With the 2023 NFL season off to an exciting start and the MLB Playoffs delivering the action, it would be easy for some fans to overlook the start of the upcoming NHL season. While the aforementioned sports leagues have been exciting to watch thus far, the NHL is sure to once again prove that hockey is something in itself. Already this past Tuesday, fans were treated to an exciting triple-header of games, including the NHL debut of the outstanding Canadian prospect Connor Bedard where the Blackhawks managed to claim a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Amongst all of the NHL teams and their respective expectations, one of the most intriguing matchups in the first week of hockey action comes to us from Newark, NJ, as the Detroit Red Wings face off against the New Jersey Devils.

The two teams come into the season having ended the last on very different notes. Since their Cup Final loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, the Red Wings have been searching for a way to get back to the top of the hockey world, and after a few years of famous former Red Wing Steve Yzerman at the team’s helm, it would seem that the Red Wings are finally headed in a positive direction again. The team finished last season with 80 points, their highest end point total since their 93 point, third place finish in 2015. Though this only earned them seventh place of eight teams in the Atlantic, they were playing in a division that was and still is very tightly knit, to the point where trying to predict the division’s playoff teams this time around would be as good as making a wild guess. With quality home names like Dylan Larkin, Moritz Sieder, and Lucas Raymond, some new and promising prospects coming up to the national league full-time, and some new faces joining the team this year including former Ottawa Senators star Alex DeBrincat, there seems to be some optimism floating in the air of Hockeytown, and some that’s been absent for a handful of years now.

The bad news for Detroit is that their first challenge in the 2023 season won’t make matters any easier. The New Jersey Devils are coming off of a stellar 2022 campaign, one that saw them fall short of the Metropolitan Division crown by just a single point, and one where they netted their first playoff series win since the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2011 season. With a cesspool of talent still on the roster in the Hughes brothers and 2022 trade deadline splash Timo Meier, the Devils will only be looking to do more damage this go-around, much to the dismay of the hockey club facing them this Thursday.  

While a single NHL game rarely paints the entire picture of who a team is and isn’t, it will still be intriguing to see how each respective club comes out on their opening night, and how they can both answer what questions the media has about them. In particular, Detroit may have an incoming goalie battle between veteran Ville Husso and young Toledo Walleye product Sebastian Cusso, and their blue line had a large stretch of the season last year where as a collective unit, they looked suspect at best. In reality, the only way to find out what the clubs will be is for them to lace up and play hockey, something that both fans and players alike should be eagerly awaiting in what should be another great year of on ice action.