The 2024-2025 NHL season officially begins tonight (apologies, Buffalo and New Jersey), and there is no shortage of storylines. I spent countless hours researching this article and came up with 100 notes about the upcoming season, including players chasing milestones, teams looking to extend streaks or end slumps, and some random stuff I found interesting.

There are at least two notes for each team. I hope you enjoy it and that your team has a good season.

1. Sidney Crosby needs four points to become the 10th player with 1,600 career points. When he scores his 46th point of the season, he will pass Joe Sakic for ninth. And next season he will likely pass Mario Lemieux (1,723) for eighth place, and at the same time he will break Lemieux’s Pittsburgh franchise record for most points.

2. Crosby is also eight goals shy of 600. He’ll be the 21st player in that club, and if he scores 35 goals this season, he will pass Jari Kurri (601), Dino Ciccarelli (608), Bobby Hull (610), Jarome Iginla (625) and Sakic (625), and rank 16th by season’s end. Crosby is under contract for three most seasons, and he has a realistic shot of becoming the ninth player with 700 career goals.

3. Alex Ovechkin is 42 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky for the most regular season goals in NHL history. Ovechkin only had nine goals in his first 44 games last season, and some openly questioned if he was slowing down. He quickly shut down those conversations by scoring 22 goals in his final 35 games. Ovie already owns the NHL record with 13 seasons with 40+ goals. His final 35 games last season proved he can still score at that pace, and while 42 goals in his 20th season is a difficult task, I wouldn’t rule it out. He will either break the record later this season or early next year.

4. Ovechkin is also 50 points shy of becoming the 11th player with 1,600 points. His lowest point total in an 82-game season is 65. Considering he’s only missed 35 games his entire season due to injury, there is a good chance he plays most of the season. He missed seven games due to suspension. He missed six games for personal reasons, six games due to COVID, one game for oversleeping and was sat by the Capitals, and once he was a healthy scratch. He also missed three games for skipping the All-Star game. Thanks to CapsOutsider for the specifics. Ovie’s missed a total of 59 games in his career. He’s been incredibly healthy, especially for a superstar who plays such a physical style.

5. The Great Eight has the third-most hits in the NHL since joining the league in 2005-06 with 3,633. Only Cal Clutterbuck (4,029) and Matt Martin (3,854) have more. He’s had 219+ hits in a season six times, with the most recent coming in 2019. He likely won’t pass Martin this year but will next season. Ovie is the rare combination of an elite goal scorer and a consistent hitter.

6. Connor McDavid can become the third-fastest player to reach 1,000 points in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky reached 1,000 points in 424 games (he’s also technically the second fastest, only needing 433 games to go from point 1001 to 2000), while Mario Lemieux needed 513 games. Mike Bossy is currently third at 656 games. McDavid needs 18 points in his first 10 games to beat Boss,y and if he does it in his 11th game, he will tie Bossy for third. Sidney Crosby is currently the fastest active player to 1,000 points. He did it in 757 games. McDavid could reach 1,000 points in 100 fewer games played than Crosby. Crazy.

7. McDavid enters the season 104th all time in scoring with 982 points. He will pass Dave Keon (986), Rick Middleton (988), Paul Kariya (989), Phil Kessel (992), Jason Spezza (995), Brian Propp (1,004), Lanny McDonald (1,006), Steve Larmer (1,012), Pat Lafontaine (1,013), Ryan Getzlaf (1,019), Dale Hunter (1,020), Patrik Elias (1,025), Brian Leetch (1,028), Alex Kovalev (1029), Alex Mogilny (1032), Nicklas Backstrom, Doug Weight and Marty St. Louis (1033), Bobby Smith (1,036), Patrice Bergeron (1,040), Daniel Sedin (1,041), Henri Richard (1,046), Denis Potvin (1,052), Pat Verbeek (1,062), Eric Staal and Joe Mullen (1,063), Ray Whitney (1,064), Keith Tkachuk (1,065), Joe Pavelski (1,068), Dave Taylor (1,069), Henrik Sedin (1,070), Theo Fleury (1,088) and Glenn Anderson (1,099) if he scores 118 points. Then he’d sit 70th in NHL scoring after only his 10th season. He’s on pace to be in the top 50 at the end of his current contract, which expires after the 2025-26 season. He will likely play for at least another 10 seasons after that. I will be shocked if he isn’t the second player in NHL history to score 2,000 points. I’m saying he will.

8. McDavid has a chance to become only the fifth player to score 130 points three times in their career, and he could become only the fourth to do it in three consecutive seasons. Gretzky did it 12 times in a row (1980-1991), Phil Esposito four times (1971-1974) and Marcel Dionne three years (1979-1981). Mario Lemieux has six seasons of 130 points, but never more than two in a row, due to health. Here’s the list of all players who have scored 130 points in a season.

