Does it still feel a little too early for hockey? Well, too bad! The NHL has expanded to an 84-game schedule, so we're getting September hockey that counts in the standings, and you're about to get briefed on all the teams. Whether you like it or not!
I've ordered these puppies by how many points they improved or declined by last season, because I did that last year and I liked how it went. I've included that point differential, and their playoff finish if they had one. Then I will catch you up to speed on how things are going with each team, and because I feel like a little bit more of a hater than usual, I've included something they should be afraid of going into this season. Let's preview some hockey!
San Jose Sharks (+34)
The Situation: The Sharks haven't made the playoffs since 2019, but you wouldn't know it from the smiles around this club. As you can already tell by their placement on this list, they made the biggest jump of anybody last year, launching from "worst team in the league" to "could have extended their season if they'd only managed a few more loser points." Not that there aren't some glaring weaknesses: Their chosen goalie of the future, Yaroslav Askarov, still doesn't look ready for primetime, while the team's stuck waiting on first-round pick Keaton Verhoeff to eventually raise this defense from that glum -41 goal differential. But on the other hand, nobody else has Macklin Celebrini, who scored 45 goals as a teenager and leads a talented young group of forwards that just added Ivar Stenberg, a very solid-seeming No. 2 overall pick. For the first time in a long time, the Sharks are a top choice when I have to decide what game to watch on a given night.
The Fear: Becoming the New Jersey Devils, who broke through with a fun young group in 2023 and have proceeded to win just one playoff game in the three seasons since. Player development is more like free-soloing a mountain than climbing a staircase—there isn't an obvious linear path to the top. There's nothing that says injuries, fatigue, talent ceilings, or just plain bad luck can't force the Sharks' core members to stall out, take a step or two back, or even fall to their doom. There's a lot of work to be done before there's anything real to celebrate.
Buffalo Sabres (+30, Second Round)
The Situation: Finally, the Sabres broke the league's longest playoff drought and passed that hot potato to the Red Wings, who we'll get to later. While there were things to like here and there about previous years' models, the most recent Sabres enjoyed a gigantic improvement in net—via committee— that in turn helped the skaters play a much more coherent game. Rasmus Dahlin is coming into his own as one of the league's top defensemen, Tage Thompson scored 40 goals for the third time in four years, and there's a high ceiling on guys like Josh Doan and Zach Benson alongside them. This group was mighty enough for Buffalo to win arguably the league's toughest division, KO Boston, and take Montreal to a Game 7 overtime. Not bad for a market that doesn't have any palm trees.
The Fear: Alex Tuch's departure for Washington leaves 33 goals and a ton of defensive and special-teams responsibility to replace, but let's not get too tense too fast. I know I'm already betraying the entire gimmick of this preview, but in my eyes the only thing Sabres fans have to fear is fear itself. This team is coming off by far its best season since 2007; they're playing with house money for at least a little bit. Enjoy some optimism for once!
Boston Bruins (+24, First Round)
The Situation: Two seasons ago, the Bruins suffered a nightmare comedown that stuck them at the very bottom of my last preview. This past season saw a meaningful improvement, but nevertheless fell a little short of the franchise's usual standards: They finished fourth in their division and made a first-round exit. Old icons Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron are long gone, but the Bruins rode great play from Jeremy Swayman in goal, the usual stellar production from David Pastrňák, and some outlier-looking years from Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie to return to respectability. This off-season's biggest move was swapping in JJ Peterka for the older winger Viktor Arvidsson, which seems positive in the long-term, but the wild ups and downs of recent years make the Bru Cru one of the league's toughest teams to forecast.
The Fear: That Fraser Minten, the 22-year-old center who just signed a nice big extension and is a prime candidate for a breakout year, turns out to be a dud.
