By Steve Keating
TORONTO (Reuters) – Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard skates into the spotlight when a new NHL season begins on Tuesday as Alexander Ovechkin looks to close in on one of hockey’s treasured records and Canadians dream of an end to 30-year Stanley Cup drought.
The season launches on three fronts with the Vegas Golden Knights raising their first Stanley Cup championship banner before taking on the Seattle Kraken while the Tampa Bay Lightning host the Nashville Predators.
But the most anticipated contest of an opening night tripleheader will be the Blackhawks and Bedard in Pittsburgh to face the Penguins and the rookie’s childhood idol Sidney Crosby.
Not since Crosby was taken number one overall in the 2005 draft has there been as much buzz around the arrival of a player described as a once in a generation talent.
The Blackhawks, who finished 30th among 32 teams last season, hit the jackpot when they won the draft lottery and used it to claim the dynamic 18-year-old forward, who is projected to become the franchise cornerstone.
To make sure Bedard is not crushed under the weight of expectations the Blackhawks acquired two former league most valuable players in Taylor Hall, the 2018 MVP and Corey Perry 2011 MVP to share the load and provide veteran leadership.
At 36-years-old Crosby is now “Sid the Kid” in name only but heads into the season as motivated as ever and looking to add a fourth Stanley Cup to a resume that includes two Olympic gold medals.
With an aging core and their championship window closing the Penguins signalled they will be all in acquiring Erik Karlsson, the Norris Trophy winner last season as the NHL’s top defenseman.
Bedard may be the future and Crosby’s best years in the past making Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid the man of the moment as the NHL’s undisputed top player.
McDavid has three Hart trophies as NHL MVP, including last season, five Art Ross trophies that go to the NHL scoring champion and the Rocket Richard trophy as last season’s leading goal scorer but getting his name on the Stanley Cup has eluded him.
CUP FAVOURITES
But odds makers are tipping McDavid and the Oilers, who were eliminated from the playoffs the last two seasons by teams that went on to win the Stanley Cup, to take care of that business with Edmonton ranked among the Cup favourites along with the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs.
An Edmonton or Toronto win would end what has been a humbling 30-year Stanley Cup drought for hockey obsessed Canadians.
Not since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993 has a Canada-based franchise hoisted Lord Stanley’s mug and only once in the last 12 seasons has there even been a Canadian team in the finals.
Few fans in any North American sport have suffered more disappointment than the Maple Leafs who have gone 56 years without a championship.
An Original Six franchise playing in hockey’s most fanatical market, the Leafs have been a business success routinely finishing at or near the top of Forbes rankings of most valuable NHL properties.
On the ice the team has been an utter failure, last season winning their first playoff series in 19 years before meekly exiting in the next round.
But this season many see the Leafs, led by Auston Matthews, the NHL’s top goal scorer during the 2020 and 2021 campaigns, as the best in the Eastern conference.
When it comes to scoring goals few players are more dangerous – in fact there is only one – than Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin.
Nine times Ovechkin has won the Rocket Richard trophy to put the Russian within sight of one of the NHL’s most coveted records the all-time goal scoring mark held by the Great One Wayne Gretzky.
Sitting second on the all-time list 72 goals behind Gretzky’s 894, Ovechkin will not get the record this season (he scored 42 last campaign) but barring injury the Great 8 should sit on the brink of history next season.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, Editing by Ed Osmond)
