NHL on ESPN flaws, and other first month thoughts and observations

Talking about the first month of the NHL season.

The first month of the 2025-26 NHL season is officially in the books and I have some thoughts on what we have seen so far.

Among the things we are going to talk about here:

• ESPN is not giving NHL fans what they deserve.

• The biggest surprise team and the biggest disappointment team in the NHL so far.

• Why roster movement and player movement is going to slow down tremendously over the next year or two (or more).

• One team I am not ready to give up on and one team I am not ready to buy on.

• Plus more!

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1. ESPN needs to do better with the NHL

When the NHL made its return to ESPN a couple of years ago it brought back some immediate nostalgia for hockey fans that remember the National Hockey Night theme song and can still hear Gary Thorne and Bill Clement calling games. It was a tremendous product, and like everything else on ESPN in that time period, just felt big-time.

The return to ESPN has not gone as smoothly, and instead of feeling big-time, it feels like it is just something the network has to tolerate as it haphazardly shits something on to a plate to serve you.

Maybe it is the current state of ESPN. Perhaps it is the current state of sports broadcasting in general. Maybe a little of both? Whatever the case, it sucks.

Their first few national broadcasts of the season are a harsh reminder of this, and things really reached a boiling point for me on Tuesday when the league had its “Frozen Frenzy” with all 32 teams playing on the same day.

Now, the NHL’s own planning with this event has some serious issues that goes beyond any network.

Why they chose an early season Tuesday night, up against The World Series, when every game would be crammed into a six-hour window is a mystery.

If you are going to do something like this it needs to be on Saturday or Sunday, when you are not competing with the NFL or The World Series, and when you can literally space games out all day long over 12-plus hours.

The issue I have with ESPN’s handling of it is just highlighted how the network seems to be treating it as a chore with minimal effort.

The intermission segments are neither educational about hockey or entertaining.

So far this season it’s been Mark Messier offering some of the blandest commentary possible, and just endlessly talking about getting pucks deep and working hard.

Next to him has been T.J. Oshie, who just does not seem comfortable in the studio analyst role. Every time they go to him he seems like someone that is shocked to be on television and does not understand how he got there. He at least tries to offer up some analysis of what’s happening on the ice and is more in tune with the modern game than Messier is, but it’s not great.

And listen, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I know more about the game than Mark freaking Messier. That’s not what this is about. But he should have more to offer the audience than just talking about working hard. It is just … dull. It is boring. It offers you nothing of value. It’s not informative and it’s not entertaining.

Do not even get me started on the over-reliance on John Buccigross and his insufferable schtick.

I have been watching a lot of NBA stuff so far this season — including on ESPN — and it’s a night-and-day difference between what’s happening during games and the broadcasts. The Amazon broadcast is just highly informative. I feel like I’m learning something. The ESPN broadcast with Inside the NBA is just wildly entertaining. Is it the most informative basketball talk? No (it’s still good in this regard). But it is objectively GREAT television.

The NHL is giving its fans none of that.

But what was really infuriating about the Frozen Frenzy production was the fact they took the ending of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Philadelphia Flyers game, that was in overtime, and on a power play, and concluded with a line brawl, and had it relegated to a split screen so they could show the start of another game. This never happens in other sports. It never happens on other networks. The most baffling part of that was the fact they ended the split screen when the shootout ended so they could show the celebration.

It was just a brutal night of television.

ESPN is not new to this. They have had the NHL back for three years now. It should be better.

2. Biggest surprise of the first month: Pittsburgh Penguins

When this season began there were expectations that this team would not only be bad, but that it would be one of the favorites to earn the top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and land Gavin McKenna.

All the Penguins did in October was have one of their best opening months in franchise history and go into November tied for the best record (8-2-2) in the league.

Who knows, maybe they will still end up in the McKenna lottery, and maybe the obvious question marks and flaws that exist on paper (the left side of the defense, the goaltending) will start to get exposed.

On the other hand, they still have a lot of talent, have found some new talent, and teams that start off with this sort of record generally have very good and very competitive seasons.

In the salary cap era (since the start of the 2005-06 season) teams that have started a season exactly 8-2-2 through their first 12 games of the season have made the playoffs 86 percent of the time. Only one of those teams ended up having a losing record. Do with that information what you will.

The coaching change from Mike Sullivan to Dan Muse will get a lot of the attention here, and there is definitely something to that. Muse has brought in a new voice, new ideas, a fresh system and has the team playing well.

You also can not ignore the fact that roughly three quarters of the roster has been overhauled from the start of the 2024-25 season. While a lot of those changes are more of the short-term variety (Justin Brazeau, Anthony Mantha, Parker Wotherspoon, etc.) there are also some serious potential long-term upgrades as part of that roster change.

Ben Kindel, the Penguins’ first round pick this year, is doing some pretty incredible things as an 18-year-old rookie. Non-top-three picks do not just make the NHL in their draft year and drive a line the way Kindel is. He has been a game-changer, and in a lot of ways, a season-changer for the Penguins so far.

Ville Koivunen has not yet had the results appear on the stat sheet, but he is a potential long-term piece and is getting more comfortable with each game, especially as he skates next to Kindel.

Artus Silovs still has potential in net and has helped form a strong duo with Tristan Jarry.

They are also still waiting for Rutger McGroarty to arrive following his offseason/preseason injury, adding another potential long-term player into the mix.

Offensively speaking I think a lot of what the Penguins are doing so far is sustainable.

The defensive play has some warts, and I do not know if the Silovs-Jarry goaltending duo will keep playing the way it has.

Even with some regression in those areas, the Penguins have still built a nice cushion in the standings and should still have the offense to win some games.

If nothing else, this season is way more intriguing than it seemed like it was going to be.

Now, on to the biggest disappointment team, a look at the slowing roster and player movement around the NHL and more early thoughts and observations on the season.

Let’s talk about it….

3. Biggest disappointment of the first month: Minnesota Wild