NHL's 10 biggest stories of 2024: Panthers win a Cup, Ovechkin's chase, remembering the Gaudreaus

If you searched for bright spots in the year that was for the NHL , you could find them.

We saw a franchise win the Stanley Cup for the first time, immediate impact from another No.

1 pick, the (pending) return of NHL players to the Olympics and the arrival of a new team in a fresh locale.

The hockey world also, though, dealt with the tragic deaths of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew.

Here is a look back at those events and five more of the NHLs most impactful stories from 2024.

GO DEEPER The 10 biggest women's hockey stories of 2024: New league, setting records and making history Panthers win the Cup At various points in the Florida Panthers first 30 NHL seasons, a Stanley Cup win seemed to be a pipe dream.

They went 24 years between playoff series victories, after all.

Doesnt get much further than that.

Ahead of Game 7 against the Edmonton Oilers , too, it was fair to wonder whether the Panthers had already blown their best shot; choking away a 3-0 series lead shouldnt inspire much confidence.

GO DEEPER How the Panthers avoided historic collapse to win their first Stanley Cup with 2-1 Game 7 win: 5 takeaways Ultimately, though, the Panthers handled business.

Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart each scored in a 2-1 win, extending the Canadian Cup drought to 31 seasons and (temporarily?) denying Connor McDavid (who still won the Conn Smythe Trophy , despite the loss) from reaching his final form.

The win, most of all, was a testament to a profoundly talented roster built through the draft ( Aleksander Barkov ), big-time trades (Reinart, Matthew Tkachuk ) and astute acquisitions (Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling ).

Florida has maintained that momentum into 2025, too.

More playoff wins are on the way.

Advertisement Celebrini lands in San Jose After a season in which they finished with a league-worst 47 points, the San Jose Sharks had their rebuilding efforts rewarded when they won the draft lottery.

It was the first time the organization held the No.

1 pick.

GM Mike Grier played coy in interviews, but it was a foregone conclusion that he would select Macklin Celebrini , the consensus No.

1 prospect.

Celebrini had just won the NCAA s Hobey Baker Award in his freshman year at Boston University, becoming the youngest player to win it at 17 years old.

On June 29, San Jose made Celebrini the first pick on stage broadcast on the outside of Sphere in Las Vegas.

According to the Associated Press, the organization had the highest rate of season tickets renewed since after it made the Stanley Cup Final in 2016.

The moment Macklin Celebrini is selected first overall from outside The Sphere pic.twitter.com/wiSSos3lsr Hailey Salvian (@hailey_salvian) June 28, 2024 In his first three months, Celebrini has lived up to the hype.

He scored a goal and an assist in his NHL debut, and since returning from injury has been a point-per-game player for the Sharks.

NHL Draft at the Sphere Is it too late to lobby for the NHL to institute Sphere as its permanent draft home? Because it was tough to come away from this summers event thinking about much else.

The scene in Las Vegas is special enough on its own and that goes triply when youre incorporating a brand-new, space-age, state-of-the-art venue featuring the worlds largest and highest-resolution LED screens.

We knew the draft was going to look good.

We assumed it was going to be fun.

What unfolded, though, was close to perfect; the on-site experience was remarkable , and the televised product was about as good as you could expect.

Overall, the event was proof that the NHL can think outside the box and create crossover moments for this particular era in the United States.

If nothing else, it was a cool party to throw for its most avid fans and a nice way to close the book on the centralized draft.

The 2025 event, by the way, will be held at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

Advertisement The tax debate The debate about NHL teams income-tax advantages isnt new, but it seemed to hit a new level in 2024.

Nashville , Florida, Tampa Bay , Dallas , Vegas and Seattle the six teams in the NHL in states with no income tax combined to spend nearly a quarter of the $1 billion-plus in salaries handed out when free agency opened on July 1.

Some players like Jake Guentzel , who signed a $63 million deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning defected to no state income tax.

Others, like Steven Stamkos or Jonathan Marchessault , went from one team with no state income tax state to another.

That, coupled with recent Cup wins by the Panthers, Golden Knights and Lightning, guaranteed the tax issue would stay on the front burner, particularly for Canadian fans who see it as some sort of fundamental inequity within the sport given the tax law surrounding Canada-based athletes.

The conversation commanded so much attention that The Athletic reported the NHL was keeping an eye on the situation.

Its a complex issue, as outlined by The Athletic s Dan Robson in July , and its not going away anytime soon.

Hello, Utah How did the NHL wind up leaving Arizona? To borrow a line from Ernest Hemingway: gradually, then suddenly.

At the start of 2024, it was easy to look at the Coyotes history, top-lined by a series of unstable owners and failed attempts to secure an ideal venue, and wonder whether enough would ever truly be enough.

The sunk-cost fallacy, if nothing else, seemed to be in play.

In the background, though, was Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, whod emerged as a major player in bringing an NHL franchise to Salt Lake City.

So too was the ongoing farce of professional hockey teams playing in a 4,600-seat rink; failed ballot measures in May 2023 meant that if the Coyotes were to stay in Arizona, theyd have to spend several more seasons using Arizona States Mullett Arena as a lifeboat.

That was a non-starter for all involved.

