1 quick thought on all 32 NHL teams at midway point of season
The 2024-25 NHL season hit its midway point on Thursday. It's a perfect time to take a quick tour of the league. Here's one thought on all 32 teams.
(Stats via NHL.com, Evolving-Hockey, and Sportlogiq.)
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks rank 32nd in expected goals against, 32nd in shot attempts against, 32nd in inner-slot shots against, and 31st in offensive-zone possession time against. They look like a bottom-three club. But stellar goaltending has carried them to 25th in points percentage. Among 60 goalies with 10 or more appearances, John Gibson and Lukas Dostal are fourth and ninth, respectively, in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes.
Boston Bruins
The Bruins, who started the season 8-9-3 under Jim Montgomery, won seven of the first nine games with Joe Sacco, Montgomery's replacement behind the bench. But that "new-coach bump" is in the rearview mirror, as Boston has managed just 37 goals and five wins over the last 15 games. The roster is patently flawed. Don Sweeney, Bruins general manager since 2015, should be on the hot seat.
Buffalo Sabres
A franchise that's missed the playoffs an NHL-record 13 straight years somehow continues to stumble aimlessly in a dark room, searching for the light switch. With all due respect to Jason Zucker, it's never a good sign when a 14-year veteran's production is the most positive story of the season. Sabres fans have clearly seen enough and are filling KeyBank Center to only 83% capacity.
Calgary Flames
Here's the state of the Flames in two numbers: 16 total one-goal games, 13 of them decided in overtime or the shootout. Calgary looked bound for the West's basement heading into the season, but it's putting up a fight almost every night. Also, props to Jonathan Huberdeau for officially getting back on track. He's on pace for his first 30-goal, 60-point campaign in three years.
Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina let longtime top-four defensemen Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei walk in free agency this past offseason. It was a smart move financially, but there were questions about how much the club would miss them. The answer: not much, if at all. Jalen Chatfield and Dmitry Orlov are flourishing on the second pair, while newcomers Sean Walker (effective in sheltered minutes) and Shayne Gostisbehere (power-play quarterback when healthy) have found their niches.
Chicago Blackhawks
If the Sharks are rebuilding but fun to track, the Blackhawks are rebuilding and a drag to monitor. Chicago finished tied for 30th in Connor Bedard's draft year, 31st in his rookie season, and sits 32nd midway through his sophomore season. This may all lead to excellent draft lottery odds and the selection of Bedard's future long-term running mate, but the nightly hockey is ugly.
Colorado Avalanche
In the 31 games before Mackenzie Blackwood's first start for the Avalanche, Colorado ranked last in team save percentage with a ghastly .866 rate. In the 12 games since his debut, the Avalanche rank second, at .922. Blackwood has saved a whopping 9.2 goals above expected in 10 appearances in an Avs uniform. The five-year, $26.3-million deal he signed shortly after arriving could come back to haunt the team down the road. For now, though, it's all gravy.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Star player Johnny Gaudreau died in August. Captain Boone Jenner and sniper Patrik Laine were injured/traded before the season. The Blue Jackets, rebuilding under new management and coaching, had every excuse in the book to write off 2024-25. Yet here they are, deservedly in a playoff spot. The top line of Sean Monahan (recently injured), Dmitri Voronkov, and Kirill Marchenko has outscored teams 22-5 in 230 five-on-five minutes together.
Dallas Stars
Dallas is the top-tier Stanley Cup contender nobody's paying attention to right now. The Stars own the sixth-best points percentage (.663) despite poor stretches from cornerstones Miro Heiskanen, Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, and Wyatt Johnston, and they're third in the Central Division despite a glaring lack of talent on the right side of the defense corps. The star players will figure it out and the roster holes will be filled soon. Dallas' A-game is still to come.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings are a hard team to get a handle on. They look rejuvenated under Todd McLellan, who's 5-1-0 two weeks into his tenure as head coach. But it's not like McLellan arrived with two snipers to add to the forward group or a couple of top-four talents to supplement the blue line. The personnel remains blah. Has McLellan unlocked something or is this new-coach magic?
Edmonton Oilers
Leon Draisaitl is enjoying an absurd, Hart Trophy-caliber year. He leads the Rocket Richard race by six goals (31 total tallies, including nine game-winners, in 41 games). He's second in total points and primary points with 61 and 47, respectively, and fifth in offensive-zone puck possession time (1:14 per game). He has terrific underlying numbers on the defensive side of the puck, too, all while centering a line with middling wingers.
