NHL Power Rankings for Every Team Heading Into September 2026
It's official: NHL hockey starts next month.
The league's 2026-27 season begins with multiple games on Sept. 29 and the 32 teams will run an 84-game gauntlet for the first time since 1993-94.
The Carolina Hurricanes bear the enviable burden of arriving as reigning Stanley Cup champions, having defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in six games in June.
The B/R hockey staff has greeted the news with another set of Power Rankings to put some order to the league as it reaches its get-started month.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
32. Vancouver Canucks
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Sorry, Canucks fans.
It's all about the R word in Vancouver this season.
Rebuild.
Though the haul the team got for Quinn Hughes was impressive, it likely won't amount to much more than a blip on the standings radar.
31. Calgary Flames
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Speaking of rebuilds.
The Flames may be, just may be, on the far side of the process.
They've dumped a number of high-end veterans since their last playoff appearance in 2022 and have reaped the benefits of having a young goalie in Dustin Wolf, who's amassed 52 wins across the last two seasons.
A bevy of premium draft picks could continue to bolster the pipeline or perhaps entice a willing partner into a trade for a bigger name player.
30. Chicago Blackhawks
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GM Kyle Davidson is doing some good things in his own version of a franchise rebuild, but it doesn't help that the centerpiece of that process, Connor Bedard, won't be available for the season's first month.
Bedard had surgery on his left shoulder after an injury sustained during summertime work in Vancouver in early July.
Not only did Davidson get Bedard locked down for the long term with a five-year, $75 million contract, but he also returned prodigal son Patrick Kane to Chicago and acquired defenseman Bo Byram in a trade with Buffalo.
Will all that yield a first Cup parade since 2015? It's doubtful, but it should make the stretch from September to April a little more interesting.
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29. Seattle Kraken
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It's never a good look when a player aiming for a big contract turns down a bag full of cash from your franchise.
But that's the treatment the Kraken got earlier this summer when Jason Robertson rejected a trade that would have sent him to Seattle with an eight-year deal worth about $15 million annually.
Instead, Robertson, a restricted free agent, stayed in Dallas on a one-year pact worth $12 million.
Three straight years of NHL irrelevance doesn't help a team attract players.
28. Winnipeg Jets
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The press release officially hit the fan when long-time goalie Connor Hellebuyck went public with what had been a private trade request.
Assuming the 33-year-old doesn't change his mind before shuffling off to Buffalo or New Jersey or parts unknown, his exit leaves the goaltending chores in the hands of ex-Oiler Stuart Skinner, who had a 2.99 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage in 27 starts with Pittsburgh after a December trade.
Hellebuyck, in what figures to be his final season in Winnipeg, won 23 games alongside a 2.86 GAA and an .895 save percentage in 57 starts.
His three Vezina trophies, though they've yielded zero appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, are tops in the league among active goalies.
27. New York Rangers
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An era ended when the Rangers sent Artemi Panarin to Los Angeles.
But perhaps the second act began when the New York brass acquired Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas for three draft picks in June.
For those unaware, the 25-year-old Russian winger is coming off consecutive 30-plus-goal seasons with the Golden Knights in which he actually totaled 72.
Add in a top-flight goalie in Igor Shesterkin and the ingredients for a relevant winter are there.
26. Detroit Red Wings
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Steve Yzerman's gone as GM, but Dylan Larkin is still a Red Wing.
The latter probably isn't a great sign for the locker room this fall considering Larkin, as the team's captain, went public with a trade demand.
But while unloading the final five years of an $8.7 million annual contract might be good for the front office and dispatching the bad mojo might help team morale, Larkin is still a No. 1 center and they don't grow on trees.
He's exceeded 30 goals for five straight seasons and netted a career-best 34 in 2025-26.
25. St. Louis Blues
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The Blues are, well...the Blues.
What that's meant recently is three playoff misses in the last four seasons and precisely one series win, in 2022, since they hoisted the Cup in 2019.
A 37-33-12 record was only good for fifth in the Central and 22nd overall last season, and the summertime acquisitions of Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael don't figure to change that reality by much.
Center Robert Thomas remains in the fold after a point-per-game effort, 64 points in 64 games, in 2025-26.
24. New York Islanders
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If you're looking for a team that's hit on a recent No. 1 overall pick, look no further than the Islanders.
Matthew Schaefer was snatched with the first choice in the 2025 draft and rewarded the confidence with a Calder Trophy season in which he not only charmed the fan base but put up 23 goals and 36 assists on the ice.
