[Ear-shaking siren noise]
It's time for the NHL season preview! Drop the needle on Stompin' Tom.
You probably get how most of this works by now, but I've got a new method of organizing the teams. I'm starting with the ones who improved the most last season by regular-season points, and ending with the ones who declined the most. I've included their points increase or decrease from the previous season, and their playoff finish if they had one. For each franchise, I've given a reason why they are Hot, a reason why they are Not (Hot), and a particular person who is Hot. Let's drop the puck.
Columbus Blue Jackets (+23)
Why They're Hot: They're at the very top of this list! They are the hottest of the hot. They are the last dab. They are the Sonoran Desert. They are the Human Torches of hockey. Well, they didn't make the playoffs, but we'll get to that. What the Blue Jackets do have going for them is several years' worth of draft picks who are coming along quite nicely, especially in the forward corps. Kirill Marchenko looks like a superstar in the making, posting 74 points in his age-24 season last year. Dmitri Voronkov isn't far behind him with 23 goals and 24 assists in his sophomore campaign. And Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson are even younger. The East feels so crowded that it's hard to say if last year's ninth-place finisher is going to muscle its way into the playoffs, but it's easy to talk yourself into the idea that Columbus is on the upswing.
Why They're Not: Zach Werenski LARPed as Hercules last season, leading the league in ice time as he desperately tried to cover for a deficient defensive corps. That he finished second in the Norris voting even though the Jackets finished 25th in goals against and 28th in shot attempts against tells you a lot about the gap between him and the rest of the Columbus back end. None of their goalies, except a kid named Jet Greaves, played well at all, so CBJ are asking a lot of their young scorers to keep them from falling down a well.
Who Is Actually Hot: Werenski isn't just a great player. He's also been the team's "Community MVP" on three separate occasions. That's partially for his work with humans, but he's good to animal shelters, too. Here's the Instagram for his cute goldendoodle, Beau. Awww. Very hot.
Anaheim Ducks (+21)
Why They're Hot: This new format is already throwing me for a loop. Why am I talking about the Ducks this early? They did in fact improve last year, but that's more a testament to how utterly awful they were the year before that. Even with the improvement, they didn't come close to making the playoffs, finishing 30th in goals scored and 22nd in goals against. But at the very least they saw some sparks from Zoomers like Jackson LaCombe, Mason McTavish, and Cutter Gauthier. Added to the mix for this year is power-play merchant Chris Kreider, who definitely appears to be on the decline but did score 52 goals just four years ago.
Why They're Not: Joel Quenneville is the new head coach, apparently rehabilitated after four years of exile brought on by his association with Blackhawks' abuse scandal. Fun fact: He's as old as LaCombe, McTavish, and Gauthier combined.
Who Is Actually Hot: Trevor Zegras, a stalled-out sports car of a 24-year-old forward, is ... in Philadelphia now. Never mind!
Washington Capitals (+20, Second Round)
Why They're Hot: Alex Ovechkin should never retire. He should just keep scoring more and more goals with an increasing number of bionic limbs (like six or seven) until he hits 2,000. But 897 is a nice number, too. The Capital for life broke the all-time goals record last season, in a year where he scored 44 at age 39. Even if the other dimensions of his game have weathered a little, that's still a jaw-dropping feat, and it headlined what looked to be a comeback year for the Caps, where they were the No. 1 seed in the East and welcomed both rejuvenated vets and new faces into the fold. Jakob Chychrun and Pierre-Luc Dubois were savvy adds. Aliaksei Protas broke out with a 30-goal year. John Carlson is aging like fancy wine. At least in the regular season, this team was a treat for their fans.
Why They're Not: I learned my lesson and will avoid prematurely counting out the Caps, but after a quick second-round dismantling at the hands of Hurricanes, it's hard not to wonder how much staying power last year's magic has. They're not quite as old or as thin as they used to be, but there's definitely a lot of pressure on aging stars to keep producing. Maybe it all comes together again, but Carolina really did a number on their morale.
Who Is Actually Hot: If you don't mind a man who plays dirty, then it's absolutely Tom Wilson. And if you feel guilty about his many on-ice crimes and misdemeanors, just note that he's coming off his most productive offensive campaign yet by a good margin. That's offensive like the opposite of defense, not offensive like an Eminem verse.
