The last 18 months has been unusual to say the least. NHL hockey has been disrupted like everything else in our lives. We are in the midst of our first normal-feeling season since 2019 and that means we get to revive some traditions that normally happen about this time in the season. Us Americans still have Thanksgiving leftovers to work through and the Christmas shopping season has arrived with its usual retail bombast. Meanwhile the NHL standings and individual races are at a decisive, if not predictable checkpoint.
Yes, we could wait until the mid-season mark in a little over a month but here we are.