Alex Ovechkin and the Rangers go in opposite directions as the schedule changes

We’re less than 48 hours away from a new year and there will be no shortage of NHL storylines in 2025.

Where else can we start if not with Alex Ovechkin – fresh off a five-week hiatus due to a fractured fibula – hitting the floor scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a win on Saturday, then another in an “L” against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

Ovechkin’s 0.85 goals per game pace – during his age 39 season, remember – is the best rate in the league. That’s a clip of 70 goals from 82 games. Ovechkin is 25 goals away from becoming the NHL’s all-time leader and needs to score at a rate of around 0.55 goals per game – essentially, a 45-goal pace – to pass Wayne Gretzky before the end of the campaign 2024-25.

That’s a pretty impressive feat.

On the other end of the success spectrum, what will 2025 bring for the New York Rangers? Not long ago, the hope was that this year could deliver the Rangers their first title in 30 years. Now, with another embarrassing loss this weekend – 6-2 to the Lighting in Tampa Bay on Saturday – the Blueshirts are a complete disaster. New York has a sickening .222 points percentage since November 21, the worst points percentage in the NHL during that stretch, by over 100 points. The teams right above them are basically all teams that entered this season thinking the best thing that could happen to them in 2025 would be a win in the NHL draft lottery.

Is this really where the Rangers – who have lost their last three games and their most recent two by a combined score of 11-2 – are headed?

To wrap things up, here are the kinds of moves we could see outside of Manhattan and across the league now that the trade season is really about to heat up. The NHL has already seen its fair share of moves this year, with the likes of Nashville and Colorado already active on the trade market.

Now that we’re getting closer to the March 7 trade deadline, the fun will really begin.

Remember, it was at the very end of January and the first days of February last season that we saw some serious movement on the trade front, with top available centers Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan landing new locations. We’re just a few weeks away from being in that trade zone where something big could break at any moment.

It’s catnip for hockey fans and one more reason why we’re ready to dive into 2025.

• As noted, Colorado has already been active in the trade market, particularly in an effort to improve its goaltending. Mission accomplished. After beating Utah on Friday, the Avs won a fourth straight game and are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games. Mackenzie Blackwood – acquired on December 9 and already signed to a five-year extension in Denver – is 4-1-0 with a .940 save percentage in Colorado. Since Blackwood’s first game, the Avs have the best team save percentage (.935) in the league. And it’s not just Blackwood. Since Colorado signed backup Scott Wedgewood from Nashville in late November, the Avalanche have a SP of .917, which ranks third in the league. What a battery change in Colorado.

• Speaking of Western powers, score a sixth straight W for the Vegas Golden Knights after shutting out Calgary 3-0 on Sunday. Vegas now has the best points percentage (.736) in the entire NHL. Defenseman Shea Theodore picked up two more apples Sunday and is on a tear with 17 points in his last 17 outings. What a great development for a guy who missed much of the last two seasons due to injuries.

• With a second-period power play assist from Michael Bunting on Sunday, Sidney Crosby became the Penguins’ all-time leader with 1,034 career assists, one more than any player who had number 66. crown of franchise points. With 40 points this year, Crosby is just 87 points away from Mario Lemieux’s all-time Pens mark of 1,723.

• Things won’t get any easier for the Rangers on Monday when they’re in Sunrise to face the team that beat them in last spring’s Eastern Conference final, the Florida Panthers.