9. McDavid can also become the fourth player in NHL history with four consecutive 120-point seasons. Gretzky had 13 from 1980 to 1992, Guy Lafleur had five from 1976 to 1980, and Esposito also had five from 1971 to 1975.

10. If McDavid scores 100 points he will tie Marcel Dionne (8) for third place with the most 100 points seasons. Lemieux (10) and Gretzky (15) sit second and first.

11. Ovechkin needs three assists to become the 60th player with 700 career assists, while McDavid needs 53 to become the 61st. McDavid has 653 assists in 647 career games. Only Gretzky (1,963 assists in 1,487 games) and Mario Lemieux (1,033 in 915 games) have averaged over one assist per game in their career. Gretzky tallied his 700th assist in his 478th game, Lemieux needed 579 games. Paul Coffey is currently third fastest at 768 games. McDavid will easily move into third place. Crosby is the only other active player in the top-20 fastest to 700 assists. He did it in 856 games. For context, Esposito is the 20th fastest and he did it in 932 games.

12. Evgeni Malkin (1,296) and Patrick Kane (1,284) are poised to become the 37th and 38th players in NHL history to score 1,300 points. When the season is over, and both stay healthy, they will likely be over 1,350 points and rank between 27th-30th all time. Malkin and Crosby both need four points to reach 1,300 and 1,600 points respectively. Could they do it in the same game? The Penguins’ first five games are at home to the Rangers, then on the road in Detroit, Toronto and Montreal and home versus Buffalo. Which city will see them hit those milestones?

13. Kane will become the third American player to score 1,300 points. Brett Hull leads with 1,391 points followed by Mike Modano at 1,374. Kane turns 36 in November, and next season he should pass both of them to become the highest scoring American player in league history. He’s a guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Fame player and has a very good chance to finish his career in the top 20 scorers of all time.

14. Brent Burns needs 19 points to become the 13th defenseman with 900 points. He’s averaged 53 points the past three seasons and hasn’t shown any sign of slowing down. He turns 40 in March. If he scores 10 goals, he will pass Nicklas Lidstrom for ninth place with 265 goals. If he plays all 82 games, which he has done the past three seasons, he will move from 13th to 9th in most games played by defensemen.

15. Erik Karlsson needs 10 assists to move pass the late, great Borje Salming into 15th place for most assists by a defenseman. Karlsson enters the season with 628 assists and should pass Salming (637), Gary Suter (641) and Bobby Orr (645) and move into 13th place. He’ll need a few seasons to pass Denis Potvin (742) for 10th place.

16.Viktor Hedman (728 points) needs 60 points to pass Salming (787) for 20th place in points for a D-man. Hedman was the 11th player to be named Captain for Tampa Bay last month. Fun trivia question: Can you name the Lighting player who was Tampa Bay’s captain at two different times in his career? (Answer at the bottom.)

17. Roman Josi needs 14 points to become the 30th D-man with 700 regular season points. If he scores 68 points (he’s tallied 96 and 85 in two of the previous three seasons) he will pass Chris Pronger (698), Dave Babych (723), Scott Niedermayer (740), Mark Howe (742), Mathieu Schneider (743) and Steve Duchesne (752) and sit 25th in scoring behind Kris Letang (currently at 742 and counting) and Hedman (728 and counting). With Burns, Karlsson, Hedman, Letang and Josi this generation will have five of the top-25 scoring D-men ever. Pretty solid group.

18. Marc-Andre Fleury currently sits at 995 games started and 1,025 games played. He is fourth on both lists, but he needs 20 starts to pass Patrick Roy (1,003) and Roberto Luongo (1,014) in games started. And if he does that then he will also pass both of them in games played as Roy has 1029 and Luongo 1,044. The Flower will only trail Martin Brodeur who leads in both games played (1,266) and games started (1,251).

19. Sergei Bobrovsky needs four wins in his first 26 games to become the fastest goalie to 400 wins in their career. Henrik Lundqvist needed 727 games to win 400. Marc-Andre Fleury played 728 and Martin Brodeur needed 735. Bobrovsky has 396 wins in his first 700 games. The Panthers’ first 10 games are v. Boston, in Ottawa, Buffalo, Boston, Columbus, home to Vancouver, Vegas and Minnesota and on the road at the Rangers and Islanders. He should break the record in October.

20. Auston Matthews has had an incredible start to his career. In his first eight seasons he has 368 goals (Ovechkin had 371, if you think he might break Ovechkin’s record one day). If he scores 40 goals this season, he’ll be the 11th player with seven 40-goal seasons. If he tallies 50, he’ll be the 14th player with three 50-goal seasons, and if he reaches 60 goals, he’ll be the sixth player with three 60-goal seasons. Gretzky and Mike Bossy lead with five.

