NHL Power Rankings: Where Every Team Stands After the 2026 Draft
The Stanley Cup was hoisted in Vegas. The parade route was traveled in Carolina.
And now that draft weekend in Buffalo has come and gone, another of the significant dates on the NHL calendar has been crossed off.
Which is all the reason the B/R hockey team needed to look at the picks, the deals made and the suggestions of deals to come and take a Power Rankings snapshot of where every team stands after the 2026 selection meeting.
We assessed 32 points for a first-place vote all the way down to a single point for a No. 32 vote, then figured the totals and ranked the teams from 32 to 1.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
32. Vancouver Canucks
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The Canucks have become Team Malhotra, hiring former first-round pick Manny as their head coach and selecting his son, Caleb, at the No. 3 slot in this year's draft. The hope is the latter will pan out as a two-way center for them.
31. Seattle Kraken
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Having Chase Reid slide to them at No. 7 overall was a pleasant surprise that took some of the bad taste, but not nearly all, from the mouths of fans after news broke that Jason Robertson turned down a trade that would have landed him in Seattle.
30. Chicago Blackhawks
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Surrounding Connor Bedard with a collection of players that can compete has been job No. 1 for GM Kyle Davidson, but sacrificing the No. 4 overall pick in a deal that yielded defenseman Bowen Byram is a question-mark decision.
29. Calgary Flames
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The Flames went heavy on the future with defenseman Carson Carels at No. 6 and center Jack Hextall at No. 30. And for those fans of familial sentiment out there, Calgary snatched Joe Iginla with the 65th overall pick in Round 3.
28. Toronto Maple Leafs
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As if having the "Biebs" introduce their pick wasn't enough, the Maple Leafs pulled the trigger on the league's next young star in Gavin McKenna. He looks the part and said all the right things in his first real turn under the NHL microscope.
27. Nashville Predators
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Chris MacFarland's first bite at the draft day apple in Nashville yielded a pair of likely future NHL'ers in Wyatt Cullen at No. 10 and Tommy Bleyl at No. 31. Cullen is the son of former Predator and multiple Cup winner Matt Cullen.
26. New York Rangers
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The Rangers dealt away a top forward in Artemi Panarin at the trade deadline but grabbed another on draft weekend when a swap with Vegas netted high-scoring Pavel Dorofeyev. He was immediately locked up for seven years and $77 million.
25. Winnipeg Jets
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He's not a big guy and his fashion choices weren't the best on the red carpet, but Swedish import Viggo Bjorck might have been the best center available at the draft and the Jets got him at No. 8. Now, it's time to wait on Connor Hellebuyck.
24. Columbus Blue Jackets
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It wasn't a good weekend in middle Ohio with news coming out that GM Don Waddell wasn't sure that Norris-winning defenseman Zach Werenski was interested in signing long term, and that forward Kirill Marchenko wasn't either.
23. St. Louis Blues
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The Blues came into Friday's first round with four selections and wound up making two of them while parlaying the other two into veteran forward Mason McTavish, who comes over from Anaheim after producing 17 goals and 41 points in 2025-26.
22. Detroit Red Wings
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Those waiting on Dylan Larkin's requested exit from Detroit may have to be extra patient while they wait. GM Steve Yzerman, playing the best interest of the team card, said he'd not guarantee "that request could or would be met."
21. San Jose Sharks
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The Sharks already had a solid core of young players and a loaded pool of prospects, but the rich got richer with the future-focused picks of Ivar Stenberg at No. 2 overall and Keaton Verhoeff at No. 9.
20. New Jersey Devils
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GM Sunny Mehta's first time around in charge of the Devils' draft operation yielded a 6'1" center in Alexander Command at pick No. 12, though some suggest there were higher-end players to be had at that slot.
19. New York Islanders
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The Islanders grabbed Calder Trophy winner Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick last season and stayed on the blue line for their first three picks this time around, including 6'5", 203-pound Swede Malte Gustafsson at No. 13 overall.
18. Los Angeles Kings
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Drew Doughty is entering the final season of a deal paying him $11 million, but GM Ken Holland isn't interested in discussing an extension quite yet. Instead, Holland said, they'll revisit and "see where he's at and let's see where we're at."
