Preusser's NHL Rundown: Early Days

Photo Courtesy: NHL.com

We are now a couple weeks into the NHL season and man has it been crazy.

The Carolina Hurricanes remain undefeated, the Kraken had their home opener, and lots of developments with the Brad Aldrich case.

The Hurricanes have been on FIRE and as my secondary team, I am pretty happy with it. It has been their best start in franchise history. By no surprise, Andrei Svechnikov has been a key player in the team’s early success. The 21-year-old Russian has seven goals in seven games along with four assists. Very impressed, very happy with their start. It may be too early to tell because there is still a lot of hockey left in the season…but…I could see this team winning it all IF they keep it up.

 The newest team in the NHL, the Seattle Kraken, have now played on home ice. I think it is a great team, great growth opportunity, and a great story. The team, led by goalie Philipp Grubauer, has been stellar in net for the most part so far this season. The Kraken has beaten some pretty solid teams in Montreal and Minnesota. I am excited to see where this team ends up because I feel like they already have a solid fanbase behind them.

Yes, games have been played, teams have won, teams have lost, but the biggest headline in the hockey world right now is the Kyle Beach sexual assault case. For those who don’t know, Beach has come forward as John Doe in the Chicago Blackhawks sexual assault investigation into former video coach Brad Aldrich. The findings of the third-party investigation have been made public, and I have read through the documents. As my hometown team, I am disappointed. As a huge fan of former head coach Joel Quenneville, I am disappointed. Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac have been dismissed of their duties with the Blackhawks. I have honestly never been a fan of Bowman, and I think the organization can be better off without him, especially learning everything that has happened. I agree with the decision to remove Aldrich’s name from the Stanley Cup. He is a disgrace.

I could go on and on about this whole thing, but as a Blackhawks fan who has supported this team, I do want people to know that I am disappointed and I am educating myself on the whole investigation. As a lifelong fan, I am disappointed in how the organization handled everything.

Overall, I am hopeful that Florida will continue their great start without Quenneville. I am surprised that Calgary currently sits at number 3 in the league and also surprised about Buffalo’s start. Maybe Buffalo’s NFL magic has rubbed off on the Sabres. Dallas has had a mediocre start, while Detroit has been going steady. Those are my quick opinions.

Keep an eye out for a new episode of Hockey Down Here dropping on Wednesday!