The Top 10 Storylines for the 2024-25 NHL Season
Can you believe the NHL season kicks off Friday? I've done enough moaning and groaning about the preseason, given Patrik Laine's injury via a dirty hit that should've been avoided and whatever we want to call the mess that was the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens "game" Tuesday night.
I'm officially ready for meaningful hockey games and all of the drama and storylines that come with them.
Will the Edmonton Oilers win just one more game this season and hoist the Cup? How will Auston Matthews fare as the Toronto Maple Leafs' captain? Once again, I ask you, are the Buffalo Sabres cursed?
There's so much to think about heading into the 2024-25 NHL season, so let's break down some of the most compelling storylines while we wait just 48 more hours until puckdrop.
Jeremy Swayman and the Rising Salary Cap's Influence on the Market
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It seems like new information about the Jeremy Swayman contract situation emerges by the hour, and each new development gets increasingly contentious.
The Boston Bruins' RFA goalie remains unsigned and away from the team amid all sorts of twists, turns and changing reports. Some reports allege the Bruins offered Swayman an eight-year contract, the maximum length the NHL allows. Others say Swayman's camp is looking for upwards of $9.5 million in average annual value on his next contract.
President Cam Neely implied Monday that the club offered Swayman a $64 million contract with an unspecified length.
"I don't want to get into the weeds with what his ask is," he said, "but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I'd be playing right now."
Swayman has publicly spoken out about how his arbitration hearing last season was tough on him in terms of feeling valuable to the team, so the public callout in the media on Monday feels even tackier than it would've on its own. It all got worse—because of course, it did—when Swayman's agent Lewis Gross released a statement on social media refuting Neely's $64 million claim.
"Normally, I do not release statements or discuss negotiations through the media. However, in this case, I feel I need to defend my client," Gross said in a statement posted on SPM's official Instagram story. "At today's press conference, $64 million was referenced. This was the first time that number was discussed in our negotiations. Before the press conference, no offer was made to reach that level. We are extremely disappointed. This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here."
From there, Neely admitted it was a $7.8 million per year offer. Yikes. We're still waiting to see how this all plays out, and Dec. 1 is the deadline to make a deal before Swayman has to sit out the entire season. It looks like Joonas Korpisalo will get the opening night start on Oct. 8.
As the cap rises and new markets are being set for players, the ugly, public nature of these negotiations should teach teams a lesson: No matter how difficult things get, if you're taking something public (which is already a bad move), you'd better have the facts perfectly straight.
Is 2025 the Devils' Year?
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The New Jersey Devils unexpectedly missed the playoffs last season, but the reasons were clear enough: The team had a constant stream of injuries to key players, including star center Jack Hughes, and they couldn't outscore their porous defense and goaltending.
Management got to work over the summer by adding a great goalie in Jacob Markstrom, a sturdy blueliner in Brett Pesce and returning a healthy squad.
It's not often that a team's issues are laid out so clearly and/or able to be addressed with the options on the market.
Could it be this simple for the Devils? Will last year stand as a fluke as they attempt to contend with this core, or was it the beginning of a slide into mediocrity?
There's significant pressure this year given how it could go either way. If nothing else, you can say New Jersey's management made the right moves to increase their chances of returning to the playoffs this season. How far they take it is up to the players on the roster.
Playoffs or Bust in Buffalo
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The Buffalo Sabres have missed the playoffs for 13 straight seasons, which is the league's longest active drought. What stinks the most is that for the past few years, the team hasn't really stunk.
The pieces are there, like Tage Thompson on offense, Rasmus Dahlin on defense (and, let's be real, also on offense), and young, promising goalies Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The pieces to help the pieces are also there, like Bowen Byram, Jason Zucker, Alex Tuch, Jack Quinn, Owen Power, James Reimer and Connor Clifton.
As much as I agree with the decision to buy out Jeff Skinner's very large contract, and as happy as I am for him to finally (maybe) make the playoffs with the Oilers, Skinner was No. 3 in goals for the Sabres last season with 24. Everyone is going to have to score more, and everyone in net is going to have to save more.
Then, consider the East as a whole. Almost anyone could do anything. Other non-playoff teams like the Senators, Red Wings, Flyers and Devils are all in very similar positions to the Sabres—in and around the playoff bubble with offseason roster tweaks to boot.
The Sabres haven't improved much in the offseason, but they already have some decent, young pieces, and the trade for Byram has been a hit. Maybe they'll finally click this time, but we know better than to count on everything just working out for this team without some adversity.
The Matthews Captaincy Era in Toronto and the Core 4's Last Shot at Glory
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Franchise cornerstone Auston Matthews' captaincy isn't going to make or break the Leafs, but what will? It's looking like this is the last year for the Leafs' core as we know it, as Mitch Marner's dreadful contract negotiations are looming.
The way John Tavares explained his passing of the torch sold me on Captain Matthews anyway. The rest of the context headed into this season, like new head coach Craig Berube ushering in some veteran toughness in his leadership and the urgency of knowing there's one last go at it, has me optimistic about the Leafs this season.
Of course, they'll have to make the right decision in net between their four capable-yet-not-particularly-elite goalies in Joseph Woll, Anthony Stolarz, Matt Murray and Dennis Hildeby. But that's a story for a different day, and if Matthews was going to be handed the captaincy, it might as well be when the team is truly entering a do-or-die season.
