NHL power rankings: Golden Knights, Oilers, Lightning top Stanley Cup contenders entering season
We are just one day away from the start of the NHL regular season, which means it’s time for the Daily Faceoff power rankings to return. Another fun year of arguments and petty insults awaits us, and that’s before we even start reading the comments!
While the second spot for these rankings has seen as frequent of a rotation as the second seat next to Max Verstappen with Red Bull, do not fret: Hunter Crowther will be my regular partner for the 2025-26 season. However, he was unavailable for the preseason rankings, so my former power rankings sparring mate in Mike Gould will be filling in for this week.
As the preseason ends and the regular season begins, we will stick to the same tier-based process for the first power rankings of the year. Mike and I tiered teams into five different categories (Cup Contenders, Playoff Contenders, In the Bubble, Longshots and Lottery Contenders), and for the teams we didn’t agree on, we split our disagreements down the middle into four sub-tiers between those main five (Cup Hopefuls, Playoff Hopefuls, Fringe Playoff Teams and Too Bad to be Good, Too Good to be Bad). Come next week, we’ll return to the standard process of ranking teams from 1st to 32nd.
Cup Contenders
Edmonton Oilers
Scott: As long as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and even Evan Bouchard are on the Oilers and healthy, this team will be a Cup contender. McDavid’s looming contract extension may change that beyond this season, but this year, they’re still one of the teams to beat. Edmonton hasn’t upgraded their goaltending, but I’m intrigued to see if the upside to players like Ike Howard and Matt Savoie can give the team a mini-youth boost like what Matthew Knies has given the Leafs.
Mike: Howard is getting more than a little overrated — guys who win the Hobey Baker as juniors almost never turn into impact NHLers — but I do think Savoie has a decent chance to help out. The Oilers really need Mattias Ekholm to get back to his previous form after his shaky, injury-hampered performance in last year’s playoffs. He’s not getting any younger.
Scott: Yeah, the “if” is carrying a lot of weight for me for Howard and Savoie. If Ekholm is Ekholm next season, I think their blueline is the best it’s ever been for the Oilers during McDavid’s tenure.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Mike: I don’t think there are any true powerhouse teams in the league right now, but the Lightning look really good. Jake Guentzel had an awesome first year in Tampa and I think Conor Geekie is on the verge of a total breakout year, to say nothing of their championship-winning core group of Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. This team is the closest thing the NHL has to the Golden State Warriors, right down to their long-tenured head coach in Jon Cooper, who quietly re-upped with the Bolts this past summer.
Scott: I also think the past seven months have seen them do a fantastic job of restocking their depth. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde are great on a third line, and then signing Pontus Holmberg for their fourth line was a sneaky-good add. This is definitely the deepest Lightning team since their Cup runs, and they could certainly contend for a championship again with the rest of the powerhouses in the Atlantic taking a step back.
Vegas Golden Knights
Scott: Even though they lost to the Oilers in the second round, I was really high on the Golden Knights last season. So adding Mitch Marner to the same core of players minus Alex Pietrangelo certainly has me high on their chances to go all the way this season. I also really liked the addition of Jeremy Lauzon in place of Nic Hague, and Colton Sissons is a more than capable replacement for Nicolas Roy.
Another underrated factor in considering the Golden Knights as a Cup contender: the hockey gods’ distaste for the Leafs. We’ve seen Leafs players move on to win Cups almost immediately, but Marner may be the most intriguing one yet considering his reputation in the postseason. But knowing how cursed the Leafs are, Marner’s a lock for the Conn Smythe this season.
Cup Hopefuls
Carolina Hurricanes
Scott: My definition of a Cup contender was much stingier than Mr. Gould’s, so the only other team I had in that group was the Canes. I love the Nikolaj Ehlers addition, and if they can use him better than the Jets did (which isn’t hard), it will pay dividends and possibly add the offensive spark they’ve desperately needed. Add in the fact they somehow upgraded an already great blueline, and have the youthful upside of Seth Jarvis, Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Alexander Nikishin, and there are very few holes with this team. If they get that finishing talent from the pieces they have and Frederik Andersen stays healthy, look out.
