The National Hockey League had an exciting slate of games over the Thanksgiving weekend, with a lot of thrilling matchups and highlight plays. Now, teams shift their focus to the month of December. Let’s take a look at the latest news from around the league.
This week, the NHL is releasing the rosters for the February 2025 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament, where the NHL’s top players from the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland are going to represent their countries in a nine-day round-robin tournament. The rosters have been highly anticipated for months, with heavy discussion surrounding which players should make their country’s roster and which should not. This tournament will be the first international best-on-best hockey tournament since 2016 — far too long a wait. International tournaments are an extremely important part of hockey, as they bring fans from around the world together and allow for them to see the world’s top players play with and compete against one another. The NHL should make it a priority to hold more consistent international tournaments, as they help generate fan interest.
In other news, the Boston Bruins hosted their Centennial game on Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens, taking place exactly 100 years after their first ever NHL game against the Montreal Maroons. There was an emotional pregame ceremony, which looked back on the Bruins’ historic first 100 years and honored some of the franchise’s legends, before symbolically “passing the puck” to the next generation of NHL stars. The Bruins won the game 6–3 thanks to multi-goal performances from star defenseman Charlie McAvoy and forward Charlie Coyle.
Sticking in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Capitals continue to impress. In a season with very modest expectations, the club has been exceptional, so much so that they currently hold the first place position in the Metropolitan division. There seems to be something special brewing in our nation’s capital. The Capitals lead the league in goals per game by a wide margin despite struggling offensively last season. The Capitals seem to have found the system that works for them.
It is time to start paying attention to San Jose Sharks rookie forward Macklin Celebrini, the first pick in this past summer’s NHL draft. In his last four games, he has tallied seven points and has seemingly been all over the ice, doing everything he can to help his team win. This type of dominant performance by a rookie is rare in today’s NHL, and even more impressive, he’s doing it on one of the worst teams in the league, with a weak supporting cast of players around him. Celebrini and the Sharks have a very bright future ahead of them.
December is often the month that makes or breaks a lot of teams’ seasons, making the next few weeks a crucial stretch of the season. It will be interesting to see which teams live up to the moment and which ones struggle. Either way, the NHL season is only getting started, and there is a lot of exciting hockey to come.
