The sun has pushed back the start of yet another outdoor game.

Puck drop for Sunday's Centennial Classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings will be delayed by 30 minutes due to sunlight on the ice surface at BMO Field, the NHL announced.

The league made the decision in the interest of player safety. The game was originally scheduled to begin shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

Puck drop for October's Heritage Classic between the Winnipeg Jets and the Edmonton Oilers was delayed nearly two hours due to the glare at Winnipeg's Investors Group Field.

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Tie Domi might be full of hot air, or he could be on to something when it comes to the cold gusts at BMO Field.

After dealing with the wind in a 4-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings in Saturday's Centennial Classic alumni game, the former Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer predicted the blustery conditions will again be a significant factor when the current squads meet outdoors Sunday.

"We were supposed to be the home team, and we were against the wind twice," Domi told Sportsnet postgame Saturday, according to Luke Fox. "I tell ya, they better switch the benches for tomorrow. The wind's an advantage."

Domi wasn't kidding, according to Fox, and alumni teammate Tiger Williams agreed.

"I was doing an interview and I couldn't even talk because the wind was blowing down my throat," Williams said.

Environment Canada is forecasting southwesterly winds of 20 km/h with gusts reaching as high as 40 km/h throughout the afternoon and into the evening Sunday.

Auston Matthews isn't planning to overthink his game if the conditions pose a problem.

"The main message from guys who've played in these kinds of games before is: Keep it simple," the Leafs center said.

Assuming the teams switch ends midway through the second period as we've seen in previous outdoor contests, neither club will have the wind as an excuse, but that may not stop them from blowing off steam about it after the game.

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The start of a new year is a time for reflection, but it's also an opportunity to look forward.

Plenty of intrigue awaits the NHL in 2017, from the usual slew of outdoor games to the expansion draft and the debut of the league's 31st franchise.

Here are three things we believe will happen in the new calendar year:

Jack Capuano will finally be fired

The New York Islanders' bench boss will be the second NHL head coach fired this season following the Florida Panthers' unexpected dismissal of Gerard Gallant last month.

The final straw for general manager Garth and the team's new owners will come in late January, when the Islanders win only one of six games in a homestand that pits them against the Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals.

Capuano isn't entirely to blame for the Islanders' struggles - much of the club's woes stem from poor decisions by Snow - but the coach is always the first to go when a change is deemed necessary.

Fairly or unfairly, New York's mediocre offense and the ultra-competitive Metropolitan Division will be Capuano's undoing.

The Bruins will narrowly miss the playoffs again

Boston will be eliminated from postseason contention in the final days of the campaign for the third consecutive year.

The Bruins failed to qualify last season despite finishing with the same number of points as the Detroit Red Wings, losing the tiebreaker on regulation-or-overtime wins. Boston missed out by three points in 2014-15.

They'll be squeezed out again in 2017, with the injury-riddled but perennially competitive Tampa Bay Lightning primed to leapfrog them and the talented but turbulent Florida Panthers also on their heels in the Atlantic Division.

The Lightning have proven they can win without Ben Bishop, and when Steven Stamkos returns in mid-March, they'll make a late push that will doom the Bruins, who - beyond David Pastrnak - won't find a cure for their scoring woes.

Matthews will edge Laine for the Calder Trophy

Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine will continue piling up points until the conclusion of the regular season, and the first overall pick in June's draft will justify the Toronto Maple Leafs' decision to take him in that spot by outproducing his Winnipeg Jets counterpart down the stretch.

Matthews will beat Laine for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie in the closest vote in years, thanks to a surplus of young talent that also includes Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski, as well as Matthews' teammate, Mitch Marner, and stellar but currently injured Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray.

Voters will cite Matthews' ability to produce at a similar clip to Laine despite playing with less experienced linemates. Matthews will continue to be flanked by fellow youngsters Zach Hyman and Connor Brown on the Leafs' second line, while Laine will benefit from playing alongside Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers on the Jets' top unit.

