Winners and Losers From the 1st Full Week of the 2024-25 NHL Season

The first week of the 2024-25 NHL season is officially in the books, and we've already got a full season's worth of highs and lows to unpack.

2024 No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini had an absolute highlight-reeler of a first goal (and an assist!) in his first game as a Shark, but now he's week-to-week with a hip injury. The Devils are surprising no one with their highly entertaining hot start, and Jacob Markstrom's been just as advertised in net.

The Islanders are trolling those of us who criticize them for being mid by compiling a 1-1-1 record and a goal differential of precisely 0. The Sabres are already three losses and one practice fight deep. Neither Auston Matthews nor Connor McDavid has scored a goal.

We are so back. Let's review the biggest winners and losers of a busy first week.

For the past few years, "What the heck is going on with the Calgary Flames?" has meant either every single player was historically slumping at once, or it was their 15th straight overtime loss.

At least for now, the start of the 2024-25 season is a different story. The Flames are 4-0, which is tied with the Dallas Stars for the NHL lead. They've conquered the Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Look, hot starts are hot starts, and you can point to the Anaheim Ducks last season and the Blackhawks the season before as teams that regressed as fast as they rose. Plus, the Flames have traded away impact players and aren't expected to make much noise this year—it's OK if things cool off.

But still, a bounce-back season from Jonathan Huberdeau could really change the complexion of this team, and he's got three goals and six points in four games. Nazem Kadri is also looking to bounce back, and he's got 2-2-4. Connor Zary is emerging from promising prospect to name you should get to know in front of our eyes.

The Flames are not going to average 16 goals per three games all season, but perhaps the hot start will give them some confidence to play up to their potential.

Then there's the brand new Utah Hockey Club, which is off to a 3-1-0 start led by new captain Clayton Keller. Or should we say led by NHL third star of the week Dylan Guenther and his five goals in four games? This team has some intriguing firepower on offense.

Roses are red,
Where's Mr. Hart?
It brings me no pleasure to report
The Edmonton Oilers are once again off to a terrible start.

The best thing about the Oilers' 1-3 start is we can joke about it because it happened last year and everything was fine, right, Oilers fans? OK, maybe everything was almost fine, then suddenly it was extremely not fine. At least Edmonton finally has a win after its comeback against the Flyers on Tuesday.

Either way, as ugly as the losses have been—6-0 to the Jets, 5-2 to the Blackhawks, 4-1 to the Flames—there's no real reason to panic one week in, and Tuesday proved that. Connor McDavid has yet to score a goal and is a -3, Leon Draisaitl has 2-1–3 in four games and is a minus-two, and Evan Bouchard (-1) only found the back of the net for the first time in Tuesday's win.

This will all change for the better unless three of the best hockey players in the world were cursed over the summer and now they're all magically bad at the same time. I know it might seem counterintuitive that I'm calm considering so many Oilers producers have been quiet, but imagine if they were firing on all cylinders and Edmonton was still losing.

Anyways, I need to see five-to-seven more Stuart Skinner starts and a few more weeks out of everyone else before I really start to fret. The comeback win Tuesday is almost enough to make me throw away the poor start to the season and move on already.

Unfortunately for Avalanche fans, this isn't the case in Colorado. How do you have Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Casey Mittelstadt all firing at or above a point per game clip and still own the worst goal differential in the league (-12)?

The recent collapse against the Islanders was ugly and concerning. Colorado's defense feels lifeless without Jonathan Drouin, and now Devon Toews is banged up. You wonder if that third straight loss was a full exorcism of the demons and the team will improve moving forward, but I'll need to see that before I believe it.

Alexander Georgiev looks off in net, with a league-worst -7.7 goals saved above expected, a .790 save percentage, and a 6.58 goals against average.

It always stinks to see star players out early, and we didn't escape the first week of this season without some key injuries.

The aforementioned Celebrini hip injury seems to be an aggravation of a lower-body injury sustained in the preseason, and he's listed as week-to-week. Panthers star center Aleksander Barkov is expected to be out around two to three weeks after an awkward spill trying to prevent a Senators empty-net goal on Oct. 10. Senators goalie Linus Ullmark is day to day with a strain, and Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Hopefully we get some positive updates on each of these players to kick off Week 2.

Death, taxes, and Connor Hellebuyck starting the season on an unbelievable tear. Hellebuyck has led the Jets to a 3-0 start with a .66 goals against average (lol, are you serious?), a .976 save percentage, and 4.6 goals saved above expected. A 6-0 shutout over the Oilers and two gutted-out overtime wins remind us that Hellebuyck has been among the most reliable goalies in any situation for the past decade, and that apparently isn't changing this season.

Leafs fans, you really thought you could have it all? The defense and goaltending are firing off on all cylinders for Toronto (more on that later), so naturally new captain Auston Matthews has yet to appear on the scoresheet.

Does it actually matter? No, the team looks pretty good as a whole, and maybe that's what the captaincy is about after all. And with McDavid yet to notch a goal, all the cool kids are starting off slow.

I'm not even being sarcastic when I say that maybe the best thing Matthews could've done in his first days as captain is cool off on the scoresheet and let the goaltending battle commence.

With Joseph Woll injured, the Leafs are getting a forced look at the other three goalie options, and things are actually looking good. The Leafs are 2-1, and they've only given up five goals in three games—just two at five-on-five. Anthony Stolarz has impressed with a .940 save percentage and a 1.54 goals against average through two games. Dennis Hildeby looked good in his sole start, too, with a .913 save percentage and two goals against.

Well, with a 1-3 start to a season in which the Sabres are trying to avoid missing the playoffs for a 14th consecutive year, I'd almost be more disappointed if they weren't punching each other.

If you somehow haven't heard yet, a fight broke out Monday between Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin and center Petyon Krebs. Krebs accidentally hit Dahlin with a high stick, Dahlin hip-checked Krebs, and the fireworks commenced.

"He's a passionate guy, and that's why we love him," Krebs told reporters after practice.

Look, the Sabres struggled mightily to score last season, and they bought out their third most productive goal-scorer. If you told me they were going to open 2024-25 failing to capitalize on any one of their first power play opportunities, I'd believe you.

At least after only scoring once in each of their first three games, they broke out with five goals against the Panthers in their sole win. Perhaps they're trending in the right direction?