While We’re Young (Ideas) Examines the Upcoming 2022-23 NHL Season
By TERRY LYONS
BOSTON – The weekly notebook has listed sports franchise valuations, underrated rock bands, NFL Power Rankings, and NCAA College Football Playoff possibilities week-by-week.
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The TL Sunday Sports Notes a.k.a. “While We’re Young (Ideas)” will take a crack at the brand new National Hockey League season and list the best of the best and as the list goes, the bottom-feeder “hosers” will be left to the age-old chore (before the great Zamboni was invented) to hose down the ice for the next period.
For the ultimate face-off, “While We’re Young (Ideas)” is picking the Colorado Avalanche to play the New York Rangers in the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals. The Avs dominated the Edmonton Oilers in the 2022 Western Conference Finals, winning the series in four straight. There is nothing on the radar screen to spark another western winner, although Edmonton, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Nashville and Calgary remain as contenders for a Cup Finals appearance.
In the East, the New York Rangers behind goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin have stepped-up as the team to beat. To advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers will have to reverse the outcome of last season’s Eastern Finals when the Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated New York, 4-games-to-2.
Last season’s contenders in the East – Carolina, Florida, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Boston – can all challenge the NYR and TB with a combination of goaltending, luck, avoiding injury and playoff positioning determining who might face the West (Colorado) in the final.
While Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nikita Kucherov and Shesterkin are top-rated players and most frequently listed as favorites for NHL Most Valuable Player (Hart Trophy) winners, the player who led the Avs to their third Stanley Cup title, Nathan MacKinnon, is the player to watch. He will determine the success of the Avs and can will the club to a championship, just as he did a year ago. In recent memory, only Mark Messier’s efforts for the 1994 New York Rangers can compare.
Jack Eichel, the local Boston favorite out of BU, left Buffalo and landed in Vegas where he finished the 2022-23 season strong. Orlando-born and Toronto-bred Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils, the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, is another player to watch this season.
NHL POWER RANKINGS – (As of start of the 2022-23 NHL regular season)
- Colorado Avalanche
- New York Rangers
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Edmonton Oilers
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Calgary Flames
- Florida Panthers
- St. Louis Blues
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Nashville Predators
- Minnesota Wild
- Boston Bruins
- Los Angeles Kings
- Las Vegas Knights
- Washington Capitals
- Dallas Stars
- Winnipeg Jets
- New York Islanders
- Vancouver Canucks
- New Jersey Devils
- Ottawa Senators
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Buffalo Sabres
- Detroit Red Wings
- Anaheim Ducks
- San Jose Sharks
- Seattle Kraken
- Montreal Canadiens
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Arizona Coyotes
East: New York Rangers over Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-games-to-3
West: Colorado Avalanche over Edmonton Oilers, 4-games-to-1
Cup: Colorado Avalanche over New York Rangers, 4-games-to-2
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: In the world of sports, you learn something new everyday. A Premier League peep whispered to drop everything and tune-in to the USA Network at about 2:45pm (ET) Friday for the Brentford v. Brighton match.
The pre-game commentators for USA Net were touting their Soccer Showcase at Dilworth Park on Saturday and Sunday in Philadelphia by comparing the “biggest weekend” they’ve ever televised,’ with all the “big” games in the Philly. This weekend, MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies host, and defeated the Atlanta Braves at Citizen Bank Park a couple hours ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers facing the Vancouver Canucks at the Wells Fargo Center, right across the soft pretzel-packed street. Of course, the “biggest game” of the weekend will feature the Philadelphia Eagles playing host to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football at Lincoln Financial Field, a 9-iron from the basketball/hockey arena and an easy wedge away from the baseball field. By the way, the Sixers open the NBA regular season on Tuesday here in Boston and then return to the “City of Brotherly Love” to host the Milwaukee Bucks this Thursday.