Ottawa Senators (+19, First Round)
Why They're Hot: The Sens made the playoffs! After seven empty seasons spent waiting for the rebuild to finally click, Ottawa rewarded the sickos by leap-frogging into the first wild card in the East—just one point behind the eventual Stanley Cup champs. They did this with a new goalie, Linus Ullmark, backstopping a young group (plus Claude Giroux) who'd teased supporters with glimpses of the future for far too long. No one guy put up a particularly incredible statistical season, but the combined might of Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson on defense, plus Tim Stützle, Drake Batherson, and Brady Tkachuk leading the forward group, was enough to give the Maple Leafs a run for their money in the first round. The next step? Winning a series.
Why They're Not: Don't make me say anything bad about the Ottawa Senators. Please. It's been so long since anything good happened to them. I just want what's best for these boys.
If there's anything to lament, it's the fact that any team making the shift from rebuild to playoffs will have to part with some of the guys who were there at the start. In Ottawa's case, the tough blow was trading Josh Norris for Dylan Cozens at the deadline. You could see in Tkachuk's bummed-out reaction to the news how tight this young core had become in their long fight to become something better.
Who Is Actually Hot: Everyone at Defector loves the very quiet and unassuming defenseman Artem Zub. Don't look up what his last name means in Arabic.
Calgary Flames (+15)
Why They're Hot: They're literally the Flames.
Why They're Not: That they're fairly high on this list means last year was significantly better than the one that came before it, but I look at Calgary and still mostly see lost potential. That season four years ago where Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, and Elias Lindholm combined to form one of the most dominant lines in the game was as good as it got, and it only produced a five-game loss to the Oilers in the second round.
Head coach Ryan Huska, who replaced the notoriously exhausting hard-ass Darryl Sutter, is now entering his third year, and he's piloting a team that's still trying to find an identity. They just barely missed the postseason in a year where they struggled to score and had a goal differential of -13, and if they want to flip from "below average" to "team to take seriously" I'm not sure they're going to be able to do it with the current leaders they have. Nazem Kadri, their top scorer, just turned 35. Jonathan Huberdeau, another load-bearing part of the offense, and MacKenzie Weegar, their top defenseman, are both in their 30s. That's not to say they're washed, but the challenge facing the Flames is primarily one of player development—evolving Matt Coronato and Connor Zary into top-tier forwards and turning even younger guys like Hunter Brzustewicz and Zayne Parekh into key pieces. It's a big undertaking, and they're not playing on easy mode.
Who Is Actually Hot: I'm rooting for Dustin Wolf, the significantly undersized redhead whom the Flames hope will be their franchise goalie for a long time to come. Replacing Jacob Markström as the starter at just 23 years old, I felt like the former seventh-rounder was put into an especially difficult situation. But he ended up covering quite well for the league's 29th-ranked offense, posting a record of 29-16-8 while finishing seventh in goals saved above average. It doesn't matter how heavy you are, as long as you stop the puck.
Montreal Canadiens (+15, First Round)
Why They're Hot: What a payoff last year was for Habs fans, who watched the team press the turbo button on their own rebuild and leave Detroit and Buffalo in the dust. The dynamic duo of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield hit their primes, combining on 67 goals and 92 assists. Lane Hutson won rookie of the year because he was just absolutely addicted to setting up goals from the blue line. Juraj Slafkovsky, the former first-overall pick who's still only 21 years old, keeps taking steps forward. Older guys like Brendan Gallagher and Mike Matheson provide a solid foundation. And this offseason, Montreal made a big exciting trade for the Islanders' brightest defensive star, Noah Dobson. Why can't the Sabres ever do this?
Why They're Not: I'm still holding off on learning how to say "Which way to the parade?" in French. There's a lot about the Canadiens' 2024–25 that feels a little flukey in the cold light of October. They have lingering goalie questions; they benefited from tremendous injury luck; and they rose to the middle during a down year for some perennial Eastern Conference playoff squads. The excitement is there, but I think it's still pacing the overall talent by a few lengths.
Who Is Actually Hot: Suzuki, easily. There's always something hot about that captain's "C" on a jersey, especially in Montreal.
Vegas Golden Knights (+12, Second Round)
Why They're Hot: Up until their second-round loss to the Oilers, the Golden Knights checked all the boxes. They were led by enviable talents plucked from other teams like Tomáš Hertl, Noah Hanifin, and Jack Eichel. They enjoyed a breakout season from former third-rounder Pavel Dorofeyev. They had plenty of veteran depth. Their goalie play was typically good enough. And they made a habit of just absolutely suffocating opposing teams even when the schedule told them they should take it easy. (No team had a better shot differential on the second night of back-to-backs.) This is a still-young franchise that has done everything it can to minimize its weaknesses, and time and again they've proven unafraid to bet big on brand-name talent. This fall, Mitch Marner will be the latest addition to the A-listers, coming off a career high of 102 points in his age-27 season in Toronto. That is a tremendous prize for a team that just finished first in their division, and even though Marner won't have Auston Matthews to pass to anymore, his new linemates shouldn't be lacking for finishing ability.
