2024 was memorable, emotional year for hockey world

A first-time Stanley Cup champion. A new NHL team. A draft unlike any other. A coach who broke a barrier. Tragedy and mourning, tears and celebrations. Historic goals and a historic race. Outdoor games. Roster reveals, and a major event still to come.

What the hockey world witnessed and went through in 2024 will never be forgotten. From sheer joy to overwhelming sadness, 2024 has been a year for the ages in the NHL.

Here is a compilation in mostly chronological order of some of the moments and the people who have made 2024 memorable.

1. Seattle celebrates, wins Winter Classic

The year began with the NHL’s youngest team at the time taking center stage. The Seattle Kraken, in their third NHL season, hosted the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners, on Jan. 1. They rode goalie Joey Daccord’s 35 saves to a 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in what was their first outdoor game in front of 47,313. Daccord became the first goalie with a shutout in the 15-game history of the Winter Classic.

2. Star-studded weekend in Toronto

Celebrities, a new format for the Skills competition, the greats of today and The Great One himself were all part of the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend on Feb. 1-3 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Justin Bieber, Michael Buble, Tate McRae and Will Arnett were the celebrity captains, and they selected the teams for the 3-on-3 All-Star tournament in the All-Star Player Draft on Feb. 1. That night also featured the PWHL 3-on-3 showcase. Connor McDavid won the new All-Star Skills competition and its $1 million prize by winning four of eight events, including Fastest Skater, on Feb. 2. Wayne Gretzky joined his good buddy Rick Tocchet to coach Team Hughes in the All-Star tournament on Feb. 3. Team Matthews, led by Toronto Maple Leafs all-stars Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly with Bieber as their celebrity captain won the 3-on-3 tournament on Feb. 3, defeating Team McDavid 7-4 in the final.

3. MetLife Stadium hosts doubleheader

The NHL hosted two games at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, home to the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets, in a span of less than 24 hours on Feb. 17 and 18. The doubleheader that was the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series drew a combined crowd of 150,018; 70,328 to witness the New Jersey Devils defeat the Philadelphia Flyers on 6-3 the night of the 17th and 79,690 to see the New York Rangers come back for a 6-5 overtime win against the New York Islanders on the afternoon of the 18th. The Rangers-Islanders game was the third largest attendance to ever witness an NHL game. The Devils-Flyers game featured the sixth largest.

4. Utah signs with NHL

It was on Jan. 24 that Smith Entertainment Group, led by chairman Ryan Smith and his wife, Ashley, announced that they formally requested the NHL initiate an expansion process for the purpose of bringing an NHL team to Utah. SEG said it could welcome an NHL franchise to Salt Lake City as soon as the 2024-25 season using Delta Center, the home of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, as a home arena. Less than three months later, on April 18, the NHL announced that the Board of Governors approved the establishment of a team in Utah, with the Arizona Coyotes transferring all of their hockey assets.

5. Kucherov wins an epic scoring race

Nikita Kucherov had three assists in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 3, giving him a three-point lead on Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche in the race for the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer. Kucherov did not give up the lead the rest of the way, finishing the season with an NHL-high 144 points, four more than MacKinnon. It was a scoring race that captivated the hockey world with Kucherov and MacKinnon going toe to toe for months. It was the closest scoring race since Jamie Benn had 87 points and John Tavares 86 in 2014-15.

6. Matthews wins the Rocket with 69 goals

Auston Matthews scored 69 goals to win the Rocket Richard Trophy as the League’s leading goal-scorer in 2023-24. The Maple Leafs forward had 12 more goals than Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who finished second. Yes, he fell one short of becoming the NHL’s first 70-goal-scorer since 1992-93, when Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each had 76. So what? Matthews became the first player to score at least 65 goals since Alex Ovechkin did it in 2007-08.

7. McDavid, Oilers force Game 7

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers looked lost in the Stanley Cup Final through two-plus games, losing Game 1, 3-0 and Game 2, 4-1, before falling behind 4-1 through 40 minutes of Game 3. But they scored two goals in the third period of Game 3. It woke them up. They rallied to win the next three games to become the first team in NHL history to force Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final after falling behind 3-0. McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy despite the Oilers not winning the Stanley Cup. He received 16 of the 17 first-place votes to become the sixth player on the losing team to win it.

