Preseason kicked off the NHL on Sept. 25 and came to a close on Oct. 9 and gave a peek into what’s coming for the rest of the season.
Coming from a shortened season last year due to Covid the rules for preseason bent a little this year for the same reason. A rule that is usually followed is that every team has to play no less than 6 games and no more than 8 throughout the course of preseason.
Though this year teams were wary of traveling due to Covid and were left to schedule their own games leaving teams like the San Jose Sharks, New York Islanders, and New Jersey Devils to only play 5 games and Carolina Hurricanes to only play 4 over the course of preseason.
From what it looks like there is not going to be any form of a penalty from the league for the teams that played under the required number of games.
The standings for the NHL Eastern Conference including the Atlantic and the Metropolitan divisions and the NHL Western Conferencing including the Central and Pacific divisions are in.
In the Atlantic division, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in the lead winning 5 of the 6 games they played, scoring a total of 23 goals.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are leading the Metropolitan division scoring 28 goals and winning half of the games they played.
In the Central division, the Arizona Coyotes are leading with wins from 5 of the 6 games they played and scoring a total of 20 goals.
The Edmonton Oilers are leading the Pacific division with 6 wins from the 8 games they played, totaling up 26 goals.
As for individual players, left wing Brendan Perlini from the Detroit Red Wings is leading the league with the number of goals scored, he scored a total of 6 throughout preseason. Right wing Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Columbus Blue Jackets is following close behind with 5 goals scored.
Right Wing for the Minnesota Wild Mats Zuccarello is leading with number of assists totaling up 7.
Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid is currently leading with number of points being at 9.
Throughout the course of preseason, many players were hurt from large injuries.
One of the largest and most talked about injuries was during the Washington Capitals last game on Oct. 8 where forward Alex Ovechkin faced a lower body injury from a collision with a competitor on the Philadelphia Flyers.
Brock Boeser who was leading the Vancouver Canucks in goals and points during the 2020-21 season got injured with 4 more preseason games for the Canucks, and was out for the rest of preseason, but it does look like he will be back in games very soon.
On Oct. 7 the Montreal Canadians played the Ottawa Senators where Canadians player Sami Niku was struck in the face and developed a concussion, he has not played since, though the amount of time he will be out has not been disclosed yet.
