[ad_2] The NHL curtain is raised for another season, as 30 teams chase the 2016-17 Stanley Cup. Across the league there are all kinds of changes and adjustments for fans, who will need to buy a program to catch up with new names now playing for their favorite team. The balance of power changes slowly in the NHL, so fans in Pittsburgh, San Jose, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York should be able to look forward to successful seasons. There are teams on the rise, including the Winnipeg Jets, Carolina Hurricanes and the Buffalo Sabres. Major trades mean tracking success and comparing in order to find out who won those big deals, and, of course, it all culminates in who makes the playoffs and who is on the outside in April. Here are the top storylines for the 2016-17 season. One of the hardest things to do in the modern NHL is repeat, and the Pittsburgh Penguins have a chance to do it in 2016-17. The last team to accomplish the feat was the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998, and the last time the Penguins had a chance was 2010 on the heels of its 2009 Stanley Cup win. Pittsburgh has a lot of positives, including exceptional depth in goal—the emerging Matt Murray and veteran Marc-Andre Fleury—and at center ice, where Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are the best tandem in the NHL. One of the key elements for the Penguins is the ability to ice three scoring lines, something that freed Phil Kessel during the playoffs and gave the team a massive edge on the San Jose Sharks in the finals. Great stories like Conor Sheary and Murray—impressive postseason contributors—will have a chance to make a mark during the regular season. There will be hurdles—Sidney Crosby's concussion issue as detailed by Luke Fox of Sportsnet being one—but general manager Jim Rutherford negotiated the rapids a year ago with all manner of difficulties and could do it again. If the Penguins win a second straight Stanley Cup, it will be the first back-to-back win of this century. Each year teams like the St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals and San Jose Sharks push toward the top of the standings. These teams have the look of Stanley Cup champions but fall short each time. The St. Louis Blues made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in each of the first three seasons of the team's existence, but they have not been back since. Several changes to the lineup this year have fans wondering if this is the right mix, and the impending free agency of Kevin Shattenkirk means this group may not be together next season. The Blues have a lot of talent, but getting out of the Central Division is the toughest challenge in the league. The Washington Capitals had a lot of good things happen during the season but lost in the second round to the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins. It is easy to overlook the real progress made by the team since the arrival of Barry Trotz as coach, but his record shows a major increase in regular-season success in year two with the team. As a new coach for Washington in 2014-15, the team won 45 games and increased the total to 56 last year. Alexander Ovechkin has more help now, and this could be the year Washington fans have been waiting for since 1974. Last season the Sharks came so close to winning the first championship in franchise history and could return again in 2016-17. Most of the team's roster is back, including key players like Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Can they get back to the finals with this group? If some of the team's young players can step up, it could happen. It was a crazy summer for trades, and there are fans in some cities who are still coming to grips with their favorite players being sent out of town. It takes time to get over it and to warm to the new player and his abilities, and this could take some or most of the season. The Montreal Canadiens traded wildly popular defender P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators for Shea Weber, an effective if less flamboyant player. For Nashville fans, the deal for a younger, flashier player is an easy sell, but in Montreal the sense of loss remains. A strong season from Weber—who is a substantial player, despite being older—should salve the wounds and offer hope. The Edmonton Oilers were a team badly out of balance year after year, boasting up-and-coming forwards taken high in the draft but lacking defensemen. A blockbuster deal sending Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson changed the roster balance but took the wind out of fans' sails, and there is still much pain in the stands. A strong start and a contending season should turn things around for Edmonton, and the Devils have a major piece in the effort to add offense to the team. Both clubs can benefit, and winning cures all. The last three times an NHL player has scored 50 goals in a season, the feat was accomplished by Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. Ovechkin has scored 50 goals or more seven times in his incredible career, and he is only 31. Only Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy have scored 50 or more goals more times in the game's history, and Ovechkin has done it in the last three seasons. How many more times can he score 50 goals? One of the things that informs scoring is total shots, and Ovechkin remains the gold standard in this era. He has led the NHL in shots on goal in each of his last four seasons and all but one season of his amazing career. The Washington Capitals have a chance to win the Stanley Cup, and Ovechkin's goals are a big driver of positive results for the franchise. If he can approach 400 shots again, 50 goals are likely. Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers scored over a point per game as an NHL rookie a year ago, but an injury midseason robbed him and the team of a step forward year over year. The Oilers improved by only seven wins in 2015-16 and remained one of the league's poorest teams. This year, Edmonton has an improved defense but will be relying on its young phenom after trading Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils. If healthy, and based on last season's performance, McDavid may push for the scoring title—and if that happens, the Oilers could end a long playoff drought. The last time the franchise made the postseason, it enjoyed a fabulous run to Game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals. There is plenty of work that needs to be done—Edmonton still lacks depth on the wings and a power-play quarterback. General manager Peter Chiarelli no doubt has the green light to make moves in-season to turn things north, and fans should expect a contending team—if not the playoffs. McDavid scored twice in leading Edmonton to victory in the team's first game this season. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a rebuilding phase—but that could change based on early results this season. In his first NHL game against the Ottawa Senators, Auston Matthews put his name in the record book as the first rookie in history to score four goals in his first NHL game. The young names emerging in Toronto—Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander—are some of the best prospects in the game. The club has been drafting high in recent years and also stockpiling talent via trade. This might mean the improvement comes more quickly than for other rebuilding teams, especially if goalie Frederik Andersen can solve the uneven situation at that position. The Maple Leafs are one of the game's most famous teams but haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967. Toronto fans have been very patient, and this could be the beginning of something very special for long-suffering fans of the team. This season is going to be unusual for NHL teams, as the coming expansion draft may dictate abnormal roster movements. Teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins—who have two No. 1 goalies—may decide to keep both men for the entire season in an effort to have expansion certainty. If the team protects one goalie, chances are the Las Vegas expansion team will be tempted to take the other, thereby allowing Pittsburgh to project the 2017-18 roster with some certainty. In the early stages of the year, when all teams are in the playoff race and projecting success, it is unlikely we will see unusual movements. However, as the playoffs near, we might see a building team trade a player who is likely to be unprotected in exchange for a player who fits the expansion list. One other thing the expansion draft could impact this season: Eligible prospects who might be good enough to get a cup of coffee—or a full chance—may spend the entire year in the AHL. An established club may feel it easier to hide a talented part of its future by keeping the player in the minors, obscuring the player for the season.
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