The 2024-25 NHL season was a smashing success.

There was Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. There were the Florida Panthers shattering the hearts of Edmonton Oilers fans for a second straight Final series to win another Stanley Cup. There were the Tkachuk brothers (Matthew and Brady) trying to smash every Canadian player in sight during the 4 Nations Face-Off.

What’s in store for 2025-26? Plenty where that came from, including the NHL’s much-anticipated return to the Winter Olympics.

If you haven’t kept up with the NHL in the past few months, don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a chance to catch up on everything that has happened — the hirings, firings, signings, trades and significant rules changes thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement. It’s all in our guide to the 2025-26 season for lapsed fans. Read up before the puck drops!

Jump ahead:
Panthers’ threepeat attempt
Free agency, trades
What’s next for Ovi?
Coaching carousel
Crosby’s uncertain future

NHL players return to the Winter Olympics

For the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games, the NHL will send its players to the Winter Olympics in 2026. The league will pause its season Feb. 6-25 to allow players to compete for their home nations at the Winter Games in Italy. Preliminary games will begin Feb. 11, and the gold medal matchup is set for Feb. 22.

The NHL will hold a launch event at UBS Arena in Long Island, New York, that Sports Business Journal reports will be a “Super Bowl-style media day” before players and coaches leave for the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

The level of hype for this Olympic tournament couldn’t be higher. The success of the 4 Nations Face-Off last season was the perfect international hockey appetizer. Who doesn’t want to see another showdown between the U.S. and Canada after the Tkachuk-led punch-fest and the dramatic overtime championship game between the North American rivals at 4 Nations?

The 12 countries that qualified for the men’s Olympic hockey tournament each named their first six players to their rosters. Now comes the real drama, as players use the first few months of the NHL season to make their Olympic cases to their national teams.

The final 25-man rosters for the Olympics are expected to be announced in early January, leaving plenty of time for 4 Nations snubs such as Buffalo Sabres star Tage Thompson to leave an impression on Team USA GM Bill Guerin, the Minnesota Wild general manager who just made history…

Kaprizov gets NHL record contract

The hockey world was stunned when Minnesota Wild star winger Kirill Kaprizov turned down an eight-year deal worth $128 million, which would have been the richest contract in NHL history. Some believed that meant he wanted to move on from Minnesota and test free agency next summer. On the contrary: Kaprizov wanted to stay in Minnesota and signed an even bigger contract a few weeks later.

Kaprizov and the Wild agreed to an NHL-record eight-year, $136 million extension through the 2033-34 season. The deal is the highest in terms of total money and average annual value ($17 million), breaking the marks previously held by Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin ($124 million) and Edmonton Oilers standout Leon Draisaitl ($14 million AAV). It’s a new benchmark for contracts that’ll have an immediate impact on talks for pending free agent wingers such as Kyle Connor of the Jets and Adrian Kempe of the Kings.

The Wild went above and beyond their expected offer to keep Kaprizov in Minnesota. They have their franchise player secured. Now comes the hard part: building a Stanley Cup winner around him.

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Wild ink Kirill Kaprizov to largest contact in NHL history

Check out the numbers behind Kirill Kaprizov’s record NHL deal.

Despite stunning summer, Panthers’ three-peat is jeopardized

Following their second straight Stanley Cup Final victory over the Oilers, the Panthers now have a chance to do something no NHL team has done since the New York Islanders‘ dynasty in the 1980s: win a third consecutive Stanley Cup (and advance to four straight Finals).

The Panthers started that journey in impressive fashion this offseason by retaining all three of their big-name free agents: center Sam Bennett (eight years, $8 million average annual value), defenseman Aaron Ekblad (eight years, $6.1 million AAV) and, perhaps most surprisingly, winger Brad Marchand, the 37-year-old trade deadline prize who signed a six-year extension worth $31.5 million.

But then the Panthers hit two significant bumps in the road. Star winger Matthew Tkachuk is expected to be sidelined until at least December after offseason surgery addressed a sports hernia and torn adductor muscle. Captain Aleksander Barkov was lost on his first on-ice practice in training camp, needing surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his right knee. He’s expected to miss the entire regular season, and his status for the playoffs is in question.

Vegas lands Marner, loses top defenseman

The Vegas Golden Knights are one of the favorites in the Western Conference this season after an offseason that involved one significant addition and a major subtraction to their roster.

The Golden Knights landed the biggest free agent of the offseason in Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner, who had 102 points in 81 games last season but had become a pariah because of the Leafs’ lack of playoff success. Vegas traded center Nicolas Roy to Toronto to acquire Marner ahead of free agency, getting him with a franchise record eight-year, $96 million contract. He’s expected to play with star center Jack Eichel on their top line.

