Before the puck drops, let’s cruise around the league and look at some milestones, streaks, and rankings to watch for this season. We’ll look at some individuals rising the all-time scoring list, and we’ll look at all 32 teams as some franchise marks will be broken.

— Sidney Crosby is currently ninth all-time in scoring with 1,687 points. He could be sixth, seventh, or eighth by season’s end. He needs 37 points to pass Mario Lemieux (1,723), 69 points to pass Steve Yzerman (1,755), and 85 points to move ahead of Marcel Dionne (1,771) for sixth place. Next season, he will likely pass Ron Francis (1,798) and be the fifth player with 1,800+ points. He needs 1,809 to pass Gordie Howe’s record for most points with one franchise, but will he remain in Pittsburgh if they keep losing?

— Alex Ovechkin is 11th all-time with 1,623 points. He needs 19 points to pass Joe Sakic (1,641) for 10th. Ovechkin needs three goals to become the first player with 900 regular-season goals. Wayne Gretzky had 1,016 total goals (reg. season and playoffs), and Ovechkin needs 43 to surpass him.

— Evgeni Malkin needs four points to pass Mats Sundin (1,346) for 30th all-time in NHL scoring. A 53-point season would move Malkin ahead of Sundin, Guy Lafleur (1,353), Brendan Shanahan (1,354), Johnny Bucyk (1,369), Mike Modano (1,374), Brett Hull (1,391), Luc Robitaille (1,394), and Jari Kurri (1,396) and into 23rd place all-time.

— Patrick Kane is just behind Malkin at 32nd all-time with 1,343 points. Kane needs 49 points to pass Hull for most points all-time by an American player. He needs eight goals to reach 500. He and John Tavares (494 goals) are in a race to become the 49th player with 500 goals. When both reach it, the NHL will have 50 players with 500 career regular-season goals.

— Anze Kopitar is one of the least talked about future first-ballot Hall of Famers in NHL history. He ranks 40th all-time in points with 1,278, and he will likely pass Alex Delvecchio (1,281), Jarome Iginla (1,300), Gilbert Perreault (1,326), Pierre Turgeon (1,327), Mike Gartner (1,335), Denis Savard (1,338), and Dave Andreychuk (1,338) and finish 33rd.

— Connor McDavid sits 1,058th in games played with 712, but he’s already 71st in points with 1,082. He is on pace to become only the second player with 2,000 career points (if he remains healthy). If he reaches 100 points this season, it will be his ninth season with 100 points, which moves him into third behind Lemieux (10) and Wayne Gretzky (15).

— Currently, there are only 100 players with 1,000 career NHL points, but that number could jump to 104 this year. Nikita Kucherov needs six points, Brad Marchand needs 20, while Jamie Benn and Leon Draisaitl are 44 points shy of 1,000. Benn had 49 last year; however, he’s out with a collapsed lung to start the season, so his chase to 1,000 depends on when he returns. The other three are locks to do it.

— When Draisaitl scores his 1,000th point, Edmonton will become the first franchise in NHL history to have five players with 1,000+ points. Gretzky (1,669), McDavid (1,082), Kurri (1,043), and Mark Messier (1,034) are the others. Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh have four players.

— Benn and Draisaitl are also one goal shy of 400 and will become the 111th and 112th players to reach that milestone. When they score their 15th goals of the season, they will be in the top 100 all-time. If Draisaitl registers another 50-goal season, he’ll be in the top 70, and he’ll become only the 12th player with five 50+ goal seasons.

If he scores 50 goals and 50 assists, he’ll be the eighth player to reach both (in the same season) five times, joining Wayne Gretzky (9x), Mike Bossy (7x), Dionne, Lafleur, and Lemieux (6x), and Phil Esposito and Yzerman (5x).

MILESTONES FOR ALL 32 TEAMS…

Dec 29, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Anaheim Ducks right wing Troy Terry (19) skates with the puck during the first period against the Edmonton Oilers at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Anaheim Ducks

Troy Terry is 15 points shy of becoming the ninth Duck to score 300 points. He is 55 points shy of passing Rikard Rakell (339) for eighth on the Ducks’ all-time scoring list.