Why They're Not: The playoffs are hard, so it's been a bit of a comedown since winning the Stanley Cup in 2023. In their title-defense campaign, the Knights were swamped by injuries and bowed out in the first round. This past year, the Oilers cut their spring short. Vegas can do everything right—and so far, they basically have—but they're still going to have to grit their teeth come April.
Who Is Actually Hot: Get Marner's face on the outside of the Sphere, stat.
Utah Mammoth (+12)
Why They're Hot: The aura of mystery. I could tell myself that I've seen all these players before, and the inconsistent-but-intriguing team that they form together. But I'll still look at the schedule and go "Whoa, Mammoth!" The one-time Utah Hockey Club, relocated last season from Arizona State's little NCAA pond, looks to be in good shape for a fresh start. They kind of feel like the new Senators—a team that clearly has a bunch of potential but still needs time to develop it. Clayton Keller is the superstar with all the makings of a leader, and he's followed by recent first-rounders like Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther. You'll probably have to wait a couple years to be truly wowed by this roster. But keep an eye on them.
Why They're Not: The Mammoth are still the Coyotes at heart. Technically speaking, Utah is a brand-new team in the NHL's record books, and not an extension of that desert failure. But come on. This is a franchise that hasn't made a non-bubble playoffs since 2012. They still have everything to prove. Also, I don't know why the team name isn't Mammoths.
Who Is Actually Hot: He'll exert basically no sway over the team's win-loss record, but Liam "Spicy Tuna" O'Brien has a ton of hair and a ton of penalties. Last year he played 28 games and scored zero goals, but two seasons back he led the whole league with 153 minutes spent in the box. My kind of guy.
Minnesota Wild (+10, First Round)
Why They're Hot: Everything hinges on Kirill Kaprizov, who finished second on the team in goals even though he only played half the season, so it feels like a blessing for the Wild that he signed his new megadeal in the middle of preseason instead of testing free agency at the end of the year. It's perfectly reasonable to expect another 40-goal campaign from him, so good is he at finding the back of the net in any situation. However, the Wild are treading water, still searching for their first playoff series win since 2015. Kaprizov is a generational talent that they've committed to, and Minnesota cannot afford to let him go to waste.
Why They're Not: I had a lot of big ideas for this section, but they never got past the first round of edits.
Who Is Actually Hot: The number of different ways that Kaprizov can score is genuinely sexy.
New Jersey Devils (+10, First Round)
Why They're Hot: Mainly, the memory of the Devils team from a few years ago. That bright and chipper squad burst forth from several seasons of irrelevancy to play fast, dangerous, and thrilling hockey. The newest model did still bounce back from an awful 2023–24 to make the postseason, even if they were a quick exit. And many of the players responsible for that one great year are still around, plus a flashy acquisition in Timo Meier and a D-man of the future in Luke Hughes. The rest I'll save for the following section.
Why They're Not: The Devils feel like a test of optimism. Picture a healthy, locked-in version of this roster, and you can talk yourself into a deep playoff run. But the taste of last spring—where No. 1 center Jack Hughes was injured, nobody could score, and the goalie situation was unsettled—is a bitter one. New Jersey has a ton of work to do if they want to look like contenders again. But hey, at least they're better off than any of the teams in New York.
Who Is Actually Hot: Jack Hughes has one of my favorite male voices, more befitting a scientist than an athlete. It's soft almost to the point of timid, like he's trying to hide his words in the back of his throat. I find it adorable.
Chicago Blackhawks (+9)
Why They're Hot: Chicago is a nice city.
Why They're Not: This franchise tanked shamelessly to get the grand prize of the 2023 draft, Connor Bedard, and still it feels like the rebuild sits in first gear. None of Chicago's veterans, like Teuvo Teräväinen and Tyler Bertuzzi, moved the needle on a last-place finish. The goalies didn't play well. Bedard is lapping all of the other picks that might make up his future supporting cast. And their new head coach is Jeff Blashill, whose tenure with the Red Wings from 2015 to 2022 was not an encouraging one. Too much more of this, and they might as well tank again.
Who Is Actually Hot: Pass.
