October 23, 2025 | 7:30pm ET
By Mike Cranwell, TheFourthPeriod.com

2025-26 BURNING QUESTIONS: PART 1

Alex Tuch & Bowen Byram

Hi everyone, thank you for clicking on this article to find out who the heck I am and what we’re talking about today. This is going to be the most absurd first article; there’s something for every NHL fan, and I hope you enjoy it.

Before we start, thank you to Dennis and David here at The Fourth Period for giving me the opportunity to write for them, I’m honored to have the opportunity to join the team here.

Today, we’re going to look at my early-season thoughts/burning questions for each team in the NHL. Some will be longer than others.

Anaheim: Do you know how rare it is to hear any news about Anaheim where I live? Unless you're searching for it, it takes a real effort. Not sure that speaks well to the NHL's marketing efforts, but I digress.

Everyone thinks Anaheim may take a big step forward this season, and everyone is losing their minds about what Leo Carlsson might do this season. I'm not there yet on either front, and both are very much connected.

Can Carlsson stay healthy? Yes, he's started hot this year, however six of his seven points as I type this came against San Jose, Pittsburgh and Nashville. Do his talents actually translate at the NHL level to a play-driving, point-producing first line center? Even if he can and they do, is that enough for this young team to make the playoffs?

Boston: Though understandably so, they're overrated, especially for what is being projected by most as a non-playoff team. Just because he plays with top-six players does not mean Pavel Zacha actually is one. He's a third liner on a contending team whose stat profile is elevated by playing with the likes of David Pastrnak.

Elias Lindholm made his reputation on one great year between a motivated Matthew Tkachuk and the late, great Johnny Goudreau (who was in his walk year), and has never come close to replicating that level since. The entire bottom-six is... not promising.

On defense, after Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, Boston has three 5th-6th D and the mystery that is Mason Lohrei. The top-end players will likely mean that they'll be a hard out most nights, and will win enough games to make management wonder up to the deadline. Ultimately though, they'll likely end up in the mushy middle, not get a great placing for their 2026 first-round pick, and waste a year of the peak years for Pastrnak, McAvoy, and Jeremy Swayman. 

Buffalo: You know, I’d originally written a shorter note here, however this one was rewritten, as frankly, Buffalo warrants a more thorough examination.

If Rhianna could change the lyrics of her 2012 hit "Pour It Up" to "Blow It Up," you may well have the theme song for this incarnation of the Buffalo Sabres.

I feel so, so awful for their fans. My first in-person NHL game was in Buffalo, so between that, the proximity to where I live, and how awful it is to see what this franchise goes through on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis, I have a soft spot for them.

With that said, this is still the NHL. Emotions and a buck-fifty will get you nothing but Ville Leino's autograph, so let's talk business.

In a micro sense, taking away two top-six forwards (J.J. Peterka and the Dylan Cozens/Josh Norris combo), only having Josh Doan on the ice to show for it, and having multiple injured goalies, it makes sense that the season would start poorly. From a macro perspective, with the fans chanting "Fire Kevyn" and players either looking disengaged or too angry this early in the season (I'm looking at you, Alex Tuch), something's got to give.

I'm probably more patient than the average NHL fan (or for that matter, General Manager, as I’m not managing a nine-figure business and answering to billionaires), so I would really like to see what a (largely) healthy lineup looks like once the main piece from the Peterka deal, Michael Kesselring, comes back from injury, to see if he can stabilize the defense. If he can, D-men like Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power can play to their potential, the goaltending is more likely to be at least league-average, which will allow young forwards like Jack Quinn (what a shot he has), Zach Benson (high-IQ player), Jiri Kulich, Doan and Peyton Krebs to continue to develop. If all of this happens, this Buffalo team has very real potential as early as this season.

If not... 14 years or not, where's the TNT? Because if this team can't do it now, then it may be that the culture is so poor that this incarnation is done. And if that's the case, does Gary Bettman quietly go to Sabres' owner Terry Pegula and whisper to him about potentially selling the team?

Calgary: It's not a matter of if, but when. The mushy middle is an uncomfortable place to be.

Carolina: Are they the San Jose of the 2020s, or will they be able to solve the playoff Rubicon?

Chicago: I feel so, so bad for Connor Bedard. The management team is wasting high draft picks by drafting for position and not the best available player (their analytics team will lose sleep over that once the players from these drafts hit 23–25 years old), and Bedard is being blamed by the same people who anointed him the next Connor McDavid for not being the next Connor McDavid. It's all ridiculous, and you can only hope that the Blackhawks are taking care of his personal development behind the scenes, otherwise this is a house of cards that will crumble in the next few years.

Colorado: When will they win again? For me there's always been an air of inevitability around this team. Nathan Mackinnon, Cale Makar, it has to happen again, right? Mackenzie Blackwood is likely the answer in goal – he sure has the tools – and the forward lines look their best since originally winning the Stanley Cup in 2022.