Mike: I just don’t think Carolina’s top-end guys are that good. There are no McDavids or MacKinnons here. Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Ehlers … these are all B+ or A- guys in a league dominated by the A+ tier. It’s a high bar and the Hurricanes don’t have anyone, except maybe Jaccob Slavin, who gets there for me.
Scott: That is definitely their biggest question mark, but I think they still stand out in an Eastern Conference whose Cup contending teams that stood beside them have stepped back a bit.
Colorado Avalanche
Mike: I still have the Avs in my top tier but only because nobody else truly stands out. They’re good, and getting Gabriel Landeskog back is huge, but this ain’t the same team that won the Cup in 2022 and they know it. Swapping Mikko Rantanen for Martin Necas hurts a ton. I’m not convinced they’re going to be able to keep Cale Makar, not because they can’t afford him but because he’s going to look at this group in two years and say they don’t have as much of a window to win. Make no mistake, they’re still a great team and could go on a huge run, but the picture isn’t as rosy as it once was.
Scott: I nearly moved them up because, much like the Oilers, they should be in contention every year they have Nathan MacKinnon and Makar, but there are a few more question marks surrounding the group that made me hesitate. How Landeskog, Necas and Brock Nelson can fill in the offensive gap that Rantanen leaves over a full season will ultimately decide how they fare.
Florida Panthers
Scott: If you told anyone in the beginning of July after the Panthers re-signed their entire team that you could conceivably say they aren’t a Cup contender, you’d probably be the laughing stock of the hockey world for the day. But now, Cup hopefuls may be the best label for them because their chances cling on the hope that Aleksander Barkov will be back sometime in the playoffs. Florida has the depth to be a strong playoff team, and maybe win a round or two depending on the opponent, but if Barkov is out the entire year, his impact will be felt, especially with a group that will have had only six months off in a 44-month span. If Barkov is back, they’ll be a top contender, and Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell can hold down the fort until then, but it’s hard to see them winning a third consecutive Cup without their captain on the ice.
Mike: Losing Barkov is a killer. I think this group has unbelievable fortitude and can withstand his absence in the regular season, but if he’s gone for the playoffs, they’re cooked. We’ll see.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Mike: I don’t know if Mitch Marner gets enough credit for being a truly dominant player in the regular season, but I do know he’s consistently atrocious in the playoffs, and if his departure gives Matthew Knies more of a chance to shine under the spotlight in Toronto, all the better for it. Some players are built for the pressure cooker — looking good, Trey Yesavage — and others need to go play in front of a bunch of snowbirds. And there’s nothing wrong with that! But the Leafs need guys who can step up when the time is right, and I think their current group gives them a good chance to make noise in the spring.
Scott: The thing is that this was already a squad set for a bit of regression with Marner, so his loss I think puts them lower in the standings and more likely to face a tougher opponent in the first round. Plus, while Marner almost never produced in later games in a series, he produced a ton in the early games, and I wonder if the lack of production there means the Leafs start losing series in five and six games. Also, the defensive skill drop on the top line going from Marner to Max Domi is going to be jarring. The Leafs certainly set themselves up for the long term by not trying to rush a solution for replacing Marner by throwing money in the underwhelming 2025 free agent market, but they still haven’t replaced him yet, and I think that still will sting regardless of how little he impacted the team in the playoffs.
Winnipeg Jets
Mike: The Jets have been the NHL’s best team over the past two regular seasons combined, which is easy to lose sight of since they play in a metro area of 900,000 people. Connor Hellebuyck just needs to figure out how to stop pucks in the playoffs. If he can get there, I don’t see any reason why the Jets — even without Nikolaj Ehlers — can’t go on a legit championship run. It’d be so cool. They get bonus points from me for playing in that 15,000-seat arena and totally rocking it. I visited in January and couldn’t get enough.
Scott: Despite my skepticism all season long, I thought Winnipeg hit Cup contender status come playoff time. That said, I think losing Ehlers is going to knock them down a peg, especially when they didn’t exactly replace it. Betting on a 37-year-old Jonathan Toews coming off a two-year break to be your 2C solution is bold, and the early injuries to Cole Perfetti, Adam Lowry and Dylan Samberg are going to sting. I almost put them in my playoff hopeful tier but Hellebuyck is too good to bet against them that much.
