5 NHL storylines to watch this week

The NHL begins its second week of play on Monday. Here’s what to look out for this week as the new hockey season gets rolling.

The newest hockey season is still in its infancy, as we’ve yet to complete a full week of NHL action. The rust continues to be shaken off of many teams, though a few of them — like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights — have already started the season with a full head of steam.

The start of a hockey season isn’t always an indicator of how a new year will go for teams and players, as the St. Louis Blues of last year can attest to. However, storylines are already being written about the 2019-20 NHL season, and here are the ones you need to watch out for this week as a new hockey season gets into full swing.

1. Will the San Jose Sharks get their first win of the season?

To say this start for the Sharks has been less than ideal would be a bit of an understatement. As a team many believed would challenge for the top of their division, San Jose has yet to notch a victory through their first three games of the season, sitting at fifth in the Pacific with games against the Nashville Predators, Chicago Blackhawks, and Calgary Flames upcoming this week.

The team missed star defenseman Erik Karlsson for the season opener due to the birth of his daughter as the Sharks ran into the buzzsaw that is the Golden Knights in their first two games, then got the door shut on them by John Gibson and the Anaheim Ducks in game three. Overall, the team looks disjointed offensively, highlighted by their dismal 0-for-14 power play that has yet to show some bite to it.

The Sharks’ goaltending tandem of Martin Jones and Aaron Dell also have yet to inspire confidence, as both net minders sit below a .900 save percentage to start the year. San Jose will have chances to collect themselves this week in their three games, but it might not be surprising to see them continue their winless streak if the team remains disjointed.

2. Are the Buffalo Sabres legit?

For the first time since the 2012-13 season, the Buffalo Sabres have won their first two games of the hockey calendar. Though it’s usually not major news when a team opens their season on a win streak, the Sabres have endured their fair share of hockey misery over the last handful of seasons.

The Sabres opened their season by besting the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 then crushed the New Jersey Devils in a 7-2 victory, putting them at second in the Atlantic Division. The team’s biggest surprise has been 34-year-old goaltender Carter Hutton, who has posted a .939 save percentage over his first two games of the season. Hutton is a career .913 save percentage goaltender in his eight-year NHL stint, and though it’s still early in the season, the netminder has been steady between the pipes for the Sabres.

Many considered this season to be another transition year for the Sabres, but with a young offensive core of Jack Eichel, Conor Sheary, and Jeff Skinner lighting up the scoresheet alongside Hutton’s steady play, the team may surprise this season.

3. Can Auston Matthews be stopped?

Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs have shot out to a 2-0-1 start to their 2019-20 NHL season, and the team looks to be as offensively potent as advertised. As of Sunday, the team leads in the NHL in goals (14) with Matthews himself having potted five of them to open the season as the league’s top goal scorer.

Matthews has lit up the score sheet so much in the first few days of the season, he’s even scoring more goals than some NHL teams have overall.

The Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad and Panthers’ Mike Hoffman aren’t far behind Matthews in the goal category to start the season, but the young Maple Leafs’ star could very well continue to light the lamp early and often.

4. Is John Gibson beginning a Vezina campaign?

The Ducks have begun their 2019-20 NHL season with two wins to start the new year, and both of those can be traced back to the play of goaltender John Gibson. The 26-year-old netminder has constantly flown under the radar as a solid goaltender in the NHL, and so far this season he’s been lights out for Anaheim.

In two games, Gibson has a .971 save percentage and has stopped 67 of 69 shots against to start the new season. Though holding the Arizona Coyotes to just one goal in their season opener isn’t a huge feat, Gibson allowed just one goal to the usually offensively stalwart Sharks in the Ducks’ second game of the season and had some incredible stops to keep Anaheim ahead late in the game.

While it’s still early in the season, Gibson is no doubt a goaltender to keep an eye on as award races start to heat up.

5. Wayne Simmonds returns to Philadelphia on Wednesday

Last season at the trade deadline, the Philadelphia Flyers traded veteran forward Wayne Simmonds to the Nashville Predators in a move to alleviate cap space. Now, Simmonds will face off against the Flyers on Wednesday in a new uniform, that of the New Jersey Devils, after the forward signed a one-year deal with Philadelphia’s Metropolitan Division rivals in the offseason.

Simmonds did not play against the Flyers last season after he was traded, as the Predators never played Philadelphia after the trade deadline. Now, for the first time since the 2011-12 season, the Flyers will be on opposing ends of the ice from Simmonds as the team welcomes him back to Philadelphia.

Despite moving to a division rival, Philadelphia still clearly loves Simmonds and his style of hockey that meshed well with the Flyers for the last eight years.