![\"Real](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SNPodcast_RealKyperBourne_1280x720-640x360.jpg\")
Real Kyper and Bourne<\/p>\nPart of the reason hockey media and fans alike make pre-season predictions is to establish a baseline for our expectations. When my co-host Nick Kypreos picks Utah to represent the West in the Final, it\u2019s less of a \u201cprediction,\u201d and more of a statement: \u201cI, more than most other people, believe Utah is going to be genuinely very good this season.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019re establishing baseline opinions.<\/p>\n
On Real Kyper and Bourne we talked through our pre-season thoughts, and it\u2019s funny how after all of one period into the first game of the season you can start to question what you thought just an hour prior.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, after teams have played just a handful of games, let\u2019s look at some of my biggest recalibrations, a few of which you may share.<\/p>\n
Real Kyper and Bourne<\/p>\n
Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne talk all things hockey with some of the biggest names in the game. Watch live every weekday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ \u2014 or listen live on Sportsnet 590 The FAN \u2014 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n
Full episode<\/a><\/p>\n The Washington Capitals went from \u201cplayoff contender\u201d to one of the Cup favourites<\/p>\n This is the rare NHL season where I don\u2019t believe that one team is head and shoulders above the rest, meaning the door is open at the top (I still picked the Hurricanes to win, but they\u2019re hardly a lock). The Capitals are coming off a year where they missed the playoffs by four points, but with their off-season additions and internal growth, it looks like they\u2019ve skipped a few tiers on their way to the \u201cCup contenders\u201d group.<\/p>\n Washington has looked unbelievable, creating chances at will. Ryan Leonard is on their fourth line with Justin Sourdif. The Alex Tuch<\/a>–Pierre-Luc Dubois<\/a>–Tom Wilson<\/a> line has to be a combination of the most size and speed ever put together on a single line. And they are little compared to the line with the Protas boys. Jordan Kyrou is just a secondary scorer on the team, and their goalie Logan Thompson has been a Vezina-level guy the past couple seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n I liked Washington fine heading into the season. A playoff team for sure. But after just a few games, and picturing them in a playoff series, I think they may be more than that.<\/p>\n The Rangers actually have some juice<\/p>\n Last year they couldn\u2019t score a goal at home, they finished dead last in the Eastern Conference and, beyond adding Pavel Dorofeyev<\/a>, it didn\u2019t seem like they loaded up in some huge way that should\u2019ve greatly changed their fortunes. But five games in and they\u2019ve got the third-best expected goals-for rate, and they\u2019re 4-1-0 with a plus-eight goal differential.\u00a0<\/p>\n The re-shaping of their defence corps with Marcus Pettersson<\/a>, Sean Durzi<\/a> and the young Alberts Smits<\/a> has helped. Alexis Lafreniere<\/a> seems ready to take a step, Gabe Perreault is a threat, and they\u2019ve just started hot out of the gates. I don\u2019t think they\u2019re a playoff team, so I haven\u2019t flipped entirely, but they definitely have my attention as a concerned Islanders fan.<\/p>\n I\u2019d say along with maybe Winnipeg, the Rangers have had the best start among teams you weren\u2019t so sure about heading into the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related to the first two points\u2026<\/p>\n Are we sure the Atlantic is the powerhouse division?<\/p>\n Last year the Atlantic had five teams with 99 or more points(!), while 95 won the Pacific Division. The only two teams that didn\u2019t hit 90 points from the Atlantic were the Leafs and Panthers, who were coming off a second-round playoff appearance and a Stanley Cup win, respectively. The division was loaded.\u00a0<\/p>\n This year we expected the same but even better, as Toronto and Florida seemed poised to get back in the mix. I figured Montreal was ready to challenge for the Presidents’ Trophy (I think I still do), but they\u2019ve gotten out of the gates slow after an opening win. The Sabres, coming off 109 points, have just been ho-hum after some off-season roster losses. Detroit\u2019s a tire fire. Florida\u2019s been fine but lost Aleksander Barkov<\/a> and Brad Marchand<\/a>.<\/p>\n As of Friday, the Atlantic has just three teams with a positive goal differential. The Metro has five teams above level, and the Central has six (with the Pacific also sporting three).\u00a0<\/p>\n With Washington and the Rangers rising, the Canes being defending champs, and no rebuilding clubs, the Metro looks pretty tough top to bottom (assuming Philly is better than their start). The Central has four Cup hopefuls, who are all currently trailing the Winnipeg Jets.\u00a0<\/p>\n So far, the Atlantic just looks middling.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure that I had written him off entirely, but it was starting to seem like a bounce-back year might just bring him to the level of being \u201cgood,\u201d at best. I mean he has been really struggling, which has been amply covered. So, let\u2019s cover it going the other way.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even if Pettersson didn\u2019t have any points this year and was just throwing the body like he has been (his 20 hits are the second-most in the NHL), I\u2019d have been impressed by his effort. He\u2019s engaged. But to also have eight points (tied for fifth\u00a0in the league) along with 20 shots (tied for third in the league), and to be plus-three on the Canucks through five games is just not something I saw coming. <\/p>\n I\u2019d say the point here is less about the obvious question (can he sustain this?) and more about the epiphany that, hey, this elite player is still within Pettersson, which has to be encouraging for the Canucks.<\/p>\n The short pre-season and launching into the regular season has been just fine<\/p>\n Heading into the season, I thought the hockey was going to stink for a while. And, let’s be real, there has been some sloppy play. But as it turns out I, like most fans, do not care if these guys get into playoff-level order before playing competitive regular season hockey. What we want is all the stars playing, and everyone trying because of the stakes. Pre-season used to drag forever, only for teams to pick the same rosters they would\u2019ve anyway.<\/p>\n The mistakes have been plentiful, and it\u2019s probably been a nightmare to goaltend behind, but the new short pre-season and lengthened regular season also gave us something else great: regular season hockey in September. The start has been fantastic.<\/p>\n As long as the final tally of injuries doesn\u2019t come in much higher (with the lack of extra game-level reps), I think it\u2019s fair to say that the players have liked this better, and it\u2019s been an improvement for the fans. We\u2019re well under way, and Oct. 9 is usually right around the time the NHL’s regular season would’ve just been getting started before. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Part of the reason hockey media and fans alike make pre-season predictions is to establish a baseline for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":926949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-926948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926948","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=926948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}