The NHL is back, and with a brand new season comes a fresh slate of storylines.
From highly anticipated debuts and emotional farewells to sky-high Stanley Cup expectations and a division we should probably be calling “The Group of Death,” here are 10 storylines that could shape the 2024-25 season ahead.
1. Ovechkin’s hunt for history continues in Year 20
We hockey fans sure are a spoiled bunch, because for the last 19 years, we’ve had the pleasure of watching two of the sport’s all-time best hit the ice and change the game. We’re also getting old, because we’re about to see Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin embark on their 20th seasons.
Over the last two decades, we’ve seen both stars write their names into the NHL’s history books several times over and rise up the all-time rankings, and Year 20 will surely bring more milestones for each — and questions about whether the roster around them is good enough to make another Cup run during the remaining respective tenures at the top.
When it comes to major milestones and chasing history, all eyes will be on Ovi. With 853 career regular-season goals to his name, Ovechkin is just 42 markers away from breaking a scoring record few thought could ever be reached.
Ovechkin passed Gordie Howe for second on the all-time goals list when he scored his 802nd career marker on Dec. 23, 2022. The only player left to catch is The Great One himself. Can he get catch up to Wayne Gretzky’s 894 this season? He scored exactly 42 goals in 2022-23, but an offensive dry spell last season slowed down No. 8’s hunt for history. His 31 goals in 2023-24 marked the lowest full-season total of his prolific career before closing out the campaign without a single point as Washington was swept by the Rangers in the first round. Based on last year’s pace, he’ll need 105 games to register 42 goals, putting history-watch in the 2025-26 season. But we all know what can happen when Ovi gets on a hot streak. Whether he makes a run for it this season or just keeps chipping away, a record-breaking moment for Ovechkin feels like it’s a matter of when, not if.
2. Fleury’s farewell tour
Amid speculation that he’d hang up his skates last spring came the news that Marc-Andre Fleury had signed on for one more season with the Wild — and that the 2024-25 campaign would be his last.
Fleury’s NHL career started when he was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2003, and it’s only right that it should conclude with a season-long celebration of one of the game’s best — not to mention, most beloved — goaltenders.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins and winner of the Vezina and Jennings trophies in Vegas sits second to only Martin Brodeur in all-time wins, with 561. (He surpassed the great Patrick Roy, at 551, last season.) He’s on pace to finish his career second on the all-time games played list behind Brodeur, too — he’s just four shy of Roy right now and 19 behind second-place Roberto Luongo.
Fleury’s farewell tour will surely feature a few extra special stops, including his final game in Pittsburgh on Oct. 29 and in Vegas on Jan. 12. And if his pre-season hijinks are any indication, we can expect a final practical joke or two in there as well, from one of hockey’s top pranksters.
3. Celebrini’s quest for the Calder gets underway, and he’s got company
There’s a steady stream of young talent entering the NHL, and the 2024-25 season promises a handful of highly anticipated debuts headlined by first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini.
The 18-year-old forward is the natural favourite to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as this season’s top rookie, is dealing with an early injury but he’s not alone when it comes to this race — not even on his own team. Joining him in San Jose’s youth surge this season is fellow rookie forward Will Smith as well as netminder Yaroslav Askarov, who joined the Sharks via trade from Nashville this summer.
Other intriguing rookies to watch include Philadelphia’s Matvei Michkov, Dallas’s Logan Stankoven and Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier. This should be fun.
4. Florida hockey: So hot right now
Between the Tampa Bay Lightning’s trio of trips to the Stanley Cup Final (including back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021) and the Florida Panthers’ 2023 Cinderella run followed by the franchise hoisting its first-ever Stanley Cup this past spring, the Sunshine State has had a real stranglehold on the Stanley Cup Final lately.
And neither squad is showing signs of cooling off. The defending-champion Panthers saw some major names walk away in free agency, particularly on the blue line — Brandon Montour is now a member of the Kraken and Oliver Ekman-Larsson cashed in with the Maple Leafs — and will need to rely on some more reclamation projects on defence to fill in the gaps and run it back. Locking up leading scorer Sam Reinhart was a huge win, and keeping a consistent forward core makes the Panthers a formidable contender once again.
Meanwhile, the Lightning look different this year — especially at the top. GM Julien BriseBois was all business this off-season, letting long-time captain Steven Stamkos walk away and giving that money to a younger winger in Jake Guentzel. He also traded away Mikhail Sergachev for another young forward in Conor Geekie, sending a message to the league that the Lightning will stop at nothing to keep their window of contention open. Will the bold moves pay off?
5. Which rebuilding roster can make the jump into the playoffs?
Speaking of Florida … is there a division more fascinating this year than the Atlantic? It’s not just about the teams above the fold — you know, the same four squads dominating the playoff picture the last six years — or the fact the division has been represented in six straight Cup Finals and won three of the last five.
