After a very long awaited summer, once those leaves start to fall off and fall starts to come, that’s not the only thing starting to happen. In the NHL the season is just about to kick off. With preseason games starting on Saturday, September 25th, with 4 different teams playing and more and more teams playing every day after that. With the Toronto Maple Leafs getting the very first win of the preseason against the Montreal Canadians with a score of 4-1, it has set high hopes for that team for the start of their season. Also on the same day, The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild with a score of 6-2 also setting off high hopes for that team’s start of season. 

With the new expansion team popping up in the west, the Seattle Kraken made their debut on Sunday, September 26th against the Vancouver Canucks who will probably be that teams main rivalry throughout the season because of the little distance between the two teams. The Kraken defeated the Canucks with a score of 5-3 which really set the tone for the Seattle fans for their first franchise win ever against any NHL team. This Seattle team is the newest addition to the league with the last new team being added in June of 2016. 

This year, many young players are entering the league this year with a huge number of players being selected in the NHL draft at the end of July. The first round, first overall pick went to the Buffalo Sabres, and they chose Owen Power (Canada). The first round second overall pick went to the new Seattle Kraken and they chose Matty Beniers (USA). Both Owen Power and Matty Beniers will be playing for the University of Michigan before they’ll be joining the professionals in the NHL.