{"id":86606,"date":"2025-08-21T16:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T16:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/86606\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T16:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T16:22:11","slug":"nhl-risers-and-fallers-your-picks-plus-the-moldovan-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/86606\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL risers and fallers: Your picks. Plus: The Moldovan Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey<\/a>\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning, folks. The pace is definitely picking up in the hockey world, as we have piles of good reads today. First, let\u2019s get into your survey responses from last week \u2026<\/p>\n

Searching for the NHL\u2019s new guard<\/p>\n

We\u2019re overdue for a shift among the league\u2019s best and worst teams.<\/p>\n

Over the past five years, the nine clubs with the best records have largely remained unchanged, with only the Bruins falling out of that group \u2014 with a thud \u2014 last season.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, among the NHL\u2019s worst 10 teams over that span, only the upstart Canadiens have pulled out of the basement and into firm \u201cplayoff team\u201d territory.<\/p>\n

So what are we going to get this season? More of the same \u2013 i.e., Dallas versus Edmonton and Colorado in the West playoffs, and Florida taking out Carolina, Tampa and Toronto in the East? Or something new?<\/p>\n

In last week\u2019s newsletter, we put out the call for your thoughts on who the NHL\u2019s biggest risers and fallers will be this season. Nearly 700 of you responded, providing us with an interesting crowd-sourced list of, potentially, what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

These were your picks:<\/p>\n

Which team in the East will be the most improved?<\/p>\n

Montreal (26 percent)
\nN.Y. Rangers (11 percent)
\nNew Jersey (9 percent)
\nBuffalo (8 percent)
\nColumbus\/Ottawa\/Philadelphia (7 percent each)<\/p>\n

Other than the Habs, who took a nice 15-point leap forward last year, there wasn\u2019t much consensus on this question, possibly because it feels like the playoff teams in the East are firmly entrenched.<\/p>\n

Montreal and Columbus make sense given their youth movements and strong seasons last year \u2014 the Canadiens finished just seven points behind the Panthers \u2014 while the Rangers crashed out to 85 points last year and have Igor Shesterkin, Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox to presumably keep them competitive.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019d put my money on the Devils, who should be able to put up more than 91 points with better health from Jack Hughes and company. If anyone in the East is jumping up 10-plus points, it\u2019s them.<\/p>\n

Which team in the East will take the biggest step back?<\/p>\n

Washington (30 percent)
\nToronto (24 percent)
\nBoston (10 percent)
\nPittsburgh (7 percent)
\nTampa Bay (5 percent)<\/p>\n

The Capitals surprised most of the hockey world by winning the East and piling up 111 points before a disappointing showing in the playoffs in Round 2, so I\u2019m not surprised they received the most votes here.<\/p>\n

And many are down on the Leafs after they lost Mitch Marner<\/a> and failed to find another top-line winger to replace him. We\u2019ll see if their by-committee approach \u2014 or an in-season addition \u2014 can get them close to last season\u2019s 108 points.<\/p>\n

Boston, meanwhile, totally bottomed out already last year and will likely be at least slightly more respectable just due to better health alone. The Penguins could definitely be in the running for far more pain, though, if they continue their selloff and end up in the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes.<\/p>\n

Which team in the West will be the most improved?<\/p>\n

Anaheim (23 percent)
\nUtah (20 percent)
\nSan Jose (16 percent)
\nNashville (9 percent)
\nVancouver (6 percent)<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have any quibbles here. It makes sense that all five of these teams will improve their point totals given offseason additions, internal improvements or just how rotten they were last year. Or, in some cases, all three.<\/p>\n

The Ducks will be very interesting to watch as some of their young players started to put together strong performances late in the year. (Keep an eye on 20-year-old Leo Carlsson, in particular.) They also added an experienced coach in Joel Quenneville and some veteran depth up front that should allow them to finish higher than 30th in goals per game this season.<\/p>\n

Of these five, however, I\u2019d peg the Mammoth with the best chances of breaking a playoff drought.<\/p>\n

Which team in the West will take the biggest step back?<\/p>\n

Los Angeles (26 percent)
\nWinnipeg (18 percent)
\nEdmonton (13 percent)
\nDallas (10 percent)
\nVancouver (6 percent)<\/p>\n