21. The Ducks will open the season with five top-1o draft picks under the age of 23. Trevor Zegras (9th in 2019), Mason McTavish (3rd in 2021), Cutter Gauthier (5th in 2022), Pavel Mintyukov (10th in 2022) and Leo Carlsson (2nd in 2023). Anaheim has missed the playoffs for six consecutive seasons and will be hard-pressed to avoid missing for the seventh straight season. They have the NHL’s lowest W% since 2018-19, winning only 162 of 455 games (35.6%).

22. Cam Fowler needs 26 games to become the second Ducks player to skate in 1,000 games. Ryan Getzlaf is the franchise leader with 1,157. Fowler needs four goals to become the 11th player, and first defenseman, with 100 goals as a Duck. He needs 13 assists to pass Paul Kariya for 4th on their all-time assist list with 370. Will he finish the season in Anaheim, I say no, but I hope he gets to game 1,000 before he is traded.

23. Brad Marchand is 71 points shy of 1,000. He’s scored 67 points in each of the previous two seasons. If he tallies 71 this year, he will become the fifth Bruin to produce 1000 points joining Ray Bourque (1,506), Johnny Bucyk (1,339), Patrice Bergeron (1,040) and Esposito (1,012). The Bruins would become the first franchise with five 1,000-point players. Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh currently have four. McDavid will become the fourth Oiler this season, and Leon Draisaitl (850) should become the fifth next season.

24. Marchand needs two goals to pass Rick Middleton (402) for fourth most goals as a Bruin, and he needs 27 to pass Bergeron (427) for third. He also is 40 PIMs shy of passing Zdeno Chara (1,055), Bourque (1,087) and Eddie Shore (1,090) to move into fourth place in penalty minutes. He will likely finish his career in Boston second in goals, third in points and third in penalty minutes. He’s one of the most skilled agitators in the history of the NHL.

25. Marchand needs one shorthanded goal to move ahead of Sergei Fedorov (36) for sole possession of eighth most shorties. He needs four to pass Dave Poulin, Butch Goring and Jari Kurri (all have 39) for fifth place. Lemieux is fourth with 49, while Gretzky leads with 73.

26.The Sabres own the NHL record for most consecutive seasons without making the playoffs at 13. They are tied with the New York Jets of the NFL for the longest-active playoff drought among the four major sports leagues. No fanbase or organization wants or needs the playoffs more than the Sabres.

27. Tage Thompson needs 42 points to pass his head coach, Lindy Ruff (285) for 34th on the Sabres’ all-time scoring list. Speaking of Ruff, he is 39 games shy of passing Barry Trotz (1,812) for third-most games coached in NHL history. Ruff was the head coach the last time the Sabres made the playoffs in 2011. Since then, he’s been head coach of the Stars and Devils and an assistant coach with the Rangers.

28. Mikael Backlund is only 10 games shy of joining Jarome Iginla as the only players to play 1,000 games for the Flames. He needs 16 goals to pass Lanny McDonald (215), Al MacInnis (212), Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau (210) and Eric Veil (206) and move from 11th up to sixth for most goals as a Flame.

29. The Calgary Flames have never had a top-three pick in the NHL entry draft. Their highest pick was Sam Bennett (fourth in 2014). They are one of eight NHL franchises that have never had the #1 pick in the draft joining Anaheim, Carolina, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Seattle, Vancouver and Vegas. As they enter a rebuild/re-tooling stage, a tough year would help them in the long run. Is 2025 the year they finally have a top-three draft pick?

30. The Hurricanes have been the second-stingiest defensive team in the NHL the past five seasons. Only Boston has allowed fewer goals. The Canes lost two of their top four defenders in Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce to free agency. They allowed the fewest shots against at 5×5 in each of the past two seasons but will be hard-pressed to extend that to three years.

31. Since entering the NHL in 2016-17, Sebastian Aho is tied with Marchand and Blake Coleman for the most shorthanded goals with 17. He is currently 12th in points all time among Finnish players with 557. He should pass Jussi Jokinen (563) and Kimmo Timonen (571) and move into 10th, and if he has another 80-point season he will surpass Esa Tikkanen (630) and Teppo Numminen (637) and sit eighth.

32. Connor Bedard will try to become the first player in Blackhawks history to lead them in scoring in each of his first two seasons. Patrick Kane (2008) and Tom Cook (1930) led them in scoring as rookies, but Cook finished second to Johnny Gottslieg in 1932, while Martin Havlat outscored Kane in 2009.

33. Last season, Chicago scored the fewest goals (in a full season) since 1959 when they scored a measly 178 goals. They had a league-low 19 goals from defensemen. They’ve added veterans Alec Martinez and TJ Brodie, more for their defensive awareness than offensive prowess, but the additions of Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, Ilya Mikheyev, Patrick Maroon and Craig Smith, along with a healthy Taylor Hall should boost the team’s goal totals significantly.

