Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin and the NHL Teams and Players Already in Panic Mode

We're just over a week into the new NHL season, and nothing rattles fans and executives like a rough start. Whether it's teams stumbling out of the gate, superstars with an icy touch, or coaches whose seats got warm right away, nerves can get shot quickly.

While there have been enough teams and players in recent history who overcame tough starts to have great seasons, it's not the most common route to success. An ugly start can lead to sudden changes, and while those changes often lead to better things, for some involved, they can mean the end of the road with their team.

We'll take a spin around the league and look at the teams and players who might already be feeling their stress levels go through the roof, just a few games into the new season.

You have to feel for the Flames. They're saying goodbye to their home, the Calgary Saddledome, after this season and while they'd love to send the old building out with a playoff team and a run to go with it, they've got a very young roster and an overall lack of superstar talent. Rebuilding is hard, and the Flames are already feeling it as the year starts.

Calgary is the last winless team in the league after starting 0-3-0, and what's worse, they haven't even been close in their losses. They've scored just three goals and have allowed 16. They've lost twice to Seattle, 6-1, and dropped a 4-1 decision to Vancouver in between those games. No offense to the Canucks and Kraken, but they're not exactly considered world beaters in the NHL this season just yet.

The Flames have even done drastic things like waiving once-promising forward Connor Zary and then sending him to the AHL when he went unclaimed. For young players like Dustin Wolf, Zayne Parekh, and Simon Nemec, this could be a long, tough year.

We can guess that Connor Hellebuyck misses playing hockey badly, and that he's champing at the bit, waiting for a trade. The Winnipeg Jets going about business and moving on without him, with Stuart Skinner and Clay Stevenson in goal, shows that the waiting won't just be the hardest part; it might take a bit longer, too.

Looking around the NHL at teams that were interested in Hellebuyck before the season started showed a fairly limited market for the three-time Vezina winner and 2025 MVP. Now that games are being played and looking at how those interested teams are playing, you wonder if the market is any different at all and if Hellebuyck's desperation for a change might get him to agree to go somewhere he might not want to play, in a situation that might make playing goalie far more difficult as well.

Yes, we're looking at you, Edmonton. But other teams like San Jose, Carolina, Utah, and Buffalo are all handling things well enough not to make a sudden change. All it takes is one big injury or some seriously poor play at the position; otherwise, Hellebuyck having to wait things out can't feel great for him.

It's difficult to feel bad for Detroit Red Wings former captain Dylan Larkin given his awkward position with the team right now. He asked for a trade and gave management a limited number of teams he'd accept a move to. Now we're a week into the season, and he's not only still a Red Wing but also back on the ice with the team after recovering from an upper-body injury.

The situation isn't what anyone wanted. The Wings would love to have Larkin happy and helping them compete to return to the playoffs, but Larkin would rather be anywhere else than Detroit. Now they have to make it work for each other, no matter how much Larkin gets booed by home fans whenever he touches the puck.

Even though Larkin expanded his list of teams, the wait continues for a trade. He helped his cause by helping lead Detroit to a win over Ottawa upon his return to action, but until this situation is resolved, no one can move on and find closure.

The Panthers came into this season with high expectations thanks to the return to action of a host of players who missed time due to injuries last season. They've started this year 2-0-2, and if that's all you knew about how they're doing, you'd think all was well. But there are big reasons to be concerned.

Aleksander Barkov, who missed all of last season with a brutal knee injury, sustained an injury to his other leg and fortunately will return, albeit not for the next 6-8 weeks. Barkov's elite two-way play and leadership were greatly missed in Florida last season, and any time out of action is a significant loss.

Then there's Brad Marchand, who missed 30 games last season and went down with a lower-body injury in their game against Los Angeles after just returning from offseason surgery. His timetable is yet unknown, but he's remained a highly productive player, and if he misses time, it creates another hole in the lineup.

The Panthers aren't a young team, and they've lost depth over the years from trades and players leaving to get paid elsewhere. Injuries impact teams regardless, but Florida's losses have not been minor and create stress for a team that can be Stanley Cup contenders.

The Kings entered the season with a few big questions to get answered. How they made up for Anže Kopitar's retirement is a big one, but so was how they'd adjust under new coach Peter Laviolette; how Quinton Byfield would adapt to having a bigger role thrust upon him; and how their blue line would fare with Drew Doughty getting another year older and Brandt Clarke looking to take more of the responsibility there.

So far, the stumbles have been more than noticeable. The Kings are 0-2-1 to start the year, and while they've scored nine goals in three games, they've also allowed 15. Thinking back to when Daryl Sutter called the NHL a 3-2 league, and seeing the Kings play in 5-4 games nightly can make you shake your head, mostly because L.A. has always had a strong team defense.

Seeing Clarke, Byfield, and Artemi Panarin being high-event players in their first three games isn't a reason to raise alarms just yet, but it is something to keep an eye on as the games play out. Laviolette likes his teams to be well disciplined defensively as well, and his top guys bleeding goals against can't make him feel good.

The Devils are a team with a load of talent, but they're also a team that, heading into this season, took a calculated risk with their goaltending. A healthy Jack Hughes makes New Jersey dangerous, as do Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes, and Timo Meier. But with Jake Allen and Nico Daws as their goalie tandem, there was reason to wonder if they'd be able to hold things up.

The Devils are 1-2-0 to start and have scored 6 goals in their first 3 games. They've also allowed 13, and six of those came in a 6-0 blast at the hands of the New York Islanders and a 5-3 loss to Utah, which saw the Mammoth outskating them all game, reason enough to be concerned.

The Devils' talent level is too high to think they could be in serious trouble, but it will bring the offseason choices in goal (trading Jacob Markström to Florida, adding no one else) and head coach Sheldon Keefe's job into the spotlight. New GM Sunny Mehta knows he has a good roster, but having everything click right at the same time in New Jersey has often been a matter of luck.

After returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season and looking renewed under Rick Tocchet's leadership behind the bench, the Flyers were poised to be a hopeful and gritty team moving forward. Despite offseason efforts to make a big splash or two and add more offense to the lineup, they were ready to run it back with a lineup similar to last season's playoff group.

This season hasn't gotten off to the start they were hoping for, though. They're 0-2-2, have five goals in their first four games, and have allowed 17. The goals allowed are bad for Daniel Vladař and Joseph Woll, and they're even worse for Tocchet, who may have suddenly found himself in an increasingly warm seat despite last season's gains.

What's worse is that their offense is averaging just over 19 shots on goal per game, tied with Chicago for the lowest rate at the start of the year (19.3). The temperature is always high in Philly, but it gets ratcheted up even more when expectations are higher.