Kucherov Injury Makes Toronto Maple Leafs the Team to Beat

The Toronto Maple Leafs enter the new NHL season as extremely heavy favorites to win the Canadian Division.

Last year, the Toronto Maple Leafs were only a career average season from Freddie Andersen away from being a dominant team in the NHL.  In the Playoffs they ran into a pair of hot goalies that stopped them cold in their tracks in perhaps the flukiest thing that has ever happened in recent NHL history.

This year, they’ve been moved out of hockey’s hardest division into one where they are the only contender.  The only team in the league that is better for-sure better than the  Leafs is Tampa, and yesterday they announced that their best player, Nikita Kucherov, would be out for the season with hip surgery.

No one likes to see a player get injured, especially one who is among the best players n the league, but the silver lining here is that the Leafs should now be the odd-on favorite to win the Stanley Cup.

Of course, no one will acknowledge this because last year’s results (as unlikely and preposterously unrepeatable as they were) were so bad.

Other NHL News

According to TSN, all seven NHL cities are expected to allow the NHL to play. I don’t have the necessary information to know if this is a good thing or not, if I’m being honest.

The NHL season will kick off with the Leafs playing Montreal. I have to say, it’s too bad Buffalo isn’t in the Canadian division, but beating up on the Habs will just have to do.

Kirby Dach, the best player on Team Canada, has been injured and will miss the tournament and the start of the NHL season.  This is why I’m glad the Toronto maple Leafs didn’t let Nick Robertson play.  It’s also why I think if the NHL is going to be in the Olympics, it should be the summer Olympics.

The NHL announced that they would allow teams to use a taxi squad this season, and in retrospect, this looks like something the Leafs banked on happening.

The schedule will be condensed and while every team will make moves to keep their players fresh, the Leafs are going to be able to sub in actual NHL players (and in the case of Sandin, Barabanov, Lehtonen, Lijegren and Robertson, potential NHL stars).

No team can combine depth and elite talent even closes to as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs and that is why they enter the NHL season as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup.  Others may disagree, but others are wrong.

Merry Christmas!