34. The Avs have won 50 games in each of the past three seasons. The Avs could tie the NHL record for most consecutive 50-win seasons which was set by Boston (1971-1974), then tied by Montreal (1976-1979) and Detroit (2006-2009). The Hurricanes could also tie the record as they’ve won 50 the past three seasons as well. The Avs’ chances to tie the record will depend on the health and availability of Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin. Landeskog is trying to make a comeback after missing the past two seasons with injury, but will start the season on LTIR, while Nichushkin is serving a minimum six-month suspension. He could be eligible for reinstatement in the middle of November.

35. Nathan MacKinnon is one point shy of 900 and needs 48 points to pass Michel Goulet (946) for third place on the Avalanche franchise all-time scoring list. Peter Stastny (1,048) and Joe Sakic (1,641) are ahead of him. He will pass Stastny next season and depending on how long he plays for the Avs he has a chance to catch Sakic.

36. Their 24th season will be their most difficult emotionally after the tragic passing of Johnny Gaudreau. Columbus wasn’t expected to be a playoff team with Gaudreau in the lineup, and it seems much more unlikely they will be in the playoffs now. This season might be a struggle for the Blue Jackets, but they are developing a solid group of young players. Yegor Chinakov (2020, first round), Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger (both 2021 first rounders), David Jiricek (2022 first round) and Adam Fantilli (2023 first round) will get lots of ice time and are expected to be solid contributors. This is their best crop of young players to play together in franchise history.

37. Boone Jenner needs two power play goals to pass Cam Atkinson for second in franchise history with 42. Rich Nash leads with 83.

38. Zach Werenski needs 47 assists to pass Rick Nash (258) for the most in Blue Jackets history.

39. Jamie Benn is 17 goals shy of becoming the second player in franchise history with 400 goals. Mike Modano leads with 557.

40. Jake Oettinger needs 33 wins to move past Don Beaupre (126), Jon Casey (128), Gilles Meloche (141) and Cesare Maniago (145) into fourth place for most goalie wins in Stars history. Marty Turco leads with 262. Hat tip to those who remember Maniago. He is third in games played with 420.

41. Dylan Larkin needs two overtime goals to pass Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman for second most in Wings history with 11. If he scores three, he will tie Fedorov for first with 12.

42. The Wings are in the midst of their worst playoff drought in franchise history. They missed the playoff seven seasons in a row from 1971-1977, but they’ve missed the last eight seasons. They were tied with Washington with 91 points last season but lost the second wildcard due to fewer regulation wins. Only three franchises have missed the playoffs for more than nine consecutive seasons. The Sabres (13 years, and active), Florida (11) and Edmonton (10). If the Wings miss, they will tie Carolina and New Jersey for the fourth-longest playoff drought.

43. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is 19 games shy of joining Kevin Lowe (1,037) and Ryan Smyth (971) as the only Oilers to play 900 games for the franchise. Leon Draisaitl needs to play 78 games to move into fifth place at 797 games and McDavid needs 57 games to move into 10th.

44. The Oilers haven’t finished first in their division since 1987 — the longest active drought in the NHL.

45. Leon Draisaitl leads the NHL with 77 power play goals the past three seasons. Sam Reinhart is second with 59. Draisaitl is currently 60th all time in PP goals with 146. He’s scored 20+ PP goals in each of the past three seasons. Brett Hull is the only player in NHL history with more. He had five consecutive seasons with 20+ PP goals from 1990-1994. Draisaitl could become the second with four consecutive, and he would tie Mike Bossy, Tim Kerr, Luc Robitaille and Alex Ovechkin for second most 20+ PP goals seasons in a career with four.

46. Florida will raise its Stanley Cup banner in their season opener v. Boston. It is only the 13th time the Panthers have started the season on home ice. They are the only team who has yet to lose a home opener in regulation. They are 10-0-2 when starting the season on home ice.

47. The Panthers made the playoffs five times in their first 25 seasons. But now they’ve made the playoffs for the past five years. Only Toronto and Boston (8), Colorado and Tampa Bay (7) and Carolina (6) have longer active streaks of consecutive playoff appearances.

48. The Kings haven’t won a playoff round since hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2014. That is the longest drought in the Western Conference. They’ve lost out in the first round in 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

49. Anze Kopitar is the franchise leader in GP (1,307) and assists (792). He is 96 points behind Marcel Dionne for the franchise lead in points. He won’t reach that this season but should pass him next season.

50. Kirill Kaprizov is currently seventh on the Wild’s all-time scoring list with 330 points in only 278 games. He should pass Pierre-Marc Bouchard (347), Ryan Suter (369), and Zach Parise (400) this year. He might also catch teammate Jared Spurgeon (384) and Marian Gaborik (437) and then sit second behind Mikko Koivu (709).

