Skating Into Season

The First Few Weeks of the 2025-26 NHL Season

Photo by Marcus Spiske on Unsplash

It is not too late to start watching the 2025-2026 NHL season. So far this season, a new team has been added, players have broken records and many teams have changed rankings since last season. During the off season, there were a lot of player trades and coaching changes.

After moving from Arizona to Utah after the 2023 season, the Arizona Wildcats became the Utah Hockey Club. After one year of being the Utah Hockey Club, the team finally landed on the name the Utah Mammoths. They are located in Salt Lake City, Utah and play their home games at the Delta Center. The Mammoths are 3-2 and have scored six points so far. In their previous game against the San Jose Sharks, the Mammoths won 6-3. They are currently ranked 24th due to their slow start, but are predicted to move up as the season continues. The Mammoths introduced their mascot, Tusky, during their home opener game. This team is under a lot of pressure as hockey fans have high expectations for them.

This season, the NHL will pause regular games for the Olympics from Thursday, Feb. 5, to Wednesday, Feb. 25. The 2026 Winter Classic will be hosted in Miami, Florida on Jan. 2. The Winter Classic is an outdoor regular-season game around the time of New Years; the teams playing in the Winter Classic this season are the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers. The 2026 Stadium series game will be held in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 1; the teams featured in this game are the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins.

At the end of last season, the Rangers fired their head coach, Peter Laviolette, and their associate head coach, Phil Housley; they later hired Mike Sullivan to replace Laviolette. The Bruins hired Marco Sturm to replace their former head coach, Joe Sacco, and the Anaheim Ducks hired Joel Quenneville in May; Quenneville was the former coach of the Panthers, but resigned in 2021. As for the draft, the New York Islanders drafted Matthew Schaefer with the first pick. Schaefer is a defenceman and previously played for the Erie Otters in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). The Sharks drafted Michael Misa with the second pick; Misa was a second round pick and played for the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL. Anton Frondell was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks with the third pick; he is center and used to play in Sweden’s Hockey Allsvenskan league.

Washington Capitals superstar, Alex Ovechkin, started his 21st season and plays left wing. He is 40 years old and still improving his historic stats. Ovechkin is nicknamed “the Great 8” and “Alexander the Great” as he has scored the most career goals in the history of the NHL regular season. Ovechkin has scored 898 regular season goals which broke the previous record of 894 regular season goals by Wayne Gretzky who is considered the G.O.A.T.

Edmonton Oilers star, Connor McDavid, has been playing very well this season. This former MVP is center and shoots left-handed. So far, he has played six games, had seven assists and scored seven points.

The Detroit Red Wings are on fire with a winning streak of five, the only game the Red Wings have lost this season was their opening game against the Montreal Canadians. Red Wings captain, Dylan Larkin, has scored at least one point in every game so far. Currently, the Carolina Hurricanes are ranked number one with a record of 5-1 and have scored 23 points so far this season. On the other hand, the Rangers are not doing so well and are ranked 18th with a record of 3-6 with one tie game. They have scored a total of 17 points this season. The Buffalo Sabres are ranked 32nd and are considered the worst team in the NHL as of right now; they are 2-5 and have scored 20 points so far. After winning the Stanley Cup in the 2024-2025 NHL season, the Panthers are ranked 5th and have a record of 4-5 and have scored 24 points in total this season.

As the 2025-26 NHL season continues, fans are prepared for the most action-packed games and look forward to seeing who will win the Stanley Cup this year.