(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)
This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on this collectibles blog and my personal one, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.
Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a couple of weeks, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.
Key exits: Ross Colton (C), Jack Drury (C), Valeri Nichushkin (RW), Alex Barré-Boulet (C), Jack Ahcan (D), Ivan Ivan (C), Isak Posch (G), Chase Bradley (RW), Joel Kiviranta (LW), Nick Blankenburg (D), Jason Polin (RW)
Top prospects: Egor Shilov (C, 18), Ilya Nabokov (G, 23), T.J. Hughes (C/RW, 24), Gavin Brindley (RW, 21), Mikhail Gulyayev (D, 21), Lysell (RW, 23), Sean Behrens (D, 23), Francesco Dell'Elce (D, 21)
Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon once again lead this veteran team as the cream of the NHL in what is now a changed salary landscape. This is the last year of Makar's low cap hit, which likely means the Colorado Avalanche's Stanley Cup contention window will fade for a couple of seasons before opening up again in 2030. This franchise is led by elite talent, both on the ice and in management, as was cemented by Joe Sakic confirming he will stay on as Avs GM for the foreseeable future.
What makes their odds look good:
They dominated the NHL so much in their first 50 games last year - 35 wins, 6 regular-time losses, 9 overtime losses - that they could afford to coast to the Presidents' Trophy despite tons of injuries to key players in the second half (and the three playoff rounds). There has been a churning of the depth, but the star players remain, and they still have the best goaltending tandem in the league. It might not be as easy as last year, because head coach Jared Bednar will want his team to pace itself, but another finish at the top is a very strong possibility.
Question marks:
Injuries can happen, as can fatigue with the head coach; but apart from that (and perhaps even despite it), this team should finish in the top-3 in both the regular season and the playoffs.
Outlook:
With secondary scoring like Brock Nelson (coming off his fourth 30-goal season), Martin Nečas (38 goals and 100 points last season, effectively replacing Mikko Rantanen, whom he was traded for), Nazem Kadri (still producing at 2 points per 3 games pace), Schwartz, tough third-linner Nicolas Roy, clutch playoff performer Artturi Lehkonen and captain Gabriel Landeskog, the Avs arethe deepest team in the West with far less competition than the Florida Panthers have in the East. And that's without mentioning Olympian Devon Toews on the back end, helped by Brent Burns, Sam Malinski, Josh Manson and Brett Kulak.
Prediction:
1st in the NHL.
Today being my birthday, my kids and wife each gifted me a special hockey card - and this was the one my son chose for me:
That's card #T2-MR from Upper Deck's 2025-26 Artifacts collection and Tundra Teammates sub-set, featuring Nečas and MacKinnon, two 100-point superstars each with a piece of game-worn jersey, numbered 50/99. I likely never would have pulled it out of a box myself, and MacKinnon is one of my favourite players, so you can imagine how stoked I was to receive it.
(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab myself a box of the season's first set, Upper Deck's 2026-27 MVP (Retail version):
The main set has a nice futuristic, computer chip-y design that UD could have used on a more premium set (but I'm glad they didn't):
I miss when the backs had statistics from the previous five seasons, but having an anecdote for every single player is actually a pretty decent feat. The box cost me $80 (plus taxes, which amounts to $92) for 36 packs of 7 cards each - 252 in total. All told, I pulled 29 insert cards, which means I got 223 base cards.
As far as inserts go, here is how they break down:
6 Silver Scripts, a returning sub-set, of Sam Bennett, Tim Stützle, Nils Hoglander, Dylan Strome, Vincent Trocheck, and Alex Laferriere:
Now, granted, these aren't Young Guns from the flagship product, but folks are mostly chasing the Rookies cards, of which I pulled 7 (the first four of which I'm very happy to have): Nathan Gaucher, Anton Frondell, Konsta Helenius, Cole Hutson, Drew Fortescue, Avery Hayes, and Sandis Vilmanis:
Another returning sub-set is Clutch Performers, where I present you Nikita Kucherov and Carter Verhaeghe:
Paired Up features two players who at least ended the season on the same team, as seen here with Brady Tkachuk / Stützle of the Ottawa Senators and Kirill Kaprizov / Matt Boldy of the Minnesota Wild:
Gotta Have Hart is a good idea, but I'm on the mind that Nathan MacKinnon may have a better chance of winning it than William Nylander:
The Slot (possibly the heir to the "old" Net Crashers sub-set) sees Martin Necas and a pre-wealthy Leo Carlsson playing around the opposite goalie:
There were two Welcome Freshmen cards, of Danny Zhilkin and Angus Booth:
Another sub-set that is reminiscent of the past is Let It Rip!!!, with Boldy and Sidney Crosby:
But my very favourite sub-set this year is the (card-sized with rounded edges) Stickers. What a terrific design!
