The holiday season is upon us, and many hockey teams are hoping for a Christmas miracle. The NHL franchises in the Metropolitan Division all have one thing — among many others — they are hoping for this winter, so let’s go over their wishes.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes are a juggernaut. The only thing they want this season is a deep playoff run. To get there, they will need their top guns playing at peak form. The Hurricanes are not typically an injury-plagued team, so this wish should be relatively realistic. If a healthy Hurricanes’ team enters the postseason, they will be among the favorites to take home the Stanley Cup.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets are playing above their expectations. Plentiful depth, strong defense and stable goaltending make the Blue Jackets a tough team to play against every night. To become a formidable threat in the Eastern Conference, the Blue Jackets will need a player to emerge as a go-to option during big moments.

The obvious candidate is for Patrick Laine to return to form, but he is still recovering from injuries that have kept him sidelined for most of the season. Zach Werenski or Jack Roslovic are also possibilities. The youngsters have the talent, but producing in the situation they find themselves in may prove challenging. If a star can emerge, the Jackets have the potential to become dark horses in the NHL.

New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils need a shake-up this holiday season, like a coaching change, a trade, or the youth to step up. Their campaign is in the midst of having the playoffs become an afterthought. An abysmal power-play is a weakness of the Devils and an early injury to Jack Hughes hurt as well. A wake-up call is due, and any form of coaching change has the potential to turn the Devils’ season around.

New York Islanders

The New York Islanders are having a miserable season. Injuries and COVID-19 have destroyed this contending team and the Islanders’ one ask this holiday season is for their luck to change. Hopefully, the team is healthy, starting winning games and has no more added adversity.

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers are fighting for first place in the Metropolitan Division and that is without their youth movement in their forward core taking over. Consecutive top-two selections in the NHL Draft in 2019 and 2020 blessed the Rangers with tantalizing top prospects in Kaapa Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere.

To say these two players have not lived up to expectations would be an understatement. The Rangers as a team are finally living up to their high expectations; however, a perfect gift for them would be Kakko and Lafreniere making strides in the new year and performing how they were thought to when drafted.

Pittsburgh Penguins

A clean bill of health is something the Pittsburgh Penguins look for every year — and that is no different now. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin did not begin the season healthy.

When the Pens are healthy, they are a threat to the Stanley Cup every year. Moving forward, the Penguins are in a competitive race for the playoffs and they cannot afford to miss any more games from the greatest duo from the past decade.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers are a mess. From the recently-fired Alain Vigneault, to a struggling power-play to a faltering defense that was revamped in the offseason, everything is wrong. The Flyers have a dry offense and lack physicality.

To put it simply, the Flyers need to find an identity and start winning hockey games.

Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals are once again among the top teams in the Eastern Conference. This is in large part due to Alexander Ovechkin performing as if he was in his prime. Ovechkin is somehow keeping pace with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the point race for the NHL and his encouraging output shows the Capitals are still league-wide contenders. The Capitals can hope for health or the prospect cupboards to be restocked; yet, their team lives and breathes on the success of the Great Eight.

John Smark