The first two weeks of the new 2016/17 NHL season has been filled with tons of worthy headlines, including rookie Auston Matthews scoring 4 goals in his first NHL game, the return of stud goaltender Carey Price, and many unlikely heroes playing big roles for their respective teams. What most people don’t see, however, are the stories that don’t get the big headlines. There are many important details that are under the radar, and these stories have a chance to have a huge impact on this year’s season.

       About 10 percent of the National Hockey League this year is comprised of rookies, players in their first year in the league. This is a big deal because this supports the widely mentioned spread of speed and skill across the league rather than size and grit, a large debate between hockey fans, management, analysts and even players. The NHL is now seeing more players with speed and skill such as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and more, compared to the more enforcing and aggressive role.

        Another storyline is the absolute slaughter of the Montreal Canadiens at the hands of the far worse Columbus Blue Jackets. The Canadiens looked extremely human without their starting goaltender Carey Price, losing 10-0. It was their first loss of the season, which is a big deal considering Columbus had no business winning this game if Price were to be in net. As the goals kept piling in the net, the news was spreading across the hockey universe.

     Overall the first month of the new NHL season has been very interesting. Hockey is one of the fastest growing sports in America and hopefully as the season progresses there are more fun stories to come.