That's Josh Samanski, Vilmanis, Quinn Hughes and Necas.
Affordability and value are key issues in 2026, and the design of these cards make it a solid 8/10.
A two-time Vezina Trophy nominee, 2012 Conn Smythe winner and 2014 and 2018 Jennings Trophy winner, Quick is the winningest American goalie to date (he will likely be surpassed by Connor Hellebuyck at some point) with 410 regular-season and 49 playoff wins; his name is engraved three times on the Stanley Cup - in 2012 and 2014 with the Los Angeles Kings, and as part of the backup options for the 2023 Vegas Golden Knights. He was also on the Team USA squad that won the 2010 silver Olympic medal.
For the better part of the 2010s, he had the fastest legs and reflexes in the game, eventually surpassed by the Tampa Bay Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Here is Quick in his prime, wearing the Kings' black (home) uniform, with a matching game-worn jersey swatch on card #GJ-JQ from Upper Deck's 2014-15 Series One set and Game Jersey sub-set:
Halak made his debut with the 2006-07 Montréal Canadiens, a team that started the season with Cristobal Huet and David Aebischer between the pipes, but when Huet went down with an injury, it was the rookie Halak and not the veteran Aebischer who saved the Habs' season and brought them to Game 82 with a playoff berth on the line, with head coach Guy Carbonneau opting to play the rusty veteran Huet instead of the young gun, and the team ending up losing 6-5 to the Toronto Maple Leafs to miss the postseason. His Spring ended with a participation at the World Championships representing Team Slovakia, while the team he suited up the most often for during the season, the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs, went on to win the Calder Cup with fellow rookie Carey Price filling in for Halak in net.
The following season saw Price and Huet start the season in Montréal, but the experienced French tender getting traded to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline and Halak getting called up to finish the year in the NHL; ironically, both Huet and Price got Vezina votes that year, but Huet finished ahead despite getting traded a month and a half before season's end. Price would hold the #1 job by default as the "resident NHLer" that year but struggled mightily in the playoffs, unable to carry the weight of the position:
2008-09 was more of the same, as GM Bob Gainey tried to force Carbonneau to use Price over Halak (52 games, 2.83 goals-against average versus 34 games, 2.86 GAA) despite Halak having a far superior save percentage (.915 to .905) and eye test result. Gainey ended up firing Carbo, who had a 35-24-7 record at the top of the Northeastern division while Gainey finished the year 6-6-4 to have the Habs finish second and get swept in the first round by the Boston Bruins, with Price in net and sporting a .878 save percentage and 4.11 GAA (Halak stopped all five shots he faced).
With Jacques Martin stepping in to coach for the 2009-10 season, Price's numbers (.912, 2.77 GAA) were once again short of Halak's (.924, 2.40 GAA), but the games played were still very similar (45 for Halak, 41 for Price), as the Habs made it to the playoffs by a hair; they faced off against Presidents Trophy winners Washinton (featuring Alexander Ovechkin) in the first round, and Halak stifled them to the tune of 45 (3-2 win), 31 (6-5 loss), 10 (pulled in a 5-1 loss), 37 (in a 2-1 win), 53 (in a 4-1 win) and 41 saves (in a 2-1 nailbiter of a Game 7). This prompted some Montealers to deface the city's stop signs as a tribute:
Then it was the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins' turn, the team with future Hall Of Famers Sidney Crosby, Marc-André Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. And while the first game scared everyone in town (15 saves, 5 goals against in a 6-3 loss), the others fell in line with the Caps series' boxscores: 38 saves in a 3-1 win, 23 saves on 24 shots in a 2-0 loss, 33 saves in a 3-2 win, 23 saves in a 2-1 loss, 34 saves in a 4-3 win, and 37 saves in a 5-2 Game 7 clinic.
Unfortunately, the entire team had already run out of steam by the time the Philadelphia Flyers rolled around, and at that point so did Halak. Apart from a 25-save 5-1 win, the Habs lost the other four games by a 16-2 margin, getting shut out three times, ending the best postseason run by a Canadiens goalie since Patrick Roy's 1993 and 1986 Cup and Conn Smythe-winning runs.
With three straight regular seasons as the team's best goalie and an incredible playoff run, Habs management (Gainey, new GM Pierre Gauthier, and team president Pierre Boivin) opted to trade Halak over Price during that summer, thinking the former fifth-overall draft pick would eventually be the best suited to bring a Cup back to Montréal; in exchange for the Slovak, the Canadiens received third-line centre Lars Eller and a draft pick from the St. Louis Blues. This trade tree shows how Eller eventually led to the acquisition of Patrik Laine:
Some believe, however, that a trade return for Price may have landed a first-line player or a top-two defenseman instead of a third-rounder while still keeping a goalie who ended up having a similar stat line (.917 and 2.51 in 15 seasons versus .915 and 2.50 in 17 seasons, each with one Cup Final participation), and that such a return may have enabled Montréal to advance further in the playoffs more often, as acquiring offensive talent seems to have been an issue around Price's $10.5M cap hit in his final eight seasons.
