A two-sentence thought on every NHL team before the puck drops

Usually by the time we get to Christmas, it starts to feel like whichever direction teams are headed in should always have been obvious.

Of course Team X is better! Of course Team Y is worse! 

We forget how many questions loomed before the season really started, so I thought it would be fun to document how we we're feeling (OK, how I was feeling) about teams right before the puck actually dropped to kick off the 2026-27 NHL season.

To do so, I’m going to use my trademarked two-sentence format.

So without further ado, let’s talk vibes. What are we expecting from every NHL team this season? I've listed them in the order they finished last season.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

Has there ever been a division with zero bad teams? You definitely don’t want to trip and fall at the opening gun this season, because making up ground in this group is going to be impossible. 

Buffalo Sabres: These guys put up 109 points and won the Atlantic last year built on an elite D-corps and good forward depth. They'll probably come back to the pack a bit without Bowen Byram and Alex Tuch, which puts real pressure on the goaltending, Rasmus Dahlin, and Tage Thompson.

Tampa Bay Lightning: After a quiet 106-point season (if that’s possible) they brought back a host of elite names at the top of the roster, and are still coached by Jon Cooper. They’re just always going to be pretty good until that core ages out, so it’s fair to expect another top-three finish in a tough division.

Montreal Canadiens: The Canadiens could do nothing to their roster or game plan and sleepwalk back into the playoffs, but with assets and cap space, I don’t think this team is done improving. Fresh off a great learning experience in last year's playoffs (conference final!), expectations have gone from “getting better” to “the time is now.”

Boston Bruins: A solid team that’s coming off a 100-point season, but feels like it’s caught between an older core and some of the next wave. If their top guys are healthy and they get elite goaltending from Jeremy Swayman, they could have a great year, but if either of those things don’t happen, it could go the other way.

Ottawa Senators: One of the best D-corps in the league for my money, and every line has a home-grown talent who’s become a legit NHL difference-maker. Still, they need saves (looking at you, Linus), and in Brady Tkachuk's absence they feel short at least one or two top-end forwards to move from “fringe playoff team” to division contender.

Detroit Red Wings: Ten straight years of missing the playoffs and outside of Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson, there’s not exactly a young star to be found to fix it, all while Dylan Larkin asks out and Alex DeBrincat is appearing on early trade boards. The roster doesn’t even look bad, but they seem destined to hit 90 points and pick 14^th.

Florida Panthers: Guess who’s back, back again, etc, etc. I’ve never seen a team come off an 84-point-season and have so many people picking them to win the Stanley Cup (Aleksander Barkov is healthy!), but the universal opinion seems to be that last year was a blip and they’re going to be better than ever (however, I am less sold). 

Toronto Maple Leafs: There’s a renewed excitement about the team (Gavin McKenna!) and they should definitely be better, but they could improve a full 20 standings points and still miss the playoffs. They need a lot to go right to go from “lottery team” to back in the playoffs in a brutal division, but at least hope exists this season.

Metropolitan Division

Last year Carolina won the division by 15 points, while the next five teams finished in a tight pack between 91 and 98 points. Almost every team looks better, making the East a gauntlet this year.

Carolina Hurricanes: They had 113 points and then won the Cup, so they opted to change very little, which feels like a smart thing to do. Only seven teams currently have a lower payroll and the Canes have five first-round picks the next four years, so they might just be OK.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Last season felt like an “absolutely everything goes right” year, and they hit 98 points. They’re starting the season with injuries, and with an older core facing a tough schedule, the Penguins are going to be challenged to get back to last season’s relative success.

Philadelphia Flyers: I don’t love the Flyers at the top-end of the roster (they don’t either, hence the Leo Carlsson swing), but there are few teams that have better depth guys. Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster -- there are internal gains to be had for a team that feels destined to be in the wild card race all year. 

Washington Capitals: I’ve been very impressed at how the Caps have stayed relevant after their 2018 Stanley Cup win, and after a lull, it feels like they’re ready to push back up the standings. They look like a team with three good second lines (this is a compliment, if a backhanded one), so if their defence can prevent enough against, I could see them getting back to the 100-point plateau.

Columbus Blue Jackets: I want to preface these thoughts by saying I am wholly rooting for Columbus, but the East is brutal this year, the Blue Jackets are thin on talent, and some of that talent seems very willing to leave (not Adam Fantilli though!). They’re far too solid to be outright bad, but I’d be surprised by any end-of-season point total that isn’t between 84-95.

New York Islanders: The Isles are a team that seem best constructed to win a best-of-seven playoff series rather than accumulate 100 points and make the playoffs. Elite goaltending and solid vets (plus Matthew Schaefer!) are a nice foundation for the wave of young talent on the way, but “playoffs” feels like the ceiling in a year that would need a lot of player movement for it to be more than a transition season.

New Jersey Devils: When New Jersey has been healthy in recent years, they’ve actually been formidable (particularly the defence), but that hasn’t happened very often. Armed with a healthy Jack Hughes, a new GM, picks, and cap space, they should be a fun, dynamic team that hovers around the playoff picture all year.

