The NHL's two most recent expansion teams will be taking center stage in the 2024 Winter Classic.
During the NHL on TNT pregame broadcast of Monday's Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the Seattle Kraken will host the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2024 edition of the Winter Classic.
The 2024 Winter Classic will be played at T-Mobile Park, the home of MLB's Seattle Mariners.
The @Discover 2024 NHL #WinterClassic is heading to the West Coast! 🦑⚔️
— NHL (@NHL) January 2, 2023
The @SeattleKraken will be hosting the @GoldenKnights in the annual showdown. pic.twitter.com/eWxcafqhuZ
This marks the first time that the Golden Knights and Kraken will participate in the Winter Classic. It will also be the first time that the annual New Year's contest will be played in a major city on the West Coast.
It will be the second outdoor game for the Golden Knights, who fell to the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, in the 2021 outdoor game at Lake Tahoe. This will be the Kraken's first outdoor game.
The Golden Knights debuted during the 2017-18 season and have reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs in four of their five seasons as an NHL franchise. Meanwhile, the Kraken had their inaugural season during the 2021-22 campaign and are currently in their second season as an NHL franchise.
Both teams are looking like playoff contenders as the 2022-23 season moves along. The Golden Knights currently lead the Pacific Division with a 25-12-2 record (52 points) while the Kraken sit in fourth place in the Pacific Division with a 19-12-4 record (42 points). However, the Kraken currently own the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
