A Christmas present for all 32 NHL teams

Last year, Daily Faceoff was nice enough to request gifts from Santa Claus on behalf of all 32 NHL teams, and lo and behold, some of them actually came! The Toronto Maple Leafs got Chris Tanev (albeit six months late), the Calgary Flames made a well-needed firesale, and the San Jose Sharks finally have a reason for optimism in the person of Macklin Celebrini.

Other teams, perhaps having been naughty, were not so lucky. The Arizona Coyotes did not receive a new arena and now cease to exist; instead of adding prospect Cutter Gauthier to their top six, the Philadelphia Flyers had to trade him just days into 2024; and the New York Rangers, as you may have heard, did not win the Stanley Cup. 

This Christmas, as thousands (if not millions) of unpaid, non-union elves slave away under Santa’s iron fist, we again call on the North Pole’s finest to help out our favorite teams. 

Will Saint Nick leave millions in LTIR cap space under Kelly McCrimmon’s presumably soulless and gaudy tree in Las Vegas? Is there enough Yuletide magic left in the world to end thirteen years of failure in Buffalo? And can one of those hulking reindeer jump in net for the Columbus Blue Jackets? We’ll find out in the morning, but you don’t have to wait that long to see what your favorite franchise needs for Christmas. 

Anaheim Ducks: A shiny new head coach

Hiring a drill sergeant head coach always carries an element of risk: for every New York Rangers Mike Keenan, there are two St. Louis Blues Mike Keenans. The Anaheim Ducks took a gamble on a surly head coach in Greg Cronin two offseasons ago, and the former NCAA and AHL bench boss was supposed to whip their young prospects into shape after years of irrelevance under Dallas Eakins. They’re still irrelevant (35-66-9 since 2023), only now they’re not enjoying their hockey. Only Troy Terry is producing at a relevant clip on offense, and with foundational pieces like Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson wilting (neither player is clearing .5 points per game) under Cronin’s regime, it’s fair to ask what exactly Anaheim is getting out of this relationship. It’s time for a change. Maybe Santa can get GM Pat Verbeek in touch with Jay Woodcroft. -Anthony Trudeau

Boston Bruins: Secondary scoring

With Jeremy Swayman locked down long term in the crease, and a new voice in Joe Sacco behind the bench, the Boston Bruins have done a great job to navigate their slow start. Now, where to find some more offense? The Bruins rank 26th in the NHL, averaging just 2.64 goals per game. GM Don Sweeney needs to find a way to get creative and add a top-six forward, or two, which will be tough considering the Bruins aren’t necessarily stacked with high-end prospects and don’t have their second or fourth-round picks in 2025. Heading into the holidays, only Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak have reached double digits in goals. Sweeney needs Santa to find him some more weapons. -Shane Seney

Buffalo Sabres: New ownership

Remember when Terry Pegula bought the Sabres in February 2011? As an emotional Pegula told franchise legend Gilbert Perreault that he was his hero, even the most stoic hockey fans bit their bottom lips. The Sabres’ first-round exit that spring was their first and thus far only playoff appearance under Pegula’s stewardship. Since then, the club has missed the postseason for 13 straight seasons, a North American professional sports record that has shown no signs of stopping; Buffalo has just one win in the month of December. Between multiple failed rebuilds, a sea of coaching castaways, and top draft picks that either didn’t pan out or blossomed elsewhere (see: Eichel, Jack, and Reinhart, Sam), it’s been disappointment after disappointment in the Pegula era. He bought the NFL’s Buffalo Bills in 2014, and has helped build a championship-caliber franchise on the gridiron. Unfortunately, he’s failed on the ice, and it’s time for someone else to have a turn. -Hunter Crowther

Calgary Flames: Continued commitment to the teardown

The Calgary Flames deserve a ton of credit for hanging in the playoff picture this long despite an emotionally devastating offseason. Their 5-1 start was never going to keep, but even since Calgary has managed a respectable 10-10-7 mark. None of this should keep GM Craig Conroy from continuing to sell off assets. Zayne Parekh (who is still years away from being NHL ready) and Dustin Wolf are building blocks, but, with respect to Connor Zary, that’s about it. The playoffs weren’t the goal this season: a path to more guys like Parekh was. If teams call for Dan Vladar, Nazem Kadri, or even blue line lynchpin Rasmus Andersson, the Flames need to pick up. -Anthony

