How will Erik Karlsson fit in with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins? Will William Nylander follow Auston Matthews’ lead and re-sign, or is he trade bait? Can the Canucks just be “normal” for a change?
This week, The Athletic asked its staff for one burning question facing each NHL team heading into training camp, and those were a few of the enticing storylines we heard about in response.
With camps right around the corner and the preseason set to open in two weeks, here’s what we have our eyes on.
How will they react to new coach Greg Cronin? After a long coaching career that’s seen him help launch the U.S. National Team Development Program and either be assistant or head coach for programs at the college and pro levels, the 60-year-old Cronin is a first-time NHL head coach. He’s coming off a successful run with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, leading winning clubs even when they weren’t loaded with the hottest prospects. The Ducks have nowhere to go but up, but will they jump right on board with someone who’s big on details and development and won’t hesitate to be frank when criticism is warranted? Cronin’s history says he will demand that they play with structure. — Eric Stephens
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How can they improve on last year’s league-worst road record? Arizona proved to be a pesky, tenacious opponent at Mullett Arena last season, going a thoroughly respectable 21-15-5 at home. On the downside, the Coyotes won only seven road games. Partly that was because the Coyotes couldn’t move, full-time, into the Mullett until December, which meant they played 20 of their first 24 games on the road, a heavily imbalanced schedule that thankfully will be vastly improved this year. But overall Arizona tended to wilt more on the road than at home, which goes a long way in explaining why they were minus-71 in the goals for/goals against ratio. The hope is that the veterans added to the roster over the summer — Jason Zucker, Alex Kerfoot, Matt Dumba, Sean Durzi — add some stubbornness and resilience to the mix when the Coyotes hit the road this season. Will we see that start taking shape in camp, though? — Eric Duhatschek
How will they replace Patrice Bergeron? OK, replacing Bergeron is a fool’s errand. The former captain touched every part of the game. He made Brad Marchand a better player. By Selke metrics, he was the best defensive forward of all time. And he did it all while leading his teammates. On the ice, the Bruins will need superior goaltending and defense. Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle will have to assume more responsibility. In terms of leadership, Marchand is best suited to replace Bergeron as captain. — Fluto Shinzawa
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What’s the goaltending look like? The Sabres are heading into the season with three unproven goalies in Devon Levi, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Eric Comrie. None of the three has carried the load as a starter for a full NHL season. Buffalo upgraded its defense by adding Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson this offseason. They are one of the best offensive teams in hockey. If the goaltending is there and can hold up, they should contend for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. — Matthew Fairburn
Devon Levi. (Jason Mowry / USA Today)
What will be the fate of those pending UFAs? Elias Lindholm remains with the Flames and has no new contract extension. You can copy and paste that statement for Noah Hanifin, Mikael Backlund and a host of others as well. The Flames have a number of upcoming free agents, and it seems like they want to play things out before having to make a move, which is a risk, whether because of injuries, players outperforming and driving costs up or players underperforming and making it harder to trade them. The Flames’ front office inaction has also played a role in why fans don’t have much confidence in them entering the season. — Julian McKenzie
How will the defense shake out? The Hurricanes already had one of the top defenses in hockey, but that didn’t keep them from adding Dmitry Orlov — arguably the best defenseman on the free agent market — and Tony DeAngelo — who two seasons ago played on Carolina’s top pairing — during the offseason. Now the team will need to figure out how everything fits together. Will they trade one of their 2024 unrestricted-free-agent defensemen, like Brett Pesce or Brady Skjei? Or will they enter the season with a surplus of riches on the blue line? — Cory Lavalette
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Where will the young guys slot in? OK, so we know Connor Bedard is going to be the Blackhawks’ No. 1 center. But will Lukas Reichel be on his line with Taylor Hall? Or will Reichel get to drive his own line with, say, Andreas Athanasiou? Will Arvid Söderblom beat out veteran Petr Mrazek for the No. 1 goalie job? Will 19-year-old defenseman Kevin Korchinski, the team’s top prospect until Bedard swooped in, crack the lineup or get sent back to the WHL for another year of marinating? And what about the likes of the other NHL-ready defensemen in the system, such as Alex Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser and Isaak Phillips? After a tank season full of stopgaps and journeymen, the new core is itching to take over, and the fan base is itching to see them. It’s just a matter of when. — Mark Lazerus
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Is Kevin Korchinski NHL-ready? And what will the Blackhawks do with him if he is?