Winnipeg Jets (+6, Second Round)
Why They're Hot: Unless you're facing them, there's no reason to be upset when the Jets win. This is a franchise that's had to do it the hard way, weathering the conventional wisdom that "nobody wants to play in Winnipeg" to craft an endearing group of homegrown first-liners and depth pick-ups from elsewhere. Last year was their winningest season yet, and the best regular season of any team across the NHL—even the ones with nice weather and hotel wifi. They did this primarily through a dominant run for cornerstone goalie Connor Hellebuyck, but also with a couple of career years from stalwart forwards Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, who both finished top 10 on the goals leaderboard. Kind of makes you want to visit Manitoba, eh?
By the way, did anyone else see the movie Universal Language? Pretty good.
Why They're Not: There's no shame, really, in getting knocked out by Dallas in the second round. But it's frustrating that yet again the Jets couldn't capitalize on a strong regular season with a deep postseason run. Hellebyuck, for the third straight playoffs, was hella unlyucky, looking completely different from the world-beater who had led his squad to so many wins. But the offense didn't do him many favors either. Speaking of, winger Nikolaj Ehlers went to Carolina in free agency this offseason, taking with him practically a decade's worth of 20-goal seasons, and their best chance at replacing his production is kind of a weird one: Jonathan Toews, longtime Chicago captain who retired for health reasons and last played in 2022–23, is taking a shot at a comeback up here. While I wouldn't expect the Jets to win another one-seed, all that really matters is that they get back to the playoffs, and perform better this time.
Who Is Actually Hot: Kyle Connor, at least when he's got the long hair/beard look going.
Toronto Maple Leafs (+6, Second Round)
Why They're Hot: Auston Matthews. Last season was a down year for a guy who had scored 69 goals in the previous campaign, but he's still one of the greatest players in the league (at least when healthy). All things considered, especially the salary cap, the Leafs have done a good job building around him. William Nylander, John Tavares, and Matthew Knies are all offensive weapons of varying ages, and though the defense remains a little creaky, the goaltending duo of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz looked great (in the regular season) and helped Toronto finish first in the Atlantic.
Why They're Not: They're the Leafs. It's hard for me to even imagine what it's like, year after year, to try to talk yourself into them because the roster is legitimately talented—only for them to extend the NHL's longest Cup drought when it's all said and done. Toronto gave the Panthers quite a fight in the second round, and they earned the most playoff wins for the franchise since 2002. But nine times during the Matthews Era this team has bought a ticket to the postseason, and they have exactly two series wins to show for it. That's not very fun.
By the way, they lost Mitch Marner. As a winger who's both one of the league's top set-up men and a good defender, too, he is irreplaceable in the short term. The rest of the roster is good enough that they should still make the playoffs with relative ease, but it contributes to the feeling of the Leafs right now as one long, dramatic sigh.
Who Is Actually Hot: William Nylander has lovely eyes.
Los Angeles Kings (+6, First Round)
Why They're Hot: I went to Game 2 of the Kings-Oilers first-round series out in L.A., and I left totally convinced that Edmonton was done for. Los Angeles spent the third period in particular just piling up goals on hapless Edmonton netminders, and they left town with a 2-0 series lead after a 6-2 win. Led by a mix of in-their-prime talents like Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala, a still-effective legend in Anže Kopitar, and developing youngsters like Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, and Alex Laferriere, it looked like a sure thing that the Kings would finally, finally foil their playoff nemesis. The guy behind me was jonesing to buy tickets to Game 5, so convinced was he that the Kings would clinch a second-round berth on that night.
Game 2 was the last game the Kings won all year.
Why They're Not: It's not that the Kings are bad. They just haven't been good enough to beat Edmonton in the playoffs for ... four straight years. There's a lot to like about the way this team is constructed, but they simply cannot get over the Oiler hump. And don't hold your breath hoping that 35-year-old goalie Darcy Kuemper is going to match the career highs he hit last season.
Who Is Actually Hot: Kopitar has announced in advance that this will be his final NHL season. Not only is he a wizard with the puck, he's also your reigning Lady Byng winner for the third time in his career. I will never not love that the league gives out an actual award for "Best Sweetie."
San Jose Sharks (+5)
Why They're Hot: If you're buying low, it doesn't get any lower than San Jose, who bettered themselves by five points to still finish nine points behind the second-worst team in the league. It's been Rebuild City for several years, ever since the end of a lengthy run as one of the NHL's most successful (though never the most successful) franchises. However, they've got draft picks to show for it: Will Smith, William Eklund, Macklin Celebrini, and now Michael Misa, who put up 134 points in 65 games for the Saginaw Spirit and was born in 2007. That makes him ... what, like 11 years old? Something like that.