Carolina Hurricanes: A healthy Frederik Andersen

The Hurricanes have staggered a bit in recent weeks, but thankfully for them, the team continues to boast immense depth up front and on the blueline. Their only issue right now is their goaltending, and while they have gotten some good games out of Pyotr Kochetkov and Dustin Tokarski, they really need the consistency of Frederik Andersen in between the pipes. He’s still about two months out, and we still need to see if the Andersen that returns will be the same one that posted a .941% save percentage in four early-season starts. -Scott Maxwell

Chicago Blackhawks: More positive vibes

Anders Sorensen is now behind the Blackhawks bench, and that’s had an immediate positive impact on the team on and off the ice. Connor Bedard has his swagger back (5 P in last 5 GP), and while Chicago wasn’t expecting to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, they weren’t expecting to be this bad. Sorensen has worked with several of the Blackhawks as coach of AHL Rockford, so his familiarity and back-to-basics approach should be exactly what the team needs heading into 2025. Finding a way to grind out a .500 record would be a massive win for the historic franchise. -Shane

Colorado Avalanche: Health and happiness

That’s all any of us really need for Christmas, but the health part has been a real struggle for the Colorado Avalanche. They’ve been hammered by the injury bug this season, and it’s impressive that they’re even in a wildcard position heading into the holidays. Captain Gabriel Landeskog, Miles Wood, Josh Manson, Tucker Poolman and Jonathan Drouin all remain out, while the likes of Ross Colton, Artturi Lehkonen, and Valerie Nichushkin all had extended absences of their own. When healthy, and with a newly-acquired goaltending tandem of former Devils teammates Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, the Avalanche have a great chance to be one of the best teams throughout the second half of the season. -Shane

Columbus Blue Jackets: Someone, anyone that can stop a puck

Despite an offseason mired in tragedy, the Columbus Blue Jackets have admirably pulled it together under new head coach Dean Evason. Kirill Marchenko has evolved into a point-a-game player, veteran center Sean Monahan has kept it hot after a resurgent 2023-24, and Zach Werenski is a legit Norris contender. So, why is this team below .500 and on the outs in a dreadful Metropolitan Division? It all starts in the crease, where Elvis Merzlikins has been bad and Daniil Tarasov has been worse. The ball is in Santa’s court now. Will the big man provide Evason with a breakout season for young Jet Greaves? A surprise trade for John Gibson? A comeback tour for Steve Mason, who’s still only 36? Joking about the Mason part. Sort of. -Anthony

Dallas Stars: A ringer

Losing a white-hot Tyler Seguin (20P, +14 in 19 GP) for the remainder of the 2024-25 was a major blow to the Stars’ forward corps. Beyond ageless veteran Matt Duchene, production has been mostly stagnant, as young guns like Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston are still rebounding from tepid starts. With Seguin’s $9.85 million cap hit off the books, General Manager Jim Nill has a chance to bolster his lineup with an offensive ringer. What would the Vancouver Canucks be looking for if the Stars were interested in Brock Boeser or J.T. Miller? Could Predators’ winger Gustav Nyquist find some of his 75-point magic from last season in the Lonestar State? Maybe the Blackhawks’ Taylor Hall or Ryan Donato could add a bottom-six boost for a deep playoff run? There’s plenty of time for Nill and Co. to try and acquire someone, but they should strike now before the asking price gets too high. -Hunter

Detroit Red Wings: The neuralyzer from Men in Black

Do you remember the neuralyzer? The device from the Men in Black film series that would erase the memory of anyone it was used on? If there was a way to use it to forget Steve Yzerman’s time as general manager of the Red Wings, it would do Hockeytown a lot of good. There’s another universe where Yzerman — who captained the Red Wings to three Stanley Cup championships and is one of the greatest players in hockey history — never leaves the Lightning and earns another two rings. Instead, he rejoined the Red Wings as general manager in 2019, and his ‘Yzerplan’ has yet to yield a coherent roster, much less a playoff appearance. Seventh in the Atlantic Division going into the Christmas break, the 13-16-4 Wings don’t look like they’ll break their cold snap this season. Perhaps it’s best if Yzerman, Detroit and the rest of the hockey universe just pretends this never happened. -Hunter

Edmonton Oilers: The greatest power play of all time

What? They just did that two seasons ago and have iced three of the best 20 power plays ever in the past five years, but the Oilers of 2024-25 are living in bizarro world. Leon Draisaitl has added metric darling to his list of honorifics, Darnell Nurse has put it all together in his own zone (yes, really), and Connor McDavid is Connor McDavid. The only thing missing is that unstoppable power play we’ve all become accustomed to (they convert at a 21.6% clip, 14th in the NHL), and it shows in the so-so production of that unit’s regulars. Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and even the surging Zach Hyman have combined for all of 20 points in 94 combined games on the man advantage. Weird, wild stuff. -Anthony

