Which NHL teams will be exciting to watch down the stretch?

Now that the NHL’s weirdly long All-Star break is almost over, it’s time to get ready for some real hockey! All kidding aside, while it may take some time to come down from the high of the Olympics, especially for American fans, the rest of this NHL season still has plenty of intrigue and storylines to offer.

Which big names will get moved ahead the trade deadline on March 6th? Can the Colorado Avalanche hang on to their lead in the overall standings for their fourth Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history? Can underperforming teams like the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and New Jersey Devils make late-season runs back into playoff contention?

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed which teams they’ll be watching as the NHL returns to its regularly scheduled programming on Wednesday.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Give me one NHL team that you are most excited to watch down the stretch here in the regular season.

Carter Hutton: For me, it’s going to be the Buffalo Sabres. I just think this is such an exciting time for them. You have Tage Thompson coming back with his gold medal. The amount of pressure, the amount of hype that’s going into this team. This is a team I am going to keep eyes on. For the Buffalo Sabres, it’s kind of now or never. I think the pressure is on, but the excitement is up in Buffalo. I don’t think there’s a fan base across the league that’s more excited to see their team come out and play well to start because of the implications of their last little run since the GM change.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Buffalo’s squarely in a playoff spot right now with 70 points in 57 games. That Atlantic Division is going to be very, very tight.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Monday’s episode here…