Avalanche chance for repeat among top storylines in NHL this season

The regular season began with the Nashville Predators winning back-to-back games against the San Jose Sharks at the 2022 NHL Global Series in Prague on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The puck dropped in North America on Tuesday.
The New York Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 at Madison Square Garden, and the Vegas Golden Knights play the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
Many of the questions we were asking during training camp and through the preseason schedule remain on the front burner. Here are 10 with the big picture of the entire season in mind:
Will the Avalanche have the dreaded Stanley Cup hangover?
It's a question going into every season for every defending Stanley Cup champion. The answer lately has been no.
The Kings in 2014-15 are the last team to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs the season after winning the Stanley Cup. There have been two repeat champions since then, the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021.
The Lightning also reached the Stanley Cup Final last season, becoming the first team since the Edmonton Oilers (1983-85) to get at least that far in three consecutive seasons. Colorado beat the Lightning in six games to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2001.
The Avalanche are built for sustained success too. It wouldn't be surprising if they repeat as champion. But they enter the season with some concerns.
Gabriel Landeskog has a lower-body injury that goes back to last season and the forward's timetable for a return is unknown.
They have a new No. 1 goalie in Alexandar Georgiev, who replaced Darcy Kuemper, and Colorado has to find a new No. 2 center and make up for the production lost with center Nazem Kadri signing with the Calgary Flames.
Kadri had 87 points (28 goals, 59 assists) in 71 games last season playing in the second spot behind center Nathan MacKinnon.

Are the Lightning still the favorite in the East?
The Lightning have represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final three consecutive seasons, the first team to do that since the NHL changed the conference format from Wales and Campbell conferences to Eastern and Western conferences in 1993.
Much of the Lightning's core remains intact too, with forwards Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn,
Anthony Cirelli
and Pat Maroon, defensemen Victor Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy returning.
They all have been part of the three teams that reached the Cup Final the past three seasons, winning in 2020 and 2021 before losing to the Avalanche last season to end their bid to be the first team to win it three straight years since the New York Islanders won the Cup four times in a row from 1980-83.
"I think in the past we've been pretty good at putting the wins behind us and we have to do the same with losing,"
Hedman said on the "NHL @TheRink" podcast.
"But the biggest key is we don't have the same team going into this season. We have part of the core intact."
Salary cap implications forced the Lightning to trade defenseman Ryan McDonagh to the Nashville Predators. They also were not able to keep forward Ondrej Palat, who signed a five-year contract with the New Jersey Devils. Each was integral to the Lightning's success the past three seasons.
Ian Cole, signed this offseason to replace McDonagh, was suspended by the Lightning on Sunday following allegations made him against him.
Can Shesterkin do it again for the Rangers?
Igor Shesterkin was the best goalie in the NHL last season and took home the hardware to prove it, receiving 29 of 32 first-place votes (plus three second-place votes) to win the Vezina Trophy. He finished third in voting for the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player in the NHL.
The 26-year-old had 36 wins and led the NHL with a 2.07 goals-against average and .935 save percentage (minimum 20 games) in 53 games. He had 10 wins, a 2.59 GAA and .929 save percentage in 20 playoff games, helping the Rangers reach Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final before losing to the Lightning.
"What happened last season stays in last season,"
Shesterkin told NHL.com
. "Right now I need to show everybody it's not a mistake, my last season. I just want to play much better and better."
Shesterkin entered Tuesday 62-29-7 with a 2.31 GAA and .928 save percentage in 100 games since debuting in the NHL on Jan. 7, 2020. No goalie who has played in at least 20 games since that time has a better save percentage. He's third among goalies with at least 40 games in GAA.
Are the Oilers going to take the next step with Campbell?
The Edmonton Oilers reached the Western Conference Final last season, beating the Calgary Flames in five games in the second round to get there. It was the first "Battle of Alberta" playoff series since 1991.
But the Oilers were swept by the Avalanche in the conference final, allowing 22 goals in the four games. They scored 13, an average of 3.25 per game, but allowed at least four in every game, including eight in Game 1 and six in Game 2.
Edmonton gave up 20 goals in five games against Calgary, but won the series because it scored 25, including at least five in four of the games.
The Oilers hope they solved some of their goals-against problem by signing goalie Jack Campbell to a five-year, $25 million contract ($5 million average annual value) on July 13.
Campbell played in the 2022 NHL All-Star Game and was 31-9-6 with five shutouts, a 2.64 GAA and .914 save percentage in 49 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.
"I think he's going to help us," forward Leon Draisaitl said. "He'll really stabilize us."

