4 Lessons From The 2023-24 NHL Season

This season was a great one and it was capped off with a Stanley Cup Final for the ages. Now that the dust has settled, this is a good time to look back at the 2023-24 season and the insights it provided for both the fans and experts alike. 

1.   Veterans Contribute More Than On The Ice

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a prime example of a team that can be carried by their veterans. Steven Stamkos is an exceptional player but it’s more than his on-ice impact. When the team struggled, and it did last season, Stamkos never wavered and brought the same work ethic day in and day out knowing that the season was a grind. The rest of the team followed suit.  

It’s not just Stamkos. There are veterans around the league who provide this valuable locker room presence. They’ve dealt with the full-season grind and know there will be plenty of highs and lows. Every contending team has these types of veterans and with Stamkos heading to free agency, it makes him even more valuable.

2.   Coaching Success Comes From Anywhere

The Final was a great case in point of how different coaches can lead teams to success. Both the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers head coaches preached structure and defense but that was about the only thing they had in common. 

Paul Maurice was a journeyman, coaching in the league for 26 years. He bounced around with stops in Carolina, Hartford, Toronto, and Winnipeg before he landed in Florida. The Panthers were where he found the most success, winning his first title as a coach. 

Kris Knoblauch is fresh out of the American Hockey League (AHL). He was a rising star in the coaching world and he took the league by storm leading the Oilers to the Final in his first year behind the bench and at the NHL level. Knoblauch showed off his ability to adapt but more importantly, proved that there are plenty of great young and promising coaches in the AHL ready to leap to the NHL. 

This was a season of hirings and firings around the league as roughly a third of teams made coaching changes midseason. Front offices are looking for a specific type of coach to lead their teams but this season was a reminder that there’s no exact science to the hires.

3.   Any Market is “Marketable” If You Want If You Want It To Be

The Panthers just won the Cup and suddenly, everyone is talking about how the area is a great place to play. The weather is great, the fanbase doesn’t pressure the players like other cities, and it’s a tax-free state. The same was said about Tampa back in the day and is said about any “sunbelt” team that experiences success. 

Then there’s the cliche argument that’s made in the other direction about the teams in Canada and big markets like Boston or New York. The Oilers made their deep playoff runs and everyone was talking about Edmonton as a desirable place to play with the fans embracing the team and going wild with every win. Sure the lows will be lower but the highs make it worth it in the end. 

The bottom line is that any market is a desirable one when the team in it is winning. The key is having an ownership group willing to buy in and make the place a great one to play hockey. The NHL is relocating from Arizona to Utah and the market thing will be put to the test as a smaller state with a smaller population but better ownership might see hockey thrive if things go right. 

4.   Stars Can Bail A Team Out, To a Point

The Colorado Avalanche were a flawed team with a lot of issues and weaknesses. It didn’t matter as they had four of the top 20 players in the league who could bail them out every night. The same was true about the Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs, both top-heavy rosters that made the playoffs with the help of their star power. 

The problem is, without depth on their rosters, all those teams were exposed in the playoffs. They faced teams with both depth and star power and in a seven-game series, they were overpowered.  

Now, it’s easy to say the Oilers are a top-heavy team and almost won it all. That’s an argument that is old and not relevant to this team. The Oilers had a deep roster this season and the defense to go along with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The result was one goal away from a Stanley Cup title as they lost to the most complete team in the NHL.