Boston Bruins

David Pastrnak needs nine goals to reach 400 as a Bruin. He’d be the sixth Bruin to score 400, and if he scores 37 goals this year, he will pass Ray Bourque (395), Rick Middleton (402), Brad Marchand (422), and Patrice Bergeron (427) and rank third behind Esposito (459) and Bucyk (545). He needs 67 points to become the 6th player with 900 career points.

Buffalo Sabres

Rasmus Dahlin is 40 points shy of becoming the 14th Sabre with 400 points, while Tage Thompson is 27 goals shy of being the 13th with 200 goals. As a team, the Sabres will try and avoid extending their NHL record (14 years) to 15 consecutive seasons missing the playoffs. It will be a challenge in the competitive Atlantic Division.

Calgary Flames

Mikael Backlund needs 15 goals to pass Kent Nilsson (229) for fifth on Calgary’s all-time goal list. He is two points back of Gary Suter (564) for sixth on their scoring list. Dustin Wolf needs 17 wins to reach 54 wins and move from 17th up to 10th all-time in wins.

Carolina Hurricanes

Sebastian Aho needs 17 goals to be the third Hurricane/Whaler to score 300 goals. If he scores 40 goals, he will pass Eric Staal (322) for second and trail only Ron Francis (382) for most goals. He will be the all-time leader in goals in the next few seasons. He is 544 points behind Francis (1,175) for most points in franchise history, so he’ll need to remain a Hurricane for many years to try and push for Francis’ points record.

Chicago Blackhawks

Connor Bedard begins the season ranked 115th on Chicago’s goal-scoring list with 45. If he scores 25 goals, he’ll be tied for 75th. If he scores 35, he’ll sit 62nd, and if he scores 40, he will tie Kyle Calder for 59th at 85. He needs 72 points to reach 200 points and be the 66th player to reach that mark with the historic Blackhawks’ franchise.

Nov 30, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) and Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) face off from each other in the first period at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Colorado Avalanche

Nathan MacKinnon needs 14 goals to pass Peter Stastny (380) for second place in goals. MacKinnon is 34 points shy of Stastny (1,048) for second place in points. MacKinnon will trail Joe Sakic in both categories. MacKinnon will likely have to play at least six (points) or seven (goals) more seasons in Colorado to challenge Sakic for either title. He needs 259 goals and 625 points to pass Sakic in either category.

Brent Burns ranks 12th all-time in points by a defenceman with 910. He could pass Bobby Orr (915) and Chris Chelios (948) and crack the top 10 this season. The 40-year-old owns the fourth-longest consecutive games played streak in the NHL at 925 games. He can pass Doug Jarvis (964) and Keith Yandle (989) this season and then trail only Phil Kessel (1,064).

Columbus Blue Jackets

Zach Werenksi needs 19 points to pass Cam Atkison (402) for second in points, and he needs eight goals to pass RJ Umberger (120) for fifth in goals. Boone Jenner is one goal shy of 200 and 15 goals shy of passing Atkinson (213) for second. Jenner needs 19 points to pass Atkinson as well, as he enters the season one point behind Werenski. Elvis Merzlikins needs three wins to pass Steve Mason (96) for second-most wins, and he is six wins shy of 100. Sergei Bobrovsky has the franchise mark at 213.

Dallas Stars

Jake Oettinger is 12 wins shy of passing Eddie Belfour (160) for third on their wins list. Oettinger should easily pass Kari Lehtonen (216) and Marty Turco (262) in the coming years and become the all-time wins leader. As mentioned earlier, Benn is one goal shy of 400 and 44 points shy of 1,000. He’ll be the second Dallas player to reach both after Mike Modano, who had 557 goals and 1359 points.

Detroit Red Wings

Dylan Larkin enters the season 13th in goals with 242 and needs 24 to pass Tomas Holmstrom (243), Nick Lidstrom (264), and John Ogrodnick (265) to sit 10th all-time. Brendan Shanahan is ninth with 309 goals. Larkin needs 58 points to pass Shanahan (633) for 10th in points. Ted Lindsay is ninth with 728 for reference.

Edmonton Oilers

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is 41 games shy of 1,000 games played. If he plays 79 games, he will pass Kevin Lowe (1,037) for most games played as an Oiler. Stuart Skinner is two wins shy of 100, and when he wins his seventh game, he’ll move past Cam Talbot (106) into fifth on the win list.