New York Rangers: Probably the team with the widest range of potential outcomes for me, it’s not hard to see how they could win games (goaltending, a step from Alexis Lafreniere, Pavel Dorofeyev, Alberts Smits is good). But if a thing or two goes wrong (health?) I’m not sure they’re deep enough to sustain it and still make the playoffs.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central Division

It seems likely this group is closer than ever as opposed to “the best three teams in the conference, plus everyone else.” Some good hockey is coming from these divisional games.

Colorado Avalanche: Coming off a 121-point season, the Avs are obviously all-in on another Cup run. If healthy they’re just too elite at the top-end to not be in the mix among the league’s best all year long.

Dallas Stars: Any time you’ve got Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley, plus Jake Oettinger in net, you’re going to be a 100-plus point team -- I barely care who else you’re rolling out. Tack on Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson, and you’re a no-brainer playoff team with an awfully high ceiling.

Minnesota Wild: I love how Bill Guerin has handled a team that toiled in the mushy middle forever: keep Kirill Kaprizov, trade for Quinn Hughes, let’s try to win the Cup here. Who knows how the Hughes saga will play out this season, but with him their D-corps is great, plus Matt Boldy is a legit star in the league, and they should walk into the playoffs without any problems (the problem is getting better than the teams mentioned above.)

Utah Mammoth: OK Mammoth, it’s time to go from “yeah, geez they’re getting better” to being right there with the teams listed above in the Central. Logan Cooley could be one of the league’s best forwards, and additions like Anders Lee and Vincent Trocheck should help them take that step towards 100 points this season.

St. Louis Blues: The Blues sum up the state of the NHL today, where even average players are very good, but so many of the players and teams look the same. I like some of their off-season dealings (Mason McTavish, Connor McMichael), but the question remains: how do you get better than all these other teams? 

Nashville Predators: The Preds have a roster full of sneaky-old but proven veteran players, which would be cool if they had already been established as a great team and not one fresh off 86 points. With a new GM in Chris MacFarland, if they aren’t in the mix after Christmas, their lineup reads like a menu of deadline additions for Cup contenders while they instead try and turn things around.

Winnipeg Jets: Obviously the Connor Hellebuyck situation hangs over everything, and even the name “Mark Scheifele” showed up on Nick Kypreos’ first trade board of the year. It could be a transition year for the Jets, who shouldn’t be bad by any stretch, but are in a tough division and have to be realistic about how to get back to their very-recent levels of success.

Chicago Blackhawks: I think we’ve all officially seen enough tank time from the Blackhawks, whose past four divisional finishes are eighth, eighth, eighth and eighth. Connor Bedard and the cast of young risers improved by nine points two years ago, and another 11 points last year, but could still improve 20 points and miss the playoffs, so I’d like to see them turn their three first-round picks in 2027 into some additional present day talent when it becomes available this year.

Pacific Division

Last season it took 99 points to make the playoffs in the East, while Vegas won the Pacific Division with 95. This group looks weak again, but should be better at the top-end.

Vegas Golden Knights: Fresh off another trip to the Stanley Cup Final, it’s tough to see how Vegas expects to be better than last season (losing Dorofeyev was their only big change), until they inevitably make some big trade for an elite talent. That said, there is still piles of talent on the roster, and even though they're older, they should glide to a top-two finish in the Pacific, have an easier first-round draw, and find themselves right back in the thick of things in the playoffs.

Edmonton Oilers: It’s hard not to feel like the Oilers are kind of the same as they’ve always been – Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and then everyone else – but that’s not necessarily bad (the Capitals did this before breaking through). Mike Babcock should grind them for every last percentage of improvement possible, so I expect a better regular season, an easier first round draw, and another deep playoff run on the horizon.

Anaheim Ducks: I’m not sure I can recall a team having an off-season quite as bad as the Ducks just did (the in vs. out list isn’t pretty), which is a shame considering the step they finally took last season. I love their core of young talent in Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, and Beckett Sennecke (plus Jackson LaCombe on the back-end), but they lost a pile of veteran experience, and badly need the above listed names to be so elite that everyone else only has to be OK.

Los Angeles Kings: After five first-round losses in a row, and with teams around them improving, I’m struggling to find reasons why the Kings might be better. Anze Kopitar is gone, Artemi Panarin is in for two years, and all told they just seem destined for a pretty unremarkable 90-point season.

San Jose Sharks: The NHL’s biggest wild card in that I could totally see them becoming a 100-point competitor that adds at the deadline is relevant, or staying stuck as a mushy-middle team. Macklin Celebrini could win the Hart Trophy, but after him there are a lot of “are they ready yet” names, from Will Smith to Michael Misa to Ivar Stenberg, all while their defence is full of good-but-flawed veterans (Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba, Dmitry Orlov) who could go either way.

Seattle Kraken: The Kraken are the Wild of old, in that every year you can’t help but think “they just don’t have the top-end guys to be relevant.” I appreciate them throwing the bag at guys like Jason Robertson in the off-season, because at least they know they’re plenty of elite talent short of being truly competitive.

Calgary Flames: The Flames are openly building towards their new arena, which is logical considering their most exciting forward this season might be Matvei Gridin. That said, Zayne Parekh is must-see-TV, and the addition of Simon Nemec should be fun, so here’s hoping they can develop some internal talent all while aiming towards a top-three pick at the next draft.

Vancouver Canucks: It should be a long year of figuring out who’s a part of the long-term solution for the Canucks while they work towards a top-pick in the draft. It’s all about internal development and the future here.