The People's Guide to the 2023-24 NHL Season

Are you looking for a new and exciting way to feel sad in a group? Do you have a hockey-obsessed loved one you'd like to see more often from today until June?

Perhaps you're just seeking a few talking points to feel smug about at the bar (valid), or your child is starting a youth hockey career (RIP to your weekends) and you're getting to know the sport.

Whatever the reason, if you're new to following the NHL or you're jumping back in after a few seasons away, you've come to the right place. As we drop the puck on the 2023-24 NHL season, it never hurts to brush up on some of the basics—and some of the not-so-basics—surrounding the sport itself and the need-to-knows for the season ahead.

Consider this guide the context you need to get up to date without getting too bogged down before the season starts in mere hours. The 2023-24 NHL season for Smarties, if you will.

In the spirit of not getting bogged down and making this actually useful, I'm going to start out as your wingwoman. Here's one thing you can say about each team at the bar or around the water cooler to sound in-the-know—but not too suspicious—as hockey starts repopulating the TVs.

Atlantic Division

Boston Bruins: "They bettah keep this Matthew Poitras kid in the lineup, Don Sweeney can't trade anothah first-round pick at the deadline this time."

Buffalo Sabres: "Sure, Connor Bedard might win the Calder. But Devon Levi could bring us back to the playoffs for the first time since 2011, and I'll take that all day."

Detroit Red Wings: "There's nothing Michiganders love more than Michigan, and now that Alex DeBrincat is back home, there's no reason he won't have his third career 40-plus-goal season. Might even pot 50."

Florida Panthers: "All this talk about Matthew Tkachuk and his contract is valid, and we know he's going to put on another show this season. But can we talk about Carter Verhaeghe?"

Montreal Canadiens: I wouldn't particularly recommend faking it until you make it around such a passionate fanbase. At your own risk: "Samuel Montembeault really improved last season, huh? Between playing for a new contract, and Cayden Primeau still being young, maybe he'll become a No. 1 goalie."

Ottawa Senators: "Can't believe the team snagged one of the only promising goalies on the offseason market in Joonas Korpisalo. Between the youth movement returning to health and a stacked defense, who needs Ryan Reynolds?"

Tampa Bay Lightning: "If the Lightning do one thing well, it's the ability to flip the switch at the last second and enter playoff mode. I'm concerned about waning depth and an aging core, sure, but Andrei Vasilevskiy's early-season back injury shouldn't throw things off too much—as long as he comes back fully healthy."

Toronto Maple Leafs: "Between finally getting out of the first round last season, the addition of gnarly Tyler Bertuzzi and a healthy Auston Matthews, it's not even delusional to have hope this season. Let's enjoy it."

Metropolitan Division

Carolina Hurricanes: "People are sleeping on how impactful the Dmitry Orlov signing could be. We might have the best defense core in the league."

Columbus Blue Jackets: "Lovely weather we're having! Just kidding. Time to put the Mike Babcock era (0-0-0) behind us and focus on Adam 'Golden boy' Fantilli."

New Jersey Devils: "In five years we'll look at Jack Hughes' contract as the beginning of the spider web that led us to the Stanley Cup, between his breakout, and all of the signings and re-signings the contract structure made possible."

New York Islanders: "To be fair to Lou Lamoriello, at least we didn't get any worse."

New York Rangers: "Everybody's talking about the Devils, and let 'em. In Igor Shesterkin and our 12,000 captains we trust."

Philadelphia Flyers: "At least Danny Briere actually did something to move the rebuild along. Now we get to spend the season being shamelessly excited about young talent, knowing the team won't be good but at least we're getting somewhere."

Pittsburgh Penguins: "Everyone's talking about Erik Karlsson, as they should. But don't let the value Reilly Smith adds to an aging top-six fly under the radar." Bonus points if you mention his goal clinched the Golden Knights' Cup, but no need to show off.

Washington Capitals: "New head coach Spencer Carbery has long been considered an exciting up-and-comer. At least we can look forward to seeing what he's made of and Alex Ovechkin inching closer to the all-time goals record this season."

Central Division

Arizona Coyotes: "Our 2022 No. 3 overall pick Logan Cooley said he was going back to the University of Minnesota but decided to sign with the Coyotes and have a chance to play in the NHL sooner instead. We'll take all the pleasant surprises we can get."

