Ranking NHL teams by tiers: The top 16

This is Part 2 of a series ranking all 32 NHL teams by tiers for the 2025-26 season. Part 1 features the bottom 16 teams and was published Thursday.

Keep in mind: This exercise rolls out a few weeks before training camps open, and tiers are based on personal projections for only the coming season, not each franchise's long-term trajectory. Tier 8 teams are furthest away from winning the 2026 Stanley Cup, while Tier 1 teams are closest. Teams are listed alphabetically within each tier.

Tier 4: Moderately dangerous

Probable playoff team unlikely to go on deep run

Los Angeles Kings

Ken Holland's first offseason as Kings general manager was uninspiring.

The longtime NHL executive brought in Corey Perry and Joel Armia to replace Tanner Jeannot and Trevor Lewis at forward (fine); replaced Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence with Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci on defense (huge net negative); and replaced David Rittich with Anton Forsberg in goal (sure).

The Kings' attack is slow and predictable. None of their moves fixed that issue.

That said, Los Angeles does have enough quality players to secure a Western Conference playoff spot in what's expected to be Anze Kopitar's final season.

Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens' rebuild has been executed to near perfection by president Jeff Gorton and GM Kent Hughes. But even a diehard fan would admit the club's 91 points and playoff berth in 2024-25 exceeded preseason expectations.

That's the tricky part about projecting the 2025-26 Canadiens: weighing their immense upside against inevitable regression. Case in point, Nick Suzuki is a legitimate first-line center, but he may never post 89 points again. At the same time, Montreal's floor and ceiling are both higher now thanks to offseason trades for Noah Dobson and Zack Bolduc and developmental leaps by Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, Lane Hutson, and Kaiden Guhle.

I'm super high on the Habs long term, and they're a playoff team this season.

New Jersey Devils

It's easy to doubt the Devils, a squad built around a superstar who's struggled to stay healthy. Jack Hughes missed 40 total regular-season games over the past two seasons and was sidelined for their first-round loss to Carolina.

GM Tom Fitzgerald bolstered the bottom six of his forward group this summer; however, the lineup still needs one or two top-six wingers.

As for the bull case ... Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt are elite, the defense corps is versatile, and Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen form an above-average netminding duo. If it all clicks on the ice, the relatively young Devils have plenty of prospects, draft capital, and cap space, which would allow them to add a significant piece midseason.

New York Rangers

The 2023-24 Rangers won the Presidents' Trophy and went on a deep playoff run. 2024-25 was a tumultuous, culture-changing year in which they made many transactions and missed the playoffs. The outcome of their 2025-26 season seems destined to end up somewhere between those two extremes.

A high-level recap of the aggressive eight-month retool: Chris Kreider, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren, K'Andre Miller, and coach Peter Laviolette are out, while J.T. Miller, Juuso Parssinen, Vladislav Gavrikov, Scott Morrow, Will Borgen, Carson Soucy, and coach Mike Sullivan are in.

I wouldn't say New York is dramatically better or worse, just refitted - while still icing difference-makers Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, and Igor Shesterkin.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues don't have the sexiest roster and they aren't a serious Cup contender. But St. Louis has a fairly high floor under coach Jim Montgomery.

The club went 35-18-7 last year following Montgomery's midseason hiring. The tactically sharp bench boss has an above-average first-line center at his disposal in Robert Thomas, who's very much in his prime. Free-agent signee Pius Suter should excel in the 3C spot behind Thomas and captain Brayden Schenn. Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer are an adequate goalie duo.

Hofer, Jimmy Snuggerud, Dylan Holloway, Jake Neighbours, and Philip Broberg all have intriguing upside cases. The Blues are a textbook solid team.

Utah Mammoth

In the 2024 edition of this exercise, I said Utah earning a 2025 playoff berth was a "coin flip." The team improved but finished seven points shy of the cutline.

I'm eager to up the ante this time: The Mammoth are highly likely to make the playoffs, as this is the strongest Arizona/Utah roster in at least a decade.

The attack features game-breakers in Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, and JJ Peterka to go along with a reliable crew of workmanlike forwards. I'm not entirely sure what to expect from the defense corps - Michael Kesselring is gone, John Marino and Sean Durzi are healthy after combining for only 65 games played last season, and youngsters Dmitri Simashev and Maveric Lamoureux will battle for ice time. The Mammoth's goaltending is nothing special, but it's not a concern either. Andre Tourigny is an awesome coach.

Tier 3: Scary at full potential

Cup win within reason, though lots has to go right

Tampa Bay Lightning

The hockey world seems to have Lightning fatigue, which is understandable considering all the attention they've received through two Stanley Cup victories and two Cup Final losses in 11 seasons. But don't sleep on them out of boredom: They're dark-horse Cup contenders.

The Jon Cooper-coached squad put up a plus-75 goal differential last season. Brayden Point between Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov was arguably the top trio in hockey while second-liner Brandon Hagel recorded 90 points. Defenseman Victor Hedman and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy turned back the clock.

None of Tampa Bay's critical core pieces are especially young (Hagel, 26, is the youngest) or terribly old (Hedman's 34), so it's reasonable to expect similar results in 2025-26. Questionable depth is what holds this team back from Tier 2.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Mitch Marner era is over. It was time for both parties to move on, and there's conceivably a world in which the Maple Leafs are better off without the dazzling playmaker over the course of a season. (His cap space has been reallocated to the likes of forwards Nicolas Roy, Matias Maccelli, and Dakota Joshua.)

The forward group looks equipped to handle the rigors of playoff hockey, while the defense corps has also been reshaped to that end under GM Brad Treliving. Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll provide stability between the pipes. The Leafs own the NHL's longest active playoff streak - nine years, two total series wins - and will undoubtedly earn an Atlantic Division spot in 2025-26.

