Heading down the home stretch of the 2023-24 NHL season, the year has provided its usual mix of drama, surprises, and standout performances helping form the landscape in the lead-up to the playoffs. The season saw a clean sweep of changes in the coaching setup, which dramatically affected performance and put into question the chances each team had of making the playoffs.

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Coaching Carousel: A Season of Change

One of the top stories this year has been the leadership changes, with 13 teams having either replaced head coaches before the season or during it. More often than not, such changes can epitomize the strugglers or the attempts of a team that just needs to shake things up in an attempt to add some life to their efforts. Most notably, this season, the Oilers replaced Jay Woodcroft with Kris Knoblauch in an attempt to turn around a slow start. The move has done wonders, with the Oilers sitting at 42-21-4 and their eyes on a top seed in the West as the final weeks approach.

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With a poor run of results that came despite a strong start to the campaign, the Kings turned to Jim Hiller as an interim head coach to try and revitalize their season after firing Todd McLellan. The Kings are not far behind the Oilers and sit on the inside of the current playoff landscape.

As the playoffs draw nearer, this is an impact sought after with very great attention: to those teams who have adapted well with the new leadership in place, perhaps they're putting themselves in a fine spot for a deep run, while others have just begun to scratch the surface to even meet, let alone exceed, their expectations.

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Potential Winners: Favorites and Underdogs

As the 2023-24 NHL season skates towards the playoffs, all the coaching changes have set the stage for any path to the Finals, making Stanley Cup playoff bets all the more interesting.  Adaptation to these changes, whether with the coaching staff or in player performance, has been critical for the teams aiming to solidify their contender status and thus influencing both fans' and bettors' expectations with the playoffs in sight.

Leading the pack for the Stanley Cup this year are the current odds-on favourite, the Florida Panthers, one year removed from losing in the Finals. At +650, the Panthers' odds are slightly lower than that of the Colorado Avalance, who sit at +700. Interestingly enough, neither team is the current No.1 seed in their conference, but each offers plenty of experience that analysts and experts like.

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The Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, and Edmonton Oilers round out the top five favourites, a testament to their solid seasons thus far. Surprisingly, the Boston Bruins, perhaps because of their recent postseason struggles, are down the list at +1100, despite a league-high 97 points. The Vancouver Canucks, the league’s second-best team, is also further down the list at +1500. The defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights are entering the postseason as underdogs with +1300 odds. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have appeared in three of the last four Stanley Cups and are riding a five-game winning streak, offer stellar underdog value at +3000.

The march to the Stanley Cup is on, as both favourites and underdogs are poised to make a run at it. However, the playoffs are unpredictable as history has illustrated.

Conclusion

The 2023-24 NHL season is a further testament to the balance of the league and its unpredictability that brings a love for hockey as a favourite sport across North America. With one eye on the playoffs, a host of seasoned contenders and unexpected underdogs combined means that the mix will provide a postseason studded with battles of the very highest intensity—moments that will live long in the memory and ultimately crown a Stanley Cup champion well worthy of that title.

The road to the playoffs provides abundant testimony of resiliency and adaptability among teams and their coaching staffs, underlining how professional hockey is dynamic and the pursuit of excellence, which characterizes the NHL.

The NHL Esports community received some bad news recently. The NHL Gaming World Championship series is on direct pause—a popular event for the most dedicated players and fans alike. The announcement that seemed to stun everyone—the participants and fans alike came right from the EA Sports NHL 24 World Championship Discord channel. The series gave the community a vague statement about the shutoff, thus leaving many fans and participants rather disappointed. It's now in limbo, making the competition's future pretty alien in being suspense-filled and at the helm of speculations.

The Inaugural NHL Gaming World Championship

The first NHL Gaming World Championship was held in Las Vegas way back in 2018. The venue was the Luxor Hotel & Casino, which marked one of the keystones of NHL Esports. 

The winner was Erik "Eki" Tammenpää, who happens to be from Espoo, Finland. He walked away with the grand prize of $50,000. The event was a great success because so many people attended it in person and online. In 2019, the championship continued to grow, where Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkoski emerged as the winner that year.

The event's popularity skyrocketed to its highest peak, with the average viewership on Twitch increasing from 16,190 all the way to 49,484, according to escharts.com. This increase in interest seemed to prove that the NHL finally found a different way to connect with its fanbase through Esports.

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Viewership Drop and Other Challenges to Hosting

After reaching its peak in popularity, the NHL Gaming World Championship started to show fewer viewership numbers. It started to decline right around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and might have been a reason for such a decrease. Prize pools shrunk, and it became harder to organize big in-person (LAN) events.

This championship's viewership dropped tremendously to 3,275 viewers on average and peaked at 20,401 only in 2023. But one of the low points occurred when the NHL 24 North American Championships were held at the NHL's flagship store in New York. It was a setting that was certainly removed from the glories of past events.

Shoppers strolled across the store while what was hailed as a "professional" gaming event continued, somewhat removed from earlier prestigious venues. The series has struggled to stay alive with even sunny Nashville being tried out as a location; the future is uncertain.

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The NHL 24 World Finals at OS Studios

The NHL 24 World Finals went down at the OS Studios in New York. There was no live audience in attendance like in past finals. Historically, the finals have always been done in front of cheering fans, except during the pandemic years. That spoke volumes that the NHL was not committed as much to large events anymore for the championships. 

The competition, however, lived on—a fact attributed partly to the continued support from FanDuel Sports. Well, while the community's in a struggle, the dedicated partners of NHL Esports keep alive the spirit. 

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Final Thoughts

The NHL Gaming World Championship series is at a crossroads—with both fans and players uncertain of the future. After an exceptionally bright starting period, it has faced recent challenges overshadowing that glory—especially the drop in viewers and much hassle when running big events.

Although this series has been put on pause, it still gives hope that with the continuous help of dedicated partners and with the help of the community, NHL Esports can regain its footing. Fans like us are left with nothing but sitting back with their fingers crossed regarding whatever is in store for such a treasured game series.