Are the Flames better after big changes during offseason?
The Flames had a seismic offseason.
There was the blockbuster trade July 22 that sent forward Matthew Tkachuk, who had 104 points (42 goals, 62 assists) last season, to the Florida Panthers for forward Jonathan Huberdeau, who had 115 points (30 goals, 85 assists) last season, and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.
The Flames lost forward Johnny Gaudreau, who also had 115 points (40 goals, 75 assists) last season, in free agency; he signed a seven-year, $68.25 million contract ($9.75 million AAV) with the Columbus Blue Jackets on July 13. But Calgary replaced him with Kadri, who signed a seven-year, $49 million contract ($7 million AAV) on Aug. 18.
All told, the Flames replaced Gaudreau and Tkachuk with Huberdeau and Kadri, and added Weegar to their defense. Huberdeau and Weegar also each signed an eight-year contract to stay with Calgary.
"I think it's a better team than we had before," Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom
said on the "NHL @TheRink" podcast
.
Do the Maple Leafs have a No. 1 goalie?
Teams never want to enter the season with goaltending as their biggest question mark, but that's where the Maple Leafs are as they prepare to play the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, ESPN+, SN NOW).
With Campbell gone to Edmonton, the Maple Leafs enter the season with Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov as their goaltending tandem.
Murray is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins (2016, 2017), but he is 35-36-8 with a 3.06 GAA and .899 save percentage in 85 games the past three seasons, one with the Penguins and two with the Ottawa Senators.
Toronto got the 28-year-old in a trade from the Senators for future considerations July 11.
Samsonov was chosen by the Washington Capitals in the first round (No. 22) of the 2015 NHL Draft. He was supposed to be the Capitals goalie of the future, but he stumbled last season with a 3.02 GAA and .896 save percentage in 44 games.
Washington did not extend the 25-year-old a qualifying offer after last season, making him an unrestricted free agent. He signed a one-year, $1.8 million contract with Toronto on July 13.
"I've gotten to know Ilya, and we get along well," Murray said. "We push each other, yeah, but we also help each other. That chemistry is important in a goalie tandem."
Can Ottawa, Detroit and/or Buffalo make the playoffs?
The Atlantic Division was top heavy last season with 32 points separating the fourth-place Boston Bruins (107 points) from the fifth-place Buffalo Sabres (75 points).
But changes could be coming because the Sabres had a strong second half last season and plan to build on it, and the Detroit Red Wings (74 points last season) and Ottawa Senators (73 points) made significant upgrades to their rosters during the offseason.
Buffalo won 16 of its final 28 games last season (16-9-3), allowing for hope that the longest active playoff drought in the NHL (the Sabres haven't made the playoffs since 2011) is close to ending.
The Senators, who haven't reached the playoffs since 2017, acquired forwards Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux during the offseason to add to a top-six forward group that already featured
Tim Stutzle
, Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris and Drake Batherson, each of whom is 24 or younger.
They also acquired goalie Cam Talbot in a trade with the Minnesota Wild, but he's out 5-7 weeks because of an upper-body injury sustained Oct. 4.
The Red Wings, after defenseman Moritz Seider and forward Lucas Raymond finished first and fourth, respectively, in voting for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year last season, added veteran depth.
They signed forwards Andrew Copp and David Perron, and defenseman Ben Chiarot and Olli Maatta. They also acquired goalie Ville Husso in a trade with the St. Louis Blues after he was 25-7-6 with a 2.56 GAA and .919 save percentage in 40 games.
Meanwhile, the Bruins will start the season without defensemen Charlie McAvoy (left shoulder) and Matt Grzelcyk (right shoulder), and forward Brad Marchand (both hips).

How much closer will Ovechkin get to Gretzky's record?
After scoring 50 goals last season, Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is third all-time with 780, 21 behind Gordie Howe for second (801) and 114 away from tying Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894.
Ovechkin, at 36 years old last season, became the oldest player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season. It was his ninth 50-goal season, tying him with Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most all time.
Ovechkin turned 37 on Sept. 17. Howe and Johnny Bucyk are the only players in NHL history to score at least 40 goals in a season after they already had turned 37.
Ovechkin has four seasons remaining on the five-year, $47.5 million contract ($9.5 million AAV) he signed July 27, 2021. He needs to average 28.5 goals per season to tie Gretzky's record.
Is Eichel going to be the difference maker for Vegas?
Jack Eichel returned from neck surgery Feb. 16 and the Vegas Golden Knights center played the last 34 games. He had 25 points (14 goals, 11 assists), but Vegas went 15-14-5 and missed the playoffs for the first time.
A big part of the issue was injuries to other key players, such as forwards Mark Stone (played in nine of last 34 games) and Max Pacioretty (18 of last 34), and goalie Robin Lehner (10 of last 34).
Pacioretty was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes during the offseason and Lehner is not expected to play this season because of a hip injury that required surgery.
So even though Eichel was healthy when Vegas opened the season at Los Angeles, there are many questions that need answers.
Eichel can't be one of those questions. He has to be an answer for the Golden Knights if they're going to have a chance at getting back in the playoffs.
Can the Penguins make the playoffs for a 17th straight season?
The Penguins have reached the playoffs each of the past 16 seasons, giving them the longest active playoff streak in any of the major men's and women's North American professional sports leagues.
The expectation is for the streak to reach 17 consecutive seasons after the Penguins agreed with forward Evgeni Malkin on a four-year, $24.4 million contract ($6.1 million AAV) and signed defenseman Kris Letang to a six-year, $36.6 million contract ($6.1 million AAV) in July.
Sidney Crosby has three seasons left on the 12-year, $104.4 million contract ($8.7 million AAV) the center agreed to June 28, 2012.
By keeping Malkin and Letang, the Penguins believe they kept open a championship window that has already featured Stanley Cup parades in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
The Penguins' streak of 16 straight playoff appearances is tied for ninth in NHL history with the Flames (1976-91). The Capitals and Predators have the next longest active playoff streaks in the NHL, each at eight seasons.