In just four seasons with St. Louis, Halak won his first Jennings Trophy (alongside Brian Elliott), got Vezina votes, and managed to put up impressive statistics that show favourably among Blues alumni:
He also ranks third in save percentage, fourth in GAA, and ninth in total saves, on a list that includes Glenn Hall, Grant Fuhr, Curtis Joseph and Jordan Binnington. For a while, it also seemed he would get the first star whenever he was facing the Habs (and especially Price), cementing his reutation of excellence under pressure.
As his five-year contract was coming to an end, the Blues traded him to the Buffalo Sabres with Chris Stewart, William Carrier, a first-round pick in the 2015 draft that became Jack Roslovic and a third-round pick in the 2016 draft that became Linus Nassen, for the other best goalie of 2009-10, Ryan Miller, and Steve Ott. He wouldn't play for the Sabres but by backing up Jhonas Enroth on March 3rd, he became the 10th player in franchise history to suit up but not play a single second in a game for the team. He was quickly shipped off to Washington with a third-round pick in the 2015 draft (Robin Kovacs) for Rostislav Klesla and Michal Neuvirth, and proceeded to have a .930 save percentage and 2.30 GAA and one shutout in 12 games with the Caps, playing behind - and acting as playoff insurance for - Braden Holtby.
Hitting free agency, Halak quickly signed a four-year deal with the New York Islanders, bringing instant stability to the crease and even setting team records, notably beating Hall Of Famer Billy Smith's win records (38 vs 32) in his very first season, including posting a 1.16 GAA with a .948 save percentage during an 11-game win streak. He went 88-65-19, with a 2.69 GAA and a .913 SV% in 177 regular-season appearances for the Isles. he and goaltending partner Thomas Greiss would even remain a pair at the 2016 World Cup, suiting up for a Team Europe squad that finished second in the tournament, with Halak playing both Final games versus Team Canada, facing off against none other than Price. Price had identical 32-save performances playing for the powerhouse team that won 3-1 and 2-1 to sweep the best-of-three series, while Halak stopped 35 of 38 in the first game and 32 of 34 in the second, with Europe spending most of the final bottled in their own zone.
The Isles would pivot to Robin Lehner between the pipes for the 2018-19 season, with Barry Trotz replacing Doug Weight as head coach and with the legendary Mitch Korn taking over goaltending guru duties over Marc Champagne and Fred Brathwaite. All this movement led to Halak signing on as Tuukka Rask's backup with the Boston Bruins for three seasons, the first of which featured 40 games played, a 22-11-4 record, 4 shutouts, a .922 save percentage and 2.34 GAA, as well as a seven-game trip to the Stanley Cup Final. His 2019-20 season was even better, with an 18-6-6 record, .919 save percentage, 2.39 GAA and 3 shutouts in 31 games (and another Jennings Trophy for his mantle), as well as appearances in nine postseason games, including one in the Covid era-specific seeding round, three wins in three games versus the Carolina Hurricanes, and the entire Conference Final series against eventual Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning. His final season in Boston was bizarre, with a three-goalie rotation between Rask, Halak and Jeremy Swayman, and Dan Vladar also suiting up in 5 of the 54 games for good measure; only Swayman looked good, and by the summer Halak signed on as the Vancouver Canucks' backup, which would be followed with one season of doing the same with the New York Rangers.
All told, Halak leaves the NHL with a 295-189-69 record, 53 shutouts, franchise records, the most exciting Conference Final run in recent memory, one Cup Final, a couple of Jennings trophies, and standing up to the Canadian team in international play. Not bad for a perennial underdog who was drafted in the ninth round in 2003.
He signed the picture atop this piece while playing for the Islanders. It shows him wearing the Blues' third jersey from the 2008-16 era. I wish him the best in retirement.
It'll be easier in some regards with all the national teams at all the levels (including but not limited to the World Juniors, the World Championships, the Spengler Cup, the Canada/World Cup, the Summit Series, and the Men's and Women's Olympic teams), but I'm again at a loss for #99 (Wayne Gretzky) and likely will be for my entire life.
The plan is to stick to hockey, but who knows, maybe I'll get to add some from other sports as well; it might be my only shot at a #99.
So far, I have featured 35 players representing a total of 26 jersey numbers.
Writer, mostly, in mediums diverse and similar: musician, film-maker, poet - not the bad type, nor the pretentious type. It's more that I suck at everything except producing words and shouting ideas at people. Oh, and I'm the guy who brings you UnPop Montreal yearly, helping the little guy get a voice in this variety-deprived city.