Draisaitl is one goal shy of 400 and 44 points shy of 1,000. He will be the first German player in NHL history to reach either milestone.

Jun 8, 2024; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) shoots the puck against Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) during the first period in game one of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida Panthers

Sergei Bobrovsky is currently 10th on the NHL’s all-time wins list with 429. If he wins 31 games, he will pass Jacques Plante (437), Terry Sawchuk (445), Curtis Joseph (454), and Henrik Lundqvist (459) and sit sixth. He needs 26 wins to become the second Panther goalie with 200 wins, trailing only Roberto Luongo (230).

Los Angeles Kings

Drew Doughty needs 14 points to become the 31st NHL defender with 700 career points. He will pass Ryan Suter (696) and Chris Pronger (698) in the process. If he registers 20 assists, he’ll pass Rob Blake (537), Duncan Keith (540), Pronger (541), Red Kelly (542), and Mark Howe (545) and sit 28th all-time in assists.

Kopitar announced this will be his final NHL season, and he needs 30 points to pass Dionne (1,307) for most points as a member of the Kings. What a career he’s had.

Minnesota Wild

Kirill Kaprizov already set a new NHL standard for highest AAV ($17m) and largest total contract ($136m), and he needs 35 goals to become the Wild’s leading goal scorer with 220 goals. He’d pass Zach Parise (199), Mikko Koivu (205), and Marian Gaborik (219). He needs 52 points to pass Parise (400), Jared Spurgeon (416), and Gaborik (437) for second all-time. He’s a few seasons away from catching Koivu (709).

Spurgeon needs 22 points to pass Gaborik, so will Spurgeon get 22 points before Kaprizov tallies 52 for the race for the second spot? Spurgeon is 67 games shy of becoming the second Wild player to play 1,000 games. He should pass Koivu (1,028) next season.

Montreal Canadiens

Brendan Gallagher is currently tied with Bob Gainey (239) for 15th-most goals as a Canadien. If he scores 16, he will pass Mats Naslund, Claude Provost and Dickie Moore. If he scores 20 goals, he’ll pass Howie Morenz (257) and Mario Tremblay (258) and sit 10th all time. He had 21 goals last season so it’s very doable.

Lane Hutson registered 60 assists as a rookie last year. He was only the second Canadien defender with 60 assists. Larry Robinson did it three times (66, 63, and 61). Could Hudson set a franchise high in assists this year?

Nashville Predators

Roman Josi is already Nashville’s leader in assists (534) and points (724). He needs 10 goals to become the third Predator with 200 goals, joining David Legwand (210) and Filip Forsberg (318). Forsberg trails Josi by 43 points on the all-time points list.

Jan 3, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier (13) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Washington Capitals in the first period at Capital One Arena.

New Jersey Devils

Jesper Bratt needs 53 points to become the fifth Devil player with 500+ points. He’d pass Aaron Broten (469), Bobby Holik (472), Scott Niedermayer (476), and Scott Gomez (484) in the process. Bratt is 74 points shy of passing Kirk Muller (520) for third-most points.

Nico Hischier ranks seventh all-time in goals with 171. He’s averaged 31 goals/season the past three years. If he scores 32 goals, he’d pass Muller (185), Parise (194), Travis Zajac, and Holik (202) and rank third. He has a way to go to catch Patrik Elias (408) for the franchise lead in goals.

New York Islanders

Anders Lee sits 13th in points with 507 and needs 38 points to pass John Tonelli (544) for 10th place. He’s a pending UFA and will need to re-sign to move into the top four.

Lee is sixth in goals with 289 and could pass Brock Nelson (295), Clark Gillies (304), and Denis Potvin (310) and sit third.

Ilya Sorokin sits fourth in wins with 125 and needs 330 wins to pass Rick Dipietro (130) and Glenn “Chico” Resch (157) for second place. He’s quite a few years away from challenging Billy Smith (304) for top spot.

New York Rangers

Mika Zibanejad is 11 points shy of becoming the eighth Ranger with 600 points. He needs 22 points to pass Ron Greschner (610) for seventh spot. Zibanejad is currently tied with Mark Messier (250) for eighth in goals and should pass Camille Henry (256), Vic Hadfield (262), and Andy Bathgate (272) to sit fifth. If he scores 31 goals, he’d pass Adam Graves (280) for fourth.