Philadelphia Flyers (+22, Second Round)
The Situation: After five quiet rebuilding years, the Flyers stitched together a solid defense-first season that allowed them to crawl over the Capitals and into the last playoff spot in the East. From there, Dan Vladar hot-goalied the Penguins before the Canes swept them out of the second round. I'd be lying if I said there was anything truly remarkable about the 25–26 Flyers—they didn't manage a win streak longer than three games—but a superb season for Vladar in his first go as a starter combined with some low-event hockey in front of him to give this franchise exactly what they needed to get out of the wilderness. Also, there's a guy on the roster named Denver Barkey.
The Fear: The key Flyers are all pretty young, and there might not be anyone more intriguing than Porter Martone, who picked up 15 points in just 19 career games between the regular season and the playoffs. But the main character is Matvei Michkov, a top prospect entering a critical age-22 season. As a rookie, with John Tortorella as his coach, Michkov was promising if uneven. As a sophomore, under newly hired Rick Tocchet, he took a worrying step back, to the point where he was a complete non-factor in the team's two playoff series. The Flyers haven't had a 40-goal scorer since Jeff Carter in 08–09, and Michkov's offensive skillset is such that it's reasonable to hope he'll be the next to hit that mark. But there's also a ton of nerves around whether or not he'll develop into a complete-enough player that he'll cement himself in Philly's top six, let alone serve as a franchise centerpiece.
Colorado Avalanche (+19, Western Conference Finalists)
The Situation: These dudes rocked. I've still got spirals in my eyes from that regular season Avs-Wild game I attended back in March, where Colorado particularly dazzled me with its attacking magic. This squad finished best in the league in goals for and goals against last season, winning the Presidents' Trophy as well as eight of their first nine playoff contests. They entered the third round with their top line pretty banged up, however, and even though that's an unsatisfying excuse for the way they were so embarrassingly swept aside by Vegas, it's also the easiest explanation for how unlike themselves the Avs looked in that series. Heading into this season, the big question facing this roster is basically, who's going to regress (especially at goalie), and by how much?
The Fear: That regular-season dominance continues to lead to playoff disappointment. Since the 2014 playoffs, the team with the most points in the regular season has been upset in the first round twice and made the Stanley Cup Final never. However, I'd argue that those results stem in part from the fact that the Presidents' Trophy rewards talented teams motivated to prove themselves night after night in the grind of the regular season, rather than the literal "best" team in the league. The Capitals, Lightning, Avalanche, and Panthers all went on to lift the Cup soon after suffering from this "curse." In the same way that the Lightning haven't won their division since 2019, I don't think Colorado would be all that broken up if they're overtaken in the standings this year. Being the best team in winter isn't the prize they recognize.
Pittsburgh Penguins (+18, First Round)
The Situation: Well, well, well, look who mostly crawled out of that hole they dug for themselves. The 2024–25 Penguins were an absolute wreck that suffered regular beatdowns as they missed the playoffs for the third straight year. But last year's squad, under new coach Dan Muse, managed to piece together a respectable path to the East's seventh-best record, even with substandard goaltending. Heading into opening night, the crystal ball looks murky to me. On the one hand, there are some up-and-comers on this roster worth taking an interest in, like Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty. (I did not make those names up.) On the other hand, while the Pens did spread the puck around a lot, their top six point-getters last season were all north of 30, and some, like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, are so old they just started making "6 7" jokes last week. Once they stop producing, how much does the bottom fall out?
The Fear: Arthritis, liver spots, hip replacements.
Nashville Predators (+18)
The Situation: The Preds haven't won a playoff series since 2018, and their big splashy offseason of 2024 proved an unmitigated disaster. But if nothing else at least last year was an improvement on the year before, as they kinda sorta contended for the eight seed while Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg each tallied 40-goal seasons. As far as this offseason went, the most notable shuffle was Dallas's young 20-goal scorer Mavrik Bourque entering the mix and the more well-rounded 24-year-old Luke Evangelista getting traded to Jersey. But really, this Nashville season is about how much more they can Juuse out of the veterans they've invested so much in. That's a pun. If you don't get it read one more line.
