Between Sept. 29 and Oct. 6, the NHL reset the board. Carolina's title defense opened with two losses, the summer's big trades delivered on night one, the sport's off-ice friction spilled into view, and Alex Ovechkin announced the end was near.
The reigning champions opened flat
The defending champions could not have scripted a flatter beginning. Carolina raised its Stanley Cup banner in Raleigh on Sept. 29 and then watched Gustav Forsling score with five seconds left in overtime to hand the Florida Panthers a 1-0 win, the Hurricanes managing only 15 shots on their own banner night. Three nights later came a 5-2 loss to Washington in which Carolina surrendered three first-period goals and went nearly 102 minutes of game time before finally scoring. Not until Oct. 3, when Shayne Gostisbehere's overtime power-play goal pushed them past Philadelphia, did the champions claim their first victory. For the defending champions, dropping the first two of a title defense was a jolt — and a reminder that the standings reset for everyone in October.
The reshuffled rosters announced themselves
The offseason's new addresses paid off immediately. Kirill Marchenko landed in Toronto on the eve of the season and signed a six-year extension reportedly worth $75 million; the player dealt the other way, Matthew Knies, needed just one night in Columbus to post two goals and an assist in his debut, and he carried that into four points over his first two games as a Blue Jacket. The pattern repeated across the league. Alex Tuch scored twice in his Washington debut. Blake Coleman found the net in his first game with Minnesota. And JJ Peterka, brought to Boston for speed and skill up front, scored in each of his first two games, the second an overtime winner at Winnipeg. Opening week is often where expensive summers either justify themselves or don't; this time, the early returns were loud.
The business of the game spilled into October
Opening week also surfaced the friction the sport would rather not discuss in October. Commissioner Gary Bettman spent part of it airing his frustration with how players are using no-trade and no-movement clauses, saying the protections are no longer being used as originally intended and warning it could become a matter for the players' association. The examples were in plain sight. In Detroit, former captain Dylan Larkin opened the year still awaiting a trade, stripped of his captaincy, while key defenseman Simon Edvinsson went home to Sweden amid a stalled contract negotiation. In Winnipeg, star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was suspended after not reporting to camp following his own trade request. And away from the ice entirely, Rogers completed its full takeover of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, paying C$4.35 billion for the final 25 percent of the company that owns the Maple Leafs.
A week of milestones — and a goodbye
The week also bent toward history and farewell. On Oct. 5, Alex Ovechkin, the NHL's all-time leading goal-scorer, told his teammates that this will be his final season, timing the announcement so he could say his thank-yous before one last home opener. The games around it supplied their own landmarks. Igor Shesterkin flipped a rebound the length of the ice into an empty net for the first goalie goal in the Rangers' 100-year history. Edmonton's Evan Bouchard became the first defenseman ever to post a five-point game in a season opener, then set a new record for points by a defenseman in a season's first two games. And Sidney Crosby, in his 22nd season with Pittsburgh, picked up an assist that moved him into a tie with Joe Thornton for seventh on the league's all-time assists list.
While the favorites wobbled, the climbers surged
If the favorites looked shaky, the climbers looked ready. The Utah Mammoth opened with a 6-0 rout of Chicago in which Dylan Guenther scored the franchise's first goal of a season for the third straight year, then followed with a 4-1 win at Columbus. Minnesota started 2-0 even without defenseman Brock Faber, with Kirill Kaprizov scoring three times in his first two games. Seattle looked sharp, hammering Calgary 6-1 twice in the span of four days. And the New York Rangers, dead last in the Eastern Conference a year ago, reeled off three straight wins after an opening shutout loss, among them a third-period pull-away from Utah for their first-ever home victory against the Mammoth. It is early, but the top and bottom of the league looked nothing like they did last spring.