By Rant On Contributor, Jordan (Jordy) Ikner
Welcome back, Hockey Fans!
We are almost one full week into the 2021-2022 season, and what an almost full week it has been. We’ve seen four-goal games by Tyler Bertuzzi’s Detroit Red Wings, Hat Tricks by the Oilers Great Connor McDavid, and the ceremonial first win in Franchise History by Brandon Tanev’s Seattle Kraken. Could we have asked for anything better? The answer to that question is YES if you are a Habs or Islanders fan. Don’t worry…you both have at least 79 other chances to collect a few W’s this year, but what’s the fun of being less than a week into the season and not doing a little over reacting?
EXACTLY.
So, join me in doing just that, and let’s see what ridiculous conclusions we can come too for this young, yet quite exciting hockey season in front of us.
The Pittsburgh Penguins can thrive without Sidney Crosby & Evgeni Malkin.
I mean, a man can dream, but this is clearly a biased overreaction by yours truly. The Penguins opened the year with the bricks stacked against them: down your two perineal players and on the road against the defending Stanley Cup Champs Tampa Bay Lightning, and a dangerous Florida Panthers Team. BOTH games were home openers for the two Florida squads, and the Penguins squeezed away with three points. The Penguins are getting help from the entire offense too… only three players (2 defensemen/1 forward) have not registered a point on the season yet, and they have only played three games. They are also averaging 5 GPG in this stretch, which is nuts. But pretending like these Panthers can survive for a lengthy period without these two, is crazy talk. The contributions by the Team during their absence are great but they will need them both back sooner, rather than later, to keep the pace going.
The Seattle Kraken are the Vegas Golden Knights reincarnated.
(Bezos voice) “Hell yes! Hahaha!”. Jeff is on the money though; this team honestly scares me. Their ringleader and pacemaker lion of a human-being Brandon Tanev is on an electric start. He’s started the season with three (3) goals: one on the Power Play, one empty-netter, and one where he blew a kiss to the Preds fans with middle fingers in his face. You love to see it. This Team is playing with an edge which makes them fun to watch. Hockey is a dangerous league for expansions. These are a group of physical beasts who were ALL told by their former Executives that they could be replaced. And now this group, collectively, is allowed revenge on each team that dumped them? Put your money on this team playing with this energy all season, and don’t be shocked if they aren’t major contenders. Teams should not look forward to playing the Kraken.
The Chicago Blackhawks will begin a full rebuild next year.
As a Pens fan, I feel like it’s semi-hypocritical to assume this, because my Team is on the cusp of this moment. But the Hawks have looked rough so far. Their biggest offseason acquisition, Marc-Andre Fleury, looks horrendous. How horrendous? Pulled in the 1st Period Saturday night down 4-0 10 minutes into the game horrendous. Thirty-three-year-old Captain Jonathan Toews is at 0 points and a -4 to start the season and has looked like a player who has lost his steam. However, the beauty of this article is we’re only three games into the season. The Hawks have plenty of time to pick it up, and they have too. With Toews, Kane and Fleury not getting any younger, the Hawks need to buckle down and collect some points in a hurry if they want to compete with the likes of the Oilers, Kraken and the Jets.
Connor McDavid will score 150 points.
This is something I’d love to see happen. McDavid scored 105 points last season in only 56 games. To think he cannot do 150 in 82 is asinine. If done, he would be the first player since Mario Lemieux to do so. (he had 161 in 70 games, btw.) He already has five points this season and is going to have endless chances to score. He’s a top-3 player in the League, and with so many more eyes on the NHL this year with the ESPN & Turner deals, this would be an easy player for fans to revolve around – like how Crosby took the hockey community by storm post NHL lockout. He’s still only 24-years-old, and seemingly getting younger by the day. I’d lock McDavid in for 155 points, easily.
I will leave you all with these four to ponder. I implore everyone to hold me to these strictly and charge me with pitchforks when McDavid only finishes at 117 points, Toews wins Comeback Player of the Year, and Malkin sits the year out and Sid raises his fourth Cup. Overreacting in sports is what gives people a platform to share their average takes, and not be held accountable when they don’t come to fruition. It’s the literal definition of having your cake and eating it too.
What advice can I give?
Find your own flavor of cake and embrace in these debates. Make people’s heads spin and roll the dice on a few hot takes. The Kraken have 100/1 odds at winning the Cup. The Golden Knights were only two wins away from doing it…
100/1 can buy you all a few slices.
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