The Kings\u2019 offseason is not getting rave reviews, either in L.A. or around the league. They quietly put up the NHL\u2019s sixth-best record last season with stout defensive play and surprisingly good goaltending, both of which could fall off this year. And Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar are not getting any younger.<\/p>\n

The Jets, meanwhile, lost Nikolaj Ehlers after basically everything went right last season, so a dip is probably coming there, too, barring another heroic effort from Connor Hellebuyck.<\/p>\n

Things will be mighty interesting in the West, however, if the Oilers and Stars skeptics are right.<\/p>\n

Overall, looking at these results, it doesn\u2019t feel like there\u2019s going to be a huge sea change in the NHL standings this season. But this league always seems to find a way to throw us a few surprises every year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen \/ The Athletic; IconSportswire \/ Getty, Dave Sandford \/ Getty, Bruce Bennett \/ Getty)Are you confident in your GM?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a Panthers fan, the answer is a resounding yes. But not every fan base is feeling as jubilant as those folks, as evidenced by this interesting breakdown from Dom Luszczyszyn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There were some surprises in this year\u2019s front-office confidence rankings, for sure, especially when you get into how the wider public views front offices versus fans of certain teams (i.e., Pittsburgh).<\/p>\n

After Florida, the rest of the top five was rounded out by Dallas, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Montreal. The bottom five were made up of poor ol\u2019 Buffalo in 32nd, followed by Nashville, Boston, Seattle and the Rangers.<\/p>\n

But check out the full article<\/a> (all links in this newsletter are free to read!) to see where every team slots in and how front offices were scored in six key categories: roster building, cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency and vision.<\/p>\n

MirTrivia, Offseason Edition\ud83d\udca1<\/p>\n

Alex Ovechkin enters this season just three goals from 900, so he wins the prize for the most exciting milestone mark.<\/p>\n

But there are three other big names on the cusp of goal-scoring greatness: One veteran in the Central Division should hit 600 goals in 2025-26, and two others in the Atlantic are almost at 500. And all of them have something in common with Ovechkin.<\/p>\n

Who are they? And what\u2019s their commonality?<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast<\/p>\n

Even in the offseason, our army of hockey writers is cranking out the hits. Here are some of our top items from the past seven days that you may have missed.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfd2 What should the Rangers do about Panarin needing a contract extension? He\u2019s on the verge of turning 34 and in the final year of his deal. Peter Baugh examines yet another tricky situation for New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcb8 The Hoffmann family has emerged as a bidder for the Penguins. Rob Rossi digs into who they are<\/a> and what it could mean for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd4a Everyone has an opinion on where the NHL most needs to improve. Some of our staff got together in a room to fight about what they\u2019d like to see changed<\/a>, with entertaining results.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd14 \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show\u201d Prospect Series<\/a> with Max Bultman, Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler recaps this summer\u2019s Hlinka Gretzky Cup, a gold medal win for Team USA and a disappointing performance for Canada. Plus, Gavin McKenna.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd47 Speaking of McKenna, he tops our latest 2026 NHL Draft ranking. Check out the rest of the top 32<\/a> for a taste of what\u2019s likely to be a strong group of young stars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson \/ The Athletic; Courtesy of the Karmanov family)The Moldovan Mountain<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t heard of Alexander Karmanov yet, you soon will. The 17-year-old defenseman from tiny Moldova is an incredible 7 feet tall and weighs 277 pounds and has been drafted by junior teams in the OHL and USHL and committed to Penn State in the NCAA.<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed chatting with Karmanov and his family<\/a> last week<\/a> for today\u2019s story. He\u2019s got a good head on his (massive) shoulders and is a positive hockey story worth rooting for as he begins camp with the OHL Brantford Bulldogs this weekend.<\/p>\n

Good luck to the trainers trying to find gear to fit this kid, though.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udca1 Your MirTrivia Answer<\/p>\n

Steven Stamkos of the Predators is only 18 goals shy of becoming the 22nd player in NHL history to net 600. John Tavares of the Leafs is six back from 500, and Patrick Kane with the Red Wings is eight away from becoming just the fifth American to get there.<\/p>\n

Including Ovechkin, all four were top draft picks (in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009). It pays to pick No. 1.<\/p>\n

\"\ud83d\udceb\"\u00a0Love Red Light?\u00a0Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Jack Hughes: Emilee Chinn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning, folks.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-86606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}