17. Ottawa Senators
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The Canadian capital is reeling in the aftermath of the deal that sent team captain Brady Tkachuk to play with his brother in Florida but they recouped a little at the draft, they hope, with a pair of big forwards that included Cayman Islands export Jaxon Cover.
16. Washington Capitals
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The Capitals are trying to persuade ageless scoring king Alex Ovechkin to stick around for another season and you've got to think they made progress with trades that brought in both Alex Tuch from Buffalo and Jordan Kyrou from St. Louis.
15. Edmonton Oilers
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Edmonton didn't have a first-round pick and missed out on a coveted goalie when Sebastian Cossa went to Utah, which leaves any non-Mike Babcock chatter to focus on the prolonged trade negotiations around wannabe ex-Oiler Darnell Nurse.
14. Boston Bruins
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The Boston brass indicated they wanted to reward a surprisingly good 2025-26 season by adding weapons rather than retooling, and they followed through with a trade that brought speedy winger JJ Peterka over from Utah.
13. Pittsburgh Penguins
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Maybe they'll be impact players in the NHL. Maybe they won't. But GM Kyle Dubas authored a nice story when he selected Liam Ruck at No. 22 overall in the first round before coming back in the second to grab identical twin Markus at No. 39.
12. Philadelphia Flyers
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Broad Street Bullies, The Sequel? Maybe not. But 6'7", 240-pounder Maksim Sokolovskii will intimidate some folks when he reaches the Philly blue line. And goalie Martin Psohlavec, picked 62nd overall, is a lanky specimen at 6'5", 183.
11. Utah Mammoth
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The Mammoth may have gotten the ideal power forward when they grabbed 6'5", 230-pound left wing Ethan Belchetz at No. 17 and they acquired some goalie help in Sebastian Cossa with the pick they got from Boston for JJ Peterka.
10. Anaheim Ducks
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The Ducks arrived in Buffalo with no first-round picks and walked away with two, including a steal that netted forward Nikita Klepov at No. 15 overall. They also shed the last five years of Mason McTavish's $7 million annual contract.
9. Tampa Bay Lightning
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The Lightning didn't have a first-round pick and likely didn't select any impact players on the NHL level at the draft, but they did make news when GM Julien BriseBois said veterans Corey Perry and Oliver Bjorkstrand would hit the market.
8. Minnesota Wild
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Good sign? Or famous last words? Either way, Wild owner Craig Leipold is projecting confidence that the organization will convince Quinn Hughes to stay when he becomes eligible to talk extension. "We are going to re-sign him," Leipold said.
7. Florida Panthers
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The deadline to get something done is getting closer as the Panthers stand to lose both goaltenders currently under contract, Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov, when free agency opens. Watch the Connor Hellebuyck news closely.
6. Dallas Stars
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He may never play another game with the Stars, but Jason Robertson is impacting the roster. The forward reportedly nixed a trade to Seattle that would have given him a contract worth $120 million and scuttled another deal to St. Louis via which Dallas would have gotten Toronto's Matthew Knies.
5. Buffalo Sabres
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Buffalo's forward group took a hit when it became clear Alex Tuch wasn't going to stay, but the Sabres made the best of the weekend by grabbing defenseman Daxon Rudolph at No. 4 overall and acquiring blueliner Olen Zellweger from Anaheim.
4. Vegas Golden Knights
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Fresh off a run to the final, the Golden Knights stuck with the organizational plan and hired Ryan Craig to replace John Tortorella. They also minded the salary cap by dealing two-time 30-goal man Pavel Dorofeyev to the Rangers.
3. Montreal Canadiens
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Winger Gleb Pugachyov got the call from the Canadiens on Friday as Montreal's pick at the No. 26 overall spot. But it's all about bridging the gap from the final four playoff teams to the final two and some expect Quebec native Anthony Mantha to be a free-agent target.
2. Colorado Avalanche
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The Avs are spending the summer trying to figure what went wrong after a Presidents' Trophy yielded a sweep loss in the Western final, but they did get a former first-round pick, Fabian Lysell, in a one-for-one swap with Boston.
1. Carolina Hurricanes
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Here's a tip: If your summer includes a victory parade in which your coach flexes for the cameras, you're having a pretty good offseason. And there's little reason to think the champs won't remain in the mix given their top 10 earners this season are locked up through at least 2027-28.
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