2024–25 NHL season

The 2024–25 NHL season is the ongoing 108th season of operation (107th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The regular season started on October 4, 2024, when the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils played the first of two games in Prague, Czech Republic, as a part of the 2024 NHL Global Series. The Stanley Cup playoffs are then planned to begin in April 2025, ending with the Stanley Cup Finals in June. This season is the first for the expansion Utah Hockey Club, who were established with the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes following the latter team's deactivation.
On April 13, 2024, it was reported that, with the NHL's permission, the Arizona Coyotes were making efforts to relocate to Salt Lake City, Utah, following concerns about an indefinite timeframe on a new arena and the effects of continued play at the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena. The sale, which involved the NHL buying the franchise from Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo, then reselling it to Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA), was finalized on April 18, after the NHL Board of Governors voted to establish a team in Utah, with the Coyotes' hockey assets; however, rather than formally relocate, the Coyotes franchise was instead marked "inactive", with the Utah Hockey Club considered an expansion team in a similar situation to the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Meruelo subsequently remained on the NHL Board of Governors as an observer, retaining the rights to the Coyotes brand with a five-year window to complete a new arena and "reactivate" the Coyotes as an expansion team. Of the reported US$1.2 billion sale price, 1 billion was paid to Meruelo, with $200 million paid to the NHL's other owners as a relocation fee. In June, the auction was cancelled, and Meruelo left the ownership, ceasing the Coyotes. The league has not yet indicated whether the Coyotes will fold outright, the league will keep the franchise inactive for a prospective new Arizona owner, or transfer its history, records and intellectual property to the Utah Hockey Club.
The Utah Hockey Club will play its inaugural season without an official name, mascot, or colors, while a full identity is developed in time for 2025–26.
On June 26, 2024, the league announced that following rule changes for the 2024–25 season:
The 2024 NHL entry draft took place on June 28–29, 2024, at the Sphere in Paradise, Nevada.
The salary cap ceiling was increased to US$88 million per team for 2024–25, an increase of US$4.5 million from the previous season. The salary cap floor was increased to US$65 million per team.
(*) Indicates interim
(*) Indicates interim
The regular season is planned from October 4, 2024, to April 17, 2025.
The Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils played their first two regular season games against each other on October 4 and 5, 2024, at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. The Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers played two games on November 1 and 2, at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland.
The league scheduled the following outdoor games:
Instead of the All-Star Game, the league held a new 4 Nations Face-Off tournament as a preview for the NHL's return to Olympic participation in 2026. Four teams representing NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States played a total of seven games from February 12 to 20. Games were held at Boston's TD Garden and Montreal's Bell Centre.
The following players led the league in regular season points at the completion of games played on April 5, 2025.
The following goaltenders led the league in regular season goals against average at the completion of games played on April 5, 2025, while playing at least 1,740 minutes.
This is the first season for Fanatics as the official apparel provider of the NHL under a ten-year contract, replacing Adidas, which was the official apparel provider on a seven-year contract since the 2017–18 season.
The following is a list of notable players who played their first NHL game during the 2024–25 season, listed with their first team.
This is the 11th season of the 12-year Canadian national broadcast rights deal with Sportsnet. This includes Sportsnet's sub-licensing agreements to air Saturday Hockey Night in Canada games on CBC Television and French-language broadcasts on TVA Sports. On April 2, 2025, Sportsnet agreed to a new deal to keep the Canadian national rights through the 2037–38 season.
This is the fourth season of the league's seven-year U.S. national broadcast rights deals with the ESPN family of networks and TNT Sports.
Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of the Bally Sports regional sports networks, has been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since March 2023.
On July 2, 2024, the Florida Panthers and Bally Sports Florida mutually agreed to end their broadcast partnership. The Panthers then signed a multi-year agreement with Scripps Sports to broadcast games on three Scripps-owned stations: WSFL-TV in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, WHDT in West Palm Beach, and WFTX-DT3 in Fort Myers.
On July 5, Bally Sports terminated its contract with the Dallas Stars through bankruptcy court. The Stars subsequently announced a new digital platform known as Victory+ as part of a partnership with A Parent Media Co., to carry the team's ancillary video content, and stream regionally-televised games in-market for free. In March 2025, the Stars announced that four games would also air over-the-air on Fox Television Stations' owned KDFW or KDFI in Dallas.
On August 23, 2024, Diamond Sports announced a long-term agreement with nine of the teams to which it holds broadcast rights, committing to televise their games through at least the 2024–25 season with an approximately 20% reduction in rights fees. The agreement will extend to future seasons pending the approval of Diamond's bankruptcy plan by the court.
Despite being part of the announced deals, the Anaheim Ducks announced on August 27 that it would instead move to Victory+. Games will also be simulcast on Fox Television Stations' KTTV or KCOP-TV in Los Angeles.
On September 20, 2024, the St. Louis Blues announced four of its five preseason games would air on Victory+; regular season games continued to air on Bally Sports. On January 7, 2025, the Blues announced an agreement with Gray Media to exclusively air three regular season games over-the-air. All of the games will air on Matrix Midwest, while KMOV in Saint Louis will also simulcast two games. The games will stream on Victory+.
On October 18, 2024, Diamond announced a new sponsorship agreement with FanDuel, which re-branded Bally Sports as FanDuel Sports Network on October 21. The naming rights will be paid for via an annual rights fee, and advertising commitments. FanDuel will also have the option to acquire a 5% equity stake in Diamond once it exits Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Along with airing on FanDuel Sports Network, the Blue Jackets, Hurricanes, Predators and Red Wings announced agreements to simulcast a limited number of games on local over-the-air stations. The Blue Jackets will simulcast five games on local stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Gray Television. The Hurricanes will simulcast two games in November on local stations owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company and Gray Television. The Predators will simulcast three games on WTVF, which is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The Red Wings will simulcast five games on WJBK, which is owned by Fox Television Stations.
On January 2, 2025, Diamond emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and rebranded as Main Street Sports Group.