The Fear: That goaltender Juuse Saros, who's been worked harder than anyone in the league at his position over the past five years, is just straight-up done as a Vezina contender or even a reliable starter. It's been two straight bad seasons for the 31-year-old, and three straight below the exceptional standard he once set for himself. But the Predators have got him signed to a big contract for another seven years. Half the bachelorettes in Nashville this summer will have marriages shorter than the rest of that deal.
Montreal Canadiens (+15, Eastern Conference Finalists)
The Situation: I had no idea we were allowed to pick Canadian teams to win the Stanley Cup, but the Habs have emerged as an appealing choice after an absolute thriller of a season where their collection of young studs looked second to none. Cole Caufield scored 51 goals, Nick Suzuki earned 101 points, and still-developing talents like Juraj Slafkovsky, Oliver Kapanen, Ivan Demidov, and especially Lane Hutson have yet to hit their limit. Not since 1993 has any team from Canada lifted the Cup, and if you wanted to get extremely hyped about this one, I wouldn't blame you.
The Fear: Have you ever been disappointed by a sports team? No? Well, let me tell you, it happens sometimes. I still have questions about Jakub Dobes as he enters his second season as the starter in the crease, and particularly on defense there's room to pursue some depth. A strong veteran add or two in the middle of the season might be the gravy on the top of the poutine, as they like to say up north.
Carolina Hurricanes (+14, Stanley Cup Champs)
The Situation: They did it! After seven straight playoff-making seasons where the Canes played rock-solid hockey but couldn't get over the hump, the 2026 edition flattened the East and proved superior to Vegas in the Final. Over and over, I've written about how Rod Brind'Amour's boys play a laudable, hard-working style that prioritizes winning the shot battle and tilting the ice, but also about how they've lacked that killer line that can match up against the best in the East in a seven-game series where everyone's giving it their all. What changed last year wasn't that one guy emerged to be The Man for Carolina, but that the addition of skaters like Logan Stankoven, Nikolaj Ehlers, Taylor Hall, and fourth-round draft pick Jackson Blake all paid off, while longer-tenured forwards like Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, and Sebastian Aho all continued to be excellent. Plus, even though goalie had been a sore spot for this team, the playoff pair of Freddie Andersen and then, for the last few games, 27-year-old rookie Brandon Bussi did their jobs admirably. It was such a satisfying success that I don't even know what to say now. Jarvis had shoulder surgery this offseason! Sorry, I guess I had to blurt that out somewhere.
The Fear: For this bit, I'd like to invite Brad "The Ballbuster" Ballesteros from WGFF The Goof in Raleigh for a hypothetical lament about the upcoming regular season:
This team is S-O-F-T SOFT! They win one measly trophy and now they don't think they have to try on a Monday night in December at Utah? Get bent! What, are they tired from playing so many games? Are they saving themselves for something that matters more than doubling up Seattle on shots? [Fart noise sound effect] You know, people are gonna come down on me for this, but I think it'd have been better if the Hurricanes had never even won the Stanley Cup, because maybe then they'd want to win games 5-1 instead of 3-2 in overtime. Fire everybody and trade for Gavin McKenna!
And now it's time for our Can't-Miss Prop Bet Of The Hour, presented by Bareback Sports Bo—
OK, thanks, shut up now.
Anaheim Ducks (+12, Second Round)
The Situation: A 92-point season isn't exactly mission accomplished on the rebuild, but the Ducks made the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and beat a weakened Oilers group in the first round. Not bad at all. Their own youthful core, led by Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson at forward, is a few players shy of Montreal's for now but still provides something tangible to put your faith in. Jackson LaCombe on defense is good bedrock for a position group that needs improvement. And they've settled on their goalie, 26-year-old Lukáš Dostál, even though it's still TBD just how effective he can be.
The Fear: Atrocious netminding, a critical injury, and stalled development of kids like Beckett Sennecke and Pavel Mintyukov all combine to send the Ducks tumbling back down to an irrelevant spot in the standings, replaced by the Sharks as California's hockey team on the rise.
