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It has been two years since the NHL completed an 82-game regular season. Now, that finale is exactly one month away.
The trade deadline has also passed, leaving each of the league’s 32 teams to approach these final weeks in their own way.
Some will use it as a tune-up for the playoffs. Others are still fighting for their place in that second season.
And, well, a few might be already dreaming of next season.
Whatever the journey ahead, we’ve got you covered. Settle in for the regular-season stretch run with our primer on storylines, players, award races and future considerations to monitor.
New faces, new places
The NHL trade deadline brought us some seriously spicy transactions.
Claude Giroux and Ben Chiarot to Florida? Brandon Hagel to Tampa? Marc-Andre Fleury to Minnesota? Take your pick. Teams went hard to acquire their targets, and now we have the honeymoon phase, in which all those heavy hitters believe the Stanley Cup is in sight.
Is it really, though?
These coming weeks will be the training ground. Yes, we know all those top-flight talents are great individually, but how will the new guys fit in? Will they elevate their squads as expected, or will some of these quickie marriages fall flat?
Take Giroux in Florida, for example. Adding the former Philadelphia Flyers captain to the top line and power play alongside the likes of Aleksander Barkov looks fantastic. But how does it feel? Is the chemistry there? The early returns have been positive; Giroux has four assists in his first three games. Can that success continue and, ideally, grow even better?
And what about Hagel with the Lightning? Tampa sold the farm to rope in the 23-year-old from Chicago, and Hagel will have to find his footing — and fast — with a tight-knit team that’s gunning for a three-peat. No pressure.
It goes beyond just the big-name trades, though. Contenders loaded up to varying degrees, all with the purpose of setting themselves apart in this next month and beyond.
The real winners and…
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Source : espn
