NHL—What’s Gone Wrong?
The NHL season has kicked off with a bang, but four teams have found themselves on thin ice.
What happened to these four teams?
San Jose Sharks (2-7, 6th in Pacific Division)
The Sharks are coming off of three consecutive seasons under .500. Head coach Bill Boughner, who is partly responsible for the first and wholly responsible for the other two losing seasons, was fired after the 2021-22 season.
Former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn was then hired, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of success besides then.
While the Sharks haven’t had a great season, they’re doing better than some of the other teams on this list.
The Sharks picked up their first win in a 3-2 overtime win over Quinn’s former team and their second in a 3-0 shutout against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Defenseman Markus Nutivaara signed a one-year deal with the Sharks as a free agent in the offseason, but has yet to play in San Jose after a lower-body injury in training camp.
Without Nutivaara, the Sharks defense has to back up James Reimer in the goal. Defenseman Erik Karlsson leads the team with points (6), assists (3) and goals (3), but the rest of the team has yet to find ground and be productive.
Though they went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2016, they have yet to win it in 30 franchise seasons.
Anaheim Ducks (1-4, 7th in Pacific Division)
The Ducks seem to have been breaking up and quacking down after being in playoff contention for so long.
They had a huge offseason acquisition in free-agent center Ryan Strome after he had stints with both New York teams. With the Rangers, he had a career-high 21 goals in 74 games last season.
However, there hasn’t been a lot of high-scoring games so far this season for the Ducks.
Their only win came in a 5-4 overtime victory over the Seattle Kraken on Opening Night. Troy Terry scored the winning goal in under a minute into overtime, his second of the game, to secure the victory.
In 28 seasons, the Canucks have won the Stanley Cup once (2007).
Arizona Coyotes (2-4, 8th in Central Division)
Arizona is the other two-win team on this list, one over the Toronto Maple Leafs and the other over the Montreal Canadiens.
The Coyotes lead the league with 4.83 goals against per game and have scored relatively low in games. The winless Canucks shut them out in the preseason.
They have allowed the fourth most goals in the league, a testament to Connor Ingram and Karel Vejmelka.
The Coyotes really don’t have any star players on their roster, which is a problem if they want to compete in the Central Division with the Colorado Avalanche.
In 29 total seasons, they have never made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Vancouver Canucks (0-5, 8th in Pacific Division)
The Canucks are the only team in the league who have yet to win and have the worst record.
They’ve gone into two overtime games, one against Columbus and the other against the Minnesota Wild.
On Oct. 26, the team announced that forward Brock Boeser and center Curtis Lazar would be heading to the injured reserve.
There was no real definite reason behind the moves, but Boeser is recovering from surgery, and Lazar had injured his shoulder earlier in the week.
The Canucks don’t have a fanbase to back them up, either. They were booed off of Rogers Arena, and their fans threw jerseys onto the ice.
If there’s no support from the people they’re playing in front of, it’s going to be difficult for the Canucks to come back and thrive.
The Canucks have made the Stanley Cup Finals three times (1982, 1994, 2011) but have not won it.
Adrianna Gallucci is a first-year student majoring in journalism. To contact her, please email amg7989@psu.edu.
