NHL Power Rankings: Where Every Team Stands After the 1st Wave of Free Agency
It's official—deep breaths and coffee breaks can now be taken.
And in some cities, executives holed up in corner offices since returning from the draft can even consider going home to see their families for a few days.
The first wave of NHL free agency is complete.
More than 200 signings worth upward of a billion contract dollars were made between Wednesday and Saturday as teams tried to maintain or improve positioning coming off a 2021-22 season that ended when the Colorado Avalanche lifted the Stanley Cup.
No roster, including the Avalanche's, will look exactly the same as it did when the final horn was sounded, so the B/R hockey team took to the task of ranking the league from No. 32 to No. 1 in the aftermath of the first few days of the feeding frenzy.
Points were assessed in reverse order, with the top team getting 32 points for each vote and the bottom team getting one. Scroll through to see how the totals came out, and feel free to drop a thought or two in the comments to let us know how we did.
Nos. 32-26: Blackhawks, Flyers, Coyotes, Kraken, Ducks, Canadiens, Devils
1 of 6
32. Chicago Blackhawks (Last Week: 32nd)
History may validate the approach being taken by general manager Kyle Davidson, but for right now, it’s difficult to be a Chicago fan. The Blackhawks like their draft picks, but giving up Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach, Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome for not much looks iffy in 2022.
31. Philadelphia Flyers (Last Week: 26th)
Unless we’re reading it wrong, the Flyers managed to go from the favorite to acquire Johnny Gaudreau to not even finishing the race thanks to salary-cap issues. But they did manage to lock up Nicolas Deslauriers for four years and bring in a Grade-A risk in Tony DeAngelo? Ouch.
30. Arizona Coyotes (Last Week: 31st)
The big news is that defenseman Jakob Chychrun is still in the organization. Elsewhere, the Coyotes helped accommodate salary dumps by taking on the likes of Patrik Nemeth and Zack Kassian and then signed low-cost free agents Troy Stecher, Nick Bjugstad and Josh Brown.
29. Seattle Kraken (Last Week: 30th)
GM Ron Francis was busy with a series of mid-profile moves, bringing in Cup winner Andre Burakovsky from Colorado and defenseman Justin Schultz from Washington. Nearly $10 million in salary-cap space remains, so the Kraken may still have another project or two to complete.
28. Anaheim Ducks (Last Week: 23rd)
The Ducks didn’t make any significant headlines with the signings of Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome and kept themselves on the long-term path toward contention established by newly hired general manager Pat Verbeek. Stay tuned for further developments.
27. Montreal Canadiens (Last Week: 29th)
The Canadiens made their splash at the draft and elsewhere, freeing up some salary-cap room for the future by offloading Shea Weber’s final four years to Vegas while bringing in the final year of a useful player in Evgenii Dadonov, who’s reached 20 goals in four NHL seasons.
26. New Jersey Devils (Last Week: 24th)
The Devils made an offer to Johnny Gaudreau, but it wasn't enough to keep the Jersey native from deciding on Columbus as a new residence. Tampa Bay’s Ondrej Palat arrives for five years and $30 million as a pricey plan B. Vitek Vanecek could be a nice pickup in the net.
Nos. 25-21: Sharks, Sabres, Islanders, Golden Knights, Jets
2 of 6
25, San Jose Sharks (Last Week: 27th)
Welcome to the NHL executive suite, Mike Grier. Now sit back for a few seasons and see how history views the deal that sent icon Brent Burns to Carolina for a player, a prospect and a draft pick. In the meantime, Grier is tasked with rebuilding a culture for a moribund franchise.
24. Buffalo Sabres (Last Week: 25th)
If you’re OK with the goalie trio of Eric Comrie, Craig Anderson and Malcolm Subban as the season approaches, then there’s no need to kill the buzz that Buffalo has going lately. The team has built through the draft, and its core is unquestionably young and talented.
23. New York Islanders (Last Week: 20th)
The Islanders were another team supposedly in the Gaudreau sweepstakes, but they neither got him nor reacted by signing someone else. That’s a suspect move (or lack thereof) for a team needing offense. The draft-day deal for Alexander Romanov is the only real change so far.
22. Vegas Golden Knights (Last Week: 13th)
The arrival of Jack Eichel and his $10 million annual contract was going to create problems this summer, and they’re here for the Golden Knights, who shed some money by sending Max Pacioretty and Dylan Coghlan to Carolina and made room to keep Reilly Smith for three years.
21. Winnipeg Jets (Last Week: 19th)
There’s work to be done in Winnipeg, where the Jets haven’t made much of a ripple in free agency beyond letting backup goalie Comrie go to Buffalo and replacing him with David Rittich. Deciding on Pierre-Luc Dubois’ future as well as Blake Wheeler’s remain the top agenda items.
Nos. 20-16: Senators, Blue Jackets, Canucks, Red Wings, Predators
3 of 6
20. Ottawa Senators (Last Week: 28th)
It’d be hard to feel much better about Ottawa’s offseason thus far. GM Pierre Dorion has jolted a flagging franchise with DeBrincat, Cam Talbot and Claude Giroux while holding on to Josh Norris for eight years and shipping off Matt Murray’s big contract. Welcome back to relevance.
19. Columbus Blue Jackets (Last Week: 22nd)
OK, take a bow if you saw that one coming. The Blue Jackets were never a mainstream consideration as Gaudreau contemplated staying put in Calgary or heading home to the East Coast, yet he’s now a Blue Jacket for seven years. Impossible to overestimate the impact.
18. Vancouver Canucks (Last Week: 18th)
The biggest “get” so far this summer for the Canucks came from the KHL and not the NHL thanks to Andrei Kuzmenko’s arrival for less than $1 million. Ilya Mikheyev’s arrival from Toronto also boosts the forward corps, though four years and $19 million isn’t so cheap.