Problem is, while Schaefer is still a teenager, more than half of the 14 forwards on the New York roster are beyond 30 and the team's leading scorer last season, Mat Barzal (72 points), was 46th in the league.
Even one of the league's elite goalies in Ilya Sorokin doesn't make up for that.
23. Nashville Predators
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The regime has changed but we're still waiting on the Panthers.
The free-agent frenzy that brought Steven Stamkos, among others, a few years back still hasn't yielded a playoff series win, instead generating two straight playoff misses.
Nashville was above .500 at 38-34-10 last season but was only good enough for sixth in a loaded Central Division and hasn't won a playoff round since 2018.
Newcomers this year include Jack Drury, Ross Colton and Mavrik Bourque but Stamkos, Ryan O'Reilly and Roman Josi aren't getting any younger.
22. Columbus Blue Jackets
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There's plenty to like in Columbus. The Blue Jackets are talented up and down the roster and a compelling watch on the ice.
Like Detroit, though, it doesn't help when the best player, in this case Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Zach Werenski, seems he'd rather be elsewhere.
Reports early in the summer suggested Werenski blocked a trade to Dallas and that he'd told the Columbus brass he'd not sign a long-term deal with the team, but recent weeks have included a public makeup. We'll see.
21. Los Angeles Kings
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Like the Blues a few places earlier, here are the Kings.
A sound team. A competent team. A team that's been good enough to reach the playoffs after each of the last five seasons.
But they lost in the first round all five times, four in a row to Edmonton from 2022 to 2025, and then in a sweep by Colorado last spring.
Will a full season of Panarin along with new coach Peter Laviolette and some other tinkering change all that? Perhaps. But given the opposition elsewhere in the Pacific Division and the West as a whole, it's unlikely to be by much.
20. New Jersey Devils
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The Devils pulled the plug on the Jacob Markstrom goaltending experiment after just two seasons, sending the $6 million (annually) man to Florida for Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and Ben Steeves in late June.
Markstrom was 23-19-1 with a 3.07 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage in 44 games last season, and his exit means Jake Allen, 36, is the No. 1 man after going 17-17-2 in 37 games alongside Markstrom.
Outside the goal crease, defenseman Simon Nemec and forward Maxim Tsyplakov are gone to Calgary in a deal that landed three picks and defenseman Etienne Moran.
But let's face it, the Devils will live and die on the health of forward Jack Hughes, who's not played more than 62 games in a season since 2022-23 but has been a point-per-game producer for five seasons in a row.
19. Pittsburgh Penguins
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Will the real Pittsburgh Penguins please stand up.
The aging Penguins had missed the playoffs for three straight seasons before a 2025-26 resurgence in which they amassed 98 points, finished second to Carolina in the Metropolitan Division, and reached the postseason only to be bounced by cross-state rival Philadelphia.
It's been relatively quiet on the Steel City front all summer though they did bring in Andrei Kuzmenko as a free agent and Nick Robertson from Toronto in a trade that cost a fourth-round draft pick.
Stuart Skinner signed with Winnipeg and left the goal crease to the largely unproven pair of Sergei Murashov (22 years old) and Arturs Silovs (25 years old). Are they enough to keep Sidney Crosby relevant as a 39-year-old? Stay tuned.
18. Toronto Maple Leafs
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One summer they let Mitch Marner walk out the door.
The next, they take a three-year, $21 million flyer on a 37-year-old goalie coming off the worst statistical season in a career that reaches back to 2010-11.
Yep, it's another chapter in Toronto Maple Leafs history.
Still, dismiss the Leafs as a worthy commodity at your own risk. They've still got talent up front and if "Bob" is anything like what he was during Florida's two Cup-winning seasons, particularly in the playoffs, it'll be a relevant season in Ontario.
17. San Jose Sharks
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The Sharks haven't made the playoffs since 2019 and missed out on a Western Conference spot last spring by just four points.
But GM Mike Grier has been busily trying to address things. He's already got the league's burgeoning superstar in Macklin Celebrini up front, but the player-turned-executive has worked on the blue line all summer.
Darnell Nurse arrived from Edmonton with an annual $9.25 million cap hit that runs to 2030. Free agent Jacob Trouba signed a four-year, $33 million deal. And Michael Kesselring is in town from Buffalo after Grier got him for three years and $13.5 million.
Is a gigantic, pricey defense the key to getting Celebrini to play deep into the springtime? We'll have to wait and see.