Artemi Panarin needs 50 points to become the ninth Ranger with 600 points, and he needs 36 assists to be the eighth with 400 assists.

Adam Fox is 10 points shy of passing Brad Park (378) for fourth most points by a Rangers D-man.

Ottawa Senators

Brady Tkachuk needs seven points to pass Wade Redden (410) for fifth in points, and he needs 28 goals to pass Alexei Yashin (218) for third in goals. He needs nine penalty minutes to pass Chris Phillips (758) for second-most PIMs. Tkachuk is never catching Chris Neil at 2,522.

Philadelphia Flyers

When Sean Couturier plays his 30th game, he will pass Bill Barber (903) for third most. Next season, he could join Claude Giroux (1,000) and Bobby Clarke (1,144) as the only players to play 1,000 games for Philly.

Couturier needs 27 goals to pass his new head coach, Rick Tocchet(232), for 13th in goals.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Jake Guentzel needs 35 points to pass Syl Apps Jr (500) to rank 10th on the Penguins list.

Crosby could set the NHL record for most assists with one franchise this season. He enters with 1,062 assists, which is fourth behind Yzerman (1,063 with Detroit), Gretzky (1,086 in only 686 games with Edmonton), and Ray Bourque (1,111 with Boston). Crosby needs 50 assists to set the mark. He’s tallied 50 helpers in each of the previous four seasons.

Malkin needs four points to pass Mats Sundin (1,346) for 30th all-time in NHL scoring. A 53-point season would move Malkin ahead of Sundin, Lafleur (1,353), Shanahan (1,354), Bucyk (1369), Modano (1,374), Brett Hull (1,391), Luc Robitaille (1,394), and Kurri (1,396) and into 23rd place all-time.

Erik Karlsson enters the season 16th all-time in points by a defenceman with 870. Another 50-point season would have him surpass Brad Park (896), Scott Stevens (908), and Bobby Orr (915) and rank 12th. In a few seasons, he should become the ninth defender with 1,000 career points.

Oct 10, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) during the first period against the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

San Jose Sharks

Macklin Celebrini is 79th in points after tallying 63 his rookie season. If he matches the 63 this season he’ll move up to 36th among Sharks. If he tallies 75 points he will move into 31st place ahead of Niklas Sundstrom (137).

Mario Ferraro needs to skate in 42 games to become the 20th Shark to play 450 games. I think he will be a prime trade deadline candidate, so he won’t crack the top 15 in games played.

Seattle Kraken

This is the fifth season for the young franchise. Jared McCann is the franchise leader in goals (118), assists (125) and points (243). He’s the only played to score 27 goals in a season, and he’s done it three times tallying 27, 29 and 40.

Can one of Matt Beniers, Shane Wright, or Jani Nyman reach 27 goals this year?

St. Louis Blues

Brayden Schenn needs 16 points to pass Al MacInnis (452) for 10th on the points list. Another 50-point season would move him past David Backes (460) and David Perron (465) and into eighth place at 487 points.

Robert Thomas is four points shy of becoming the 15th Blue with 400 points. Thomas led the NHL in scoring after 4 Nations with 40 points in the final 26 games. The Blues haven’t had a 100-point player since 199 when Shanahan tallied 102. Only six players have scored 100 points in a season for St.Louis: Bernie Federko and Brett Hull (4x), Adam Oates (2x) and Shanahan, and Craig Janney and Doug Gilmour. Could Thomas join them?

Tampa Bay Lightning

Kucherov needs four points to join Steven Stamkos as the only players with 1,000 points. Kucherov is 144 points shy of passing Stamkos (1137). He will likely pass him next season.

Brayden Point needs 65 points to become the fourth Lightning player with 700 points after Stamkos, Kucherov, and Victor Hedman (794).

Hedman is six shy of becoming the 20th D-man in NHL history with 800 points. A 51-point season would move him ahead of Sergie Gonchar (811), Red Kelly (823), Doug Wilson (827), and Gary Suter (844) and into 16th spot.

