The Fischler Report: Picking the Western Winners; & Stan's Surprise Breakout Prediction

The news is good.

I’ve checked both the constitutions of Canada and the United States for an important discovery.

On either side of the border, there’s no law about betting against Vegas to win another Stanley Cup. Not even a hint of one. Which is why The Maven says nix on Adin’s Under The Hill Gang.

Now that my vanilla ice cream cone has melted, we can get to the business of evaluating a few compelling teams West of East St. Louis, Illinois. Trust me, these cowpokes of the West actually have a chance to keep the Cup away from the Maple Leafs or Rangers, my Eastern choices.

Any such evaluation of the West Siders has to — and I do mean must — start with King McDavid, his prince consort Leon (The Lion) Draisaitl, and other descendants of The Great Gretzky.

© Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

One could say that any team with that Dynamite Duet should be a Cup favorite, And one could agree with that since the Oilers have my favorite player-author-grit guy in the form of Zach Hyman. If coach Jay Woodcroft had one more Hyman, I’d give him The Mug. But, he doesn’t.

It’s an almost-fact of hockey life that once the Leafs lost Hyman to the frigid-est city in Alberta, Toronto never would win a Cup in this decade; maybe even this century of leap years.

But the “Earl-ers,” as we would say in Brooklyn, have a half-ton more than royalty. They boast almost- Calder Trophy winner Stuie Skinner and some pretty darn good — but mind you, not “very good” — troopers in Evander Kane and Ry Nugent-Hopkins.

That said, I have to wonder about Edmonton’s Cup capabilities, so I’ll make it simple. They haven’t sipped the Bubbly since Connor donned those Oil uniforms. It’s up to McD and Prince Leon The Lion to show us that it can be done. Skinner is the big if, as in IF.

Edmonton’s problem is like everyone else in the West — the Avalanche. Let’s face it, Colorado is only two years away from ruling the roost, and the Avs won’t be playing chicken this term. Not with a healthy Cale Makar and Nate MacKinnon.

Now if you believe in Al Georgiev — which I certainly do not — then open The Gates To The Final to coach Jared Bednar’s bunch.

Pete DeBoer’s Stars are well-aligned because — on any given night — Jake Oettinger is the NHL’s best goalie, give or take Ilya Sorokin. His best blocker, Miro Heiskanen, should have won the Norris this year, but don’t get me going on that one.

As for Minnesota, I love their high command — my buddy Bill Guerin and very competent Dean Evason. Plus, how can anyone not pull for Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, who lead the firing squad?

Fil Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury are no slouches in the twine; plus, the addition of madcap Pat Maroon should keep Minny masterful, if not monstrous.

Ah, now for the Sleeper in the West. Or, put it this way, the Devils of last year — surprise, surprise — it will be the Ducks of 2023-24!

It took rookie G.M. Pat Verbeek a year to figure things out. (Then again, what’s a year in a Duck’s life?)

Like New Jersey in the not-so-long-ago, Anaheim is loaded with young talent needing only a Lindy Ruff-type coach to arrange the pieces around super goalie John Gibson. Greg Cronin is far from a Ruff, but I recall him well from his Islanders days. This guy could pull off a miracle.

© Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Just check out the fresh — as in young — talent:

Troy Terry, Trevor Zegras, and Jamie Drysdale are ripening faster than my backyard apples which, by the way, may never ripen. To show that he’s earning his puck bucks, Pattycake added rugged D-man Radko Gudas and Cup-winner Alex Killorn, a pair of very useful vets.

Mark my words, Honda Center will rock as the Quack-Quacks swim out of the NHL morass.

BABBLING ABOUT BABCOCK:

Mike Babcock’s resignation is not surprising.

What is surprising is that the John Davidson-Jarmo Kekailainen high command hired him in the first place.

Babcock’s record with players has been an open book. JD and JK didn’t need a book report to figure that out.

© The Columbus Dispatch-USA TODAY NETWORK

They took a gamble and — unfortunately for the Blue Jackets franchise — it boomeranged bigger than big-time.

Both Davidson and Kekalainen are under contract for two more years. It says here that their club must do a lot better than the sad sack 25-48-9 record of last season.

Or else!

P.S. ON PARISE:

In my humble opinion, Zach will be back with the Islanders as sure as the Long Island Rail Road stops at Jamaica. The question is when and that will depend on the Isles’ needs — injuries — and Parise’s motivation to rejoin the NHL fray. My guess is that we’ll be wishing The Man, in person, a Happy New Year on UBS ice.

© Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports

BOOKS: “A Stick In The Window — The Hockey Life of Buzz Deschamps”

It’s a fact of hockey life that the pro outfit that eventually led to the creation of the Islanders was an Eastern League team playing out of Long Island Arena in Commack. I loved that feisty brand of minor league action and visited Ducks games quite a bit in the l960’s. One of my favorite players was a gifted forward named Buzzy Deschamps.

Skating against teams such as the Clinton Comets, Nashville Dixie Flyers, and Greensboro Generals, Deschamps became the face of the Ducks franchise that combined skill with grit.

Buzzy and that wonderful swashbuckling era is brought to life in a new book. It’s called “A Stick In The Window — The Hockey Life of Buzz Deschamps.” Author Joseph Rosso brings to life the brand of amusing hockey popularized in the Paul Newman movie “Slapshot,” which has become a cult favorite.

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Isles icon Bryan Trottier wrote a wonderful introduction, and anyone who enjoyed “Slapshot” will get a kick out of its recreation in Joe’s fine work. Islanders historians also will get a kick out of it since the Ducks success in Commack was the convincer that the NHL could work in Nassau. (For those interested, the book is available via Amazon.)

FISCHING LURES:

*It wouldn’t surprise me if somewhere in the not-too-distant future, retired Josh Bailey winds up as some sort of Islanders coaching aide, a la Johnny Boychuk. Good luck to Josh at camp up in Ottawa. I hope he lands an opening night spot on an otherwise young, inexperienced Senators’s roster — he’s be an asset!

*I don’t get too excited about backup-to-the-backup goalies, but I’ll make an exception for Keith Kincaid. Double K is a beauty add by Devs GM Tom Fitzgerald.

*While Coyotes’ ownership searches for a new arena landing spot, Calgary is apparently getting closer to building a new ice palace. Flames ownership has been haggling with city and provincial officials for years. At last, it appears that a deal is in the works.

*Meanwhile, new Ottawa ownership has to figure out where it wants to locate its proposed new building. … NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly raised a few eyebrows — mine included — when he suggested — or was it hinted — that Atlanta could be an NHL site at some undetermined time. More than likely, a new Georgia rink would be in Atlanta’s suburbs.

*The Kings-Coyotes Sept. 23-24 visit to Australia already looks like another NHL winner. A sellout crowd of 25,000 is expected at Rod Laver Arena. (Laver, by the way, was one of my favorite tennis stars).

*Kudos to the Michigan U Sports HOF for inducting the legendary Doc Emrick along with Henrik Zetterberg, Ryan Miller, and Gordie’s wife, Colleen Howe. The latter’s work in enhancing the women’s role in the NHL never should go unnoticed.

*Don’t laugh; the ever-innovative NHL outdoor game experts might someday decide that contests could be played in Manhattan’s Central Park if not Boston Common.

FLORIDA’S FUTURE:

I don’t envy Panthers; coach Paul Maurice. After cajoling his Cats into the Cup Final, the vet mentor is now faced with duplicating an encore; or something similar. But it ain’t gonna be easy.

Not with top defenseman Aaron Ekblad and playoff star Brandon Montour both recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. According to GM Bill Zito, their timetable for a return is “November to January.”

© Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

There are bodies to fill the big gap, starting with newly acquired Olver-Ekman-Larson and waiver wire pickups Gustav Forsling and Josh Mahura. To The Maven’s Eyes, that’s not nearly enough; which makes Maurice’s challenge something along the lines of HUGE.

I’M JUST SAYING:

1. When it comes to “Bears Watching,” the Islander I’ll be focusing on is Hudson Fasching. The Minnesotan played 49 games (10-9-19), but I see potential for even better things from a super-motivated 28-year-old.

2. Looking backward, I’d say that Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald correctly picked Simon Nemec over Shane Wright in 2022, and I’ll leave it at that.

3. Are you looking for a fascinating read on a fascinating subject? Check out Nicholas Cotsonika’s NHL.com piece on how Portland Winterhawks boss Mike Johnston got his coaching start in Australia.

4. There is one amazing aspect of Connor McDavid’s continuous rise in production. Check this out; not one genius coach — certainly not Darryl Sutter — has been able to deduce how to stall this skating point machine.