The division is also home to the teams holding the NHL’s three longest active post-season droughts: The Buffalo Sabres (13 seasons), Detroit Red Wings (eight) and Ottawa Senators (seven). All three enter the 2024-25 campaign with playoffs-or-bust expectations, and with Tampa Bay, Florida, Boston and Toronto all looking as formidable as ever as they look to maintain their status at the top, well … something’s gotta give. (Montreal could make things interesting, too, but could surely use a little more seasoning before taking a meaningful step forward — especially with both Patrick Laine’s comeback season and David Reinbacher’s debut delayed due to injury.) The 82-game race looks like it’ll be both a marathon and a sprint, and with very little room for error, it should be a wild run all year long.
Of course, while the Atlantic is out here looking like hockey’s version of The Group of Death, every division looks ripe for an upset when it comes to which clubs land at the top. Can New Jersey make good on playoff expectations at last? Will Nashville’s shopping spree pay off? Can Connor Bedard bring the Blackhawks back? Can the Ducks or Sharks make a splash in the Pacific? We could see some changing of the guards as rebuilding clubs take aim at contending.
6. Welcome to the NHL, Utah
It was the league’s worst-kept secret that Salt Lake City would someday be home to an NHL franchise … we just weren’t exactly expecting it to happen so fast. But with Alex Meruelo’s inability to secure a viable long-term hockey home for the for-now-defunct Arizona Coyotes came the news that the NHL is now in Utah.
It’s been an incredibly busy summer for everyone working behind the scenes to move an entire roster of players and staff members from one state to another, and there’s so much more to be done still — for example, we won’t know the official team name or see the logo until the 2024-25 season is in the books. But starting Tuesday, when the puck drops at the Delta Center against the Chicago Blackhawks, we get to see what Salt Lake City hockey is all about. While the roster itself is familiar, everything around it is new — including the fresh start. With a young group that looks like it’s finally ready to contend, the Utah Hockey Club brings a new beginning for a team that hasn’t had the luxury of focusing on just hockey.
7. What’s the going rate for a starting goalie, anyway?
It was a busy summer for goaltenders, with a handful of starters joining new squads — Jacob Markstrom in New Jersey, Yaroslav Askarov in San Jose, and Joonas Korpisalo and Linus Ullmark trading creases between Boston and Ottawa. Others signed on the dotted line to stay put, such as Juuse Saros (Nashville) and Joseph Woll (Toronto), while stars Connor Hellebuyck and Ilya Sorokin, who signed long-term extensions last summer, embark on Year 1 of their respective new deals.
But the biggest stories as we enter the season revolve around the unresolved situations. In Boston, talks between Jeremy Swayman and Bruins brass are unfolding — or unravelling? — in a very public way after president Cam Neely’s $64-million remarks. Will the netminder re-sign, or has he played his final game in Boston?
Meanwhile, in New York, Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin has his sights set on raising the bar for goalie salary, but can the team afford it? And, perhaps more importantly, can it afford not to pay? Shesterkin, who’s due to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, reportedly doesn’t want to negotiate a new deal during the season, which means New York’s net should be in the spotlight all year.
8. Best-on-best international hockey is back
What happens when you get Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid together on a line? That’s a question we’ve been asking for nearly a decade now, and with the return of international best-on-best hockey this winter, we’re finally going to get an answer.
Beginning Feb. 12, entries from four top hockey countries — Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland — will battle for hockey supremacy in Montreal and Boston in the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. This will be the first time since the league revived its World Cup of Hockey in 2016 that we get to see top-tier international competition. It also marks a new beginning for NHLers representing their country, as the NHL, NHLPA and IIHF agreed in February that the league will allow its players to compete at the Olympic Games in 2026 and 2030 for the first time since 2014.
Let the roster building begin!
9. The Oilers are in win-now mode. Will they?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have the same core, with a new captain leading the way as Auston Matthews now dons the ‘C.’ The Vancouver Canucks showed us all last spring they’re ready for a run, while the Winnipeg Jets have a new head coach looking to revive a solid roster and do the same. The Ottawa Senators are looking to finally jump into the playoff mix again, the Montreal Canadiens could dip a toe into contention talks as they emerge from their rebuild, and the Calgary Flames face plenty of questions as they embark on a rebuild of their own.
We all know the heavy expectations placed on hockey teams in Canadian markets, but considering how close McDavid & Co. came to finally winning it all last spring, is there a team with a brighter spotlight shining on them than the Edmonton Oilers?
The roster remains largely intact, with Leon Draisaitl committing long-term and sending a message to his teammates that Edmonton is in position to win. We all know this season really comes down to game No. 83 and beyond, and after seeing Florida bounce back from 2023 runners-up to 2024 champs, all we want to know is whether Edmonton can do the same.
Can the Oilers run it back and win this time?
10. The hockey world remembers the Gaudreau brothers
As we all embark on this new NHL season, we do so with heavy hearts as we continue to mourn the tragic loss of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau.
While the loss extends far beyond the game of hockey, the hockey world will feel it with every game. The league announced players will wear special helmet decals to honour the Gaudreau name, and players on the Blue Jackets and Flames will no doubt have their own special tributes, too, as will fans league-wide when those teams come to town.
Over the course of Johnny Gaudreau’s NHL career, he brought energy to the ice with every shift. Perhaps the best way to honour him is to embrace his favourite game with joy — just like Johnny Hockey always did.