Florida Panthers: A power play quarterback

Alarm bells sounded over whether the Panthers would have enough blue line depth to make another deep playoff run after they lost crafty veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson and top-four staple Brandon Montour to free agency. Naturally, Nikko Mikkola and Dmitry Kulikov promptly emerged as a dependable second pair (54.5% of expected goals). No team unearths hidden gems quite like the Cats. Still, Montour and ‘OEL’ ran the power plays in Sunrise last season, and the Panthers are yet to find suitable replacements; Aaron Ekblad’s six power-play points pace the team’s defensemen, none of whom have scored on the man advantage. It will be a PR nightmare if Santa gets Tony DeAngelo a charter flight back to the States, but when the entire state of Massachusetts already thinks Sam Bennett is the devil, what’s the difference? -Anthony

Los Angeles Kings: More offense from Quinton Byfield

Despite muted national coverage on the West Coast and in the shadow of the Lakers, the LA Kings are sitting pretty in a playoff spot with the second-best scoring defense in the NHL. Still, if the Kings want to avoid more of the same in the playoffs, they’ll need some extra offensive juice. Former No. 2 selection Quinton Byfield is a prime candidate to give it to them. Byfield got off to an anemic start following a breakout 2022-23 campaign, but there have been signs of life since he began centering Tanner Jeannot and Warren Foegele on a hulking second line. They’ve worn down opponents on a nightly basis, and it’s starting to show in the big man’s production; Byfield has 3 goals in his last five games. -Anthony

Minnesota Wild: Approximately $15 million in cap space

Any chance Santa can cut the Wild a break on the last (significant) year of payments on Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s buyouts? The team had the best points percentage in the league three weeks ago, but they’re 1-4 in their last five after losing Jake Middleton and Joel Eriksson Ek to the IR. Bill Guerin doesn’t have enough cap flexibility to plug the injury-related holes in his lineup, let alone add some badly needed top-six scoring pop. The weather isn’t the only thing that’s cold in Minnesota right now: before Monday’s game against the lowly Blackhawks, they went two weeks without a goal from outside their top line. -Anthony

Montreal Canadiens: Patrik Laine, without the drama

Outside of the top line of Cole Caulfield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky, the Montreal Canadiens’ forward group was a blank slate throughout the first quarter of the season; gambles on once-coveted players like Christian Dvorak, Alex Newhook, and Kirby Dach had uniformly fallen flat. Enter Patrik Laine. Is he one-dimensional? Sure. Mercurial? Definitely. Still, the Finn has been a maniac on the power play since debuting in Montreal, scoring at nearly a goal-a-game pace on the man advantage. For a team that needs reasons for optimism and goals in equal measure, paying the sniper when he becomes eligible for an extension in the summer should be a no-brainer. Will his attitude and injury record get in the way? -Anthony

Nashville Predators: Some exciting concert tickets

Hey, people forget they weren’t in great shape fairly deep into the winter last season, either. But Barry Trotz turned everything around when he yanked away the U2 tickets at the The Sphere. They went on a 16-0-2 run after that. It doesn’t seem like any on-ice tactics are going to save them at this point, so why not resort to recapturing the juju of last year? Let’s see who is performing at The Sphere: looks like the Eagles have their final show just when Nashville arrives to face Vegas in April. You know what to do, Barry: order up a bunch of those tickets, and pull them away from your troops! -Matt Larkin

New Jersey Devils: Continued success for Stefan Noesen

Stefan Noesen has been a surprising addition to the Devils top six and top power play unit, but his forechecking ability has allowed him to fit like a glove. He got his 16th goal and 25th point on Monday against the Rangers, and has already well-surpassed his previous career high of 13 goals in only 37 games. The Devils will hope that he can be this reliable source for secondary scoring this year if they want to win a Cup, and he probably will – his 1.97 5v5 points per 60 minutes is not far off from his 1.63 and 1.9 rates that he had in 2022-23 and 2023-24 with the Hurricanes. He’s always been this productive, he just needed the ice-time, and he has better linemates to boot. -Scott

New York Islanders: Goals, goals, goals

Injuries have played a significant role in the Islanders struggles to score and win, but even with a fully healthy roster, this team is not an offensive dynamo. They’ve gotten some production from Anders Lee, Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri, but not enough to carry an offense. Add in the fact that Brock Nelson, Noah Dobson and (when healthy) Mat Barzal have underperformed, and it’s easy to see why they can’t score. Whether the offensive help comes from Anthony Duclair’s long-awaited return to the lineup (he recorded an assist in his first game back on Monday), continued improvement from Simon Holmstrom and Maxim Tsyplakov, or an external addition, something needs to change if the Isles want to make the playoffs. -Scott