Why They're Not:
Who Is Actually Hot: Last year's fourth-string goalie Yaroslav Askarov has yet to establish himself at the NHL level, but in the minors he made a name for himself as a flashy, aggressive shot-stopper who stars in the kind of highlights that leave you wanting more.
Tampa Bay Lightning (+4, First Round)
Why They're Hot: This weathered dynasty has now gone out in the first round three years in a row, and they've been fully supplanted as Florida's top dogs by the Panthers. But even so, they've continued to produce very good seasons with a pretty great veteran roster. Nikita Kucherov paced the league in assists and points. Speaking of points, Brayden Point had another 40-goal season. Jake Guentzel showed up to score a bunch. Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh manned a stalwart blue line. Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli both took big leaps into their primes. At the absolute least, this is a collection of certified finishers who still carry a certain aura of dominance into most, though certainly not all, matchups.
Why They're Not: I want to talk about how diminished this squad looks in comparison to the one from five or so years ago, but that's a little unfair. Yes, they don't have the depth that they used to, and yeah, the goaltending is probably papering over some cracks on defense. But this was a stellar team in the regular season, one that finished with the third-best record in the East. Swap in a different logo on their sweaters, and those fans would likely be psyched. Still, as their top players continue to age, it's hard to take solace in regular-season accomplishments when you lose in five to the Panthers in back-to-back years.
Who Is Actually Hot: While he didn't lead the NHL in wins like he did for five straight years a while back, Andrei Vasilevskiy is in my mind coming off his best season yet, posting a goals against average of just 2.18 across a whopping 63 starts. Instagram links only partially related.
St. Louis Blues (+4, First Round)
Why They're Hot: Everything good about the Blues is built off one wild streak they ripped off late last season. Twelve victories in a row, and they just barely squeaked in as the last team in the West, giving Winnipeg a good fight before falling in seven. Dylan Holloway turned out to be a smart signing, breaking out in his first season away from Edmonton, while a defense of mostly 30-somethings proved good enough to protect unremarkable goaltending.
Why They're Not: Outside of their finish, St. Louis was a little below average across the board. They're just a bunch of workable pieces doing all right together. They could hold onto early leads and keep games close, but I'm struggling to give you a good reason to watch them. I'm boring myself.
Who Is Actually Hot: Jordan Kyrou was a bit of a one-note speedy scorer for a while, but he tidied up a lot of his deficiencies last year. And anyway, if you're going to be a one-note player, "speedy scorer" is absolutely the hottest.
You finished the St. Louis Blues section! That was the hardest part. You can make it the rest of the way. The legs feed the wolf!
Edmonton Oilers (-3, Stanley Cup Final)
Why They're Hot: They've made back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals. You know who else can say that? Well, um ... the Florida Panthers. Hm. Let's try that again.
Why They're Hot: They have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. You know who else can say that? Nobody! And yet again, Lonnor McDraisavid combined for well over 200 points, with Leon taking the lead on scoring and McDavid continuing to assert himself as one of the very best playmakers of all time. Throw in Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm as top defenders and you've got a solid team all by itself.
Why They're Not: You sacrifice some depth by focusing so much on two of the literal greatest hockey men in the world, and this summer the Oilers lost contributors like Corey Perry, Jeff Skinner, and Viktor Arvidsson. They still haven't figured out their goalie situation, and were flying by the seat of their shorts until the very end.
The rest of this section was about how the team still hasn't figured out Connor McDavid's contract, but on Monday, Edmonton announced that the would-be 2026 free agent had signed a bargain of a two-year extension. That buys them a brief reprieve from the anxiety around whether or not they'll ever win a Cup with him.
Who Is Actually Hot: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a former No. 1 pick from 2011 who's mostly obscured in the shadow of the skyscraper known as the McDraisavid building. But he's entering his 15th season as an Oiler, and he's scored between 18 and 28 goals in nine of those years so far. Consistency can be cute.
Colorado Avalanche (-5, First Round)
Why They're Hot: It's been a bit of a dry spell for the Avalanche since winning the Cup in 2022, but they still boast reigning Norris winner Cale Makar and one of the league's most electric attackers in Nathan MacKinnon. That alone is probably enough to get into the playoffs, and with support from Artturi Lehkonen, and Devon Toews, it was last year.
Why They're Not: They traded away Mikko Rantanen to Carolina in a shock mid-season deal, and when the Canes in turn made a swap with the Stars, it was the Moose who led Dallas in playoff goals, helping to cut the Avs' run short in a war of a first-round series. Even in just 49 games with Colorado, Rantanen ranked third in points, and the return they got for him, Martin Nečas, isn't a 1-for-1 replacement. Under the right circumstances, the Denver gang will contend, but it's hard to see a path to significant improvement unless the man mentioned below somehow picks up where he left off.
