The Pittsburgh Penguins kind of, sort of, tried it Mike Sullivan's way. Not only were they not good enough to contend for a Stanley Cup, but they weren't good enough to contend for a playoff spot.

It's over. By parting ways with their coach, the Penguins appear to have finally realized what the hockey world did a couple of years ago. This is a roster, even though it's top-heavy with highly paid veterans, is in desperate need of a total rebuild. There is no other way to go. And that starts with parting ways with Sullivan, who was part of the process of holding up that rebuild.

In the words of Mike Babcock, there will be pain. Probably even more than there has been recently. But it will pay off if the Penguins do it right.

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Here's today's NHL Nugget – this Birthday Backcheck features Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen, who turns 30 on April 28.

Lankinen set a career high in games played this season with 51 for the Canucks, more than double the number of matches he appeared in with the Nashville Predators last season. After some 4 Nations Face-Off action for Finland, Lankinen's sticking around with the Canucks for a while longer.

Brian T. Dessart takes fans on a distinctive ride through the historic-laden NHL with the #NHLNugget. Check out NHLNugget.com to find where to follow NHL Nugget on social media.  And for past NHL Nuggets, click here.        

The NHL revealed the final three goaltenders who can win the Vezina Trophy. 

The finalists for the award, going “to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at this position,” are the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck, Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Los Angeles Kings’ Darcy Kuemper. The three netminders are all competing in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

GMs of all 32 NHL teams vote for this award.

Hellebuyck and Vasilevskiy won the award before. Hellebuyck earned the honor in 2020 and 2024, meaning he could win the Vezina in back-to-back years for the first time since Martin Brodeur did so in 2007 and 2008. Vasilevskiy won the Vezina Trophy in 2019.

Kuemper has never won the award, but he did finish fifth in voting in 2018-19 and seventh in 2019-20 when he played for the now-inactive Arizona Coyotes.

Hellebuyck is the favorite to win this award, leading in nearly every goaltending stat throughout the regular season. He finished the 2024-25 campaign with the best goals-against average (2.00) and the most shutouts (eight) among goalies who played at least 25 games. 

He finished second in the league in save percentage with a .925 SP, just behind Toronto Maple Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz, who recorded a .926 SP.

Hellebuyck also won his second straight William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltender who allowed the fewest goals against among goaltenders with at least 25 appearances.

Bruce Boudreau Believes The Jets Are The Real Deal, Rooting For Them To Win The Stanley CupThe Winnipeg Jets entered the playoffs with the best regular-season record (56-22-4), winning the Presidents’ Trophy and looking utterly dominant in front of Hart Trophy Candidate, Connor Hellebuyck. Despite that, many fans and analysts still do not believe the Jets can win the Stanley Cup.

Vasilevskiy drastically improved from last season, when he posted a .900 save percentage and a 2.90 goals-against average. This season, he recorded a .921 SP with a 2.18 GAA while playing 11 more games.

Early last season, he required surgery to address a lumbar disk herniation, and it affected his performance for the Lightning. However, he’s now a Vezina Trophy finalist for the fifth time in his 11-year career.

As for Kuemper, the Kings have never had a Vezina Trophy winner in franchise history. They were close in 2011-12 and 2015-16 when Jonathan Quick was the runner-up for the award.

Kuemper has the opportunity to be the first King to claim the Vezina, while having one of the best seasons of his career at 34 years old. 

The Kings’ netminder finished the regular season with a 31-11-7 record and was a key component for the team earning a second-place spot in the Pacific Division. He recorded the most wins in a season for Los Angeles since Quick’s 33 in 2017-18.

He was steady all year for his team, posting a 2.02 GAA and a .922 SP. Last season, with the Washington Capitals, Kuemper recorded a 3.31 GAA and a .890 SP, so the former Stanley Cup champion really bounced back this year.

The winner of the award will be announced during the Stanley Cup final.

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The Montreal Canadiens have had some terrific battles this season, but there are no moral victories as they face elimination against the Washington Capitals.