Chicago Blackhawks (+11)
The Situation: It still feels like a one-man show with this team, and that one man—2023 draft lottery prize Connor Bedard—is starting the season injured. This will be his fourth year in the NHL, and his first as Chicago's captain, but the rebuild still has a long, long way to go. Bedard's not producing as quickly as his reputation as a prospect suggested, though he's still just 21. And it remains a mystery who exactly is going to help him turn this team into a winner. I'm reading Bedard's goofy little Players' Tribune letter to Chicago fans and I can't help but pick nearly every sentence apart. After the fourth straight year in which the Blackhawks finished last in their division, he names three moves that show the organization now has a winning attitude. Patrick Kane, who is going to turn 38 this season and scored 16 goals last year, is coming back for a nostalgic farewell. Bowen Byram, who was not the No. 1 defenseman in Buffalo, "is going to come right in and be our No. 1 defenseman." And Bedard himself signed a contract extension. "It was probably the easiest negotiation in NHL history haha," he wrote.
The Fear: That Kane has about as triumphant a homecoming in Chicago as Justin Verlander did in Detroit. Haha.
New York Islanders (+9)
The Situation: I'm actually surprised the Islanders aren't higher, because even though they've missed the postseason in consecutive years, last year felt to me like a cool glass of lemonade compared to the jar of horseradish that was 24–25. Full credit for the difference in taste goes to first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer, who blew past expectations to immediately establish himself as one of the NHL's best offensive defensemen. Particularly because he wasn't pegged as a franchise savior–type, Schaefer's assuredness as a playmaker on the ice was astounding, and the responsibilities he had to handle as a newcomer were ridiculous. Playing all 82 games, he finished fifth among all NHL skaters in ice time at just 18 years old, so even though you should brace yourself for some fatigue or regression heading into his sophomore year, he is a fantastic starting point for a longer-term overhaul.
The Fear: Ilya Sorokin papered over a lot of cracks on this team with a stellar season in net. The fact that their kid defenseman finished second on the Isles in goals is indicative of a lack of firepower, and the rest of the aging blue line is in need of renovation. The franchise fired head coach Patrick Roy with the team still technically in playoff contention, so they could get the jump on hiring Pete DeBoer. He's made eight conference finals with four different teams, but if he even just gets the Islanders back to the postseason, he'll deserve Coach of the Year.
Minnesota Wild (+7, Second Round)
The Situation: It was not officially the best season in Minnesota Wild history, but it was pretty darn close. After years of languishing on the fringes of the playoffs, the North Stars' true successors made use of some long-awaited salary cap breathing room to swing a huge midseason trade for Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes. The eldest of the Hughes boys notched 48 assists in 48 games, primarily setting up superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and the newer sensation Matt Boldy. In a cutthroat Central where they had to contend with both Colorado and Dallas, the Wild could meet anyone's ceiling on a good night, and they dispatched the South Stars in the first round before the Avs knocked them topsy-turvy in the second.
The Fear: This is where I'm used to saying something about the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contracts, but they're no longer costing the team nearly $15 million per year. The two things to freak out about for the Wild are Hughes's expiring contract and the fact that Dallas and Colorado are going to continually stand in the way of their conference final hopes and dreams. I think I'm the only person in the world who appreciates how the NHL playoff format prioritizes divisional match-ups, because I was watching that Wild-Stars series and chanting "Four more years!"
Dallas Stars (+6, First Round)
The Situation: They fired head coach Pete DeBoer after the 2025 playoffs because he couldn't seem to take them beyond the third round, and then under new guy Glen Gulutzan they won just two games in their opening series against the Wild. But that's a harsh way to judge another excellent Stars season where they earned the league's third-best record while showcasing the tremendous talents they've developed over the last several years. The 27-year-old winger Jason Robertson and the 23-year-old center Wyatt Johnston, neither of whom were ever can't-miss dudes as prospects, tied for fourth in the NHL with 45 goals each. Miro Heiskanen, the team's third overall pick back in 2017, led a defensive group that finished second-best in goals allowed, even without particularly astounding goalie play. The Stars run a tight ship, and one of these years they hope the playoff winds will be blowing in their favor.