Playoff Contenders
Dallas Stars
Mike: I wrote about it a lot in my season preview and it hasn’t changed: Dallas desperately needs more help on defense before I consider them anything more than a certified playoff pushover. They don’t catch nearly enough flak for losing three West Finals in a row. They had the right idea when they traded for Chris Tanev, but it’s easy to draw a straight line from them trading for Cody Ceci to them falling apart against the Oilers — again. Jim Nill needs to get that sorted ASAP.
Scott: Exactly the same thought process on my end. That right side on their blueline is still ugly, and it will hold them back if they don’t find a solution. I’m also very curious how Rantanen performs over a full season away from MacKinnon. His primary point rates dropped off significantly after leaving Colorado, and he also had a lot of empty net points.
Ottawa Senators
Scott: The Senators always felt like a team that would become a consistent playoff qualifier once they actually got there. They got there last year, and it was off of legitimate progression from the team instead of relying on luck, so I think this is who they are now. Linus Ullmark continuing to play like Linus Ullmark will be a huge factor in that, but they have a solid top six up front and top four on their blueline, as well as an owner that will actually spend money, so I think we’ll see this team in the hunt more often.
Mike: I have a ton of time for these Sens. They actually remind me of the Hurricanes, what with their long playoff drought after losing in the ECF to the Cup-bound Penguins, plus a few high draft picks, a homegrown top-line centre who falls just short of the truly elite, a scoring power winger from a hockey family, a veteran starting goalie who’s a bit of a mercenary, and an underrated defense.
Scott: If I have one concern with the Sens, it’s that their way of generating chances offensively is very reminiscent of the Kings’ during their current stretch of playoff appearances, and that’s not a compliment. I could see a lot of their top players’ offensive development get stunted if this continues. Their defensive play is fantastic, though, and it’s going to be even better now that Josh Norris isn’t playing for them.
Washington Capitals
Scott: I feel like most hockey fans expect the Capitals to take a step back after finishing first in the Eastern Conference. Even with the series win, their time in the playoffs still showed this team was a step behind the true Cup contenders once they faced a strong playoff team in the Canes. There’s going to be a lot of regression after so many players on the Caps had career highs, and while I think they’re still in the playoff hunt, I’d be surprised if they’re first in the East again.
Mike: I hope Ovechkin sticks around to score 1,000 goals. That’s the extent of my takes on the Capitals.
Playoff Hopefuls
Minnesota Wild
Mike: Look, I’m glad they were able to keep Kirill Kaprizov, mainly because it would’ve been really boring if he’d bolted for New York like a billion other players have in the past, but the Wild need to do a lot more before I can take them seriously. Poor Marian Gaborik never had a true No. 1 center to play with when he was in Minnesota, and Kaprizov looks to be destined for the same fate. The Wild could win a round and I wouldn’t be all that surprised, but I just can’t see them making the WCF anytime soon.
Scott: I still think their floor is a Wildcard team, but they definitely aren’t sniffing a Cup with their current group.
New Jersey Devils
Mike: The Devils are such a weird team, and I don’t think Tom Fitzgerald has done a great job of building a sound two-way group around the Hughes brothers and Nico Hischier. I get it, everyone thinks Quinn is gonna join Jack and Luke and that’ll be the end of it, but I still don’t think they should’ve given up a first for an aging Jacob Markstrom, and their supporting cast is a bit of a hodgepodge. They need a half-dozen guys to level up and maybe I’ll bump them into the next tier. (It’d help if Jack could make it through a full 82 games).
Scott: I definitely agree on the forward front, especially if Jack isn’t healthy, but the Devils’ blueline is deep enough that I think they’re still a playoff lock.
New York Rangers
Mike: I actually think the Rangers are super underrated here. J.T. Miller is clearly not everybody’s cup of tea, but he seems to embody what the Rangers are going for: brash, up-tempo, unapologetic, and distinctively New York. For a lack of a better word, he’s a bit of a hardass, and that’s exactly what the Rangers need after being something of a sadsack group for most of last year. If Miller is able to give this group the right push, I think they’ll rebound in a big way. The Vlad Gavrikov signing was a stroke of genius, too — on paper, he’s just the perfect partner for Adam Fox.