Auston Matthews is a transcendent goal-scoring talent staring down two challenges: staying healthy all season and producing without Marner around.

Washington Capitals

The 2024-25 regular season was magical for the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin broke the all-time goals record, several players enjoyed career years (in part due to inflated shooting percentages), and the team accumulated 111 points.

That will be hard, if not impossible, to replicate.

Washington's front office turned over a third of the roster in the 2024 offseason but has been fairly quiet this offseason. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Last year's performance had enough substance to justify largely standing pat, plus there's tons of runway to bring in reinforcements before the playoffs, which is why the team lands in Tier 3. A well-run organization with a rising star of a coach in Spencer Carbery, the Caps are primed to make noise once again.

Winnipeg Jets

The reigning Presidents' Trophy-winning Jets, one of last season's biggest surprises, have become a "wake me up when ..." team. As in, wake me up when Connor Hellebuyck becomes a dependably clutch performer, because the world's finest goalie has underwhelmed in the playoffs for too many years.

(For starters, Winnipeg should be reducing Hellebuyck's workload in the regular season. He shouldn't, under any circumstances, appear in 60 games.)

Hellebuyck aside, the Jets are hoping someone like Cole Perfetti can take a sizable step forward offensively to compensate for the free-agency loss of fellow winger Nikolaj Ehlers. Winnipegger Jonathan Toews is back in the NHL after two full seasons off - a heartwarming story, but the circumstances make it impossible to pinpoint how impactful the 37-year-old will be in the second-line center spot.

Tier 2: Secondary Cup favorites

Elite, title-contending team with minor concerns

Carolina Hurricanes

Seven seasons of Rod Brind'Amour behind the bench. Seven postseason appearances, including three deep runs. Zero trips to the Cup Final.

A lack of timely scoring and saves has continually held the Hurricanes back come playoff time. GM Eric Tulsky acquired dynamic winger Nikolaj Ehlers and rangy defenseman K'Andre Miller to help with the former and is running it back in goal with Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov. Did Tulsky do enough?

It's a question that can't fairly be asked yet since Carolina loves to chase the biggest name available during the season (see: Jake Guentzel and Mikko Rantanen) and has $10.6 million in cap space and the futures to pull off another whopper. The Canes have put themselves in a favorable position to finally win the East.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado doesn't have to worry about its marquee players. When healthy, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, and Devon Toews reliably perform at star/superstar levels.

However, the front office clearly thought the supporting cast was insufficient. The Avalanche traded longtime core piece and pending free agent Mikko Rantanen in January as part of a flurry of moves aimed at deepening the lineup. Mackenzie Blackwood, Martin Necas, Jack Drury, Brock Nelson, and Scott Wedgewood were acquired midseason, while Victor Olofsson and Brent Burns were signed as free agents.

It's safe to say the Avalanche narrowed the gap between their elite talents and the rest of the roster. It's too early to tell if they bet on all of the right players.

Dallas Stars

The Stars have been knocking at the door the past three seasons, advancing to the Western Conference Final each time. An optimist looks at Dallas' 2025-26 campaign and envisions them barreling through the door with superstar defenseman Miro Heiskanen healthy and superstar forward Mikko Rantanen fully settled in.

Seriously, Heiskanen is a top-five defenseman on the planet (points aren’t everything!), and Rantanen is an absolute menace every spring (22 points in 18 playoff games last year following a trade out of Carolina to bring his career total to 123 in 99 games). The rest of the roster is a nice blend of veterans, mid-career guys, and rookies, the vast majority of them valuable contributors.

The coaching change from Pete DeBoer to Glen Gulutzan and No. 1 goalie Jake Oettinger's mixed playoff results are keeping Dallas a tick below Tier 1.

Tier 1: Primary Cup favorites

Star-studded, deep, battle-tested - a cut above the rest

Edmonton Oilers

Leon Draisaitl turns 30 in October. Connor McDavid is 29 in January.

The Oilers may have a bunch more chances to challenge for the Stanley Cup (assuming McDavid signs a contract extension), but every playoff run adds mileage to a generational duo that's no longer young. No team in the NHL is in title-or-bust mode like back-to-back finals loser Edmonton.

GM Stan Bowman acquired Isaac Howard and Andrew Mangiapane - two quality bets - this offseason to help the attack, but he otherwise kept his powder dry. I don't love the idea of the Oilers entering such an important season with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard in goal, though they can still upgrade the position (and bring in another defenseman) in the months ahead.

Florida Panthers

Florida is gunning for a fourth straight trip to the Cup Final and third Cup in a row. Does that seem too ambitious? Doubt the Panthers at your own peril.

After re-signing Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, and Aaron Ekblad, the Panthers are returning roughly the same squad that beat the Oilers in six games in late June. GM Bill Zito has invested heavily in his winning core, with seven forwards and three defensemen now under contract through 2029-30.

Star winger Matthew Tkachuk will miss the start of the campaign following offseason surgery, but that's no reason to drop Florida to Tier 2. No matter which playoff spot the Panthers grab, they'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Vegas Golden Knights

The calculus for slotting the Golden Knights in Tier 1 is pretty simple: An ultra-aggressive front office added one of the league's best forwards to a well-coached team that was already rich in talent, led by the excellent Jack Eichel.

Yes, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is all but retired (big blow), and role players Nicolas Roy, Nicolas Hague, and Victor Olofsson are gone (minor blow). But Vegas shouldn't miss a step, though there is an elephant in the room: Can Mitch Marner pop off in the playoffs for the first time in a decade?

The Golden Knights won the Cup in 2022-23, lost in the first round the next year, and got ousted by the Oilers in five games in the second round last season. If all goes according to plan, Vegas will get back to going on deep runs.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter/X (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).