Playoff race foremost among NHL story lines as league returns from Olympic hiatus

“I can’t say enough about that guy,” Kings franchise defenseman (and Team Canada teammate) Drew Doughty told TSN reporter Ryan Rishaug late in the final week at Olympus. “I’ve been in the league a long time and I’ve never seen anybody play the way he plays.” McDavid, no doubt will be exhausted after his Olympic tour of duty with Team Canada. Poor guy, he’ll probably struggle to get himself, what, maybe a mere 4 or 5 points in his sleepy 18-22 minutes return to action? The Olympic Games will be over over there in Milan Sunday morning, with all of the NHL’s rental sons of Italy due back in North America no later than Monday night. The NHL officially begins its post-Olympic reboot/horse race Wednesday with a slate of eight games, including Connor McDavid’s Oilers taking on the Ducks in Anaheim. Now 29 years old and on track possibly to bag his fourth MVP (Hart Trophy), McDavid again led the NHL in point production (96) when the league entered its three-week hibernation this month. There was no hint of hyperbole in Doughty’s words. On today’s NHL talent meter, there is McDavid and then everyone else. He has a chance to win Olympic gold Sunday with Canada. No one in the game’s history has executed at McDavid’s speed, and it remained evident shift after shift at the Games. His trademark flashes of skating brilliance popped out as if they were AI creations superimposed on the screen — akin to that blue comet tail that Fox Sports once attached to the puck so all of us USA hockey hillbillies could identify what everyone was chasing around out there. McDavid and Edmonton return now central to one of the NHL’s most intriguing post-Olympic story lines. To wit: can the Oilers and Panthers avoid becoming only the league’s second case of failing to make the playoffs after being the previous season’s co-Stanley Cup finalists? It would be a repeat fail for the Oilers. They lost to the Hurricanes in the 2006 Final and then missed the cut in the spring of ‘07 — the start of 10 consecutive DNQs for the onetime dynasty. The Hurricanes also missed in ‘07. Since then, only the Kings, champs in ‘14, have missed the playoffs the season after parading the Cup around the rink. In search of providing a boost to a club that has more losses than wins (28-22-8), the Oilers last week reappointed legendary blue liner Paul Coffey from adviser to bench duty. He’ll take charge of the defensemen, the role he held the last couple of seasons when the Oilers made it to consecutive Cup Finals. The Oilers, with 198 goals, stand second in the Western Conference only to Colorado (212) for putting pucks in the net. But they’ve allowed 194 goals — Coffey’s charge will be to reframe the backline approach and tip that differential more to the positive. The Panthers appear to be facing a tougher lift. They return with a 29-25-3 mark, 8 points out of a wild-card spot. To avoid a DNQ, they likely need to filch 34 of 50 points (.680) in their final 25 games, playing on average every other night. The two-time defending Cup champs have the talent, but a big chunk of it pulled long duty in Milan (Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart). Aleksander Barkov, out all season after knee surgery, began skating three weeks ago, but no telling if can return. If he is back, can he summon that Barkov beast mode? Some of the other story lines to watch to as the Original 32 get back to business: ▪ Artemi Panarin in La La Land: The Kings sucked a lot of the drama out of the upcoming trade deadline (March 6) by clipping Panarin from the Rangers on Feb. 4 for top prospect Liam Greentree. The Bread Man could make his LA debut against the Golden Knights Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena. The guess here on his line out of the gate has him riding with Adrian Kempe and Quinton Byfield — all subject to Panarin otherwise finding some spark with Anze Kopitar. Complicating the playoff path for the Kings, who haven’t made it out of Round 1 since 2014: they suffered a gargantuan loss at Olympus when dependable forward Kevin Fiala (Team Switzerland) broke a leg in a mashup along the boards with Tom Wilson (Team Canada). Never a good thing to have the full load of the 6-foot-4-inch, 225-pound Wilson come crashing down on your lower left leg. ▪ Is this all there is for the Maple Leafs?: The team that Olympic hero Mitch Marner left behind returns to the office 6 points out of a wild-card seed in the East. Unfathomable, even for a club that has all but trademarked the unfathomable over the decades since its last Cup win (‘67). General manager Brad Treliving appeared to have balanced the forward-heavy lineup, which included bringing in ex-Bruin Brandon Carlo a year ago to bolster the backline. But it has been a dog’s breakfast. The Maple Leafs did win three straight before the break for a glimmer of hope. To get back in the hunt, they’ll need to juice the power play (22nd