This is not a drill. The Vancouver Canucks kick off their 2024-25 season tonight as they host the Calgary Flames in Rogers Arena. It has been 142 days since we last saw Canucks hockey, but now, we’ll only have to wait a matter of hours before the puck drops, and we can stop living in projections and start focusing on results.

However, six other teams kicked off their season last night on the opening day of the NHL in North America, followed by a couple of goaltending signings early on Wednesday morning – and no, it surprisingly wasn’t Igor Shesterkin.

Let’s not waste anytime, time is ticking before the Canucks season. Let’s get into it.

The Ottawa Senators have struggled to find consistent goaltending since Craig Anderson left in 2020. That was, of course, until they made an inter-division trade with the Boston Bruins, acquiring 2023 Vezina trophy winner Linus Ullmark in exchange for Joonas Korpisalo, Mark Kastelic, and the 25th overall pick (Dean Letourneau) in the 2024 NHL draft.

The trade was made without an extension in place, so there was worry that Ullmark would ride out the year in Ottawa and pick his destination in free agency next year. However, that was all thrown out the window when the Senators inked him to a four-year $33 million contract that pays him $8.25 million annually – a cap hit that mirrors his old buddy Jeremy Swayman’s contract.

Ullmark, 31, really revitalized his career with the Bruins. During his three years in Boston, he recorded an 88-26-10 record, with a 2.3 goals against average (GAA) and a .923 save percentage (S%). This deal now locks the Swede in Ottawa until 2029.

The Seattle Kraken have found their one-two punch in the crease for years to come. On Wednesday morning, they locked up Joey Daccord to a five-year $25 million contract that pays him $5 million annually. The Kraken will now head a Philip Grubauer—Daccord tandem for the next three seasons until Grubauer’s contract expires, while Daccord will stay on the payroll until 2030.

Daccord, 28, struggled to find consistent playing time in the NHL, only starting 15 games throughout the first four years of his career. He boasted a 3-9-2 record, a 3.93 GAA, and a .881 S%. But last season, he broke out, playing 50 games for the Kraken, holding a 19-18-11 record, a 2.46 GAA, and a .916 S%.

While this may not be the best tandem in the NHL, it projects to be one of the more expensive ones coming in at $10.9 million per season starting in the 2025-26 campaign. This would rank as the third-highest-paid tandem in the league – only trailing the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins – although they were ranked as the 27th-best duo according to Daily Faceoff – Islanders were ranked first, Bruins seventh, warranting their high price tag in the crease.

To kick off the NHL season in North America, we had a triple header: the St. Louis Blues took on the Seattle Kraken, the Boston Bruins sought revenge against the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, and the Chicago Blackhawks travelled to Utah for their inaugural game.

The Seattle Kraken came to play in their home opener. They were buzzing right out of the gate, outshooting the Blues 11-6 in the first period, although they failed to beat Jordan Binnington. The Kraken carried that momentum over to the second period, as within the first 2:30 of the middle frame, Vince Dunn and Eeli Tolvanen gave the home team a 2-0 lead.

But the Blues didn’t sulk away and scored a few goals in a hurry of their own. Jordan Kyrou kicked off the scoring on the powerplay at the 13-minute mark, followed by the offer-sheeted Edmonton Oilers duo Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway connecting on a goal to tie the game. Then, just 20 seconds later, Kyrou pots his second on a breakaway to give the Blues a 3-2 lead, not even two minutes after their first goal.

The third period was a bit of a defensive match, with only 10 shots on goal for either side. St. Louis closes out the game and steals one in Seattle on their opening night.

Now, this game was a blood bath, and right off the bat. After their captain Aleksander Barkov carried out the Stanley Cup as the Panthers locked in arms to watch their first-ever banner rise into the rafters, there was an energy in the building that was unmatched by Boston.

Sam Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen gave the Panthers a two-goal lead not even eight minutes into the game. Pavel Zacha and ex-Canuck Elias Lindholm connected on a shorthanded goal to give Boston some life. That life would last approximately three minutes until Sam Reinhart scored a beautiful solo effort shorthanded goal of his own, followed by Bennett’s second of the game one minute later to give Florida a 4-1 lead after the first.

These teams don’t like each other, and that was evident throughout the final two frames as there were non-stop hits, penalties and chippy-ness, which led to five more goals throughout the final two frames. But this game was never close, as there’s no Stanley Cup hangover in Florida, walking away with a 6-4 victory.

The highly anticipated debut of Utah’s franchise didn’t disappoint. Dylan Guenther — who was selected with the pick that brought Vancouver Conor Garland and Oliver Ekman-Larsson — scored the first goal in Utah history on their second shot five minutes into the game. Their newly appointed captain, Clayton Keller, tallied another to send the Hockey Club up 2-0 in their inaugural game.

That momentum continued as Barrett Hayton scored and gave his team a commanding 3-0 lead. But then, they somewhat sat on that lead as Chicago clawed their way back, scoring two goals off the sticks of Tuevo Teravainen and Nick Foligno – both assisted by generational talent Connor Bedard.

However, it was too little, too late for the Blackhawks as Utah scored a pair of empty net goals to give fans a 5-2 victory on the first night of hockey in the Delta Center. Vancouver won’t welcome Utah to Rogers Arena until March 16th 2025.