The Canadiens had a 2-1 lead in Game 4 Sunday night, thanks to Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield, before the Capitals scored four unanswered goals in the third period and won 5-2. This game showed the Habs’ issue with their offense arising more often than not in this series.

This game was there for the taking, but the Canadiens ultimately failed on offense. They managed only 18 shots on net, half of which came in the first two periods combined. It was a far cry from the 35 shots they had in Game 1, the 26 in Game 2 and 40 in Game 3, so their lack of just getting pucks on net killed much of the momentum from Friday’s 6-3 win.

That said, no matter how many shots on net they’ve had, their goal-scoring is a bigger problem. Outside of that Game 3 win, the Canadiens have only scored five goals in the other three contests combined. Even when looking at expected goals on naturalstattrick.com, which evaluates the quality of the chances they’re creating, they’re below average during the playoffs, and that includes their Game 3 win.

The Canadiens have only been shorthanded 10 times in the first round, which is tied for the second-fewest in the NHL, but five of them came in Game 4. Even though they killed all of them, it’s much tougher to produce any sort of offense when they’re playing short, and it came at a brutal time when Montreal could have tied this series.

All these issues leave a lot of pressure on goaltending to hold the fort. Sam Montembeault is effective at that when he’s at the top of his game, helping the Canadiens force overtime in Game 1 and stay close in a 3-1 loss in Game 2. He’s not a top-tier goalie like Jake Oettinger or Connor Hellebuyck, and consistency is part of that reason, but he has shown his value when he’s hot.

That value became clearer when he couldn’t play Game 4, and Jakub Dobes had a .875 save percentage and minus-0.9 goals saved above expected, according to moneypuck.com.

Canadiens: About That Devastating HitThere was a before and an after the Tom Wilson hit on Alexandre Carrier in Sunday night’s Montreal Canadiens—Washington Capitals game. By obliterating Carrier, Wilson seemed to energize his team, directly resulting in the Caps’ game-tying goal and eventual win.

It is encouraging to see the Canadiens battle hard in this series, just like they did in the regular season to clinch a playoff spot when many expected them to miss again as part of the rebuild. But Montreal doesn’t have the experience to make a comeback all that likely, and Game 3 is starting to look like an outlier in a series where nothing can make up for their lack of goal-scoring.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a new coach next season.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan and the team agreed to part ways, GM-president Kyle Dubas announced Monday. The team has missed the playoffs for the past three seasons.

“This was not a decision that was taken lightly, but as we continue to navigate the Penguins through this transitional period, we felt it was the best course forward for all involved,” Dubas said in a news release.

A thorough search for the next coach begins immediately, the team said.

Sullivan joined the team partway through the 2015-16 season after the team started 15-10-3 and fired Mike Johnston. Under Sullivan, the Penguins went 33-16-5 afterward to finish second in the Metropolitan Division and go all the way to win the Stanley Cup. Sullivan's Penguins then won it all again in 2016-17 to become the first team since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998 to win back-to-back Cup championships.

 The 57-year-old from Marshfield, Mass., coached 753 regular-season games for the Penguins, going 409-255-89. In 82 playoff games, he went 44-38. He became the 15th coach in NHL history to win 400 games with a single franchise this season.

“Mike is known for his preparation, focus and fierce competitiveness,” Dubas said. “I was fortunate to have a front-row seat to his dedication to this franchise for the past two seasons. He will forever be an enormous part of Penguins history, not only for the impressive back-to-back Cups, his impact on the core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust, but more importantly, for his love and loyalty to the organization.”

Sullivan also coached Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off, falling one goal short of winning the tournament against Canada.

On top of the Penguins, NHL teams currently without a permanent coach include the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

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Welcome to The Hockey News Playoff Frenzy Live, streaming nightly during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.

After the big game of the night, our experts go live to react to the match that was, break down the key moments and storylines, provide updates on the rest of the night's NHL slate and read your opinions.

On tonight's show, Michael Augello and Andrew McInnis react to the Washington Capitals defeating the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

They also look around the NHL as the first round continues.

Check out the show right now and share your opinions in the live chat and in our comment section.  