Will Ryan Johansen fit well at 2C? Though J.T. Compher did a solid job at second-line center in 2022-23, Colorado never fully replaced Nazem Kadri. That showed in the playoffs when Jared Bednar ended up shifting Compher to wing in an unsuccessful attempt to find a spark with Lars Eller at 2C. Compher and Eller are now gone, having signed in Detroit and Pittsburgh, respectively, and the Avalanche enter the season with the newly acquired Johansen slotted to center the second line. If Johansen is healthy and can regain his 2021-22 form (26 goals and 63 points with Nashville), the Avalanche should have an answer at 2C for the next couple of seasons. If not, they might again risk over-relying on top forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. — Peter Baugh
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What changes are coming under coach Mike Babcock? Babcock has been out of the NHL for three-plus seasons, and he’s inherited a club that has plenty of promise but an abundance of question marks, too. The addition of No. 3 pick Adam Fantilli and Russian import Dmitry Voronkov could transform the Blue Jackets at center ice, while the return to health of Zach Werenski and offseason acquisitions of Damon Severson and Ivan Provorov should bolster the blue line. But how the new pieces mesh with Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine and others will be fascinating. — Aaron Portzline
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Can another young forward prospect force his way onto the roster? Last year, the Stars entered training camp hoping that Wyatt Johnston and Logan Stankoven could show that they’re NHL-ready. They needed Johnston, in particular, to make the roster, both for his talent and his price tag, and he was ready. This offseason, they filled out the roster quite well in free agency and don’t need a youngster to be NHL-ready on opening night. But it would be a fantastic problem to have if Stankoven and/or Mavrik Bourque forced the issue. — Saad Yousuf
Exactly how much better are they? The Red Wings should be improved next season after adding a premium goal scorer in Alex DeBrincat, another strong two-way center in J.T. Compher, defensemen Jeff Petry, Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl, and rounding out their depth on the wings and in goal. The question is: How much better? Those are some big adds, but the Red Wings also subtracted Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek and Jakub Vrana late last season. Is the sum total of those moves enough to push the Red Wings into serious wild-card contention in a loaded Eastern Conference? And what kind of steps will key returners Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider take? Training camp will give us our first look at just how much better than last season the Red Wings actually might be. — Max Bultman
Can Jack Campbell deliver in goal? Goaltending let the Oilers down in a crucial playoff series against the Golden Knights in the spring. Rookie Stuart Skinner took the heat. It should have been Campbell. The Oilers made a risky bet on him in the summer of 2022, and their 2023-24 season may come down to his ability to convince the coaching staff to play him in the big games. He, not Skinner, is the one being paid like the starter, and he needs to play like it. — Allan Mitchell
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When will the defense be healed? The Panthers’ run to the Eastern Conference final was surprising for a few reasons, one of them being that key contributors Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour did it all with serious shoulder injuries. Neither player will be ready for opening night, general manager Bill Zito told Florida Hockey Now. Montour had 13 points in 21 games and Ekblad bounced back from a brutal regular season. “November to January” is the range, Zito said. In the meantime, Oliver Ekman-Larsson is one of a few new faces who will try to replace their minutes. — Sean Gentille
Will Pierre-Luc Dubois be a future star or an enigma? The Kings got the 25-year-old Dubois largely to make sure there wouldn’t be a huge void when captain and franchise leader Anze Kopitar decides it’s time to end his Hall of Fame-worthy career. It also gives them one of the deepest sets of centers in the Western Conference, if not the NHL. When he’s fully engaged, Dubois is a bull on the ice and gives you enough tantalizing moments to think that a true game-changer exists within. But there is the lingering feeling that he doesn’t always tap into his vast talent. Many will point to him leaving his two prior teams, but now he’s in a place of his own choosing, with a home-run contract in his pocket. And he’s on a team looking to break past Edmonton and Vegas in the Pacific and stamp itself as a true Stanley Cup contender. It is his time. — Eric Stephens
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How much impact can Marco Rossi and Brock Faber make? Matt Dumba was a lightning rod for criticism over his years in Minnesota, but he was also the Wild’s most energetic player and logged big minutes alongside Jonas Brodin. At age 20, Faber stepped off the college rink as University of Minnesota’s captain and played eight flawless games, including six in the playoffs, on the third pair. He looked ready for a promotion, but if he’s paired with Brodin, that means all the big assignments: a steady diet of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and others. Can he handle it? Similarly, Rossi led the NHL in preseason points last fall, but when the lights came on in the regular season, he wasn’t ready. After a terrific AHL season, Rossi stuck around Minnesota most of the offseason and the hope is he can step in and make a significant impact this season. — Michael Russo
