In Red Wings Land

Down Goes Brown: Five NHL teams who could be this year’s Avalanche – Sportsnet.ca
Since there’s no real Red Wings news today, here’s an article that mentions the Red Wings! Good! But it’s about how they are one of the teams that could be this year’s Avalanche! Bad! But the article is interesting! Good! But it again illustrates the team’s problems! Bad!

And that’s why it’s somewhat jarring to remember that one year ago today, nobody thought the Avalanche would be all that bad. We weren’t exactly calling them a Cup contender, but they were coming off an 82-point season in 2015–16, good enough to finish ahead of eight teams and to tie them with the Montreal Canadiens. Oddsmakers were expecting them to finish a few points over .500, and had them ranked ahead of eventual playoff teams like the Blue Jackets, Senators and Maple Leafs.

And then it all went horribly wrong. But not many of us saw it coming until it was too late. So today, let’s ask the question: Could any of the current middle-of-the-pack teams be this year’s Avalanche?

Around the NHL

Capitals a prime candidate to take a step backwards – Article – TSN

At this point, the Washington Capitals not winning a Stanley Cup in the Ovechkin era is going to be one of the hardest to believe stories for future generations. Travis Yost takes a closer look at the Capitals and how (if?) they can take another run at the Cup this season.

One of the things that I’ve been thinking about this off-season is how the Washington Capitals will follow up last year’s incredible season.

Incredible at least until the playoffs began. Which, of course, is the story of the Capitals in the modern era. There’s no better way to illustrate their dominance (and postseason futility) then reminding everyone that Washington owns the three best regular seasons by points accumulated in the modern era.