Heading into the NHL’s 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, there were certain players you knew what to expect from. Specifically, you knew particular players were going to be annoying influences on the opposition. Pests, if you will. And thus far, there are more than a few pests who’ve been living up to their reputation, or down to it, depending on your perspective.

For instance, Washington Capitals right winger Tom Wilson engaged in a massive brawl with Montreal Canadiens counterpart Josh Anderson in Game 3 of their series. Wilson’s theatrics were nearly at professional wrestling levels, mocking the Canadiens' crying with facial expressions that were bordering on comical. Even Wilson himself said after the game, “I just gotta be a little bit better, maybe turning away and playing hockey.”

Wilson hasn't had a bad series by any means, with two assists through three games, but maybe a bigger focus on actual hockey would help him contribute even more.

Meanwhile, in Florida, Panthers super-pest Matthew Tkachuk was mixing things up with the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of their series, laying a late hit on Bolts star left winger Jake Guentzel with the game well out of hand in Tampa Bay’s favor.

Tkachuk received a five-minute major interference penalty on the play, but he evaded supplemental discipline. And Tampa Bay players knew the type of competitor they were dealing with – an expert player when it comes to getting under the skin of their opponents.

Matthew Tkachuk will not receive any supplemental discipline for this his on Jake Guentzel, according to @FriedgeHNICpic.twitter.com/WqUuGnhIH8

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 27, 2025

“Obviously, the timing of the hit, (the score is) 4-1 and we’re about to make it 5-1 and Tkachuk goes out of his way to hit Guentzel,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. “We can’t control what the league thinks is interference and what’s suspendable and not suspendable. So, we’re just gonna fight through that.”

When it comes to Tkachuk, he's a true star in the NHL, so while he, like his brother Brady, likes to get under the other team's skin, he definitely backs it up with his play. In three games this post-season, Tkachuk has put up three goals and four points in three games.

Over in the 'Battle of Ontario', the Ottawa Senators/Toronto Maple Leafs have seen a couple of Sens pests – winger Ridly Greig and Nick Cousins – trying to make an impact by frustrating the Maple Leafs. Cousins and the Sens were fined by the NHL after he shot a puck at Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz during warmup before Game 3, while Greig annoyed many Leafs, including causing Stolarz to lash out at him.  

Cousins and Greig have been pure pests this post-season, as between the two of them, they have just one goal and no assists. Clearly, the two are effecting the game more with their antics than with their scoring.

Without a doubt, all these pests aren't new to their profession. None of Greig, Cousins, Tkachuk and Wilson were Lady Byng candidates coming into the playoffs, and they certainly aren't going to make any fans outside of their team's fan bases. But the key to playing against those types of players is to ignore them and not fall for the emotional traps they lay out with their sandpaper brand of play.

Indeed, the more disciplined teams are against the super-pest competitors, the more they take the power away from the pests, and coaches and veteran players understand this. That’s indeed easier said than done when emotions and stakes are sky-high, but one wrong reaction or overreaction can turn out to be the difference between a team winning or losing a playoff game. And if that happens, the pests have done their job.

We’re sure players like Wilson, Cousins, Tkachuk and Greig will continue to push the envelope. As Hedman said, players can’t control what the league deems acceptable behavior. And while that’s a column for another day, the truth is that teams have little choice but to turn the other cheek and not indulge pests when they try to affect the outcome of games.

Ultimately, the better players are at staying calm and focused, the more their team is likely to win the big and small battles in the rest of the playoffs – and the tougher it is for super-pests to have an impact on the game. And that’s the game-within-the-game challenge that super-pests’ targets have to deal with.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs came within one overtime goal of sending the Ottawa Senators home for the summer Saturday night, losing 4-3 to the Sens in Game 4 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series. However, Maple Leafs fans shouldn’t allow their anxieties to spike anytime soon.

The reality is that the Leafs are still in commanding control of this series, and sooner or later, the Buds are bound to eliminate the Senators and move on to the second round of the post-season.

