You can never really know what’s in store for a team until they hit the ice and the season gets underway, but some clubs feel more easily assessed than others at this point in the off-season.
For example, it’s not a stretch to suggest the Colorado Avalanche are once again expected to set the pace (led by the NHL’s first-ever $20-million man!); or that the Vegas Golden Knights are all-in to return to the Stanley Cup Final. It’s safe to say the Carolina Hurricanes are built to run it back, and that the Montreal Canadiens continue to be a team on the rise. And there are plenty of other teams whose identities and expectations are pretty clearly defined — at least, for now.
And then there are the rosters that hold a little extra intrigue as we look ahead to the 2026-27 campaign — and for various reasons. From summer shopping sprees to divisional quandaries, the roller-coaster clubs and the teams whose outlook we can’t quite figure out… these six teams have piqued our curiosity a little more than most as we eye the season ahead.
Sweeping off-season changes saw a lot of new faces join the Toronto Maple Leafs, both in the front office and on the ice. In new GM John Chayka’s first summer at the helm, he hired Jim Hiller as his new bench boss, selected consensus top prospect Gavin McKenna first overall, brought a booming shot to the blue line fresh off a breakout, signed a proven winner in net, and completely overhauled the bottom-six up front.
These are not last year’s Maple Leafs. So, who are they?
While the club’s foundational forward core of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares remains intact, Chayka has built around them a group that appears to be less about finesse and more about speed and sandpaper and depth.
Among the many questions we’re curious about…
Where does McKenna slot in to start? While he projects as a top-line winger, it’ll be interesting to see where Hiller deploys him off the hop, how that evolves throughout the season, and how his presence shapes the identity of these new-look Leafs.
What does Matthews look like? Slowed down by injuries the last two seasons since his remarkable 69-goal campaign in 2023-24, he also underwent season-ending knee surgery in March.
Can the revamped depth group take some pressure off the top line and propel Toronto out of the league’s basement? With so many new faces, how long does it take for lines to really gel?
Darren Raddysh gives this blue line some much-needed offensive-upside and some new firepower with the man advantage, but how does this group come together defensively? (The answer to the latter largely hinges on the health of Chris Tanev.)
And can Sergei Bobrovsky bounce back from a down season statistically last year and bring Stanley Cup-calibre netminding to Toronto after breaking Leafs fans’ hearts from the other side of the rink in seasons past?
The Alex Ovechkin era continues in Washington, and as long as the Great No. 8 is wearing Capitals threads, we know at least a little bit of what to expect. But as Ovi’s career nears its end, and the Capitals are clearly looking to make the most of their captain’s final season(s?), Washington went on a real shopping spree — and that’s got us intrigued.
The club brought in in Alex Tuch and made him their highest-paid player at $10.5 million per year. They traded for Jordan Kyrou, giving the winger a fresh start outside of St. Louis. They inked Boone Jenner to give their middle-six a boost and their locker room another great veteran voice. Those are three big additions up front, the team both supporting their captain now and setting themselves up for the post-Ovi era.
With these signings, visions of what that post-Ovi era might look like are a little bit clearer. But what makes the 2026-27 campaign so intriguing is that we’re about to see these chapters overlap. Who gets the Ovi assignment? It seems likely Tuch will take the wing opposite No. 8, centred by Dylan Strome on the top line, but just think of the options! Any one of Kyrou, Tom Wilson, or youngster Ryan Leonard could make sense.
Washington ranked in the middle of the pack in goals scored last season. You have to think these new skaters bring a bump, but how long does it take for the lines to stick? Might we see head coach Spencer Carbery throw his lines in a blender early and often, with all those options? And with so many players boasting top-six upside, how does the bottom-six shake out?
On defence, the team enters a regular season without John Carlson for the first time in nearly two decades. We got a glimpse of a Carlson-less blue line in Washington last spring after the veteran was dealt at the deadline, but what does a full season of that look like? Jakob Chychrun, coming off a career year, has shown he’s up to the task of being the team’s top rearguard. Can he keep that up, now that he’s the guy?
Unlike the Maple Leafs and Capitals, the Flyers kept things pretty quiet in terms of off-season acquisitions.
Okay, perhaps “quiet” isn’t the right word — that $18-million AAV offer tendered to Leo Carlsson didn’t land them the young forward, but it did set off fireworks, drastically changing the landscape of the league.
