We are living in the NHL’s latest golden era. Toronto Maple Leafs playoff failures aside, from about this time last year to where we are now, the NHL has had so many wins for the betterment of the game of hockey and with the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs coming up, don’t expect the winning to stop — for both the game and one lucky team.

It all started with the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, particularly Game 6 of the Western Conference Final between the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers held on for dear life in the dying minutes, marking the first Canadian team to reach the Stanley Cup Final since the Montreal Canadiens did it in 2021 or if you don’t count the bubble year, the Vancouver Canucks in 2011. Moving onto the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers found themselves down three games to none before the series had even begun. Then came Connor McDavid, with four points in Game 4 and four points in Game 5, followed up with a tremendous Game 6, although he was held off the score sheet. The Edmonton Oilers had somehow done the unthinkable and evened the series.

The hockey world couldn’t believe it, and neither could people that don’t follow hockey, creating the most exposure the NHL has had in years leading up to Game 7 — the best two words in sports.

Even though the Florida Panthers won Game 7, shutting down the greatest comeback ever, the game of hockey won that night. Rogers Sports & Media reported it was Sportsnet’s most-watched broadcast ever, with 15 million viewers for Game 7, with an average of 7.55 million viewers. Meanwhile ESPN also reported insane numbers with a peak of 10.3 million viewers and an average of 7.7 million, up 182 per cent compared to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.

The NHL followed that up with possibly the best draft they’ve ever had in Las Vegas at the Sphere and the most money spent in the first 24 hours of free agency. More than $1 billion dollars were spent, with more than 100 players switching teams on July 1, 2024.

Fast forward to February of 2025, the 4 Nations Face-Off. The NHL listened to what the fans wanted, replacing the All-Star game with the first best-on-best tournament in nine years.

To be fair, nobody knew what was going to happen. Would it be an all-star replacement, and the guys wouldn’t try as hard? That notion was scrapped all of 56 seconds into the first game when the scorecard read Nathan MacKinnon from Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid vs. Sweden. USA vs. Canada at the Bell Centre will go down in history as the best nine seconds to start a game with not only the three fights but also the atmosphere inside the building. USA got the better of Canada on that night, winning 3-1, leaving everyone wanting a rematch.

Team Canada did their job, beating Finland and setting up the rematch, where McDavid scored the goal that will inspire the next generation of Canadian hockey players. From all the political stuff happening in the background, it became obvious the game was bigger than hockey. That and the nine days of hockey at the 4 Nations proved to capture the eyes of people who never watched hockey before.

Per ESPN, the game drew 9.3 million viewers, while in Canada, Sportsnet reported 7.3 million tuned in when McDavid scored the overtime winner.

The NHL, though, just couldn’t stop winning as the Gr8 chase began to heat up with Alex Ovechkin scoring a hat trick against the Edmonton Oilers, really making everyone believe he could break the record this season. Followed by the NHL trade deadline that saw Mikko Rantanen, a legit superstar in the NHL, getting traded twice in two months, plus Brad Marchand, the rat, joining the rats in the Florida Panthers.

And for the latest reason why the NHL just can’t stop winning, Ovechkin just broke Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record with his 895^th goal. It’s simply amazing.

All of that to say, the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs are just around the corner and with so many new fans that are going to watch the NHL playoffs for the first time ever, the storylines couldn’t be any better.

Half of the teams that loaded up at the trade deadline aren’t going to make it out of the first round and will have some serious soul-searching to do this summer. Including the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche, who will beat one another up in round one if they face off. Winnipeg, who’ve sat at the top of the NHL the whole season, might get the Minnesota Wild, a team with the odds stacked against them albeit getting an MVP-calibre player back from injury. And if not the Wild, then the red-hot St. Louis Blues and Jordan Binnington, who has outplayed Jets superstar Connor Hellebuyck in some of the biggest games of their careers.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven’t lifted lord Stanley since 1967, have arguably the best team they’ve ever had. Mitch Marner, who has the most pressure going into these playoffs, will try to answer the call and win before the conversation turns and becomes about his pending free agency. Will McDavid, the best player in the NHL, get the first cup that he’s been waiting to hoist all his life, or will the injuries continue to be too much for the Oilers to overcome? Will Alex Ovechkin follow up his record-breaking season with his second Cup and ride off into the sunset? Could Brady Tkachuk taste the thing he’s been missing all along and face his brother Matthew in the first or second round of the playoffs? Or is he going to get his first taste in a rejuvenated Battle of Ontario?

It doesn’t matter who plays who in the first round; it’s a win for the NHL with all that has happened in the last year. The next golden era is truly now for the NHL.