Andrei Vasilevskiy enters the season 29th all-time in the NHL in wins with 331. He’ll pass Gump Worsley and Nikolai Khabibulin (333), Cam Ward (334), Rogie Vachon and Evgeni Nabakov (353), and Carey Price (361) and be 22nd by season’s end.

Jan 23, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) celebrates after scoring a goal against the New York Islanders during the third period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews needs 2o goals to pass Mats Sundin (420) to become the franchise leader in goals.

If he finishes the season +1, he will break the tie with Tim Horton for best career +/-. Both are currently +150.

William Nylander needs 38 goals to pass Frank Mahovlich (296), George Armstrong (296), and Rick Vaive (299) and become the sixth Maple Leaf with 300 goals. He also needs 29 points to pass Ron Ellis (640) for eighth on their points list.

Morgan Reilly is eight points shy of passing Tomas Kaberle (520) for second-most points by a D-man.

John Tavares is six goals shy of 500 in his career. If he scores 30 goals, he will pass Glenn Anderson (498), Lanny McDonald (500), Joe Mullen (502), Peter Bondra (503), Jean Believeau (507), Gilbert Perreault (512), Jeremy Roenick (513), Pierre Turgeon (515), Dale Hawerchuk (518) and Pat Verbeek (522) and sit 40th all time in goals.

Utah Mammoth

They are deemed a new franchise, so last year was the first season in their history. Clayton Keller set records for goals (30), assists (60), and points (90). Will he set new marks this season? Will any of his teammates? Logan Cooley could push for the goal record for sure.

Vancouver Canucks

Elias Pettersson (the forward) needs 43 points to become the seventh Canuck with 500 points. If he scores 94 points, he’ll pass Thomas Gradin (550) for fifth.

Brock Boeser, who signed a seven-year extension this summer, needs 37 goals to pass Henrik Sedin (240) for seventh place. He is 188 goals behind Daniel Sedin (393) for the franchise lead. He’d need to average 27 goals over his seven seasons to catch him. It is possible.

Quinn Hughes’ next point will give him 410 points and move him ahead of Alexander Edler (409) for most points by a defenceman. He is 40 goals shy of Edler’s franchise mark of 99, and Hughes currently ranks sixth with 59. He should pass Doug Lidster (65) and could pass Sami Salo (74) this season.

Vegas Golden Knights

William Karlsson needs 22 points to pass Jonathan Marchessault (417) for most points as a Golden Knight.

Jack Eichel set the franchise high for most points in a season last year with 94. Could he or Mitch Marner become the first Golden Knight to reach the century mark?

Vegas is one of seven active franchises that’ve never had a 100-point player. The other five are Columbus, Nashville, New Jersey, Seattle, Utah, and Winnipeg (Atlanta).

Mar 9, 2022; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (8) watches the play during the second period against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Washington Capitals

We mentioned Ovechkin’s goal chase earlier. He scored 44 goals in 65 games last year. Could he reach 50 for the 10th time in his career and break the record of nine seasons that he is currently owns with Gretzky and Bossy?

Wild stat for Capitals fans: Ovechkin has 897 goals, and the next-closest active Capital player is Tom Wilson with 179. Wilson needs 21 goals to become the sixth Capital with 200 and join Ovechkin, Peter Bondra (472), Mike Gartner (397), Niklas Backstrom (271), and Mike Ridley (218).

John Carlsson is 18 games shy of passing Nicklas Backstrom (1,105) for second most games played.

Winnipeg Jets

Mark Scheifele needs nine points to pass Blake Wheeler (812) for most points in franchise history. When he plays his 19th game, he’ll pass Wheeler (897) for most games played. Scheifele is already the leader in goals with 336.

Kyle Connor needs 16 goals to join Schiefele and Ilya Kovalchuk in the 300-goal club.

Josh Morrissey is 44 points shy of passing Dustin Byfuglien (416) for most points by a defenseman.

Connor Hellebuyck enters the season 32nd all-time in the NHL in wins with 322. He should pass Sean Burke (324), Harry Lumley (330), Gump Worsley and Nikolai Khabibulin (333), Cam Ward (334), Rogie Vachon and Evgeni Nabakov (353), and sit 24th at the end of the season.

Enjoy the season. Hopefully, we see many records broken and milestones reached.

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