The NHL season is suddenly upon us. Here's what to know about Canada's teams

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Today is the first day of the NHL's regular season. Snuck up on you, eh?

But when the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators dropped the puck on the first of two games in Prague this afternoon, the 2022-23 campaign officially got underway. They'll play again on Saturday. Tuesday features an all-American doubleheader before Canadian teams finally hit the ice on Wednesday with Leafs-Habs preceding Oilers-Canucks.

Here's the outlook for Canada's seven teams:

Contenders

Edmonton Oilers: After finally getting over the playoff hump last season before being eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Avalanche in the West final, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and co. seem primed to take another leap. The Oilers brought back most of their core, including Evander Kane, who scored 13 goals in 15 playoff games on McDavid's wing. The biggest change comes in net, where the erratic Mike Smith is out and former Maple Leaf Jack Campbell is in with a fresh five-year, $25 million US contract.

Calgary Flames: They lost two 100-point players in Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, and yet they might have improved. After Gaudreau surprisingly fled to Columbus in free agency, Tkachuk, a restricted free agent, announced his intentions to also skip town. And so the Flames traded Tkachuk to Florida for another 100-point player in Jonathan Huberdeau and reliable defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, who signed an eight-year contract extension today. And with the extra cap space cleared by Gaudreau's exit, Calgary signed Stanley Cup champion Nazem Kadri, who only managed 87 points a year ago. After