Ranking the Eight Deepest Teams in the NHL This Season
There are a lot of necessary ingredients to be a Stanley Cup-winning team.
Superstar players at the top of the lineup are a must. Every team that lifts the Cup has at least a couple of top-tier players at the top of their roster who are either elite scorers, two-way defensemen or top starting goalies. You usually need all three of those.
Teams also need depth.
No matter how good your superstars are, there is going to come a point in the playoffs where they get shut down for a couple of games or maybe even an entire series, and it can all come down to whether or not teams have enough talent around them to make up for it.
When it comes to assessing depth, the primary thing we are looking for is how a team performs when its top scorers are not on the ice. If a team gets out-chanced and outscored when its top players are on the bench or out of the lineup, and if their scoring is dependent on just a few guys, that is not the sign of a particularly deep roster.
So with that in mind, let's take a look at the eight deepest teams in the NHL this season as the regular season winds down and the playoffs lurk around the corner.
All stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and accurate entering play on Monday night.
8. Tampa Bay Lightning
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The salary cap never seems to matter here.
Neither do offseason departures due to the aforementioned cap.
No matter who they lose, no matter how close they are against the cap, and no matter what they have to give up, the Tampa Bay Lightning always find a way to get their guy and build a roster that has a chance to win it all.
That is how you end up in three straight Stanley Cup Finals.
They have had to say goodbye to a lot of outstanding players over the past few years, including J.T. Miller, Ryan McDonagh, Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde, Barclay Goodrow and Ondrej Palat. But they always seem to be in a position to add players at the trade deadline (this year: Tanner Jeannot), and they always seem to have a steady pipeline of talent coming through their system to help replenish the depth.
Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos are three of the best offensive players in the league, and Kucherov should join Point and Stamkos in the 30-goal, 80-point club with just one more goal. Meanwhile, the Lightning have a real chance to have six 60-point players, as Brandon Hagel, Alex Killorn and Mikhail Sergachev each need one more point to reach that mark.
Elite superstars at forward, very strong complementary players, a couple of top-pairing defenders in Victor Hedman and Sergachev and an all-time great goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy make for one of the deepest rosters in the league.
7. Seattle Kraken
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The Seattle Kraken are a fascinating team because they do not have a true superstar anywhere in their lineup.
Matty Beniers might one day reach that level, perhaps as soon as the next year or two, but he is not there yet.
What they lack in superstar quality, they make up for in sensational depth where nobody on the roster is a weak link.
They do not have any one player that will keep opposing coaches or goalies awake at night, but the roster is full of strong contributors up and down the lineup.
They have 13 players with at least 10 goals, eight players with at least 15 goals and their bottom six might be one of the most effective depth groups in the league. It is offense by committee, and it works very well.
Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle are the top point-producing forwards on the roster, each topping the 60-point mark. While they do see a lot of time together, the Kraken have also split them up a good bit on their own lines, remaining effective whether together or apart.
But when neither is on the ice, you get a sense of how deep the Kraken lineup is. In 2,294 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey with neither player on the ice, the Kraken outscore their opponents by a 109-88 margin with a 50.7 percent expected goal share.
Their lack of top-end talent might come back to hurt them if they have to play a team like the Colorado Avalanche or Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs, but the Kraken have rapidly built a very deep roster that is on its way to the playoffs in just its second year of existence.
6. New York Rangers
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The New York Rangers made two of the biggest trade deadline splashes by adding Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane to an already talented roster that was in the Eastern Conference Final a year ago.
With Tarasenko and Kane in the mix, the Rangers boast a league-best nine players with at least 15 goals and 12 players with at least 10 goals. Defenseman K'Andre Miller (nine goals entering the week) has a chance to join that group before the end of the season.
It is an impressively deep team that has established superstar forwards at the top (Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Tarasenko, Kane) and a trio of young stars who are just starting to find their place in the league in Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil.
Depth was going to be a big question for the Rangers coming into this season, especially during 5-on-5 play, after watching Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp and Ryan Strome leave in free agency.
The key was going to be management's ability to replenish that cupboard with veterans and hope for the young talent to put it together.
Mission accomplished on both ends.
The Rangers signed Vincent Trocheck in free agency, who has been a very strong addition, and then made the moves for Tarasenko and Kane. As significant as those moves have been, the real difference-maker has been the development of the trio of Lafreniere, Chytil and Kakko.
That trio, known as The Kid Line, has outscored teams 30-18 during 5-on-5 play this season with a 52 percent share of expected goals. That is typically the Rangers' third line and is oftentimes their most effective line. Given the talent they have in the top six, it's a promising development.
The Rangers' possession numbers are never great, but having an elite goalie in Igor Shesterkin and players with finishing ability can help overcome that.
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5. Edmonton Oilers
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Depth and the Edmonton Oilers are not two things that have typically gone together very well in recent years.
For most of the past seven years, the Oilers roster has been Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and then hope for the best when neither player is on the ice.
It usually turned out to be a disaster and consistently wasted the two most dominant offensive stars in the league.
Things have absolutely changed for the better in that regard this season.
Not only are McDavid and Draisaitl having two more incredible years offensively, with McDavid putting up the type of numbers we have not seen since the days of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, but they actually have some serious help behind them.
The big game-changer for the Oilers this season has been a career year from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as he closes in on 100 points, which would give the Oilers three players over the century mark for the season.
But even more than that, when neither McDavid nor Draisaitl is on the ice, the Oilers are outscoring teams 70-59 during 5-on-5 play and have a better than 51 percent share of expected goals, scoring chances and high-danger chances.
Just for comparison's sake, here is what the Oilers have done over the previous three seasons when neither McDavid nor Draisaitl was on the ice.
2021-22: outscored 58-80 and less than a 48 percent share of chances and expected goals.
