The 25 biggest stories from the 2018-19 NHL season

The Tampa Bay Lightning were so much better than everybody else that they had the Presidents' Trophy (awarded to the team with the best record) secured with more than three weeks to play in the regular season. They made a strong push at the NHL's all-time wins and points record, ultimately falling just short, but still became just the third team to ever win at least 60 games in a season. 

In November the Sabres looked like they were back. They put together a 10-game winning streak, had the best record in the NHL and after years of ugly hockey looked like they were finally on their way to returning to relevance. Then reality struck. The whole winning streak turned out to be a massive fluke aided entirely by shootout and overtime wins. Their record after the 10th consecutive win turned out to be the worst in the NHL from that point on. They even went the entire month of March without winning a single game in regulation.

One of the more stunning and unbelievable stories this season came out of Dallas, where Stars CEO Jim Lites went on the record to shred his team's superstar forwards, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Lites went on a profane rant that called out the play of his top two playersand blamed them entirely for the team's early season struggles, despite the fact they were the leading scorers on the team and the ones carrying the offense. In the end, Seguin and Benn ended up getting the last laugh as they were probably the biggest reasons the Stars ended up back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

The Oilers have been blessed with four No. 1 overall picks over the past decade and have managed to squander all of them in an unimaginable way. The biggest waste so far is what they have done with McDavid, currently the NHL's best and most dominating player. Four years into his career the Oilers have made the playoffs just one time and have been unable to surround their franchise player with a team capable of competing for a championship. What makes this season even more embarrassing is that both McDavid and Leon Draisaitl topped the 100-point mark and finished among the league's top five scorers. To not even be able to sniff the playoffs with that duo is a complete failure, resulting in the in-season firing of the general manager and head coach. 

The Golden Knights set a high bar for themselves in Year 1 by going on an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final. They came back in Year 2 and proved it was no fluke by once again being aggressive in their roster construction, adding Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny and Mark Stone. They might be even better in Year 2 as long as Marc-Andre Fleury stays healthy for the playoffs. 

After losing John Tavares in free agency, the Islanders looked like a team that was going to be in for a lengthy rebuild and a long, dismal season. It turned out to be the exact opposite. With new coach Barry Trotz, a shockingly good goaltending duo and a complete 180 degree turnaround in their defensive play the Islanders shocked the hockey world and returned to the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season. Whether they go far in the playoffs does not really matter at this point because they already proved everybody wrong this season by getting there.  

The Hurricanes were one of the biggest stories in the NHL this season, not only for what they did during games but also for what they did after them. Following every win on home ice, the team took part in a choreographed "storm surge" celebration that excited the local fans (and the players themselves) while simultaneously angering several national pundits, including the likes of Don Cherry and Brian Burke. It was all harmless fun that helped a team that had been forgotten about get some much-needed attention. The fact the team had its best season in a decade certainly helped as well. 

The Maple Leafs have assembled an embarrassment of riches at forward with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander all coming through the pipeline in recent years. Combine them with John Tavares, signed as a free agent over the summer, and it creates a salary cap crunch at the top of the lineup. Matthews and Nylander signed massive extensions during the season, while Marner, a restricted free agent after the season, will be in line for one this summer. It will be fascinating to see how much money he gets, how the Maple Leafs fit everyone under the cap and if another team will try to pounce on him with an offer sheet. 

Entering the final week of the regular season, there were five players who had already topped the 100-point mark and at least three or four more who had a shot to do it. It was the most 100-point scorers the league had seen since the 2006-07 season. Only eight players topped the century mark between the 2010-11 and 2017-18 seasons. 

Ovechkin topped the 50-goal mark for the eighth time in his career and remained the league's most prolific goal scorer. Only two players in league history have more 50-goal seasons, (Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy both have nine), and he also became just the third player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season after turning 33 years old. There is no slowing him down. 

The 2017-18 season marked the first time since 1966 that there was not a single in-season coaching change made in the NHL. There were seven (Anaheim, Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Philadelphia, and St. Louis) made this season. The most notable was definitely in Chicago where three-time Stanley Cup winning coach Joel Quenneville was dismissed just 15 games into the season. He was replaced by Jeremy Colliton. The only team to make a change that is going to the playoffs is the St. Louis Blues, where Craig Berube replaced Mike Yeo. 

The big question for the Blue Jackets all season was whether they would keep Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky beyond the trade deadline. With both players unlikely to re-sign in the summer, it was logical to assume the team might entertain trade offers on them. Instead the Blue Jackets went all in at the deadline by adding Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Adam McQuaid and Keith Kinkaid. It was a bold move because they were not even guaranteed to make the playoffs at the time of the trade and still are not heading into the final week of the season. Expectations are now high, and the jobs of the coach and GM are probably on the line. 

