Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Yearbook 2022-23
Our annual Yearbook is packed with previews, predictions and features for the upcoming NHL season. We have four pages of analysis on each team, plus our yearly Top 50 NHLers list and in-depth features on Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Steven Stamkos, Jusse Saros, Kyle Connor and many more.
IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER
THE FACT HE WAS EVEN in a position to do it was remarkable. Steven Stamkos, playing for his third consecutive Stanley Cup, would have been the first captain since New York Islanders’ Hall of Famer Denis Potvin to win at least three straight titles. Wayne Gretzky never did it, neither did Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman nor Sidney Crosby. Stamkos and the Lightning fell short of their goal, losing the final in six games to Colorado. But during their run, Stamkos demonstrated why he’s one of the most underrated leaders in the game. “My first year, I played with Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St-Louis and our GM was Steve Yzerman,” said Ondrej Palat. “I knew them a little, but ‘Stammer’ is right up there.” During Tampa Bay’s 2020 Cup run, Stamkos was unfortunately…
WINNIPEG JETS
THN PREDICTION | 6TH IN CENTRAL THAT SOUND HEARD echoing through Canada Life Centre last season was the Jets’ window slamming shut. A turbulent season saw coach Paul Maurice resign, interim coach Dave Lowry struggle to turn the tide and Winnipeg miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17. Don’t take any of this to mean the Jets are throwing in the towel as an organization, however. Off-season coaching hire Rick Bowness – who coached the original Jets, hard as that may be to believe – will step in and attempt to pry the window back open. Is it an impossible task? Not quite. This is still a group with top-end talent. But even with a number of high-octane offensive pieces and one of the best goaltenders in the world, Winnipeg…
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
THN PREDICTION | 7TH IN METROPOLITAN THE DEVILS BELIEVE their young core will take the necessary step forward to compete for a playoff spot this season. If that sounds familiar, well, it should. They believed the same last summer and found themselves eliminated long before the games mattered, with their only meaningful victory in 2022 coming in the draft lottery. So what’s different? For starters, an extra year of experience for cornerstone centers Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, and the belief that the team’s goaltending – which finished second-last in the league with a dreadful .881 save percentage – simply has to improve after a series of injuries left the team relying on players unprepared for the NHL level. It remains to be seen, however, just how big a move the Devils are…
NHL TEAM REPORTS
THERE’S NOTHING wrong with a bit of pragmatism. Truthfully, one could argue there’s a lack of it in professional sports, though such is the nature of the beast in the business of wins and losses. So, when Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour stepped to the podium in June at an end-of-season press conference and was able to see the sunny side of Carolina’s second straight second-round playoff exit, it was commendable. And it was hard to argue with him. Who is going to take issue with consecutive division-leading seasons and coming within one win of a conference final? After all, perfection is the enemy of good, and the 2021-22 Hurricanes’ 116-point performance was pretty darn good. Aphoristic nonsense aside, though, there comes a time when even pragmatism has to be cast aside…
Made possible with the support of
