(Big) Bad Bruins, Punchless Preds, and the biggest NHL storylines to watch in November

Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Last year on Nov. 3, the 6-4 Ducks had a comfortable lead on the Oilers in the Pacific Division, the L.A. Kings had the league’s second-best scoring offense, and Jack Hughes was on pace for 164 points. So no, it’s not quite time to change your Stanley Cup picks or take the value on Stefan Noesen’s MVP odds.

Still, as flashes in the pan like Utah Hockey Club fall back to earth and perennial contenders like the Maple Leafs shake off slow starts, it’s hard not to notice that some trends are sticking around, perhaps for good. After losses in five of their last seven, could the Boston Bruins really be this bad? Is it time to upgrade the Washington Capitals from “fast starters” to Division title contenders? Can the Winnipeg Jets keep up their supersonic pace? Read on for full breakdowns of these questions and other storylines to watch throughout the second month of the season.

Is the Boston Bruins’ 20-year run of dominance finally over?

These days, the “Big Bad Bruins” moniker is appropriate for all the wrong reasons. They’re big alright, the tallest, heaviest roster in the NHL on average. They’re certainly bad, too, but not like the Michael Jackson song, just legitimately bad. After the Bruins broke up a three-game losing streak in Toronto (naturally), they came up empty against the scuffling Philadelphia Flyers before suffering an 8-2 humiliation at the hands of the ever-dangerous Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday to drop their record to 4-6-1.

Depth was supposed to be an issue for the capped-out B’s, but the checking line of Johnny Beecher, Mark Kastelic, and Cole Koepke is their only unit that seems to know there’s a season going on. Top-of-the-lineup staples like Brandon Carlo (41.25% of expected goals), Charlie Coyle (1 G, -9 in 12 GP), and even Charlie McAvoy (44.78% of high-danger chances) are struggling. Discipline is nonexistent (league-high 67 penalties), and the lineup is constantly in flux as coach Jim Montgomery scrambles for a winning combination. Perhaps the unkindest cut of all is how poorly star goaltender Jeremy Swayman has played (3-4-1, .884 SV%) after holding the organization hostage all offseason.

A badly needed 3-0 victory in Philadelphia on Saturday probably bought Montgomery some time, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he eventually becomes a scapegoat for GM Don Sweeney’s commitment to a slow, plodding, and, worst-of-all, soft lineup. The once proud Bruins are hopelessly lost, and their play through a month has left plenty of offseason prognosticators eating their optimistic words.

Are the 10-1 Winnipeg Jets the real deal?

The Winnipeg Jets pace the Central Division after 10 wins in 11 games, and a glance at the standings suggests they’re an absolute juggernaut. Their points total is the best in the league, as is their goal difference (22), and their special teams have improved by leaps and bounds. The PK, a glaring weakness last season (77.1%), has surged above 80% and into the top 15. The power play, the eleventh worst in 2023-24 (18.8%), is cashing in at a ridiculous 45% clip.

It should be time to get excited in Manitoba, but are the Jets of 2024-25 really better than the team that got embarrassed by the Avalanche in last year’s playoffs? They have many of the same strengths, including reigning Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck and captain Adam Lowry’s all-world checking line with Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter. Those X-factors and Winnipeg’s suddenly effective special teams play have won plenty of games in the early going, but there are still plenty of weaknesses for Hellebuyck to cover up.

The talented top unit of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Villardi doesn’t drive play at 5-on-5 (outscored 6-9, outshot 70-86). Top defenseman Josh Morrissey hasn’t either this season; he and Dylan DeMelo are in the bottom 10 of full-time defense pairs in expected goal share (41.72%). There’s no creativity at the center position beyond Scheifele, and the team’s defensive depth only stretches as far as Neal Pionk’s hot streak (13 P in 10 GP) can take it. Hellebuyck is dominant as ever (2.12 GAA, .923 SV%), and Connor (9 G, 18 P in 11 GP) is leading the line for a lethal power play, but there are too many red flags everywhere else to buy into the fast-starting Jets just yet.

The Evil Empire is alive and well in Las Vegas.

When the Vegas Golden Knights improbably reached the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, they were a lovable band of misfits who captivated the sporting world. The Knights are anything but lovable these days. No other team is as ruthless in its treatment of expensive veterans or as dogged in pursuit of new stars, and Vegas has a stacked roster and a Stanley Cup to show for it. After a down season in 2023-24, the team everyone loves to hate looks ready to return to the summit in 2025.