The Fear: If Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz don't return to peak form, then there's significantly less attacking depth on this team than there used to be, as vets like Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn drift toward retirement and the team sheds some salary to ensure their first priorities get paid. Robertson and Johnson have been iron men through their careers so far, but I don't believe you can just snap your fingers and expect yet another season like last.
Detroit Red Wings (+6)
The Situation: If Detroit were relocated to Oregon, there'd be less to complain about, as the Red Wings' record would have been good enough to earn them a playoff spot in the Western Conference. But Detroit's in Michigan, and as such they couldn't end a playoff drought that now, thanks to Buffalo, extends three seasons longer than anyone else's. And nobody's in the mood to see the glass half-full. This is a restless franchise that saw Steve Yzerman announce his departure from the GM chair well into the offseason, hasn't found his permanent replacement, and still hasn't settled a trade demand from the now-deposed captain Dylan Larkin, who will likely get booed at home for as long as the team keeps losing. Alex DeBrincat had a 40-goal season, and Moritz Seider is doing everything in his power to drag this defense up to something respectable. But the Red Wings badly, desperately need to hit the jackpot on at least one and ideally more of their prospects.
The Fear: That on any given morning Elliotte Friedman is going to tweet out something like "hearing Larkin to FLA for draft picks in '30 and '31." OK, the return won't be that bad, probably, but the fear is that this decade-long rebuild is about to become a corrupted hard drive. As general manager goes, all that owner Chris Ilitch has done so far is promote former assistant GM Shawn Horcoff to the interim job. Given how long the ex-player has been in the Red Wings' front office, he feels like basically the same guy as Yzerman, just with 506 fewer NHL goals.
Tampa Bay Lightning (+4, First Round)
The Situation: They're still here. Four straight first-round exits since the Avalanche denied them a three-peat belie the fact that, at least in the regular season, the Lightning have done a brilliant job freshening up their roster so that they still win a bunch of games in an attractive style even when stalwarts like Brayden Point and Victor Hedman aren't close to 100 percent. Reigning Hart winner (and soon-to-be free agent) Nikita Kucherov and Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy deserve a ton of the credit, and they've been around forever, but you can't sleep on the support they've received from a number of additions who did not win the Cup with Tampa in 2020 or '21: Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel, Darren Raddysh (now in Toronto), J.J. Moser, and perhaps, in this coming year, the under-the-radar Pontus Holmberg. Also, John Carlson just got here too!
The Fear: The four first-round losses aren't quite as bad as they seem when you look at who the Lightning faced. There was the Leafs, who were probably going to spontaneously combust if they didn't break through in that series. There were back-to-back bummers against the murderer's row Panthers. And then there was the seven-game loss to Montreal where all seven were decided by just one goal. That said, these Bolts are a title-or-bust franchise, and all those defeats made the entire year leading up them feel wasted. I've trying so hard to avoid writing "that they won't win the Stanley Cup" as every team's fear—because, like, duh. But it's extra true here.
Utah Mammoth (+3, First Round)
The Situation: The stink of the Arizona Coyotes is almost off, as this relocated franchise made the postseason and put up a fight against Vegas while promising even better things soon. Last season, a veteran defense led by Mikhail Sergachev held together, 23-year-old Dylan Guenther scored 40, and team captain Clayton Keller finally got to experience his first legitimate playoff atmosphere since debuting for the Yotes in 2017. This offseason, Utah added a couple of intriguing New Yorkers: jack-of-all-trades forward Vincent Trocheck from the Rangers and former Islanders leading scorer Anders Lee. Both are getting older and aren't coming off their best seasons, but especially in the case of Trocheck, it's worth betting that the decline won't be too steep too fast. Throw in a meteoric kid or two, and you've got a squad that can start knocking on the doors of the Central's traditional powers.
