The NHL is in full effect now, entering Week 2 of the season. Week 1 came with a lot of storylines and some miraculous performances – both good and bad.

Former Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet is two games into his tenure as Philadelphia Flyers head coach, and it’s not off to a great start.

While they’ve faced off against a few tough opponents (Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes), they have dropped both contests, albeit both were just one-goal losses. However, the biggest talking point in Philadelphia surrounds their promising star, Matvei Michkov.

Michkov has yet to find the scoresheet, but what’s more alarming is his ice time, logging just 14:54 and 13:27 minutes in the two games this season. Here is what Tocchet had to say regarding his young forward:

“You have to let him be who he is, but there’s parts of his game that he has to improve upon. I think sometimes he likes to slow the game down a bit, I would like to see him play more North style.”

On Monday morning, Tocchet spoke more about Michkov, but this time about his summer training:

With Michkov healing from injury over the summer and having that affecting the start of his season, it’s deja vu for Tocchet, as he dealt with that last season in Vancouver with Elias Pettersson.

It hasn’t been an ideal start to the marriage between Tocchet and Michkov, but at just 20 years old, there is plenty of developing left for the Russian winger to adapt to Tocchet-style hockey. But Tocchet should be careful to try and change Michkov too much with the level of talent this elite prospect possesses.

The Flyers play in a few hours. We’ll see if Michkov can get his first point of the season when they take on the Panthers for the second time this season.

Three games into the 2025-26 season, the Montreal Canadiens extended their promising young defenceman, Lane Hutson, to an eight-year, $70.8 million contract, carrying an $8.85 million average annual value.

Hutson, 21, first appeared in the NHL at the tail end of 2023-24 season, where he picked up two assists in two games. He took the next step to superstardom in 2024-25, where he scored six goals and 66 points, which led all rookies in scoring. His efforts earned him the Calder Trophy, recognized as the NHL’s rookie of the year, as well as helped the Canadiens make the playoffs for the first time since they went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2020-2021. Huston added five assists in five postseason games.

His number comes in slightly under another Canadiens defenceman who was acquired on draft day, Noah Dobson. Before the trade the New York Islanders signed Dobson to an eight-year, $76 million contract, carrying a $9.5 million average annual value. Despite nearly doubling Dobson’s point totals last year, Hutson comes in under him, and projects to be one of the best contracts in the NHL – if he can continue on the trajectory he’s on now.

Not even a week into the season and we’ve seen two significant injuries to two centremen in the Eastern Conference.

Josh Norris started opening night as the Buffalo Sabres’ top centreman, however, he wasn’t able to finish the game after injuring himself on this faceoff:

Norris left the game and would not return. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff told the media that Norris would “miss a significant amount of time” two days after the injury. He also shared that it was an upper-body injury, but nothing that he’s dealt with in the past – Norris has struggled with shoulder injuries often through his career.

Today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on 32 Thoughts – the Podcast, that Norris would be out for eight weeks, which amounts to over 20 regular season games.

The Sabres have already struggled with injuries in this young season, as forward Zach Benson, defenceman Owen Power and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen have all missed games just three games into the year.

Buffalo has more losses (3) than goals for (2) so far this season. Things continue to be ugly in Buffalo.

In the exact same game, Vincent Trocheck left in the second period and did not return. It has yet to be reported what happened that ailed Trocheck.

The New York Rangers confirmed it was an upper-body injury for Trocheck, and that he would be out week-to-week.

Trocheck, 32, grabbed an assist on Alexis Lafreniere’s opening goal in the first period. Last season, Trocheck scored 26 goals, 33 assists and 59 points with an even rating in 82 games.

The 5’11” faceoff man had been centring a line between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere – Mika Zibanejad has since stepped in his place.