NHL Power Rankings for Every Team on Opening Night 2025
The eight-month journey to a Stanley Cup parade begins with a single step.
That step—the opening of the NHL's 2025-26 regular-season schedule—comes Tuesday night for six teams in three cities who'll kick off the league's 109th season.
The two-time defending champion Florida Panthers are aiming for a first three-peat since the New York Islanders won No. 3 of four straight in 1982, and they'll be the first to hit the ice when they host the Chicago Blackhawks at Amerant Bank Arena.
Also getting underway on Tuesday are the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan and the Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.
All 32 teams will have played at least a game by the weekend, and the B/R hockey staff is up and running, too, gathering to discuss the league as a whole and deliver the season's initial Power Rankings prior to the initial puck drop in metro Miami.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
32. Chicago Blackhawks
1 of 32
Previous Ranking: 31
The Blackhawks continue to rebuild around Connor Bedard, with a greater emphasis on youth following the veteran-heavy acquisitions of last summer. Twenty-one-year-old Frank Nazar was signed for seven years in August as the franchise's other young face.
31. San Jose Sharks
2 of 32
Previous Ranking: 32
GM Mike Grier was busy with signings and trades in the offseason, bringing in veterans to complement the core of recent high draft picks. The question: Will the flurry of activity translate to more than 22 wins for the first time since 2021-22?
30. Seattle Kraken
3 of 32
Previous Ranking: 28
It's a new task for new coach Lane Lambert, who coached 127 games with the Islanders from 2022 to 2024. His priorities are defense and goaltending, given that the team allowed the fourth-most goals (262) in the Western Conference last season.
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29. Boston Bruins
4 of 32
Previous Ranking: 25
Things got off to a bad start last fall with goalie Jeremy Swayman in the midst of a contract dispute, but the 26-year-old is in the fold and ready to shoulder the No. 1 load. He skidded from a 2.53 goals-against average in 2023-24 to 3.11 last season.
28. Pittsburgh Penguins
5 of 32
Previous Ranking: 30
Dan Muse takes his spot behind a bench with players on both ends of the experience spectrum, from 38-year-old Sidney Crosby to 21-year-old Rutger McGroarty. But success must mean better goaltending, which was 29th in the NHL last season.
27. Nashville Predators
6 of 32
Previous Ranking: 29
It can't get more disappointing than last season in "Music City," where the Predators followed a busy summer with a 30th-place finish in the overall standings. The brass was quiet this time around and will focus on getting better with the same group.
26. Philadelphia Flyers
7 of 32
Previous Ranking: 27
It's all about the basics for the Flyers in year one of the Rick Tocchet coaching era. The former team captain inherits a team whose power play was 30th in the league last season and whose 5-on-5 save percentage was at the bottom.
25. New York Islanders
8 of 32
Previous Ranking: 24
The excitement on Long Island is real after the selection of defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 overall pick. However, the reality is that a playoff spot will require improvements on special teams, where both the power play and penalty kill ranked 31st.
24. Buffalo Sabres
9 of 32
Previous Ranking: 26
Snapping an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought is again the task of players who were kids when the dubious run began. Former No. 1 overall picks Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power anchor the blue line, and Tage Thompson had 44 goals in 2024-25.
23. Anaheim Ducks
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Previous Ranking: 22
Incoming veteran Joel Quenneville is no stranger to herculean tasks behind the bench, but it's an especially big one in Anaheim, where the Ducks were third-from-last in goal scoring, last on the power play, and had just one prolonged win streak.
22. Detroit Red Wings
11 of 32
Previous Ranking: 23
Nine straight seasons have made for a tense summer in Detroit, where the Red Wings have missed the playoffs for nine straight springs. The penalty kill is an obvious point of concern, given that its 70.1% success rate was the worst in the NHL in 2024-25.
21. Columbus Blue Jackets
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Previous Ranking: 21
The Blue Jackets spiked by 23 points last season and were a source of recurring inspiration after the death of Johnny Gaudreau. Maintaining and improving on that level will require better play on the road, where Columbus was 14-23-4.
20. Calgary Flames
13 of 32
Previous Ranking: 18
The Flames surprised a lot of people by
0aking a season-long (albeit fruitless) push toward the Western playoffs in 2024-25. They'll need more consistent offense from across the lineup to complete the task after finishing 29th in goals in 2024-25.
19. Utah Mammoth
14 of 32
Previous Ranking: 17
Don't look now, but the artists formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes have legitimate playoff aspirations heading into the 2025-26 season, which would be a first-time occurrence in Utah and the franchise's first time since a first-round exit in 2019-20.
18. New York Rangers
15 of 32
Previous Ranking: 19
There's a new show playing under the same old MSG marquee for the Rangers, who hired former Penguins boss Mike Sullivan to take over after the team tumbled from a Presidents' Trophy win in 2023-24 to a missed postseason in 24-25.