8. Panthers win the Stanley Cup

The Panthers became Stanley Cup champions for the first time and avoided being on the wrong side of history at the same time by winning 2-1 in Game 7 at Amerant Bank Arena on June 24. They had a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers only to lose the next three games by a combined score of 18-5, including 8-1 in Game 4 and 5-1 in Game 6. But they rode Reinhart’s goal at 15:11 of the second period all the way through to the end of Game 7 to claim their first Stanley Cup championship in their third trip to the Cup Final.

9. Maurice ends long wait for championship

Paul Maurice started chasing the Stanley Cup as a coach with the Hartford Whalers in 1995-96 at the age of 28. He finally won the Stanley Cup as the coach of the Panthers at the age of 57. Maurice coached the most NHL games by anyone (1,985 total; 1,848 in the regular season and 137 in the playoffs) before winning the Cup.

10. NHL brings the Draft to Sphere, Celebrini goes No. 1

The 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft was one of a kind not for who was selected but because of where it took place on June 28 and 29. The NHL became the first sports entity to hold an event at the incomparable Sphere in Las Vegas, the $2.3 billion 18,600-seat globe-like arena that has become renowned for its immersive video and audio technology, including a 16k resolution wraparound interior LED screen and outdoor LED displays. While the glitzy, enormous, spectacular Sphere might have been the star of attraction, Macklin Celebrini was the star of the draft. Celebrini went No. 1 to the San Jose Sharks. It was a full-circle moment for Celebrini, who used to play for the Junior Sharks after the family moved to the Bay Area when his dad took a job with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors in 2018. Celebrini is now a favorite to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie.

11. Stamkos leaves Tampa Bay for Nashville

It was becoming increasingly clear before the NHL descended on Las Vegas for the draft that Steven Stamkos could be leaving the Lightning on July 1. It was basically confirmed by Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois at the draft that the team was not going to re-sign its longtime captain, who had spent his entire 16-year career to date in Tampa Bay. On July 1 it became official that Stamkos’ days in Tampa Bay were done. He signed a four-year, $32 million contract ($8 million average annual value) with the Nashville Predators on the first day of the free-agent signing period. Stamkos then made his Predators debut on Oct. 10 and returned to Tampa Bay as a visitor for the first time on Oct. 28, when he had two assists in Nashville’s 3-2 overtime loss to his former team.

12. Campbell breaks a coaching barrier

Jessica Campbell made history on July 3 when she became the first woman to be named an NHL coach. Campbell joined Kraken coach Dan Bylsma’s staff as an assistant after spending the past two seasons on his staff with Coachella Valley in the American Hockey League. The 32-year-old was also the first woman to be a coach in AHL history. The next historic moment for Campbell occurred on Oct. 8, when she coached her first game, a 3-2 loss for the Kraken at home against the St. Louis Blues.

13. Hockey world mourns Gaudreau brothers

Shock and sadness spread through the hockey world as it was waking up the morning of Aug. 30 and learning the horrific and tragic news that Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and his brother Matthew, 29, were fatally struck and killed while riding bicycles near their home in Oldmans Township, New Jersey the night before. In the days after, vigils were held in Columbus and Calgary, the two markets that Johnny called home in his NHL career. A funeral for the brothers was held Sept. 9 at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Media, Pennsylvania, where Meredith Gaudreau, Johnny’s widow, bravely stood up in front of the large gathering of mourners, including a contingent of 60 players and staff members from the Blue Jackets’ organization, and gave an eloquent eulogy, revealing then that she was pregnant with the couple’s third child.

14. Utah Hockey Club plays, wins first game

Less than six months after the NHL granted the franchise to Ryan and Ashley Smith, the Utah Hockey Club played its first game. Dylan Guenther scored the first goal in team history and Utah defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 at Delta Center on Oct. 8. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who was in attendance for the historic opener, said the Utah Hockey Club exceeded extremely high expectations in an unprecedented timeframe.

15. Blue Jackets honor Gaudreau

The Blue Jackets took the ice with only four skaters to start their home opener against the Panthers at Nationwide Arena on Oct. 15. The starting lineup that did not include a left wing, the empty space where Johnny Gaudreau should have been. Sean Monahan, Gaudreau’s longtime teammate in Calgary who came to Columbus this season to play with him, took the face-off and won it across to Panthers forward Sam Bennett, another former Calgary teammate. Bennett settled the puck where Gaudreau should have been and 13 seconds went off the scoreboard, a nod to Gaudreau’s jersey number. Fans, coaches, referees and players all stood and applauded or tapped sticks. The fans chanted “Johnny Hockey.” Then the teams changed lines and the game resumed with a second opening face-off with 19:47 remaining.