51. Kaprizov is one of only four NHL players to score 40+ goals in each of the past three seasons. He’s tallied 47, 40 and 46. The other three are Draisaitl (55, 52, 41), Matthews (60, 40, 69) and David Pastrnak (40, 61, 47). No other Wild player has ever had multiple 40-goal seasons. Gaborik and Eric Stall each had 42 once. Kaprizov will try to become the first 50-goal man in Wild history.

52. The Habs’ long, rich history, combined with a young team has no active player in the top 30 all-time in scoring. Brendan Gallagher is 31st with 426 points. If he matches his 31 points of last season, he will pass Doug Harvey (447), Max Pacioretty (448) and Pierre Mondue (456) and sit 28th.

53. In their 106 seasons the Canadiens have only missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons four times. In 1920-1922, 1999-2001, 2018-2019 and 2022-2024. They’ve never missed the playoffs four seasons in a row, and this year’s team will try to keep that streak alive — a tough task in the very deep Atlantic division.

54. Roman Josi is 48 games shy of passing David Legwand (956) for most GP in Predators history. Josi already leads in points with 686.

55. Josi has scored 85 points (one of 17 D-men to do so) and 96 points (one of nine D-men who have) in two of the past three seasons. He could become the sixth defender with three 85+ point seasons. Denis Potvin and Brian Leetch (3), Ray Bourque (5), Bobby Orr (6) and Paul Coffey (9) are the others.

56. The Preds have lost their last six playoff series, the longest losing streak in franchise history. They are hoping the additions of Steven Stamkos, Jonathon Marchessault and Brady Skjei will change that.

57. The Devils have never had a 100-point scorer in their 50-season history. Columbus (24 seasons), Vegas (seven seasons), Seattle (three seasons) and Utah (first year) are the other franchises without a 100-point player.

Jack Hughes (99), Patrik Elias (96), Kirk Muller and Zach Parise (94) and Taylor Hall (93) are their only 90-point players. Not-so-fun fact: The Devils have the lowest GF/GP (2.64) of any active franchise in the salary cap era.

58. New Jersey has made two playoff appearances in their last 12 seasons — the second-worst stretch in franchise history since their first 14 seasons (1975-1988) when they made it twice. They missed their first two years in KC, moved to Colorado and made it once in six seasons, before moving to New Jersey and finally making the playoffs in their sixth season as the Devils.

They are expected to get back to the postseason this year and could win their division for the first time since 2010.

59. This is their 52nd season, yet on Thursday they open up their season on home ice for only the 13th time. They’ve started at home 25% of the time, the lowest in the league (tied with Seattle, but this is only their fourth season). Anaheim is next at 25.8% starting eight of 31 (they start in San Jose this season). The Islanders have won 14 of 51 season openers (only Anaheim and Seattle have a lower P%), and they’ve only won three of 12 home games, which is the worst P% in the NHL.

60. The Islanders were a major oddity last season. They didn’t rank in the top half of the league in goals for (22nd), goals against (18th), power play (19th) or penalty kill (32nd), yet they made the playoffs finishing third in the Metro. They were 20th in 5×5 GF and 10th in 5×5 GA. They were good at keeping games close and getting to overtime. They played in a league-high 40 one-goal games. They went 21-3-16 in those games. They were 18-24 in games decided by two or more goals.

61. Matt Barzal scored 80 points last season, the most since his rookie campaign in 2018 when he tallied 85. Barzal now sits 11th on the Islanders points per game (0.88) list and 17th in total points with 442. Teammate Brock Nelson is currently 11th in points and if he scores 50 points (which he has done in each of the past six seasons, prorating 2021), then he will be seventh and pass Bob Bourne (542), John Tonelli (544), Pat Lafontaine (566) and Josh Bailey (580). If he re-signs with the Islanders, he will pass Brent Sutter (610) and John Tavares (621) and only trail the four Hall of Famers in Clark Gillies (663), Denis Potvin (1052), Mike Bossy (1126) and Bryan Trottier (1353).

He needs 13 goals to move into fifth place in goals behind the big four. If he scores 30 goals, he will pass Gillies (304) for fourth and needs 37 to pass Potvin (310).

62. Chris Kreider is 48 points shy of becoming the eighth Ranger with 600 points. Rod Gilbert (1021) is the only Ranger with 1000 career points.

63. Odd stat: The Rangers have the most shootout wins (91) since shootouts began in 2005-06. They have the fifth-best winning% at .542. Colorado has the best at .634 (85-49), while Pittsburgh is second at .578.

