Welcome one and all to the 2025-26 NHL season! After what felt like a rather short offseason (even if there are too many preseason games), regular-season festivities kick off across the league with games that matter being played in early October.
The 2025-26 season will be an interesting one, as we will get to see the world’s best players participating at the 2026 Winter Olympics for the first time in over a decade! However, this also means the schedule is going to feel a bit condensed at times as they make up, what is essentially, a lost month on the calendar.
For now, though, I’m going to try and focus on what can be, as there’s a lot to dissect heading into the first week of games.
Trying to rank teams in the preseason is a bit of a fool’s errand, of course. We tend to overrate the big moves and underrate the minutiae of team composition heading into the new season. It also doesn’t help that you haven’t seen half the league play games that matter since April (or in some cases December), so getting a feel for them is impossible right now.
However, so much is changing across the league, especially in an era of an exploding cap when teams finally have some money available to spend. Superstars changed teams this offseason, a new class of rookie stars were drafted, and many veteran players are fighting for their place in a league dominated by a real youth movement.
With my first opening preamble out of the way, let’s dive into THW’s preseason power rankings before the start of the 2025-26 NHL season!
32-27: NHL’s Bottom Feeders Have Much to Prove
32. Chicago Blackhawks
31. Pittsburgh Penguins
30. San Jose Sharks
29. Seattle Kraken
28. Philadelphia Flyers
27. Buffalo Sabres
The bottom of the 2025-26 Rankings are always the hardest to create, as, ultimately, at least one of these teams will have a good start to the season and make a run to the playoff conversation. This is the part of the Rankings that is most susceptible to recency bias, as we spent most of last season watching these teams flail around, selling at the Trade Deadline, all while waiting for the Draft Lottery to change their futures.
With a potential superstar prospect in Gavin McKenna available at the 2026 NHL Draft, this isn’t the worst season to be a rebuilding franchise. Seeing this, I can imagine teams who desperately need a young star to redefine their franchises, like the Penguins, Kraken, and Flyers, preparing to sell at the trade deadline by mid-November.
When it comes to the Blackhawks and Sharks, I expect both teams will improve their position in the league after finishing at the bottom last season, but it’s hard to know if this will be enough to pull them out of the bottom five of the Rankings. They still have a lot to prove with a developing core of young players, and one more season of rebuilding is fine as long as they make meaningful progress in 2025-26.
Finally, we have the Sabres. Realistically, Buffalo should be a better team this season… but I say that every year. You’ll have to forgive me, but I just don’t believe that this franchise will take that next step back to playoff contention. Call it a personal bias, I know, but we have 14 years of history to refer back to that they have to prove wrong. Also, I’m not falling for a hot start again from this team, either. Fool me once… twice… three times…
26-12: Potseason Dreams for the NHL’s Mid Teams
26. Columbus Blue Jackets
25. Anaheim Ducks
24. Detroit Red Wings
23. New York Islanders
22. Vancouver Canucks
21. Nashville Predators
20. Utah Mammoth
19. St. Louis Blues
18. Boston Bruins
17. New York Rangers
16. Ottawa Senators
15. Tampa Bay Lightning
14. Calgary Flames
13. New Jersey Devils
12. Montreal Canadiens
Once we get to the middle of the NHL’s Rankings, we start to get some really interesting conversations about what makes a team a contender. Any team from 26-20 could be a real threat to make a run to the postseason, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if any of them are still in the draft lottery hunt come the 2026 Trade Deadline. Of this group, I think the Predators should be better than they were last season, where everything just went wrong.
With the Rangers and Bruins, both of these teams missed the 2025 Postseason, but they still have a core of players who should be good enough to compete for the playoffs, barring another mid-season meltdown. I wouldn’t be shocked if either of these teams bounced back and made a run at their respective division title.
Four of the five remaining teams made the playoffs last season, with the Flames missing out on a tie-breaker, so it should be no surprise that I expect them to be in the playoff picture. I especially love the additions the Canadiens made this offseason, and if the Devils can stay healthy, they should be far more competitive than what we last saw in the playoffs.
11-1: NHL’s Stanley Cup Contenders
11. Toronto Maple Leafs
10. Washington Capitals
9. Los Angeles Kings
8. Minnesota Wild
7. Edmonton Oilers
6. Carolina Hurricanes
5. Florida Panthers
4. Winnipeg Jets
3. Colorado Avalanche
2. Vegas Golden Knights
1. Dallas Stars
The top of the 2025-26 Rankings feels like two entirely different pictures. First, you have the regular season, in which I think the Western Conference dominates the conversation. The Stars, Golden Knights, Avalanche, and Jets are icing rosters that are amongst the best in the league, and I would expect the President’s Trophy winner to come from this group. Also, the Wild are a team that could be a real threat if they can stay healthy, especially behind Kirill Kaprisov and his recent historic contract.
However, when it comes to the overall NHL picture, how do you vote against the Panthers? Yes, they are injured, but we all know these players will be back to play the games when they matter most. The same applies to the Oilers, who, for some reason, I still want to underrate, despite seeing them in the Stanley Cup Finals in back-to-back seasons. Even if they start slow this season, they should easily make the playoffs and be a contender again.
Picking the 2026 Stanley Cup Winner
Whether this is your first time reading this Power Rankings, or if you’ve been keeping us in your weekly rotation for years, thank you, and I look forward to keeping you entertained each week throughout the 2025-26 NHL Season. With a long season ahead of us, it’s time to make some questionable calls and plant my flag for the 2026 Stanley Cup winner.
Related: The NHL’s Top 100 Prospects – Preseason Update
After the last three seasons, however, I’m not going to make an exciting choice. I have the Panthers over the Stars because I’m not going to vote against them this time. Florida will, once again, find a way into the playoffs with their stars in and out of the lineup, but when it matters most, this team will come together again to terrorize the league.
