The NHL’s regular season officially dropped the puck on Friday and Saturday in Prague, where the New Jersey Devils swept two games from the Buffalo Sabres in the annual Global Series. The rest of the league starts on Tuesday night, beginning the six-month journey to the Stanley Cup playoffs in April. Along with the perennial reshuffling of the league’s deck—with new faces in different places—the 2024–25 campaign marks the debut season for the Utah Hockey Club, which rose out of the smoldering ashes of the Arizona Coyotes franchise. Utah essentially bought the Coyotes’ hockey assets (including players and coaches) and relocated them to the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Just add ice and ... presto! Instant NHL.
There’s much more to this season, though, than professional hockey in the high desert, including the monumental pursuit of the game’s most hallowed record by one of its greatest stars. Here are five things to watch as another year unfolds.