Chicago Blackhawks: "Bedard's shot and accuracy have widely been his selling points, but did you see those preseason plays he made—especially to Corey Perry. Looks like GM Kyle Davidson has assembled a decent enough team of veterans around our young savior, and maybe the kid isn't all about his shot."

Colorado Avalanche: "The Avs still have the best defenseman in the league—Cale Makar—and he's only getting better. We've still got Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. The injury report became absolutely ridiculous last season, but if the roster stays healthy the Avalanche are not close to being done."

Dallas Stars: "I'm sick of hearing about how underrated Jason Robertson is. He was a top-10 scorer last season at only 24 years old. Anyone still calling him underrated just doesn't watch the Stars enough."

Minnesota Wild: "It's Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy's world, and we are all just patiently living in it, waiting for them to realize that themselves."

Nashville Predators: "You don't just throw the team away and start tanking when you've got a goalie like Juuse Saros in net. GM Barry Trotz knows what he's doing, and I'm excited to see how he navigates a delicate situation."

St. Louis Blues: "Can we just bang out the seven-game winning streak, seven-game losing streak and melodramatic Jordan Binnington moment early on this year?"

Winnipeg Jets: "We signed Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele to identical seven-year, $8.5 million AAV contract extensions. This means they are staying put right? Right? This is fine. Everything's fine."

Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks: "Trevor Zegras is signed to a very fair bridge deal, and head coach Greg Cronin is an absolute boss. Things might actually be looking up in Anaheim."

Calgary Flames: "There's no way every key player has a down year at the same time for the second consecutive season, right? Right?"

Edmonton Oilers: "Connor McDavid this, Leon Draisaitl that. It's Evan Bouchard szn, baby."

Los Angeles Kings: "The goaltending situation is particularly interesting, with Pheonix Copley returning and Cam Talbot signing a bargain, one-year deal. Management may need to figure something else out if the Kings want to make a real playoff run this season."

San Jose Sharks: "Macklin Celebrini, Cole Eiserman and/or Ivan Demidov would look great in teal."

Vancouver Canucks: "Hey, Thatcher Demko is healthy, the defense will probably be harder to play against and Quinn Hughes might get a mental boost from becoming the captain. Is this the year the Canucks sneak back into the playoffs, or at least give up and start tanking? Elias Pettersson is an RFA next summer."

Vegas Golden Knights: "The reigning Cup champs have most key players returning to the roster, and Jack Eichel's first taste of NHL playoff hockey brought him all the way to hoisting the Cup. Not to mention, Vegas' run to the Cup was utter dominance. There's no reason the Knights don't go for the two-peat."

Seattle Kraken: "Regression, where? This forward group is too deep, line by line, we haven't even seen the best out of Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers, not to mention Shane Wright is waiting in the wings, ready to explode. Last season's run was no fluke."

In a league known for parity, there have been plenty of NHL seasons loaded with bubble teams in the past. It's essentially the norm at this point to have six or seven teams battling for a playoff spot down to the last month of the regular season.

There's a unique phenomenon that's been brewing lately, though. The Eastern Conference is getting tighter and more competitive in this way, while the top dogs in the Western Conference keep pulling away from the bottom-feeders. We're learning that this doesn't say much about Stanley Cup odds, considering the past two Cup champions are from out West. But it tells us plenty about which teams make the playoffs in the first place.

Let's start with the bubbly East.

The list of Eastern Conference teams that could make the playoffs this year is significantly longer than the list of teams unlikely to make it.

Front-runners and returning playoff squads aside, there are three significant "bubble" teams that have solid postseason hopes after missing since at least 2016-17.

Choose your fighter:

Ottawa Senators

The Senators are the bubble team you should root for if you are fond of the phrase, "I told you so." They've had a weird recent history, falling apart after their 2016-17 playoff run and making some bizarre decisions along the way. But it's no surprise they're back in contention now with a healthy roster and a few (surprisingly good?) moves in winning the Jakob Chychrun sweepstakes and signing Claude Giroux.

Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres are the bubble team you should root for if you're partial to Bills Mafia and their table-smashing ways, you appreciate the finer aesthetics with gorgeous skating from former figure skater Jeff Skinner and playmaking slash spin-o-ramas from budding star Tage Thompson. The Sabres own the league's worst playoff drought at 11 years, but they've been building an exciting team that feels built to last over the past few seasons. The cherry on top could be incoming rookie goalie Devon Levi.