in the NHL, 18.8 percent), which could mean Carlo gets shopped again. He has a year left on his deal and the Bruins still pay $615,000 of his annual take. ▪ The Rangers and the remains of Broadway: Panarin is gone. But as Madison Square Garden Sports muses over whether to spin off the Knicks and Blueshirts as separate companies, it looks as if GM Chris Drury will deal more if he’s going to follow through on his stated reset. Dismissing rumors that defenseman Adam Fox could be moved, the two biggest names would be forwards Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck. Both are 32 and have substantial term left on their deals, so the return would be higher than for Panarin, who was on an expiring deal before signing a two-year extension with Los Angeles. Southern California has been the place where old Rangers go. Anaheim or LA, or perhaps up north to San Jose, would seem ideal for Zibanejad. ▪ Welcome to the party, Sabres and Red Wings: Barring an epic crash — and history shows they are capable of finding a trap door — both of these sad-sack franchises finally will return to the playoffs. It’s been 14 straight DNQs for the Sabres and nine in a row for the Red Wings. That’s upward of a combined $2 billion in regular-season payroll over 23 seasons and not a single playoff date. Mercy. The trade freeze imposed during the Olympic break ends Sunday at 11:59 p.m, about 12 hours after the gold-medal game in Milan. Bruins fans learned last March it’s wise to be braced for change. If the injured Pavel Zacha were to be out for an extended stay, that would make a top six forward, ideally a center, GM Don Sweeney’s top priority prior to the March 6 (3 p.m.) deadline. Finding a top-six center is typically a hefty ask even in the July free agent market and all the heftier at the deadline, particularly in a market destined to have more buyers than sellers. Zacha, hurt just before the Olympic break, was unable to suit up for the Czechs in Milan. The 28-year-old pivot, in his fourth season on Causeway Street, last month submitted his best work in Black and Gold, producing 5-6–11 (including his first career hat trick) across 12-plus games prior to being injured Jan. 29 vs. the Flyers. He practiced in Brighton on Wednesday and Thursday, but did not join contact drills. If Zacha draws back in, and anchors that dependable second line with Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson, then Sweeney’s focus can/should return to landing some form of goal-scoring sweetener along with depth on right-shot defense. Chicago could be a trade match for both needs, with two Blackhawks with Boston ties as targets: forward Ryan Donato and defenseman Connor Murphy. Donato, once one of the Bruins’ top prospects up front (center/wing), in the offseason signed a four-year extension ($4 million AAV) to remain in Chicago in the wake of his career-high production (31-31–62) under then-coach Luke Richardson. He has fallen back this season (13-12–25) under new bench boss Jeff Blashill. More committed to strength and conditioning now than during his days in Boston when fresh off the Harvard campus, Donato, 29, could be a comfortable, versatile fit in Marco Sturm’s top six. In many ways (size, speed, production) his game mirrors what Sturm brought to the ice in his playing days. Murphy, who grew up best pals with Sean Kuraly in the Columbus suburbs (Dublin, Ohio), needs a career reboot after logging long, faithful service with the Blackhawks. He has Brandon Carlo-like size (6-4/212), with the same reliability and a smidge more offensive pop. It’s his ninth season with Chicago, which includes his entire playoff experience: nine games (0-4–4) in 2020. Murphy, who’ll be 33 in March and is on an expiring deal, was born when his dad, Gord Murphy, played for the Bruins under the watch of Brian Sutter and Tommy McVie. The elder Murphy returned to Boston in 2001-02 to finish his playing days during Robbie Ftorek’s short tenure as coach. Kuraly’s introduction to the NHL came when joining his pal Murphy at Blue Jackets games. “Yeah, we went a bunch,” said a smiling Kuraly, “using his dad’s tickets, of course. We were always together. If he could make it to a Blue Jackets home game, we were there and we’d be sneaking around the locker room and the family room … always together, hanging around rinks.” The two played on the same youth hockey teams for years and topped out as teammates in their mid-teens with the AAA Blue Jackets. Kuraly then chose the college (Miami University) path, with a tune-up in the USHL, while Murphy forged his NHL route through the OHL (Sarnia) following his tour with the US Development Program. Kuraly’s scouting report on his old pal: “Consistent, simple, reliable, good first-pass defenseman … plays hard. Does all the little things right … detailed. One of those guys who’s a true pro. Good at what he does, takes care of himself, a really good teammate and person. A guy anyone would love to have on their team.” Sweeney was