It's the defense that's the challenge. Father time is catching up to Brent Burns, as it is to Josh Manson. Ideally, this team is a 2nd pair, defensively sound RHD away from being at the top of the contender's list. Paging Calgary…

Columbus: Over time, emotions fade, so it was a real testament to the love and respect that both the Blue Jackets’ players and organization held for Johnny Gaudreau that they were able to be so incredibly motivated by their feelings for him all season. It was an incredible way to honour someone who by all accounts was an incredible human being.

So yes, there are questions about the young forwards (who will take the next step/will anyone level off/will Yegor Chinakhov be dealt and if so, will it bring back a top-4, RHD in return?), the defense (is it good enough?), and the goaltending (ugh). For me, the question is will Columbus be as motivated to honour Johnny Hockey as they were last year and be carried by that motivation. If they are, then the young players are likely to keep growing, and if Jet Greaves can be yet another six-feet-tall goalie who shows that you don’t have to be 6’3” or taller to play well in the NHL, then this could well be the season the Blue Jackets return to the playoffs.

Dallas: See: Carolina.

Detroit: Is it just me, or is the Yzerplan starting to feel like it's... working? It's crazy how good said plan looks when you stop playing guys like Justin Holl and Erik Gustafsson. Next stop: Can you buy out a player mid-season? If so, Ben Chiarot, you're up.

…

What's that, you can't? Okay, fine. Beat everyone to the punch, trade Chiarot and two assets to San Jose for Mario Ferraro, let him do a lower-grade version of what Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler did after leaving San Jose, and suddenly you've absolutely got a playoff team here. However, since that's not about to happen, shuffle the deck. Bump Simon Edvinsson up to the top pair with Moritz Seider, elevate Albert Johansson to the second pair, and shelter Chiarot on a third pair. Seider's game will improve (he always plays better with someone other than Chiarot as his partner), Edvinsson will be in this role sooner or later so give him a shot now, and, if you're going to give up more chances, you'd rather have it be against second lines with Johansson moving up than first lines because Chiarot can't handle them anymore.

Edmonton: At least, from what I'm reading and listening to, the Oilers are neither getting the respect they deserve for going to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, nor are any "experts" picking up on the idea that, with Florida losing Alexander Barkov long-term, Edmonton should indeed be the favourite to win this year. For anyone who's going to read that and yell "they'll be tired from going to back-to-back Finals", keep in mind that both Tampa Bay and Florida went to the Stanley Cup Finals in three consecutive seasons, both winning two titles.

Especially with the depth that Edmonton has, the "consistency is greatness" that is Leon Draisaitl and McDavid seemingly having activated his Nuclear Option mindset over the summer (which led to him pressing to score), goaltending or not, Edmonton still has a great chance to win this year, and I’ll say it now: Edmonton wins the Stanley Cup this season.

Florida: After starting off hot, the injuries have begun to catch up to them. So, let's put some perspective around those.

Matthew Tkachuk will be back before the Olympics and should be in game-shape for them, which will serve as the true launching point for his shortened season.

Dmitry Kulikov should be back early-to-mid March, which gives him the perfect amount of time to get in late-season game shape and playing at the speed necessary for the playoffs.

Aleksander Barkov was not put on SELTIR (season-ending long-term injured reserve, the fun new acronym introduced by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement). His timeline may well be a ruse, as most top athletes who have ACL tears surgically repaired can come back in under seven months.

If this team makes the playoffs, they may again have a full deck of cards to deal from, and arguably their two best forwards will have not gone through the grind of a full NHL season, which may be enough for the team to not tire as the playoff rounds go deeper. In other words, despite the injuries, they can win again.

Los Angeles: Three years ago, the Kings' defense looked like this:

Vladislav Gavrikov-Drew Doughty
Mikey Anderson-Matt Roy
Sean Durzi-Sean Walker

and youngster Brandt Clarke knocking at the door.

Today, it looks like this:

Anderson-Doughty
Joel Edmundson-Clarke
Brian Dumoulin-Cody Ceci

Clarke is still learning the game at this level, especially on the defensive side (though he's definitely improving). Edmundson left his first back in Washington and is playing with a loaner from Space-X. Ceci has always been a 3rd pair D, and last year upgraded to 4th-pair level. That's an upgrade, right? And Dumoulin left his ankle in Pittsburgh. (Aside: Do you think after all the battles between Washington and Pittsburgh that Edmundson and Dumoulin fight each other sometimes? They must not, because if they did it feels like Jake Paul would want to book that on one of his fight cards.)

Part of a General Manager's job has to be projection. LA’s GM three years ago, Rob Blake, is...no longer an NHL GM, and when looking at his 2023 defense, you can see why. That said, it doesn't take Eric Tulsky to know that signing Ceci and Dumoulin this summer was not a good idea. And with two wins in their first seven games, this one was easy to see coming.

L.A. may not have to worry about facing Edmonton in the playoffs again, because with this defense, it would not be a surprise if they don't make the playoffs at all. Anze Kopitar, in his final season, deserves better.

