White-hot Winnipeg, free-falling Flyers, and the biggest NHL storylines to watch in February

Anthony Trudeau
Anthony Trudeau(atrud00)
White-hot Winnipeg, free-falling Flyers, and the biggest NHL storylines to watch in February
Credit: Terrence Lee-Imagn Images

What an incredible month hockey fans enjoyed to start 2025. 

In the Eastern Conference, the Ottawa Senators and the Detroit Red Wings set a torrid pace as they tried to end their respective playoff droughts. Out west, the Winnipeg Jets built a commanding lead in first place as the Wild and Vegas Golden Knights struggled for form. 

That’s just the action on the ice. Off it, things got even crazier. We learned the salary cap would explode over the next three seasons, the Vancouver Canucks broke things off with new/old Ranger J.T. Miller, and the Carolina Hurricanes pulled off the first midseason superstar acquisition since the Joe Thornton trade.

The arms race is on, the playoff race is on, and the Four Nations Faceoff looms large. As we begin February, all those moving parts have created quite a few storylines, and some of the biggest are featured below. 

How will an unprecedented salary cap hike affect the trade market?

NHL insiders have known for some time that the salary cap was set for a healthy boost.

After years of relative stagnation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, forays into new markets and lucrative partnerships with Amazon and ESPN would finally start to pay off.

Still, the actual numbers were a shock in the best way; the cap could rise to $113.5 million by 2027.

That means a vast majority of players on existing long-term deals become bargains off the bat. The numbers are only going up, and the going rate for second-line forwards and top-four blueliners will be reset this summer by guys like Sam Bennett and Vladislav Gavrikov, respectively. If those two will command $8 million+ under the rising cap, how valuable are the role players already signed at a now-antiquated rate?

Adam Larsson’s contract ($5.25 million AAV through 2029) seemed a bit rich for an aging defensive defenseman when the Seattle Kraken offered it. Now, he’s a low-maintenance No. 4 D that will only take up 4.62% of the cap in 2027-28, or about $4.1 million in 2025 dollars. That’s a bargain. In 2023, the Detroit Red Wings overpaid J.T. Compher ($5.1 million AAV through 2028) to fill a need at center. With Andrew Copp’s success under Todd McLellan rendering Compher redundant, could his suddenly reasonable contract make him trade bait? His old friends in Colorado just cleared some cap space. Contracts like Larsson and Compher’s might have been cumbersome just last week. Now, they could become coveted assets. 

Which teams are set to benefit most from the upcoming Four Nations Faceoff?

This year’s midseason break is a bit more meaningful than the NHL’s usually uninspiring All-Star weekends. International hockey is back, and all the powerhouses save for Russia will meet in the Four Nations Faceoff. The mini-tournament is already garnering tons of hype (Four Nations, facing off!), but it has some real NHL implications, too. 

For J.T. Miller, Mikko Rantanen, and Mikael Granlund, that means extra reps with new teammates. Rantanen and Carolina linemate Sebastian Aho will continue to develop chemistry for Finland. Their countrymen Granlund and Roope Hintz, now teammates with the Dallas Stars, should provide the Lions with some well-needed middle-six versatility. Miller, meanwhile, is one of just four Rangers on Team USA: Adam Fox, Chris Kreider, and his best buddy Vincent Trocheck are all going with him. The team that benefits most from the event, though? That might be the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals, who sent the same amount of representatives as the Fort Wayne Komets: 0. 

John Carlson, who comfortably leads the club in ice time (23:49 ATOI) despite having just turned 35, gets to rest for two weeks. Team Canada snub Logan Thompson (2.15 GAA, .924 SV%) can psyche himself up with a revenge narrative. Perhaps most importantly, Alex Ovechkin will be somewhere on a beach. After using a rare All-Star miss to soak up some sun last season, Ovi reeled off 22 goals in 35 games to reignite his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s goal record. Maybe the Russian Machine is solar-powered. A repeat performance would be enough to finish the job.

Who are the New Jersey Devils?

