NHL season 2024: Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens among the most interesting teams

The 2024–25 NHL season is upon us, and when the puck drops, there will be a handful of teams that deserve special attention.

Don't get me wrong. Every NHL team has exciting storylines, but eight of them stand out from the pack for one reason or another. Whether it's a veteran team looking to capitalize on a championship streak, a young core looking to take the next step, or a legend trying to cement their place in NHL history, they just have a little more momentum as we approach opening night.

The Nashville Predators, for example, made waves in the offseason and raised expectations in no time at all. The Detroit Red Wings, on the other hand, will rely on the continued development of their core players.

Here's a look at the eight teams to keep a close eye on during the 2024-25 NHL season.

Something tells me Connor McDavid won't be satisfied with the Conn Smythe Trophy after coming one win away from his first Stanley Cup last season. McDavid is already the best player in the world and I expect him to take his game to another level this year. On top of that, his good friend and fellow goalie Leon Draisaitl has been signed to stay in Edmonton long-term.

The real difference for the Oilers might be the fact that their forward depth has never looked this strong in McDavid's career. New additions Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson provide some good secondary points, and that's something Edmonton has lacked in recent years. This was already an elite offensive team, but this group will make point scorers across the league work hard this season.

Detroit Red Wings

Steve Yzerman is a franchise legend and his hockey knowledge is enough to fill a few bookshelves. Still, it's probably time for “The Yzerplan” to take shape in Detroit. The Red Wings haven't made the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2016 and I doubt they can end that drought this season.

Detroit nearly ended its long playoff absence last season, but lost to the Washington Capitals in a tiebreaker for the second wildcard spot. Still, this team seems like a candidate for negative regression in 2024-25. Last year, the Wings far exceeded some troubling underlying metrics and didn't get much better in the offseason. Don't get me wrong, Detroit has some exciting young players in Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson, but I'm not sure Yzerman has built a strong enough support around them. Can the Red Wings exceed expectations again, or will the rebuild stagnate?

Nashville Predators

It didn't take long for GM Barry Trotz to get aggressive in rebuilding the Predators. On the first day of free agency, he opened the bank vault and spent $108.5 million to sign Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. That immediately opened a championship window in Nashville, but given the age of the team's core, the clock is already ticking to make the most of it.

On paper, at least, the Predators should be competing for a Central Division title and the Western Conference crown. The only question is whether stars like Stamkos, Marchessault, Roman Josi and Ryan O'Reilly can hold off the clock. If they can, Nashville will be ready for its first deep playoff run since 2017. If not, the offseason spending spree will paint an ugly picture. Either way, the Preds will be one of the most exciting teams in the NHL throughout the 2024-25 season.

Washington Capitals

Let's start with the fact that Alex Ovechkin is only 41 goals behind Wayne Gretzky for the all-time scoring record. To do that, Ovechkin will need to rebound this season, but the Capitals will do everything they can to help him do that, and he's surrounded by more talent now than he will be in 2023-24.

In addition to Ovechkin's pursuit of Gretzky, Washington made some interesting additions in the offseason. Most notable was the mercurial Pierre-Luc Dubois, who the Kings traded just one season after signing him to an eight-year, $68 million contract. Can he settle into his new role with the Caps? Washington also signed Andrew Mangiapane to bolster the forward depth, and the defense looks much better thanks to the arrival of Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy. The Capitals were a surprise in the playoffs last season, but they won't be taking anyone by surprise this year.

The debut of NHL hockey in Salt Lake City is certainly interesting, but the performance on the ice is worth paying attention to alone. After leaving the desert, Utah made some moves in the offseason to improve its defense, and now it looks like this team will be in contention for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Utah got a new No. 1 defenseman in Mikhail Sergachev from the Tampa Bay Lightning and another top-four option in John Marino from the New Jersey Devils. Putting those two behind a young forward group led by Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther is an exciting combination. It won't surprise you if Utah steals a playoff spot from one of the more established teams in the conference.

For the past six seasons, the Hurricanes have been one of the best teams in the NHL, but that hasn't really translated into postseason success. Now, after a summer of change, Carolina must adapt and overcome the loss of key players to clear the playoff hurdle.

Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei, two key players on Carolina's defense, are now gone. Forward Teuvo Teravainen is a Chicago Blackhawk again. Jake Guentzel, the Hurricanes' big signing at the trade deadline last year, left for Tampa as a free agent. Carolina will still be a solid team, especially with its current core and Rod Brind'Amour on the bench, but will it be good enough to make it to the end of the playoffs?

In their first full season under head coach Rick Tocchet, the Canucks posted 50 wins and 109 points to win the Pacific Division. Vancouver was one of the NHL's most pleasant surprises last season, but now they need to build on that. If the Canucks can go one step further, they will be a very dangerous Stanley Cup contender.

With Tocchet on the bench, stars like Quinn Hughes, JT Miller, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser were able to reach their full potential. This core has always had the potential to be special, and that came to fruition in 2023-24. Despite losing their two biggest transfer acquisitions from last season, the Canucks are still capable of challenging the Oilers in the division. The only major concern for this team heading into the season is the status of starting goaltender Thatcher Demko, who was injured in the postseason. If he's out for an extended period, that could be a real problem.

Montreal GM Kent Hughes is simply continuing his methodical rebuilding of this roster, and I'm excited to see how it develops this season. The Canadiens have some really promising young players on the roster, and while it will probably be a few years before they are a playoff team again, they should still be a lot of fun to watch.

One of those promising young players is former No. 1 pick Juraj Slafkovsky, who I was skeptical about after a slow start last season. Slafkovsky really got better as the year went on, finishing with 50 points at age 20. This year, Lane Hutson will play defense with Kaiden Guhle, and the duo of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki will lead the forwards. That's a lot of talent at age 25 or younger, and don't forget that the Habs also added 26-year-old sharpshooter Patrik Laine to the team.