It would not be going out on a limb to say that the Colorado Avalanche come into the 2022-23 National Hockey League season as the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
After all, the Avs finally broke through in June to win their third cup, knocking off the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the process.
Yes, the New York Rangers are going to be good, as are the Calgary Flames, and some of the other teams that made playoff runs last season.
But who are going to be the teams that surprise, and maybe could come from outside the playoffs to get into contention for the 2022-23 campaign? That is what people want to know: who can make big strides and possibly make some noise in the postseason?
Newly-elected Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Al Morganti has you covered. Morganti broke down the state of the NHL ahead of the new season, and he sees two teams, both out of the Western Conference, that could fly high: one with a recent pedigree of success, and another that is rebuilding with one of the best. young cores in the league.
“It will be Vegas,” Morganti told online casino.ca. “Jack Eichel can have a season, after he moved there and had the surgery. They have muddled up their goaltending. George McPhee has done a tremendous job for all the success so early, but boy, do they move people in and out. I just think it was hard to get chemistry last year. But that team will be the one everyone will point towards.
“I love Anaheim’s young energy. Trevor Zegras, the kids that they have, they could be a team that causes people problems. They are not mature enough at this point, but my lord, they have got some talent, and they can just get wheeling on you. I think you have to pay some attention to them.
“It is so hard to judge early in hockey. You have moves that are made at the trade deadline and everything that goes on earlier. But coming in, you are absolutely right, the fight is going to take place, it is such a tangled web of very good teams. That is why it is so hard when you try to put odds on anything. It is almost impossible. It is such a bizarre sport to begin with in terms of putting any kind of odds on a game, never mind a season, when you look at the weight that goes to a goaltender. Which goaltender is going to completely exceed expectations, and have you saying “Where did that come from? How did that happen?
“Which team is going to be the team that is going to shock everyone? I think Anaheim has a slight chance. But when you are just loaded in terms of talent at the top of the divisions, that is a hard, hard, mountain to climb out West.”