Early NHL Season Takeaways: 4 Things That Already Stand Out

Yes, it’s only been a week of hockey. And sure, five games might feel like too small a sample to start reading tea leaves.

But here’s the thing about the NHL’s opening stretch—it often tells you more than it should. Teams don’t build new identities overnight, and the habits that show up in Week 1? They tend to stick around. The same goes for the rookies who already look NHL-ready, or the contenders who already look bored with regular-season formality.

It’s early, yes. But it’s not meaningless.

So here are four early-season takeaways from Week 1 of the NHL season—what’s already real, what might hold, and what it’s quietly telling us about the months ahead.

Takeaway #1: Last Year’s Bottom Dwellers? Still Awful.

Remember all those preseason hype pieces about “fresh starts” and “new systems”? Yeah, about that. It turns out the Rangers and Sabres are in a heated race to see who can disappoint their fanbase faster—and so far, it’s neck-and-neck.

New York Rangers: Shutout Streaks and Shut-Down Hopes

Let’s start with the Rangers. Right now, MSG isn’t a home-ice advantage—it’s an offensive sinkhole. They’ve opened the season with three straight home shutouts—a feat that’s literally never happened in NHL history. Not during the expansion era, the Dead Puck Era, or even the chaos of the ‘70s. 

Let me repeat that. The Rangers just became the first team in NHL history to be shut out in their first three home games. Yes, ever.

Mike Sullivan was supposed to bring that hard-nosed defensive structure from Pittsburgh. And to be fair, he did—he just accidentally installed it in front of the opposing net. Zibanejad summed it up best when he said he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Rangers fans are leaning toward both.

Buffalo Sabres: Same Script, New Season

And then there’s Buffalo. The Sabres opened with a whimper: zero wins, two goals in three games, and fans tossing jerseys on the ice like they’re running a Christmas donation drive in October. Lindy Ruff is already calling out young guns like Jiri Kulich in public, which feels like a classic Sabres move—blame the kids while the veterans and front office keep reenacting the same slow-motion collapse they’ve perfected over 14 straight playoff misses.

Takeaway #2: The Elite Teams Are Showing No Offseason Rust

While the Rangers and Sabres spiral into early-season chaos, the NHL’s true contenders are skating like they’re in April form already. The gap between the Cup hopefuls and the hopeless? It’s not just wide—it’s sad.

Exhibit A – Colorado Avalanche

Colorado is 3-0-1 and playing like they’re speed-running back to the Finals.

• MacKinnon & Necas: 8 points each in 4 games
• 3 wins, 1 goal allowed total
• Scott Wedgewood (the backup!) is rocking a 1.72 GAA
• Cale Makar? Leading all defensemen in points—again. Just carve the Norris already.
  

What makes it different: Colorado isn’t just “good”—they’re dominant in every zone and they’re doing it without key starters fully healthy. That’s terrifying.

Exhibit B – Vegas Golden Knights

Vegas continues its patented strategy: acquire talent, plug it in, roll over the league.

• Mitch Marner: Already 6 points, +5
• 2-0-2 and leading the Pacific
• Jack Eichel is leading the league in points with 9 in 4 games

Their roster depth means every addition becomes a lethal weapon. Marner didn’t need time to adjust—he came in wired for Vegas speed.

Exhibit C – Carolina Hurricanes

No headlines. No drama. Just 3-0-0, a +7 differential, and the NHL’s smoothest penalty kill.

• Power play clicking at 21.4%
• Defensive play looks midseason sharp despite a key injury to Slavin
• Leading the Metro as expected

Carolina’s early-season form isn’t exciting, that’s for sure, but it’s terrifying in how boringly effective it is.

The early weeks of the NHL season are usually chaotic—rust, weird results, overreactions. But this year? The contenders didn’t come to warm up. They came ready to go out of the gates. While the bottom-tier teams scramble to find chemistry, Colorado, Vegas, and Carolina already look like they’re fine-tuning their inevitable Cup runs.

Takeaway #3: Islanders Fans Might Finally Have Something Real With Schaefer

Matthew Schaefer turned 18 last month. Just three games into his NHL career, he’s already the best defenseman on the Islanders’ roster—and it’s not even close.

The Isles are off to a familiar 0-3 stumble, but Schaefer’s skating like he missed the team memo that says, “We still suck.” He’s not just contributing—he’s carrying. With three points in three games, including 26:35 of ice time against Winnipeg, he’s already Patrick Roy’s go-to blueliner. (For comparison: Tony DeAngelo logged just 17:46 in that same game.)

His 2.6 points per 60 lead all Islanders defensemen. The next closest? Scott Mayfield at 1.2. And as for Pelech, Pulock, and Romanov? Zilch. Combined.

What Makes This Special

It’s not just the points. Schaefer’s playing like a fully-formed two-way defenseman, not a teenager on adrenaline. He’s winning board battles, initiating clean breakouts, and making the rest of the Islanders’ defense look pedestrian in comparison.

The Schaefer–Mayfield pairing has already become the team’s most effective D duo. That’s either a huge compliment to Schaefer… or a concerning indictment of New York’s blue-line depth. Realistically? Both.

Takeaway #4: Big Names Are Dropping Early—and It’s Already Shifting the Landscape

It didn’t take long—one week in, and depth charts are already getting shredded.

The defending champion Panthers are operating like a teaching hospital at this point. Florida opened the season already missing Aleksander Barkov (7–9 months, knee) and Matthew Tkachuk (out until December, torn adductor)—which is basically like starting a road trip with your engine and transmission both in the shop.

Now, add Dmitry Kulikov, who just went down with a shoulder injury that’ll sideline him until March. That the Panthers are still leading their division while missing three of their top players is either a testament to their depth… or an indictment of how soft the Atlantic looks right now.

But Florida’s not the only team going through it. 

The Senators just took a big hit: Brady Tkachuk’s wrist injury may require surgery and could sideline him for up to two months. For a team that was supposed to finally break through this year, losing your captain and emotional leader in Week 1 is the kind of thing that turns “playoff push” into “draft lottery position” real quick.

The casualty list keeps growing across the league:

• Buffalo’s Josh Norris: Out indefinitely with another oblique issue—his fifth significant injury in five seasons
• Rangers’ Vincent Trocheck: LTIR until at least November, ending a 248-game ironman streak
• Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin: Questionable status right before a six-game road trip. He’s out at least a week or two.
• Kings’ Corey Perry: 6-8 weeks after knee surgery, before the season even started
• Jets’ Cole Perfetti: Week-to-week with an ankle injury from a routine hit

The salary cap has created a league where everyone’s one injury away from disaster, and we’re watching it happen in real time. Teams that spent all summer fine-tuning their lineups are now calling up guys whose names their own fans can’t pronounce. The difference between playoff contention and lottery positioning might have already been decided by who got hurt in October rather than who plays well in March. Welcome to modern NHL hockey, where your training staff might be more important than your coaching staff.

It’s still early, and plenty will change between now and the next time anyone checks the standings in 4 weeks. But Week 1 has already offered more than just noise—it’s exposed cracks, confirmed strengths, and introduced storylines that are likely to stick. If this is how the season starts, the rest of it should be anything but boring.