There is a crispness to the September air here on the east coast and the leaves are starting to turn colors. The fall is upon us and with it comes the football season, playoff baseball and now with a change in the schedule, the NHL season. Yes that’s right, by this time next week the league and its players will be back on the ice to kick off the new 84 game season. We’ll have a Rangers preview out in the next week, but I wanted to go through some of the hottest stories from around training right now. So without any further ado, let’s jump over the boards.

First Period

Bo Bags Three: One of the teams in the league this years that’s hoping to return to relevance is the Chicago Blackhawks. After about a decade in the wilderness, Connor Bedard is hoping to lead the Windy City back to the playoffs, and hopefully GM Kyle Davidson’s moves will pay dividends in helping number 98. While Patrick Kane came home (as seen in our title image) the move that drew the most scrutiny was the trade for Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram.

Byram has always been an interesting player that’s performed well by and large, but he’s got to justify his hefty price tag of the 4th overall pick amongst other assets. At least through one night, he fulfilled the expectations as he recorded a hat trick and the OT winner to open the preseason. While it wasn’t the real thing and it’s only half his job, it’s a good step towards endearing himself to a skeptical fan base.

Second Period

A Sad State of Affairs: There are depressing situations and then there is the Red Wings. For starters their ugly offseason came in the wake of another end of season collapse that saw them miss the playoffs. What made it so ugly? Well they didn’t exactly get better…at all. They then compounded the problem by firing GM Steve Yzerman after they let him run their draft and free agency.

While all of that is bad, the worst thing going on in Hockeytown is the ongoing saga of Captain Dylan Larkin trying to leave town via trade. Larkin, the longest tenured Wing, asked out after joining the group of malcontents on team USA at the Winter Olympics. While he has a right to ask out, like all players do, the way he’s gone about it has been awful, made worse by a disastrous press conference where he dodged questions and accountability. It’s had to tell where this stalemate will end as Larkin is now hated by the fan base and newly minted GM Shawn Horcoff doesn’t need to deal him, as Larkin has 5 years left on his current contract. This is a black eye for the Wings and the league as this offseason of empowered players rolls on.

Third Period

Bidding for Buycky: Speaking of handling trade requests poorly, there is Jets goalie and fellow Olympic hero Connor Hellebuyck, who wants out of Winnipeg. Like Larkin he’s looking to move to a US based club and has botched the handling of his exit from Manitoba. He’s on a lengthy extension that he signed last year, but hey, it’s hard making millions of dollars to play a game right?

With Hellebuyck skipping camp and suspended by the team, the real story here is where does he end up. While the Jets have the leverage it feels like this one will come to a head faster given the teams looking good add a net-minder. The defending champion Hurricanes are in the hunt, along with the Devils and the Sabres, two teams looking to knock Carolina from their perch. While it sounds like New Jersey has had the most advanced talks with Winnipeg about the goalie, my money is still on Buffalo to get this done, as they really can’t afford to miss out on him. Regardless the sweepstakes should be interesting to watch.

Overtime

Coming Full Circle: I can’t lie, this one hurts to write about. To know me is to know that Chris Kreider is my favorite New York Ranger player of all time. It bothered me to see him in Anaheim last year, so as you could imagine when he hit free agency after being released by the Ducks, I wanted a reunion. But of course, thanks to GM Chris Drury that wasn’t in the offing. Where did Kreider end up? With another team that wears red white and blue, the Montreal Canadiens, a team he has an interesting history with. Rewind 12 years to the 2014 playoffs, game one of the Eastern Conference Finals, a game in which Kreider collided with Montreal goalie Carey Price. Price got injured on the play and missed the rest of the series, the Rangers won the series and Kreider has tormented the Habs ever since, making him the most hated man in Quebec. He made his debut Saturday night and he’ll probably fit in well…though I think he has work to do to win the fans over since they haven’t forgotten THAT play.

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