Cue the six-month sprint to SLC .

Advertisement So, here we are; the Utah Hockey Club is having a nice first season at Delta Center, hanging around the periphery of the wild-card race and basking in the glow of its new home.

Arizona hockey, meanwhile, is stuck in a different form of limbo.

Ovechkins quest for No.

895 A year ago, Alex Ovechkin s historic chase wasnt necessarily in jeopardy, but it was starting to get at least a bit dodgy.

He woke up on Jan.

1 with seven goals in 34 games, 66 away from breaking Wayne Gretzkys record.

Given Ovechkins age (38) and how old he looked on most nights (38), it was fair to wonder.

At the end of January, though, Ovechkin started on a heater that has been paused only by the offseason and a broken tibia.

He finished 2023-24 with 23 goals in 36 games, then kicked off 2024-25 with an incredible 15 in 18, scoring No.

16 after 40 days on the shelf.

If he scores 27 more in Washingtons final 47 games this season, the record will be his.

The icing on the cake? The Caps are terrific, thanks in part to an outstanding offseason and a few key breakouts.

They (and their captain) look like one of the stories of 2025, too.

Campbell makes history When the Seattle Kraken made their 2024-25 season debut on Oct.

8 against the St.

Louis Blues , Jessica Campbell officially became the first woman to coach in the NHL, as an assistant.

She was hired by the Kraken on July 3, joining Dan Bylsmas bench (again) after working on his staff with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the AHL.

For two years in Coachella, Bylsma saw firsthand what would make Campbell a good NHL coach.

In Coachella Valley, she ran the Firebirds power play and focused on player development with the teams forward group, which included first-round pick Shane Wright , Ryker Evans and Tye Kartye , an undrafted free agent who was named AHL Rookie of the Year and earned a call-up to Seattle in Campbells first season.

She has something to provide to players, and they immediately recognize what she has to offer to them and their careers and their growth and development, Bylsma said.

Shes all in with them and you immediately get that sense and feel from her when shes coaching you.

GO DEEPER 'It's monumental': A long journey prepared Jessica Campbell to make NHL history A roller coaster at the Garden The New York Rangers are here for reasons both good and very, very bad.

Well start with the positive.

They won a Presidents Trophy! Thats tough! Along the way, they seemed to look the part of a true Stanley Cup threat, led by a Hart Trophy candidate ( Artemi Panarin ), a Norris Trophy winner ( Adam Fox ) and an elite goaltender ( Igor Shesterkin ) with plenty of other contender-quality pieces throughout the lineup.

Advertisement Again, though, they fell short, kicking off a bizarre offseason that began with an ominous message from GM Chris Drury, continued with the controversial waiver-wire dump of Barclay Goodrow and then ...

just sort of ended.

No real change and plenty of awful vibes.

Things devolved in a hurry, of course: Drury finally dealt captain Jacob Trouba , but only after another round of drama, and they hit the holiday break as losers in 13 of 17 games.

Theyre at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division these days, and its fair to wonder how much further they can fall.

NHLers to return to the Olympics In February, during All-Star weekend, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made the announcement fans and players had been waiting for: NHL players will return to the Olympics in 2026 and 2030.

Were still more than a year out from the 2026 Milan Olympics, but when NHLers ultimately suit up for their national teams, it will have been 14 years since the last true best-on-best Olympic Games the 2014 Sochi Olympics, which Canada won in dominant fashion.

NHL players have been vocal about their desire to return to Olympic competition, especially McDavid, who called the opportunity to represent Canada at the Olympics as if hes not a roster lock a dream come true.

The league, NHLPA and IIHF also announced an expanded international calendar that includes the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off and the return of the World Cup of Hockey in 2028.

Remembering Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau On Aug.

29, Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau were killed when they were struck by a car while riding bicycles in Oldmans Township, N.J.

Johnny was 31 and Matthew was 29.

There was an outpouring of love for the brothers across the sporting world.

NBA star LeBron James extended his condolences, as did MLB star Mike Trout.

Fans left flowers at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, where Gaudreau signed in 2022.

Advertisement Johnny and Matthew were laid to rest in September and eulogized by their wives, Meredith and Madeline.

They have been honored and remembered by teams and players throughout the NHL season.

The man accused of killing the brothers, Sean M.

Higgins , is facing two counts of first-degree aggravated manslaughter and two counts of second-degree reckless vehicular homicide, among other charges related to their death.

Teams held video tributes and moments of silence before games.

Players on all 32 teams wore decals on their helmets.

Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella invited their father, Guy, to skate with the team.

Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield , who grew up idolizing Johnny, changed his jersey number to 13, the same number Johnny wore.

At the Blue Jackets home opener, the team lined up without a left winger where Johnny would have played.

When the puck dropped, neither the Blue Jackets nor the Florida Panthers made a move, instead letting the puck come to a rest for exactly 13 seconds where Gaudreau would have stood.

Saved a spot for Johnny.

Here with us always pic.twitter.com/B4ouWgS0Qo Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 15, 2024 They were honored in ceremonies in Calgary, where Johnny played nine seasons, and Philadelphia, near the familys hometown in Salem, N.J.

(Photo of Matthew Tkachuk hoisting the Stanley Cup: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images).

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