But that’s not the focus here. With the exception of signing Noel Acciari to add some affordable depth down the middle, GM Daniel Briere kept his spending in-house, icing a squad nearly identical to the one we saw last year.
And which team is that, exactly? Will it be the club that opened 2025-26 looking like a lottery squad, or the one that clicked down the stretch and finished the season in the playoffs?
We know growth in the NHL is rarely linear. A step back is just as possible as another leap forward. Even looking at their playoff performances shows a team that fed off momentum, but struggled with consistency when the going got tough.
What does a full season with Porter Martone bring? What did this squad learn from going up against the eventual champs? Can they harness that late-season magic and make a statement out of the gates, or are more learning curves ahead?
Is this the year the Chicago Blackhawks finally leap into contention? That’s the biggest question, and it’s impossible to answer without Connor Bedard. The 21-year-old hit season-highs across the board last year and might’ve played his way onto Canada’s Olympic squad had a shoulder injury not derailed his chances. The setback is one of a handful of what-ifs when we look at the first three years of Bedard’s career — with the biggest being, What if Bedard had a surefire winger to help him thrive?
The star centreman is set to miss the start of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery, and it may take a little while for him to hit his stride. Once he does, who will be his wingman?
Word is, GM Kyle Davidson is hoping rookie Roman Kantserov, who’s making the jump from the KHL, can plug in alongside Bedard to form the team’s dynamic duo of the future. Davidson’s move to bring Patrick Kane home to Chicago suggests perhaps a fascinating crossover of eras with the Stanley Cup champ flanking the new face of the franchise.
How Kane fits into this young Blackhawks lineup, and the role he plays both on the ice and in the market overall, will be really interesting to see.
When it comes to how we look at this team, and whether they can finally take a step forward, there’s another massive variable on the blue line. Newly acquired Bowen Byram believes he can be a team’s No. 1 guy on the blue line. Clearly, the Blackhawks believe that too, as evidenced by the blockbuster trade that saw them send a package to Buffalo that included the fourth-overall pick, as well as the monster extension they signed him to.
After giving Utahns their first taste of playoff hockey, with many of the Mammoth’s young stars making their own post-season debuts, the franchise is setting itself up for Act II.
The plan seems pretty clear. After the acquisition of defenceman MacKenzie Weegar at last season’s trade deadline gave the team a veteran boost from the blue line, this summer was all about adding experience up front. Trading for Vincent Trocheck was a big win, as was the signing of Islanders captain Anders Lee. That’s a big injection of leadership, playoff experience, and net-front grit for a club that struggled to score in the post-season last spring. Seeing how Trocheck and Lee fit into the lineup will be interesting. Pairing Lee with sharp-shooter Dylan Guenther to play net-front cleanup could be effective; and we can’t be the only ones eager to see how Pittsburgh pals Logan Cooley and Vincent Trocheck (who skate together during summers) form an impressive one-two punch down the middle of the lineup.
But the intrigue here isn’t just centred around how the lineup is formed, and whether a little more veteran presence can help the young guys grow. It’s also about how these impactful moves — as well as the trade for Sebastian Cossa to give Karel Vejmelka a little help — move the needle in terms of the landscape of the Central Division. The NHL’s heavyweight grouping has a clear top three in Colorado, Minnesota, and Dallas. Has Utah done enough to challenge any of them? It’ll be an uphill battle all season for the team in the mountains.
The future is bright in San Jose. Just look at the club’s young talent up and down the lineup, led by franchise face Macklin Celebrini. But it’s become clear, after GM Mike Grier’s busy summer, that talk of this team is no longer about the future. Bringing in veterans like Mason Marchment up front and Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse on the blue line sends a strong message that Grier believes his young skill players are ready.
How does the addition of these new bodyguards help the young guys flourish? It’s safe to say we know what to expect from Celebrini after his sensational showing last season, but will the rest of this young core take a big step this season, too? Are we witnessing a juggernaut ready to roll into the playoffs, or does this roster need a little more time to solidify its foundation? This feels like a pivotal season for the Sharks, to say the least.
As much as the intrigue here is centred around how the club’s two new bodyguards on defence can insulate the talent up front, so much hinges on the man in the blue paint. Can Yaroslav Askarov find his game in his third year in San Jose? If his game can grow with the rest of this squad, watch out.
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