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Can the young forwards take another step? We still don’t know what the ceiling can really be for Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach. Caufield and Dach were each on their way to nice seasons when injuries got in the way. Though Suzuki hasn’t missed a game, injuries around him might have suppressed his numbers the past two seasons. This is the young core of the Canadiens forward group, along with Juraj Slafkovský, and they will need to show an ability to produce like top forwards typically do on winning teams at some point. Ideally for the Canadiens, it would be now. — Arpon Basu
Nashville Predators
Will the Predators’ one-foot-in, one-foot-out retool deliver a playoff spot? The Predators adopted a unique blueprint under new general manager Barry Trotz this summer. They ditched high-priced veteran help (Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen) and went into the market to recruit different high-priced veteran help (Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, Gustav Nyquist). Trotz said he was looking for “serial winners” — trying to change the dressing-room culture while bringing along the kids in the organizational pipeline. Ultimately, the goal is to revert to the original Smashville template of a team that’s difficult to play against night in and night out. With a trio of stars — Juuse Saros, Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg — still in place, it’s a unique and intriguing approach, a science experiment of sorts that seems eminently worth monitoring, starting with camp. — Eric Duhatschek
Did the Devils make too many subtractions on the back end? To balance out incoming big contracts up front, New Jersey didn’t extend Damon Severson or Ryan Graves. While the Devils have young talent and high-end prospects to step up in their absence, there may be a learning curve for absorbing legitimate minutes. That’s something management has to hope won’t happen, because it’ll strain a goalie tandem they opted not to upgrade. The decision not to get splashy on defense or in net was a calculated risk that should work out, but it’s a risk nonetheless. — Shayna Goldman
Can they fix the power play? This won’t truly be answered until the games start counting, but it’s going to be interesting to see who the Islanders deploy on their two power-play units after they finished 30th in the league last season. There weren’t any meaningful offseason changes to the roster, so success could depend on whether Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat develop chemistry together and if quarterback Noah Dobson can make quicker decisions with the puck while playing a little more assertively. — Kevin Kurz
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What can Peter Laviolette do for this team? After falling in the first round last spring, the one major change general manager Chris Drury made was behind the bench. Gerard Gallant coached the Rangers to the Eastern Conference final in 2021-22, but Drury let Gallant go a year later, opting for another veteran NHL coach in Laviolette. The core is still the same. The challenge is to see whether a new voice can get this talented club where the GM feels it should go. — Arthur Staple
Can the Senators get Shane Pinto signed before the season? General manager Pierre Dorion has done an admirable job locking up the young core of this franchise to long-term deals. But the most pressing question around this team is about the status of Pinto. The center scored 20 goals last season as a rookie and is penciled in to be Ottawa’s No. 3 center this season. The only problem? He’s a restricted free agent who needs a new contract, and Ottawa does not have enough room to sign him right now. Per Cap Friendly, the Senators have less than $900,000 of space available. They’ll need to free some up to fit Pinto in under the cap before opening night. — Ian Mendes
Shane Pinto. (Marc DesRosiers / USA Today)
Is Sean Couturier truly healthy? The 2020 Selke Trophy winner hasn’t played an NHL game since Dec. 18, 2021, due to injury. General manager Danny Briere has said he expects Couturier to be ready to go for the start of training camp, but it’s impossible to know how the 30-year-old’s body will hold up after enduring a pair of back surgeries in less than nine months. An effective Couturier drastically changes the complexion of the Flyers’ roster, as he is quite simply one of the league’s best two-way forwards when healthy. — Kevin Kurz
Pittsburgh Penguins
How will Erik Karlsson fit? Karlsson is a great player and adding a future Hall of Famer is not a bad thing. But how will Karlsson mesh with the other Hall of Famers in the Penguins’ lineup? It remains to be seen, but make no mistake, the organization and the fan base are ready to burst with excitement because of his presence. The Penguins are suddenly as relevant as ever. — Josh Yohe
Can this team show any long-term promise? It doesn’t take rocket science to know that the Sharks are going to finish toward the bottom of the standings this season, if not 32nd. But they have to straddle the line between a poor season and showing some long-term hope. Considering the roster, especially the defense and goalie, the latter is going to be a legitimate challenge. William Eklund popping off could change that. So could Fabian Zetterlund or Filip Zadina. There just has to be some actual progress to spark a light at the end of the tunnel. We’ll see soon if there’s any sign of it. — Shayna Goldman