In 2023-24, the Devils, undone by injuries and poor goaltending, missed the postseason for the tenth time in 12 seasons. GM Tom Fitzgerald was determined to make things right during a proactive offseason, recruiting coach Sheldon Keefe, goaltender Jacob Markstrom, and a bevy of defensive reinforcements ahead of 2024-25.

So far, Fitzgerald’s moves have worked out. Markstrom was on track for a top-five Vezina finish (21-9-5, 2.20 GAA, .912 SV%) before his injury. Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon have helped to tighten up the blue line, and the unheralded shutdown duo of Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnathan Kovacecic leads the team’s pairs in expected goal share (56.36%). Add in Keefe’s attention to detail, and you get the fourth-best scoring defense in the league (2.52 team GAA).

Still, the Devils need to be more dynamic. They sleepwalked through January (5-5-3), losing to the lowly Flyers (twice) and the wretched Sharks. New Jersey has been shut out six times (T-second most), and for the second season in a row, Jesper Bratt (16 G, 59 P in 54 GP) is its only offensive star who’s exceeding expectations. Jack Hughes is great, but Devils fans would have expected the former No. 1 overall pick to take the next step by now. Captain Nico Hischier (who, like Markstrom, is out week-to-week) is a 70-point guy who does his best work on the other end of the ice. Timo Meier is a volume shooter whose results (52 G, 103 P in 143 GP for NJD) don’t match his price tag. Fitzgerald wants bottom-six reinforcements, but you wonder if his big guns will fire when it matters. 

Things could get ugly for free-falling Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers fans are broken into two camps. One warns that noncompetitive hockey can be disastrous for the development of youngsters like Matvei Michkov and Cam York. The other perceives the Flyers’ OK record since coach John Tortorella took over as more wasted time in the murky middle and implores GM Danny Briere to start a scorched earth rebuild.

Both schools of thought have their merits, but, for now, the latter seems to be winning out. On Sunday, the Flyers rolled out a lineup that featured Rodrigo Abols and Jacob Gaucher as the bottom-six pivots and Anthony Richard as the second-line left wing. Abols just made his NHL debut at age 29, Richard, 28, has played 37 games in the show, and Gaucher is an undrafted 23-year-old. Philadelphia lost 2-0 to run its scoreless streak to three games.

Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier (both were acquired from Calgary in a trade for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee) could debut as early as tonight, but this season could still turn ugly for the Flyers. They have the eighth toughest remaining schedule, they’re dealing with a boatload of injuries, and they weren’t all that good even before they started schlepping off assets: they’ve needed nine OT wins and another eight third-period comebacks just to hover around .500. A brutal second half wouldn’t be the worst thing; Philadelphia owns its first-round pick and badly needs a franchise center.

It’s time for the Winnipeg Jets to think Stanley Cup

The Winnipeg Jets had plenty of skeptics, myself included, after winning a record 15 of their first 16 games. They were buoyed by a hot goalie and a soaring power play, two of the most unsustainable ways to win in the sport. When Winnipeg hit a five-game skid as the calendar turned to December, the prevailing attitude from the analytics community was, “We told you so.” The Jets’ rebuttal? 19 wins in 28 tries, including a dramatic victory over the Washington Capitals that gave Winnipeg the Presidents’ Trophy lead on Saturday.

The popular knock on the Jets that their play-driving is too average (15th in expected goal %) to win without elite goaltending is admittedly a bit silly. They have the best goaltender in the world in Connor Hellebuyck, and they’ve built their team accordingly. Other criticisms haven’t aged too well, either. Neal Pionk’s blazing start wasn’t just a mirage; when stay-at-home lefty Dylan Samberg is healthy, they form a dominant second pair (57.74% of expected goals, fourth-best among pairs with 400+ five-on-five minutes). Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabe Vilardi are key to Winnipeg’s sizzling power play (NHL-best 33.3%), but they were brutal at even strength last season.

These days, they have a higher share of expected goals and high-danger chances than the vaunted checking line of captain Adam Lowry (on IR since Jan. 20). These aren’t the same Jets that got smoked by the Avalanche in 2024. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff should be searching for a middle-six center and depth D-man to help push his team over the top. They might not get a better chance.

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