17. Detroit Red Wings (Last Week: 21st)
The Red Wings won’t be in Cup contention, but anyone suggesting GM Steve Yzerman didn’t upgrade for 2022-23 doesn’t know hockey. Ville Husso could be a long-term goalie solution, Ben Chiarot will help on the blue line, and Kubalik, Andrew Copp and David Perron add punch.
16. Nashville Predators (Last Week: 17th)
GM David Poile’s first order of summer business was to retain the services of Filip Forsberg, and he did with an eight-year deal worth $68 million. Beyond that, there’s not much else to sing about. Goalie Kevin Lankinen comes from Chicago to spell starter Juuse Saros, which is OK.
Nos. 15-11: Stars, Wild, Bruins, Flames, Blues
4 of 6
15. Dallas Stars (Last Week: 15th)
Like other teams on this list, it’ll be more about the loss (John Klingberg) than the gain (Mason Marchment). But the 27-year-old is a big winger who scored 18 goals in 54 games last season, and he’ll add a significant presence to the Stars’ top six. The defense still needs help, though.
14. Minnesota Wild (Last Week: 9th)
The Wild kept Marc-Andre Fleury for two more years and shipped off a disgruntled Talbot, but not much else has gotten done outside of the goal crease. A few high-profile players are still available heading toward the second week, so it may be a buy-low strategy for GM Bill Guerin.
13. Boston Bruins (Last Week: 14th)
The Bruins remain in neutral when it comes to transactions until two veteran pieces make decisions on their futures, namely centers David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron. There’s a chance Boston winds up with both and is strong up the middle and a chance it winds up with neither, too.
12. Calgary Flames (Last Week: 7th)
Well, yeah. Things didn’t go quite the way GM Brad Treliving thought they were going to go as the week got started, with Gaudreau choosing to leave millions on the table to head to Columbus of all places. Getting a commitment from Matthew Tkachuk is the new task.
11. St. Louis Blues (Last Week: 10th)
Losing Husso in the net and Perron from the top six doesn’t feel like success for the Blues, who ran out of cash after locking down defenseman Nick Leddy. Jordan Binnington has a new backup in Thomas Greiss, who’s 36 and had a 3.66 goals-against average last season. Meh.
Nos. 10-6: Kings, Penguins, Capitals, Oilers, Rangers
5 of 6
10. Los Angeles Kings (Last Week: 8th)
The Kings handled their business in the days prior to the free-agent frenzy, acquiring Kevin Fiala and signing him to a new deal and locking down Adrian Kempe at $5.5 million per year. Given the blows suffered by a few Pacific rivals it’s a good time to buy in on Los Angeles for 2022-23.
9. Pittsburgh Penguins (Last Week: 12th)
The doomsday scenario was that Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin would exit after three Cups in Pittsburgh. But GM Ron Hextall managed to hold on to both to make one last push to keep the championship window open. Keeping Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell didn’t hurt either.
8. Washington Capitals (Last Week: 16th)
The Capitals were a good team that got better on paper with the acquisition of a Cup-winning goaltender in Darcy Kuemper, who signed for five years at $5.3 million apiece. Dylan Strome comes in as a reasonably priced No. 2 center, and Connor Brown slots in on the right wing.
7. Edmonton Oilers (Last Week: 11th)
There weren’t a lot of GMs facing more pressure than Ken Holland, and he delivered, keeping Evander Kane and Brett Kulak on team-friendly deals and grabbing a No. 1 goalie in Jack Campbell. Another trade or two (Tyson Barrie, Jesse Puljujarvi) could bring more smiles.
6. New York Rangers (Last Week: 5th)
GM Chris Drury completed his to-do list by getting Vincent Trocheck from Carolina to soften the blow of losing Copp and Ryan Strome and replacing Alexandar Georgiev with Jaroslav Halak as Igor Shesterkin’s backup. If they don’t win soon, though, seven years for Trocheck will feel longer.
Nos. 5-1: Panthers, Maple Leafs, Lightning, Hurricanes, Avalanche
6 of 6
5. Florida Panthers (Last Week: 6th)
The Panthers went all-in to chase a Cup at the deadline, and now they’re paying the roster price, without the banner. Giroux and Chiarot walked away after arriving in March, and Marchment skipped town, too, at a cost Florida couldn’t afford. Still a very good team, but not as very good.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs (Last Week: 4th)
Toronto knew it’d be incurring some losses this summer, and it happened when Campbell headed to Edmonton and Mikheyev signed a deal with Vancouver. Now, goaltending is both pricey and iffy with Murray and Ilya Samsonov signed for 2022-23 for nearly $8.1 million.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning (Last Week: 2nd)
Two championships and three straight finals appearances come with a price, and the Lightning paid it when Palat left the Gulf Coast for New Jersey. But GM Julien BriseBois did settle future business with deals that kept Erik Cernak, Anthony Cirelli and Mikhail Sergachev.
2. Carolina Hurricanes (Last Week: 3rd)
The Hurricanes were among the best teams in the league all season and anticipated a deep playoff run before falling flat against the New York Rangers. But if any team has sneakily improved since, it’s them. Burns, Pacioretty and Coghlan make things better.
1. Colorado Avalanche (Last Week: 1st)
Seeing Kuemper head to Washington is the top takeaway, but it’s no stretch to suggest the Avalanche offset it by getting Georgiev and keeping Josh Manson, Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin. Keeping Nazem Kadri would have been nice, but the Cup eases things.
.jpg?w=600 "Why Walker Knew He'd Leave Seahawks")
.jpg?w=600 "Old Teams Eyeing Clowney")