If you want observations from the first week of the National Hockey League regular season, you have come to the right place.

Let’s talk about three performances from the week worth exploring further. The list includes Montreal’s Ivan Demidov, Ottawa’s Shane Pinto, and Vegas’ Jack Eichel.

On Ivan Demidov and Montreal

The former fifth-overall pick has finally made his way to the NHL, a blue-chip prospect with wondrous offensive skill and a critical part of Montreal’s rebuilt lineup. Though just 19, Montreal has wagered heavily the exceptional puckhandling and creativity we saw from Demidov last season with KHL’s St. Petersburg (where he amassed 49 points in just 65 games) would quickly translate on NHL ice.

The first week for the Montreal winger was a mixed bag. On the positive side of the ledger, he recorded his first assist of the season and flashed as usual on tape, even defensively.

On the negative side of the ledger, Demidov’s minutes at even strength have been a challenge. Playing primarily with Alex Newhook and Oliver Kapanen, Montreal has been heavily outshot, spending significant time in the defensive zone:

Yost 1 (Travis Yost)

It’s premature to read anything into just a few games of even-strength play, but to the extent Demidov becomes the weapon we all think he will be in Montreal, he needs a steady dose of offensive opportunity.

I wonder if we see head coach Martin St. Louis mix up the lines in the weeks ahead, moving Demidov a bit further up the lineup, where he may also benefit from more offensive zone starts. Notably, Demidov’s averaging just 13 minutes of ice time over their first three games played as he gets his feet wet in the NHL.

On Shane Pinto and Ottawa

Ottawa’s window to contend is now and if they are more than just a fringe playoff team this season, it’s because they are getting breakout seasons from players like Shane Pinto.

The 24-year old centre, also notably in the final year of his contract, has four goals in his first three games of the season – that number trailing only Pavel Dorofeyev in Vegas.

Pinto is spending his early minutes of the season with fellow youngster Ridly Greig and the veteran Claude Giroux, and so far that trio has been a beautiful marriage. Pinto’s minutes see a steady flurry of scoring opportunities from the net mouth and between the circles, indicative of a player and a unit creating dangerous offensive sequences on a regular basis (isolated impacts via HockeyViz):

Yost 2 (Travis Yost)

On Jack Eichel and Vegas

To say Eichel started the season off with a bang would be an understatement.

Right before opening night, Eichel extended on max terms (eight years, $108 million) to stay in Vegas long term – a player who has already brought one Stanley Cup to Nevada, and a player who has simply looked re-energized in every way since forcing his way out of Buffalo.

An elite playmaker and increasingly strong defensive forward, Eichel isn’t a one-man band in Vegas – between veterans Mark Stone, Mitch Marner, and Ivan Barbashev, head coach Bruce Cassidy can rotate a steady complement of quality wingers around Eichel and expect that line to control games.

And boy have they ever. Starting the year predominantly with Marner and Barbashev, Eichel has already amassed seven points (two goals and five assists) in the process, with his line outscoring opponents by three goals in the process.

Eichel’s 94 points in the 2024-25 regular season were a single season career high, but if the start of this year is any indication, that record may be falling as soon as next April.

Much like the Pinto example above, Vegas’ minutes with Eichel on the ice are a steady flood of dangerous scoring chances (via HockeyViz):

Yost 3 (Travis Yost)

There are few stories worth monitoring more than the evolution of Eichel and Marner as a tandem. For Marner, the Toronto-centric pressure may have abated with his trade to Vegas, but the pressure to win a Stanley Cup for him individually hasn’t moved an inch. And the pressure in Vegas remains as dialled up as ever: The Golden Knights have been a perennial Stanley Cup contender since inception and any season in which they exit early in the postseason is chalked up as a disappointment.

Playing two playmakers of this calibre on the same line should be a nightmare for the rest of the Western Conference, and through the first week, all arrows are pointing up.

Data via Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Evolving Hockey

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