To ease your fears, Leafs fans, simply look back at Toronto’s regular-season record. When you do, you’ll find some comforting patterns. For instance, the Maple Leafs didn't lose four straight games at any point this season. In addition, the last time they lost three games in a row was from March 3-8, and they haven’t lost two straight games since March 13-15.

If there’s one thing Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube has been good at, it’s getting the Leafs back on the right track after a loss, and why should this time be any different?

Meanwhile, let’s bear in mind the fact that Toronto will be playing at home in Game 5. The Leafs’ record in their own building was 27-13-1 this season – and Ottawa’s road record this year was a thoroughly dismal 18-19-4. Moreover, the Sens haven’t won more than three games in a row since the middle of March.

But the most comforting stat to keep in mind is that the Buds won 52 games this season. Only the Winnipeg Jets (56 wins) won more games this year, and in that regard, we don’t believe the Leafs are getting the respect they’re due. Yes, we’re well aware of Toronto’s past playoff woes, but every year is different, and this year, the Maple Leafs have shown they can take a punch and punch right back.

We’re not here to say it's an absolute lock that Toronto wins this series, but the momentum is still in the Leafs' favor, and one loss to the Senators on the road isn't going to change that.

The Maple Leafs have found ways to win in the first three games of this first-round series, and that’s also something that isn’t likely to change in the next three games. A four-game collapse would surely spell the end of the 'Core Four' era in Toronto, but that’s far less likely than the chance of the Maple Leafs winning one of their next three games.

Ottawa can and will put up a battle the rest of the way, but the Leafs have been resilient all season long. And with Berube preparing his team and making some adjustments, we expect Toronto is going to eliminate the Senators and prepare for a second-round showdown against either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Florida Panthers. The Leafs have already done much of the heavy lifting against the Sens, and now it’s a matter of putting the finishing touches on this series and taking the next competitive step. 

So relax, Maple Leafs fans. The end may not be imminent, but it may not be all that far away, either. And the most likely result is the Leafs eliminating the Senators.

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By Jack Sponagle, The Hockey News Intern

The typical NHL player tends to hail from one of five or six countries. Canadians have long made up the majority of the talent in the league, with Americans, Russians, Swedes and Finns also filling out NHL teams’ rosters.

But every so often we see players who were born in countries that rarely come up when discussing the birthplaces of NHL stars.

Robyn Regehr, the Calgary Flames defenseman who played 1,089 NHL games, was born in Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Regehr’s parents were Mennonite missionaries, which also explains why his younger brother, Richie, who got into 20 NHL games, was born in Bandung, Indonesia.

Both brothers represented Canada internationally, but neither were born in the world’s dominant hockey nation.

With the 2025 IIHF World Championship on the horizon, here are 20 NHL players who were born in and sometimes even represented nations that don’t typically produce world-class hockey players.

Jordan Spence – Manly, Australia

The Los Angeles Kings defenseman was born to a Canadian father and Japanese mother in the Australian state of New South Wales. He lived in Osaka, Japan, until his family relocated to Prince Edward Island when he was 13.

Nathan Walker – Cardiff, Wales

The St. Louis Blues winger was born in Cardiff, but his family moved to Australia when he was just two years old. He was the first Australian to make it to the NHL when he broke in with Washington in 2017-18.

Yutaka Fukufuji – Kushiro, Japan

He may have only played in four NHL games as a goaltender with the Los Angeles Kings in 2006-07, and he failed to register a win, but Fukufuji can hang his hat on being the first Japanese player to appear in an NHL game.

Ryan O’Marra – Tokyo, Japan

O’Marra is the other NHLer who can claim the Land of the Rising Sun as his birthplace. Born in Tokyo to Irish-Canadian parents, O'Marra saw 33 NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks from 2009 to 2012.

Borna Rendulic – Zagreb, Croatia

The first Croatian-born and -trained player in the NHL, Rendulic is better known for his performances in Finnish and Russian leagues. The Zagreb-born Rendulic played 14 games with the Colorado Avalanche between 2014-15 and 2015-16, registering a goal and two points. He also got into a single game with the Vancouver Canucks in 2016-17.

