Consider This—Welcome Back to Hockey Season!

courtesy photo

The puck has officially dropped on 2024-25 National Hockey League. Let’s take a look around the league at some teams and names you should keep your eye on this season.

In the Metropolitan Division, all eyes are on the Rangers. The Blueshirts bring back essentially the same roster as the one that won the President’s Trophy and fell to the Florida Panthers in the Conference Final. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. It’s probably a pretty safe expectation that the top three in the Metro will be some mixture of the Rangers, the Hurricanes, and the Devils. The Rangers elite power play unit, and their elite goaltending, should give them the edge, but the Devils upgraded in the crease with Jacob Markstrom, and behind the bench with Sheldon Keefe. The Capitals and Penguins are both running on the fumes of their past, as stars Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are in the twilights of their hall-of-fame careers. The Islanders are stuck in neutral, as repeated poor decisions with contracts are holding the team back. The Flyers should see an uptick in results as Matvei Michkov debuts, but there’s still a long way to go in Philadelphia’s rebuild. The Blue Jackets, who tragically lost Johnny Gaudreau this off-season, are not going to be competitive as currently constituted.

In the Atlantic Division, the defending Stanley Cup Champion Panthers appear to be primed to maintain their position. They’ve played a lot of hockey the last two seasons, and it remains to be seen if that has an impact. Also, will their hunger remain coming off a championship?

Florida will have to fight off challenges from the Maple Leafs, Bruins, and Lightning, but they should be able to hold them off. Toronto continues to try and win with some very high-end forwards and not much else. It hasn’t worked, and it’s not likely to work this year. The Bruins seem primed to take a step back, as do the Lightning. Jake Guentzel will be an impact player for Tampa Bay, but depth is an issue. We’ve been waiting for the Red Wings, the Sabres, and the Senators to make that jump into the top half of the division for a few seasons, and it just doesn’t ever happen. Could the Canadiens do it? Probably not.

Out west in the Central Division, there’s a two-team race at the top between the Stars and Avalanche. Dallas was a point behind the Rangers a year ago for the league’s top record, and Colorado wasn’t too far behind. It will be back and forth all year, but the Stars should take the division crown once more. Look for an encore performance from Stars forward Wyatt Johnston. The Predators had an aggressive off-season, adding Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. They’ve probably done enough to jump ahead of the Jets, as have the Wild, who will also be improved this year. Keep an eye on Wild defenseman Brock Faber.

The Coyotes have left Arizona and are now the Utah Hockey Club. They’ll be better, but not likely a playoff team. After that, it’s hard to envision the Blues or Blackhawks making a run. St. Louis is on the decline, and Chicago is still rebuilding.

Finally, in the Pacific Division, how can you pick against Connor McDavid and the Oilers? If Edmonton can continue their dominance with the man advantage, this is absolutely their division to lose. The Golden Knights and Canucks should finish second and third. The rest of the teams in the Pacific are likely on the outside looking in. The Canucks were a surprise a year ago, but don’t seem likely to be able to replicate their performance. The Kings and Kraken are both a step or two behind the top teams in the division. The Sharks, Ducks, and Flames are all just looking ahead to the draft, but look for Cutter Gauthier to make a splash in Anaheim.

Brian Attard is a lifelong resident of Hammonton, avid sports fan and host on The Sports Box Network (@SportsBoxSports on all social media platforms).