The Fear: That a few Maricopa County vigilantes kidnap the whole team and force them to play all their home games at a community rink in Scottsdale.
Columbus Blue Jackets (+3)
The Situation: The Jackets were streaky, sloppy, and fun for a neutral fan in the way that still-developing teams often are, finishing just six points out of the Eastern Conference playoff slots. In his first full season since he was hired in January, 71-year-old head coach Rick Bowness will continue his sometimes-futile efforts to impose some discipline on a crew that seems to enjoy playing loose, energetic hockey but doesn't really have the scoring talent to win a lot of games that way. In years past I would have said they don't have the goalie talent, either, but Jet Greaves just finished his first year as a starter and looks like he could grow into one of the league's best tenders. If only 21-year-old Adam Fantilli could become a passable imitation of Connor McDavid, then they'd really be cooking.
The Fear: That there are fewer than five professional hockey players at any given moment who would willingly choose to live in Ohio.
Seattle Kraken (+3)
The Situation: The Kraken are still mired in the expansion mud. After five seasons of play, they've yet to give their fans a truly great player to cheer for, and instead they're stuck struggling to grind out goals and survive the opposition's attacks. I did have a fun time when I took the monorail to see them play near the Space Needle last April. It was a very nice day, so I especially enjoyed sitting on the lawn and gazing at the elevators going to the observation deck. I got a postcard from the Chihuly Garden, too. I have nothing more to say about the Kraken.
The Fear: That they finish even lower than 28th in the league in scoring.
Ottawa Senators (+2, First Round)
The Situation: Once the adorable little darlings of this very website, the unpleasantness of team captain Brady Tkachuk eventually wore me down until I just kind of shrugged my shoulders at the Sens. He's gone to Florida to play with his brother now, and he's left behind a team with a bit of an identity crisis. They've made the last two postseasons, so in that way the long rebuild wasn't a lemon. But they've won just two games, total, including a 2026 sweep by the Hurricanes, so there's a lot of growing left to do. On the bright side, Tim Stützle is a highlight-reel scorer and Jake Sanderson's a sturdy anchor for the defense, so it's nice that the team's most critical draft picks of the last seven years both panned out.
The Fear: The most immediate fallout from the Tkachuk stuff is that the Senators ended up getting William Eklund from San Jose. The seventh overall pick from 2021 is still young enough that you can hope for a kind of Eureka moment where he suddenly escapes the 15-goal/40-assist plateau he's on, but he's also played long enough that it wouldn't be a shock if this is just who he is. The fear is that Eklund for Tkachuk is ultimately a big net negative, Florida surges ahead of Ottawa in the standings, and the Sens go back to being a team we can all laugh about when they occasionally stymie the Habs. Oh, and also all their goalies sucked last year, so it would be helpful if that changed.
New Jersey Devils (-4)
Edmonton Oilers (-8, First Round)
The Situation: Connor McDavid hit the snooze button on free agency with the extension he signed last year, so the Oilers have only two more guaranteed years in bed with him. They got tantalizing close to a championship in '24 and '25, but '26 was a crash-out. McDavid did lead the league with 138 points, while defenseman Evan Bouchard set a new career high with 95 and Leon Draisaitl got 97 in only 65 games. But the goaltending, mainly Tristan Jarry, was hard to stomach even by traditional Oilers standards, and by the time they faced the Ducks in the first round the team was too battered and disorganized to put up more than a cursory fight. With more time to rest thanks to their early dismissal, they'll try to reset with new head coach—everyone roll your eyes together—Mike Babcock. I know all these teams just hire coaches by picking names out of the Coaching Hat, but couldn't GM—everyone groan together—Stan Bowman have requested a redo?
