good morning!
It’s finally October, which means it’s time for [ice] hockey season in [North] America.
This is an exciting NHL season. We have the 50th anniversary of the Wasihngton Capitals (as seen on a WMATA bus), the inaugural season of the Utah HockeyTeam and your most recent Stanley Cup Champions: the Florida Panthers.
Tuesday’s action begins with a triple-header. First we have the St Louis Blues against the Seattle Kraken, followed by Bruins-Panthers and closing it out with Blackhawks-Utah. That’s right - two expansion teams in one night. Can you handle it?
I’m not sure which sports outlet to cite for with preseason predictions, so I’m going with four: ESPN. Sportsnet, Daily Faceoff and Deadspin.
On average, your hoddler-in-chief’s beloved San Jose Sharks are projected to finish 32nd in the league. That’s right - all four outlets projected the Sharks to finish dead last.
That puts them right back where they were when the 2023-24 season ended: 32nd. Ended at the bottom. Started at the bottom. Now we’re here. At the bottom.
The Sharks have been bottom-dwellers for years now. They haven’t been competitive since the 2018-19 season. I remember that season well. I thought once the Sharks beat the Vegas Golden Knights that the Stanley Cup would be theirs.
Instead, the Sharks failed to reach the finals. A few years later it was the Golden Knights hoisting Lord Stanley, while the Sharks were dealing with one of their worst-ever seasons.
This team is practically unrecognisable from the 2018-19 squad. Only Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Logan Couture remain (Barclay Goodrow doesn’t count because he’s returned from the NY Rangers).
There’s not much hope for the Sharks this year unless you count the lottery. So I’m not really sure why I’ll bother watching them, and will almost be thankful they exist on the other side of the country.
I guess we should be excited about the additions of Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, but the fruits of those additions likely will not appear until much later.
It’s going to be a long, long season. But hey, I’m gonna tune in anyways.
Fitzie’s track of the day: September Gurls, by Big Star
And now for your links:
Dan KP: Ange Postecoglou has his ‘Antonio Conte moment’ but there’s a difference
Alasdair Gold’s Tottenham loanee roundup
Jack P-B ($$): Were Tottenham punished by mistakes or is Angeball ‘inherently fragile’?
Harry Kane given green light to play for England