Who Is Actually Hot: He's played zero regular-season games since 2022, but Gabriel Landeskog is back! I'm going to need a moment to collect myself...
Detroit Red Wings (-5)
Why They're Hot: There was a second where it looked as though the Red Wings had fixed what ailed them, when they switched coaches at the end of December and strung together a pair of seven-game win streaks. When they are picking up points, you can feel optimistic about Detroit's future, because a lot of the key pieces are still so young. Lucas Raymond scores from the wing, Moritz Seider shoulders some ridiculous minutes on defense, Marco Kasper had a strong rookie year, and Simon Edvinsson showed a lot of promise. That's a good stretch of draft picks, and a fine start to solving a broken franchise.
Why They're Not: Even with the bright spots, the Wings finished 10th in the East and missed the playoffs for the ninth straight year. With the exception of Alex DeBrincat, who led the squad in scoring, GM Steve Yzerman has consistently struggled to make smart calls when bringing established players into the fold. Guys like Ben Chiarot, J.T. Compher, Ville Husso, and Andrew Copp flopped, and that makes for a very thin team that can't really play a complete 60 minutes.
Who Is Actually Hot: I avoided even mentioning team captain and face of the franchise Dylan Larkin above because I wanted to save him for this section. I like him.
Buffalo Sabres (-5)
Why They're Hot: It doesn't get hot in Buffalo. That was the whole controversy they went through last year, when GM Kevyn Adams very annoyingly complained that his job was hard in part because "we don't have palm trees." It's a shoddy excuse for an NHL-worst playoff drought, particularly in a year where Winnipeg of all places won the Presidents' Trophy.
Why They're Not: The biggest issue of the Sabres' myriad is that their goaltending let so many games get away from them. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was a turbulent No. 1 in net, so even though Rasmus Dahlin makes for a swell top defenseman and the offense finished 10th in goals scored, nobody ever felt comfortable. Plus, JJ Peterka has been traded to Utah after scoring 27 goals last season, replaced by a couple of cheaper guys who are not as good. After Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, could they have a third superstar forward and future champion whom Adams lets fly away?
Who Is Actually Hot: Tage Thompson is eight feet tall, scored 85 goals, and is utterly gorgeous.
Seattle Kraken (-5)
Why They're Hot: They still have expansion-team immunity, regardless of Vegas throwing the curve. In their four seasons of existence, the Kraken have won a playoff series, and honestly I think that's a totally reasonable bar to clear, even if the past two years have seen them take a couple steps back. It could be worse; they could be Nashville.
Why They're Not: Unlike Vegas, which swiped practically a whole roster full of players on the cusp of a breakout and then kept making more and bigger additions, the Kraken are still the more typical expansion blueprint of "a bunch of guys whose old teams were OK with ditching them, plus a few high draft picks." That's pretty boring, and it showed in the fact that Seattle didn't have a goalscorer net more than 26 last season (even though 11 guys scored at least 10). It's hard to pick out an obvious leader, or a clear way to push forward, when the whole of the roster still feels generally replacement-level.
Who Is Actually Hot: Big workhorse blue-liner and fan favorite Jamie Oleksiak can [REDACTED].
Dallas Stars (-7, Conference Final)
Why They're Hot: Don't let that -7 mislead you. The Stars have made three straight Final Fours and serve as a model of roster construction and development, mixing vets and young talent like they're scrambled eggs and hot sauce. Even with some injury woes, they put together a season where they finished third in goals scored and sixth in goals against, and they got production from all sorts of guys. Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz are a pair of reliable forwards whom the team has molded into foundational pieces. Matt Duchene is an older pick-up who still has gas in the tank. Wyatt Johnston was picked 23rd in the 2021 draft and so far looks like the best choice of them all—sometimes it feels like you need handcuffs to stop him from scoring. And that's not even mentioning an enticing couple of young defensemen in Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley, or the way they took advantage of the Hurricanes' misfortune to bring in Mikko Rantanen, who's already rewarded them with an unforgettable playoff performance.
Why They're Not: There's still that wall they've hit when they've faced the Oilers or the Golden Knights late in the 'yoffs, which proved painful enough to cost head coach Pete DeBoer his job. But if the Stars continue to be good enough to get back to late May, I have faith that they'll eventually break through. That first part's easier said than done, though.
Who Is Actually Hot: Hintz, Johnston, Robertson, Sam Steel, Mavrik Bourque ... I could go on. Jim Nill, you have impeccable taste.