Minnesota: For the past few years, due to the pandemic and concurrent buyouts of Zach Parise (likely would have waited a year depending on the penalty difference) and Ryan Suter (definitely would have kept him two more years), the Wild have operated with a salary cap between $68-73M+. This year, they are – finally – largely out from under those buyouts, as they've gone from paying over $14.7M the previous two seasons to only $1.6M+ this year.

The optimistic view was always that once Bill Guerin got out from under (his own partially-created) salary cap issues, that Minnesota could add a couple of pieces and become a top contender. However, if you look at the Wild's roster this year vs the previous few seasons, it really looks the same. The unfairly maligned Marco Rossi got a raise, as did Jacob Middleton. Gustav Nyqvist and Marc-Andre Fleury have moved on, and the majority of the remaining extra money went in a trade for a once-great player, Vladimir Tarasenko – $4.75M, to be exact, for a player who scored 11 goals and 33 points in 80 games with Detroit last season, along with some analytics that make it clear he was a drag on the Red Wings last year. 

Check out the past several Wild teams, they all look the same. Instead of spending draft capital on a real improvement (Guerin easily could have put together a package to meet the three-asset ask for Bryan Rust from Pittsburgh, for example), Guerin took the low-hanging fruit, the freebee from Detroit, telling both his team and the fanbase that this is not the year. Same team over and over, no creativity, and getting destroyed in the Kirill Kaprizov contract negotiations... perhaps it's time for change in the Twin Cities.

Montreal: Do I think that Lane Hutson got sold a bill of goods in order to take less money and more term? Hard Yes. How is that contract not four years, even if only at $8 million per? Do I think that this type of salary cap management, if surrounded by the right secondary players and a quality goalie/tandem, is how you both win a Stanley Cup and set yourself up for a long Cup window? Hard Yes.

Nashville: There was a lot of excitement when Barry Trotz took over as GM. The moves two summers ago looked uneven. Steven Stamkos was a sniper, a winner, a leader, who at this stage was more of a power play driver and an increasing liability 5v5. Jonathan Marchessault was a winner, a sniper, a big game player who could add scoring to a soft top-six forward unit. Brady Skjei had evolved from a fleet-footed defensive liability in New York to maybe, potentially, a #1 D-level player in Carolina. Was it the player or the system? Trotz bet on the player, bet on all of these players. 

Watching some of the Nashville-Toronto game earlier this week, Stamkos was invisible 5v5 and nearly invisible on the powerplay. This was not the days of yore (the "days of yore" were as recent as 18 months ago) when Tampa's PP unit flowed from Nikita Kucherov on the right half-wall through to Stamkos on the left faceoff dot. 

Marchessault, the player brought in to shore up the secondary scoring in the top-6, was on a line with *checks notes* Erik Haula and Michael Bunting. To my eyes, that's a third line. PuckPedia also has it as a third line. To that point, Marchessault is playing 12:45 5v5 thus far, with a ton of powerplay time, though still less than 17 minutes per game. His expected goals for and relative Corsi (how the team plays with him on the ice vs without) are both a mess. HIs goals cut from 42 in his last year in Vegas to 21 last year in his first year with Nashville. He feels wasted there. 

Skjei can be summed up by a single play: Bo McMann takes a tip pass and drives his off-wing. Skjei partially blocks the shot... and then gives up on the play entirely. The puck goes back to McMann, who fires it short side as Justus Annunnen gets no justice from what should be his #2 D. 

Good enough is never good enough. These signings, this management team, the coaching... none of it is good enough.

New Jersey: Can we please get Jack Hughes a marketing deal with a kin tape manufacturer? Tape those shoulders up every night, stay healthy, break the 100-point barrier, use your speed in the playoffs and don't be afraid to drive to the net. If that happens, the domino effect will make Jersey a serious contender. And hey, who doesn't want to see J-Woww and Snooki watching some playoff hockey?

NY Islanders: I grew up in the era of players like Luke Richardson making the NHL immediately after being drafted, and not being properly developed (yes, he had a major injury, still wasn't developed properly). As such, I'm a fan of the model that teams like Detroit have, where they keep their young players in the AHL and let them over ripen, ensuring that when they come up, they're immediately effective NHL players. So, with that in mind, I absolutely would have sent Matthew Schaefer back to the OHL this year. He missed over half of last season and the playoffs, so give him a full season + leading Canada's World Juniors team + playoffs, get some of that missed development time, continue to mature, continue to deal with the loss of his mother. However, the business of hockey being what it is, and Schaefer's skating already being better than most of the world-class skaters in the NHL, he made the team. 

The Islanders have three wins and three losses thus far, Schaefer has seven points in those six games, and as the hockey axiom goes, has not looked out of place. Small sample size alert, his advanced stats look strong, and he's played 22-26 minutes in four of his last five games. Most 18-year-olds, while legally considered men, are still very much boys in grown bodies who have a world of learning to do. Adding learning how to play at the NHL level to that is too much for most young men. Schaefer certainly seems to not be the typical young man, as his particular circumstance has forced him to mature in ways that most his age do not. His particular journey this year may well be more interesting than that of the Isles themselves.

I’ll let you get back to your daily life, the rest of the league coming tomorrow, and yes, there are more thoughts coming.