2020-21: outscored 29-52 and less than a 45 percent share of chances and expected goals.
2019-20: outscored 44-73 and less than a 48 percent share of chances and expected goals.
2018-19: outscored 52-74 and again less than a 48 percent share of chances and expected goals.
You are not going to win with those numbers, no matter how good your two superstars are.
The Oilers can win with this year's depth.
Nugent-Hopkins' breakthrough year, as well as the additions of players like Zach Hyman, Evander Kane, Warren Foegele, Mattias Janmark and the development of players like Evan Bouchard on defense have really changed the outlook of the McDavid-Draisaitl era.
4. Colorado Avalanche
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Sometimes the ultimate test of depth is how well your team still plays through a season full of injuries.
The Colorado Avalanche have been put to that test all season after coming off a Stanley Cup run with a short offseason, and they have still passed it with flying colors all year.
Their captain, Gabriel Landeskog, has not played all season.
Nathan MacKinnon (11 games), Cale Makar (15 games), Artturi Lehkonen (13 games), Valeri Nichushkin (29 games), Evan Rodrigues (13 games), Bowen Byram (38 games), Josh Manson (48 games), Erik Johnson (19 games) and Sam Girard (six games) have all missed significant time due to injury.
That is a lot of talent out of the lineup for an extended period of time, and despite that the Avalanche are still in contention to win the Central Division and set themselves up for another deep playoff run in a wide-open Western Conference.
When they are healthy, there might not be a better roster in the league.
We just have not really seen them be healthy all year.
MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen are one of the league's best top-line duos, having both topped the 90-point mark this season. Had MacKinnon not missed so many games, he would have been a lock for another 100-point season, and he still has a good chance to end up there.
Even though they lost Nazem Kadri this offseason in free agency, Rodrigues has brought excellent depth to the lineup for a cheap price (just $2 million against the salary cap), and they have what should be considered the best defensive unit in the league. Cale Makar and Devon Toews are both Norris-level defensemen, while Girard could be a top-pairing player on most teams in the league. Byram also has enormous potential and has shown flashes of being a star when healthy.
Nobody should want to play this team in the playoffs if they have a fully loaded roster.
Even if they don't, they will still be a major challenge.
3. New Jersey Devils
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The New Jersey Devils have burst onto the scene this season as bona fide Stanley Cup contenders after missing the playoffs in 10 of the past 11 seasons and each of the previous four.
It has been the perfect storm of a young, talented core all emerging at the same time, combined with some shrewd veteran additions in recent years from Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler and John Marino on defense to Ondrej Palat, Tomas Tatar and Timo Meier at forward.
They are young, they are fast, they are skilled and they are loaded with offensive firepower.
Is it the best team the Devils have ever had? Absolutely not. But it might be one of the most exciting. Because even when the Devils were winning Stanley Cups in the 1990s and early 2000s, they were not doing it with this sort of skill on offense.
After the trade deadline acquisition of Meier, the Devils now boast four 30-goal scorers this season (Meier, Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt) and 10 players with at least 10 goals.
When neither Hughes nor Hischier (their top two centers and scorers) are on the ice during 5-on-5 play, the Devils still outscore their opponents and have a sizable edge in scoring chances and expected goals. That is exactly what you want to see from your depth. If you have a core of stars at the top of the lineup who can dominate and a bottom six that can still keep you on the positive side of the scoresheet, you are going to have a real chance come playoff time.
2. Carolina Hurricanes
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How deep are the Carolina Hurricanes? They can lose a top offseason addition (Max Pacioretty) for all but a handful of games this season, and then lose one of their top core players (Andrei Svechnikov) and still boast one of the deepest lineups in the league.
Losing Pacioretty and Svechnikov does take a lot of firepower out of the lineup, which could be a problem come playoff time, but they can still roll four quality lines of forwards at teams with an aggressive forecheck that causes havoc in the offensive zone.
Including Svechnikov, the Hurricanes already have 11 players with at least 12 goals this season and six with at least 15 goals.
Their top-two point producers this season are Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas, both having topped the 25-goal and 60-point marks for the season.
When neither is on the ice during 5-on-5 play, the Hurricanes have a plus-17 goal differential and a staggering 60 percent share of the expected goals. Just for some perspective on that, the Hurricanes are the only team in the NHL to have at least a 60 percent expected goal share for the season (and the only team over 57 percent). And they still do that without their top two scorers on the ice.
A lot of that is due to a balanced group of forwards, but Carolina also boasts one of the deepest defense corps in the league that has a huge offensive threat in Brent Burns at the top, with Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei and trade deadline acquisition Shayne Gostisbehere rounding out the group.
While they lack a true No. 1 goalie, they do have three capable starters in Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta and Pyotr Kochetkov who have all proven they can win games for them.
1. Boston Bruins
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The Boston Bruins have to be at the top of this list. They have no real weakness at any position, have multiple star players at forward, defense and in goal and can hurt you with pretty much any line on the ice.
Along with a truly elite scorer in David Pastrnak leading the offense, the Bruins lineup entered the week with eight different players having already scored at least 15 goals this season, and 11 total players having already reached double-digits in goals.
Even more impressive is the fact that when their top two scorersโPastrnak and Brad Marchandโare not on the ice during 5-on-5 play, the Bruins are still outscoring teams by a dominant 87-55 margin and controlling nearly 53 percent of the expected goals.
In other words: Even when their top-two scorers are sitting on the bench, the Bruins still play like a Stanley Cup team.
Add in the fact that they have two legitimate No. 1 defensemen in Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, as well as two of the best goalies in the NHL in Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, and there is not a deeper, more well-balanced team in the league at all three levels.
The end result is a runaway Presidents' Trophy winner and a team that is chasing the all-time single-season wins record.
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