New York Rangers: An exorcism

Something is rotten in the Big Apple. The big players are struggling (and occasionally getting healthy scratched), the defense is in shambles, and Igor Shesterkin can only do so much to stop the bleeding. With only 4 wins in their last 17 games, it’s been a disaster, and two trades haven’t fixed the problem either. Do they need a coaching change? A GM change? To deal out another core player like Mika Zibanejad or Chris Kreider? No, they need an exorcism. The organization feels haunted at this point, so perhaps Saint Nick can call in a favor from the Church to right the ship. -Scott

Ottawa Senators: Bubble wrap for Linus Ullmark

Years of miserly ownership and incompetent decision-making held back the Ottawa Senators’ talented homegrown core, and their frustration showed on the ice before coach Travis Green took over. Green’s Sens have done well to unlearn the losing habits of a failed previous regime, and 2024-25 has looked like the year they finally return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Still, so much of their fate rides on the form of Linus Ullmark, who has shaken off a tough start to electrify the Canadian capital with his stellar play in December (7-0-1, 1.20 GAA, .956 SV%). Ullmark’s injury exit from a weekend tilt in Edmonton drew a collective gasp across the country in Ottawa. The Sens need the former Vezina winner to stay healthy to continue their winning ways. -Anthony

Pittsburgh Penguins: Consistent goaltending 

The Penguins are a team to watch coming out of the holidays. They’ve managed to overcome inconsistent production throughout their lineup and have climbed their way back up into playoff contention, but their crease is still an absolute mess. Tristan Jarry had to be reset in the AHL, and Alex Nedeljkovic (.886 save %) didn’t exactly hold down the fort while Jarry was finding his game. Jarry’s managed to post some wins since his return, but that has a lot more to do with the Penguins’ offense than his own play. If the Penguins don’t get consistent goaltending in the coming months, will Kyle Dubas pull the trigger on a significant move before March 7? He might have to if he doesn’t find a competent netminder under the tree tomorrow morning. -Shane

Philadelphia Flyers: A loaded 2025 draft class

The Philadelphia Flyers are playing a dangerous game by committing to a “competitive rebuild,” a best-of-both-worlds strategy that can go either very right or very wrong. Keith Jones and Danny Briere are betting that it’s better to play meaningful hockey and hit on mid-first round picks than to stockpile top-five selections while fostering a losing culture. They’ll put their money where their mouth is at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles, where none of Philadelphia’s three first-round picks are likely to land in the top 10. They picked a superstar in Matvei Michkov, but they’ll need either very good scouting or very good luck to find another without bottoming out. -Anthony

San Jose Sharks: A fast forward button

You wouldn’t know it from their league-worst goal difference (-31), but things are looking up for the San Jose Sharks. Macklin Celebrini is must-see TV in any time zone, and based on how he’s outplayed his veteran battery mates, Yaroslav Askarov could join him as a pillar in the Bay Area for the next decade. Smart bets by GM Mike Grier on young wingers Fabian Zetterlund and Nikolai Kovalenko (5 A in 7 GP for SJ) and a loaded prospect pipeline have set up San Jose very well for the future. Still, there’s plenty of veteran clutter and dead cap to clear out before this club is ready to *ahem* swim with the sharks. Check back in 2028. -Anthony

Seattle Kraken: A redo on (almost) all of their major decisions 

We’re not trying to write a hatchet job so close to Christmas, but seriously, what is the path to contention for Seattle? Shane Wright and Kaapo Kaako live up to their pre-draft billing years down the line? Matty Beniers justifies a trigger happy payday despite his inability to build on a Calder Trophy rookie season? Speedster Chandler Stephenson somehow levels up as he wades into his 30s? You wouldn’t play those odds in Vegas, and Seattle needs at least two of those scenarios to hit to make any noise in the Pacific. If head honcho Ron Francis was trying to kill the hype around a still young franchise, building a roster that is not particularly good, young, or cheap is a great start. -Anthony

St. Louis Blues: High-end talent

Key players like Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk are aging out of their prime faster than a good-not-great St. Louis Blues prospect pipeline can replace them. The team is held together by a patchwork of grizzled veterans as it awaits Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky to reach the show, but are they going to be enough to make this painstaking retool a success? The Blues have some nice young pieces on their roster already in Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg, and Jake Neighbours, but it’s hard to see where the star power will come from in St. Louis. Even if Team Canada snub Robert Thomas is an O’Reilly, they’re still a Pietrangelo and a Tarasenko short of competing, and that’s if you consider the Blues’ miraculous Cup run in 2019 a blueprint for success. -Anthony