Florida Panthers
There isn't one team that's definitively a cut above the rest in the East, but the 25-15-2 Panthers are close. The Paul Maurice-coached squad has shown it can thrive without departed Cup winners Brandon Montour, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Anthony Stolarz. The eye test suggests Florida's pacing itself in the regular season in an effort to burst through the gates come playoff time. And it makes sense. This core is trying to make a third consecutive Cup Final.
Los Angeles Kings
Similar to last season, the Kings are a defensive juggernaut. They rank first in expected goals against per game (2.7) and are tied for first in actual goals against per game (2.5), even though No. 1 defenseman Drew Doughty has yet to play a shift because of injury. Doughty's usual partner, Mikey Anderson, has been a standout on the blue line alongside Vladislav Gavrikov. While coach Jim Hiller's system and the skaters deserve most of the credit, goalie Darcy Kuemper has been wholly reliable in 19 starts.
Minnesota Wild
It was fair to wonder coming into the season if Brock Faber was bound for a sophomore slump. Would the expectations associated with finishing second in Calder Trophy voting and signing a monster contract extension weigh too heavily on the Wild defenseman? The answer is an emphatic no. Faber, who's currently sidelined with an upper-body injury, picked up where he left off and is even improving his underlying numbers year over year. He's skating a team-high 24:58 a game in all situations. Minnesota holds a 34-24 edge in five-on-five goals with No. 7 on the ice.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal's first half can be summed up in three words: bets paying off. Cole Caufield, a core piece who's been on the cusp of breaking out for seemingly forever, is finally doing it with 22 goals in 40 games for a 45-goal pace. Laine, acquired in a buy-low summer trade, has contributed eight goals in 13 games. Lane Hutson, who fell to 62nd in the 2022 draft in large part due to his small stature, is a scoring-chance machine sitting atop the rookie points leaderboard. The Canadiens wanted to play meaningful games down the stretch of the season, and they've given themselves a healthy shot at doing so.
Nashville Predators
Shocking record - 13-21-7. Shocking place in the standings - 30th in points percentage. Shocking scoring rate - a league-worst 2.4 goals per game in all situations underscored by a league-worst 1.3 per game at five-on-five. Even those who weren't entirely sold on the Predators' busy offseason - it was odd to see GM Barry Trotz break the bank on two snipers without addressing the need for playmaking centers - would be stunned by this miserable first half.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils are going through it right now, having lost five of seven games since the holiday break. But they showed enough promise in the first half to be considered a second-tier Cup contender. Jacob Markstrom has solved their longtime issues in net, while the club has clamped down defensively in an effort to be better prepared for the rigors of playoff hockey.
New York Islanders
The Islanders, last in both power play and penalty kill percentage, are near the bottom of the East and staring at one of the toughest second-half schedules, according to Tankathon. GM Lou Lamoriello, who's famously attached to his core, must take action. Pending unrestricted free agents Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri should be relatively easy to trade, while Jean-Gabriel Pageau, a 2026 UFA, should garner interest. Does Lamoriello cut deep and swap pending restricted free agents Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov for future assets?
New York Rangers
From Presidents' Trophy winner to bottom-feeder in less than a year. What a disaster. It's impossible to know if New York's dramatic slide would have happened anyway, but the Rangers are 7-14-1 since GM Chris Drury famously alerted his peers about high-profile players being available for trade. A good way to contextualize the Rangers' mess is to zero in on Will Cuylle. The fourth-liner might be the only player on the roster to level up this season.
Ottawa Senators
It wasn't playoffs or bust for Ottawa coming into the year, and it still isn't. However, seeing as the East's second wild-card spot is up for grabs, the Senators have a glorious opportunity to end their seven-year playoff drought. Ottawa's a better all-around team than the four others in the mix (Columbus, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Detroit). It would be a shame if Linus Ullmark's injury troubles spoil what's otherwise been a season of progress for the Sens.
Philadelphia Flyers
Expectations weren't high for the Flyers, but the 17-20-5 squad has still been underwhelming. Goaltending is the one red flag the front office can't ignore. Samuel Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov all have save percentages below .884. The skaters could help out more on defense, but the first half revealed there's no stability whatsoever between the pipes.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The good: captain Sidney Crosby, 37, is still an impact NHLer. The bad: the Pens have been outscored 110-87 at five-on-five. The ugly: no matter the game state, Pittsburgh can't buy a save, as Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic, and Joel Blomqvist have combined for an .886 save percentage.