16. Bobrovsky continues big year

It was a year Sergei Bobrovsky will forever cherish. The Panthers goalie won the Stanley Cup for the first time, going 16-8 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 24 playoff games. On Oct. 24, Bobrovsky became the fastest goalie in NHL history to reach 400 wins, making 24 saves in a 3-1 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. He got to 400 wins in 707 games, 20 games faster than Henrik Lundqvist, who had the record previously. And earlier this month his wife Olga gave birth to the couple’s second daughter.

17. Ovechkin continues pursuit of Gretzky’s record

Ovechkin skated into 2024 needing 66 goals to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record for most goals in an NHL career (894). The problem was he had scored only seven goals in the first 34 games of the 2023-24 season, planting some doubt about his ability to reach Gretzky’s record. That doubt is all but erased. Ovechkin has 39 goals in 63 games this year, including 15 in 18 games this season before going down with a fractured left fibula on Nov. 18. He needs 27 goals to break Gretzky’s record. He is expected to return after the holiday break and could pass Gretzky this season.

18. Barkov celebrates homecoming in style

Aleksander Barkov got to do something he could never dream of doing; bring the Stanley Cup home to Tampere, Finland at the same time he brought his NHL team to his hometown to play regular-season games. That happened in early November, when the Panthers and Dallas Stars played in the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal. Barkov had five points (one goal, four assists) in the two games in Tampere, both Florida wins on Nov. 1 and 2.

19. McDavid reaches 1,000 points

With his father in attendance, McDavid hit the 1,000-point milestone in typical picturesque McDavid fashion on Nov. 14. The Oilers captain buried a one-timer off a pass from Leon Draisaitl on a 2-on-1 rush at 2:44 of the second period against the Predators at Rogers Place. McDavid later added an assist on Darnell Nurse’s overtime goal to give him 1,001 points. With his second-period goal, McDavid became the 99th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points and the fourth-fastest to do so, accomplishing the feat in 659 games. Only Wayne Gretzky (424), Mario Lemieux (513) and Mike Bossy (656) got to 1,000 points faster than McDavid.

20. Crosby scores 600th goal

Sidney Crosby scored his 600th NHL goal in a 6-1 loss to the Utah Hockey Club at PPG Paints Arena on Nov. 23. Crosby became the 21st player in NHL history to reach the 600-goal milestone. He is the second player to do so with the Penguins, joining Mario Lemieux (690). He is also the second active player with 600 goals, joining Ovechkin.

21. Boston hits 100

It was a year -- and 100 years -- in the making. After a season filled with Boston Bruins reunions, with celebrations of memory-rich eras in the franchise’s history, it all culminated on Dec. 1 in a game against the Montreal Canadiens that marked the 100-year anniversary of the Bruins’ first game, also against Montreal. The hour-long pregame ceremony that honored the first U.S.-based franchise to hit 100 years included appearances from Willie O’Ree, Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Rick Middleton, Cam Neely, Ray Bourque and Patrice Bergeron, along with family members of Milt Schmidt and Eddie Shore, among others. It culminated with those legends passing pucks to local kids, a passing of the torch to the next generation of Boston hockey players -- and potential future Bruins.

22. Flames honor Gaudreau brothers

The Calgary Flames had a special night honoring Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau before their game against the Blue Jackets at Scotiabank Saddledome on Dec. 3. They had a special ceremony on the ice with the late brothers’ family joining the teams on the ice. They played a video tribute to Johnny Gaudreau highlighting his nine seasons with the Flames. Both teams wore Gaudreau No. 13 sweaters in warm-ups. Calgary won 3-0 and the Flames then announced Johnny Gaudreau as the game’s No. 1 star.

23. Rosters revealed for the 4 Nations Face-Off

Excitement about the 4 Nations Face-Off hit a high note on Dec. 4, when the 23-man rosters for the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland were revealed. The tournament will be played Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston. It will be the first best-on-best tournament featuring NHL players since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

24. Winter Classic will return to Wrigley

The NHL will close 2024 with a return to Wrigley Field for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues on Dec. 31 (5 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, MAX, SN, TVAS). What has generally been a New Years Day tradition in the NHL going back to the first Winter Classic in 2008 will become a New Years Eve celebration in Chicago. It’s the second time the NHL will host a Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, the 110-year-old home of MLB’s Chicago Cubs. The first Winter Classic took place amid the ivy of the “Friendly Confines” on Jan. 1, 2009, when the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Blackhawks 6-4 in the second Winter Classic game.

NHL.com senior writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this story.