64. Artemi Panarin scored 120 points last season. Only Jaromir Jagr (123 in 2006) has scored more in one season as a Ranger. He was one goal shy of becoming the fifth Ranger to score 50 goals in a season. Jagr (54), Adam Graves and Kreider (52) and Vic Hadfield (50) are the only Rangers to tally 50. Panarin’s previous career best was 32 goals in 2020. Panarin’s goal increase was due to his willingness to shoot the puck more. He had 303 shots last season, well above his previous high of 228 with Columbus in 2018. If Panarin keeps shooting he could push for 50 goals again this season.

65. The Senators missed the playoffs in their first four seasons, but then from 1997-2017 they only missed four times, and never in consecutive seasons. They’ve missed the postseason the previous seven seasons, trailing only Detroit (8) and Buffalo (13). All three are in the Atlantic and it seems improbable all three will end their drought this season. The Senators acquired Linus Ullmark and they have enough skill up front. The big question will be: Can they play better team defense? In their seven years missing the playoffs they have the worst combined GA/GP in the NHL at 3.40. That must be their focus.

66. Brady Tkachuk needs 61 points to move into fifth on the Senators’ all-time scoring list. He’s averaged 75 points the past three seasons, so he should pass Dany Heatley (362), Marian Hossa (390), Radek Bonk (399) and Waden Redden (410) and sit fifth. If he scores 27 goals, he will move into fourth in goals ahead of Mike Fisher (167), Heatley (180) and Hossa (188).

67. The Flyers are in the midst of their worst streak in franchise history. They’ve missed the playoffs the past four seasons and have only won 119 of 302 games for a .394 W%. They did miss the playoffs for five consecutive seasons from 1990-1994, but they won 41.5% of their games. The Flyers have only missed the playoffs 17 times in their first 56 years, and nine of them came in the aforementioned streaks. They will try to avoid a franchise-tying, fifth-consecutive season without making the playoffs, but it will be difficult. The Flyers had the worst combined Sv% last year at .884. Five different goalies started at least one game with Sam Ersson starting the most (49) and he had an .890Sv%. Carter Hart started 25 and was the only goalie above .890 as he posted a .906Sv%. He remains unsigned as they wait his court case. Ersson (59 career starts) and Ivan Fedotov (one start) will be the Flyers tandem. They have the fewest GP of any NHL tandem to start the season.

68. John Tortorella is 53 games shy of becoming the seventh coach to coach 1,600 games. He will pass Ken Hitchcock (1,598) in the process and if he coaches 61 games, he will pass Al Arbour (1,607) and sit sixth.

69. From 1991-2022 the Penguins won five Stanley Cups and only missed the playoffs four times. All four came consecutively in 2002-2006, but that allowed them to draft Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. The Pens have missed the playoffs the past two seasons, but only have one draft pick in the top 40 to show for it. They took Brayden Yager 14th in 2023. Crosby is under contract for three more seasons, and the Penguins have opted to try to get back to the playoffs, rather than rebuild. They re-vamped their third and fourth lines in the off-season and we’ll see if it works.

70. While the Pens re-tooled their bottom-six, it is interesting to note they have the most OT losses the past two seasons. They are 12-19 in 3×3 hockey, while icing the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang. They are 3-4 in shootouts the past two seasons. The Penguins missed the playoffs in 2023 by one point. They lost 10 games in 3×3. Last season they missed the playoffs by three points and lost nine games in 3×3. They only won four. Their inability to win in 3×3 has cost them a playoff berth each of the past two seasons.

71. The Sharks missed the playoffs only six times in their first 27 seasons, and never more than two years in a row. However, they’ve missed the past five seasons and would need a major surprise year to avoid missing again.

72. The Sharks are the 12th team in NHL history to have a rookie head coach and the most recent first overall pick make their debut in the same season. The Sharks named Ryan Warsofsky their head coach on June 13th, and 15 days later they drafted Macklin Celebrini first overall. Here are the previous 11 coaches and #1 picks to debut together.

73. This is the first time the Kraken open their season on home ice.  They host St. Louis October 8th. The Kraken have yet to win their season-opening game going 0-2-1. They are hoping a home game will change that. Their challenge is they face St. Louis. The Blues have the second-best points% in season-opening road games at .597. They are 15-9-4-3 all time. Only Vegas (2-0) is better, but they’ve only played two games to the Blues’ 31.

74. Jared McCann needs four goals to become the first player with 100 goals as a Kraken. Jordan Eberle is second with 58.

75. The Kraken have 11 players on the roster who played in their inaugural season: McCann, Eberle, Yanni Gourde, Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Tanev, Matt Beniers, Vince Dunn, Adam Larsson, Jamie Oleksiak, Will Borgen and Philippe Grubauer. Larsson leads them in games played (213), McCann in goals (96) and points (182) while Dunn leads in assists (113) and penalty minutes (196).

