Barring something unforeseen, it doesn’t appear any more significant NHL moves will take place this offseason. With that, we can begin previewing each division and who’s improved the most this summer, starting with the Atlantic. It might not be quite as strong as it was during the 2024-25 campaign, but it sure won’t be a cakewalk.
Boston Bruins
- Additions: Viktor Arvidsson, Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly, Jordan Harris, Matej Blumel, Michael Eyssimont
- Subtractions: Cole Koepke, Parker Wotherspoon
- Net of 0.7 wins lost
The Boston Bruins were one of the more disappointing teams of the 2024-25 season, but it wasn’t necessarily a surprise. They were prime regression candidates after showing some red flags the previous season, and it bore true, as they finished with just 33 wins and 76 points, placing them eighth in the Atlantic Division.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Bruins only made a few modest additions this summer. Michael Eyssimont, Sean Kuraly and Tanner Jeannot (despite what the Bruins paid Jeannot) are bottom-six forwards who round out the edges, while Viktor Ardvisson is more likely a middle-six forward at this point in his career, even if he rebounds from a tough season with the Edmonton Oilers.
Jeremy Swayman probably won’t post an .892 save percentage again, so that’s working in the Bruins’ favor. Still, this doesn’t look like a team that can compete for a playoff spot this coming season. They lack a true No. 1 center, and goal-scoring will likely be a chore again. They only marginally improved this offseason, so it’s hard to imagine them totaling significantly more than 80 points.
Buffalo Sabres
- Additions: Michael Kesselring, Josh Doan, Justin Danforth, Conor Timmins, Zac Jones, Alex Lyon
- Subtractions: JJ Peterka, Connor Clifton, Sam Lafferty, Jacob Bernard-Docker
- Net of 2.4 wins lost
The Buffalo Sabres are facing pressure to break their 14-season playoff drought, but they don’t look any closer today than they did at the start of the offseason. They made some modest additions with Michael Kesselring, Josh Doan, Justin Danforth, and Conor Timmins, but they lost one of their best scorers in JJ Peterka, who they traded to the Utah Mammoth for Kesselring and Doan.
Per Evolving Hockey, Peterka was worth 2.2 wins last season, or an additional four points in the standings, but the Sabres have yet to replace him. Combining all their additions and subtractions, they could be nearly 2.5 wins worse than they were a season ago, and they were a 79-point team in 2024-25.
The Sabres need big jumps from high draft picks such as Owen Power, Zach Benson, and Jiri Kulich if they want to secure a playoff position next season. Unfortunately, they more or less look like the same 79-80 point team they were in 2024-25. In an Atlantic Division that will still present its challenges, the playoff drought will likely extend another year.
Detroit Red Wings
- Additions: James van Riemsdyk, Travis Hamonic, Mason Appleton, John Gibson, Jacob Bernard-Docker
- Subtractions: Vladimir Tarasenko, Jeff Petry, Alex Lyon, Petr Mrazek
- Net of 0.6 wins added
Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has gotten into trouble in free agency the last couple of years, but he took a more conservative approach this summer. All of James van Riemsdyk, Mason Appleton, Travis Hamonic and Bernard-Docker came on one to two-year deals. Even Gibson, whom the Red Wings acquired in a trade, has just two years left on his contract.
Yzerman didn’t handcuff himself with poor long-term signings this summer, so that’s a plus. But even though he still did well to avoid long-term UFA signings, most of their additions were modest. Gibson had one of his best seasons in recent memory in 2024-25, and he’ll likely be a significant upgrade over what the Red Wings have had in net recently. Still, it feels like they need another upgrade on defense or up front to get themselves out of their murky middle of the NHL.
Steps forward from Simon Edvinsson, Marco Kasper and other young players the Red Wings have drafted would help, but they also don’t look significantly improved from what they were last season. They’ll likely be in the hunt until the end, as they’ve been the previous two years, but will ultimately fall short of the postseason.
Montreal Canadiens
- Additions: Noah Dobson, Zach Bolduc, Joe Veleno
- Subtractions: Logan Mailloux, Joel Armia, David Savard, Christian Dvorak
- Net of 4.9 wins added
The Montreal Canadiens were one of the few teams to take a big swing this offseason, acquiring Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders on Draft Day, but much of their offseason was addition by subtraction. Logan Mailloux, Joel Armia, and David Savard were all net-negatives a season ago, so that alone could improve the team. Christian Dvorak was an effective third-line center for the Canadiens, but Zach Bolduc should be an upgrade, too.
Related: 3 Bold Montreal Canadiens Predictions for 2025-26
There’s plenty to like about the Canadiens’ long-term future, but will they be five wins better than they were in 2024-25? That’d make them a 101-point team, which seems like a stretch. If anything, the Canadiens are primed to take a step back before becoming true contenders, since they were one of the worst defensive teams at five-on-five in the NHL last season. And that could be a problem in an Atlantic Division that is stacked at the top.