But the Golden Knights’ back end took a hit when star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo announced in June that he was stepping away from “the intensity of hockey” to see if his injured hip can improve to the point where he might have “a normal quality of life.” He is expected to miss the 2025-26 season at a minimum — although Pietrangelo, 35, wouldn’t rule out a return to play this season while opting for rehab rather than surgery.

In quiet offseason, some teams made noise

In January, the NHL and NHLPA announced the salary cap projections for the next three years, going from $95.5 million this season to $113.5 million in 2027-28. Though many expected this financial flexibility would lead to a flurry of players switching teams via free agency and trades, it turns out teams used the cap bump to retain more talent than acquire it.

Along with the Panthers trio, players staying where their stuff is include:

But there were also significant names on the move in the offseason, including:

The CBA gets expedited

Labor peace is not exactly something we’ve come to expect from the NHL and the NHLPA, so it was a welcome change to have their new collective bargaining agreement created without too much acrimony. The new CBA takes effect in September 2026, but the two sides agreed to expedite some of the changes for the 2025-26 season.

Chief among them are a change to how teams can use long-term injured reserve to create salary cap space in the regular season and the implementation of a postseason cap for the first time. If a team wants to replace the full salary amount for an injured player, that player won’t be eligible to return during the playoffs. Otherwise, teams can only use additional cap space that is less than the “prior season’s average league salary.”

As for the postseason salary cap, the new rule states that teams can ice a roster for a playoff game only if the total average contract values are within that season’s cap.

Also expedited for this season: The end of deferred payment contract structures and “double retention” trades. Double retention had become common at the trade deadline, with teams retaining part of a player’s salary and trading him to a third-party team that retained another percentage of the contract before the player was then sent to his new club.

On a lighter note, the relaxation of player dress codes was also fast-tracked for this season.

CBA measures that won’t be implemented until next September include changes to contract term limits — a maximum of six years for a free agent signing and seven years for signing a player who was on the roster at the last trade deadline — and the establishment of emergency goaltender replacements for each team.

Farewell Ovechkin?

We know it’s the end of the line for one NHL superstar: Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar, who announced that 2025-25 will be his last season. On the same day Kopitar held his news conference, another legendary player said he’d yet to make up his mind: Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.

Ovechkin, 40, will be an unrestricted free agent after this season, his 21st. He became the NHL’s leading career goal scorer last season, passing Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky (894) and finishing with 897. The Capitals captain eased concerns that he was slowing down with 44 goals in a season that saw him miss 16 games with a broken leg.

When asked recently if he has decided whether 2025-26 will be his final NHL season, he said, “I don’t know if this is going to be the last. We’ll see.”

Ovechkin hasn’t had a discussion with the team about his future. GM Chris Patrick said the Capitals don’t have a sense of what Ovechkin is thinking regarding his future, either.

Though it’s unclear whether this is the end for Ovechkin, it is clear that he has more history to chase: becoming the first player to ever score 900 goals in the NHL, and reaching 1,700 points (he needs 77, while Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, his forever rival, is 13 points away from that milestone).

Quenneville returns

The Anaheim Ducks hired Joel Quenneville to replace Greg Cronin, who was fired after two seasons. Quenneville hasn’t coached in the NHL since 2021, when he resigned from the Florida Panthers as part of the fallout from the Chicago Blackhawks‘ sexual assault case.

An independent report from a law firm in October 2021 detailed how the Blackhawks organization failed to properly address allegations by player Kyle Beach that he was sexually assaulted by video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s 2010 Stanley Cup run. Quenneville was the head coach at the time.

After the report, the NHL determined that Quenneville and Blackhawks executives Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac were ineligible to seek further employment in the league until reinstated by commissioner Gary Bettman. Their bans were lifted in July 2024. Bowman was hired as general manager of the Edmonton Oilers that summer. Quenneville waited until May 2025 to latch on with the Ducks.

GM Pat Verbeek said his team spoke with dozens of individuals before hiring Quenneville. “Our findings are consistent with Joel’s account that he was not fully aware of the severity of what transpired in 2010,” Verbeek said in a statement. “It is clear that Joel deeply regrets not following up with more questions at the time, has demonstrated meaningful personal growth and accountability, and has earned the opportunity to return to coaching.”

Quenneville, 67, takes over a Ducks team with a core of young stars and veteran acquisitions such as former Rangers captain Chris Kreider, signed as a free agent. Anaheim is seeking its first playoff berth since 2018. Quenneville is 275 wins away from tying Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman for most all time for an NHL coach.

The coaching carousel

It was another offseason of veteran coaches shipping their game night suits to different locations. Besides Quenneville, the familiar faces behind new benches include:

• Mike Sullivan, who left the Pittsburgh Penguins after 10 seasons to take over the New York Rangers after Peter Laviolette was fired. Former Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse is now running the Penguins’ bench.