Both Matthews and Laine are surely primed to have terrific careers, but the former will earn the accolade over the latter following their rookie seasons.

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Jorge Alves had a New Year's Eve he'll never forget.

The Carolina Hurricanes equipment manager was still soaking in the moment after manning the crease for the final seven-plus seconds in a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

"It's a surprise, it's unbelievable," Alves told reporters postgame. "I was actually heading back down into the tunnel when I heard my name. I looked back, (and) I was like, 'What?' and coach (Bill Peters) said, 'Get your stuff on,' so ... it was amazing. I couldn't believe it."

Related: Hurricanes give equipment manager the experience of a lifetime

The Hurricanes signed the 37-year-old to a pro tryout contract before the game, and he was serving as Cam Ward's backup because an illness forced Carolina's No. 2 netminder, Eddie Lack, to miss the contest.

After Alves' brief moment in the spotlight, he joked that he was hoping the puck wouldn't find its way into Carolina's defensive zone.

"I just remember looking down the ice and seeing the puck in the corner and saying (to myself), 'Stay in that corner,'" he said with a laugh.

The impact of the moment was clearly still affecting him afterwards.

"It was amazing," he repeated. "It's still pretty emotional for me, so, it was amazing."

Even though he was the Hurricanes' backup goalie for a night, Alves still fulfilled his duties as equipment manager, sharpening skates and taping up sticks during the game.

"I can't shake the habit," he quipped. "I have a duty with the team and I wasn't going to break that."

The former NC State goaltender had seven ECHL contests under his belt but hadn't seen game action in 10 seasons.

Now, he has an NHL debut and an unforgettable story to call his own.

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Joe Thornton lost his cool on New Year's Eve.

Just ask Los Angeles Kings defenseman Derek Forbort, who found himself on the receiving end of a pair of forceful slashes from the San Jose Sharks forward in the third period Saturday night, the second of which was a direct hit on Forbort's right arm.

Thornton was assessed a minor penalty as a result, but he may be in line for more in the form of supplemental discipline.

The Sharks and Kings renew hostilities Tuesday night.

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The NHL will ring in the new year with an outdoor clash between two Original Six clubs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will host their first outdoor game at BMO Field when the Detroit Red Wings come to town. The game represents their second outdoor matchup in three years since both teams took the ice at Michigan Stadium in 2014.

The 2014 installment will surely go down as one of the better outdoor games the league has arranged, but as the sequel approaches, it doesn't have quite the same allure - and the reason for this is the lack of a rivalry.

Sure the Red Wings and Maple Leafs have gone to war in the past, but that's the problem - it was in the past. With the Red Wings only recently returning to the Eastern Conference, the teams haven't played many heated games against each other, and because of that, bad blood between them is almost nonexistent.

The two clubs used to meet regularly in the Stanley Cup Finals, but that was the product of having just six teams in the league. Though that's no longer possible, here are three ways to resurrect the Red Wings-Maple Leafs rivalry.

A playoff series

The best and easiest way to create a rivalry: Play meaningful games against your foe. This all starts in the postseason.

The Maple Leafs and Red Wings haven't met in postseason play since their memorable first-round series in 1993. The Maple Leafs edged the Red Wings in overtime of Game 7 thanks to Nikolai Borschevsky's iconic tip-in goal.

However, even that series was just the teams' third playoff meeting since the 1963-64 season. While the Maple Leafs have made just one playoff appearance over the last 11 years, one could argue that's given Toronto a hatred for the Boston Bruins after the way their 2013 series ended.

A series reminiscent of that one in any way could be all the Maple Leafs and Red Wings need to develop some animosity. Rivalries can be built, but teams generally need a reason to despise each other.

Regular outdoor games

If the NHL wants to make Toronto vs. Detroit a rivalry through these outdoor games, the league should really embrace it.

Instead of meeting every couple of years, the Maple Leafs and Red Wings could play every Jan. 1 and make it a real spectacle.