Luca Sbisa – Ozieri, Italy

Ozieri is a small municipality on the Italian island of Sardinia, and it’s reputed to have one of the oldest-known cultures in Italy. It is also the birthplace of Sbisa, who played in 549 NHL games for seven different NHL teams between 2008 and 2021. Sbisa represented Switzerland internationally.

Graeme Townshend – Kingston, Jamaica

Townshend called Jamaica’s capital of Kingston his home until his family moved to Toronto when he was three. Townshend played for the Bruins, Islanders and Senators in the early 1990s. He was the first Jamaican-born player to make it to the NHL.

Andre Deveaux – Freeport, Bahamas

Deveaux played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers in a 31-game NHL career from 2008 to 2012. He was born in Freeport, the second-largest city in the Bahamas. Deveaux played 13 years of pro hockey in the NHL, AHL, ECHL, as well as in Russia, Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

Sean Day – Leuven, Belgium

A defenseman, Day became the fourth player to be granted exceptional status to play in the OHL a year early. Long before that, though, he was born in Belgium to Canadian parents, and the first time Day skated was at a mall in Singapore. Day played two games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021-22.

Leo Komarov – Narva, Estonia

Komarov was born to a Russian-Finnish family in the Estonian city of Narva. Komarov represented Finland internationally and played in the NHl for nine seasons for the Maple Leafs and Islanders. He’s the first and, so far, only Estonian-born NHLer.

Willi Plett – Asuncion, Paraguay

Plett was an intimidating winger who played 834 NHL games in the 1970s and 1980s, putting up 222 goals, 437 points and 2,570 penalty minutes. Plett’s family were Russian Mennonites who fled to South America during the Second World War. The 1977 Calder Trophy winner was born in Asuncion, Paraguay, before settling in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

Mike Greenlay – Vitoria, Brazil

Robyn Regehr isn’t the only NHLer born in Brazil, as goalie Greenlay, who was born in Vitoria, played two games for the Oilers in 1989-90.

Levente Szuper – Budapest, Hungary

Szuper also had a short NHL career – so short, in fact, that he never actually played in a game. The Budapest native served as a backup goalie for nine games with Calgary in 2002-03, becoming the first and, so far, only Hungarian player to dress in an NHL game.

Alexandar Georgiev – Ruse, Bulgaria

San Jose Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev is the first Bulgarian player in NHL history. Born in Ruse, the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria, the former Rangers and Avs netminder was raised in Russia.

Jim Paek and Richard Park – Seoul, South Korea

The first of two pairs on this list, both Paek and Park were born in the South Korean capital of Seoul. Paek became the first Korean-born NHLer and the first player of Korean descent to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup after his contributions in the playoffs with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992.

Park never won hockey’s most coveted prize, but he ended up playing 738 NHL games for the Penguins, Mighty Ducks, Flyers, Islanders, Wild and Canucks.

Darius Kasparaitis and Dainius Zubrus – Elektrenai, Lithuania

The second shared birthplace is Elektrenai, Lithuania, which produced both Kasparaitis and Zubrus.

Kasparaitis, a veteran of 863 NHL games in the 1990s and 2000s, was known for his aggressive and hard-hitting gameplay, which saw him accumulate 1,379 PIM in his career.

Zubrus has the most NHL experience on this list, with 1,293 NHL games across his 19-year big-league tenure, primarily with the New Jersey Devils, although his most productive seasons came with Washington in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Claude Vilgrain – Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Vilgrain became the first Haitian to play in the NHL when he joined the Vancouver Canucks during the 1987-88 season. He played in 89 games in his NHL career.

Arthur Kaliyev – Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Kaliyev became the first NHL player born in Uzbekistan when he made his debut in 2021 with Los Angeles. Now with the Rangers, Kaliyev moved to Staten Island, N.Y., when he was two, and later to Michigan when he was 13. Kaliyev represents the USA internationally.

Akim Aliu – Okene, Nigeria

Aliu played seven NHL games with Calgary in 2011-12 and 2012-13. He was born in Nigeria and then raised in Ukraine until his family left due to the political climate caused by the fall of the Soviet Union. His family moved to Toronto when he was seven.

