We’re less than 48 hours from a new year and there is no shortage of NHL intrigue coming our way in 2025.
Where else can we begin but with Alex Ovechkin — fresh off a five-week hiatus due to a broken fibula — hitting the ground scoring with a goal versus the Toronto Maple Leafs in a win on Saturday, then another in an ‘L’ against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
Ovechkin’s 0.85 goals-per-game pace — in his age-39 season, we might remind you — is the best rate in the league. That’s a 70-goal clip over 82 contests. Ovechkin is 25 goals from becoming the all-time NHL leader and has to score at roughly a 0.55 goals-per-game rate — basically, a 45-goal pace — to pass Wayne Gretzky before the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
This is a pretty awesome feat.
At the other end of the success spectrum, what the heck is 2025 going to bring for the New York Rangers? The hope, not that long ago, was that the year might deliver the Rangers’ first title in 30 years. Now, with yet another embarrassing loss on the weekend — 6-2 to the Lighting in Tampa Bay on Saturday — the Blueshirts are a complete bottom-feeding disaster. New York has a sickening .222 points percentage since Nov. 21, the worst points percentage in the NHL during that stretch by more than 100 points. The teams just above them are basically all squads that entered this season believing the best thing that could happen to them in 2025 would be an NHL Draft Lottery win.
Is that really where the Rangers — who’ve lost their last three games and their most recent two by a combined score of 11-2 — are now headed?
Wrapped up with that is what kind of moves we may see out of Manhattan, and the entire league overall, now that trade season is really about to heat up. The NHL already has seen its share of moves this year, with the likes of Nashville and Colorado already being active on the trade market.
Now, as we creep ever closer to the March 7 trade deadline, the fun is really going to begin.
Remember, it was the very end of January and the first February days last season when we saw serious movement on the trade front, with top available centres Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan landing in new spots. We’re just a couple weeks away from being in that trade zone where something big could break at any minute.
That’s catnip for hockey nerds and just one more reason we’re ready to dive into 2025.
• As noted, Colorado already has been active on the trade market , specifically with the intention of improving its goaltending. Mission accomplished. After downing Utah on Friday, the Avs have won fourth straight games and are 8-2-0 in their past 10. Mackenzie Blackwood — acquired on Dec. 9 and already inked to a five-year extension in Denver — is 4-1-0 with a .940 save percentage in Colorado. Since Blackwood’s first game, the Avs have the best overall team save percentage (.935) in the league. And it’s not just Blackwood. Since Colorado nabbed backup Scott Wedgewood from Nashville in late November, the Avalanche have a .917 SP that’s good for third in the league. What a battery change in Colorado.
• Speaking of Western powers, make it six straight W’s for the Vegas Golden Knights after they blanked Calgary 3-0 on Sunday. Vegas now has the best points percentage (.736) in the entire NHL. Defenceman Shea Theodore picked up two more apples on Sunday and has been on an extended tear with 17 points in his past 17 outings. What a great development for a guy who missed huge swaths of the past two seasons with injuries.
• With a helper on Michael Bunting’s second-period, power-play marker on Sunday, Sidney Crosby became the Penguins’ all-time assists leader with 1,034 in his career, one more than some guy who wore No. 66. Next up, the franchise points crown. With 40 points this year, Crosby is now just — wait for it — 87 behind Mario Lemieux’s all-time Pens mark of 1,723.
• Things don’t get any easier for the Rangers on Monday as they’re in Sunrise to battle the team that bested them in the Eastern Conference final last spring, the Florida Panthers.
• New Year’s Eve Day is a big one for hockey. The NHL action starts at 12:30 p.m. ET, when the Bruins visit Alex Ovechkin and the Caps. The Winter Classic is set to go with the Blues at Wrigley Field to face the Hawks at 5 p.m. ET, while Canada and the United States will both be desperate for a win when they meet at the world junior championship in Ottawa at 8 p.m. ET. There’s also a big tilt later that night in Denver, with the Jets in town trying to cool off the Avs.
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• There’s only one game on New Year’s Day in the NHL, but it’s a good one with the Devils in L.A. to face the Kings. The Devils have picked up at least a point in seven of their past nine contests and boast the fourth-best points percentage in the league at .654. The Kings are directly behind them at .653 and downed the Oilers in overtime on Saturday in what could well be, believe it or not, a preview for those teams’ fourth consecutive first-round playoff matchup.
• Thursday will be quarterfinal madness in Ottawa, with four high-stakes WJC games slated to go.
• It’s Original Six rival time in Toronto for Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, as the B’s are in town battling the Buds. Saturday will also feature the semifinal action at the WJC, with the gold and bronze medal contests set to go on Sunday afternoon (bronze) and night (gold).
Red and White Power Rankings
1. Winnipeg Jets (26-10-1) Time for the Jets to make some more hay. Winnipeg’s 4-2 win over Ottawa Saturday night marked the start of a stretch where the team plays 10 of 11 on home ice.
2. Edmonton Oilers (21-12-3) Could we be headed toward a fourth straight season with a 60-goal scorer? After potting two more in Sunday night’s loss to the Ducks, Leon Draisaitl leads the league with 26 tallies and is on pace for 59.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs (22-13-2) In a bit of a schedule oddity, four of the Leafs’ next five games will be against the Islanders and Flyers.
4. Ottawa Senators (19-15-2) After beating the Wild 4-2 on Sunday night, the Sens are 4-2-0 on their current nine-game road trip. If they can manage even one more win in the remaining three games, this excursion will be deemed a smashing success.
5. Vancouver Canucks (17-10-8) This season just won’t throw any breaks at the Canucks. Having already played big stretches without Thatcher Demko, J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser and Filip Hronek, Vancouver will now be without Elias Pettersson for at least a week, while Quinn Hughes’ timeline to return is being dubbed week-to-week.
6. Calgary Flames (17-12-7) In two trips to Vegas this season, the Flames have yet to bury a goal. Calgary — which was stonewalled by Adin Hill back in October — was blanked 3-0 by Ilya Samsonov and the Knights on Sunday night.
7. Montreal Canadiens (16-17-3) The Canadiens may be winding down 2024 with their best hockey of the calandar year. Montreal — which hadn’t won in South Florida in six years — blanked the Panthers 4-0 in Sunrise on Saturday in Jakub Dobes’ first NHL start, then came back 24 hours later and beat the Bolts 5-2 in Tampa. The Habs have a chance to close out the year on a huge high with a New Year’s Eve win in Vegas.