76. Ryan Suter is currently 10th all time in games played by a defenseman with 1444. If he plays 52 games, he will pass Tim Horton (1445), Glen Wesley (1457) and Phil Housley (1495) and sit seventh all time.

77. The Blues have made the playoffs in 45 of their first 56 seasons. They’ve missed the playoffs the past two seasons and will try to avoid tying the franchise high of three consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance, which they set from 2006 to 2008.

78. Victor Hedman needs 31 games to pass Steven Stamkos (1,082) for most games played in Lightning history. Hedman has big skates to fill as he replaces Stamkos as team Captain.

79. Nikita Kucherov needs two points to pass Vincent Lecavalier (874) for third-most points in franchise history. I think his 100-assist season last season got overlooked a bit, because McDavid reached it first, but both players finished with 100 assists and joined Gretzky, Lemieux and Bobby Orr in the very exclusive club. Kucherov enters the season with 553 assists and should pass Hedman (572), Stamkos (582) and Marty St. Louis (588) and become the all-time leader in assists.

80. Kucherov is already one of only six players in league history with three seasons with 83+ assists. Gretzky (14), Lemieux (6), Coffey and Orr (4), Denis Savard, Adam Oates and Kucherov (3). He could become only the fifth player to do it four times this season.

81. Matthews needs 22 goals to pass Darryl Sittler (389) for second most and he needs 53 goals to pass Mats Sundin (420) for the most tallies in Leafs history.

82.  The Maple Leafs never had a 100-point season in the 1900s, however, in the first 24 years of the 2000s they’ve already had eight, including five in the last seven seasons, and they were on pace for 100 in the 56-game 2021 season. Can new head coach Craig Berube unlock their playoff potential?

83. Utah is the 40th franchise in NHL history. They are one of 32 active franchises, while the league has eight inactive ones in Arizona Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets (44 seasons), Brooklyn/New York Americans (17), St. Louis Eagles/Ottawa Senators (17), Montreal Maroons (14), Cleveland Barons/California Golden Seals/Oakland Seals (11), Philadelphia Quakers/Pittsburgh Pirates (6), Hamilton Tigers/Quebec Bulldogs (6) and the Montreal Wanders (1).

84. Since the league expanded in 1967-68, new franchises have a record of 7-17-3 in their inaugural game. Vegas, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Atlanta (Flames), Buffalo, LA and Oakland were the winners. And since the 1968-69 season the NHL has had 21 new franchises and Vegas, Edmonton and Hartford are the only ones to make the playoffs their first season. Will Utah be the fourth?

85. JT Miller and Pavel Bure are the only Canucks with two seasons with 99+ points. Last year, Miller and Elias Pettersson became the 13th and 14th players in franchise history with 400+ points. Pettersson sits 11th with 412, while Miller is 14th with 402. They should sit 7th and 8th by the end of the season and move ahead of Don Lever (407), Alex Edler (409), Bo Horvat (420), Todd Bertuzzi (449), Tony Tanti (470) and Bure (478).

86. Quinn Hughes needs 77 points to pass Edler for most points among defensemen. Hughes is currently tied with Dennis Kearns for second in assists with 290 and needs 21 to pass Edler. Hughes is 14th in goals with 43 but will need a few seasons to pass Edler’s 99.

87. Vegas is 6-1 in season opening games. They had their best start in franchise history last season going 11-0-1 and they were 20-5-5 after 30 games. They had the best record in the league after 30 games, but then stumbled and were 25th over their final 52 games.

88. With franchise scoring leader Jonathan Marchessault moving to Nashville, William Karlsson is the only remaining forward from their inaugural season in 2017-18. Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb and Zach Whitecloud (one game in the first year) also remain on the blue line.

89. This is Washington’s 50th season in the NHL. They missed the playoffs their first eight seasons, but they’ve only missed the postseason seven times in their last 41 seasons. They own a record that will never be broken: They won eight games in 1975. Even teams in the 48-game shortened seasons of 1995 and 2013 managed to win more games.

90. Ovechkin is the franchise leader in games played (1,426), goals (853) and points (1,550). He needs 66 assists to pass Nicklas Backstrom (762) for most assists. Only six players lead their franchise in GP, G, A and PTS.

Gilbert Perreault, Buffalo: 1191, 512-814-1326.
Ron Francis, Carolina: 1186, 382-793-1175.
Joe Sakic, Colorado: 1378, 625-1016-1641.
Mike Modano, Dallas: 1459, 557-802-1359.
Aleksander Barkov, Florida: 737, 266-445-711.
Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas: 514, 192-224-417.

91. Mark Schiefele needs 32 goals to pass Ilya Kovalchuk (328) for most goals in franchise history.

92. Connor Hellebuyck needs 25 wins to reach 300 in his career. If he does it in 60 games or fewer, he will be quickest American-born goalie to 300 career wins. Ryan Miller did it in 566 games.