Can they do it again? It was a dream second season in 2022-23 for the Kraken, putting Seattle hockey on the map. But maintaining that level of success is going to be very difficult in a tough Pacific Division. The Kraken return a roster that leaned too heavily on unsustainably efficient shooting in the first place, still has creeky goaltending, got smaller up front with the loss of Daniel Sprong and Morgan Geekie in free agency, and downgraded on the third pair with the loss of Carson Soucy (replacing him with Brian Dumoulin). They look like a team that’s going to need significant internal improvement from budding superstar Matthew Beniers, in addition to meaningful contributions from their Calder Cup playoff stars in Coachella, like Kole Lind, Ryker Evans and Tye Kartye, just to run in place in 2023-24. — Thomas Drance
Will the defense be any better? The Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019 after allowing the fifth-fewest goals in the NHL during that regular season (220). In 2022-23, they gave up the sixth-most in the league (298). No one is comparing those two defensive rosters, but that’s a significant fall. Colton Parayko recently told The Athletic that he’s ready to hit the reset button, but what about the others in the top four? The Blues tried to trade Torey Krug this summer. How will he respond? This unit will be under the microscope. — Jeremy Rutherford
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Can Victor Hedman bounce back? There are a few big questions in Tampa Bay, including whether the Lightning have had too many cap casualties, but maybe the most pressing question revolves around one of their franchise players. Hedman’s had regular-season setbacks before, and he usually rebounds by the time the playoffs or next season rolls around. Will that happen again this season? Or has playing a lot of hockey over all those playoff runs caught up to him? The Lightning have to hope that he shows up to camp looking like last season was an outlier because there’s not enough depth to contend otherwise. — Shayna Goldman
Will William Nylander sign an extension? Until it’s done, it’s a question that will swirl around the Leafs this season. Nylander has said, repeatedly, that he wants to remain a Leaf for the long haul. That, of course, is only part of the equation. The Leafs have to give Nylander a reason ($$$) to avoid the free-agent market next summer. In other words, they have to entice him to extend now rather than seek a bigger payday later. Otherwise, why sign now? — Jonas Siegel
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Vancouver Canucks
Can they just be “normal”? It’s never a good sign when an organization goes through three general managers (Jim Benning, interim Stan Smyl and Patrik Allvin) and three head coaches (Travis Green, Bruce Boudreau and Rick Tocchet) in a two-year time frame. That doesn’t even begin to summarize, though, just how dysfunctional the Canucks have been. In addition to missing the playoffs and performing miserably out of the gate in each of the past two seasons, the club has dealt with a constant churn of off-ice controversy — in the courts, with its medical staff, with the likable head coach getting choked up in viral press conferences. Even just this past summer, superstar center Elias Pettersson indicated that he wouldn’t discuss a possible extension with the Canucks until after this upcoming season. This organization needs to prove that it’s capable of focusing on hockey. Putting together a quiet, professional, drama-free season, right from the start, should be the organization’s top priority. — Thomas Drance
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Vegas Golden Knights
Who will replace Reilly Smith? The Golden Knights return largely the same lineup from their championship run with one exception. After trading Smith to the Penguins this summer, there’s an opening on William Karlsson’s wing, and replacing the franchise’s second-all-time leading scorer won’t be easy. It could be a huge opportunity for a young player such as Brendan Brisson or Pavel Dorofeyev if he has a great camp. — Jesse Granger
Can rookie head coach Spencer Carbery create a needed spark? General manager Brian MacLellan entered the offseason seeking to shake up his roster. It didn’t happen; it takes two to tango and big-ticket contracts are hard to move. So the Caps’ hopes now rest in the hands of the first-year head coach Carbery. Can he prod Evgeny Kuznetsov? Can he push Anthony Mantha? Can he connect with Connor McMichael and the other youngsters he coached in the minors? And, just as important, can he and new assistant Kirk Muller reimagine an Alex Ovechkin-fueled power play that’s fallen off? It’s a lot to ask of a first-year head coach, no doubt. But if the Caps are to navigate their way back to the postseason, Carbery’s leadership will be a big factor. — Tarik El-Bashir
What happens to the franchise goaltender and star center? Connor Hellebuyck is the 2023 Vezina Trophy finalist, 2020 winner, and 2018 runner-up on a very short list for best in the world at his position. Mark Scheifele is the 42-goal scorer who has starred at center for most of a decade. Together, they’re key pieces of a playoff-worthy Jets roster — but each begins the season without a contract extension and with 2024 free agency on the near horizon. The arc of the Jets franchise depends on what they do with these two stars, especially Hellebuyck given a lack of other options signed beyond this season in goal. — Murat Ates
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(Top photos of Marco Rossi, Auston Matthews and William Nylander: David Berding and Claus Andersen / Getty Images)