Will the Oilers Pull off the Panthers' Feat from Last Season?
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The NHL is a league with considerable parity, especially on the playoff bubble in the East. But the best of the best teams are so clearly the best teams, and the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals of the past few years have reflected that.
This Panthers hung around for the past few seasons in devastating ways—a disappointing early exit, a disappointing Cup Final loss to Vegas, and then ultimately, glory. Will the Oilers have the same fate after their Game 7 heart-breaker against the Panthers last season?
They've locked up star Leon Draisaitl, they're returning much of their key roster, including, obviously, the greatest player in the world in Connor McDavid. They've added supreme depth scoring and veteran urgency in Jeff Skinner, who is desperate for a Cup as he enters his 15th season in the league and has never even made the playoffs. Given the way the league has trended and the Oilers' returning roster, there's a reason they're Cup favorites entering the season.
What Will We See During the Amazon Docuseries?
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Who else is pumped for FACEOFF: Inside The NHL, the Amazon Prime Video docuseries debuting this Friday? Perhaps all of us are except Mitch Marner, who said he will be sitting this one out after a clip surfaced of teammate William Nylander making a not-so-nice comment to him during the playoffs.
The docuseries promises six episodes full of "unprecedented access to the National Hockey League's biggest teams and most compelling characters, all at different stages of their careers."
The episode titles are as follows:
EPISODE 1: Best of Rivals featuring William Nylander and David Pastrnak
EPISODE 2: As Tough As It Gets featuring Jack Eichel and Filip Forsberg
EPISODE 3: Learning to Win featuring Jeremy Swayman and Matthew Tkachuk
EPISODE 4: The Captains featuring Quinn Hughes, Gabriel Landeskog and Jacob Trouba
EPISODE 5: Cup or Bust Part I featuring Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman
EPISODE 6: Cup or Bust Part II featuring Connor McDavid and Matthew Tkachuk
Will Jake Guentzel, Steven Stamkos, and the Other Big Offseason Moves Pan Out?
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For me at least, preseason isn't a time to take stock of what's happening on the ice or to pay attention to the scoreboard. It's for things like remembering Travis Green is the head coach of the Ottawa Senators and saying, "Oh yeah."
Most importantly, it's for getting comfortable with the big names who made big changes and are about to debut for different teams.
This season, we've got Steven Stamkos playing for the Predators (when will this stop feeling weird?), Jonathan Marchessault joining Stamkos in Nashville, Jake Guentzel on the Lightning, Brandon Montour on the Kraken, Jake DeBrusk is a Canuck, Elias Lindholm is a Bruin, and Chris Tanev is a Leaf.
It's always wise to give players a grace period as they acclimate to their new teams, so let's keep an eye on these moves in the first month of the season and report back on their fit when we finally get used to them existing on their new teams.
Utah Hockey Club Exists...and They Might Actually Be Good
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It's extremely depressing to reflect on the Arizona Coyotes and remember that it was mostly baffling decisions from management holding them back. And even despite those decisions, the team put together respectable efforts and gave us something to work with year after year.
The good news? The players on that roster, the coaching staff, and the fans new and old are getting an honest shot with Utah and new management. The story so far has been one of disappointment and heartbreak, but maybe the chance to write a new one starts opening night in Utah.
The Chase for the Calder Trophy
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The talent in the 2024-25 rookie class could be just as exciting as last year's batch of rising stars led by Connor Bedard.
This year's leader is San Jose's 2024 No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini. The 18-year-old Boston University product was injured in a preseason game against Utah on Tuesday night, although the extent of the injury is unclear. Regardless, he's had a unique path. He finished high school a year early to attend BU before being drafted and then became the youngest player ever to win the Hobey Baker Award last April. Celebrini was just the fourth freshman ever to take the title, after Adam Fantilli (2023), Jack Eichel (2015) and Paul Kariya (1993). He was already showing his skills in the preseason with points all over the place, including a power-play goal.
The Sharks are debuting another potential rookie star in Will Smith. The 19-year-old center was drafted fourth overall in 2023 and also spent last season in the NCAA, skating for Boston College.
Then you've got the anticipated and skilled Matvei Michkov in Philly. In one rookie game and four preseason games, the 19-year-old has four goals and four assists, including an overtime winner over the Bruins last weekend. One of the top talents in the 2023 draft class, Michkov fell to the Flyers in the seventh spot because he was under contract to a KHL team.
Speaking of the Flyers, former Philly prospect turned Ducks signee Cutter Gauthier immediately fit into the NHL with the few games he skated for Anaheim at the end of last season. It'll be a thrill to see how his true rookie season pans out with the rest of the Ducks' youth movement.
Other rookies to keep your eyes on: Yaroslav Askarov (goalie, Anaheim), Lane Hutson (defenseman, Montreal), Logan Stankoven (forward, Dallas), Josh Doan (forward, Utah).
Ovi's Great Chase
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Alex Ovechkin became the first player in NHL history to have 18 30-goal seasons last year, which leaves him 42 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record (894).
He's got two years left on his contract, so there isn't a dire amount of pressure to score all 42 this year. All he has to do is what he's done for all 19 seasons of his NHL career—score at least 20 goals—for two more seasons.
Still, all eyes are on the Great 8 to maybe do it this year or to gain enough traction that it feels inevitable next year.
While he's never not scored enough over two seasons to make this happen, his age showed for the first time last year. The most pressure here is coming from Father Time.