• Rick Tocchet played for the Philadelphia Flyers over 11 seasons. He is now their coach after moving on from the Vancouver Canucks. His former assistant Adam Foote takes over in Vancouver.

• Jeff Blashill, former coach of the Detroit Red Wings, is now the coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

• Former New York Islanders coach Lane Lambert takes over the Seattle Kraken, who fired Dan Bylsma after one season.

• Marco Sturm, who was coaching the Los Angeles Kings‘ AHL affiliate, is now coach of the Boston Bruins.

• Finally, the Dallas Stars have the most familiar face behind their bench: Former Edmonton Oilers assistant coach Glen Gulutzan, who was the head coach of the Stars from 2011 to ’13. He replaces Pete DeBoer, who led Dallas to three straight Western Conference finals — and three straight losses in that penultimate series.

Rookie class of 2025-26

Several rookies are looking to make an immediate impact this season.

The early favorite to win the Calder Trophy is Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov. The 19-year-old was an offensive dynamo in Russia and arrived at the end of last season with an array of dazzling moves. Other rookie forwards to watch include Jimmy Snuggerud (St. Louis Blues), Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals), Michael Misa (San Jose Sharks) and the Oilers’ duo of Matthew Savoie and Isaac Howard — if either of them see time with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

But it’s the defensemen who could be the cream of the rookie crop. First overall pick Matthew Schaefer brings great puckhandling and palpable hope to the Islanders. Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin was thrust into action during last year’s playoffs, and will be a 6-foot-4 force this season. Zeev Buium of the Minnesota Wild also made his debut in the playoffs and could end up being their power-play quarterback. Ditto 6-4 defenseman Sam Rinzel of the Chicago Blackhawks. Zayne Parekh of the Calgary Flames could be the next great offensive defenseman in the NHL.

Two goalies to keep on eye on: Yaroslav Askarov of the San Jose Sharks and Jesper Wallstedt of the Wild, both of whom could become their teams’ primary goalie sooner than later.

Going outdoors in Florida

Bettman called this the “golden age of hockey” in Florida, in terms of how the game has grown at all levels and the number of Stanley Cups the local NHL teams have collected recently. Perhaps the greatest indicator of that success: The Sunshine State will host its first two outdoor NHL games in 2026.

The Florida Panthers and New York Rangers will compete in the Winter Classic on Jan. 2 at LoanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins. It’s the first outdoor game appearance for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have played outdoors just once, at Nashville in 2022. On Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Lightning host the Boston Bruins.

With the Panthers getting their outdoor game, that leaves the Utah Mammoth as the only current NHL team yet to play in an outdoor game.

March of the Penguins?

For 20 years, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have formed the core of a Penguins team that won the Stanley Cup three times. But those glory years are a distant memory. The Penguins haven’t made the playoffs for three straight seasons and haven’t advanced past the opening round since 2018. The only thing keeping GM Kyle Dubas from going into full teardown mode is the lingering existence of this legendary trio on the roster. But perhaps that’s about to change.

Malkin, 39, is in the final year of his contract. He’d like to remain with the Penguins, but he told reporters he was intrigued by the “great story” of Brad Marchand leaving the only team he’d known (Boston) to help the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup.

Crosby, 38, is signed for two more seasons. He has been steadfast in wanting to remain in Pittsburgh, hoping against hope that a young supporting cast could coalesce into a playoff team. But with the Penguins predicted by many to finish last in the Metro Division, Crosby’s only hope for another Stanley Cup ring might be with another NHL team — and the speculation over which team he might bring his talents to has become its own industry.

Crosby, Malkin, Letang and star defenseman Erik Karlsson all have no-movement clauses. They’ll decide if and when they’ll no longer play in Pittsburgh — decisions the rest of the NHL is waiting to hear, especially in the case of No. 87.

Connor McDavid’s uncertain future

Finally, the biggest question asked around the NHL as the season begins: Is the best player in the world really going to become the most coveted free agent in the history of hockey?

McDavid, 28, has won five scoring titles, three regular-season MVP awards and one playoff MVP award — only the second skater to win the Conn Smythe in a losing effort. He has an astounding 1,082 points in 712 games and has led the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive seasons.

But he is also in the last season of an eight-year, $100 million contract he signed in 2017.

McDavid has said he is taking his time in determining his next steps — including the long-term championship prospects with the Oilers. Sources have told ESPN that “everything is on the table” for McDavid, from a short-term team-friendly deal to keep chasing a Cup with Edmonton to hitting the open market as an unrestricted free agent for what would undoubtably be an NHL-record contract.

Hey, it’s only a decision that could reshape the landscape of the NHL and determine whether the league’s greatest talent can finally win the championship, the absence of which has left him in perpetual anguish. So, no pressure, Connor …

Just another reason the 2025-26 season could be a wild, unpredictable ride. Enjoy it, puckheads!