Something’s gotta fill the void on a random October weeknight for sports nuts, especially when the WNBA playoff semifinals both end prematurely and it’s a travel day for baseball’s own semifinalists. Compound that with the fact that the NBA regular season is still a week away and that, with all due respect to the fine student bodies at their respective schools, that Conference USA doubleheader last night just didn’t live up to my standards of must-see TV (To be fair, I did enjoy their respective highlights–both were decided by a mere field goal).
Ah, but leave it to the inventive souls at the NHL to more than make up for it, as SPORTS MANAGEMENT WORLDWIDE’s Dr. Lynn Lashbrook testified:
32 NHL teams. 16 games. One incredible night of hockey. The 2026 NHL Frozen Frenzy takes over the hockey world tonight, Tuesday, October 13, as every NHL franchise hits the ice for one of the most exciting nights of the regular season. From the opening faceoff to the final buzzer, fans will experience nonstop action, incredible goals, spectacular saves, and some of the biggest stars in professional hockey.
For Dr. Lashbrook, President and Founder of Sports Management Worldwide (SMWW), tonight’s event also provides an opportunity to reflect on how dramatically the hockey viewing experience has changed.
Reflecting on the evolution of the NHL and tonight’s Frozen Frenzy, Lashbrook shared:“I remember watching Hockey on Tube with the Flair! Today we will watch all 32 NHL teams with a Flare!” Lashbrook’s playful use of “Flair” and “Flare” connects the nostalgia of watching hockey on an old-fashioned tube TV with the excitement of today’s NHL.
What was once experienced through a single television broadcast has evolved into an evening when fans can follow 32 teams competing across 16 games, with live coverage, streaming options, social media highlights, and real-time statistics.
And thanks to the good graces of ESPN Unlimited and the league’s innovative scheduling of the 16 puck drops at quarter-hour intervals over a five-hour span that began at the dinner hour and ended with prime time sign-off it guaranteed non-stop action that not only lived up to its advertised promise but it also provided a chance to actually catch up with the new season with two weeks and a day in the books. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen provided some of the more significant observations at this early juncture:
1. Madison Square Garden is rocking for the New York Rangers again.
The Rangers are 5-0-0 at home and have won six of eight games (6-2-0) to start the season. It’s a 180-degree turn from last season, when they set a franchise record for futility at home to start a season, losing their first seven games at the Garden (0-6-1) and getting shutout in five of them.
Last season, they didn’t get their fifth home victory until Dec. 20, their 18th game. This season, it came Tuesday, 4-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Last season, the Rangers won nine home games in regulation. They already have five this season. Most impressive is how they have finished games at home. They’ve outscored their opponents 10-1 in the third period, with five empty-net goals.
2. The Seattle Kraken are one of the highest scoring teams in the League.
The Kraken have won five of seven (5-2-0), averaging 4.00 goals per game. They have scored at least six goals in three of their seven games; they did that twice in 82 games last season.
3. The Philadelphia Flyers look nothing like the team that made the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
As good as things have gone for the Kraken and Rangers, it’s been the opposite for the Flyers, and it started with a 7-0 loss at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins in their season opener Oct. 1.
The Flyers made the playoffs and won a round last season. Right now, they’re the only team in the Eastern Conference without a win, going 0-5-3 while getting outscored 30-10.
They were down 2-0 to the Kraken on Tuesday before coming back to at least force a shootout.
4. Devon Levi might the answer in goal for the Edmonton Oilers.
Levi didn’t look like he would be in his first start. He allowed seven goals on 22 shots in a 9-7 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 1 when the Oilers got away with being goal happy and forgetting all about the defensive end.
They’ve been under control since and Levi has been solid in his three starts, allowing four goals on 91 shots in wins against the Kraken (3-1), the Anaheim Ducks (5-2) and the Los Angeles Kings (4-1), when the Oilers were outshot 40-17.
Levi made 39 saves against the Kings and is 3-0 with a 1.34 GAA and .956 save percentage in three starts since the Canucks scored seven on him nearly two weeks ago.
5. Connor Hellebuyck remains suspended and the Winnipeg Jets are winning anyway.
The supposed distraction of Hellebuyck asking to be traded and not reporting to training camp, leading to him being suspended by the Jets, hasn’t had a negative effect on the team.
The Jets are 4-1-1 after a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, when Cole Perfetti had two goals, Kyle Connor scored his seventh of the season, Mark Scheifele had three points on a goal and two assists, and Stuart Skinner made 19 saves for his third win in four starts.
And his colleague Tracey Myers added her thoughts of this significant event for good measure:
The 21-year-old toiled to get to this point. So many off- and on-ice training sessions, so much skating, so many shots to get back into the lineup several weeks before originally anticipated.
For Bedard, it was all worth it because he was really, really missing hockey games.
“Yeah, a lot. A lot,” the Blackhawks captain said with a laugh after making his regular-season debut in a 5-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at United Center on Tuesday.
And if you’ve had the kind of month that Chicago sports fans–and, for that matter, members of the Catholic church–have had, seeing your resident Gen Z superstar return is about the closest thing to good news you’ve been able to point to.
So thanks for the distraction, NHL. We needed it.
Courage…