Mailbag: Blackhawks, Red Wings among surprises; future of free agency

Bad news for my Stanley Cup Final pick

The Vegas Golden Knights (predicted champion) and New Jersey Devils (predicted runner-up) have each lost their No. 1 goalie to injury. Adin Hill of the Golden Knights and Jacob Markstrom of the Devils are each out with a lower -body injury.

Slower than expected start for three of the six players who reached 100 points last season

Nikita Kucherov has three points (two goals, one assist) in four games. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward, who won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer with 121 points last season, missed the past two games with an illness, but returned to practice Tuesday. Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid (zero goals, seven assists) and Leon Draisaitl (four goals, one assist) have a combined 12 points through six games, an average of two points per game between them. They averaged a combined 2.98 points per game last season, when Draisaitl had 106 points and McDavid had 100. This trend, by the way, will not continue. Kucherov will light it up eventually. So will McDavid and Draisaitl.

A lot of the Blackhawks top prospects are either in the league or are coming up soon. With Bedard, Nazar, Rinzel, etc. playing well, would you rather keep the prospects and call them up, or package some of them for a superstar player to help right away? -- @sguloy2

You ask a great question, but the answer isn't so simple because teams don't want to trade superstar players for prospects unless the superstar player is up for a new contract and the team doesn't think it can get a contract done with him.

There's a chance the Colorado Avalanche won't come to an agreement with forward Martin Necas and would look to trade him. If that comes to pass, the Blackhawks should be in the mix, but they would have to be willing to get Necas a big contract and they would have to give up at least one significant prospect. Similarly, if the Los Angeles Kings fall out of it and forward Adrian Kempe indicates he wants out then, the Blackhawks should be interested. The same with forward Artemi Panarin and the New York Rangers. But would Necas, Kempe and Panarin be interested in the Blackhawks? Would they buy into the team during a rebuild even if there are signs of growth and progress this season? And would the Blackhawks want to trade a big part of their future to improve in the present?

We know this: The Blackhawks should have their door open to be involved in every possible way to improve their team, to help the players you mentioned in Bedard, Rinzel, Nazar and others like Artyom Levshunov, Oliver Moore and Anton Frondell. As much as Chicago wants to and should develop its own talent, the NHL is a winning business and a rebuild can only last so long.

The way the cap is set to explode, have we seen the end of great players making it to the open market? Teams can retain so much talent now with the rapid growth and players that won't want to sign will likely get traded to where they will sign before free agency. -- @NickLaPoint

To a degree, yes. The trend is pointing in the direction of top players not making it to July 1. Mitch Marner, Kirill Kaprizov, Kyle Connor and Jack Eichel all signed long-term contracts before they could become unrestricted free agents. We'll see what happens with Necas, Kempe and Panarin. The Colorado Avalanche have to get Cale Makar signed before he can become a UFA after next season. Expect that to happen.

The challenges to your question will be Quinn Hughes, McDavid and Auston Matthews. Hughes can get to free agency after next season. McDavid and Matthews are eligible after the 2027-28 season. The salary cap won't impact their signings. They'll be able to write their own checks for their next contracts. The question is, who will it be with and when? With their current teams once they're able to sign new contracts? With teams that acquire them in their pending UFA season? July 1 in the year they can become UFAs?

The likelihood of another mega free-agency class is not strong. The summer of 2026 had that possibility, but that's off the table with Kaprizov, Connor, Eichel and McDavid all re-signing already. Necas, Kempe and Panarin could still make it a strong class. But let's see what happens with Hughes, and after that with McDavid and Matthews. That's when you'll have your answer.

What do you make of the Devils hot start? Small sample, but beat the Cup finalists two games in a row and look much more comfortable in Year 2 under Sheldon Keefe? -- @stav8818

The results we've seen so far from New Jersey should not be surprising. The Devils have everything a team needs to have a strong regular season and a long playoff run -- high-end talent in their top-six forward group, a gamebreaker (Jack Hughes), size on the back end, quality goaltending, depth, experience, coaching and hunger.

Good teams win at home. The Devils won at Prudential Center against the Oilers and Panthers.

Good teams have strong special teams. The Devils have that.

Good teams don't rely on a ridiculously high shooting percentage or their goalies to regularly steal games. The Devils aren't doing that.

The Devils should be a top-three team in the Metropolitan Division. Their success is sustainable as long as they stay healthy.