It was a bitterly disappointing season in Minnesota. The Wild were one of the NHL's best teams the past two seasons but struggled through an inconsistent 2018-19 campaign that saw them trade several core players (including Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund) with an eye toward the future. It is also just the second time in Bruce Boudreau's coaching career that he will miss the playoffs. The other time was the 2011-12 season that he split between Washington and Anaheim. With a new general manager (Paul Fenton) in place, it is worth wondering if Boudreau's job is on the line this summer. 

After reaching Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final just two years ago, the Ottawa Senators are a shell of what they once were. Management has stripped the roster of every significant player over the past two years, resulting in the trades of Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, Derick Brassard and Ryan Dzingel. Those trades have brought in youth and draft picks, but fans have to hope management has identified the right young talent and that ownership will be willing to pay to keep them around if they reach their potential. There is not much evidence to suggest either is capable of doing that. 

After several years of mediocrity, the Kings finally hit rock bottom in the Western Conference this season. An aging core, a lack of offensive talent and not much youth coming through the pipeline have left the team in dire need of a rebuild. That process started with the trades of Jake Muzzin and Tanner Pearson during the season and should continue over the summer with any other veteran they can get a decent return for. This core, as constructed, has accomplished everything it can. 

No team has had worse luck with goaltenders over the past two decades than the Philadelphia Flyers. Carter Hart is supposed to be the player to change that. Flyers fans got their first look at the future this season, and Hart did not disappoint. He helped the Flyers turn their season around in the second half and at least make things interesting in the playoff race, even if they ultimately fell short. If he continues on the path he started down this season, it could be a franchise-changing moment for the Flyers. 

It is a pretty great year for the Avalanche. Not only are they on track to make the playoffs for the second year in a row, but they will also have the best odds to land the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The Avalanche own the Ottawa Senators' first-round pick for 2019 as a result of last year's Matt Duchene trade, and with the Senators finishing with the league's worst record that pick has the highest odds (18 percent) of being the top pick in the draft; it can be no lower than fourth. That means they will land another elite talent to go with Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. 

Before this season the Calgary Flames had made the playoffs just two times in nine years and had won their division once since 1995. They were probably not thought of as favorites in the Western Conference. They turned out to be one of the league's biggest surprises, finishing the regular season with by far the best record in the Western Conference and putting themselves in a great position to make a serious playoff run. With Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk leading the way, they are one of the most exciting teams in the league. 

The Blackhawks missed the playoffs for the second year in a row but hope is not lost for the future. The biggest reason for optimism is the emergence of second-year forward Alex DeBrincat, who is on track to become the team's newest superstar. He topped the 40-goal mark this season and is just the type of player needed to complement the veteran core of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith that is still in place. Strengthen the defense a little bit over the summer, and they could return to the playoffs quickly. 

When Binnington made his first NHL start for the Blues in January, they had the worst record in the Western Conference and seemed destined to miss the playoffs for the second year in a row. They needed a spark, and Binnington gave them that. He ended up winning 22 of his first 28 starts for the Blues with a .928 save percentage and five shutouts to help lift the team to a playoff spot and keep them in contention for the Central Division title until the final week of the season. 

By adding Erik Karlsson and Evander Kane over the past year, the San Jose Sharks looked like a Stanley Cup favorite — and they still might be. But their goaltending duo of Martin Jones and Aaron Dell has been the worst in the league this season and probably kept them from winning the Pacific Division. If it does not get better come playoff time, it might cost them a shot at the Stanley Cup. 

The NHL made it official in December that the league will be expanding to a 32nd team for the start of the 2021-22 season when Seattle enters the league. The expansion draft rules will be the same ones that Vegas had when it entered the league (the Golden Knights will also be exempt from the expansion draft), and it will be interesting to see if the other general managers learned a lesson after giving away more talent than they needed to with Vegas. 

When Tavares joined his hometown team, the pressure was immediately off the charts. It never really fazed him, as he put together one of the best seasons of his career and made a run at the 50-goal mark. The expectation is going to be for him and his teammates to eventually bring the Stanley Cup back to Toronto. It remains to be seen if they can do that, but so far he has been everything the Maple Leafs could have hoped for. 

The Capitals forward was suspended three times during the 2017-18 season and started off this season with another one. This time the NHL threw the book at him and suspended him 20 games for a blatant hit to the head of Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist. It was a harsh message from the NHL that repeat offenders like Wilson would not be tolerated. An independent arbitrator, however, eventually reduced the suspension to 14 games. Wilson returned to the lineup and not only stayed out of trouble, but he also had the best season of his career offensively while playing on the Capitals' top line. 

No team in the league (Vegas excluded) has won fewer games than the Canucks over the past four years. Despite that lack of success they have still never had an opportunity to pick higher than fifth in the draft during that stretch. It is difficult to rebuild into a contender without the type of talent you get with a No. 1 or No. 2 pick, and the Canucks can never seem to get that lottery luck. That is why Pettersson's rapid development has been such a pleasant surprise for the Canucks. Impact players like him are the hardest pieces to acquire but can change the trajectory of an entire franchise.