Five games in nine nights at Canada Life Centre

Pittsburgh first though?? everyone skipping the Oct 5 opener like it's a freebie 😤 that barn is brutal to walk into cold, first game of the year on the road, yikes but yeah sam you're right, colourado on the 7th is THE one. same 82 points, same 26th spot, they got the picks and the hype all summer and we got nothing but "rebuild" whispers 🤬 cant wait to shut that down in front of a full house. circle it, book the day off work, whatever you gotta do. the anaheim and minny and chicago nights matter too but that avalanche game sets the tone for everything after. ah well, nowt to do but count the days 🔥💪

Everyone's calling Pittsburgh a freebie but road openers eat bankrolls for breakfast, learned that the hard way last fall when I dropped C$150 on an away opener because the price looked juicy. Didn't land, obviously 😭 For me the circle game is Colorado on the 7th, but the betting angle is trickier. Books will price the Avs like a contender and Winnipeg like a 26th-place team, so the moneyline on the Jets might actually carry value if the crowd at Canada Life Centre shows up loud. I'd rather wait on that one and see where the line moves by game day before touching it. Anaheim on the 10th is probably the "safe" price but safe prices rarely pay. My plan: small on the Oct 5 opener only if the puck line stays under 1.5, then keep the powder dry for the Avs night. 💸

lmao Harry dropping C$150 on a road opener, my guy that's how I learned the Ontario sportsbook apps have a "responsible gambling" popup that personally knows me by name 😂 me circling games? I circle Oct 16 vs Chicago 'cause after Colorado and Minnesota my heart's gonna need a gimme 🤣🍿

Colourado for me too, eh. Saw enough opener meltdowns since the old barn days to know game one proves nothing, the 7th is where you learn who they actually are 😄

Funny how everyone's treating the Oct 16 Chicago date like a night off when the standings from last year say otherwise, we finished 26th with 82 points, same as half the sides Chicago wants to leapfrog, so which of us is actually the gimme there? 😂 Anyway, Colorado's the one for me too. Not because it's a measuring stick or whatever fanboys keep chanting, but because 231 goals for and 260 against last season means the Avs will either expose that goal differential in living colour or the boys show they actually fixed something over the summer. I'll be curious what the puck line looks like that morning; if the books aren't pricing us as a clear underdog at home against them, someone in Vegas had a long offseason 😏 And RefBlindHater, your heart needing a gimme after Minnesota? bud, if the Wild game goes sideways the Chicago one won't feel like a gimme either, it'll feel like a funeral 💸

Kev's got it right, the Pittsburgh trip will tell us nothing. I've sat through enough openers since the old barn days to know game one is just everyone shaking rust off 😄 Colourado on the 7th is where you find out if last season's 26th-place mess actually got cleaned up. Only thing I'd add, mind the legs. Five games in nine nights, and that Avs date comes right after a road swing out east. Watch as long as I have and you'll get it: October hockey punishes tired teams.

Colorado's the obvious circle but I'm side-eyeing Minnesota on the 14th too, division games after a 260-goals-against season tell you plenty 😏

Emma's got a point on the Minnesota date, I'll give her that. Division games sting twice when they go sideways, and after giving up 260 last year you'd hope the defence is the first thing they fixed, but hope's cheap in October 😄 I've had season tickets since the days when the building was half empty and the hot dogs were somehow the best part of the night, so take it from me. The Colorado game will tell us plenty, sure, but I always circle the mid-stretch one, that Anaheim date on the 10th. Third game in six nights, crowd a bit flat, team maybe tired. The young lot never saw that kind of game separate the contenders from the "nice try" teams. Anyone can show up for a hyped Tuesday against the Avalanche. Show me what they look like against Anaheim when nobody's got the popcorn out 😉

Put a toonie on the Colorado date personally 😏 after 260 goals against, MacKinnon's crew walking into the Centre is the only real test on that run.

agree with millie on the colourado date, though i'd argue the anaheim game two nights later tells you just as much. big clubs will get you up for it, the true test of a cleaned-up defence is whether you show the same structure against a team you *should* beat. back in the day i watched us drop more home games to bottom-feeders than to the heavyweights, and those are the ones that cost you 82-point seasons 😄 i'll be at the colourado one anyway, been holding the same pair of seats through every rebuild since the old arena days. cheapest measuring stick in town, that night — no puck line needed, you can see with your own eyes whether the leak got plugged.😉

26th overall and everyone's already picking their measuring-stick games 😂 Dave's right though, Anaheim's where the 260-goal defence either got fixed or it didn't. Remind me of your ROI before the toonie talk, Millie? 💸

Dave's got it right, I'd say. Back in the day I learned more about a team from the boring Tuesday night against a bottom-feeder than any marquee matchup 😄 Colorado will have everyone's attention anyway, but Anaheim two nights later is where you find out if the shape actually stuck. My caveat: after 260 against, even one clean week means something, so don't read too much into a single stinker either way.

been driving through a lot of octobers in this league, and i'll tell ya, the games you circle in september almost never turn out to be the ones that mattered. 😄 back in the day the old barns taught me that. everyone circles the marquee night, colourado in this case, and fair enough, mackinnon's crew will show you where you really stand. but i've seen worse teams than this one steal a big win on adrenaline and then sleepwalk through the anaheim game two nights later and it told you everything anyway. dave and frontrow got it right - the ducks date is where the 260 goals against either became a story or became history. me, i'm not circling anything yet. let the first road trip in pittsburgh settle the legs, then we'll see which night actually deserves the marker. stick around, the real measuring stick usually shows up when nobody penciled it in 😉