Pittsburgh Penguins (-8)
Why They're Hot: The names still have some weight: Crosby and Malkin, and Letang, and also, in a slightly different way, Karlsson. Plus, the retired Marc-Andre Fleury played a preseason period for them, which kind of gives you a sense of where the nostalgia is at for this franchise in freefall.
Why They're Not: It's been three straight years with no playoffs in Pittsburgh, and we still aren't at the turn where things start getting better. None of their top eight players by points last year enters this season in their 20s, and this is still a roster that relies heavily on a now 38-year-old Sid—plus, to a bit of a lesser extent, 39-year-old Geno. This is a top-heavy team with diminished superstars and weak goaltending. On the nights when the legends couldn't produce, the results could be absolutely embarrassing. Brace yourself again for a lot of blowouts.
Who Is Actually Hot: Ryan Graves. He and his partner get really into Halloween.
Philadelphia Flyers (-11)
Why They're Hot: Tort reform! Rick Tocchet is the new coach and replaces John Tortorella, who wore out his welcome as usual. The Flyers have made scarcely more than a peep since losing the Stanley Cup Final all the way back in 2010, and the last-place team Tocc inherits from Torts has a big gap to make up. But compared to their elderly in-state brethren, they can at least reasonably boast some confidence that their pillars of the future are already under contract. The most promising of the up-and-comers is the flashy Russian Matvei Michkov, who suffered some growing pains as a rookie but nonetheless acted the part of an offensive powerhouse, leading the squad with 26 goals. Throw in the acquisition of Trevor Zegras, who definitely needed a change of scenery, plus former first rounders like Jamie Drysdale, Tyson Foerster, Cam York, and Owen Tippett, and you can see that the new man behind the bench has a lot of raw material to work with.
Why They're Not: The sabotage of Philadelphia's trains will make it a pain to get to and from the sports complex. The idea of Ubering out of a hockey game makes my skin crawl, as does the thought of $40 parking.
Who Is Actually Hot:
Carolina Hurricanes (-12, Conference Final)
Why They're Hot: Everyone say it with me now: The most fundamentally sound team in hockey. I imagine that for as long as Rod Brind'Amour stays coach, and as long as he can command such a sturdy core, I'm going to keep finding occasions to type that phrase. Year after year, nobody does a better job keeping the puck in dangerous areas and away from vulnerable spots, to the point that even in a season where they were 22nd in the league in shooting percentage and 24th in save percentage, the Canes were still a top-10 group at both goals for and against. The netminders may be a little topsy-turvy, and the shooters tend to lack that killer finishing ability around the net, but this is a smart team that makes good choices. And there's good reason to believe that the window can stay open. Seth Jarvis, entering his fifth year, is making good on his first-round pedigree. North Dakota fourth-rounder Jackson Blake just turned in an intriguing rookie year. And even though the Mikko Rantanen trade was a failure, GM Eric Tulsky signed a 20-goal winger in Nikolaj Ehlers in another attempt to upgrade the sheer skill level of their attack.
Why They're Not: How far does a flawless foundation get you? Well, to the second round of the playoffs, give or take. Ever since Brind'Amour's group was a bunch of lovable little underdogs in 2018–19, his boys have repeatedly stalled out when forced to play a series against teams that just plain have more talent. All it takes is one Cup to change a narrative, but right now, it feels as though the Canes are like a boxer who knows how to win on points but can't match a knockout artist's firepower.
Who Is Actually Hot: Sebastian Aho has another one of my very favorite voices. I think it's the accent.
Florida Panthers (-12, Stanley Cup Champs)
Why They're Hot: The Panthers' placement on this list only tells you that the regular season rewards teams that care about the regular season. The division winners last year—Toronto, Washington, Winnipeg, Vegas—all came in with something to prove. The defending champs, meanwhile, cruised to a third-place finish and then blasted their way through the playoffs with a goal differential of +38 in 23 games. For the second straight year, Florida played with a viciousness and an imperviousness that demoralized opponents, allowing them to calmly bounce back even when it seemed as though the other team put them on the ropes. The thought of the Panthers playing a meaningful game following a loss is so scary that I had to look up whether or not "imperviousness" is a word just so I could describe them.
Why They're Not: Technically, all of their guys are returning, which tees up thoughts of a threepeat, but Matthew Tkachuk will be out for the first few months, and Aleksander Barkov might be done for the whole year. While other cats were more attention-grabby as the Pants rose up into untouchable territory, Barkov has been the heart of this team for a dozen seasons. He serves as a fantastic two-way center and magical puck-handler as well as a necessary calming presence on an especially fiery roster. His loss stings.
