Tom Kostopoulos

It’s Columbus Blue Jackets day at PHT

The Columbus Blue Jackets made franchise history last season, reaching 50 wins and 108 points in a highly competitive Metropolitan Division. Consider last season a sizable step forward for this young group and a bounce-back year for goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, the Vezina Trophy winner. Not only was their goalie recognized, but coach John Tortorella won the Jack Adams Award — several months after oddsmakers stated he’d be the first coach fired last season.

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  Blue Jackets need Bobrovsky at his best to take the next step

  NBC Sports
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  Poll: Will the Blue Jackets get past the first round of the playoffs?

  ProHockeyTalk

What if ... the Penguins had drafted Bobby Clarke? (NHL Alternate History)

Note: It’s the NHL Alternate History project! We’ve asked fans and bloggers from 31 teams to pick one turning point in their franchise’s history and ask ‘what if things had gone differently?’ Trades, hirings, firings, wins, losses, injuries … all of it. There are plenty of reasons to hate the Philadelphia Flyers and their obnoxious, delusional fan base. The Flyers haven’t raised the Stanley Cup since 1975– which, if you’re counting at home, and my God, you should be!– was five Popes, eight Presidents, eight Star Wars films (nine if you count “The Ewok Adventure,” but to be fair, who does?), nine Doctors, and no less than twenty-seven different Spider-Man reboots (citation needed) ago.

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  What if … LA Kings missed 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs? (NHL Alternate History)

  Puck Daddy
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  Hamilton Bulldogs to Watch in 2017-18

  The Hockey Writers

2017-18 team-by-team NHL season outlook: Previewing the Buffalo Sabres

Evander Kane upped his numbers for the third straight season and nearly hit 30 goals, Jack Eichel did the same en route to talks of a big-money contract extension this summer and the Buffalo Sabres found themselves far more competitive, at least on paper, than the lowest tier of non-playoff teams in 2016-17. Evander Kane and the Sabres had the numbers in 2016-17, but they need the wins this upcoming season. Coming up short (again) proved to be the final failure for the Sabres management, as both general manager Tim Murray and head coach Dan Bylsma , just three years removed from a playoff trip and four years removed from a conference finals appearance with the Pittsburgh Penguins , were axed.