Ottawa Senators
- Additions: Jordan Spence, Arthur Kaliyev, Lars Eller
- Subtractions: Adam Gaudette, Travis Hamonic, Anton Forsberg
- Net of 1.7 wins added
The Ottawa Senators have had a relatively quiet offseason, but they still made some improvements. Jordan Spence, whom they acquired from the Los Angeles Kings, was their marquee addition. He crushed sheltered, third-pair minutes with the Kings, but can he handle an increased role with the Senators? His underlying metrics suggest he should, providing an upgrade to the right side of the blue line that needed one.
Lars Eller and Arthur Kaliyev won’t move the needle significantly, but they should add some depth to the Senators’ bottom six. The key for the Senators taking a step forward will be finding more ways to score at five-on-five, but they still appear to be a playoff team.
Florida Panthers
- Additions: Jeff Petry, Daniil Tarasov
- Subtractions: Nate Schmidt, Vitek Vanecek
- Net of 2.5 wins lost
The two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions had a more active offseason than the list above would suggest. Their summer revolved around re-signing Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand. You can argue that the Bennett and Marchand contracts are onerous, but the Panthers are going for history and looking for a three-peat, so I understand why they’d want to keep their core together.
But even though GM Bill Zito pulled off what was unthinkable in re-signing all of Marchand, Ekblad and Bennett, they look like a slightly worse team by replacing Nate Schmidt with Jeff Petry and Vitek Vanecek with Daniil Tarasov. Matthew Tkachuk may miss the first two to three months of the season as well, and the Panthers have played plenty of hockey the last three years. They may be due for a down season, but will it be in 2025-26?
Tampa Bay Lightning
- Additions: Jakob Pelletier, Pontus Holmberg, Sam O’Reilly
- Subtractions: Ike Howard, Nick Perbix, Luke Glendening
- Net of 0.6 wins added
The Tampa Bay Lightning got run out of the rink by the Panthers in the first round of last season’s playoffs, but GM Julien BriseBois kept it simple this offseason, adding Jakob Pelletier and Pontus Holmberg to shore up the team’s forward depth. Pelletier has had trouble carving out a permanent role in the NHL, but he did produce at a 32-point per 82-game pace last season. He’s worth a flyer, while Holmberg has been one of the steadier fourth-line forwards in the NHL.
Ike Howard has yet to play an NHL game, but he could prove to be a significant loss for a Lightning team that could use another top-nine forward who’s on the younger side. Fortunately, they acquired Sam O’Reilly, a promising talent in his own right, in the deal that sent Howard to the Edmonton Oilers. He might not play NHL games this coming season, but it was still a good bit of business by BriseBois.
The Lightning’s playoff run will end one of these years as their core ages, but I’d be surprised if 2025-26 is the season it does. Their high-end talent, though on the wrong side of 30, is still playing at a high level. They may even have a shot at winning the division after finishing in second place last season.
Toronto Maple Leafs
- Additions: Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy
- Subtractions: Mitch Marner
- Net of 4.6 wins lost
The biggest story of this offseason was Mitch Marner leaving Toronto and signing with the Vegas Golden Knights via a sign-and-trade ahead of free agency. The Maple Leafs acquired Nicolas Roy in that sign-and-trade, then later picked up Matias Maccelli from the Mammoth. Still, it’s close to impossible to replace a 100-point scorer like Marner.
The good news is the Maple Leafs should still be one of the top teams in the Atlantic, even without Marner. The bad news is that they’re almost a sure bet to regress, especially since they haven’t exactly done well to replace Marner (at least not yet). Dakota Joshua, Roy and Maccelli were all negative WAR (wins above replacement) players last season, and while Maccelli is a good rebound candidate, I’d be surprised if he matched even half of Marner’s production. The Maple Leafs should still finish in the top three of the Atlantic, but they don’t look like the favorites to repeat as division champs.
How Will the Atlantic Shake Out?
The Atlantic might not be as daunting as it was a season ago, but there are no truly terrible teams, so you’ll still be put through the wringer. Even organizations like the Sabres, Red Wings and Bruins could finish with or close to 80 points. It will likely be a gauntlet, especially for the top four or five spots, and chances are it’ll be more difficult to get a fifth team in the playoffs this season:
- Panthers – 105 points
- Lightning – 104 points
- Maple Leafs – 98 points
- Senators – 94 points WC2
- Red Wings – 87 points *
- Canadiens – 83 points *
- Sabres – 81 points *
- Bruins – 79 points *
*eliminated from playoff contention
The Panthers look like the best team in the Atlantic on paper, but there will be plenty of teams gunning to end their reign. The Lightning appear to have the best shot to do so among Atlantic teams, but there will be no easy games in this division. Whoever comes out of it will likely have their fair share of battle scars come the postseason.
Advanced stats from Evolving Hockey
