This Week in the NHL: Hall of Fame welcomes Class of 2023
So many games. So little time. What should you focus your NHL hockey fandom on if your favorite team’s games don’t scratch the itch enough?
Welcome to This Week in the NHL. From now until April, we’ll lay out a collection of key games, events and deadlines to watch on the league calendar each week.
So what’s on tap for Nov. 13–19?
Nov. 13: Hall of Fame welcomes Class of 2023
Monday marks induction night for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023. If there’s an overarching theme for this group, it’s the overlooked and forgotten.
Well, sort of. Henrik Lundqvist was not overlooked. Arguably the best goalie of his generation, the handsomest player in NHL history gets the Hall call on his first ballot. Caroline Ouellette was passed over once but it was only a matter of time for her, too, given she has one of the most decorated resumes of any women’s player ever.
But it was a surprise when Tom Barrasso, Mike Vernon and Pierre Turgeon got their calls. Barrasso arguably had the credentials long ago, including a Vezina and Calder Trophy and multiple Stanley Cups, but many assumed he was snubbed because of a prickly relationship with the media during his career. Vernon was a consummate winner, backstopping two different franchise to Cups, while Turgeon had easily the most career points of any eligible player not in the Hall of Fame with 1,327, albeit he collected many of them when scoring was abundant.
In the builder category: Ken Hitchcock, who won a 1999 Stanley Cup and retired from coaching at fourth on the wins list, gets in. So does the late Pierre Lacroix, architect of the dominant Colorado Avalanche teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s as GM.
Nov. 14: Kyle Okposo’s 1,000th game
Boston Bruins @ Buffalo Sabres, 7:00 p.m. ET
Okposo’s career trajectory has been fascinating to watch. He was a first-round pick, a marquee scorer for the New York Islanders, a splashy signing for the Sabres, a bust, a tragic figure fighting concussions and then…a leader, a crucial voice in Buffalo’s dressing room a captain, an inspiring comeback story. The fact that Okposo made it to 1,000 games when his career appeared to be in danger half a decade go is awesome – and worth celebrating.
Nov. 15: Central Scouting Updates Players to Watch List
A few weeks after releasing its initial list of 2024 NHL Draft Prospects, Central Scouting supplies an update. Quick refresher: prospects projected for first-round status earn ‘A’ grades; projected second- and third-rounders earn ‘B’ grades; ‘C’ grades go to kids expected to go in rounds four to six; and prospects who haven’t played enough this season to be categorized due to injuries earn Limited Viewing (LV) status.
Nov. 15: Bo Horvat returns to Vancouver
New York Islanders @ Vancouver Canucks, 10:00 p.m ET
What kind of welcome will the Canucks former captain get? During their unforgettably tumultuous 2022-23 campaign, they couldn’t come to terms on an extension and shipped Horvat to the New York Islanders in a blockbuster deal, netting Vancouver, among other things, a first-round pick that they flipped for now-flourishing top-pair defenseman Filip Hronek. Horvat was scoring at better than a 60-goal pace at one point last year with Vancouver. As an Islander, he has struggled to find the net, scoring just xxx times in xxx regular-season games dating back to last season.
Nov. 16-19: NHL Global Series takes over Stockholm
For the first time ever at a location outside North America the NHL will host games four days in a row. The slate for this week at Stockholm’s Avicii Arena:
Thursday, Nov. 16: Detroit at Ottawa (2:00 p.m. ET)
Friday, Nov. 17: Toronto at Detroit (2:00 p.m. ET)
Saturday, Nov. 18: Minnesota at Ottawa (11:00 a.m. ET)
Sunday, Nov. 19: Toronto at Minnesota (8:00 a.m. ET)
_____