17. Vancouver Canucks
16 of 32
Previous Ranking: 20
First-time NHL coach Adam Foote inherits one of the league's most dysfunctional teams from a season ago, and his priorities include reinvigorating center Elias Pettersson, who's plummeted from 102 points in 2022-23 to 64 in 2024-25.
16. St. Louis Blues
17 of 32
Previous Ranking: 14
The Blues rode a scalding second half into the playoffs last season but they'll need to be more consistent in 2025-26 to make a postseason spot less of a crapshoot. That means more from Dylan Holloway, who had 26 goals and 63 points in 2024-25.
15. Montreal Canadiens
18 of 32
Previous Ranking: 16
Will the core of players that got a first taste of the playoffs be able to handle the now-spiked expectations in Montreal? We'll see. But four 20-goal scorers are back, and there's a highlight-generating rookie in Ivan Demidov. Buy now on the Habs.
14. Minnesota Wild
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Previous Ranking: 13
There was no more important offseason transaction than the Wild extending Kirill Kaprizov for eight years at $17 million apiece. Perhaps that, combined with Kaprizov's health (he missed 41 games last season), will produce a repeat of Minnesota's 18-4-4 start.
13. Ottawa Senators
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Previous Ranking: 15
Year one of Travis Green's stint behind the Ottawa bench ended in a first playoff berth since 2017, and there's reason to expect improvement, primarily another year with goalie Linus Ullmark, who had 25 wins and four shutouts in 2024-25.
12. Los Angeles Kings
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Previous Ranking: 11
The band is back together for a last run with frontman Anze Kopitar, who said in the summer that his 20th NHL season would be his finale. Now 38, Kopitar exceeded 20 goals for the 14th time in 2024-25 on the way to a third Lady Byng Trophy.
11. New Jersey Devils
22 of 32
Previous Ranking: 12
Lots of people have lots of good things to say about the Devils, but they're all based on one thing: Staying healthy. Jack Hughes was unavailable after early March, having posted 70 points in 62 games. If he can play 75 or more games, New Jersey is a legitimate contender.
10. Washington Capitals
23 of 32
Previous Ranking: 10
The Capitals, swept up in the glee of Alex Ovechkin's pursuit of the league's all-time goals record, got career-best performances from players up and down the lineup in 2024-25. How much is sustainable will determine this season's overall success.
9. Winnipeg Jets
24 of 32
Previous Ranking: 7
It was another successful season in Winnipeg, yielding a surprising Presidents' Trophy win, but the memory is of another playoff disappointment—this time in the second round against Dallas. Can Connor Hellebuyck ever reverse that trend?
8. Florida Panthers
25 of 32
Previous Ranking: 1
The champs extended Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, and Aaron Ekblad in July, but they've got a big challenge with Aleksander Barkov on the shelf for the regular season with a knee injury, and Matthew Tkachuk out until December after core surgery.
7. Toronto Maple Leafs
26 of 32
Previous Ranking: 8
Fans in Ontario's hockey-mad city howled long and loud for Mitch Marner to be shown the door, but now that he's gone, how much will they miss his consistent regular-season output? Also, a question mark: how healthy is Auston Matthews?
6. Tampa Bay Lightning
27 of 32
Previous Ranking: 9
Coach Jon Cooper is under contract for at least two more seasons in Tampa Bay, and he'll try yet again to get the Lightning past the Panthers, who've taken over the Sunshine State and eliminated Cooper and Co. on the way to their two Cup wins.
5. Edmonton Oilers
28 of 32
Previous Ranking: 6
Life is good in Edmonton now that Connor McDavid has extended for two years in what's got to be the biggest bargain in NHL history. Now it's on GM Stan Bowman to build a winner around him before his next would-be exit in the summer of 2028.
4. Carolina Hurricanes
29 of 32
Previous Ranking: 5
The Hurricanes aimed to move past perennial contender status to full-fledged favorite with the July acquisition of free-agent forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who arrives from Winnipeg after scoring 20 or more goals in eight consecutive full seasons.
3. Colorado Avalanche
30 of 32
Previous Ranking: 4
The Avalanche are loaded by every measure and have two of the consensus top-five players in the league in center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar. Are Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood enough on the back end? We'll see.
2. Vegas Golden Knights
31 of 32
Previous Ranking: 3
The Golden Knights earned a plurality of "who will win the Cup?" votes from the folks at NHL.com, and there's plenty of reason, given the addition of Marner to an already loaded core. They score goals, they limit chances. It's a solid recipe.
1. Dallas Stars
32 of 32
Previous Ranking: 2
A new regime, same expectations for the Stars, who've had their Cup pushes end in the Western final for three straight seasons. Coach Glen Gulutzan will have Mikko Rantanen for a full season after the Finn recorded 88 points with three teams in the 2024-25 season.
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