The Fear: From Edmonton's perspective, what's the single most painful team that McDavid could go on to win the Cup with? I'm thinking Toronto, but there'd be something particularly infuriating about Los Angeles, too.
New York Rangers (-8)
The Situation: The price of a Rangers season ticket might have been the single worst value in all of sports last year. Only the Canucks won fewer games at home, and the Rangers' performance in Madison Square Garden was atrocious. They were shut out seven times, scored just one goal in a loss seven more times, and they also had that point-of-no-return January game against the Senators where they were down 6-0 halfway through the second. This makes back-to-back years of missed playoffs after a stretch where they made the East Final in two out of three, and only a couple of top players—namely goalie Igor Shesterkin—avoided being contaminated by the stink. There was a fair bit of shuffling in the offseason as a result, but the headline newcomer is undoubtedly Vegas's homegrown leading scorer, Pavel Dorofeyev. He'll look to provide a spark on a team that needs some fire.
The Fear: For James Dolan? That the get-in price for these games will drop below $120. The horror!
St. Louis Blues (-10)
The Situation: This is the spot where I complain about how boring the Blues are, and that bit's getting old. So let's just remember some guys instead. Dallas Drake, Pavol Demitra, Doug Weight, Manny Legace.
The Fear: That I might be forced to care about the Blues at any point this season.
Florida Panthers (-14)
The Situation: Oh yeah, the Panthers! They won the Cup a couple times, almost had a dynasty going there. Then last year they hit the wall that teams who play 100-plus games a year often hit, and the story of their season was their injuries. That and the fact that their heroic playoff goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, became unplayable at 37 years old. He's in a better place now (Toronto), replaced by a 36-year-old question mark in the form of ex-Devil Jacob Markstrom.
The Fear: I'm certainly not fantasizing about anything horrible happening to this team. No sir.
Vegas Golden Knights (-15, Stanley Cup Finalist)
The Situation: Vegas stocks brand-name players like boats stock life jackets, and last year's big newcomer, Mitch Marner, was a rousing success, scoring 10 goals and dishing 19 assists over the Knights' 22-game playoff run. They were by quite a large margin the league's worst division winner, mostly sabotaged by a total mess in the crease that only cleared because the franchise had been willing to sign Carter Hart after he was found not guilty of sexual assault. But with the help of a relatively easy draw in the first two rounds, then a shock sweep of the Avs in the conference final, VGK nearly hoisted their second Cup in four years. If Carolina's underdog backup Brandon Bussi hadn't outplayed Hart in the Final, they probably would have.
The Fear: One of the splashiest moves of the offseason actually involved a guy leaving Las Vegas, rather than arriving, and now that Pavel Dorofeyev is a Ranger they'll have to find a way to replace his scoring from within. As far as worries go, I think in Vegas the fear is always that they'll be drowned out by all the surrounding entertainment. Like, in a city where you can see Barry Manilow and Donny Osmond on any given night, who would want to go to a hockey game?
Los Angeles Kings (-15, First Round)
The Situation: I don't care that they made the playoffs. This was a shameful season. Only the Canucks won fewer games in regulation than the Kings, and no postseason entrant had a worse goal differential than their -22. In the East, they would have been a joke, but in the West, their league-high 20(!!) losses in overtime and shootouts stocked them just enough loser points to get the eight seed, where they made a contractually obligated four-game appearance against the Avalanche.
The Fear: Anže Kopitar has retired, and Kevin Fiala is still injured, so there's a huge need for offense on a team that ranked 29th in overall scoring. I give L.A. credit for bringing in Artemi Panarin at the last trade deadline, because he's an entertaining set-up man, but the big anxiety for the Kings is whether or not their second overall pick from 2020, Quinton Byfield, can level up into one of the league's elite centers after three years spent hovering around 50ish points. If he and Alex Laferriere fail to make a leap forward, the Kings could be a very dull watch.