16. Anaheim Ducks
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If you're looking for a young team poised to make a competitive step out West, look no further than the Anaheim Ducks.
Maybe.
The Ducks squeaked into the playoffs and did damage upon arrival, eliminating the two-time defending conference champion Oilers in the first round before being squashed by Vegas in Round 2.
Their salary structure was thrown out of whack by an offer sheet that'll keep Leo Carlsson in town for five more years at $18 million apiece, but having a defenseman like Jackson LaCombe under wraps through 2034 doesn't hurt.
15. Philadelphia Flyers
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Make no mistake, the Flyers are a sound team that does a lot of things well.
They were ninth in the league in goals-against average last season, allowed the fourth fewest shots per game, and won a playoff series for the first time since 2020.
But their leading scorer, Travis Konecny, was tied for 55th in the league, which seems to indicate the need for a game-changing top-end player in the forward group.
They tried to get one with the aforementioned offer sheet to Anaheim's Leo Carlsson, but once the Ducks matched it left GM Daniel Briere to consider other options.
14. Ottawa Senators
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The Senators were already on the list of young NHL teams on the rise, and they should remain so even after the summertime departure of Brady Tkachuk to Florida that yielded four draft picks in return.
Ottawa was fifth in the Atlantic Division and snatched a playoff berth last spring before finding themselves on the wrong end of a sweep by the eventual champion Hurricanes.
Tkachuk took his 37 goals and 71 points with him to South Beach, but the Senators still boast the likes of Tim Stutzle (24 years old), Shane Pinto (25), Dylan Cozens (25) and William Eklund (23) up front, and each is signed through at least the end of the 2028-29 season.
Will it be enough to get past the equally upwardly mobile likes of Buffalo and Montreal? Perhaps not. But Canada's capital should be a hockey relevant city all season.
13. Boston Bruins
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First, the Penguins. Now, the Bruins.
Like Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division, Boston was the surprise team in the group last season, amassing 100 points after missing the playoffs a season before.
It didn't yield anything more than a first-round exit against Buffalo, but it did indicate buy-in to the system implemented by first-year coach Marco Sturm.
Winger JJ Peterka is new to the group after a draft-day trade from Utah, which cost Boston a pair of draft picks. Peterka has scored 20-plus goals in three straight seasons and has rung up 35 power-play points during that stretch.
12. Utah Mammoth
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It's been a long time since Phoenix, eh?
The artists formerly known as the Coyotes reached the postseason in their second season since the move to Utah, and the first time for the franchise since 2020, and come back in 2026-27 boasting one of the league's deepest cores of young talent.
The Mammoth tied for third in the Pacific last season and were just three points off the pace of division-leading Vegas, finishing in the top half of the league in scoring average, goals-against average, and wins.
Arriving this season are Vincent Trocheck (trade from the Rangers) and Anders Lee (free agent from the Islanders), and also back is leading scorer and point-per-game man Clayton Keller, who had 26 goals and 62 assists in 82 games.
11. Washington Capitals
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The puff of smoke above Capital One Arena means only one thing.
Alex Ovechkin will return for a 22nd season of NHL hockey.
The 41-year-old Russian, who now doubles as the league's all-time goal-scoring leader, is apparently invigorated enough by the franchise's offseason maneuvering to give it another go in a career that stretches back to 2005.
Adding guys like Boone Jenner, Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou to a forward group will do that for a guy.
"Look at our roster," Ovechkin said. "We have a Stanley Cup contender. I know I can still play. I know I still can bring energy to the locker room and energy on the ice."
10. Edmonton Oilers
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So, you thought the Oilers were desperate to win a Cup before?
Welcome to the Mike Babcock Experience, Circa 2026.
Edmonton's brass insists the team's leadership—read: Nos. 29 and 97—signed off on the hire and wants to be coached hard. But we'll see how that holds up when they lose three straight in late November.
Stay tuned,
9. Buffalo Sabres
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Talk about your quick reinventions.
The Sabres went from a decade-plus of darkness to Atlantic Division champions last year, but were still unable to deliver the city its first top-tier championship.
Instead, though Buffalo toppled rival Boston in the first round it was beaten, on home ice in Game 7, by Montreal in the second and ended a 50-win, 109-point season with a sour taste.
A young and presumably still hungry group returns for 2026-27, though Alex Tuch took the money and ran to Washington, Bo Byram was dispatched to Chicago and Devon Levi is part of a three-goalie blueprint in Edmonton.
