NHL 2024/2025 Season Review

The 2024/2025 hockey season went down in history as the period of the final formation of a new NHL dynasty — the Florida Panthers confirmed their championship status by winning the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row. In a dramatic final series, the Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-2, ending the match with a convincing victory in the sixth match on the home ice of the Emerant Bank Arena.

NHL Regular Season 2024/2025

The 2024/2025 regular season kicked off on October 4, 2024 with the traditional "Global Series" in Prague, where the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils played two matches on Czech soil. A total of 32 teams participated in the championship, including HC Utah, which replaced the Arizona Coyotes, which was declared inactive.

The Winnipeg Jets were the real opener of the regular season, winning the Presidents Cup with an impressive 116 points. A key factor in the team's success was the excellent play of goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck, who was later named the most valuable player of the season.

Individual achievements in the regular season

  • Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay) is the top scorer (121 points).
  • Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton) is the best sniper (52 goals).
  • Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg) is the best goalkeeper and the MVP of the season.
  • Alexander Ovechkin (Washington) is the author of a historical achievement

The season was marked by a historic event in the world of hockey — Alexander Ovechkin scored his 895th goal in the NHL regular season on April 6, 2025, surpassing Wayne Gretzky's "eternal" record. The match was stopped for 25 minutes to honor the Russian sniper, who set a new milestone in the history of hockey.

A Four-nation tournament instead of an All-Star Game

An important innovation of the season was the abandonment of the traditional All-Star Game in favor of the Four-Nation Tournament, which took place from February 12 to 20, 2025 at arenas in Boston and Montreal. The national teams of Canada, the USA, Finland and Sweden, made up of NHL players, took part in the competition.

The tournament became a preparatory stage for the return of NHL players to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The winner was the Canadian national team, which beat the U.S. team in the final. The Russian NHL stars showed themselves especially vividly: Andrey Vasilevsky was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the tournament, and Kirill Kaprizov became one of the top scorers.

The 2025 Playoffs

The Stanley Cup playoffs kicked off on April 19, 2025. The tournament grid immediately presented several surprises: the Winnipeg Jets, the winner of the Presidents Cup, faced serious resistance from the St. Louis Blues in the first round, managing to win only in the seventh match (4-3).

The most dramatic confrontations

  • Winnipeg –St. Louis: 4-3 in the first round series
  • Dallas –Colorado: 4-3 in a tense series with comebacks
  • Toronto – Florida: 3-4 in the second round, where the Maple Leafs led 2-0 in
  • the Edmonton –Vegas series: 4-1 in the second round, but three matches ended in overtime.

In the Eastern Conference finals, Florida confidently beat Carolina (4-1), and in the Western Conference, Edmonton defeated Dallas with the same score, sending the Stars on vacation for the third year in a row.

Russian players in the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Russian hockey players have traditionally had a significant impact on the course of the playoffs. Andrey Svechnikov (Karolina) became the top Russian scorer, scoring 12 points (8+4) in 15 matches. He set a new record for Russians in empty-net goals in the playoffs — he has 5 such goals to his credit.

Of particular note is Vasily Podkolzin (Edmonton). The player scored 10 points (3+7) in 22 games and scored the Oilers' only goal in the decisive match of the finals series.

  • Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota): 9 points (5+4) in 6 matches
  • Alexander Ovechkin (Washington): 5 goals in 10 matches
  • Pavel Buchnevich (St. Louis): 8 points (3+5) in 7 matches

Pavlichkin's Ascent: the breakthrough of the season

Dmitry Pavlichkin, the 22-year-old forward of the Dallas Stars, who became a real discovery of the 2024/2025 NHL season, deserves special attention. Selected at number 28 in the 2022 draft, Pavlichkin had an impressive NHL debut season, scoring 61 points (26+35) in 78 regular season games.

In the playoffs, the young Russian did not slow down, earning 14 points (7+7) in 16 matches and becoming one of the key players of Dallas in their campaign to the Western Conference finals. The match against Colorado in the first round turned out to be especially striking, where Pavlichkin scored a hat-trick and brought the team victory in overtime.

Stanley Cup Finals Series 2025

The 2025 Stanley Cup Final was a remake of last year's clash between Florida and Edmonton. The series began with the victory of the Oilers in the first match (4:3 OT), but the Panthers managed to turn the tide of the confrontation, winning the second match in double overtime (5:4).

The third match of the series in Sunrise ended with the defeat of Edmonton (6:1), however, the Oilers showed character in the fourth game, coming back from 0:3 and winning in overtime (5:4). In the fifth game, Florida regained the upper hand (5:2), and the sixth game was a triumph for the Panthers — 5:1 with Sam Rinehart poker.

A key factor in Florida's success was the incredible performance of Russian goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky, who missed only once in the decisive match after 29 shots. Bobrovsky's contribution to the championship is difficult to overestimate — he set personal records for the percentage of reflected shots (92.8%) and the reliability coefficient (2.14) in the playoffs.

Top 5 scorers of the Stanley Cup 2025 Playoffs

  • Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton) – 33 points (11+22)
  • Connor McDavid (Edmonton) - 33 points (7+26)
  • Sam Rinehart (Florida) - 23 points (11+12)
  • Matthew Tkachuk (Florida) – 23 points (8+15)
  • Carter Verage (Florida) – 23 points (7+16)

Russian Stanley Cup Champions 2025

With the victory of Florida, a unique series continued — Russian hockey players won the Stanley Cup for the tenth consecutive season, which is an absolute record for foreign players in the history of the NHL. Sergey Bobrovsky and Dmitry Kulikov became two-time winners of the main league trophy.

New records and achievements of the NHL 2024/2025 season

  • Alexander Ovechkin set an absolute NHL record for the number of goals (895), surpassing the achievement of Wayne Gretzky.
  • Nikita Kucherov became the first Russian player to break the 120-point mark in a season after Alexander Mogilny (1992/93)
  • Minnesota goalkeeper Philip Gustavsson became the 15th goalkeeper in NHL history to score a goal against an opponent.
  • San Jose defender Marc-Edouard Vlasic set a league record for the most blocked shots in his career (2,165)
  • Vancouver forward Kiefer Sherwood set a record for the most power plays in a single season (384)
  • Three goalkeepers scored goals in the same season (Gustavsson, Alex Nedelkovich and Ilya Sorokin) – this has never happened before.