NHL Early-Season Predictions: Flyers, Rangers and Stars Face Reality Checks

Not even three weeks into the NHL season and there are already plenty of surprises.

Which of them will continue and which will fade into oblivion?

Here are two we believe will continue and three that are an aberration.

False: The Philadelphia Flyers will go the whole season without winning a game.

It only feels like the Flyers will reach a new level of futility; they will eventually win plenty of games. But do not believe a massive turnaround is coming, either.

After making the playoffs last season, the Flyers have failed to lift off, and the reasons are all over the place. They are not generating scoring chances. They are not scoring goals, having managed only 11 in nine games, all losses. They are not defending well.

Those struggles will come to a head sooner than later, and it may even mean coach Rick Tocchet walks the plank despite being in the second season of a five-year contract.

Truth: The Utah Mammoth are taking a huge step forward.

Utah reached the playoffs last season, and that was a big deal. Heading into Saturday’s action, they are atop the Central Division and coming off an impressive 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

Utah may not be considered a legit Stanley Cup contender yet, but do not discount a club that bolstered its defense and forwards with veterans to build around the up-and-coming players ready to break out, such as Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley.

False: The New York Rangers are back among the league’s elite.

Remember how the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2023-24 but lost in the conference finals? Remember how they bombed the last two seasons?

To their credit, the Rangers are off to a strong start — a 6-3-0 record — despite losing star goaltender Igor Shesterkin for the season.

It will come crashing down soon enough. Credit the Rangers for their play, which has been helped by a better transition game from the dense, but the analytics spell trouble ahead.

Hey, goaltender Dylan Gerand going from a player who passed through waivers to being a standout is a great story, but this not a Disney movie.

True: The Edmonton Oilers are the team to beat in the West.

The aforementioned loss to Utah aside, the Oilers truly are the club to reckon with from the Western Conference. Edmonton was the last team to lose in regulation time, despite a list of injuries that includes a trio of top-six forwards in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman and Matt Savoie, as well as defenseman Jake Walman.

The Oilers do have their question marks, notably goaltending, but this is a team that knows the window to win will close soon and willing to actually learn to defend.

False: The Dallas Stars are a .500 team.

As much as it is a surprise the Montreal Canadiens are middling through the first 10 percent of the season, it is a bigger shock the Dallas Stars are right there with them.

Do not bank of the Stars — or the Canadiens for that matter — to remain at the NHL’s version of .500.

Dallas is doing the job defensively. In fact, the Stars are the lone team with a goals-against average below two (1.71) having surrendered 12 goals against in the first seven games.

The Stars showed plenty of mettle with a pair of outstanding games against the Colorado Avalanche this past week — a 3-2 loss and 3-2 shootout win.

Once the Stars find their offensive game, they will be in the thick of the division race.