Owen Nolan – Belfast, Northern Ireland

The Belfast-born Nolan was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1990 draft by the Quebec Nordiques. He played 1,200 NHL games, scoring 422 goals and 885 points. Nolan represented Canada internationally, winning a gold medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

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By Jared Clinton, Features Writer

At one time, it seemed impossible. Later, it became implausible. And then, slowly and steadily, it transformed from existing somewhere within the realm of possibility to simply a matter of time. None of that, though, makes it any less surreal that Alex Ovechkin has blasted his way past Wayne Gretzky to assume the mantle as the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring king.

When Gretzky hung up his skates in 1999, he did so in the midst of an ultra-defensive era. Scoring had plummeted. It made sense, then, that his career goal total was categorized among his individual feats that would go unmatched. But Ovechkin’s arrival and lamplighting prowess begat whispers about a challenge to Gretzky’s throne. Those whispers grew in strength as ‘The Great Eight’ rose from precocious rookie sensation to perennial Rocket Richard Trophy favorite. Now, Ovechkin has cemented himself as the greatest goal-scorer the game has ever seen.

Click here if you agree that Nathan MacKinnon is the best player in the NHL right now.

Top 💯: https://t.co/smKk3NQdgQpic.twitter.com/qw9yHoNCLI

— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) April 20, 2025

With Ovechkin overtaking one of the marks formerly considered untouchable – and in doing so proving that most records really are made to be broken – the mind starts to wander. Is it only a matter of time before other significant individual achievements fall? Which feats appear secure but are perhaps precariously held? And are there any records that remain unbreakable?

Clock is Ticking

Gretzky held the goal-scoring crown for 31 years, but that’s still shorter than Doug Jarvis’ tenure as the NHL’s ironman. Jarvis held the title for nearly 35 years, from October 1987 to January 2022, when Keith Yandle played in his 965th consecutive game. Yandle’s time as ironman, however, was short-lived. Within nine months, he was passed by Phil Kessel, who pushed the mark to 1,064 games. But the durability of this era’s players makes it seem likely that Kessel won’t hold the top spot for all that long. Nine of the 14 players to play in 600-plus consecutive games have done so in the past 11 years, including Brent Burns, the active leader at 925 consecutive games played and counting.

Staying healthy will also be important in the pursuit of the single-season power-play goal record. Tim Kerr holds the mark, having potted an astounding 34 PP goals in 1985-86, but the NHL is currently in a special-teams resurgence. This season was the fourth in a row in which NHL power plays operated at an average of 20.5 percent or higher. The last stretch of four such seasons spanned from 1986-87 to 1989-1990. And the current power-play excellence has given rise to some Kerr challengers. Leon Draisaitl notched 32 PP goals in 2022-23. Sam Reinhart posted 27 last season. If scoring with the man advantage continues to boom, Kerr’s record stands to fall.

If the Stars Align

Given that league-wide scoring is holding at levels commensurate with the first post-lockout campaign and that five of the highest-scoring individual scoring seasons of the past 20 years have come since 2022-23, there is a case to be made that we’re in an era of big-time production. Gretzky’s single-season scoring record – 215 points in 1985-86 – isn’t in danger, but could a rearguard set a new record for single-season points by a defenseman?

For more than 50 years, Bobby Orr has held the record, with his 139-point season in 1970-71 sitting atop the list. But the current generation of blueliners is redefining what it means to produce from the back end. To wit, we are only two years removed from Erik Karlsson’s 101-point season, which saw him become the first defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 to reach the 100-point plateau. That makes Karlsson one of four defensemen to register 90 points in the post-lockout era, all of whom have done so in the past four seasons.

We’re also only beginning to see Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes enter their primes. This season, Makar hit 90 points for the second straight year. Hughes battled injury but scored at nearly a 95-point pace. And the players they’re inspiring could hound after Orr’s mark down the line. Lane Hutson became the first rookie defenseman since Nicklas Lidstrom in 1991-92 to score 60 points in a season. The defensemen who emerge in the coming years could build on the foundations laid by Makar and Hughes.