But each of the top five forwards is in his 20s and signed through at least 2028-29, not to mention D-men Rasmus Dahlin (26) and Owen Power (23), who'll be in Western New York for the long term as well.
8. Minnesota Wild
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Woe is the Wild.
Minnesota finished seventh overall in the NHL with 104 points but was just third in a loaded Central Division behind Colorado and Dallas.
The team ended a 10-season run of either first-round exits or playoff misses last spring, defeating the Stars in six games in the first game before a five-game exit at the hands of the Avalanche in Round 2.
Minnesota has not gone beyond the second round since a run to the Western final in 2003 yielded a loss to eventual Cup-runner-up Anaheim.
Now, it's all about defenseman Quinn Hughes, a UFA to be whom the team acquired from Vancouver in December and will be the source of perpetual rumors now that he's entering the final season of a six-year deal signed in 2021.
7. Dallas Stars
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There's good news and bad news in Dallas.
The good news is that the Stars were not eliminated in the Western Conference final for a fourth consecutive season.
The bad news is that the end came far sooner in 2025-26, this time in one round (six games) by the Minnesota Wild.
The team remains loaded, but it'll be consistently interesting to see how it handles the return of Jason Robertson, who was inked to a one-year deal after turning thumbs-down on a would-be trade to Seattle.
Distraction much?
6. Tampa Bay Lightning
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They're not the team that went to three straight Cup Finals from 2020-2022, right?
But they're also not a team destined to lose in the postseason's first round, as they've done for four straight seasons since Colorado claimed the Cup in 2022.
So, will the real Tampa Bay Lightning reveal themselves?
There's enough of the old Cup-winning guard around to advance to April on muscle memory alone, and newer arrivals like Jake Guentzel, a Cup winner in Pittsburgh, can more than pull their weight when it comes to winning postseason hockey. So, pencil the Lightning in for the tournament and stand back.
5. Montreal Canadiens
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The Western Conference boasts a handful of young teams that are clearly on the rise and it's not as if the East's cupboard is bare when it comes to that description.
But none are more qualified to lead the charge than Montreal.
The Canadiens ended a three-year playoff drought in 2025 and made their presence felt this past spring, eliminating division mates Tampa Bay and Buffalo in seven games apiece before running into the eventual champs from Carolina.
If they don't win it all at least once in the next five years, fold the franchise.
4. Vegas Golden Knights
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They've not been around long, but the Vegas Golden Knights have nevertheless established that the one guarantee about the franchise is that nothing is guaranteed.
They fired coach Bruce Cassidy with eight games remaining in a Pacific Division-winning season, then rode interim coach John Tortorella to the Stanley Cup Final before showing the 68-year-old the door in favor of Ryan Craig.
Craig, 44, has never been a head coach above the AHL level, but he's well aware of the standard set by his predecessors.
"As for expectations, we're going to go about our business day in and day out with the goal in mind to continue to build, stack and get better each and every day," he said, "so that we have an opportunity, when the calendar flips in mid-April, to compete for the trophy."
3. Florida Panthers
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It's good to be the reigning champs.
But it's not so bad to be the recently deposed two-time champs either.
Florida's quest to become the first team to win three straight Cups since the Islanders of the 1980s fell short thanks to myriad injuries and other factors, but it's hard to suggest the Panthers aren't reloaded for another title chase in 2026-27.
They replaced the exited Bobrovsky with the cheaper and younger Markstrom, will return Aleksander Barkov after a year on the shelf, and acquired all-world agitator Brady Tkachuk to come in and play with his equally irritating brother, Matthew.
2. Colorado Avalanche
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Hockey people already knew Cale Makar is the real deal.
But the defenseman proved it to the bean counters, too, with an eight-year, $163.2 million contract that makes him the league's first $20 million (annual) man.
He's only been an NHL'er for seven seasons but Makar has already copped a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy, not to mention a Calder and two Norrises.
Sure, the Avs are down to less than a million in cap space, but having the likes of Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas locked up for several years still seems to guarantee long-term relevance in the Rockies.
1. Carolina Hurricanes
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Nothing better than entering September as the defending champs, right?
The Hurricanes didn't make any earth-shattering acquisitions over the summer and nor did they lose any vital pieces, perhaps outside of veteran goalie Freddie Andersen, who's gone to Edmonton.
It's not titillating, but what it mostly means is that the group that rolled through the playoffs on a 16-3 tear after winning its division by a mile-and-a-half returns nearly intact.
Good news for Raleigh. Bad news for everyone else.
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