NHL 2015 Pre-Season Storylines to Watch (Part Three)

The long off-season of analysis, speculation and off-ice drama is beyond us – finally, the NHL is back. Here’s my third and final instalment of storylines to watch as we venture into a new season.

How good will Toronto be?

Although Mike Babcock is being cast as a saviour in Toronto, the fact of the matter is that the Leafs list is still terrible. It’s going to take Babcock a year or three to get the ship righted and pointed in the right direction. Season 2015-16 is definitely going to be a work in progress, and most Leafs fans likely know that. As good as Babcock is, he isn’t a miracle worker, and has quite a project ahead of him. Of course, when he gets things going at the Air Canada Centre, watch out.

Now, if only Babcock could do something about the lifeless atmosphere that exists in the Leafs’ barn.

Will Dallas finally live up to the hype?

This might be the year the Stars match their prodigious scoring ability with an ability to play proper, NHL-level defence. Last year was a case of the defence giving up more goals than Tyler Seguin and company could score – and that’s saying something, because, offensively, the Stars were white hot – but this year, GM Jim Nill has made a few solid moves to strengthen their back-end, bringing in guys like Johnny Odouya from Chicago and Antti Niemi to help out Kari Lehtonen in goal. Alex Goligoski and Jason Demers also head into Big D looking to stabilise a very unstable defence. It’s exactly what the doctor ordered.

A year after acquiring Jason Spezza in a big trade, the Stars netted Patrick Sharp from Chicago, and there’s plenty more offensive talent, including Jamie Benn and promising Russian rookie Valeri Nichushkin, who missed most of last year with hip surgery. He looks like blossoming in the high-octane Stars offense.

Based on the moves made down in Texas, the only way is up for the Stars, and I have them down as serious contenders in a brutal Central Division that should be very Intriguing.

What about the Islanders?

The Isles left their long-time, and dilapidated home at the Nassau County Memorial Coliseum – or the mausoleum, as Rangers fans like to call it – in favour of the sleek Barclay’s Centre in Brooklyn, and that shift signals a real change in the franchise’s fortune.

Gone is most of the off-ice dysfunctionality that has marred them for so long, and it will likely mean a sustained run of success, with the likes of franchise stars Jonathan Tavares and Ryan Strome spearheading that run, with secondary scoring from the likes of Matt Martin, Kyle Okposo and Brock Nelson.

Second-year Islanders Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk figure to have a bigger impact on defence, and, after years of goal-tending mediocrity – remember Rick Di Pietro? – there seems to be stability in the form of Jaroslav Halak.

No doubt, the Isles tired down the stretch last year after spending a large chunk of the season atop the tightly-contested Metropolitan Division, but they’ll be better for the experience this time around. Travis Hamonic is another underrated defenceman in the NHL, but I love what he does. The blue-liners of the Islanders have plenty of grit to go with their skill. Learning beside the great Zdeno Chara in Boston, Boychuk’s never taken a backward step to anyone, and Hamonic is from a similar mould.

As a Rangers fan, it pains me to say, but the Islanders will be a force in the Metro division this year.

The Coach’s Challenge – will it work?

If you judge success by review systems in the NFL, then yes, the new challenge ability will be well received by all and sundry across the league. Hockey is a game, where everything happens quickly and in close quarters. I’m sure you can recall circumstances where on-ice calls aren’t backed up by ensuing video footage, because I certainly can. Sometimes, those circumstances have decided playoff series’ or delivered massive momentum swings. 

Now, NHL bench bosses have the ability to challenge contentious or downright wrong calls, which can only be a good thing for the overall credibility of the league.

No one likes to see games and/or series’ come down to a bad call – and, at the speed the game is played these days, you can’t blame the on-ice officials; they can only do their best in a trying situation – and the challenge system should eliminate that.

Will the 2016 World Cup of Hockey be a success?

Probably, but it won’t match the Olympics. It’s easy to see why the NHL is pushing this international concept: they want a slice of the monetary pie, which they don’t get from sending their players to the Olympics every four years.

Whilst the NHL continues to deny that they may still allow their players to go to the Olympics, it seems increasingly likely that the League wants this to be a replacement tournament. That’s okay, I guess, if your country actually has a team accepted to the tournament – like the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Russia – because it’ll be similar to an Olympic tournament, just one held in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.

But what about those forced to play on a Team Europe all-star outfit made up of players not from the European nations represented? It’s not even close to being the same, and the Team Europe concept cheapens the entire tournament. That said, the Team North America under-23 squad is an intriguing one. That could be a loaded outfit!

I’ll be watching the World Cup closely, of course, but I can’t see it matching, say, the passion and drama of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic tournament.

Enjoy the season, everyone!