93. Only once in league history has the first-overall draft pick won the Calder trophy in consecutive seasons. Nathan MacKinnon won it in 2014, and Aaron Ekblad won it in 2015. The NHL draft began in 1963 and only 12 #1 picks have won the Calder: Gilbert Perreault (1971), Denis Potvin (1974), Bobby Smith (1979), Dale Hawerchuk (1982), Mario Lemieux (1985), Bryan Bedard (1997), Alex Ovechkin (2006), Patrick Kane (2008), MacKinnon, Ekblad, Auston Matthews (2017) and Connor Bedard last season. For those who pick Calder winners, the odds are against Macklin Celebrini, however, six #1 picks have won the Calder in the 19 years of the salary cap era.

94. Fun fact: Last year Washington and Vancouver each made the Stanley Cup Playoffs after missing the postseason by 12 points in 2022-23. Since the Wild Card format was introduced in 2013-14, each season, except for 2020, has had at least one team make the playoffs after missing by at least 10 points the previous season.

There are ten teams who missed the playoffs by 10 points or more last year: New Jersey (10 pts), Ottawa (13), Montreal (15), Columbus (25), Minnesota (11), Calgary and Seattle (19), Utah (21), Anaheim (39), Chicago (46) and San Jose (51). Many predictions have New Jersey continuing the trend, but who else has the best chance? I say Ottawa or Seattle.

95. The NHL could have 13 players join the 1,000 GP played club this year. Luke Schenn needs four games, Tyler Myers (5), Mikael Backlund (10), Eric Johnson (13), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (18), Cam Fowler and Trevor Lewis (26), Tyler Seguin (31), Dmitry Kulikov (52), Brayden Schenn (60), Jeff Petry (63), Ryan McDonagh and Craig Smith (72).

The Schenn brothers could become the first brothers in NHL history to play their 1,000th game in the same season. Other brothers to play 1,000 games include Russ and Geoff Courtnall, Kevin and Derian Hatcher, Mikko and Saku Koivu, Rob and Scott Niedermayer, Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Brent and Ron Sutter.

96. The 1951 Detroit Red Wings were the first team to finish the season with 100 points. There has been a total of 296 teams register 100 points since 1951, but in the salary cap era with the Bettman loser point, we have seen a team produce 100 points 159 times in 19 seasons, and three of those seasons were shortened due to a lockout or COVID. In the previous 54 seasons there were only 137 teams with 100 points. No doubt the loser point has increased the point totals.

However, the NHL has never seen six teams each have three consecutive 100+ point seasons at the same time. From 2022-2024, Boston, Carolina, Colorado, Edmonton, Toronto and the Rangers all had 100+ points. The most we’ve ever seen before was four teams do it at the same time. Of the six teams, how many reach 100 points this year? Could all six do it again?

97. In the salary cap era Pittsburgh has the most 100-point seasons with 11, followed by Boston (10), Washington (9) and Detroit, San Jose and the New York Rangers with eight.

98. No lead is safe in today’s NHL. Last season there were 228 third-period comebacks, which was tied with the 2007 season for most in history. The 2022 season had 220 while 2023 had 210. Teams are unable to just sit back and protect leads like they used to. It makes the games more exciting.

99. Jonathan Quick needs to make 20 appearances to become only the 16th goalie with 800 games played. In 27 games last season, Quick posted his lowest GAA (2.62) and highest Sv% (.911) in six years.

100. Last season the Philadelphia Flyers became the first team in NHL history to have the worst PP% for three consecutive seasons. Toronto (1988 and 1989), Anaheim (1994 and 1995) and Chicago (2006 and 2007) had done it in consecutive seasons, but the Flyers have taken their PP struggles to a new level. Here is a list of the worst power plays each season since the NHL tracked PP% in 1978.

Will the Flyers avoid a fourth-consecutive last-place finish in PP%? They’ve have added rookie Matvei Michkov to the roster while Jamie Drysdale played 24 games with the Flyers after a mid-season trade. Can those two solve the PP woes? Maybe, but Drysdale’s presence didn’t help their PP very much last season. With him on the ice they had a 5.14 GF/60, which ranked third among Flyers blueliners behind Travis Sanheim (6.23) and Egor Zamula (5.93). Drysdale averaged the most TOI/GP on the PP among Flyers blueliners at 2:25/game.

Trivia answer:

Vincent Lecavalier. He was named Tampa’s Captain when he was only 19 years old during the 1999-2000 season and again the following year. Then they took it away as they felt it was too much for a 20-year-old to handle. He was renamed Captain for the start of the 2008-09 season and held it for five more seasons.

I hope you enjoy the season. Let the craziness begin.

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