Detroit Red Wings

If you're a fan of history, dynasties and "slow and steady wins the race," the Red Wings are the bubble team for you. Detroit had one of the most prolific runs in NHL history, and now their former star, Steve Yzerman, is GM and has been carefully constructing what is referred to as the "Yzerplan."

This is a plan that has required patience and a little bit of tanking, but they looked almost ready this season, the cap space has opened up, and young stars they acquired during the rebuild phase like Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond are gearing up to take their next steps. They're starting to trade away the excess and are taking steps to actually improve like dealing for two-time 40-plus goal scorer DeBrincat.

On the other side of the league, you've got a conference that has the edge in pound-for-pound elite players, and this conference is more wide open for these players to succeed. Welcome to Connor McDavid's West.

Heaviest hitters

Edmonton Oilers: If you're a Canadian purist who wants to see the game of hockey and the pride of Canada grow above all else, the Oilers might be for you. Management has failed miserably at building a team around two of the best hockey players in the world in McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and it's been brutal to watch—until recently.

Last season, a lot came together for the team, especially with the trade-deadline acquisition Mattias Ekholm and emergence of another defenseman in Evan Bouchard. The Oilers were the only team to give the Golden Knights a real fight on their way to the Cup, and they could challenge Vegas for real this season.

Vegas Golden Knights: If you're someone who has been doubted at any point, and you've kept that chip on your shoulder ever since despite any praise that has flowed in, the Vegas Golden Knights are the team for you.

The reigning Cup champs had an awesome title run last season that was almost boring to everyone except Vegas fans, considering their wide-margin wins. Star Jack Eichel brought the team all the way to the finish in his first career postseason, after betting on himself and getting a never-before done disk replacement surgery in the NHL that his former Sabres team discouraged.

Head coach Bruce Cassidy was fired by the Bruins in a fashion that rubbed many the wrong way. The two of them have enough chips on shoulders to go around, and something tells me they're just beginning.

Colorado Avalanche: No NHL team had more man games lost to injury last season than the 2021-22 Cup champions. Perhaps no player in the league is more competitive than first-line center Nathan MacKinnon. No player in the league is a better defenseman than Cale Makar. Captain Gabriel Landeskog being out for the entire season is a huge blow, but this time at least they could prepare accordingly. Watch out, y'all. The Avalanche are coming back this season.

Dallas Stars: I'm starting to realize that I've personally slept on the Dallas Stars for no reason in the past, and that makes me just like any of the national pundits who count them out due to lack of watching them. Die and be a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a suit and tie raging against Central Time.

I've decided to hold myself accountable here and force myself to watch them this season, because, gasp, they are actually good and only getting better. Jason Robertson is an elite, top-10 forward in the league and has not yet reached his peak at 24 years old.

The sky is also the limit for young Jake Oettinger in net, so long as he seizes the opportunity—and stands out in the postseason—this year. There's plenty of even younger talent to get excited about, not to mention the old talent still kicking. I am officially throwing my Dallas Stars haterade in the recycling bin.

We're in an interesting transitional phase for the NHL, where teams that have been successful for long periods throughout the 2000s are still kicking, and even though we know they're nearing the end, they're still performing at a high level until then.

You've got the Penguins, and the trio of Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin entering their 18th season together on the Penguins. They've added veteran defenseman and reigning Norris champion Erik Karlsson, who is still seeking his first career Cup and could give this trio an extra kick.

You've also got their rival Capitals, who have traded some key players out of necessity and started an inevitable soft rebuild. But the core identity of this team is still there via the likes of noted bad boy Tom Wilson, and the best goal scorer of our generation, Alex Ovechkin. The 38-year-old enters his 19th NHL season on a three-year contract, only 72 goals away from Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record of 894. This is compelling enough to keep the whole team relevant, of course.

The dynasty of our time, the Tampa Bay Lightning, started to falter during an inconsistent regular season in 2022-23, followed by a first-round exit at the hands of the Maple Leafs. Being the team to lose to the Maple Leafs in the first round is just bad juju. On top of that, this was truly the first offseason the Lightning couldn't tread water or improve, getting rid of staples like Alex Killorn, Ross Colton, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Pat Maroon and not adding much. Tack on goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's six- to eight-week back injury and Steven Stamkos' public disappointment with no contract talks, and it might be time to say our goodbyes to the Lightning.

Finally, the Bruins surprised everyone with their historic regular season in 2022-23, and surprised everyone even more with their follow-up first-round exit. Now their longtime, top two centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired in the offseason, and they didn't have cap space to muster up much else down the middle.