Scott: How much they’ve improved defensively overall will be the big decider for how good this team is. Igor Shesterkin has turned some rough Rangers defensive efforts into Presidents’ Trophy winners and Conference finalists, so he could certainly do the same if the Rangers have bounced back.
Vancouver Canucks
Mike: I think the Canucks are a playoff team in 2026 for sure. It’s early, but Elias Pettersson looked reborn from what I saw of him in the preseason, and if he gets back to even 85 percent of his previous form, he’ll be one of the best centers in the Pacific. They’ll need to replace Miller’s production (and Pius Suter’s, too), but I do think Evander Kane will turn back the clock a little bit playing in his hometown and Marcus Pettersson will help enormously at the other end. The key is Thatcher Demko, who is turning into Craig Anderson with how much he alternates between great and terrible seasons. Ultimately, the Pacific is awful, and the Canucks are slightly better than awful, so they get a bit of a bump from me.
Scott: I can certainly see a world where the Canucks make the playoffs, but I think they have too many questions down the middle to say their playoff spot is a strong lock already.
On the Bubble
Buffalo Sabres
Scott: I know it’s Buffalo and last year went very poorly for them, but I really like their blueline improvements this summer and think that at least puts them in the fringe playoff team conversation. Yes, JJ Peterka is gone, but it feels like a breakout from one of Zach Benson, Jiri Kulich, or Jack Quinn replaces that production, and Michael Kesselring gives them a sneaky good top four defense corps. My biggest concern is their goaltending, both with how the injury to Ukko-Pekka Luukonen affects them but also whether Luukonen is even the real deal. I kind of like them as a dark-horse playoff candidate. Something something this year is our year.
Mike: The Peterka deal was low-key a win for Buffalo and I’m tired of pretending it wasn’t. Get ready for a big year from Josh Doan.
Los Angeles Kings
Scott: In the span of about two years, the Kings went from a blueline of Mikey Anderson, Drew Doughty, Sean Durzi, Vladislav Gavrikov, Matt Roy and Sean Walker, with Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke in the pipeline, to only Anderson, Doughty and Clarke remaining with Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin and Joel Edmundson filling out the rest of the lineup. That has to be one of the most impressive dismantlings of a blueline in such short order that I’ve ever seen. For a team whose biggest strength in the past few seasons was defense, that is alarming, and I don’t think the Kings’ offense is good enough to make up for that. In a Western Conference that keeps getting better, it’s easy to see them being one of the playoff teams that falls out of the picture.
Mike: Ken Holland had such a bad summer that I was tempted to rank the Kings even lower than I did. They’re going nowhere fast.
Scott: Holland seems to have one infamously horrible summer with his team (2016 with Detroit, 2021 with Edmonton), and it’s impressive he’s already done that after just months on the job in Los Angeles.
Montreal Canadiens
Scott: Remember when I said Ottawa’s run to the playoffs was based on legitimate progress and not luck? That was not the case for the Canadiens. They were an atrocious defensive team last year, even after adding Alex Carrier, and really only covered that up because of the stellar play of Sam Montembeault. It also helped that the other teams they were fighting with for a spot also fell apart down the stretch. They have a very high ceiling to improve, especially after trading for Noah Dobson, but I need to see it before I’m all in on the Habs.
Mike: I know DFO editor Matt Larkin and I disagree about the Canadiens a bit. I tend to side more with you, Scott, but I do also think the Habs are building something really interesting. Juraj Slafkovsky continues to be one of the most fascinating players in the league for me — I want to see him on a line with Ivan Demidov.
Scott: I’m definitely bullish on what the Habs will be in five years, possibly even in a year or two, but I just want to see their consistency improve before saying they’re there just yet.
St. Louis Blues
Scott: I like what the Blues are building with their retool, and I think there were elements of their run last year that were legit, particularly defensively. But there was a bit of luck tied to that late-season surge, and I need to see another season similar to what Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg did in 2024-25 to be sold on this team as a consistent playoff threat. But I still really like their chances and think they’ve bounced back nicely, especially with Jim Montgomery behind the bench.
