By Rafay Desautels
Before I begin the article, I want to take a minute to acknowledge the tragic loss of NHL star player Johnny Gaudreau(aged 31), and his Boston College playing brother Matthew Gaudreau (aged 29). Sadly, on August 29, 2024, the two brothers were biking in New Jersey, a day before their sister’s wedding, when they were hit and killed by a drunk driver. Columbus Blue Jackets fans left flowers and hockey sticks under a picture of Johnny at Nationwide Arena. Many of Johnny’s teammates released statements honoring him. Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadians will wear Johnny’s number 13 this season. The hockey world won’t be the same without them. Rest in Peace.
The 2024 NHL offseason was full of surprises and has us set for a very interesting-looking ‘24-’25 season. With many players going to new teams, and even new coaches arriving, somehow the NHL is going to get even more chaotic.
Starting off, on June 24, The Boston Bruins traded Vezina-winning (League’s best goalie) goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators for their goalie Joonas Korpisalo, and a first-round draft pick. Ullmark was 22-10-7 last season, though, in the playoffs, he only had one showing in which he put up a 3.90 Goals Against Average and a .886 Save Percentage, and lost the game. In early January, the netminder had to be helped off the ice in overtime due to a lower-body injury. After his injury, Ullmark’s performance declined, and the Bruins opted to switch their starting goalie to Jeremy Swayman, the former backup. Swayman proved to be better during the playoffs boasting a 2.15 GGA and a .933 SV. On the other side of the deal, Joonas Korpisalo was having a tougher time. During the ‘23-’24 season with Ottawa, Korpisalo had a 3.27 GAA and only a .890 SV. This definitely helped out the Bruins in freeing up some salary cap space. Before, they were paying Ullmark $5 million a season, and they were paying Swayman 3.475 Million for a one-year deal. With Ullmark gone, it gave them room to add new players and re-sign current ones. On the other hand, Korpisalo was also getting paid a lot. With a 5-year, $20,000,000 deal, with a $4 million annual average, and 4 years left, it’s safe to say Korpisalo was getting paid much more than he’s worth. Though, with the extra cap space the Bruins were able to add two key players to their rosters. The Bruins signed defenseman Nikita Zadorov for a 6-year, $30 million deal on the first day of free angency. Zadorov is a great addition to the Bruins’s blue line at a whopping 6’6”, 248 pounds. The new defenseman likes a physical style of play, and 14 points in 54 games with the Canucks last season. I know those numbers don’t look great, but Zadorov is a beast in the defensive zone with 124 hits and 49 blocked shots. Finally, the Bruins filled the gap and signed a first-line center in Elias Lindholm. Last season, also with the Canucks, Lindholm put up 15 goals and 39 assists in 75 games. Lindholm plays a more defense-focused game, similar to Patrice Bergeron, the former first-line center who retired after the 2022-2023 season.
In other Boston Hockey news, former Boston University center Macklin Celebrini was selected 1st overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 2024 NHL entry draft. Celebrini put up 32 goals and 32 assists in 38 games with B.U., as well as being +25 on the season(+/- is a simple stat. If the player is on the ice when their team scores their +/- goes up one, if the other team scores while that player is on the ice it goes down one). Celebrini will be a key player for the Sharks as they are in a re-building stage and have high expectations going into the ‘24-’25 season.
The Nashville Predators have been gearing up for this year. The biggest controversy during to offseason was the Tampa Bay Lightning not signing their former captain, two-time “Rocket” Richard winner, and NHL veteran, Steven Stamkos. Stamkos has been with the organization throughout his 16 career and led the Lightning to back-to-back cup wins in 2020 and 2021. After the Lightning refused to come to terms with Stamkos, he opted to sign a four-year $32 million deal with the Nashville Predators. If you’re scratching your head right now wondering why they did this, here’s why! During the trade deadline, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded 29-year-old forward, Jake Guentzel, to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward Michael Bunting and conditional first and fifth-round picks in the 2024 draft. Guentzel had 25 points in 17 regular season games with the Canes, and 9 points in 11 playoff games. With Guentzel’s contract expiring, he knew he would be a hot asset going into free agency. In the end, Guenzel ended up signing a 7-year, $63 million contract with Tampa. NHL fans are divided by this choice, feeling the Lightning disrespected Stamkos and didn’t appreciate his dedication to his team.
Moving forward, the Predators made another addition to their roster, signing forward Jonathan Marchessault to a 5-year $27.5 million deal. Marchessault isn’t known for being a big player, being 5’9, 185 lbs. The 33-year-old winger hasn’t let this hold him back, winning the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe (Playoff MVP) with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023. In the regular season, Marchessault had 69 points in 82 games with Vegas but only played 7 games in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs due to injuries. Now that he’s recovered, Marchessault will make a big difference playing with Nashville.
After the Toronto Maple Leafs’s game seven loss to the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they fired head coach Sheldon Keefe. Keefe had coached the Leafs since 2019 and led them to their first first-round series win in the playoffs since 2004. After a disappointing season, the New Jersey Devils replaced their head coach, Lindy Ruff, with Sheldon Keefe. Keefe looks to make the playoffs this season, especially with the addition of their new goaltender, Jacob Markström. Though Markström had a disappointing season with the Calgary Flames, behind a team like New Jersey, I’m confident he’ll thrive and make the Devils a force to go against.
Another key moment in the off-season was the renewal of Leon Draisaitl’s contract. In the regular season, the Oiler put up 106 points (41 G, 65 A) in 81 games, and in the playoffs, he scored 31 points in 25 games. Draisaitl is a key player in the Oilers’s core, and he knew it going into negotiations. In the end, Leon signed a massive contract for 8 years, $112 million, with an AAV of $14 million. WOW! Draisaitl is currently the highest-paid player in the NHL going off of his annual cap hit. To put that into perspective, the second highest is Auston Matthews, with $13.25 million a year, and he scored 69 goals last season. Unfortunately for the Oilers, cap space is gonna be hard to find when Connor McDavid, the current best NHL player, wants to re-sign.
The most important event over the offseason was the relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City. The Utah Hockey Club is the newest team in the NHL(And sadly, that is the team’s real name). Though their roster mainly consists of last year’s Coyotes, they also added Mikhail Sergachev and Ian Cole. Sergachev, the former Tampa Bay Lightning player was traded in exchange for 20-year-old center Connor Geekie, who has yet to play an NHL game, and defenseman J.J. Moser, who recorded 26 points in 80 games with Arizona last season. Sergachev had 19 points in 34 games with Tampa last year and most likely will fill some seats for Utah’s inaugural season. Utah also signed 35-year-old defenseman Ian Cole to a one-year deal. Cole had 11 points in 78 games with the Vancouver Canucks in the ‘23-’24 season and is another great addition to the team. With their first-ever draft pick in the history of the team, Utah drafted Tij Iginla 6th overall. Last season, Iginla scored 47 goals and 37 assists in 64 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL. Iginla is predicted to be a star for Utah in years to come, but first let's see how he adjusts to the NHL and its high-paced game. At the time of writing this, Utah recorded its first-ever goal in the NHL preseason, and hilariously enough it was against themselves. Utah did come back after this and won the game against the St. Louis Blues 5-3.
Though these are just the headlines, the offseason was an interesting one to follow. After all the chaos that happened in the offseason, I’m ready to finally watch some hockey, as the ‘24-’25
season started on October 4th.