NHL thrived on, off ice in 2022 after persevering pandemic

If 2020 and 2021 were about perseverance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then 2022 was about the payoff. For two years, we hoped for better days in the NHL. Finally, they came.

Big events returned. Arenas refilled. In a calendar year that ended with more NHL games than ever before -- 1,500 in the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs combined -- we enjoyed epic performances, major milestones and the most offense in more than a quarter century. The NHL made strides off the ice, too.
This has been the year of Alex Ovechkin. The Washington Capitals forward passed Jaromir Jagr (766) for third on the NHL goals list March 15 and Gordie Howe for second (801) when he scored No. 802 on Dec. 23. Only Wayne Gretzky (894) has scored more. Ovechkin also passed Howe (786) for most goals with one team Nov. 5 and Gretzky (402) for most road goals Nov. 29. With 52 goals in 2022, he has scored at least 40 regular-season goals in a calendar year 12 times, the most in NHL history.

This has been the year of Connor McDavid. The Edmonton Oilers center had 143 points (57 goals, 86 assists) in 87 regular-season games in 2022, 22 more than anyone else in the NHL, and he led the playoffs with 33 points (10 goals, 23 assists) even though the Oilers played 16 games over three rounds. He has produced more than 1.70 points per game in the regular season and playoffs combined in back-to-back years. The last player to do that? Mario Lemieux in 1995 and 1996.
This has been the year of Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (scored 60 regular-season goals in 2021-22 and won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player), Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (won the Norris Trophy as best defenseman, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP and the Stanley Cup), Vegas Golden Knights forward Phil Kessel (became the first to reach 1,000 consecutive regular-season games Nov. 17) and many others.
There have been more regular-season goals scored in 2022 than in any other year (8,984, including 97 shootout-deciding goals). The regular-season goals-per-game average (6.4) is the highest since 1994 (6.4), and the playoffs rate (6.3) was the highest since 1995 (6.4). We've witnessed more hat tricks in the regular season and playoffs combined this year (117) than we have since 1992 (115).
No wonder there have been 648 comeback wins in the regular season and playoffs combined in 2022, more than in any year in NHL history, including 254 third-period comebacks and 178 multi-goal rallies.
Remember that only a year ago COVID-19 was still affecting the NHL: The 2021-22 schedule was disrupted so badly -- 50 games postponed, nine teams shut down, cross-border travel stopped -- the League announced Dec. 22, 2021, its withdrawal from the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
In retrospect, the flip of the calendar to 2022 marked a turning point. The NHL was able to use the Feb. 6-22 window scheduled for the Olympics to make up games, and the pandemic faded as a central issue. The League could operate to its full potential again.
The Winter Classic was the first outdoor game with fans in attendance in almost two years, and 38,619 packed Target Field in Minneapolis on Jan. 1 even though it was minus 5.7 degrees Fahrenheit at face-off, making it the coldest game in NHL history.

The All-Star Weekend was the first in two years and, set in Las Vegas, one of a kind. The All-Star Skills featured special events on Las Vegas Boulevard and in the Fountains of Bellagio on Feb. 4. The All-Star Game at T-Mobile Arena the next day included Vegas showgirls and celebrity impersonators. Machine Gun Kelly descended from the rafters and made a snow angel on the ice as he sang.
The Stadium Series in Nashville combined hockey and honky-tonk, with performances by Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and several local artists before 68,619 at Nissan Stadium on Feb. 26. Gretzky helped drop the puck before the Heritage Classic before 26,119 at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario, on March 13.
The NHL could host full crowds in the playoffs for the first time since 2019, and more than 1.65 million fans attended the 89 games for an average capacity of 101 percent. When the Avalanche won the Cup on June 26, center Nathan MacKinnon tackled defenseman Erik Johnson to the ice. They had suffered through many disappointments together, including finishing last in the League just five years before. Now they were champions.
"We did it!" Johnson screamed as they lay there, embracing amid the discarded sticks and gloves while their teammates celebrated.
The NHL Draft was held in person for the first time in three years when the League gathered at Bell Centre in Montreal on July 7-8, and the NHL Global Series returned for the first time in three years with regular-season games in Prague on Oct. 7-8 and Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 4-5, allowing European fans to see NHL players in person again.
Meanwhile, the NHL continued to work on diversity, equity and inclusion, releasing a 24-page demographic study of its workforce to the public Oct. 18 to provide a baseline for future efforts. The League acknowledges it has a ways to go, but it is committed to improvement and making progress.
This has been the year of the woman in the NHL. The number of women working in hockey operations roles across the League increased to more than 100.
Capitals video coach Emily Engel-Natzke became the first woman to hold a full-time position on an NHL coaching staff. The League went from zero women as assistant general managers in history to six in 2022: Emilie Castonguay and Cammi Granato with the Vancouver Canucks, plus Meghan Hunter with the Chicago Blackhawks, Kate Madigan with the New Jersey Devils, Alexandra Mandrycky with the Seattle Kraken and Hayley Wickenheiser with the Maple Leafs.
Better days, indeed
NHL Stats contributed