Utah Mammoth
Scott: Even though they fell short of the playoffs, there was a lot to love about Utah’s game, and it feels like with enough internal progression along with the moves they made in the summer, they’re ready to take that next step. I almost included them in the playoff contender tier, but I need to see it to believe it. I still really like what they have going on here, though; they look like one of the better up-and-coming teams in the league. The longtime fans of the Mammoth have waited long for a playoff run, it’s time to give it to them.
Mike: Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther need to start picking up more slack in their own end before I rate the Mammoth as anything more than a bubble team. Those two were a bit of a defensive disaster last year, and it’s a big concern for me, especially if they’re going to be playing with Peterka, who was also very one-dimensional in Buffalo.
Fringe Playoff Teams
Anaheim Ducks
Mike: Ditching Greg Cronin is addition by subtraction, but I still don’t see it in Anaheim. With all due respect to Troy Terry, I’m not convinced they have a single forward who would be a true top-line guy on even a mid-range contender, and I do think they may come to regret trading Trevor Zegras for a bit of a piddling return. Lukas Dostal is an objectively great goaltender, no bones about it, but you’ll forgive me if I stop short of fawning over the Mikael Granlund and Chris Kreider acquisitions.
Scott: I think you’re massively underrating the impact that Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Mason McTavish will have now that they don’t have a coach holding them back. I too am more bearish than most on their offseason adds, but I think they were close last season and the internal upgrades plus the Joel Quenneville hiring will boost them enough to be in the conversation.
Mike: I need to see it on the ice from those three. Based on pedigree alone, I think they project more as second-line guys across the board. Carlsson is the best bet to truly pop from that group.
Boston Bruins
Mike: I don’t think it’s far-fetched for the Bruins to return to the playoffs this year, but they aren’t particularly compelling beyond their two superstars. At least they stole James Hagens at the draft this year. Now, they’ll need Jeremy Swayman to start stealing some wins (and prove he didn’t steal his contract). It says a lot about the Bruins at this point that Buffalo is basically a consensus pick to finish above them next year.
Scott: Their blueline is solid and their goaltending is great on their good days, but man is that forward group bleak. If they make the playoffs, David Pastrnak should be the runaway Hart favorite.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Scott: The Blue Jackets were the story of the year, overcoming adversity to miss the playoffs by a single win. But that magic will probably wear off a bit, and after career years from a few key players, there will always be the question of whether they can repeat that. A lot of those players, like Kirill Marchenko, Kent Johnson and Adam Fantill, are young enough that those seasons were clearly breakouts, but it doesn’t feel like they made significant enough improvements in the offseason to say they can make up the difference if they take a step back. If they can get consistent goaltending, though, I like their chances a lot more.
Detroit Red Wings
Mike: I’ll give them credit: Detroit had a great pre-season. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard looks NHL-ready, and that Emmitt Finnie kid might just be a player. But that defense is still absolutely putrid, and while John Gibson is coming off a year in which he put up some of his best numbers in ages, he also appeared in just 29 games while essentially ceding the reins to Dostal. The Wings need Gibson to fully revert to 2017 form if they want to stop their playoff drought from reaching a decade.
Scott: I at least think that a tandem of Gibson and Cam Talbot will be solid enough if one of them can’t take the full-time reins. But yeah, the difference between the Red Wings making and missing the playoffs is if they give Ben Chiarot, Travis Hamonic and Justin Holl as little ice time as possible. A bounce-back year from Erik Gustafsson could be a game changer for their defense, though.
New York Islanders
Mike: I get it, I get it, they just picked first overall and got Matthew Schaefer, who is a tremendous prospect. Mat Barzal is supposedly going back to playing center, Alexander Romanov is in year one of a $50 million contract, and Jonathan Drouin has been reunited with Patrick Roy. These are all true facts. But as much as I want to say this team compels me, I’m forced to reintroduce my old refrain: It’s the Islanders … who cares?
Scott: It wouldn’t be a Mike Gould power rankings without one.
