Hockey is a dangerous sport, in which players are at risk of getting injured or even getting concussions. However, this kind of risk doesn’t stop the enthusiasm from the fan’s heart. People have a reason to believe that there are unique features that make this sport so beloved. In this blog, we will explore the basic history of hockey, the unforgettable moments, and those remarkable milestones in the 2023-2024 season.
Brief History Introduction
The National Hockey League is an old league founded in 1917. It had been through five stages since it started. These are the founding, Original Six, expansion, further expansion, and second-century stages.
It was founded because there was a dispute between the clubs, which mainly between the owner of Toronto Blueshirts and other owners of four clubs: the Montreal Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, the Ottawa Senators, and the Quebec Bulldogs. After voting, they decided to suspend the NHA and then the NHL was founded.
Later, it experienced economic depression and World War 2. Thus, the scale of the NHL was shortened to six clubs, the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Black Hawks, the Detroit Red Wings, the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs, which are usually called the “Original Six”.
To pursue a strong corporation with a television network and the biggest major league rather than the Western Hockey League, the NHL started its expansion based on the Original Six. It faced a lot of challenges such as labor issues, players’ safety issues, and lockout from clubs and players. Finally, it successfully grew into a major league with 32 teams playing games every year.
Today, the NHL has formed a complete competition system and has hundreds of excellent players. Under expectations from all over the world, the NHL holds its regular season from October to April, the Stanley Cup playoffs run into June, and other thrilling games like the All-Star and the Entry Draft every year.
2023-2024 Season
The 2023-2024 season kicked off on October 10, 2023, and ended on June 24, 2024. It is the 106th season of play in the NHL. The Florida Panthers won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history after overcoming the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.
The 2023 NHL Entry Draft
The 2023 NHL Entry Draft was held from June 28 to 29, 2023, delivering a bunch of outstanding new hockey players to clubs and hockey fans.
Connor Bedard was picked first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks with exceptional performance and later in his debut, he won the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy with remarkable grades.
Anaheim Ducks selected Leo Carlsson second overall, signing a three-year, entry-level contract with him. Afterwards, in a 6–3 defeat to the Philadelphia Flyers on November 10, Carlsson made Ducks franchise history by being the youngest player to ever record a hat-trick.
As for the third overall Adam Fantilli, Columbus Blue Jackets chose him who made his debut on October 12, 2023, and scored 12 goals and provided 15 assists during the competition although he had withdrew from the game because of the calf laceration.
The Regular Season
On October 10, 2023, the regular season started, and it finished on April 18, 2024. So, whose points were the highest? Let\’s take a look.
The New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, and New York Rangers ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively in the Metropolitan Division. In the Atlantic Division, the top three teams are the Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs.
In terms of the Central Division, Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets, and Colorado Avalanche came out on top while Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and Los Angeles Kings led the ranking list in the Pacific Division.
The All-Star Game
The All-Star game mainly focuses on entertainment and spectatorship and players will fully present their special skills and style bringing fans joy and surprise.
The NHL All-Star Skills Competition started on February 2 with 6 events in total, including Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Stick Handling, One Timers, Passing Challenge, Accuracy Shooting and so on. Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Quinn Hughes and others participated in it. In the end, Connor McDavid became the fastest player with the result 13.408 and Nathan MacKinnon ranked 1st with the results 23 in one timers. For the passing challenge, Elias Pettersson got the highest score of 25.
Milestones
The Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers, which was their first Stanley Cup in franchise history and made their captain, Aleksander Barkov, the first finnish to lead a team to the Cup.
In addition, Zach Hyman scored his 16th goal of the playoffs, breaking the record set by Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin.
Nikita Kucherov made his 100th assist of the year on April 17, 2024, making history as the sixth player to do so and leading the league in assists with 150.
Generally speaking, all players, including the players not mentioned, are very good. Every players have try their best to help their clubs clinch the titles and have left unforgettable memories for fans.
Conclusion
The National Hockey League has a long history and it has created numerous exciting moments for club, players and fans. With the 2023-2024 season gone, we still remember those who put their best foot forward and sweat it out on the field. Let’s keep looking forward to the excitement the NHL will bring to us in future.