Working backwards to what was learned this week, my surprise was teed-up by Rebecca Lowe, host of NBC’s English Premier League coverage, as her Philly-based introduction to the game in London was done just as the Brentford players took to the pitch:
BRENTFORD has a great tradition, far better than the tired, old Red Sox playing of “Sweet Caroline” in the middle of the 8th inning. During pregame introductions, seemingly every one of the 18,000+ Brentford fans raises their red & white team scarf and belts out The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” … If the team wins, the song is sung – once again – in the postgame.
The good times came to a halt postgame, however, as sadly, after the 2-nil Brentford victory and the postgame “Hey Jude II.” Striker Ivan Toney, who notched the two Brentford goals, was “subjected to disgusting, racist abuse via a direct message received on social media,” according to the club statement issued after the game.
“We condemn this discriminatory behaviour in the strongest possible terms. An attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us. Ivan will receive the full backing from the Club and from the Brentford fans who we have already seen condemning the abuse.
“We expect strong support from the police, legal authorities and from Instagram’s parent company, Meta, to ensure that the individual involved faces the full force of the law for this despicable hate crime.”
TID-BITS: NBA Africa and Shesha, a premium retailer of exclusive and limited-edition footwear, apparel, and accessories, opened the first official retail NBA Store in Africa, the very first on the continent. … NBA champion Richard “Rip” Hamilton of the 2004 Detroit Pistons made the trip along with the Larry O’Brien Trophy and will pose for photos with store guests this weekend. … Best wishes to New England Patriots team owner Robert Kraft on his marriage to Dr. Dana Blumberg in ceremonies performed in stealth fashion Friday night in New York. … Among the reported guests at the wedding were rock star Jon Bon Jovi, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, country music artist Kenny Chesney, Fanatics online sports store CEO Michael Rubin, and special wedding performers, including Elton John, Ed Sheehan and Kraft friend and favorite in rapper Meek Mill. … If former USFL star Herschel Walker wins in his attempt for election to the U.S. Senate (from Georgia), Kentucky and GOP Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, should be required to play a set of downs as running back for the Atlanta Falcons. … News from the Sports Business Journal’s World Congress of Sport included the NCAA and college leaders actively exploring a schedule of summer exhibition basketball games — likely two to four games — that would enable schools to play each other and fill a void when college basketball has very little presence. NCAA officials began talks with college conference commissioners and various schools earlier this month about a limited schedule that most likely would begin in the summer of 2023 or 2024. It would include both men’s and women’s basketball. … NESN will live stream all 2022-23 Boston Bruins home games and future Boston Red Sox home games in 4K HDR through the NESN 360 app. NESN is the first regional sports network (RSN) in the United States to live stream MLB and NHL games in 4K HDR via a streaming app. and the rest of the MLB and NHL clubs are likely to follow.
TBT GOES TST: The powers that be at The Basketball Tournament (TBT) are planning to expand their efforts to include the sport of soccer, according to reports in Front Office Sports. The news came the same week that TBT founder Jon Mugar saw his family’s grocery store empire fetch $24.6 billion from Kroger. Mugar’s family wealth began when his great grandfather, Sarkis Mugar, an Armenian immigrant who had arrived in Greater Boston in 1906, paid $800 for the Star Market, a small grocery store in Watertown, Mass in 1915. His son Stephen P. Mugar (1901–1984) eventually went to work for him in the store and eventually built the Star Market (and Shaw’s subsidiary) into a New England grocery store giant. TBT was founded in 2014 and has grown into a summer time staple for basketball fans and alumni groups from dozens of colleges.
DIAMOND DUST-UPs: Although the Cleveland Guardians are quite alive in their ALDS series against the New York Yankees, the other prediction made last week of the Atlanta Braves advancing to the World Series was cut short by the red hot Philadelphia. The Phillies eliminated the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves with an 8-3 victory in Game 4 to take their series, 3-games-to-1. The turning point of the series was a monster 3-run homer by Rhys Hoskins of the Phils, a homer hit with an exclamation point bat toss. … Philadelphia will await the winner of the LA Dodgers vs San Diego Padres match-up. … In the American League, the Houston Astros and slugger Jordan Alvarez look quite invincible as they took down the Seattle Mariners in their ALDS series.