The 2023-24 season is full of surprises, from the rapid rise of the Vancouver Canucks to the ongoing struggles of the Edmonton Oilers. With the National Hockey League playoffs underway, it's never too early to look ahead to the 2024–25 season, which is sure to be filled with good news. Let's take a look at six teams to watch this coming calendar year.
Las Vegas Golden Knights
The defending champions are the team to watch in 2024. However, since their shocking trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season back in 2017–18, the Golden Knights have been the biggest story of each season.
They finally won their first Stanley Cup Final last season but struggled to recapture that year's magic this regular season, finishing fourth in the division. They sneaked into the playoffs as the final Wild Card entry, just ahead of the St. Louis Blues.
Besides, the hockey odds here still have him as one of the favorites in the Western Conference, with many favoring him over the shocking #2 seeded Canucks. Despite their struggles, Vegas should have one of the league's best rosters next season, thanks to a committed ownership group and a market any free agent would love to join.
Minnesota Wild
Minnesota has been one of the most disappointing teams this season, as have the Golden Knights. Their roster did very well, finishing with 87 points and a goal differential of 12. Their salary cap situation may be a challenge to work around, thanks to the expensive acquisitions of Zach Parise and Ryan Sutter, but they have a strong roster and a good number of new prospects coming soon. They are looking to make a big jump in the standings next season.
The Detroit Red Wings
The famous Detroit Red Wings franchise has won 11 Stanley Cups. Only the Montreal Canadians and Toronto Maple Leafs have more competition.
However, the Red Wings have fallen on hard times. Missing the playoffs 202-24, Detroit failed to reach the postseason for the 8th consecutive season. That's the longest playoff drought in franchise history, surpassing the seven-year drought from 1970-1977. In the midst of this drought was the disastrous 2019-20 season in which the Red Wings went 17-49-5, perfect for a .275 percentage (PTS%), the third-worst mark in franchise history. Since then, however, the team has steadily improved, seeing their PTS% rise to .429, .451, .488, and .555 over the last four seasons.
They finished the 2023-24 season over .500 for the first time since 2015-16 and missed the playoffs with a tiebreaker to the 8th-seeded Washington Capitals. Both teams finished the regular season with 91 points, except for Detroit's +41 goal differential advantage over Washington. Few teams have a better group of young players than the Red Wings, making them a team that could make a splash next year.
Edmonton Oilers
Another year, another disappointing regular season for the Oilers. Since taking phenom Connor McDavid in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Edmonton has made the Conference Finals just once despite McDavid establishing himself as one of the greatest players of all time. They scored five fewer points this year than last year and were able to manage the #5 seed in the West.
Thanks to McDavid, they have one of the best players in the league, but they have never been able to turn it into a really good team. We'll see if they can next year.
New Jersey Devils
Along with the Red Wings, few teams have as little talent as the Devils. Some of their lists need to be filled. Still, with Jack Hughes up front and the likes of Dawson Mercer and Alexander Holtz on the wings, New Jersey has reason to be excited about a team that has made just two postseason appearances since losing in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011-12. With a ton of cap space, the front office can make this team a contender after finishing under .500 in 2023.
The Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks were, without a doubt, the biggest surprise of 2023-24, and we just want to see if their success can continue. A franchise known for its recent struggles, the Canucks entered this year having reached the finals just twice since 2013.
Vancouver struggled with a long-term vision of the future and tried to fix its problems with short-term solutions. They went through three coaches in two years heading into 2023 when they burst onto the scene with a 109-point season that secured the #3 seed in the West. Led by the star power of Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, the Canucks have a young roster but don't have a strong veteran core or much room to operate. The question is how far Pettersson and Hughes can take them.
Who Are We Forgetting?
There's a lot of strong news going into the upcoming season, including the state of the Boston Bruins' aging roster and the big future of a Carolina Hurricanes team loaded with young talent. As this season ends, fans will begin to turn their attention to 2024-25 for these questions to be answered.
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