San Jose Sharks
Macklin Celebrini's 28 points in 31 games put him first on the Sharks and first among rookies in points per game. But what's more impressive is how quickly he's rocketed up the charts in several metrics that focus on the process of producing points. On a per-game basis, Celebrini ranks fourth in the NHL in controlled zone entries and scoring chances off the cycle; sixth in end-to-end rushes; seventh in puck-battle wins; eighth in stick checks; and 12th in slot shots.
Seattle Kraken
The Kraken doled out major dollars in free agency for the first time in their existence. One of the high-profile signings has worked out nicely (Montour), while the other has disappointed (Chandler Stephenson). "Mid" is the word that comes to mind after scanning Seattle's lineup. There's nothing wrong with the individual players, but there's little finishing talent and, in general, no true star-caliber players. The roster is stuck in no man's land. You need stars.
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis is a rare team whose floor and ceiling bump against each other. The Blues are competitive enough to battle for a wild-card spot in the West, but if they do earn a playoff berth, they're easy first-round fodder for a contender. No high pick, no deep run. This isn't unexpected given the organization's disinterest in rebuilding.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning, who quietly own the NHL's third-best goal differential, are lurking in the shadows. They're barely in an Atlantic Division spot but have games in hand and a relatively easy second-half schedule. The offense, led by the consistently brilliant Nikita Kucherov, is potting a league-high 3.7 goals per game. Crucially, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy looks like his old self again.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs are a different team with Craig Berube at the whiteboard. Fewer pucks have ended up in both Toronto's net (goals against down to 2.81 per game from 3.18 last year) and the other team's net (goals for down to 3.14 from 3.63). This sharp turn is a net-positive overall, considering the Leafs' 12th-ranked offense has been without a fully healthy Auston Matthews all year. John Tavares - who conceded the captaincy to Matthews in August - is bucking the aging curve. The 34-year-old's on pace for 39 goals and 82 points.
Utah Hockey Club
Utah looks like a playoff team on paper and competes like one most nights. A lack of discipline in the form of 10.6 penalty minutes per game is stunting their potential. On one hand, the penalty kill is solid (14th). On the other, the team isn't drawing a ton of penalties, leaving it last in special teams time differential (49:35 more on the PK than power play).
Vancouver Canucks
President Jim Rutherford and GM Patrik Allvin have to be mighty careful with the Elias Pettersson-J.T. Miller soap opera. The chances of winning a trade involving either star center are slim, and Quinn Hughes, one of the two best blue-liners on the planet, is in his prime. Don't waste it. Find a way to get Pettersson and Miller to park their issues and move forward.
Vegas Golden Knights
The 28-10-3 Golden Knights' 15 comeback wins are second to Washington. Vegas was at one point down by two or more goals in four of those games. Those types of thrillers don't happen without depth scoring. The Knights currently boast six double-digit scorers - three usual suspects (Jack Eichel, Tomas Hertl, Mark Stone) and three pleasant surprises (Brett Howden, Ivan Barbashev, Pavel Dorofeyev). They are the nearest thing to a Cup favorite.
Washington Capitals
Washington's on the biggest organizational heater in recent memory. Pretty much everything the 27-10-4 club's touched of late has turned into gold. The players acquired in the offseason, from Pierre-Luc Dubois to Jakob Chychrun to Logan Thompson, have fit in well. They've seen internal growth from the likes of Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas. Second-year coach Spencer Carbery's pushing all the right buttons. Alex Ovechkin's making a mockery of the all-time goals chase. Six Caps prospects appeared in the world juniors, including tournament MVP Ryan Leonard and leading scorer Cole Hutson.
Winnipeg Jets
The league-wide save percentage has fallen to .900, the lowest since 1995-96. But someone forgot to tell Connor Hellebuyck, who's rocking a .926 in 33 starts. The Jets' MVP, who recently celebrated his 300th career win, has strong advanced statistics as well. There's no denying Hellebuyck's the Vezina Trophy front-runner, but Winnipeg must be cautious with his workload. He's on pace for 64 starts and will get crease time at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).