a member of the Bruins blue line corps during both of Gord Murphy’s tours with with Boston. Prior to the Olympic break, your faithful puck chronicler made the case for the Bruins retiring Wayne Cashman’s No. 12 and Gerry Cheevers’s No. 30 to the TD Garden rafters. In the spirit of continuing a quest to right some of the franchise’s longtime wrongs, there also should be space made in the Black and Gold heavens to honor Harry Sinden, their ex-coach, GM, and longtime executive. Sinden, the energetic bench boss when Bobby Orr arrived as a rookie, directed the club to its 1970 Cup win, then abruptly left for a job in home manufacturing when he wasn’t offered the GM role. Tom Johnson took over bench duties. Johnson ran the bench for the ‘72 Cup win and Sinden returned months later as GM, a job he held for 28 years. Sinden, now 93, did not win the Cup as GM, but he defined the franchise’s play for decades, around some landmark trades — the legendary Phil Esposito swap in ‘75 with the Rangers that brought in Brad Park and Jean Ratelle, and the ‘86 deal to acquire Cam Neely (now team president) from the Canucks. The Bruins made it to five Cup Finals during his GM tenure. If not for too many men on the ice at the Forum in ‘79 … OK, fine, too soon. Above all, Sinden’s teams were always entertaining, honest, embraceable. They had brand identity. It was a team, year after year, that fans cared about, passionately, stocked with identifiable and relatable players and sometimes coaches (Exhibit A: Don Cherry and the Lunchpail A.C.). Similar to Cheevers, Sinden years ago was inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame (as a builder), but to date has not been rightly recognized on Causeway Street as the feisty, dedicated force he was for some 40 years. Way overdue. Be it with a number or simply his last name, he deserves recognition in the Garden rafters. One of the city’s most quotable sports execs, one of Sinden’s best lines came around this time of year in 1992, during the Olympic Games in the French Alps (Albertville). Top prospect Joe Juneau, playing for Team Canada, remained unimpressed with Sinden’s offer to sign him and add him to the Boston roster after the Games. In fact, said Juneau, he might just stay in Europe and sign with a pro team in Switzerland. “Really?” said Sinden, when a media member apprised him of Juneau’s Swiss option. “Well, I hope he learns to yodel.” Juneau signed here promptly after the Games and pulled on his No. 49 with the Spoked-B on the front, noting he was pleased to have the numbers of both Orr and John Bucyk on his sweater. Former Bruins goalie prospect Brandon Bussi, on fire this season after finally getting blocker and glove inside the NHL door, signed a three-year extension with the Hurricanes for an economical $1.9 million AAV. Looks like short money for a guy who has carried the Hurricanes with his stellar 23-3-1 mark. Bussi in year No. 3 will receive nearly all of his $1.9 million as a signing bonus, and will be UFA eligible on July 1, 2029 at age 31. Bussi reported to training camp in September on a two-way deal with the Panthers, then landed in Raleigh via waivers on the dawn of the new season … Charlie Coyle, who’ll be in Boston Thursday with Columbus, came to the Bruins in the February 2019 swap that sent Ryan Donato and a Round 4 pick to the Wild. Minnesota wheeled the pick (No. 99/2019) to the Hurricanes, who used it on Worcester-born Cade Webber, the 6-7 defenseman now in his second season with AHL Toronto after playing four seasons on the Boston University blue line … The spirited Slovak club that reached the semis vs Team USA in Milan had ex-Bruin forward Miroslav Satan as its GM. Satan played most of his NHL career with the Sabres, but finished in Boston with 38 games in 2009-10. When the Bruins won the Cup the following spring, he was back in Slovakia, playing for Bratislava … A relief to see the ice sheet held up at the Games. Rink construction in Milan ran weeks late, which left to question whether an untested surface could hold up to steady, intensive use. What could have been a disaster was instead, thankfully, a nonissue ... Classy move by popular singer, and Vancouver homeboy, Michael Buble to purchase a full-page tribute in the Vancouver Sun following the death of Jim Robson, the esteemed Canucks play-by-play man for decades. “THANK YOU, JIM! You were the greatest!,” wrote Buble. The kind, clever, and talented Robson was a perpetual joy off the ice, particularly welcoming to out-of-town media making trips to Pacific Coliseum in the ‘70s and ‘80s … The Sharks terminated the remainder of Jeff Skinner’s one-year, $3 million deal during the Olympic break, rendering the 2011 Calder (Rookie of the Year) winner an unrestricted free agent. No immediate takers, but it’s a good bet he’ll hitch with a contender for the league minimum prior to the March 6 deadline. It’s now how you start, but how you finish. Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.