Toronto Maple Leafs: Ice packs and Advil

The Maple Leafs don’t lead the NHL in man games missed, but when it’s rained, it’s poured. Only Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Steven Lorentz have played in all 36 games for the club. At one point this season, they had eight forwards out of the lineup. The Leafs deftly navigated that crisis, but now their injury issues are more about quality than quantity. Auston Matthews’s day-to-day ailment has dragged on longer than anticipated, and starting goaltender Anthony Stolarz is out for four to six weeks with a knee injury. Toronto is fourth in the East in points despite all their bad luck, so it will be interesting to see how good this roster is when (or if) it gets fully healthy. -Scott

Tampa Bay Lightning: The Stanley Cup Playoffs to start early

Does Santa have any dirt on Gary Bettman that will convince the commish to forget about the 40+ contests left on the schedule? It’s impossible to imagine another team keeping the Lightning down in a seven-game series the way they’ve been playing. Since Nov. 25, they have three 8-goal games and four 5-goal performances, but none of those offensive explosions was more satisfying than a 4-0 road demolition of the rival Florida Panthers on Monday. Tampa is 9-4 over the past month and has surged into second place in the scoring charts despite having played the joint-fewest games of any team (32). As if that wasn’t scary enough, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy are partying like it’s 2021 at the other end of the ice. No one wants to see this club on their schedule. -Anthony

Utah Hockey Club: A real name

For about two weeks, the former Coyotes were the talk of the NHL for their free-scoring ways and the novelty of a (sort of) brand new franchise. Now that Dylan Guenther has emerged as an electric goal scorer (16 G in 34 GP), Karel Vejmelka is stopping everything that moves, and big-ticket offseason acquisition Mikel Sergachev is bossing the blue line, the hype around Utah’s feel-good playoff push should be reaching a fever pitch. Instead, the presses have slowed down considerably. Maybe it’s because there aren’t any cool nicknames to derive from their whitebread branding; the Yeti or the Outlaws is a lot more fun to type. At least they’ll get to sell all-new merchandise again next season. Plus, the Hockey Club jerseys are a built-in throwback whenever the Winter Classic comes to Salt Lake City. -Anthony

Vancouver Canucks: World (or locker room) peace

While most kids always ask for the latest toys and games for Christmas, every now and then you have a kid that is a bit more considerate of other people and asks for world peace. Well, maybe that’s what the Canucks want. Because if you ask for world peace, that implies that all conflict everywhere will cease to exist, including in their dressing room. Whether the rumours about J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson are true or overblown, they’re the talk of the town right now. I’m sure the ‘Nucks brass would prefer people talk about a team that should be contending for the playoffs. -Scott

Vegas Golden Knights: More LTIR shenanigans

…a long-term injury? That’s about as morbid a present as one can get. But we know how the Evil Empire operates: LTIR space is very much a gift whenever they have it near the trade deadline. Just look at last year, when they somehow fit both Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl under the cap in time for the playoffs. Miraculously, Mark Stone is healthy, so they can’t count on stashing him like they have in each of the past two seasons. But if a chunky cap hit could get tucked away just long enough for GM Kelly McCrimmon to work his magic, Vegas can make its annual splashy spring addition. Just sayin’. -Matt

Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin

The Caps surprised many people with how fast they came out of the gate thanks largely to a vintage scoring binge from captain Alex Ovechkin. Actually, it was better than vintage; the Great Eight buried 15 goals in his first 18 appearances, his best-ever 18-game start. Just when it started to seem inevitable that Ovi would break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record this season, he suffered the longest injury absence of his career due to a broken leg. The Caps have found a way to succeed without him, and the only thing missing from one of the best teams in the league is the narrative surrounding Ovi’s record chase. By way of a Christmas miracle, his return may come just after the holidays. -Scott

The Winnipeg Jets: An aggresive trade stance

Hockey’s metric community was foaming at the mouth when the Jets hit some mid-November turbulence after a flying 15-1 start. That’s two puns for the price of one. Don’t forget to tip your servers. Winnipeg, 5-1-1 since Dec. 10, is back on track, but the formula is the same: score a lot on the power play and have the best goaltender in the world. Connor Hellebuyck isn’t going anywhere, but the Jets still have many of the same issues that doomed them last spring. The skill guys don’t have jam at even strength, and Dylan Samberg’s injury has left an already thin blue line exposed. Kevin Cheveldayoff is smart enough to see the writing on the wall, but how much will it cost him to get a Blake Coleman or an Ivan Provorov to Manitoba? -Anthony