Washington Capitals (-16)
The Situation: The Caps couldn't capitalize on the turn-back-the-clock season they had in 24-25, missing the playoffs in the East even though they totaled as many points as Vegas (with more wins and a better goal differential). Given how flattered Washington is by a comparison with the Western Conference champs, they're by far the hardest team to criticize of all the playoff outsiders, especially with a couple significant additions entering the fold (Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou). Logan Thompson was great in goal, the forwards met expectations, and the biggest problem with the defense was that John Carlson got traded at the deadline. Sometimes things just don't work out.
The Fear: That Alex Ovechkin, who scored 32 goals at age 40 to bring his career total to 929, won't put a lid on his love for Vladimir Putin.
Calgary Flames (-19)
The Situation: It was a bad year, and their window is shut tighter than a downtown hotel's. They'll need a lot more production from guys like Connor Zary or Jonathan Huberdeau just to avoid being total doormats. So the big story instead is that this is Calgary's final year at the Saddledome, a building that's truly the last of its kind at this level of sports, before they move into something much more generic. I loved my trip to the Saddle last season, and it makes me a little melancholy knowing that every Flames game this year will be somebody's last visit to this whimsical relic. Make the most of it.
The Fear: The Flames are desperate for a glimmer of hope, and the 20-year-old winger Matvei Gridin might be the closest thing for now. I don't see anyone else on this roster more likely to score 40, so if this Russian turns out to be a flop, it would be ... well, you know, not good.
Toronto Maple Leafs (-30)
The Situation: McKenna McKenna McKenna. And I'm not talking about Dave. The Leafs stumbled through an awful year where nobody really replaced Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews got even more injured, and the defense was as futile as it gets. However, they have a new coach in Jim Hiller, a new No. 1 D-man in Darren Raddysh, a new goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky, and the holy grail of the 2026 draft, Gavin McKenna. Everybody's holding their breath waiting to see how this Penn State kid from the Yukon holds up in the NHL, because his best-case is "pure fireball."
The Fear: Any negative scenario you could possibly imagine, from William Nylander bruising his wrist blocking a shot to Matthews getting concussed by a rampaging orangutan at the Toronto Zoo, is running through the minds of Leafs fans every minute of every day.
Vancouver Canucks (-32)
The Situation: Where to even start? Their former blue-line leader Quinn Hughes is in America for probably the rest of his career, their top center Elias Pettersson only scored 15 goals for the second straight year, their foundational goalie Thatcher Demko couldn't stay healthy again, and I don't even have enough space to get into how many ways the front office duffed it. Plus, new GM Ryan Johnson seems to be handcuffed by ownership's desire to cut costs, so good luck salvaging anything by 2030. I still love every version of the Canucks' uniforms, at least.
The Fear: With the third pick in the draft, the Canucks took Caleb Malhotra, who is the son of their newly hired coach Manny Malhotra. Given what I know about bad teams and how long they usually keep their coaches, I am expecting to eat so much popcorn while I watch the family drama play out.
Winnipeg Jets (-34)
The Situation: Jeez, it's chilly down here. For a long stretch the Jets got as far as they could—usually the first or second round of the playoffs—with a nice homegrown core. But now they're in a tailspin, and Connor Hellebuyck keeps unbuckling everybody's seatbelts. The once-peerless Jets goalie, who played a starring role in both their regular-season successes and their playoff disappointments, likely won't ever put on the mask for them again, because he's holding out for a trade. Hellebuyck is the president's favorite hockey boy, and he's coming off a disconcertingly pedestrian year, and he continually sieves up the joint in the games that matter most, so it is kind of tempting just to shout something emotional like "Good riddance! I bet Stuart Skinner can do your job just fine!" But Winnipeg's geographic disadvantage in the free-agent market has already wreaked havoc on its depth, so any attempt to put a positive spin on this development rings hollow.
The Fear: With the league focused first and foremost on further expansion, the threat level for relocation is only blue. But I know that word is never far from the thoughts of this poor fanbase. I don't want to end on that note, though, so here's another Hip song.
We're done!