The blueline from the 2023 championship team is still intact save for 37-year-old Alec Martinez, whose replacement by dynamic puck mover Noah Hanifin on Alex Pietrangelo’s left side was a clear upgrade. William Karlsson, back healthy and playing great (5 P, +5 in 4 GP), is only the team’s third option at center behind Tomas Hertl and Jack Eichel. Spending all that money down the middle was supposed to hurt the Golden Knights’ depth at wing, but with captain Mark Stone on a tear (20 P in 12 GP) and Pavel Dorofeyev (7 G, 10 P in 12 GP) crushing it in an expanded role, the flanks are looking just fine.

The Knights are dangerous everywhere, and it’s shown on the scoreboard: Vegas has four or more goals in eight of its 12 games this season. They will be rightfully concerned that they lost those other four games, but with Bruce Cassidy behind the bench, it’s only a matter of time before they tighten up on ‘D.’ If Adin Hill can right the ship in goal (3.15 GAA, .874 SV%), the Golden Knights will take some stopping in the Western Conference.

The Capitals are more than Ovechkin’s record chase.

As the Washington Capitals have fallen out of contention since their 2018 Stanley Cup triumph, it has become increasingly realistic that captain Alex Ovechkin could surpass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s career leader in goals. The Caps put off a rebuild to avoid reducing Ovechkin’s pursuit of the record to a farce, but they weren’t going to get any closer to a second Cup with their stars wading into their mid-to-late 30s. Tired of the team’s gradual decline, erstwhile GM Brian MacLellan pulled off high-risk, high-reward moves to recruit talented but distressed assets like Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jakob Chychrun over the summer. So far, they’re paying off.

Dubois has found his groove as the center of Washington’s hulking second line between Connor McMichael (7 G, 12 P in 10 GP) and power forward Tom Wilson (6 G, 32 hits in 10 GP). The Quebecois pivot isn’t lighting up the box score, but his line is tilting the ice for Washington and controlling more than 64% of expected goals. The top unit has been just as impressive; Dylan Strome (4 G, 16 P) is once again pacing the club in scoring between young Belarusian Aliaksei Protas (4 G, 11 P) and Ovechkin (6 G, 13 P). With team legend John Carlson and Martin Fehervary (75.86% of high-danger chances as a pair) leading the way on the blueline despite injuries to Chychrun and Matt Roy, the Capitals will be deeper than they’ve been since ‘18 once they get healthy.

The proof is in Washington’s 8-2 record, which put them in the Metropolitan Division lead ahead of an important contest with the Hurricanes Sunday afternoon. Having already knocked off the Stars, the Rangers, and the Golden Knights, the Caps have ambitions beyond getting Ovechkin to goal No. 895.

Was Barry Trotz’s offseason shopping spree too much, too soon for the Predators?

If Nashville Predators GM Barry Trotz’s signings from the summer of 2023 (Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, and Gustav Nyquist) were supposed to keep the Preds relevant while they developed younger players, his moves last summer sent a different message. He didn’t sign Steve Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei to see the Predators through a competitive rebuild. They want to win, and they have what’s left of 34-year-old superstar Roman Josi’s prime to do it.

That plan isn’t off to a great start for the NHL’s third-oldest roster. An 0-5 start put the Preds under a microscope, and though they’ve rallied back to 4-6-1, there are some glaring issues. Four points in his last three games have brought Stamkos’s season total to just five, and he’s yet to find any chemistry with his linemates at even strength. Skjei and Josi, both puck-dominant players, have struggled to coexist, and opponents are outscoring them 6-1 at five-on-five. Goaltender Juuse Saros got his long-awaited contract extension, but the peace of mind hasn’t improved his game (.900 SV%).

There are reasons to believe the Preds can still turn it around. They’ve shown the ability to get hot for long stretches under coach Andrew Brunette, and the top line of Filip Forsberg, O’Reilly, and Nyquist still has electric chemistry. Their PDO (shooting % + SV%) is the third-worst of any team, and with snipers like Stamkos and Forsberg on board and Saros in goal, that will self-correct at some point. Still, this isn’t the start anyone expected when Trotz started giving away money like he was the Monopoly Man, and many of these players are signed until they’re 37 or older. If they’re not clicking now, why should they as they age out of their primes?

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