Who Is Actually Hot: It is the official position of Defector dot com that Tkachuk is indeed kind of an adorable rat.
New York Islanders (-12)
Why They're Hot: Can I interest you in a new GM? What about an improbable lottery win and the first pick? Mathieu Darche, who replaced 82-year-old Lou Lamoriello, already made waves with the roster he inherited by trading his top defender, Noah Dobson, to Montreal for a pair of first-rounders and a young depth guy. That deal followed a draft lottery win for the Isles, which allowed them to select defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who projects to be really, really good at everything in the NHL, in the way that No. 1 picks tend to be. It's the slow dawning of a new era in—sorry, on—Long Island.
Why They're Not: There was a real tangible disinterest in this team during a very blah year, marked by lots of empty seats in a shiny new arena. When the team sent away Brock Nelson at the trade deadline, it symbolized the fact that, for all the thrills the Isles had produced in their 2020 and 2021 runs to the conference finals, it was time to reload. Ilya Sorokin is a fine goaltender to backstop a flawed team, but they'll need some significant over-achievement from the skaters to be a factor in this season. The few guys who can score for New York are aging out of their primes, and the Dobson loss leaves a big hole in the defense that can't be patched immediately. Fans are going to have to be patient.
Who Is Actually Hot: Mathew Barzal hasn't evolved into the franchise cornerstone that he maybe projected to be when he earned the Calder in 2018. But winning hockey games isn't everything.
Vancouver Canucks (-19)
Why They're Hot: I just think they're neat. That '90s black Pavel Bure jersey is awesome. The Breakfast Club goal song eventually grew on me. No. 1 defenseman Quinn Hughes is a brilliant quarterback to run an offense through. They iced three guys named Pettersson, including two named Elias Pettersson, last season. And their inability to win a Cup in 54 seasons of play makes them a sentimental favorite.
Why They're Not: Long before the Canucks even finished their 2023–24 season, in which they won their division and took the Oil Boys to seven in the second round, it felt like every writer and commentator was competing to shout "fluke!" the loudest. Well, they were correct. While the Canucks didn't miss the postseason by a ton last year, they regressed like crazy as the forwards looked lackluster and the goalie play took a big step back. All that frustration has helped make Vancouver a magnet for drama, as J.T. Miller got traded because of a supposed feud with one of the Elias Petterssons and now everyone is freaking out for no reason that Quinn's going to bail to go play with his brothers. Also, this is Evander Kane's new team.
Who Is Actually Hot: Quinn Hughes is like a slightly more disheveled, more sensitive-looking version of Jack.
New York Rangers (-29)
Nashville Predators (-31)
Why They're Hot: Garbage fires are hot.
Why They're Not: Oh man. This was one of the most brutally disappointing seasons I can remember. Not unlike Vegas or Dallas, Nashville's braintrust has it internalized that they wouldn't be able to maintain a hockey fan base through a long stretch of irrelevancy, and after six years stuck on the fringes of the first round, they took a giant hack at free agency to bring in prizes Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei, and Steven Stamkos. What followed was an absolutely cursed year where the offense was league-worst at finishing its chances and goaltender Juuse Saros went from being one of the NHL's most reliable to one of its most embattled. Some of the underlying numbers indicate a team closer to league average, and the names on the sheet are still pretty eye-catching even if they're only getting older, but this group just could. Not. Win. A year after a glamorous summer, this offseason was only a time for the Predators to lick their wounds.
Who Is Actually Hot: Contrary to all the bad vibes, there are plenty of good faces to choose from, including Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan O'Reilly. Maybe these Preds do still have something in them.
Boston Bruins (-33)
Why They're Hot: It, uh, can't get worse?
Why They're Not: Maybe it can get worse. Two years removed from the most impressive regular season I'd ever seen (and the most spectacular first-round collapse), Boston plummeted into the darkness with a year where their goalies sucked, their depth lines couldn't do squat, and their defensemen couldn't stay healthy. David Pastrňák's 106 points make him the undisputed figurehead of this franchise, and that's a pretty nice start, except the losses of guys like Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle make the lineup look even worse than it did at the start of last year. The Bruins' brand still commands a certain amount of respect, but it's built on a core that has mostly disappeared.
Who Is Actually Hot: Patrice Bergeron, if he shows up in a luxury box or something.
That's it! Now all you need is some gravy, some cheese curds, and some french fries, and you'll be ready to watch. Maybe a root beer, too.
You can turn the siren off, now.