But even in an era of increased scoring, a battery of goaltending records could fall at a moment’s notice. Chief among those is the longest shutout streak.

While the record is six straight shutouts, held by Alec Connell, it’s worth noting that that run came during the 1927-28 season – when the forward pass was permitted in only the defensive and neutral zones. Thus, some acknowledge Brian Boucher’s five straight shutouts in 2003-04 as the modern achievement. And while no one since Boucher has posted four consecutive shutouts, there are seven instances in the past decade in which a goaltender has pieced together a three-shutout run, most recently Andrei Vasilevskiy and Semyon Varlamov in 2020-21.

A shutout streak could pair well, too, with the record for single-season saves. Gump Worsley is in the top spot with a 2,376-save season, but it’s not unrealistic for a present-day keeper to mount a challenge. Worsley accumulated his total over 70 games, which is greater than but not far from the workloads that netminders play these days. Twice in the post-lockout NHL has Worsley been threatened – by Roberto Luongo in 2005-06 (2,275 saves in 75 games) and Cam Ward in 2010-11 (2,191 saves in 74 games). More recently, Frederik Andersen posted 2,029 saves in 66 games during the 2017-18 season.

And how about the single-season win total? In 2015-16, Braden Holtby tied Martin Brodeur’s then-nine-year-old record of 48 wins – and Holtby did so despite playing in 12 fewer games than Brodeur. Further fuelling speculation the mark could fall? Connor Hellebuyck won 47 of his 63 games this season. It proves that a workhorse keeper on a title contender can mount a chase.

It would take something truly special, though, for anyone to chase down Brodeur for the top spot on the all-time wins list. Given his consistency and sturdiness, Hellebuyck might have the best chance – he’s at 322 victories. However, he’d have to average nearly 40 wins per season for another decade. The same can be said for Vasilevskiy, who – with the pending retirement of Marc-Andre Fleury and his career 575 wins – is third among active keepers. Vasilevskiy would have to maintain a similar 40-win clip until he called it a career to reach the record. The conditions would have to be perfect for Hellebuyck, Vasilevskiy or any up-and-comer to surpass Brodeur.

The Untouchables

Which brings us to those that will stand the test of time.

While The Great One may have lost one of his most notable records, he still has a stranglehold on a great many of the NHL’s single-season and career bests – as well as one of the most formidable in league history: 50 goals in 39 games. The closest modern challengers have been Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid, who have recorded 33 goals in 39 games.

Perhaps more than his goal-scoring feats, though, Gretzky’s work as a set-up man makes for the most unattainable marks. For instance, Gretzky is atop the all-time assists ledger (1,963) by more than 700, and he’s 900 ahead of any active player. Combine that with his goal total and it’s unfathomable that anyone in this lifetime or the next will be able to match Gretzky’s 2,857 career points. That’s the equivalent of 19 consecutive 150-point campaigns. Only once since the turn of the millennium – McDavid in 2022-23 – has a player posted even one 150-point season.

And while Gretzky’s career point total is among the NHL’s most unmatchable, that record still pales in comparison to what is arguably the most awe-inspiring record in the sport: Glenn Hall’s mark for most consecutive complete games by a goaltender.

From Oct. 6, 1955, through to Nov. 4, 1962, Hall played every possible minute in the blue paint, 502 consecutive games. Forget the single-season games-played mark (Grant Fuhr’s 79 games) or the all-time total (Brodeur’s 1,266 contests) it’s Hall’s streak that is a truly breathtaking feat. What we know about the physical toll of the goaltending position on the body makes it not unlikely, not implausible, but absolutely, unequivocally impossible anyone will ever pry that record from Hall.

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This article appeared in our 2025 Top-100 NHLers issue. This issue focuses on the 100 best players currently in the NHL, with the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon sitting atop the list. We also include features on Alex Ovechkin finally beating Wayne Gretzky's goal-scoring record, and former CFL running back Andrew Harris' switch to semi-professional hockey. In addition, we provide a PWHL playoff preview as the regular season nears its end.

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