Ranking the Top 8 2026 Stanley Cup Contenders After Free Agency

One season closes. Another opens.

The NHL's 2024-25 calendar officially ended in late June after the Florida Panthers hoisted a second straight Stanley Cup and 224 new prospects were drafted across two days at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

The new cycle started soon after as free agency began on July 1 and teams kicked off the quest to pursue new pieces—or retain existing ones—that'll get them closer to the revelry the Panthers have enjoyed for the past two years.

The B/R hockey team found its role in the process by looking at the top contenders for the 2026 championship now that the biggest offseason moves have been made.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

8. Tampa Bay Lightning

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Lightning C Yanni Gourde

The Lightning finished second in the Atlantic Division and seventh overall during the regular season before the Panthers sent them o an abrupt summer vacation in the first round of the playoffs.

Their needle didn't move so much come July, unless a Yanni Gourde extension and deals with Jakob Pelletier and Pontus Holmberg fit anyone's definition of the term. It seems as though head coach Jon Cooper and Co. are prepared to at least begin the 2025-26 season running it back with the same impact group.

7. Toronto Maple Leafs

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The Maple Leafs moved on from RW Mitch Marner this offseason.

The Maple Leafs were on the losing side of the early summer's biggest transaction. When Mitch Marner decided not to re-sign with them, they sign-and-traded him to the Vegas Golden Knights for 28-year-old center Nicolas Roy.

Still, the Maple Leafs were able to hold onto both Matthew Knies and John Tavares from last season's roster, so this offseason wasn't a total loss in Ontario's most hockey-mad city.

6. Edmonton Oilers

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The Oilers lost both Connor Brown (L) and Corey Perry (R) in free agency this offseason.

Another summer, another postmortem for the Oilers, who went to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season only to come away with the same result (in one fewer game) against the same team.

The difference this time? Loss No. 2 yielded an exodus of middle-tier free agents such as Corey Perry and Connor Brown, along with salary dumps that made Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson expendable.

Those moves did allow the Oilers to extend Evan Bouchard and acquire Andrew Mangiapane, but Connor McDavid's contract extension status remains the elephant in the room.

5. Dallas Stars

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Matt Duchene (L) and Jamie Benn (R) both re-signed with the Stars this summer.

It's all about the in-season moves for the Stars, who made the final four for the third straight year before being bounced in five games by Edmonton in the Western Conference Final. They subsequently dumped head coach Pete DeBoer after his controversial move to yank goalie Jake Oettinger early in the elimination game.

Oilers assistant Glen Gulutzan is replacing DeBoer, and both Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn stuck around on mid-profile deals that'll cost a combined $5.5 million next year. The Stars' true progress toward a Cup will more likely be measured at the trade deadline than it was this summer.

4. Colorado Avalanche

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Brent Burns is a low-risk, high-reward signing for the Avalanche.

The Avalanche were a 102-point team and got as close to the second round of the playoffs as you can get without actually getting there. Instead, they lost a multi-goal lead in the third period of a Game 7 to Dallas.

Winger Jonathan Drouin and defenseman Ryan Lindgren walked away in free agency, but Colorado grabbed an aging blue liner in Brent Burns on a one-year, $1 million deal. That deal is fairly low-risk and potentially high-reward if he blends well with the uptempo, puck-moving scheme.

3. Carolina Hurricanes

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The Hurricanes landed forward Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency this offseason.

The Hurricanes haven't had a lot of luck getting out of the Eastern Conference since 2006, but they're clearly not content to stand pat after the latest elimination by the Panthers. General manager Eric Tulsky was among the league's most active executives when the calendar flipped to July.

First, he engineered a sign-and-trade deal with the New York Rangers that brought in 25-year-old defenseman K'Andre Miller. He subsequently got Winnipeg forward Nikolaj Ehlers to head south on a six-year, $51 million contract.

2. Vegas Golden Knights

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The Golden Knights landed the biggest free-agent fish in former Maple Leafs RW Mitch Marner.

Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon is no stranger to making big swings in the summer and the spring, so it's no surprise that he was able to work the phones well enough to land the biggest free-agency fish out there in Mitch Marner.

Don't be surprised if the boss is in the headlines again at the trade deadline. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and his $8.8 million salary will accrue on long-term injured reserve, which could perhaps allow for another Cup-pursuing move in March.

1. Florida Panthers

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Aaron Ekblad celebrates with the Stanley Cup.

What else can you say about the two-time champs?

Panthers general manager Bill Zito wriggled out of salary-cap purgatory and signed all three of his imminent unrestricted free agents–forwards Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand and defenseman Aaron Ekblad–in the final few days before they hit the market.

Florida's 10 highest-paid skaters—seven forwards and three defensemen—are locked up through at least 2029-30, leaving the team in pole position to begin its quest for the first NHL three-peat since the New York Islanders hoisted four consecutive Cups from 1980 to 1983.