Ovechkin Entertainment, A Kraken Debut, Lundqvist’s New Career and More

The season is officially back on! We’re on Day 3 of the season. but more importantly today is the Ottawa Senators’ season opener which really is the only season that matters to everyone reading this blog. While we wait for the Sens to completely take us by surprise, let’s see what the rest of the league has been up to this week:

• Alexander Ovechkin has always been a funny guy who enjoyes bringing his lighter side to the game. While he’s focused on tracking down Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record, he found time alongside his wife Nastasiya and teammate Niklas Backstrom to drum up this hilarious commercial. The NHL definitely needs to start becoming more creative with how they market their players because folks are loving this kind of fun./

• The Seattle Kraken made their NHL debut on Tuesday night. They played their first NHL game against the Las Vegas Golden Knights and while they didn’t manage to win their first outing, they did erase a 3-goal deficit to bring the final score to 4-3. As expected, the Golden Knights made sure to welcome their expansion cousins with a fitting intro:/

• While there was initially some concern about NHL players refusing to get vaccinated, it seems to be that virtually every player has decided to be compliant. With the new NHL rules, it was easy enough to spot any player who refused to get the vaccine. Gary Bettman announced earlier this week that only 4 NHL players remain unvaccinated. That being said, the NHL is still seeing some positive cases among its vaccinated players including a few who were missing from the Kraken debut. Hopefully, teams will be able to manage any illnesses that occur and we won’t have to see another case similar to what happened to the Vancouver Canucks last year.
• Nick Suzuki has been the pride and joy of the Montreal Canadiens from the day they acquired him. He’s more than lived up to the expectations heaped upon him as the key piece in the Max Pacioretty trade and for that he was rewarded generously. On Tuesday, the team announced that they had signed the young center to an 8-year deal with an AAV of $7.875. It seems to be easy for other teams sometimes, doesn’t it?
• When Henrik Lundqvist left the New York Rangers, many wondered how he would do outside the Garden. Unfortunately, he never did suit up for another team owing to persistent heart issues. Now that his playing days are behind him, Lundqvist has decided to go back to New York in a different role: as a TV analyst. I think we can all agree that he has the face and charisma for it, so it’ll be fun to see him do something different as he takes on his new role with MSG network./