The NHL starts its season with the San Jose Sharks facing off against the Nashville Predators in Prague. While the Sharks are hoping to take a step forward in their rebuild and reach the playoffs, the Predators are hoping that this can be the year they prove to be a Western Conference juggernaut, building off last year's First Round exit with a strong offseason. Both teams are looking to make a statement in the first two games of the season and show Europe what they have to offer in the process, setting up for a great game and global series.
The Sharks were one of the NHL's worst teams last year and are hoping to improve, particularly on the offensive end of the ice, as they scored only 2.57 goals per game. While Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, and Timo Meier all return to the top two lines after combining for 88 goals and 108 assists, the rest of the offense was awful last year. The hope is that free agency signings Nico Sturm and Evgeny Svechnikov can add to the middle of the forward unit while former Predators forward Luke Kunin also can step up for the offense.
Along with hoping the offense improves, the defense was a disappointment last year, allowing 3.18 goals per game. While Erik Karlsson and Mario Ferraro return to the defense after contributing 6.1 defensive point shares and 196 blocked shots last season, the rest of the unit struggled and will now have to find a replacement for Brent Burns who was traded in the offseason to o pen up cap space. The bright spot looks to be the play in the net with starting goaltender James Reimer coming off a strong year with a .911 save percentage and a 2.90 goals-against average on 1450 shots while Kaapo Kahkohen looks to be a reliable backup throughout the season.