The Spookiest NHL Stories From the 2025-26 Season So Far

Happy Halloween, hockey fans. After Tuesday's Frozen Frenzy whirlwind, most NHL teams have hit the 10-game mark.

Persistent early-season struggles are getting harder to ignore, such as the careless defensive blunders the Minnesota Wild are making that are costing them games.

We're also seeing some positive trends emerge, like the Utah Mammoth's offensive explosion and Jakub Dobes emerging as a potential revelation in the Montreal Canadiens' net.

Which tales from the beginning of this NHL season are we telling around the campfire this Halloween? Here are the spookiest stories so far.

The Edmonton Oilers are no strangers to a slow start to the season, but you might have thought that Connor McDavid signing a short and modest extension the day before this season would have revved the engine a bit sooner.

Tuesday's 6-3 win over the surging Utah Mammoth, in which McDavid exploded for two goals, was certainly a start. Before that, though, the Oilers were 4-4-2 to start the season, and McDavid only had one goal. Should we worry?

Head coach Kris Knoblach could just be playing the long game and trying to get a peek at all of his line-combination options for the playoffs while the season is still young, but his constant shuffling of the lines has been hard to watch.

Edmonton is sorely missing Zach Hyman for a finishing touch offensively, and we may well see McDavid pick it up when Hyman returns and gives the lineup an answer to once again complete its first line.

However, the offense is falling flat without Corey Perry, and the Oilers are still waiting for Hyman's return.

For once, the goaltending isn't the problem, as Stuart Skinner has had some strong performances, such as his shutout at Madison Square Garden, to will the team into the win column. Still, the defense has had some notable blunders, and the lack of chemistry between Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm is troubling.

Will the Oilers settle down and find some easier scoring once Hyman returns to the lineup, or will the early lack of cohesion across the roster persist? Either way, they were definitely spooking us before the potential turning-point win over Utah.

If we expected the Oilers to come out with more urgency following McDavid's signing, we definitely expected the Wild to look better than this after Kirill Kaprizov's record-breaking extension.

Minnesota has struggled all over the ice with a 3-5-3 record and a minus-12 goal differential to show for it.

It's not that we're paying too much attention to the standings with less than 20 games played—this team could still put together a win streak and return to the playoff conversation. It's that the play has been mostly mediocre, with few exhilarating moments to really excite us. It's also that the problems keep getting worse after a decent enough start.

Most notably, the Wild have given up at least five goals per night more than any other team, and aside from the opening 5-0 win over the Blues, they aren't exactly throwing a party offensively in their wins.

The veterans are off, the young core is making its fair share of mistakes, and Kaprizov's got a minus-five rating despite racking up six goals and 15 points in 11 games. The Wild need to figure out which ghost of seasons past is haunting this house so the overall vibe can improve.

With all the changes the New York Rangers made, starting with last trade deadline's fire sale, we assumed they'd at least look different for the 2025-26 season.

Tuesday night's 2-0 shutout of the Canucks was exactly what they needed, but we're afraid they're giving us an eerily similar encore of last year's problems.

They allow early and late-period goals with an almost resigned attitude; J.T. Miller has been hampered by what seems to be a lingering injury from training camp, and their once-reliable power play keeps declining.

Worst of all, their core players haven't quite bounced back like we anticipated. Artemi Panarin has two goals and seven points in 11 games.

We'd at least feel somewhat optimistic if the problems were new, but it's concerning that these are exactly the issues the team set out to fix. Perhaps the decent performance on defense Tuesday was the start of righting the ship.

Who'd have thought the Maple Leafs would be struggling to score without the 100-plus point Mitch Marner?

Even the eventual 4-3 win over the struggling Calgary Flames on Tuesday didn't come easily. They had to come back from a brutal first period to narrowly avoid overtime.

The Leafs, who are 5-4-1 and third in the Atlantic, haven't been as dreadful on paper as some of these teams. But they and their minus-1 goal differential are clearly missing a top winger with offensive flair.

Do they just need a little more time to adjust? Matthew Knies looked like himself again Tuesday with two goals in front of the net. Will he step into the role with a bit more confidence now? Will the power play gradually improve?

So far, this isn't the high-powered team we once knew and maybe that will work out fine for the Leafs, but the defense needs to straighten out to account for the huge missing piece offensively.

The Utah Mammoth are making the scariest division in the league (Central) even spookier with their glorious start. The young franchise has been breaking last season's records in a way that feels sustainable and fun.

The most recent franchise record? The seven-game win streak that started just as the Mammoth revealed Tusky as their mascot. The Oilers snapped the streak at seven in Tuesday's 6-3 win, but the run included wins over the Jets and the Avalanche. The Mammoth (8-3-1) still sits atop the division despite the Frozen Frenzy loss.

The power of Tusky helps, but the Mammoth have been scoring a ton—and that's what was missing as their playoff hopes dried up last season.

Nick Schmaltz is tied for second in the league in scor ing with 7 goals and 17 points in 11 games. Clayton Keller is right up there with 12 points in 11 games, and JJ Peterka is panning out with 10 points.

Perhaps most crucial of all? Logan Cooley has arrived with eight goals and he's locked up long term after an eight-year extension on Wednesday.

Keep 'em coming, and the Mammoth might spook us all headed into the playoffs.