a breakdown of the overly convoluted broadcasting deals with the NHL.
Speaking of the Panthers…
If you haven’t seen it, the Panthers and Lightning combined for over 450 penalty minutes across two games last Thursday and Saturday. That’s two preseason games, mind you.
On the 2nd, the Panthers visited Tampa for a match-up that featured 186 PIMs (104 to the Panthers), and some certainly questionable plays by Florida. Not to be outdone, the Bolts used the opportunity on Saturday the 4th in Sunrise, FL, to call up some fringe-NHL’ers and career-AHL players to enact a little retribution.
In the end, there were more coaches on the benches than players, it seemed. And, for the first time that I can remember, Florida scored a goal to make it 8-0, but the game ended 7-0, because 15 minutes later, the officials realized that Niko Mikkola had assisted on the 8th goal, but had actually been ejected earlier in the game, and was therefore ineligible to assist on a goal.
Wild times we live in.
I’m not going to launch into a rant about how completely unnecessary this all is, and how it’s a problem that was largely created by the NHL’s own Department of Player Safety….I’ve done that rant before.
I love good, hard-hitting hockey as much as anyone. But hits like this are not hockey. This is how players get seriously hurt. This needs to end. But it won’t. Because ratings.
This is cool…
The NHL has put out a cool video on their site in celebration of the new season.
I thought it was well-done, and worth sharing.
The Hockey Hall of Fame also released a video on their Youtube Channel that made me laugh. Enjoy that one here.