7 2025 NHL Offseason Storylines You Probably Aren't Thinking About Yet

Round Two of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs is well underway and we're all locked in on the action. Most of us aren't thinking about off-season moves and potential drama quite yet, but the off-season has a way of immediately creeping up on us hours after the Stanley Cup is hoisted.

Transitioning to forward-thinking so quickly after the season concludes can be overwhelming. Before the playoffs enter Conference Finals territory and really heat up, let's get ahead of the whiplash and prepare ourselves with seven 2025 offseason storylines to look out for.

The Quinn Hughes Drama

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The budding Quinn Hughes saga is the latest almost unbelievable-yet-true in a slew of unbelievable-yet-true sagas for the good, ole' Vancouver Canucks.

During the Canucks' end-of-season news conference, team President Jim Rutherford was asked for an update on extension talks with star captain Hughes, who has two more seasons remaining on his current deal.

“The one thing that we will be sure of is that we will have enough cap space to offer him the kind of contract that he deserves,” Rutherford said. “That’s the one thing we can prepare for. It may not boil down to money with him.

He said before that he wants to play with his brothers. That would be partly out of our control — in our control, if we brought his brothers here."

OK, you certainly don't have enough cap space to extend the best defenseman in the league, his first-line center star brother, and his budding talent of a third brother.

Beyond the potential tampering Rutherford did by publicly insinuating Hughes wants to join his brothers in New Jersey, he's saying the star captain's future is out of the team's hands. Hughes has been pretty patient trying to lead the team through the other sagas, and I'm sure he's not thrilled to find himself in the middle of his own. As for the rest of us, I think we'd be delighted to see three talented brothers playing on the same team together.

The Rick Tocchet Sweepstakes

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Speaking of the Canucks, former head coach Rick Tocchet parted ways with the team last month after three seasons.

According to NHL insider Darren Dreger, there are "strong indications" that Tocchet will land another NHL coaching job soon, with Philly, Boston, and Seattle as the top contenders.

Despite the ongoing drama surrounding the Canucks, Tocchet won the Jack Adams Award last season with Vancouver. The Canucks recorded 50 wins, 109 points and took the eventual Western Conference champion Oilers to seven games in the second round.

Tocchet is in the Flyers Hall of Fame as a player and played with Bruins front office members Cam Neely and Don Sweeney in Boston from 1995-97. He's one of the most coveted head coaches in an offseason featuring six teams still seeking a new bench boss.

Offer Sheets

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The Blues fell to the Jets in Game 7 overtime in the first round, but guess who significantly helped them get there in the first place, via their playoff push and/or first-round contributions? Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, two players St. Louis tendered offer sheets to last offseason, snagging them from a cap-strapped Oilers team.

The NHL released new compensation thresholds for the offseason this week, and with the success of the Blues' usage and with the salary cap rising, we'll probably see even more offer sheets tendered this free agency period.

Which restricted free agents could become popular targets? Sabres winger JJ Peterka is one of the biggest names, but he'd yield at least one first-round pick. Leafs breakout winger Matthew Knies is an enticing name -- especially because tendering him an offer sheet could make the Leafs less competitive -- but he could cost even more.

Considering the Rangers showed us last season that nothing is off the table, you wonder if a team will try to go for star defenseman K'Andre Miller after a down year for him.

The Mitch Marner Sweepstakes

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Could we be witnessing the last playoff run from the Maple Leafs' Core Four as we know it? Marner, who led the team in scoring in the regular season with 102 points in 81 games, is a pending unrestricted free agent.

The elite winger could bring in an AAV that is borderline unprecedented -- likely in the $12- to $14 million range -- given the jump in the salary cap, and it's tough to imagine a realistic way the Leafs can afford him unless he agrees to a hometown deal.

Now, someone like John Tavares could take a super-friendly deal or move on, and re-signing Marner becomes infinitely easier, but dominoes need to fall, and other teams with more cap space are going to come calling regardless.

The Utah Hockey Club has space and needs a star winger. The Penguins want a quick re-tool to stay relevant while Sidney Crosby is still in the league. The Red Wings are very close to playoff contention and need to complete the final steps of the Yzerplan.

US Goaltender at the 2026 Olympics

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Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Oettinger

This season has been something of a Pokémon battle for Hart and Vezina Trophy finalist Connor Hellebuyck, but he has not been able to catch them all.

He first lost the 4 Nations Face-Off to Team Canada's Jordan Binnington. Fast forward to the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Jets narrowly escaped defeat to Binnington in Game 7 double overtime of the first round, but frankly, Hellebuyck's struggles were part of the reason it got to that point in the first place. Now he's losing the goaltending battle in the second round to Dallas' Jake Oettinger.

You'll remember Oettinger played backup to Hellebuyck for Team USA at 4 Nations, and the Stars' 3-1 edge over the Jets is as good an audition as any to compete for the No. 1 spot in international play.

With the 2026 Olympics coming right up, you know potential management and coaches alike are keeping a close eye on this series. According to MoneyPuck.com, Oettinger ranks No. 3 among all playoff goalies this postseason with 5.8 goals saved above expected in 11 games. Meanwhile, Hellebuyck's struggles are evident, ranking last with -10.4 goals saved above expected in 11 games.

The Remaining Coaching Vacancies 

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Don Sweeney

With the Rangers hiring longtime Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan and the Ducks hiring Joel Quenneville, there are still a whopping six NHL teams looking for a head coach: Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.

We know that NHL clubs generally hire coaches with experience who become available, so it's no wonder Sullivan already got snatched up and Tocchet is soon to follow. Is John Tortorella, who departed from the Flyers at the end of the season, up next? What about longtime Metropolitan Division head coach Peter Laviolette, who is the winningest U.S.-born head coach in NHL history? That mess in New York wasn't all on him.

Now that up-and-coming star David Carle re-signed with the Denver Pioneers, other top candidates include Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love, Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson, Ontario Reign Head Coach Marco Sturm, former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft, Flyers interim coach Brad Shaw, former Kraken coach Dave Hakstol, Mike Vellucci, and Adam Foote among others.

Who Will Isles Take First Overall?

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Surprise, surprise!

Not only did the Islanders part ways with longtime GM Lou Lamoriello, but they won the draft lottery after narrowly missing the playoffs. Is the luck finally coming for a franchise that has been pretty stagnant and mediocre for the past few seasons?

Defense prospect Matthew Schaefer from the OHL's Erie Otters will almost certainly be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Schaefer has it all as far as the modern defenseman prototype goes: He's dynamic offensively, an elite skater, he can quarterback a power play and hold it down on the penalty kill just the same, and he's got some size at 6-foot-2.