5 NHL Dramas We Can't Look Away From This Season

The NHL has had its fair share of feel-good stories as we enter the second half of the season. We're all (well, those of us with teams not on the East's playoff bubble) cheering on the Blue Jackets. The rookie class is giving us a show, as is Alex Ovechkin in his attempt to break the all-time goals record.

But don't fret, haters—there's more than enough going on for those of us who prefer a drama to a feel-good story.

As we gear up for the final 40 games or so, we're also watching for how five off-ice developments might unfold.

Brad Marchand gave us all a masterclass on how to be a leader and a captain last week. He addressed a report of a rift between him and David Pastrnak with a 3 minute and 40 second statement that was refreshing coming from a hockey player.

He was real, he was raw, and he left nothing up to interpretation when it came to his and Pastrnak's relationship.

"Pasta and I are best friends. We've been incredibly close for a long time, and the only reason we don't play together is to spread the depth through the lineup," he said. "There's zero truth to him being a problem in the room. He's one of the most loved guys in the room. There's zero issues in the room at all and to say he's at the center of anything is a completely fabricated lie. This guy has zero merit to anything he's saying."

He then posted an Instagram with on- and off-ice moments between the besties captioned: "Wolves don't lose sleep over the opinion of sheep."

"I'm not gonna let it become something it's not," Marchand said. "This guy can go pound sand and go back to the closet where no one knew he was before and report on nothing because that's what he's going to be doing after this."

Where do you start with the 2024-25 New York Rangers? Perhaps with this look into the team's potential culture problem by Rangers beat reporter Vince Mercogliano. The story set out to answer a simple question: What the heck happened?

New York has spent more time out of a playoff spot than in one this season, and it had to do a lot of work to get to where they are now—two points out of the East's second wild-card spot.

It turns out attempting to trade your captain in the offseason, not getting it done, then threatening to trade him and everybody else to start the season doesn't exactly curate the best vibe. The play on the ice showed a lost team—especially defensively.

The Rangers eventually pulled off a Jacob Trouba trade, and things got even worse. Former No. 2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko was next. Star players like Mika Zibanejad, Chris Krieder and K'Andre Miller have all massively underperformed at times, and you genuinely started to think the team that dominated the East last season might not qualify for the playoffs this year.

But things are finally turning a corner, with Igor Shesterkin back from injury and playing at his highest level of the season. We'll see if they capitalize on another team's drama and trade for J.T. Miller, and we'll see if they keep inching towards a wild-card spot or regress. Either way, there was probably a better way to handle all of this.

The Canucks, their regression, and the rumored rift between star centers Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller has been the biggest story in the NHL this season.

In a matter of a year, Vancouver's gone from the winningest team in the league to shopping around its top two centers. It's been well-documented for a while that the two have butted heads, but management answering calls on both of them is new.

"Six weeks ago, the Canucks decided that the dynamic of Pettersson and Miller wasn't working. They had to depart with one of them or both," Rick Dhaliwal reported this week. "Six weeks ago was the decision made by the organization, that one of these two guys, we've got to change the chemistry. We've got to change the room. We've got to change something because it's not working...One of these two guys most likely is going to have to be traded to change the dynamic of the club, especially in that dressing room."

So who will it be? Miller seems much more likely given the cap space and "playoff edge" he brings that GMs love.

Either way, both players have underperformed this season and the nature of the losses—many head-scratching collapses—indicates someone's gotta go.

Earth to teams releasing statements on their players' suspensions. You look ridiculous, always—especially when the suspension is only three games, and even if it's Connor McDavid.

The Oilers superstar got three games for cross-checking Conor Garland, and the team released a statement expressing disappointment:

"The Oilers organization is disappointed and we share in our fans' frustration over the three-game suspension of our captain Connor McDavid. We support him through this process and the organization and our fans look forward to having him back in the lineup vs. Seattle next week."

You would think he got kicked out of the league with the reaction from some fans and media alike on social media. I promise you: We're all going to be OK.

It's a shame that Alex Ovechkin sustained one of the worst injuries of his career this season, because before those precious games sitting out he was well on his way to breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record of 894 by April.

He's cooled off a bit since, and now he's at 21 goals in 31 games, on pace to end the season with 37. That would leave him four short of the record, setting him up to easily smash it in the last year of his contract.

This season has turned into an unlikely ideal scenario if you're a Caps fan—the team itself is dominating near the top of the East, and Ovechkin is keeping the record race interesting. Now they may get to enjoy a legit playoff run this season and the broken record the next.

Knowing Ovechkin, though, he might still pull off both this year.