It’s a scary time of year. Haunted houses and horror movies abound, but perhaps most terrifying is the sight of kids full of sugar after a night of trick-or-treating.
There are reasons for some NHL squads to be scared, too. Every off-season plan looks perfect in September, but come Halloween, you start to realize things aren’t going exactly as planned.
Inevitable injuries, lines not clicking the way teams envisioned or holes in the roster not able to be filled are all issues different general mangers are trying to solve for around the league. It’s getting close to the time where teams may have to take action in order to improve their situation where they can.
Let’s look at four teams and why they have a reason to be scared right now.
Minnesota Wild – No contract extension for Quinn Hughes yet
We’re just a couple of days away from November and Quinn Hughes is still without a contract extension. Maybe there’s no reason to panic and he and Bill Guerin will work something out, but every day that goes by without an extension brings Hughes that much closer to free agency.
It sounds like the Wild are willing to give Hughes a max deal for whatever term he wishes, so you’d think the ball is in his court at this point. In other words, if he wanted to extend in Minnesota, wouldn’t he have done so by now? We also know that playing with his brothers is very important to Hughes and both Jack and Luke currently play for the New Jersey Devils. They just traded for Connor Hellebuyck as well, who is a friend and teammate of Hughes from the American Olympic team. A move to New Jersey has to be very tempting for Hughes — and he would be free to do so in eight months if everything remains status quo.
What’s interesting from the Wild’s perspective is that Hughes doesn’t have any trade protection. Theoretically, Guerin could move Hughes if he doesn’t think he can ink him to a contract extension. If you listen to the Wild GM's latest comments on the subject, an imminent deal doesn’t sound promising. It would be a bold move, but Minnesota wouldn’t want to lose him for nothing and Hughes would return the Wild a haul, even as a rental, helping them recoup some of the assets they gave up to acquire Hughes in the first place. But the Wild also have Stanley Cup aspirations. Trading Hughes would severely hurt their chances. The whole situation has to be a bit worrisome for Minnesota, any way you slice it.
Toronto Maple Leafs — Chris Tanev’s health
There are two distinct versions of the Toronto Maple Leafs: one with a healthy Chris Tanev, and one without him. The former has been very infrequent over the past year.
Tanev played in just 11 games last season and has only skated in six so far this season. The current ailment that has him sidelined came on what looked like a pretty innocuous collision, so concerns about durability for the soon-to-be 37-year-old are very real. What makes this more problematic for the Maple Leafs is how critical Tanev is to the entire makeup of the blue line. Darren Raddysh has been forced to play almost 24 minutes a night, Jake McCabe looks like a different player without Tanev, Morgan Rielly and Troy Stecher have taken on added responsibility and it forces someone like Dakota Mermis into the lineup. There’s also the matter of Sergei Bobrovsky, who has struggled of late — having Tanev back would go a long way in limiting the quality chances the Leafs netminder sees.
Everyone has done an admirable job with Tanev out, but an upcoming homestand is daunting. Utah, Montreal, New Jersey, Colorado, Minnesota and Edmonton are on deck and even though it sounds like Tanev is close to returning, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to believe he won’t miss more significant time as the season goes on. Even with him in the lineup, the Leafs defence corps was probably missing a top-four piece. Now, John Chayka has to decide how to proceed with only minimal assets available to make a move.
The promising Ben Danford could eventually get a call-up to help and the Leafs have done a good enough job to where Chayka doesn’t have to make a panicked move immediately, but it really does feel like Toronto’s ceiling this season is tied to Tanev’s health.
Chicago Blackhawks — Lack of support for Connor Bedard
The past six seasons have looked very similar for the Chicago Blackhawks and this one is feeling no different. Chicago’s rebuild can’t really get off the ground as the Blackhawks enter another year with little support for Connor Bedard. Only the Vancouver Canucks have fewer points than Chicago entering Friday's action.
Bedard has been his usual self with seven points in seven games, but very few other Blackhawks players are making an impact. Among all Chicago skaters other than Bedard, only Patrick Kane is on pace for more than 50 points and he’s only trending for 52. Kane is also a team-worst minus-15 and his two-year contract with an $8 million AAV remains a very curious decision for the Blackhawks. Obviously, there's a nostalgia factor where Kane is concerned and it’s a great story, but there were probably better places to use that cap space than on a soon-to-be 38-year-old forward who lacks foot speed. Even if there was no one to spend it on this summer, saving that money to try for a more impactful move in-season may have been the smarter strategy.
Chicago’s other big move from the summer was bringing in Bowen Byram. He’s an important piece, though it cost the Blackhawks the fourth-overall pick and even though he may help move the puck up to Bedard, Byram can only aid the Chicago superstar so much from the blue line.
It’s not like the Blackhawks don’t have talented young players, but it may be a while before the likes of Anton Frondell, Frank Nazar, Roman Kantserov, Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov really start making an impact. Bedard needs an established and talented NHL player or two to make a difference sooner rather than later. This is Year 4 for Bedard and he’s never known anything else other than last place in the Central Division. That’s not ideal and there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Calgary Flames — Dustin Wolf’s slow start
Lost in the shuffle in Devin Cooley’s strong play and the fact that he’s become the most interesting interview in the world has been the play of Dustin Wolf. The Calgary Flames netminder owns an .839 save percentage through six games and has essentially lost the net to Cooley. He also sits 70th out of 71 qualified goalies in goals saved above expected.
You could point to the fact that the Flames are one of the weaker teams in the league and that's impacting Wolf’s numbers, but Cooley seemed to be thriving in the same situation before he was injured Wednesday. Cooley’s success is all well and good for Calgary in the short-term, though Wolf just started a significant contract for a goaltender which has seven years remaining worth $7.5 million per season. If Wolf can’t find his game again, that contract is going to be a huge problem.
To be fair, Wolf’s numbers this season have come in a very small sample size and he did post a .910 save percentage two years ago. There’s a chance he could regain his form with a stronger team in front of him. Still, goalies are unpredictable and Wolf signed his contract with only 71 NHL games under his belt. The Flames must be at least slightly concerned about where Wolf’s game is at right now.