The clubs could alternate hosting the event, and they're close enough that die-hard fans would make the trek when their side is the away team. An annual game would build history and wouldn't necessarily be looked at as just another regular-season contest. Players would have last season's meeting in the back of their minds, teams would look for redemption, and fans would be glued to their seats New Year's Day.

Matthews vs. 2017 No. 1 pick

This next one would take some luck, but could create an instant rivalry.

After reaching the playoffs for 25 straight seasons, the Red Wings are currently flirting with the worst record in the Eastern Conference, and could approach the worst in the entire league if things don't change.

So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Detroit will not only miss the playoffs, but nab a top draft pick - and the Winnipeg Jets proved this past year that you don't need to finish last to move up and steal a star.

If next season kicked off with a meeting between 2016 first overall pick Auston Matthews and a No. 1 selection of the Red Wings, we could have new reason to get rowdy about this rivalry.

While we're on the subject of the Red Wings' quarter-century playoff streak, if the Maple Leafs somehow ended up being the team to stick the final dagger in Detroit's run, that could create some hatred too.

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If he's the city's adopted son, this was baptism.

Waking up to an alarm set before standard, Auston Matthews threw on an extra layer when he emerged from his slumber Saturday, and headed out to the rink for an early-morning practice in frigid conditions.

This is holy ritual in Canada, and one his teammates, and the thousands of kids who now idolize him, know too well. But windburned cheeks and toes tingling as they returned to temperature in the locker room were unfamiliar sensations for the teenage star with the Toronto Maple Leafs on the eve of the Centennial Classic.

Feeling any more Canadian now, Auston?

"I feel very Canadian today," he laughed, shortly after the Leafs practiced on the NHL-grade rink built on the frozen grounds of BMO Field.

This, too, was a foreign feeling for Matthews. The marquee attraction at the NHL's annual open-air New Year's Day showcase hails from Scottsdale, Ariz., where the margaritas come frozen - not ponds.

Having never earned his ice with a shovel, scraping away snow to reveal a fresh sheet, Matthews doesn't know the seasonal luxury that many NHL stars used to hone their talent, innovate, and grow an obsession over a game in their impressionable years.

It's the reason Canadian kids, as well as many Americans who share their climate, wear frostbite like a badge of honor. Because in many cases, time invested is what set them apart.

"I loved playing outside, it always seemed like it was more fun," Matthews' linemate and local kid Connor Brown said. "That's where I grew up learning to play and really love the game."

A disadvantage? Maybe. But no hurdle Matthews couldn't clear.

Eschewing other interests to maximize his time at a local rink about as old as hockey itself in the Valley of the Sun, Matthews acquired essential skills to surface on the radar of the U.S. Development Program, and then under expert tutelage, he evolved into the top prospect in his NHL draft season.

Now, the No. 1 overall pick is having one of the finest rookie campaigns in the franchise's 100-year history. Which, as it happens, is the cause for celebration this weekend.

Matthews is on pace for more than 40 goals, 300-plus shots, and if he can maintain his colossal attacking rate, he'll obliterate the club's rookie records. And while he's exceeded expectation on the ice in 35 games, he's also handled the often-blinding spotlight brilliantly.

His temperament to this point has been irreproachable.

It seems every time he answers a question, Mike Babcock should be seen off in the distance, nodding in approval.

"(It was my) first time skating outdoors (in preparation) for a game, so it was definitely exciting to go out there and get used to the ice. I enjoyed today - it's fun. But come tomorrow, it's all business."

As the novice arctic outdoorsman in a sportive room, Matthews will have been subjected to his share of good-natured ribbing when the weekend is over (and there's three generations of Maple Leafs packed into one room to dish it out.)

But under the arctic clouds and while breathing in chilly air Sunday, the ice will be immaculate and the dimensions just the same as inside Air Canada Centre. It'll be hockey. Nothing more or less.

And when it is, Matthews ends up being the difference for the Leafs more often than not.

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