Playoff Longshots
Calgary Flames
Mike: This is way too high for the Flames. Dustin Wolf is a great goalie. If he doesn’t end up winning the Vezina Trophy one day, that’s because he’ll win it multiple times. I think the Flames are extraordinarily fortunate to have him. But that roster is absolutely horrendous. If not for Wolf, they’d be my pick to finish last in the league, and there are some very smart people out there who think they might end up around that range even with him in net. They’re due for more pucks to go in at both ends of the ice this year, but I think they’ll still score a lot fewer than they allow. With all the talent available at the top of the 2026 draft, the Flames have a lot to gain by losing.
Scott: I just think the Flames will try their hardest to gun for a playoff spot, and that along with the Wolf factor will make them too good to sit in the basement. Their forward group definitely suggests they will score very few goals, but Yegor Sharangovich bouncing back and Zayne Parekh having a strong rookie season could fill that gap a bit.
Nashville Predators
Scott: Do I expect the Predators to be a clear-cut playoff team similar to what people expected from them last season? No. Do I think there is a bit more to them than last year? Yes. Their underlying numbers were surprisingly solid for how much of a trainwreck they were, especially in the second half of the season, and I feel like if they can normalize their performance just a little bit, they’ll at least be in the playoff conversation for a while.
Mike: I truly have no idea what to expect from this group. None. But I do think Jonathan Marchessault will be a highly sought-after trade target if the Preds do end up changing directions.
Scott: Considering that your takes on the Preds are always one year too early, you just have to remember what you thought of them last season and that’s what they’ll be.
Philadelphia Flyers
Scott: I mean, the Flyers’ goaltending alone is reason enough to say they aren’t a playoff team. Dan Vladar was one of the weaker backups in the league last season, and he’s still an upgrade on the three goalies they had last season. They have a lot of good pieces for the future starting to make their way into the lineup, and Trevor Zegras could have an impact if the change of scenery works, but I’m anticipating they’ll be closer to last year’s team than the 2023-24 team that fell a few points short of the playoffs.
Too Bad to be Good, Too Good to be Bad
Seattle Kraken
Scott: The Kraken may be the definition of this tier, so it’s fitting that they stand alone this year. They are now in year five of relying on their depth to do well instead of having any star power, and that depth is good enough that they aren’t as bad as the Blackhawks and the Sharks, but the lack of star power gives them too low of a ceiling to make any noise. Until they pick a lane, this is where they will be.
Mike: Berkly Catton might already be Seattle’s best forward. I don’t think enough people are including him in their early Calder Trophy conversations.
Lottery Contenders
Chicago Blackhawks
Mike: Frank Nazar has been a lot better in the NHL than I thought he’d be, but the Blackhawks still need way, way, way more if they want to build anything resembling a playoff-caliber group around Connor Bedard. On top of that, they need way more from Bedard himself. Kyle Davidson has his work cut out for him, and I’m not convinced he’s the man for the job, but he should still have plenty of opportunities to change my mind. One of Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov locking down the No. 1 job on defense would help things substantially.
Scott: I really wonder how much they’ll regret committing to veterans like Ryan Donato, Jason Dickinson and previously Petr Mrazek instead of selling them at their highest and giving them more draft and prospect capital. You never want to go full 2015 Buffalo Sabres, but it feels like the Blackhawks have been playing things a bit too safe at the trade deadline recently.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Scott: The Penguins are in a really weird spot because they clearly one of the worst teams in the league and their front office is set on starting a rebuild, but they have a core of players that is old, yet very competitive, particularly Sidney Crosby. Chicago and San Jose at least have the youthful upside that may finally get them out of this tier soon, but even the best-case scenario for Pittsburgh seems like they’ll just linger around the playoff conversation before selling off some vets (Malkin?) and then sink like a brick in the Mariana Trench.
Mike: They’re not moving Crosby, but I would love to see the Penguins send Malkin to the Panthers for one last kick at the can.
San Jose Sharks
Mike: I absolutely love what the Sharks are building, and I think they’ll be a whole lot better this year, but “better” is a relative term, and they were so bad in 2024-25 that it’ll be hard for them to get out of the bottom tier even with a major improvement. Give it five years and they’ll be one of the best teams in the league. Until then … at least they have a new goal song?
Scott: They at least have above-replacement-level bodies on their blueline this year, and Yaroslav Askarov performing like we anticipate he will could at least get them out of this bottom tier, but I’m still not expecting them to sniff the playoffs.
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